Dockside Extortionist — banned in Commander, but the market hasn't forgotten

Dockside Extortionist had it coming. For years it was the card every Commander player loved to hate: drop it, count your opponents' artifacts and enchantments, make that many Treasures, and suddenly you're so far ahead the table might as well pack up. The Rules Committee finally pulled the trigger. Dockside is banned in Commander. So what happens to the price of a format-defining staple when the format says "no thanks"?

We're not here to cry for the goblin. We're here to report. The card is still legal in Legacy, Oathbreaker, and a few other places — and it just got a brand-new printing in Avatar: The Last Airbender Eternal. So you've got the original Commander 2019 version, the Double Masters 2022 reprint that was supposed to cool the market (it didn't), and now a Universes Beyond full-art that dropped months after the ban. Three printings. Three charts. Let's look at the numbers.

Why Dockside mattered — and why the ban stung

When Dockside hit the battlefield in a typical Commander game, you were often making three, four, or more Treasures. That's ramp and fixing in one card, and it scaled with the table. In cEDH it was a combo piece. In casual it was still backbreaking. EDHREC had it in tens of thousands of decks. So when the RC banned it, a huge chunk of demand vanished overnight. In theory. In practice, the card had already been expensive for years — and a lot of copies had already found binders, trade piles, and Legacy sideboards.

The three printings — and what they tell you

Commander 2019 is the original. One copy per precon, and those decks were cracked for other hits too. Supply was never huge. After the 2X2 reprint, the C19 version stayed relevant for people who wanted the "first printing" or the classic art. Post-ban, it's the one that had the most to lose from Commander demand drying up — but it's also the one collectors and Legacy players still want. The chart tells the story.

Double Masters 2022 was supposed to be the "finally, we can afford it" moment. Mythic in a premium set. It did add supply, but the card was so in-demand that prices stayed high. Now that Commander's out of the equation, the 2X2 version is the workhorse for anyone still playing the card elsewhere. Expect it to be the most liquid of the three.

Avatar: The Last Airbender Eternal gave us a full-art, borderless Dockside with a brand that has nothing to do with goblins or pirates. It's the newest printing — and it landed after the ban. So Wizards was already committed to the product; the ban just made the timing awkward. If you want the fancy version and you're not playing Commander with it, this is the one. Price-wise it's been finding its level. Check the chart.

What we're watching

Bans don't always crater a card. Dockside still has a home in Legacy and Oathbreaker, and there are plenty of players who'll keep a copy for other formats or "just in case." The market has had time to digest the RC's decision. We're not calling a bottom or a top — we're saying: look at the three curves below. Compare C19 to 2X2 to TLE. Toggle regular vs foil. The ban happened; the cardboard is still out there, and the numbers don't lie.

Until next time — keep those Treasures counted. Just not in Commander.