Image courtesy of Scryfall.com
Ichthyomorphosis and the Reprint Economy
When we talk about the economic lifecycle of Magic: The Gathering cards, we’re really tracing how scarcity, demand, and timing collide across formats and print runs. Ichthyomorphosis gives us a tidy, blue-glass-window example: a costed enchantment from Theros Beyond Death that redefines a creature into a blue Fish with the most humble of bodies—0/1 with all abilities stripped away. It sounds like a niche prank, but in the grand ledger of MTG economics, it’s a case study in how powerful-sounding effect text and rarity interact with reprint cycles, market sentiment, and casual play coverage 🧙🔥💎⚔️.
Budget-minded players will recognize Ichthyomorphosis as a common enchantment that can swing game state in subtle, frustrating ways. For a spell that costs {2}{U} and has a relatively tame base mana value of 3, its true power lies in tempo denial and deck-building psychology. The enchanted creature loses all abilities and becomes a blue Fish with base power and toughness 0/1. The simplicity of that line—enchant creature, remove abilities, flip to a 0/1 fish—belies how often a single aura can unlock or lock down board states in both Commander games and broader casual matches 🎨🎲.
A card’s life in the market: why reprints matter
Reprints act like a floodgate for supply. When a card that sits in many players’ binders receives a reprint, it’s not just the physical copies that multiply; it’s the sense that the price ceiling has softened. For Ichthyomorphosis, not currently flagged as a reprint in recent sets, that means its price trajectory is tightly bound to the THB print—its supply, its foil availability, and the commander community’s lingering fondness for blue control in EDH/Commander. In a vacuum, a reprint would likely drag nonfoil prices downward as new copies elbow their way into circulation; foils would face a more complicated cap, often holding value due to novelty and foil demand, but still trending away from “penny” territory over time. The market loves to chase a curve where supply grows faster than demand; reprints accelerate that curve, especially for cards with broad deck-building utility across multiple formats 🧙🔥💎⚔️.
Take a look at the current landscape and you’ll notice Ichthyomorphosis exists in a space where the card’s utility is persistent but not explosive. It’s legal in a wide swath of eternal formats—Modern, Legacy, Vintage practical play, and a home in EDH—yet it sits at a low rarity, so a fresh print would primarily affect supply rather than demand in a dramatic way. The flavor text—“Tycthis's military career was a flop.”—adds a dash of character that keeps it memorable in casual conversations and deck-building banter, which helps maintain a small but steady baseline interest even when the price is tiny 🧙♂️🎨.
Charting a lifecycle model for reprints
- Baseline supply: A common card from THB, with a typical print run and foil/nonfoil options. Ichthyomorphosis sits at a low price point, often a few cents in USD, with foils nudging higher due to scarcity and demand.
- Format demand: Commander/EDH players seek reliable control tools and unique damage prevention or reset options. Ichthyomorphosis appeals as a quirky control piece in blue-heavy decks, keeping its floor stable while the ceiling remains limited.
- Reprint event risk: If Wizards of the Coast reprints the card in a modern or future evergreen set, you’d expect a rapid supply uptick that compresses nonfoil values and tempers foil prices, though foils can retain some premium due to print-run quirks and foil-offering windows.
- Secondary-market signals: Collector interest, EDHREC rank (the card sits modestly in the EDH market), and the presence of reprints in popular bundles or special editions all influence the price trajectory beyond raw supply/demand math.
- Art and collectability: The Campbell White illustration, paired with a clean blue palette, helps keep Ichthyomorphosis on people’s radar even when the numbers dip—artistic appeal is a non-trivial driver in long-tail value 🧙♂️🎨.
What the numbers tell us today
From a practical point of view, Ichthyomorphosis embodies the “low-risk, low-reward” end of the spectrum. The current USD price hovers in the pennies, with foil options a little richer due to scarcity. In euro terms, you’ll see a similar pattern. The TCGplayer, CardMarket, and other marketplaces reflect a steady trickle of activity—enough for casual players to justify adding it to a blue aura suite, but not enough to spur a speculative sprint. For collectors who chase foil art or special printings, the foil variant offers a modest bump, while the nonfoil remains the workhorse of the deck builder’s budget bin 🧲💎.
The lifecycle of a reprint isn’t just about dollars and cents; it’s about accessibility, nostalgia, and deck-building creativity. When a card like Ichthyomorphosis appears or reappears in a print run, it reshapes how players think about control and synergy in blue-heavy strategies.
Lore, design, and why players keep coming back
The flavor and lore of Theros Beyond Death give Ichthyomorphosis a memorable identity. Tycthis’s military career might be a flop, but this enchantment makes a creature into a blue Fish that’s not breaking the game, yet certainly changing the face of the battlefield. That elegant, almost whimsical restraint—turning a creature into a 0/1 fish with no abilities—exemplifies an existential approach to blue’s control toolkit: you don’t always need to win the race; you just need to soupçon the tempo and outmaneuver your opponent. It’s the kind of design that keeps players talking, sharing memes, and revisiting the card’s text long after the game ends 🎲⚔️.
Practical tips for players and collectors
- Watch for reprints: If you’re chasing value, monitor set spoilers and product reprint announcements. A reprint can step on the price curve, especially for nonfoil copies.
- Foils as a hedge: Foil Ichthyomorphosis tends to hold value slightly better than nonfoils because of limited foil supply and the appeal of a foil blue aura in Commander setups 🧙♀️💎.
- Format resilience: Given its broad legality across eternal formats, the card benefits from steady demand in EDH and casual blue-control builds rather than chasing high-list price spikes.
- Resource triage: Use price-tracking sites and EDH-focused communities to gauge whether your local or online meta still values the deck’s anti-creature tempo, especially when you’re weighing a reprint risk vs. current price.
All of this reminds us that the economics of MTG cards aren’t a straight line from scarcity to spike. They’re a tapestry of print history, format trends, artistry, and the ever-shifting sands of player interest. Ichthyomorphosis is a perfect lens for that conversation: a small, clever sneeze of blue magic that can ripple across markets if the stars realign—yet remains, at heart, a budget-friendly, memorable piece of Theros Beyond Death’s lore.