Summary
Odyssey markedMagic: The Gathering’s 24th set when it released in October 2001, and it introduced an entirely new region of Dominaria called Otaria. After the Apocalypse set finished up the lengthy Weatherlight Saga, Odyssey introduced entirely new heroes to Magic’s storyline.
In terms of gameplay, Odyssey was the first set that explicitly featured mechanics that revolved around manipulating your own graveyard, and it introduced the popular flashback mechanic (which allows you to play spells from your graveyard) as well as Threshold, which has been featured sparingly in following sets – including in 2024’s Bloomburrow. Let’s take a look at the most valuable cards from Odyssey.
The card prices quoted all come fromTCGPlayer’s Market Price History over the past calendar year and may fluctuate over time.
10Nantuko Shrine
Market Price: $5.50
An unusual card, this green enchantment could be had for under a dollar before the release of Murders at Karlov Manor in 2024, but that set introduced the intriguing “a deck can have any number of this card” Slime Against Humanity.
If you play that card (which isgreat for a Commander deck) with a Nantuko Shrine in play, you get a huge ooze token as well as myriad squirrel tokens related to the amount of Slime Against Humanity cards in your graveyard. That’s certainly an interesting and fun synergy, leading to this card’s price increase.
9Buried Alive
Market Price: $6.06
Originally printed back in 1997’s Weatherlight set, this black sorcery perfectly fits into Odyssey’s graveyard shenanigans set theme, and it also pairs beautifully with any number of reanimation spells – especially those that can pull multiple bodies out of the ‘yard at once.
This card has been reprinted a few times over the years – including in 2024’s Modern Horizons 3 – but Odyssey’s printing is the only old-bordered version with Greg Staples’ iconic artwork that shows a poor soul getting, as you would expect, buried alive.
8Price of Glory
Market Price: $8.12
Old MTG sets used to print cards that severely hosed entire strategies, and this red enchantment is a prime example of one of those cards. Destroying a land whenever it’s tapped on someone else’s turn is an incredibly powerful effect, and with this in play, games grind to a halt as people mostly stick to playing cards on their turns.
Playing instant-speed spells is ingrained into the DNA of Magic players, but this card forces you to rethink every play on an opposing player’s turn, or it simply acts as a sponge for targeted or mass removal so players can get back to their standard strategies.
7Seize the Day
Market Price: $9.04
Extra combat step spells are almost always eminently powerful – just look at the price point for beloved Baldur’s Gate 3 companionKarlach’s MTG cardfor evidence – and this is the only one of those spells that can be played from the graveyard.
That means, hypothetically, that you may untap a single creature two times and chain together three straight combat steps if you have 5 colorless mana and two red mana. That ability pairs eminently well with a creature with a super-strong attack trigger – such as the milling abilities of Lord Xander, the Collector, or Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger.
6Terravore
Market Price: $9.06
The long-standing Lhurgoyf creature type saw a boost after the release of Odyssey, and green’s addition to the series was Terravore – a creature whose power and toughness can balloon rapidly when paired with cards that shovel a ton of lands into the graveyard.
While the card’s uncommon printing from Dominaria Remastered can be had for a pittance (under 20 cents on TCGPlayer), its rare Odyssey printing will cost you quite a bit more – likely because of the attractive vintage-style border.
5Cephalid Coliseum
Market Price: $12.27
A land that can draw you three cards? It’s Ancestral Recall on a stick! Of course, this nonbasic land forces you to discard three cards after drawing three, but for decks that take advantage of this drawback – such as the ultra-popular, tournament-winning Psychatog deck from this era – that’s more of a boon than a hindrance.
With classic artwork from master land illustrator John Avon, the Odyssey printing of this card has retained an extremely high price point – especially in contrast to its Modern Horizons 3 reprinting, which features the same art with a modern card border but can be had for mere pennies.
4Deserted Temple
Market Price: $13.00
Unusual nonbasic lands from older MTG sets almost always retain a high price point on the secondary market, and this rare from Odyssey slots into that style of card perfectly.
Featuring a strong and cheap activated ability that allows you to untap any land, this card is broken alongside powerhouse nonbasic lands such as Gaea’s Cradle or Tolarian Academy that can be tapped for tons of mana at a time.
3Tainted Pact
Market Price: $21.91
A unique and intriguing search card for black mages, this card is a perfect addition to Commander decks that need to find that one card to either save themselves or win the game on the spot. As such, it’s no wonder this card’s price point exceeds $20.
By default, Commander decks feature no cards with the same name, which means this card can fetch up any card you want, whether it be a final combo piece to go infinite or a board wipe to help reset the game – allowing you to swoop in and win out of nowhere.
2Tarnished Citadel
Market Price: $33.64
As evidenced by Deserted Temple, unusual nonbasic lands retain high price points long after their release due to scarcity and the novelty factor – both of which play a role in the over-$30 price tag of Odyssey’s Tarnished Citadel.
Essentially a worse version of City of Brass or Mana Confluence, this card had never been reprinted until Mystery Booster 2 gave the card a novel, white-bordered reprint, but this card’s supreme scarcity and massive drawback likely add to its impressive price point.
1Entomb
Market Price: $36.30
The most valuable card from Odyssey is this one-mana black instant spell that allows you to search your deck for any card and toss it into the graveyard. While this might sound counterproductive, any deck that plays this card will certainly have a reason to put cards into their own ‘yard.
Whether you give your foe a one-two punch with this card on their end step and then a Reanimate on your turn to bring back some massively powerful creature, or you’re fueling some other graveyard-based combo, Entomb is the card that can find any card you need to get the ball rolling – and all for one mana. No wonder this version of the card fetches nearly $40 close to 25 years after it was released.
