Weekly Winners (14)

Check out this week's winners! This week I'll do a recap of this and a bit of last week.

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#1 REVISED DUAL LANDS  ALL TIME HIGH ^{_{(except Savannah)}}

You might have picked up on the rise of both Volcanic Island and Underground Sea, but have you noticed that almost all other duals have spiked in the past weeks? As you can see in the graph above (I've split them because of scale issues), all dual lands have reached their all time high, except Savannah. It's still spiking, but it doesn't reach its all time high yet. There are simply too little Legacy decks that use a UW dualland.

There has been quite some discussion on this topic over the past few weeks, although it seems that the big storm of attention has died down a little. The exact reason why duals are gaining in price is still not entirely clear. There are two major standpoints (featured below). Both revolve around duals being a legacy symbol: if you want to play competitive legacy you need those duals (there are dualless decks). So dual lands are a good indicator for Legacy as a whole.

 

1. Meh, speculators. Legacy is dead

Legacy is dead. It has been declared dead for about three years now. Right about the time a single Undergrond Sea costed you $150 and a copy of Wasteland a whopping $45 a piece. The recent price increase is caused by speculators. They buy all the duals so that prices increase. A devlish plan to make a lot of money. No new players can afford to play Legacy and therefore the format will die. Soon.

 

2. Everyone wants to buy into Legacy! Long live Legacy!

 

Why would the demand of duals go up when nobody is building a deck? Why would speculators buy into them when there is no demand at all? No, Legacy is hot and that is reflected in the price of duals and fetchlands.

 

3. Somewhere in between

Probably, the truth is somewhere in the middle. Legacy is a fun format to play. But also very expensive to get into. The current prices will up the bar to buy into the format. But when you do get to play Legacy, you can count on a diverse format and high level play. And the upside of buying into Legacy: your cards won't lose value quick.

But, when the prices are inflated, buying into the format might prove extra risky. When prices do crash, you can say goodbye to your money. This risk can keep players from entering the format and this can cause a lower demand as a result. Prices might slip back again.

But still, the cards played in Legacy are amoung the most powerful and flavourful ever printed. The interactions in the format are intense and extreme. People that have these cards will want to play them. And not in EDH, but in a 60-card constructed format. They want this now, and they still want this 60 years in the future.

And the magic community is getting older and older. A lot of 30-something players can afford paying top dollar for a classic card like Force of Will, Wasteland or a Dual land. For the teenagers among us: your time will come. In the meantime, I'll give you this soothing picture:

 

#2 Teferi's Puzzle Box +66% ($2.50) 

One word: Nekusar.

Again.

 

#3 Food Chain (+43.6%)  ($17)  

A classic price spike due to a 4th place in a SCG Open. Check out the decklist.

Check out this article if you want to know how a Food Chain / Misthollow Griffin deck works!

 

Also interesting!

This week no cheap pickups, but some other interesting cards that you should take note of!

 

City of Traitors

 

Karakas

 

Want to help me out? Pitch me a tweet when you see something interesting @MTGPeter