Image courtesy of Scryfall.com
Bred for the Hunt: Tracking Its Secondary Market Trajectory
For collectors and strategists alike, the thrill of a good Commander pick isn’t just about the creature that smashes faces or the planeswalker that tilts the loyalty meter. It’s also about the quiet, patient data that tells you whether a card’s value will sprint, tread water, or quietly slip toward evergreen relevance. Bred for the Hunt, a green-blue enchantment from Commander Anthology Volume II, sits at an interesting crossroads in the secondary market. Its design is clean, its ability synergistic, and its price point—currently hovering around a few dollars—offers a compelling study in how niche cards find admixtures of demand and supply in the modern era of EDH, sealed events, and online marketplaces 🧙🔥💎.
Market snapshot: the numbers behind the hunt
- Rarity and format: Uncommon, reprinted in Commander Anthology Volume II (cm2). The card’s evergreen play pattern doesn’t rely on a single format, but it sits squarely in Commander’s popular green-blue decks—where +1/+1 counters and combat damage create strings of interactions that players love to chain together ⚔️.
- Mana cost and identity: {1}{G}{U} with a Simic color identity. The mana cost invites early play alongside other ramp in a single-turn swing, while the color pairing aligns neatly with counter-accumulating strategies and card-draw engines 🧙🔥.
- Oracle text and engine potential: “Whenever a creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it deals combat damage to a player, you may draw a card.” It’s a classic card-draw engine tucked inside an enchantment, requiring you to push a resilient threat through combat or assemble a board that reliably lands those connections 🎲.
- Release context and reprint status: Released in 2018 and later reprinted in cm2. Reprints cool the market’s expectation of scarcity, often dampening price spikes that accompany brand-new commanders or hot precon rotations, while potentially boosting overall exposure to casual players who didn’t own the earlier set • price data on Scryfall shows USD around $0.40 and EUR around €0.31 for nonfoil copies, a modest figure that underlines its status as a budget-friendly staple rather than a chase mythic 💎.
- Supply and value dynamism: The card’s nonfoil status and recurring print in a Commander anthology mean a steady, controlled flow of copies into the market. This tends to flatten extreme volatility but can also cap dramatic upward surges unless demand in EDH/Commander spikes—perhaps due to new counter-synergy cards or popular tinkerings in Simic-centered builds 🧭.
Why this enchantment matters in practice
Strategically, Bred for the Hunt shines when you’re curating a board that reliably pushes +1/+1 counters onto your creatures and then converts that power into card advantage. In a typical Simic shell, you’ll want creatures that can survive the combat step and still maximize value—whether through evasion, protection, or merely enduring enough to keep swinging. The enchantment’s trigger is a forgiving one: you only need a creature with a +1/+1 counter to deal combat damage to a player, and the draw prompts you to refill your hand just as your board transitions from growth to leadership. That rhythm—grow, hit, draw, repeat—is precisely what many EDH players adore, because it rewards patient planning and precise timing rather than pure speed. The card also interacts nicely with token generators and proliferate effects, where counters cascade across the battlefield and you chain card draws as you land each hit 🧙🔥.
“Some see the world as a place of infinite wonder and knowledge. Some see it as an infinite dinner plate.” — flavor text on Bred for the Hunt adds a wry wink to the hunt for value in a market that loves both elegance and efficiency 🍽️.
From a gameplay perspective, there’s another angle to consider: in multiplayer EDH, the prospect of recurring card draws can tilt the table’s tempo. While not a marquee commander enabler on its own, it becomes an accessory—a reliable engine piece that compounds with other +1/+1 counter sources. For market watchers, that means more consistent demand from players who want durable, low-cost options to grease their simulations of heavy-turn combos without inflating the price tag. The card’s edhrec_rank sits around 2,558, which places it on the radar for casual planners without becoming a must-have that drains festival budgets. It’s precisely the kind of evergreen staple that hobbyists keep in their binders for years to come 🧩.
Design, lore, and the collector’s mood
Karl Kopinski’s art gives the card a tactile, adventurous feel—green-blue hues swirling around a creature-careful tableau that hints at the tactical stacking of +1/+1 counters and counterplay. The design philosophy here is clean and modular: a single enchantment that fits into a broader counter-centric strategy, not a one-card solution but a doorway to deeper gameplay loops. For collectors, the card’s reprint status means it’s accessible, which is a boon for players who want to experiment with ideas without breaking the bank, while still offering the kind of back-pocket comfort that comes from seeing a card in multiple sets over the years 🎨.
Market outlook: what to watch and why it matters
If you enjoy tracking the long arc of a card’s journey, Bred for the Hunt provides a microcosm of how secondary markets react to reprint cycles and Commander-driven demand. Key drivers to keep an eye on include:
- Shifts in Commander popularity—new sets and random sweet spots can push older, evergreen cards into the spotlight.
- Emergence of new +1/+1 counter synergies or proliferate mechanics that make the draw engine more attractive.
- Overall market health for nonfoil staples in cm2 and related commander clusters.
- Availability on platforms like Cardmarket and TCGPlayer, which can reflect localized price pressures faster than broader indices.
For readers who want to explore more about pricing and availability, the numbers are approachable: a handful of dollars here, a euro or two there, with room to move if a breakout Simic build hits tournaments or popular online streams. The data, while humble, paints a patient picture: Bred for the Hunt isn’t a flash-in-the-pan; it’s a measured, reliable piece of a larger puzzle that many commanders have learned to solve with elegance and a bit of green-blue mischief 🧙🔥.
As markets evolve and new players enter the omniverse of MTG, you can keep a pulse on secondary values by checking quick references, price histories, and the occasional “what’s hot in EDH” roundups. And while you’re mapping your next decklist, why not protect your everyday carry with a sleek accessory—like the Slim Lexan Phone Case for iPhone 16—designed to travel with your collector’s journey? A practical companion for arena runs, kitchen-table games, and late-night deckbuilding marathons.