Ho ho holy prices!
At the end of every year, Wizards distributes special Christmas-themed cards to staff and business partners. I’ve been lucky enough to receive these cards myself over the decade or so I’ve worked as a contractor for Wizards, and while I don’t think I’d ever sell them given their sentimental value, it’s very interesting to see just how much these cards are worth – particularly some of the older ones. If you like the look of these cards to play with in a permissive Commander group, it is possible to pick up copies for yourself – but when it comes to some of them, get ready to shell out big time, because they’re not cheap!
Two factors play into the value of these holiday cards. First, their scarcity: the later a card was released, the lower its price, as presumably more of them are around. Second, it’s still possible to evaluate these cards based on their gameplay, because even if they’re not allowed in “official” games, many Commander groups don’t mind silver-bordered (or acorn-stamped, these days) cards. Be sure to clear these cards with the table before sitting down to play with them.
10. Topdeck the Halls
Topdeck the Halls
Special Occasion, Mythic
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Topdeck the Halls is a ridiculous card when “played straight”, and only gets more powerful every year as more and more “decorated” cards are released. In anything but the silliest games of Commander, I wouldn’t be happy to see someone play this card (especially as they would have had to purposefully rebuild their mana base to play it properly). Not to mention the fact that having 12 decorated permanents on the battlefield is trivial for a vast number of Commander players, who like their shiny and special versions! All the same, this is obviously a sought-after collectible, irrespective of its power level, and comes in at $32.
9. Naughty // Nice
Naughty // Nice
Special Occasion, Rare
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Another $32 card, Naughty // Nice is a little more acceptable in terms of how much fun it will bring to a game of Commander. Bribery is an extremely sweet card, and Naughty takes it to another level by putting the card into your hand, rather than onto the battlefield – something that, obviously, the rules wouldn’t usually allow. I’m trying to think of a reason you’d want to cast Nice without being, well, nice. I suppose it’s a sick way to get around Ensnaring Bridge – put a card in their hand that they can’t play, and get in there with those one-power creatures!
8. Stocking Tiger
Stocking Tiger
Special Occasion, Rare
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Cut from similar cloth as the magnificent Booster Tutor (if that card isn’t in your Cube, it should be), Stocking Tiger will draw you 15 cards if it ever connects. Now, certainly, most of those cards are going to be rubbish commons, but hey, if you’ve got a collector booster you’ve been saving up for a special occasion, what better place to put it to use than? Stocking Tiger isn’t cheap – around $50 – but for me at least it falls into the range of acceptable silliness in a game of Commander.
Also, for any non-Americans who are confused as to this card’s name, as I was: it’s a play on words with an old card called Stalking Tiger, as Americans pronounce “stalking” and “stocking” almost identically.
7. Yule Ooze
Yule Ooze
Special Occasion, Rare
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Whenever I read the name of this card, all I can hear is Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka: “YOU LOSE!” – and now, I very much hope you will bear the same curse as me. Anyway – in terms of its first ability, Yule Ooze doesn’t even feel like a silver-bordered card, and I could see something like this being printed on a “real” card designed for Constructed play. The second ability, though… that’s not really something I want people activating in the middle of playing a game of Magic. Around thousands of dollars of cardboard, including this $72 card, I don’t really think people should be encouraged to eat food.
6. Mishra’s Toy Workshop
Mishra’s Toy Workshop
Special Occasion, Mythic
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A far cry from the absurdly expensive Mishra’s Workshop, the $74 Mishra’s Toy Workshop is nonetheless powerful when built around properly. Assuming your group doesn’t mind you playing with it in your token decks, Mishra’s Toy Workshop means your March of the Multitudes or Avenger of Zendikar come in a lot cheaper than they would otherwise. And, if you really want to get technical and split hairs, what are tokens if not… toys? They’re game pieces, after all, you play with them, just as you play with toys. So, just in case you don’t carry around a sack full of teddy bears to use as 1/1s, just use your regular tokens and enjoy having a Seinfeldian argument about what constitutes a “toy”.
5. Season’s Beatings
Season’s Beatings
Special Occasion, Rare
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Quite aside from its extremely demanding casting cost, the random and unpredictable nature of this card means you’d probably be better just casting, I don’t know, Spreading Flames or something like that. More than anything else, I suspect this card’s price (right now, as I write this, its Market Price is $123.46, so frustratingly close) has more to do with its age than its gameplay. As it was distributed in 2009, there are a lot fewer copies of it around than, say, 2019’s Decorated Knight.
4. Gifts Given
Gifts Given
Special Occasion, Rare
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One of the oldest holiday cards – the second-oldest, in fact – Gifts Given is a clean $150 per copy, and isn’t so much Gifts Given as Gifts Taken. In a similar vein to Naughty // Nice, this card is, in my opinion, an acceptable level of silly that will augment most Commander games that aren’t taking themselves too seriously. It’s not that far-off from black-bordered cards like Knowledge Exploitation or Praetor’s Grasp really, so I don’t think there should be serious objections to Gifts Given – assuming you’re ready to pay the requisite $150 for a copy of it.
3. Snow Mercy
Snow Mercy
Special Occasion, RareBuy on TCGplayer
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One of the funniest silver-bordered cards you’re going to come across, Snow Mercy is really cleverly designed. Tapping down creatures that have already hit you is fine, overall, although it’s hard to time this activation effectively in a multiplayer game, so Snow Mercy isn’t really oppressive. I guess you could go really deep with something like Mesmeric Orb, but… c’mon, there are better ways to mill yourself out, and most of them don’t involve paying $200 for a silver-bordered card. Just play the $117 judge foil [Hermit Druid](Hermit Druid variantId=”38250″) instead.
2. Fruitcake Elemental
Fruitcake Elemental
Special Occasion, Rare
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As far as I can tell, there’s no reason this card couldn’t be printed, exactly as-is, as a black-bordered card. Usually silver-bordered/acorn-stamped cards involve some weird gimmick that breaks the game’s rules (Gifts Given putting opponents’ cards in your hand) or involves something from outside the game (Yule Ooze (“YOU LOSE!”) making you eat food). As the first-ever holiday card, Fruitcake Elemental could very easily be a black-bordered card, and a very entertaining one at that. You pass it off on someone, and they’ve got to set aside three mana to it or start taking seven a turn – but then again, they’re also attacking for seven, so it’s not all downside.
1. Evil Presents
Evil Presents
Special Occasion, Rare
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Alright, here we go! Here is a silver-bordered card that is really going to get the party started. Putting your best creature onto the battlefield and forcing it to attack its own controller is extremely funny, and represents the best of the silliness that silver-bordered Magic can bring about. Unfortunately, however, this card will set you back a princely $260, unless you were around with Wizards back in 2008. I love a good gag as much as anyone, but $260 is a little bit pricey, even for a joke as terrific as Evil Presents.