Showcasing immense value for Magic collectors.
It started with the Secret Lair Drop Series and then with theSpecial Guests, where now Wizards of the Coast extends their foray into the collector space by offering desirable yet unique printing of cards. Called the Japan Showcase, these are a series of cards that highlight unique art from Japanese artists and illustrators, with card aesthetics lining up similar to what you commonly see in Japanese hobby stores. Given their collectible nature, some of the Japan Showcase cards can be worth quite a bit. But before we dive into the value of these cards, what are Japan Showcase cards and where can you find them?
What are Japan Showcase Cards in MTG?
Market Price: $22.85
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Introduced with Duskmourn: House of Horror, Japan Showcase cards are Wizards attempt to cater to the competitive Japanese market where these cards only appear in Collector Boosters. There isn’t much of a frame with these Japan Showcase cards and that’s intention, as this is to maximize the art as much as possible while offering something unique for Magic players to collect. Furthermore, Japan Showcase cards can also appear in Traditional Foil and Fracture Foil, with the latter being one of the most exotic (and valuable) treatments seen in Magic: The Gathering as of late.
With Japan Showcase cards becoming a fixture of Magic releases starting with Duskmourn: House of Horror, there’s a surprising amount of value in these cards that you may have missed upon first blush, given some of the card choices receiving this treatment. Take Think Twice as an example, a card you can readily purchase for a few cents but the Traditional Foil Japan Showcase printing can be worth upwards of $20 with a further multiplier if the card is a Fracture Foil. Admittedly, there are only twenty of these Japan Showcase cards to collect at the time of publication, but much like the Special Guests, this subset will grow with every Magic release. You can expect around ten Japan Showcase cards to appear in Magic releases going forward, which is a similar format used for the Special Guests.
That aside, let’s look at some of the most valuable Japan Showcase cards you can collect right now. While Fracture Foils aren’t the main focus as we’ll be using Traditional Foil pricing today, I’ll be touching on these where needed given their high-value and rarity within the Magic collector space.
#10 Enduring Tenacity
Enduring Tenacity
Duskmourn: House of Horror, Mythic
Next is Enduring Tenacity from Duskmourn: House of Horror, which saw a ton of attention leading up to the set’s release as it’s another copy of Sanguine Bond. What the Snake Glimmer does here is simple — whenever you gain life, target opponent loses that much life — where if you pair the card with Exquisite Blood or Bloodthirsty Conqueror and have a way to gain life, you’ll win the game. And since Enduring Tenacity is a Glimmer card, it has the same design clause as seen with Enduring Innocence, making it much harder to remove from the battlefield as it can return to play as an enchantment. While Enduring Tenacity isn’t seeing a ton of play in Standard and Pioneer right now, it’s becoming a mainstay in Commander as it’s part of a very popular infinite combo within Vampire and Lifegain strategies.
Market Price: $83.02
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In Commander, having access to powerful cards that come with the same (or similar) text is often desirable because it means you have a better chance of drawing into that effect when playing games. It’s especially desirable when those powerful cards can promote an infinite win condition, such as with Enduring Tenacity and Exquisite Blood. That said, the Fracture Foil printing of Enduring Tenacity is one of the more affordable cards in this striking treatment, with Overlord of the Floodpits being the least valuable at the time of publication.
#9 Overlord of the Balemurk
Overlord of the Balemurk
Duskmourn: House of Horror, Mythic
Speaking of Overlords, Overlord of the Balemurk saw a resurgence post-Duskmourn release as it began to make an impression in Standard, Pioneer, and Modern, leading to a notable price spike back in October. Despite prices settling down due to the more recent release of Magic Foundations, Overlord of the Balemurk remains a desirable hit (especially the Japan Showcase printing) because it plays so well within strategies that want to fill the graveyard and then recur a massive threat onto the battlefield. More commonly, you see Overlord of the Balemurk in Pioneer’s Mardu Greasefang, which does a rather stellar job of throwing key cards such as Parhelion II and Skysovereign, Consul Flagship into the graveyard that can re-enter play with Greasefang, Okiba Boss’s trigger at the beginning of combat.
