This Week in Magic - Week 31

This weekend is GP Minneapolis, Standard, but more importantly I will be playing in my first GP. Pro Tour Hour of Devastation is in the books and we learned that even cheap mono red cards can spike hard. I'm on a music kick today. so expect lots of music references this week. Let’s review over the biggest changes we saw this in Magic!

“I see a red door and I want it painted…red?” With Ramunap Red absolutely overrunning PT Hour of Devastation, what once was a budget deck has quickly started adding up. The biggest mover by percentage was Village Messenger. I used to run 4x of these in an older mono red deck because it was the best 1 drop option, but people would laugh at me. People who laughed at me know who they are, so who’s laughing now? (It’s me.)

“Hey yo it’s just another Bom-at. Yeah!” The Machine at the source of which players Rage Against? Bomat Courier of course! This speed-e delivery machine hit spoiler season with much anticipation, but it quickly fell off. It’s the reason why mono red can quickly restock their hand after dumping it out. While it may be a fragile little go-bot, it threatens a bunch of cards in the mid game. As more players move into mono red, expect many of these more common type cards to quickly be out of stock, causing the prices to soar.

This was a very last minute addition, as we are in the very beginning stage of a buyout in both non-foil and foil Azusa, Lost but Seeking. This may be because Todd Steven’s G/W Value Town deck, a result of Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle being a very strong card in Modern or Commander. Either way, Azusa is an absolute monster, so if you want some quick profits, dumb your copies now. Just be warned that this will probably be even more expensive in the future.

Dave Matthews fans absolutely love The Gorge. Mono red players love a different type of gorge. Falkenrath Gorger. I never thought the top 2 of the 3 cards of the week would essentially be three 1 drop “red” creatures. Captain Falcon doesn’t do anything special for the red decks other than beat for 2. I don’t expect this one to linger at a higher price as it is the least impactful of the 1 drops.

The big winner as far as actual dollar amount from Ramunap Red was Hazoret the Fervent. Kendrick said it best. GOD. The early iterations of the deck didn’t have any Hazoret the Fervent, but slowly started playing more and more copies. The beauty of this red god is that it is quite possibly Modern playable. I got my playset when they spoiled because, well, I love red. I would maybe wait a few weeks when Ramunap Red starts to decline in numbers.

I feel like there are sirens going off somewhere, as a card from Homelands actually made the list! Thanks to Commander, this awkwardly angled Minotaur (who happens to be on the reserved list) got to grab a piece of the spotlight. I would love to see this go a little higher and become the most expensive card in the set!

Not quite ground breaking, but a pretty cool tech card, Mana Vortex is a great way to strangle your opponents mana base. It’s a reserved list card, so add this to the list of cards that will be hard to find in the future. I haven’t found a reason for the buyout yet, but I could see this being played in some mean Commander decks.

Planar Gate made the list way back in week 15 and has surpassed the previous mark. Costing 6 is unfortunate, but there aren’t many ways to efficiently pay less for your spells. I don’t see many if any other functional reprints of this card, so if you have the opportunity, get some of these before they are impossible to find.

Lastly, Drop of Honey went up a measly 25%, otherwise known as $100. This sees play in legacy Lands, and it is not showing any sign of slowing down. This will probably be expensive for the rest of my life, which is unfortunate because I would love one of these for a Commander deck.

Foils of the Week!

I am so tickled right now. I knew I was going to play Ramunap Ruins in my mono red Eldrazi deck the moment it was spoiled, so I pre ordered 8x for $6. The foils have gone up over 500%! Foil Wall of Blood has hit the charts hard, so dig through your old cards and profit. When writing this, I came upon the spike of foil Zendikar Resurgent and realized I had spec’d on some of these foils long ago when I thought every green Commander deck would love them. Lastly this week, foil Circle of Protection: Green spiked and I am baffled. It’s not pretty or that useful.

MTGStocks mystery chart of the Week!

Last week’s mystery chart was one of my favorite dragons, Thundermaw Hellkite. This week, I chose one of my favorite blockers of all time. This particular chart is an older printing of the card, so take these hints and start guessing!

Conversation of the Week!

I want to briefly touch on a topic many people have brought up after Ramunap Red took over the Pro Tour: Netdecking. I’ll begin with a quick story. Back in October of 2016, I started building a mono red control/Eldrazi deck for Standard. I love mono red and I love Eldrazi, so it was inevitable. I built it in paper and played it at FNM and even took 2nd at a PPTQ with it. Fast forward to May of this year and I wrote a primer for the deck, as I had been doing very well with it on MTGO. I had a number of 5-0’s, but none got published. Todd Stevens ended up playing it on stream one night and went 5-0. Of course his got published, and the deck quickly gained traction. I have been constantly editing and adjusting my deck, and I will be playing it this weekend for GP Minneapolis. It’s notable that the first few versions of Ramunap Red were lower to the ground versions of mono red Eldrazi that eventually cut the Eldrazi altogether. Now people give others crap for netdecking the most popular deck, but nearly every top deck starts off as a home brew. Not to mention some players just want to play the game and not have to worry about fine tuning a deck to perform at the pro level.

The best Commander card you’re not playing!

Your friends will hate you, but the best card you’re not playing is Quicksilver Fountain. It’s hilarious to play this and watch the rest of the table try to team up and not play lands so the counters can be removed. It’s notable that removing the artifact will not remove the flood counters, so they really have to work together when this hits the board.