Weekly Winners 2025 - 02

Turns out Standard can still drive prices. Two of our winners are because of Standard, and good to see that metagame isn't set in stone yet. 

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.

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Yearly Winners

Just like last year we put out a series of articles at the beginning of 2025 that look at the top winners and losers of 2024! In case you've missed them, we have the following sets of data for you to look back on:

• Yearly Winners 2024: Top Winners and Losers (Part 1)
• Yearly Winners 2024: The Reserved List (Part 2)
• Yearly Winners 2024: Absolute Value (Part 3)
• Yearly Winners 2024: Cheapest Prints (Part 4)

Articles

Check out our other great content from this week.

Jurassic World and Special Guests - Checking In With Lost Caverns of Ixalan by Harvey McGuinness

Hidden Gems for Lathril, Blade of the Elves by Adam Berg

Price Movements After the Modern Bans and Unbans by Corey Williams

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Onto the Weekly Winners!

#1 This Town Ain't Big Enough $3.49 (+534%)

This uncommon instant from Outlaws of Thunder Junction is definitely overpriced when you get to bounce two permanents for five mana. But fortunately it can be discounted as long as you bounce something that you control yourself. And the last part is exactly what makes this instant so good.

It started out with decks that played creatures like Eddymurk Crab and Tolarian Terror - big fatties that get cheaper if you have more instant and sorceries in your graveyard. And the beauty of discounted spells, just like This Town Ain't Big Enough, is that they still trigger Up the Beanstalk, making sure you have a steady stream of cards coming your way. This Town Ain't Big Enough is used to either get problematic permanents out of the way and to protect your own creatures by bouncing them back to your hand. Since they're very cheap anyway, and can even get you cards, that's not a big problem.

Lately a new deck has been doing well in Standard that's called Esper Pixie. The idea is that you play cheap interaction in the form of permanents, like Stormchaser's Talent, Hopeless Nightmare, and Nowhere to Run that you can play early and then bounce with creatures like Nurturing Pixie and Fear of Isolation and then replay. And as you've guessed, This Town Ain't Big Enough is also a very viable way to get these spells back into your hand. And while we're on the subject, we also see Nowhere to Run climbing to over $2 and Stormchaser's Talent is also quickly gaining value.

Besides these two decks, we also see it show up in Dimir Kaito decks. These decks also have plenty of cheap creatures that you really want to recast. 

This Town Ain't Big Enough	CardKingdom $2.99	TCGPlayer $3.49
Nowhere to Run	CardKingdom $2.29	TCGPlayer $3.02
Stormchaser's Talent	CardKingdom $15.99	TCGPlayer $18.63
Hopeless Nightmare	CardKingdom $0.59	TCGPlayer $0.35

#2 Collector's Cage $10.00 (+199%)

Let's talk a little bit more about Standard here. Collector's Cage is an artifact with the Hideaway ability, and you get to cast the card under it when you activate its +1/+1 counter ability if you have three creatures with different powers.

Standard token decks aren't new, especially since Bloomburrow where we saw several spells that could create tokens, with one of the more notable spells being Caretaker's Talent. But recently we've seen a shift in how these decks are built, and now players seem to favor a Selesnya build rather than mono-white.

Notably the deck also plays Toby, Beastie Befriender, and what's more fun than to create an extra 4/4 with the Caretaker's Talent? It also plays other creatures that create tokens when they enter, meaning that most creatures grant you an extra body. When played with cards like Wilt-Leaf Liege and leveling up the Talent, you can definitely get a massive army. Another big winner this week in the deck is Pawpatch Recruit, which also showed up on our Interests list.

I also noticed it's being tinkered with in Modern decks in a new sort of mono-white Energy shell. This deck certainly seems interesting and may be something that could see more play in the future while the metagame is still taking shape.

Collector's Cage	CardKingdom $3.99	TCGPlayer $10.00
Collector's Cage (Extended Art)	CardKingdom $4.49	TCGPlayer $15.50
Collector's Cage (Showcase)	CardKingdom $7.49	TCGPlayer $18.13

#3 Rolling Hamsphere $3.05 (+66%)

I couldn't find a good reason for this card to go up. No decks were playing it, and no new commanders have been coming out. I sat down and tried to read the card again and again until it hit me. It's a Vehicle!

$60.00

$1.99

As you're aware, the endless train of new sets and products doesn't seem to be slowing down in 2025, and on Valentine's day we'll get Aetherdrift. This set will revolve around your favorite Magic characters in cars or other Vehicles. And while not too many cards have been previewed yet, given the theme, people may be scouring for cards that work well with the support these Vehicles will get in the Hot Wheels set.

Rolling Hamsphere is not just a Vehicle; it can provide you with creatures to crew itself (once you've attacked with it, of course) or other Vehicles. Esika's Chariot, for instance, give you the creatures to crew it as well. And with the Aetherdrift, I do expect people to build more decks with Bello, Bard of the Brambles, which makes sure your Vehicles don't even need to be crewed.

Rolling Hamsphere	CardKingdom $1.49	TCGPlayer $2.95
Bello, Bard of the Brambles	CardKingdom $4.49	TCGPlayer $3.57
Esika's Chariot	CardKingdom $1.99	TCGPlayer $1.44

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.

Chea, Friend to Maybe Too Many $3.89 - Moving up!

Chea, Friend to Maybe Too Many has been identified by the MTGStocks Premium Penny Stocks feature as a card that has reached its bottom and is starting a consistent uptrend.

Kozilek, the Broken Reality $6.60 - Stabilizing

Rishadan Port $7.35 - Moving down

Chea, Friend to Maybe Too Many	CardKingdom $1.79	TCGPlayer $3.83
Kozilek, the Broken Reality	CardKingdom $7.99	TCGPlayer $6.85
Rishadan Port	CardKingdom $11.99	TCGPlayer $7.40