Market Price: $96.78
This sentiment also extends to Modern, where Golgari Yawgmoth accommodates the card quite well as its fuel for Agatha’s Soul Cauldron, a card that cares about making use of the graveyard by exiling creatures away with powerful activated abilities. As for Commander play, the Avatar Horror features in Winter, Misanthropic Guide and Victor, Valgavoth’s Seneschal, which focuses on graveyard synergies. As for Fracture Foil printing, Overlord of the Balemurk is one of the more viable Overlord cards you can open in this treatment at the time of publication.
#8 Muldrotha, the Gravetide
Muldrotha, the Gravetide
Foundations, Mythic
We’ve talked a ton about Duskmourn: House of Horror, but Magic Foundations also saw a selection of Japan Showcase cards to collect upon release. One of these is Muldrotha, the Gravetide, which remains one of the more powerful Sultai Commanders you can play in the format. For six mana, Muldrotha does quite a bit where during each of your turns, you may play a land card and cast a permanent spell of each permanent type from your graveyard – meaning you can really leverage your graveyard to accumulate a ton of value during games, perhaps with an Overlord of the Balemurk on the battlefield for good measure. While Muldrotha is one of two Commanders you can collect in the Japan Showcase treatment right now (the other being Progenitus), you can expect more popular Legendaries to see the treatment in the future due to the widespread popularity of Commander. Furthermore, the Fracture Foil printing of the Elemental Avatar is becoming one of the most valuable cards from Magic Foundations.
#7 Enduring Curiosity
Enduring Curiosity
Duskmourn: House of Horror, Mythic
One of the hottest cards seeing play in Standard is Enduring Curiosity as it appears in Dimir Midrange and Azorius Aggro, with the former being the best strategy you can play in the format right now. What makes the Cat Glimmer so good is that it’s essentially a Coastal Piracy on a creature, allowing you to draw cards whenever one of your creatures deals combat damage to a player. Furthermore, Enduring Curiosity also comes with flash, meaning you can surprise opponents during combat by playing this at instant speed to generate further card advantage if needed. There are also Commander applications here, as Rogues and Ninjas are becoming a fun and popular strategy to play in the singleton format, which also cares about drawing a ton of cards whenever they deal damage.
#6 Herald of Eternal Dawn
Herald of Eternal Dawn
Foundations, Mythic
Angles are another popular creature type in Commander, which is why Herald of Eternal Dawn is becoming a valuable Japan Showcase card to own. Adopting similar text as seen on Platinum Angel, Herald of Eternal Dawn boasts that you cannot lose the game where your opponents cannot also win the game, giving you a lifeline if you need another turn (or so) to win. Effects such as these aren’t always popular in Commander, but Herald of Eternal Dawn coming with flash does make this a lot more interesting, as you can cast this at instant speed in response to an opponent’s Thassa’s Oracle “win the game” trigger, for example.
Market Price: $199.11
Or you can just blank a massive combat swing from the opponent by flashing the Angel in and laughing away. There’s further merit to using the Angel as an aggressive option, especially when you have either Avacyn, Angel of Hope as your Commander, as it means you’re able to build an impressive board of Angels and have this “you can’t lose the game” clause as part of your strategy. And at the time of writing, the Fracture Foil printing of Herald of Eternal Dawn is one of the top five most valuable cards you can open from Magic Foundations. Magic players love Angels, and players will go out of their way to own the most exotic printings of the creature type for their Commander deck.
