MtG: Pithing Needle - Saviors of Kamigawa Rare Mint Magic Card

One of the cards I got in Lot 8 (see previous post) was a rare card from the Saviors of Kamigawa set called the Pithing Needle. This was a card that I hadn't heard of before (remember I haven't really played Magic since 1997 or so), and so was pleasantly surprised when I went to list it in the store and discovered that its quite the hot property!

Here's the card's description, from my listing:

Pithing Needle: Artifact; as Pithing Needle comes into play, name a card; activated Abilities of the named card can't be played unless they're mana abilities; casting cost 1.

This is a nasty little card that can be used to effectively shut down an entire opponent's deck if it depends on their using a specific card's ability. At the very least it's useful for preventing that blasted Prodigal Sorcerer from pinging you to death one life point at a time! I've done a little research into the card, and it was hot right from the start - people were paying upwards of $20 for the thing when the set first came out back in the middle of 2005. Some predicted that the card would turn out to be overrated, and that the price would drop into a more reasonable range later.

Well, two years later, and even with Saviors no longer being the fresh set on the block, Pithing Needle continues to sell for anywhere from $15-$25 (as I write this, the cheapest in a Store on eBay is $22.99). I've got mine, a brand new, Minty fresh-from-the-pack card, up for $24, right in the middle of the pack, price-wise.

I should mention if you're looking for common cards from Saviors of Kamigawa, you can find them at my online store - just do a search for "Saviors" and you'll see all the cards available.