Exodus MTG Cards Worth Money: 1998 Value Guide
Prices from cards tracked on RareWell — updated daily. Last updated August 3, 2026.
The Exodus cards worth the most money are City of Traitors and Survival of the Fittest — both Reserved List rares worth hundreds in decent condition — followed by Recurring Nightmare, Oath of Druids, and Mind Over Matter.
Exodus closed out the Tempest block in June 1998, and it punches far above its size for collectors. Because it landed before the Reserved List cutoff, its never-reprinted rares are locked out of reprints forever, and several of them happen to be genuinely powerful cards.
| Card | Set | Rarity | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of Traitors | Exodus | rare | $545 |
| Survival of the Fittest | Exodus | rare | $400 |
| Recurring Nightmare | Exodus | rare | $84 |
| Hatred | Exodus | rare | $63 |
| Mind Over Matter | Exodus | rare | $43 |
 Plaguebearer | Exodus | rare | $40 |
 Oath of Druids | Exodus | rare | $32 |
 Sphere of Resistance | Exodus | rare | $31 |
 Coat of Arms | Exodus | rare | $25 |
 Cataclysm | Exodus | rare | $17 |
 Ertai, Wizard Adept | Exodus | rare | $13 |
 Price of Progress | Exodus | uncommon | $9.77 |
 Pandemonium | Exodus | rare | $8.67 |
 Manabond | Exodus | rare | $8.60 |
 Oath of Ghouls | Exodus | rare | $7.55 |
 Culling the Weak | Exodus | common | $7.23 |
 Reconnaissance | Exodus | uncommon | $6.64 |
 Slaughter | Exodus | uncommon | $6.63 |
 Null Brooch | Exodus | rare | $6.51 |
 Wall of Nets | Exodus | rare | $5.59 |
The two headliners
City of Traitors is the set's blue-chip card: a land that makes two colorless mana, it is a pillar of Legacy artifact decks and has only ever been printed in Exodus. Reserved List protection plus constant competitive demand is the strongest value formula in Magic, and City of Traitors has both.
Survival of the Fittest is the other giant. One green mana to convert any creature in hand into any creature in your library proved so strong it was banned in Legacy, and it remains a marquee engine in Commander and cube. Like City, it is Reserved List and Exodus-only in its original form.
The rest of the Reserved List bench
Exodus carries an unusually deep Reserved List roster for a small set. These are the rares to check first.
- Recurring Nightmare — a legendarily powerful sacrifice-and-reanimate engine
- Oath of Druids — the namesake of an entire Vintage archetype
- Mind Over Matter — a combo enchantment with a long history alongside untap-and-draw engines
- Hatred — the classic all-in black finisher
- Null Brooch — a niche artifact counterspell with a cult following
Playable value outside the Reserved List
Sphere of Resistance still taxes spells in Legacy and Vintage stax piles. Erratic Portal is a long-running Commander utility artifact, Cataclysm is one of white's harshest resets, and Forbid gave control mages a buyback counterspell they still remember fondly. Coat of Arms debuted here too — heavy reprinting keeps the price down, but the Exodus original carries a first-printing premium, especially in clean condition.
Ertai, Wizard Adept and Mirri, Cat Warrior are story legends with steady casual demand, and Paladin en-Vec had its own tournament moment worth a nostalgic look.
A collector's footnote: rarity you can see
Exodus was the first Magic set to color-code rarity on the expansion symbol — gold for rare, silver for uncommon, black for common. Every set since has followed. It is a small piece of design history that makes Exodus a neat milestone to collect in its own right.
Condition drives everything at this age. Exodus predates pack foils, so a near-mint City of Traitors versus a shuffled-for-years copy can be a several-fold difference — the live price table below reflects typical market copies.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the most expensive card in Exodus?
- City of Traitors, in most conditions, with Survival of the Fittest right behind it. Both are Reserved List cards with ongoing eternal-format and Commander demand.
- Is Survival of the Fittest banned?
- It is banned in Legacy, where it proved too strong as a creature-toolbox engine. It remains legal and heavily played in Commander and Vintage.
- Are Exodus cards on the Reserved List?
- Many of its rares are, including City of Traitors, Survival of the Fittest, Recurring Nightmare, Oath of Druids, Mind Over Matter, and Hatred. They can never be reprinted in paper.
- Does Exodus have foils?
- No — foils did not arrive in booster packs until Urza's Legacy in 1999. For Exodus, condition and grading take the place of foil premiums.