Slow and steady goes the upward trend for some cards as we look at Carnot the Eternal Machine.
The Slowly Building Value
Released back in the Phantom Nightmare expansion just last year (2024), this Ultra Rare (UR) card started at a modest $1.24 price average in the second-hand market. As time passed, however, the card kept seeing its value continue to rise and fall.
It was around the tail end of last month (February 2025) that saw copies of Carnot the Eternal Machine jump from a $3.28 average to about $5. Some individual sales hopping over to the $14-15 average, which is rather impressive.
The Quarter Century Secret Rare (QCSR) for Carnot also saw its own positive climb though not to the same extent as its more common variant. Around the same time, Carnot’s QCSR started at a $12.49 average before presently settling at $17.29. Notably, some individual sales do surprisingly blitz towards the $24-27 mark though.
Why the Shift?
It’s a little confusing to fathom why Carnot the Eternal Machine has been rising in value as the months passed. That said, there may be some intrepid deck builders who are looking at the new main deck Cyber Dragon support that’s coming in Alliance Insight and thinking of some extra lines of play.
One of these lines is by contact fusing Chimeratech Megafleet Dragon and then bringing out Carnot. The player could then immediately go into the Superdreadnought Rail Cannon duo of Gustav Max and Juggernaut Liebe.
There’s also a line of play using Chimeratech Rampage Dragon to send Carnot from the deck to the graveyard without activating Carnot’s built-in recursion. This sets up a two-pronged play line from the abovementioned Superdreadnought duo while allowing the player to XYZ climb into Cyber Dragon Infinity.
If looking for the card may seem troublesome, Carnot the Eternal Machine can be searched out by the Cyber Dragon’s in-archetype search card, Cyber Emergency.
There also exists the oddball chance that someone might use Carnot for K9 support given that Carnot shares the same penchant for punishing the opponent from using monster effects from the hand -and even from the graveyard-.
Scarcity Induced Value
Speculations within the game aside, there’s also the fact that Carnot the Eternal Machine has only been released in a single expansion with no news of reprints. Also since Carnot only exists as a UR and QCSR, its value may just skyrocket if someone is able to crack a deck-building code.
If Carnot does become competitively viable against tournament powerhouses, then everyone will be scrambling for their own copy; either for personal use or for selling to those that do want to use it.