Image courtesy of Scryfall.com
Price Trends and Collector Value for Wretched Gryff
If you love blue novelty in rare formats, Wretched Gryff is a compact riddle wrapped in a 7-mana package. This Eldrazi Hippogriff from Innistrad Remastered, a Masters-style reprint, lands with a surprising combination: a high mana investment, a beneficial Emerge mechanic, and a built-in card draw when you cast it. For most players, the thrill isn’t about raw power at this exact cost, but about function—how it scales into a late-game plan when you’ve spent tempo to set up a favorable board state 🧙♂️🔥. In the market, it sits at a budget-friendly perch: approximately $0.04 USD for nonfoil copies and around $0.09 USD for foils, with European prices near €0.06 for both foil and nonfoil editions. Those numbers make it a charming “buy-and-forget” pick for budget decks and collectors chasing stable, low-risk additions 💎⚔️.
Rarity matters here. Wretched Gryff is a common in Innistrad Remastered, which typically translates to abundant supply and slower price appreciation. The card’s appeal isn’t driven by a scarcity premium but by a combination of utility and nostalgia—the feel of a Master-set reprint with a modern twist. For price watchers, the foil premium is modest but real; foil copies can fetch a touch more, especially in markets that crave glossy, durable versions of quirky blue creatures 🎨🎲. The data you’ll see across aggregates aligns with that: a tiny but steady drift rather than a meteoric spike, unless a future commander product echoes the same cool mix of sacrifice and card draw.
- Base cost and foils: Nonfoil around $0.04 USD; Foil around $0.09 USD. In Europe, about €0.06 for both nonfoil and foil. These figures underline its role as a budget-friendly inclusion rather than a top-dollar chase card.
- Print history: Reprint in Innistrad Remastered dampens short-term volatility but preserves long-tail interest among players who enjoy Emerge synergies and blue splash ideas.
- Format relevance: Legal in Modern, Legacy, Pioneer, Commander, and many other eternal formats, but not Standard. That broad legality helps steady demand from multiple playgroups 🧙♂️.
- Foil vs nonfoil dynamics: Foil editions tend to hold a slight premium, reflecting production costs and collector desirability, even for commons in Masters-era sets 🔥.
- Market drivers: A healthy balance of new deckbuilding interest, reprint fatigue, and the occasional nostalgia spike from art and lore can nudge prices, but the overall trajectory for this card remains conservative 🌟.
“Sometimes the quietest card in a blue deck is the one that rewards you with a fresh card draw right as you’re staring down a board wipe.”
From a collector’s viewpoint, Wretched Gryff embodies the charm of a Masters-era common: accessible to new players, fun for casual tables, and a nice nod to the Eldrazi flavor that invaded Innistrad’s nightmarish skies. Its art by Darek Zabrocki captures that peculiar cross-section of alien majesty and avian intimidation—the kind of piece you’re proud to sleeve up, even if your local meta doesn’t rotate around it 🧙♂️🎨. The card’s stock is stable enough to swing as a reliable “small bet” in a binder of value engines, yet calm enough to not demand space on every trade pile ⚔️💎.
Why Wretched Gryff finds a home in blue-centered strategies
Blue players love card advantage, evasive bodies, and ways to pressure an opponent while keeping their own options open. Wretched Gryff checks several boxes:
- Emerge and card advantage—When you cast Wretched Gryff, you draw a card, which is a welcome tempo swing in a long game. The ability to “cheat” this 7-mana creature into play by sacrificing a creature adds an interactive, sac-friendly layer to a blue shell 🧙♂️.
- Flying for inevitability—A flying beater with 3/4 stats is a punctual clock that your opponent can’t ignore once it lands, especially after a draw trigger. That evasion pairs nicely with counterspells and removal packages to close out games ⚔️.
- Synergy with sacrifice engines—In a deck that can generate efficient value from sacrificing small creatures, Wretched Gryff becomes a value engine that rewards you for your own board state rather than punishing you for building it. Think of it as a flashier appendage to a blue sacrifice or blink theme 🧙♂️🎲.
For players looking to populate a casual EDH or a tempo-light Modern build, Wretched Gryff offers a reliable, low-cost lane. The trick is to balance the sacrifice outlets, so you don’t overextend and leave your board bare after a sweep. The draw-on-cast effect helps smooth your hand, letting you find answers or threats in a tempo-friendly rhythm 🔥.
Practical buying tips and storage for value-minded fans
Because Wretched Gryff is a common with a broad print, you’ll likely find it in bulk at friendly prices. If you’re chasing a foil or a minty nonfoil for a display binder, keep an eye on condition—edges and corners matter less on Commons, but a crisp foil always pops in a collection. Use sealed product or shop singles through trusted retailers to ensure you’re getting a genuine Innistrad Remastered print, not a misprint or misidentified reprint. And if you’re curious about the card’s broader market context, compare the card across major vendors and watch for small price bumps around tournament season or new Commander products that push blue sac strategies into the spotlight 🧙♂️💎.
As you curate your collection, remember: staying curious about how reprint sets affect price helps you time purchases, not just chase the next big hype. Wretched Gryff teaches a little patience and a lot of flavor—two qualities that any MTG collector can toast with a favorite drink and a well-worn playmat 🧙♂️🎲.