#5 Overlord of the Hauntwoods
Overlord of the Hauntwoods
Duskmourn: House of Horror, Mythic
Overlord of the Hauntwoods from Duskmourn: House of Horror remains the most desirable out of the Overlord cycle, and this is because the card essentially propels you on mana by creating a tapped token named Everywhere – which is every Basic Land type (Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest) whenever the card enters play or attacks. While there are some Commander applications with the Avatar Horror, the card is seeing the most play in Standard within Four-Color Zur and Domain Ramp, which uses Zur, Eternal Schemer to give your Overlord cards deathouch, lifelink, and hexproof. This concept extends to Pioneer, where Overlord of the Hauntwoods appears in Engimatic Combo, a strategy that uses Enigmatic Incarnation to sacrifice away enchantments to find creatures of a higher mana value and put them onto the battlefield. There’s a ton of competitive demand for the Overload, where it’s becoming one of the more valuable hits from Duskmourn: House of Horror, which includes the Japan Showcase printing.
#4 Twinflame Tyrant
Twinflame Tyrant
Foundations, Mythic
If there’s one thing Commander players love to do, it’s having cards that can double up on effects or triggers, which is why Twinflame Tyrant is becoming a desirable hit from the Japan Showcase series. Appearing in Magic Foundations, the Dragon doubles any damage from any source you control that would deal damage to an opponent or a permanent an opponent controls, meaning the output from Twinflame Tyrant can become ridiculous rather quickly. Furthermore, Twinflame Tyrant is a Dragon, which is one of the most popular creature types to play in Commander due to the prevalence of The Ur-Dragon in the singleton format. It’s also becoming a popular Commander card in a mixture of Mono-Red strategies led by Torbran, Thane of Red Fell and Imodane, the Pyrohammer, as it just allows you to propel damage output with little effort. And due to the evergreen demand of casual players wanting cards that double up on particular effects, Twinflame Tyrant is one of the more desirable Japan Showcase cards you can own right now.
#3 Bloodthirsty Conqueror
Bloodthirsty Conqueror
Foundations, Mythic
This sentiment also extends to Bloodthirsty Conqueror, which is becoming one of the most desirable cards to own from the Japan Showcase series. As mentioned earlier alongside Enduring Tenacity, Bloodthirsty Conqueror is another take on Exquisite Blood, which pairs best with the Glimmer card (or Sanguine Bond), creating an infinite combo as long as you have a way to gain life to kick things off. Another notable feature of Bloodthirsty Conqueror is that it’s a Vampire, and Vampires have long been a popular strategy to play in Commander, especially with the renewed interest of Edgar Markov with the release of Innistrad Remastered early next year. Outside of the Fracture Foil and Japan Showcase printings of Bloodthirsty Conqueror, it remains one of the most expensive cards in Magic Foundationsand looks to have an extremely resilient financial future.
#2 Llanowar Elves
Llanowar Elves
Foundations, Mythic
We discussed earlier how a Japan Showcase copy of Think Twice is more valuable than it seems, well, the same also applies to Llanowar Elves. Appearing in Magic Foundations, Llanowar Elves is one of the most iconic creatures in Magic’s history and established the power level of Standard over the next five years. However, the Japan Showcase (and Fracture Foil) printing of the card is one of the most valuable from the series, and it’s because of the substantial casual and competitive overlap. It’s also an Elf, and Elves have been a long-time fixture of Magic, which only furthers demand for the more exotic printings of these must-play cards. Llanowar Elves is also the most expensive Fracture Foil card on TCGplayer right now, but it does fluctuate often with our next entry in…
#1 Doubling Season
Doubling Season
Foundations, Mythic
Yep, it may not be much of a surprise to see Doubling Season as the most valuable Japan Showcase card at the time of publication. Since Commander’s inception in 2011, Doubling Season has remained a permanent fixture of the format, as being able to double-up on token creation as well as counters is remarkably good for a variety of archetypes. From Planeswalkers to Tokens, Doubling Season is often a must-have for any Commander that incorporates green as it generates so much passive value during a game. The card saw a notable reprint in Magic Foundations, which enabled players to pick up the Commander staple for a much more affordable rate since the November release. And if you’re someone who’s after the most exotic variants for their favorite Commander, then the Japan Showcase and Fracture Foil variants are for you.