Weekly Winners 2020 - 21

Buyouts and the reserved list are the big driving factor in price increases this week. Like every week, just in time for (digital) FNM, I'll now tell you about the cards that will be the talk of the (digital) town tonight!

 

#1 Complicate $4.18 (574.19%)

 

We've seen quite some buyouts last week, and this week is no different. Our #1 winner this week is a huge spike and a result of a buyout. Complicate is in no way a card that's better than other counterspells. Mana Leak for instance, counters a spell unless it's caster pays as well, but for and $4 less. And drawing a card, plus countering a spell for is not unique either; just take a look at Force Void or Runeboggle.

What makes Complicate different is not the card itself, but the deck it sees play in. Almost half the Gavi, Nest Warden EDH decks run Complicate and it's understandable why. Making cycling for the first spell each turn, makes Complicate a free counterspell and gives you a card. And that's great.

Complicate was bought out because the card is from an older set, and because Gavi, Nest Warden is a popular commander, many people are brewing decks around. So a card with a low supply, with a (possible) high demand. Those kinds of cards are always interesting to people that like to buyout cards.

The buyout itself is quite strange however. As you can see on the card page, the euro value of the card is still around €0.40. That's an insane price gap. Also the foils have been bought out on the same date as the regular printings. In many cases this happens a few days prior to the regular printing spiking. It seems that the individual(s) speculating Complicate did not think about the European market, or did not have access to it.

 

#2 Primordial Hydra $39.88 (+260.90%)

 

Just like our #1 winner, our #2 spiked this week as a result of a buyout as well. With no large tournaments being held, the release of new products seem to be the prime trigger for speculators to base buyouts on.

Primordial Hydra spiked because of a new Commander for Commander 2020 as well. Once you read the text of Zaxara, the Exemplary, it is no wonder that cards like Primordial Hydra become hot, and with that targets for speculators. But as you can see below, Primordial Hydra is not the only costed hydra that is suddenly in more (organic) demand:

 

 

 

 

#3 Taiga $204 (+37.21%)

 

EDH related buyouts are not the only category of cards that pop up into our interests this week. Just like the past month or so, evergreen and powerful reserved list cards have been trending up. This week, the most interesting among these is Taiga.

You'd might think that it being a dual land explains everything, but there's a small catch. Taiga is a dual land that does not seem much competitive play, especially when you compare it to Underground Sea or Volcanic Island. And Taiga is not seeing much more play than before, so its recent price increase it probably due to its reserved list status.

Other reserved list cards that are up this week and worth mentioning are the ones listed below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheap Pickups

Please note: for our 'record low' we consider the price of the card over the past 7 years. Many cards have been even cheaper (a) decade(s) ago. Also note: some cards are still going down, and might be even cheaper pickups next week.

Very few record lows

It feels very intuitive to state that the Corona Crisis and the impending recession will cause people to sell their cards for money, and therefor card prices will drop. We don't see this happening. What we do see over the past 5 weeks is a much fewer number of cards breaking their all time low record. To put it more bluntly: I've never seen so few cards on their all time low. I would love to be able to explain why, but it really puzzles me. I'll let you know if I find out!

 

Ashiok, Nightmare Muse $6.65 - Record low and bottoming out

 

Nahiri, the Harbinger $5.17 - Record low and bottoming out

 

Rishadan Port $27.43 - Record low and going down

 

Ensnaring Bridge $28.46 - Just past record low and going up

 

Rishadan Port	CardKingdom $24.99	TCGPlayer $27.42
Nahiri, the Harbinger	CardKingdom $4.49	TCGPlayer $5.17
Ensnaring Bridge	CardKingdom $23.99	TCGPlayer $28.46
Ashiok, Nightmare Muse	CardKingdom $5.99	TCGPlayer $6.65