Weekly Winners 2024 - 13

This week is all about Universes Beyond: Fallout. The set proves to be very popular, and people are upgrading their precon decks.

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

• Jason's article The Best Magic Cards for the New Crime Mechanic dives into how players can exploit the mechanic defined as actions targeting opponents or their belongings. Highlighting important interactions, the article is a goldmine for those looking to delve into a life of magical crime with strategic depth.
• In What If Fallout Were Legal in Modern? Corey speculates on the impact if Universes Beyond: Fallout cards were legal in Modern, focusing on theoretical inclusions. He explores the potential of these cards in the current meta, imagining a playful what-if scenario for the format.
• Deven explores the rising prominence of Assassins in Magic, especially with the upcoming Universes Beyond: Assassin's Creed set. Highlighting the cards with synergies with new and existing Assassin cards, this analysis anticipates a boost in Assassin-themed decks and strategies, underscoring the type's potential in both gameplay and collector interest. Read about it in Are Assassins the Next Big Creature Type in Magic?

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Onto the Weekly Winners!

#1 Component Pouch $4.42 (+209%)

Well, this uncommon from Commander: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms is definitely one of those cards that I've never really seen before. Last week you could pick it up for about $0.50, but now you're paying a lot more for it. This artifact is basically a mana store, where you can tap it to put either one or two component counters on it, which is a 50/50 chance that either of the two will happen. But when you remove a counter from it, you can add two mana of different colors to your pool.

Usually mana rocks, especially three-mana rocks, can make mana the turn they come into play. A recent example are the Bobbleheads from the Fallout set which we discussed last week. In this instance you can tap it the turn it comes into play to put at least one counter on it, but then in your next turn you can get two mana out of it. I'm not by any means saying that this is a good replacement for a mana rock, but in the right deck...

If you read this series, you probably know that we actually discussed cards that have something to do with rolling dice last week as well. Last week that card was Comet, Stellar Pup, and it seems like that Component Pouch is going up for the exact same reason. With the Fallout sets we saw a new commander being printed in the Hail, Caesar precon: Mr. House, President and CEO. And the CEO cares about rolling dice. Comet and the Pouch don't seem to be the only cards falling victim to Mr. President's popularity. Reckless Endeavor is also a card that has seen a big uptick the past week and so did Ebony Fly.

Component Pouch	CardKingdom $4.99	TCGPlayer $4.42
Component Pouch	CardKingdom $4.99	TCGPlayer $9.03
Mr. House, President and CEO	CardKingdom	TCGPlayer $0.85
Reckless Endeavor	CardKingdom $23.99	TCGPlayer $25.04
Reckless Endeavor (Extended Art)	CardKingdom $23.99	TCGPlayer $22.07
Ebony Fly	CardKingdom $2.49	TCGPlayer $3.04

#2 Cyberman Patrol $6.82 (+144%)

This artifact creature from the Universes Beyond: Doctor Who set didn't take too long to become an inclusion in several decks. For you get a Cyberman that gives all your artifact creatures Afflict 3. Personally, I had to read the reminder text on the card to know what that means. Whenever a creature with Afflict 3 becomes blocked, defending player loses 3 life. That's pretty good. When you have a bunch of smaller artifact creatures, blocking them still makes your opponent lose life. With larger creatures that may need to be blocked anyway, a little still comes through.

$0.78$1.99

It sees some play in Graaz, Unstoppable Juggernaut and Urza, Chief Artificer decks, but it going up for (once again) Fallout cards. And again one of the culprits is Mr. House, President and CEO along with Dr. Madison Li. But this Cyberman is not the only one that's moving because of these commanders. We see the same effect happening for Cybermen Squadron. This seven mana artifact creature gives all your nonlegendary artifact creatures myriad, which can lead up to quite the army attacking.

Cyberman Patrol	CardKingdom $3.99	TCGPlayer $6.82
Cybermen Squadron	CardKingdom $8.99	TCGPlayer $13.31
Graaz, Unstoppable Juggernaut	CardKingdom $0.49	TCGPlayer $0.28

#3 Charismatic Conqueror $35.77 (+35.77%)

This creature was printed in Commander: The Lost Caverns of Ixalan in the Blood Rites precon deck, and looking at the price history, this has never really been a cheap card to begin with. It bottomed out in November around $8.50, and was up until recently around the $15 mark. This Vampire Soldier will make 1/1 white Vampires for you, but only if your opponents decide to let their artifacts come into play untapped.

It sees a lot of play in Clavileno, First of the Blessed and Carmen, Cruel Skymarcher decks, which isn't really shocking, since they are found in the same precon. Another popular commander we see this being played in is Vito, Fanatic of Aclazotz. But this week the card seems to be more popular because of, you guessed it, another Fallout card: Caesar, Legion's Emperor.

$18.84$21.99

$1.61$1.79

But there are two other recent commanders that may be moving the needle here as well. Aurelia, the Law Above and Delney, Streetwise Lookout also are decks that relatively often include Charismatic Conqueror into the 99.

Charismatic Conqueror	CardKingdom $20.99	TCGPlayer $35.33
Caesar, Legion's Emperor	CardKingdom	TCGPlayer $1.00
Delney, Streetwise Lookout	CardKingdom $21.99	TCGPlayer $18.84
Aurelia, the Law Above	CardKingdom $1.79	TCGPlayer $1.61

#4 Cateran Summons $35.77 (+536%)

And a last minute addition to the winners, we have an older card from Mercadian Masques. This set was released in October 1999, making it almost 25 years old. This sorcery for one mana is a very specific tutor: it searches for a Mercenary and you get to put it into your hand. For the people who are so fatigued with new product being previewed, we are currently about one month away from the release of the Outlaws of Thunder Junction set. This set is designed based on Wild West tropes. It introduces a new typal coupling term, Outlaw, a way to collectively refer to the Assassin, Mercenary, Pirate, Rogue and Warlock creature types.

$1.00

$1.49

As you can tell by the theme of the set, and the specific typal coupling term, the set will include a bunch of these creature types. Some Mercenaries from the expansion and its Commander set have already been previewed to us. Like Rakdos, the Muscle, Jolene, Plundering Pugilist, and Vial Smasher, Gleeful Grenadier.

Cateran Summons	CardKingdom $1.49	TCGPlayer $4.39
Vial Smasher, Gleeful Grenadier	CardKingdom	TCGPlayer $1.49
Jolene, Plundering Pugilist	CardKingdom	TCGPlayer $1.00
Vial Smasher, Gleeful Grenadier	CardKingdom	TCGPlayer $1.49

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.

Fist of Suns (Borderless) $3.83 - Moving up!

Fist of Suns (Borderless) has been identified by the MTGStocks Premium Penny Stocks feature as a card that has reached its bottom and is starting a consistent uptrend.

Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines (Phyrexian) $20.97 - Stabilizing

Gandalf the White $5.12 - Moving down slowly

Fist of Suns (Borderless)	CardKingdom $4.49	TCGPlayer $3.75
Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines (Phyrexian)	CardKingdom $29.99	TCGPlayer $20.46
Gandalf the White	CardKingdom $8.49	TCGPlayer $5.07