The B&R announcement from Monday is making prices go up, and we're seeing a lot of Dinosaurs this week. Read up on the Weekly Winners!
Like every week, just in time for FNM, I'll tell you about the Magic: the Gathering cards that'll be the talk of the town tonight! Come discuss this week's price movements with us on Discord.
Articles
- In How the Lost Caverns of Ixalan Delays Have Affected the Market, Harvey examines the impact of the delayed release of Collector Booster boxes for The Lost Caverns of Ixalan on the Magic market, analyzing the consequences of staggered supply and time delay on both sealed and single card prices.
- In Commander Cards From Recent Sets That You Should Be Playing, Steve explores under-the-radar Commander cards from recent sets, such as Horn of the Mark and The Battle of Bywater, highlighting their potential as staples and their current affordability in the market.
- Matt's Top Picks for Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander Singles in the "History, Restapled" series evaluates key cards from the Commander: The Lost Caverns of Ixalan set, discussing their market trends, potential for future value, and overall impact in Commander decks.
- In Which Versions Should You Buy? Max analyzes the various printings of the face commanders from the Commander: The Lost Caverns of Ixalan decks, discussing their market trends and advising on the most collectible and affordable variants for players and collectors.
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Onto the Weekly Winners!
Who could've seen this spike coming? Smuggler's Copter shot up this past week almost instananeously in response to the Banned & Restricted announcement of last Monday. On that day we saw several formats being shaken up, one of which is Pioneer. Not only did Karn, the Great Creator and the very recent Geological Appraiser get banned, but there was also an unbanning. You guessed it, it's the Copter! Our Premium users could see this spike happening in real time on Discord where our bot reported that within 15 minutes of the announcement, Smuggler's Copter's market price shot up with 204%.
Frankly, I think Smuggler's Copter's unban is pretty safe in the format. The first deck that comes to mind where it may be playable is Greasefang, Okiba Boss. Since the Copter is cheap to cast and easy to Crew, you get some damage in and also loot a card. And especially in Greasefang you shouldn't underestimate the power of a discard outlet to get your Parhelion II in the graveyard. With Karn getting banned in the format, Greasefang may become a lot more popular in the meta.
Before the ban Smuggler's Copter had a prominent place in the mono-black aggro shell where it shined in generating value by discarding Bloodsoaked Champion or Dread Wanderer. A shell like that may still work in the current meta, and I'm sure we'll see it being tinkered with. It remains to be seen whether Smuggler's Copter will take a prominent place within the format, but it definitely doesn't stop people from experimenting with it.
| Smuggler's Copter | | |
| Smuggler's Copter | | |
| Battle Bus | | |
| Greasefang, Okiba Boss | | |
The retro art version of Scavenged Brawler went up, while the extended art version seems to be lagging behind. This artifact creature has flying, vigilance, trample, and lifelink, but can also do some shenanigans from the graveyard where you can seriously buff a creature with four +1/+1 counters, plus a counter of each of the previous abilities.
The popularity of this card seems to be coming from Commander. Several cards have been printed recently that may greatly benefit from this creature, one of the more prominent ones being Indominus Rex, Alpha (Borderless). When it enters the battlefield you get to discard creature cards, and the Dino gets a counter for each ability the discarded creatures have. So if you discard Scavenged Brawler to the Indominus, you now have a 6/6 flying, vigilant, trampling, lifelinker, and you get to draw four cards. But later in the game you can still exile the construct from your graveyard to buff another creature. This is a lot of value.
But we're not done with Dinosaurs yet. Owen Grady, Raptor Trainer (Borderless) and Blue, Loyal Raptor (Borderless) pair up nicely as commander partners, and they also really want to have counters. Blue especially likes to get these ability counters placed on her, since she'll give other Dinosaurs the same counters when they enter the battlefield.
Not too long ago we also saw Me, the Immortal printed in the Universes Beyond: Doctor Who set. And as you can see, this creature also cares a lot about counters. Once you place counters on it, they will stay there even when it dies. And you're able to cast this Human Rogue from your graveyard by discarding two cards in addition to its mana cost. Meaning you can discard Scavenged Brawler, and then place counters on Me, the Immortal. Feels like a very decent synergy.
| Flaming Tyrannosaurus | | |
| Flaming Tyrannosaurus (Extended Art) | | |
| Pantlaza, Sun-Favored | | |
Wait! Pyrohemia is how expensive? To put in a little nuance, the version from Planar Chaos is somewhat cheaper at "only" $15. I remember when this card was below a dollar and never realized it's been this steadily climbing since 2018. For you get an enchantment that can do one damage to each creature and player for . There is however one caveat: if there are no creatures on the battlefield, then you have to sacrifice it. This last part is pretty easy to circumvent by playing an indestructible creature yourself (hello Stuffy Doll!)
Pyrohemia has gotten more popular since the printing of cards with the Enrage ability. Just a few short weeks ago we discussed this ability as well. This ability gives an advantageous effect when the creature with the ability is dealt damage. So imagine you have a board of Dinosaurs that give you a trigger each time they're dealt damage. Take, for example, the new Indoraptor, the Perfect Hybrid (Borderless), which does damage to a random opponent when it's dealt damage. Or Trapjaw Tyrant, which exiles a creature. With Polyraptor you get to make more Polyraptors, which in turn will create more...
In Commander: The Lost Caverns of Ixalan we also see a new commander printed that probably wants to play Pyrohemia as well. Wayta, Trainer Prodigy makes sure that your Enrage abilities trigger an additional time. And she can make your Enrage abilities trigger herself as well when you use her ability and let two of your own creatures fight. We also have a recent addition in the form of Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might, which cares about noncombat damage from red sources.
Just for the sake of being complete, it's also worthwhile to note that Pestilence exists, which is functionally the same as Pyrohemia but in black and is a whole lot cheaper in terms of money. However, it doesn't fit in Wayta decks, but does fit in Indoraptor decks.
| Pyrohemia | | |
| Pyrohemia | | |
| Pyrohemia | | |
| Pestilence | | |
| Wayta, Trainer Prodigy | | |
Cheap Pickups
Please note: for our 'record low' we consider the price of the card over the past seven years. Many cards were even cheaper (a) decade(s) ago. Also note: some cards are still going down, and might be even cheaper pickups next week.
Forsaken Monument has been identified by the MTGStocks Premium Penny Stocks feature as a card that has reached its bottom and is starting a consistent uptrend.
Dark Depths $4.99 - Showing movement
| Forsaken Monument | | |
| Dark Depths | | |
| Phyrexian Fleshgorger | | |
That's it for this week. Make sure to check back next week for more Weekly Winners!
