This Week in Magic - Week 17

28 Apr
by Jeremy Lichtenberger

Ok, well this week in Magic was…interesting. MTGO got Amonkhet cards BEFORE paper, which blows my mind. Protean Hulk got unbanned and Leovold, Emissary of Trest got banned in Commander. Wizards banned Sensei's Divining Top in Legacy and restricted Gush/Gitaxian Probe in Vintage. They didn't ban anything in Standard THEY BANNED FELDAR GUARDIAN!!! In a plot twist only M. Night Shyamalan could have written, Wizards released an emergency announcement declaring an end to the kitty combo. Let's try to digest what all has happened to card prices this week.

 

Protean Hulk

As I mentioned in the intro, Protean Hulk got unbanned in Commander, and I have no idea why. It allows some broken things, but more power to them. The price spike literally happened minutes after the announcement. I watched Ebay listings get pulled and online stores get bought out instantly. I'm not sure how many people will play with Protean Hulk, as he's been banned for a while, and some players don't really remember his power. We'll see how long the spike can hold out.

 

Glorybringer

In the most exciting news for me, Glorybringer got some massive, gold's gym level gains. I preordered three playsets when it was spoiled because I love dragons and planned on playing it in new Standard. It turns out, Glorybringer is raining much more than glory on its opponents. It is an absolute beating in a creature fight. Saheeli Rai decks were playing it with Felidar Guardian, but probably still could play it without Guardian. Either way, we are now in the age of dragons. Powerful dragons. 

 

Hazoret the Fervent

Is it my birthday? Actually, it was 2 weeks ago, but nevertheless, Hazoret the Fervent took his place on the throne, and guess what? He's also a red card that I preordered. Unfortunately, after some testing, I found that I don't really like him in mono red. That being said, I still think he has a home in a graveyard or discard based deck. Heck, you could run him as a mono red Commander. All the gods are jockeying for position on the leaderboard, so we'll have to see who takes the top spot in the weeks to follow. 

 

Ivory Tower

Antiquities Ivory Tower has been up and down in the recent months, but it made a steep climb this week. Back in the day, Ivory Tower was a near unbeatable card. I remember scooping to my friend every time he played this turn 1. It's not on the reserved list, but I can see people (like myself) wanting to own the original card. Don't get me wrong, I think Ivory Tower is a perfectly fine card to run in Commander. 

 

True-Name Nemesis

I normally don't like blue cards, but True-Name Nemesis always had a special place in my heart. It's a true beat down card that is unfortunately blue. With the ban of top in Legacy, people are quickly going back to True-Name, as Terminus was really the only way to stop him. It sees play in Vintage as well, so it's safe to say that TNN will probably no longer be affordable. 

 

Rhonas the Indomitable

Rhonas the Indomitable had a smaller gain than Hazoret, but is worth much more. It's still too early to tell just how useful the gods will be, but the green god is definitely the easiest one to turn on. This could be similar to the green Gearhulk, Verdurous Gearhulk, in that it is undervalued. I think it's priced a little too high to speculate on right now, so give it a few weeks to see if it drops. This also would make a great Commander, as the pump and trample is pretty good.

Foils of the Week!

What? Foil Pact of Negation are well over $100 now? Gross. Protean Hulk followed its non-foil copy, hitting close to $75. Foil Rhystic Study, which I hate as a card, but love as a foil, got some love this week. For some reason foil Through the Breach has gone up AGAIN. Like over $175. Insane. Foil Pithing Needle is nearing $20 and to round out the week, foil All Is Dust is closing in on $40. 

Cheap pickups of the Week

If you ever wanted Legacy miracles pieces, now is the time. Players are quickly dumping their pimped out decks, so the market will quickly become saturated with deck pieces. With kitty combo banned, Saheeli's will be affordable now. It's still a great time to spec on sleeper Amonkhet cards. Almost all the rares are dirt cheap as of this writing. Heck, Emblem - Gideon of the Trials is the 11th most expensive card in Amonkhet.

Mtgstocks mystery chart of the Week!

Last week's mystery chart was Shardless Agent. Today, in honor of kitty banning, I present an infamous card. I can't wrap my head around how it was printed as it was. Wizard's needs to get a grip!

Conversation of the Week!

With yet another Standard banning, and an emergency one at that, Wizard's has definitely made some mistakes in Standard lately. Granted they fixed the problem, eventually, but arguably for a poor reason. Two days of Standard on MTGO was enough data to warrant an emergency banning? I don't buy it. Luckily some stores such as Star City Games allowed customers to get a refund on any invocation copies of Counterbalance, but I'm not sure if they will do the same for people that bought Saheeli Rai. It's unfortunate that it came down to this, but at least kitty is gone and Standard is now viable again. Mardu will still be the best deck, but at least people that want to brew can do so without having to worry about dying out of nowhere. 

The best Commander card you're not playing!

Artifact Mutation pops up every now and then, but it's a great way to both get rid of a pesky artifact and bolster your board with tokens. It plays very well in any token based strategy. 


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