The Magic: The Gathering card Kaito, Bane of Nightmares has doubled in value in the past week. On November 28, it was priced at $10, but at time of writing, December 5, it’s gone all the way up to $20.
That makes it the third most expensive MTG card to come out of Duskmourn, hot on the heels of other breakout cards Abhorrent Oculus and Screaming Nemesis. It’s fairly unusual for an MTG planeswalker card to get this pricey. They’re often valued high initially but soon fall once players see they don’t live up to the hype. But not Kaito; he’s seeing plenty of play in top decks.
At a glance, you wouldn’t necessarily expect Kaito to find his way into Standard. With the Ninjitsu ability and a focus on buffing ninjas, the card looks like an EDH plant for ninja tribal decks if there ever was one. And it’s certainly true that Kaito Bane of Nightmares is seen with MTG commanders like Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow, appearing in more than 5,000 decks logged on EDHREC already.
However, the major driver of this price spike is Standard and not Commander. Kaito, Bane of Nightmares has become a part of Dimir Midrange, a deck that is currently dominating the Standard meta, doing even better than Golgari, another deck that’s currently shaking up the market.
Kaito is doing so well because he plays like (and becomes) a creature, not a planeswalker. He can jump in early with Ninjutsu becoming a tough to deal with attacker that can buff itself to stay relevant against scary board states, or tap down huge threats and stun them. Generally, however, you’ll be using his 0 loyalty ability to surveil and draw extra cards each turn. Combined with Enduring Curiosity, this makes Dimir Midrange’s card draw capabilities second to none.
Though a different Dimir deck, Dimir Demons, won the 2024 World Championships in October, Dimir Midrange decks featuring Kaito were well-represented in the top 8. They’ve since become a much more important part of the Standard landscape, not to mention one of the best MTG Arena decks.
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