This week is all about Commander, and especially some tough(ness) strategies!
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.
Magic, Tariffs, and Market Turbulence by Harvey McGuinness
Underplayed Cycling Cards in Commander by Kasper Renken
Commander Staples From Tarkir: Dragonstorm by Steve Heisler
What's Good In Tarkir: Dragonstorm? by Matt Grzechnik
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Onto the Weekly Winners!
MacCready, from the Universes Beyond: Fallout, has shot up from bulk status to an almost $18 card. Let's quickly glance over the cards since there's a less-than-common keyword on there. Whenever your creatures with power two or less attack, they gain skulk, which means they can't be blocked by any creature with greater power. MacCready can be found in the Hail, Caesar precon, which revolves around the strategy of making and sacrificing small creatures and tokens.
And while that's a perfectly good strategy, and one where MacCready, Lamplight Mayor does some work, it also shines in Felothar the Steadfast decks. Felothar is the commander of the Abzan Armor precon deck from Tarkir: Dragonstorm, and this is the third Weekly Winners within a month that we're mentioning him. Felothar lets you assign combat damage equal to a creature's toughness rather than its power, and it also lets creatures with defender attack. And now the interaction with MacCready immediately makes sense; creatures with defender generally have a high toughness, but low power, and thus will be made nearly unblockable.
Tarkir: Dragonstorm brought forth another card that made this strategy more appealing, and that's Betor, Kin to All. Betor is another creature that cares about toughness rather than power, and while it can't be found in the precon, it does seem like a card that may have belonged there.
| MacCready, Lamplight Mayor | | |
| MacCready, Lamplight Mayor (Extended Art) | | |
| Betor, Kin to All | | |
| Felothar the Steadfast | | |
This Tyranid comes from a different Universes Beyond, Universes Beyond: Warhammer 40,000. With the Ravenous ability you can put as many +1/+1 counters on it that you want by pumping mana into it. Its Shieldwall seems very good here, allowing you to sacrifice it to give creatures with counters on them hexproof and indestructable.
The reason for the spike is still a bit vague to me. I feel Tidus, Yuna's Guardian, the previewed card from the Commander: Final Fantasy set, may be an important reason to drive the price up of Tyrant Guard. Tidus cares about counters and moving them to different creatures. By being able to "share the love" you can make sure all your creatures have counters on them.
I've also seen people mention Betor, Kin to All as a reason for the card to move up. Since you can pump a bunch of mana into this Tyranid you can make it trigger Betor at the end step. But this Betor is not the only one around. Tarkir: Dragonstorm also gave us Betor, Ancestor's Voice. This Betor can put +1/+1 counters on creatures and thus may also be a good fit for Tyrant Guard.
Regardless, Tyrant Guard being from a Universes Beyond set and being tied to that universe because of its creature type makes its supply low enough for people to want to snatch their copies in time.
| Tyrant Guard | | |
| Tyrant Guard (Surge Foil) | | |
| Tidus, Yuna's Guardian | | |
Sapling of Colfenor was originally printed in Eventide, back in 2008, and has been reprinted once in Commander 2021 as part of the Witherbloom Witchcraft precon. This Treefolk Shaman is indestructable, and when we move on in reading the card we can see that it cares about... toughness.
Another victim of the Felothar the Steadfast-fever it seems. I do think that the supply of this card may be rather low. Eventide is a set that wasn't much opened back then, and having only one reprint from a precon doesn't really add that much.
| Sapling of Colfenor | | |
| Sapling of Colfenor | | |
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.
Liliana's Contract (1844) has been identified by the MTGStocks Premium Penny Stocks feature as a card that has reached its bottom and is starting a consistent uptrend.
| Liliana's Contract (1844) | | |
| Elspeth, Knight-Errant (Sketch Showcase) | | |
| Sigarda, Host of Herons (Retro Frame) | | |
