Commander cards are dictating the prices this week. Dinos are doing well!
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
Check out our other great content from this week.
Cheap Commander Staples in Foundations by Steve Heisler
The Best Ways to Break "Once Each Turn" Cards in Commander by Jason Cominetto
If you want to receive an e-mail in your inbox when a new article is published, you can enable it in your e-mail preferences and/or join the Discord.
Onto the Weekly Winners!
Foundations has recently been released and it's a rather spicy set with a wide range of cards, but also fun reprints for certain creature types. One of these types is Dinosaur. Cards like Gigantosaurus and Etali, Primal Storm, for instance, are Dinosaurs you can find in the set. And while the reprints for this creature type weren't necessarily the big expensive ones, it can spark renewed interest in the archetype when people open these cards in their packs.
Looking at Sunfrill Imitator it's easy to see what type of decks it would work well in. It's a Dinosaur itself and when it attacks it can become a copy of another Dinosaur, practically giving your Dinosaur pseudo haste when it attacks as a copy of a Dinosaur that just entered. We indeed see Sunfrill Imitator show up in decks a lot around popular Dinosaur commanders. Most notable of these is Pantlaza, Sun-Favored, which isn't surprising since they're from the same precon. But also commanders like Gishath, Sun's Avatar and Owen Grady, Raptor Trainer (Borderless).
| Sunfrill Imitator | | |
| Sunfrill Imitator (Extended Art) | | |
Thrumming Stone is one of these cards that spikes every now and then when a new card arises that works well with it. It was printed in 2006 for the first time in Coldsnap and it gives your spells the Ripple ability. And in this case, it's Ripple 4. When a player casts a spell with Ripple, the triggered ability allows the player to reveal the given number of cards from the top of their library and cast all cards that were revealed this way with the same name as the spell without paying their mana cost.
This card always works really well with cards that can be played with any number of copies in your deck, like Rat Colony, Shadowborn Apostle or Persistent Petitioners. Because if you play more spells with the same name, the chances dramatically increase that you'll find more of them with the Ripple effect. It's not hard to pinpoint then where this week's spike is coming from: Hare Apparent. This newly printed Rabbit from Foundations can also be put any number of times in a deck and especially with that enters ability and Ripple you can most likely quickly build a huge fluffy army.
That said, just like all other times Thrumming Stone has spiked, the price will most likely not stick and will come down again. That is, until the next "any number of cards named..." spell is printed.
| Thrumming Stone | | |
| Thrumming Stone | | |
| Hare Apparent | | |
| Rat Colony | | |
I wasn't sure whether I wanted to talk about this card. I mean, on one hand it's high up on the Interests list this week. It went up with slightly over 100% to more than $6. On the other hand, the Extended Art variant is still around $2, so the demand can't be that overwhelming. And when we read the card, we see that it's really unlikely that this card is doing well because of constructed tournament formats. This is why I found it interesting that the card kept popping up on the Interests the past week.
Perch Protection is a rare from Commander: Bloomburrow and is found in the Peace Offering precon with Ms. Bumbleflower as commander. At instant speed you can make four flying Birds. And if you promise the gift to an opponent, in the form of an extra turn, all your permanents phase out, you'll have protection from everything and your life total can't change. So the effect can be pretty powerful, especially in response to a board wipe or a potential winning play by one of your opponents. Yet, giving one of your opponents an extra turn feels pretty bad. But then again, how much damage can that opponent do when you're protected? Or just give the extra turn to the opponent who's about to die anyway.
We see Perch Protection show up in Commander decks around Arabella, Abandoned Doll and Kastral, the Windcrested. So either commanders that care about a bunch of creatures, tokens, or Birds. I find it hard to pinpoint why this card is popping off now. It can be very strong when played at the right time, and especially in the right deck. But when reading online, opinions seem to differ whether the card is actually that good, especially when Teferi's Protection exists. Maybe it flew under the radar for some time and people just realized it's better than initially expected.
Also, with Christmas coming closer, maybe people are getting their cards in for their grouphug decks! I mean, is there a better way to profess your love for someone than giving them an extra turn?
| Perch Protection | | |
| Perch Protection (Extended Art) | | |
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.
Kalonian Hydra has been identified by the MTGStocks Premium Penny Stocks feature as a card that has reached its bottom and is starting a consistent uptrend.
| Kalonian Hydra | | |
| Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet | | |
| Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim (Borderless) | | |
