Hey guys and girls, welcome to the new series "This Week in Magic", and what an explosive time to start writing for you! Conspiracy: Take the Crown has launched, putting a metric ton of reprints into circulation. Also, some notable changes to the modern meta has caused quite a few cards to hit their all-time highs.
Engineered Explosives was never really been secret tech and has been around Modern for quite some time. Its quick spike has to be attributed to something recent and signs point to Modern. In Modern, Death's Shadow decks are becoming very popular and Engineered Explosives is an absolute blowout against them. It’s also good against Jund, Infect, Affinity, etc and just an all-around great sideboard card.
Speaking of Modern, Dredge is back. Well, it never went anywhere, but it’s been performing very well and has gained in popularity. The overall deck price has been going up (Bloodghast, Narcomoeba and Dakmor Salvage, for example) but we’ll have to see how long Dredge remains among the top decks. Obviously graveyard disruption is a huge hurdle, but Modern decks are currently fairly light in that regard, besides Grafdigger's Cage in some sideboards.
And now we have a mystery on our hands. Tainted Aether. From everything I can see, this card sees zero competitive play. I’ve seen it during EDH games paired with Forbidden Orchard, the hunted cycle of creatures from Ravnica and Overburden. It’s legal in Vintage, Legacy and Commander, and I can’t find a good reason why this card spiked. Thoughts?
While these may be listed as weekly losers, you’ll be a winner if you decide to pick these up while they are low.
Berserk, Show and Tell, Inquisition of Kozilek and Serum Visions took a massive dive since the release of Conspiracy: Take the Crown. People expected prices to drop, but a chain reaction of fear caused a massive influx of cards hitting the market and people didn’t buy them as quickly as sellers had hoped. The results speak for themselves, however, that’s no reason to run out and sell yours. It’s a perfect time to pick up your playsets!