Weekly Winners 2024 - 17

Card prices fluctuating because of Commander, Legacy, and Modern! What else can we ask for to make a week this interesting? Read up on the Winners of the Week.

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 Potential Commander Staples from Outlaws of Thunder Junction, Steve examines newly released cards that could become mainstays in Commander decks. He discusses the versatility and potential of specific cards within the new set, predicting which will rise as essential tools for Commander players looking to innovate their gameplay.

• Corey speculates, in Predictions for Modern Horizons 3, on potential shifts in the Modern format with the upcoming release, discussing archetype dynamics and individual card roles that could redefine player strategies. Dive into his analysis to see which directions Modern might head next.

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Onto the Weekly Winners!

#1 Skorpekh Lord $5.98 (+1323%)

This artifact rare from Universes Beyond: Warhammer 40,000 spiked this week. We've mainly seen this card in Commander decks around its precon commander, Szarekh, the Silent King, or other viable legendary creatures from that same precon. The problem with these cards from Universes Beyond sometimes is that their name is bound to the lore of that particular universe, meaning it's harder for Wizards to simply reprint the card when they want, which in turn can lead to scarcity.

$11.93

$38.40 $39.99

But the reason for this spike isn't Commander; it's Legacy. A new archetype is becoming popular there since the printing of Simulacrum Synthesizer. For three mana you get an artifact that creates Construct tokens that get +1/+1 for each artifact you control. Does this token sound familiar? Because Urza's Saga, another staple in Legacy, can create the same kind of tokens and that has proven to be a win condition on its own. Simulacrum Synthesizer itself can also be found on this week's interests going up with 166% to $48.01.

Being able to get one of these tokens for each artifact with mana value three or greater that enters the battlefield under your control can add up quickly. When we consider the decklist above we see a bunch of creatures that have Affinity for artifacts, and are, in this deck, often cheap to cast but still trigger the Synthesizer. 

Skorpekh Lord has found its way into the deck as another three-mana artifact that also pumps the team. But it's also important to note that it has Unearth, meaning you can cast it from your graveyard as well and let it trigger Synthesizer that way. And while we're on the subject, and if you looked at the above decklist closely, you notice another card from Warhammer 40K in there as well.

Sicarian Infiltrator has also spiked this past week and is found in the deck. It's another artifact three-drop that also replaces itself by drawing you a card. But with its Squad ability you can make a bunch of tokens as well if you have the mana available. And each of those tokens will draw you a card.

Skorpekh Lord	CardKingdom	TCGPlayer $5.50
Sicarian Infiltrator	CardKingdom	TCGPlayer $11.93
Simulacrum Synthesizer	CardKingdom $39.99	TCGPlayer $48.01

#2 Grima, Saruman’s Footman $4.97 (+234%)

Just like our previous winner, we have a card from the Universes Beyond, but this time it's Lord of the Rings. And this may very well suffer from not being easily reprinted. This is not the first time we're discussing Grima as a winner. We talked about Grima In October of last year as well. Back then the reason seemed to be Don Andres, the Renegade from Commander: The Lost Caverns of Ixalan that made Grima go up in price. Since then it has settled back under a dollar, but this week it spiked once again.

As you can see, Grima tries to cast your opponent's instant and sorcery spells after dealing combat damage. So let's try to find recent cards that may benefit from this ability. Gonti, Canny Acquisitor was printed in the Outlaws set and cares both about casting your opponent's spells and dealing combat damage. In that same set we also find Felix Five-Boots, which doesn't necessarily care about casting your opponents' spells, but does care about combat damage triggering abilities. I mean, what's better than stealing one spell? Stealing two spells!

Grima, Saruman’s Footman	CardKingdom $0.79	TCGPlayer $4.95
Gonti, Canny Acquisitor	CardKingdom $1.99	TCGPlayer $0.65
Felix Five-Boots	CardKingdom	TCGPlayer

#3 Norin the Wary $17.12 (+163%)

Norin's time to shine had to come sooner or later. There are people who have built Norin Commander decks, but he doesn't appear to be extremely popular. Norin (delay) flickers itself whenever a player (not just you) plays a spell, or when a player (not just you) attacks. Which makes Norin hard to remove, but also makes him a lousy blocker. Not that him being a 2/1 makes him a good blocker otherwise.

But again, Commander doesn't seem to be the driver of this card. This time it's not Legacy though; it's Modern. Aspiringspike created a deck during a live brewing session where he put four copies of Norin in that was made possible by a new card. That card is Satoru, the Infiltrator. Whenever one or more creatures enter the battlefield and no mana was used to cast any of them, you get to draw a card. Since Norin flickers, that draws you a card potentially during all turns. Together with Aether Vial and flicker spells like Ephemerate, that can get you a lot of cards in a short amount on time.

Norin the Wary	CardKingdom $4.99	TCGPlayer $16.95
Satoru, the Infiltrator	CardKingdom $9.99	TCGPlayer $7.34

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.

Bloodghast $4.58 - Moving up!

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

Lord of the Void (Retro Frame) $4.15 - Slowly moving down

Branching Evolution $3.20 - Stabilizing

Bloodghast	CardKingdom $5.49	TCGPlayer $4.58
Branching Evolution	CardKingdom $4.49	TCGPlayer $3.19
Lord of the Void (Retro Frame)	CardKingdom $8.49	TCGPlayer $4.07