Weekly Winners 2023 - 51

By the end of the year it's usually a bit slower on the Magic finance side. Nevertheless, we found some fun cards to talk about.

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

• Steve's article Top 10 MTG Cards for Commander in 2023 in the History, Restapled series highlights some cards from this year for their powerful effects and potential to become new staples in the format, offering a mix of strategies to satisfy different player archetypes. 
• In What's Good In Secretversary 2023? Matt explores the latest Secret Lair Series, highlighting its unique offerings and market trends. The series features a limited edition card with a high initial value expected to decrease over time, and introduces affordable foil versions of popular cards. The standout bundles offers a range of staples appealing to a broad spectrum of players. 
• Max's article in Variant Vault examines the current status of Tarmogoyf, a once-dominant card in Modern. Despite its decline in competitive play, Tarmogoyf remains a collectible item, particularly its Future Sight foil variant. While Tarmogoyf's market activity isn't high, it still sees occasional sales, indicating continued interest. Read about it in Do People Still Care About Tarmogoyf?

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Onto the Weekly Winners!

#1 Inti, Seneschal of the Sun $4.28 (+90%)

Let's start the week off with Inti, a card recently printed in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan. Inti is a legendary Human Knight that lets you discard a card whenever you attack, and if you do, you get to put a +1/+1 counter on an attacking creature and it gains trample. But Inti also provides card advantage or card filtering (depending on how you view it), because whenever you discard one or more cards, you get to exile the top card of your library and play that card until your next end step.

Frankly, I didn't even notice the card when it was previewed. But it turns out it's far more powerful than meets the eye. Inti has been performing well in various constructed formats, even cEDH. Most notably, four copies of Inti are played in Pioneer Rakdos Midrange decks and seems to be performing pretty well along with Stalactite Stalker from the same set and the recently unbanned Smuggler's Copter.

We're also seeing Inti, Seneschal of the Sun show up in Modern Rakdos decks, where it's played in a shell with Ragavan. Both the Modern and Pioneer versions are focussed on discarding cards and trying to gain extra value by doing so.

There's also talk about Inti being a replacement for Birgi, God of Storytelling in cEDH. While they may not be directly comparable due to one providing card advantage and the other mana advantage, they both occupy crucial roles in combo or storm decks. Inti excels in offering card advantage, especially when discarding is beneficial, while Birgi shines in delivering consistent mana acceleration. These distinct abilities underscore the importance of both characters in enhancing deck versatility and adaptability, showcasing their crucial, albeit different, contributions to high-level play.

Inti, Seneschal of the Sun	CardKingdom $3.49	TCGPlayer $4.28
Inti, Seneschal of the Sun (Showcase)	CardKingdom $2.99	TCGPlayer $3.04
Birgi, God of Storytelling	CardKingdom $13.99	TCGPlayer $11.38
Smuggler's Copter	CardKingdom	TCGPlayer $8.00

#2 Raffine, Scheming Seer $4.90 (+47%)

Raffine has been a powerhouse in Standard since it was printed in Streets Of New Capenna. For just three mana you get a 1/4 flyer with ward that can filter your cards and grow itself or another attacking creature in the process. Relatively hard to get rid of, with extra upsides. Esper Legends decks with Raffine qualified 35 players for the Pro Tour at the Regional Championships back in March, showcasing its effectiveness in a competitive field. The deck's power stemmed from its legendary creature sequence and strategic utility lands.

When Raffine was previewed it was briefly preselling for $20, but quickly went down to its lowest point for $1.87. When it was clear that Raffine would be played a lot in Standard it went up a little bit again, and then settled around $2.50.

$4.19 $4.99

But Raffine, Scheming Seer was released almost two years ago, and being a mythic from this set and supply dwindling, we see the price moving up. If you want to play Raffine in your Commander deck, it may not be a bad time to try to get a copy.

Raffine, Scheming Seer	CardKingdom $3.49	TCGPlayer $4.90
Raffine, Scheming Seer (Showcase)	CardKingdom $4.99	TCGPlayer $4.19
Raffine, Scheming Seer (Gilded Foil)	CardKingdom	TCGPlayer $21.86

#3 Nesting Grounds $6.36 (+44%)

This is one of those utility lands that's going to keep seeing play in Commander. Being able to move a counter from a permanent to another permanent can be pretty good, and assuming more cards utilizing counters will be printed in the long run, it'll get better and better. For example, back in September 2022 we talked about Magosi, the Waterveil that spiked. As you can see, these two lands together can get you extra turns if you can manage to get an eon counter in play. Back then Out of the Tombs was the reason for Magosi spiking.

Since 2020, when Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths was released, we have keyword counters like menace or flying, which can also be moved with Nesting Grounds. Newer commanders that benefit from a utility land like this are Me, the Immortal, Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood, or the Owen Grady, Raptor Trainer (Borderless) / Blue, Loyal Raptor (Borderless) partner combo.

$1.90 $1.99

Another thing that should be considered is that Nesting Grounds can influence the number of lore counters on Sagas, meaning you can keep Sagas around and triggering their chapters every turn.

Nesting Grounds	CardKingdom $5.49	TCGPlayer $6.36
Nesting Grounds	CardKingdom $5.49	TCGPlayer $4.92

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.

Insurrection $3.43 - Moving up!

Insurrection has been identified by the MTGStocks Premium Penny Stocks feature as a card that has reached its bottom and is starting a consistent uptrend.

Jace, the Mind Sculptor $22.22 - Slowly moving down

Sliver Gravemother $9.70 - Slowly moving down

Insurrection	CardKingdom $5.49	TCGPlayer $3.43
Jace, the Mind Sculptor	CardKingdom $22.99	TCGPlayer $22.22
Sliver Gravemother	CardKingdom	TCGPlayer $9.70

 

That's it for this week. Make sure to check back next week for more Weekly Winners!