This Week in Magic - Week 40

World’s is upon us and I hope you’re all as excited as I am. SCG Dallas gave us a glimpse into what the new meta is going to look like and there weren’t too many surprises. On the heels of the first large tournament in new Standard, we had some movement in new and older cards. Let’s get into all the top market movement, this week in Magic!

I won’t say that a certain “Dan” raised the price of Volrath's Shapeshifter, but we all know that he loves the card. This is, as far as I’ve seen, a reserved list speculative buyout. The funniest part is that I think it’s actually a playable card and has the potential to be broken. As long as the investors hold onto these until they are busted, this could be an expensive card in the future.

A very interesting development happened this week. There were whispers about a pirate deck running people over in Legacy on MTGO. Many players and investors quickly tried to lock in on the cards being used. Without thought Rishadan Footpad along with other potential cards spiked. You can read all about it here. I for one was quite tickled to learn that it was just some people trolling the Magic community and speculators bought it hook, line and sinker.

Rishadan Brigand was also another card bought out thanks to “Popeye Stompy.” I think this taught people a valuable lesson about how quickly they speculate on cards without taking a moment to review the possibility of the card or deck actually being good or bad. Maybe this will slow down potential speculation buy outs in the future.

With two copies of U/W Approach of the Second Sun in SCG Dallas, it’s no wonder that some people are looking at it more seriously. Approach is much better than people gave it credit for. In a strong control shell, it is a better win condition than Gearhulk alone. Approach didn’t exactly make anyone rich overnight, but it did get a significant bump in price.

Just when you thought Hostage Taker had spiked, SCG Dallas happened and people finally got to see just how great it was. I did say that it was a bonkers card and you should buy it, so hopefully many of you went out and picked up your copies. It will probably settle around $10 once the market adjusts, but that will be a few weeks from now, if things work out.

One of the best ways to take on all these big creatures in Standard is deathtouch. One of the best ways to deal with Ramunap Red is lifelink. Gifted Aetherborn does all of that and say much more play than people expected. It has become a fairly expensive uncommon, and will probably see play until it rotates.

While Deathgorge Scavenger saw some play last weekend, I feel that it still can be more expensive. It is a great card and doesn’t have to be paired with dinos to shine. Only time will tell if dinos become an actual deck in Standard, but some outliers don’t need other dinos to perform well.

Foils of the Week!

The big foil winner of the week was Collected Company. Foil Goblin Snowman was hot this week, despite a snowman being present. Yet another 7th foil spiked in Grizzly Bears. Reaper of Sheoldred in foil spiked pretty decently considering it sees no play, but it’s a great infect card. Thanks to Abzan tokens in Standard, foil Sacred Cat went up. Probably a spec buyout, foil Ground Seal hit the charts like a rocket. Heroic Intervention was bought out in foil and non-foil.

MTGStocks Mystery Chart of the Week!

Last week’s mystery chart was Fulminator Mage. This week’s chart is a bit of a ride.

Conversation of the Week!

With one week of Standard down, we have yet to see Ixalan make a huge impact. Some of that seems to be from the fact that the strongest decks in the last Standard didn’t really lose any major cards. Ramunap Red actually got stronger, arguably. Part of me wonders if the changes to how MTGO publishes decks has something to do with the fact that new decks really haven’t been popping up like we expected. The power level of Ixalan seems to be there, so either the old Standard decks are just better, or the correct combination of new cards hasn’t been discovered yet. We will see what World’s has to offer!

The best Commander card you’re not playing!

The best card you’re not playing is Knight of New Alara. I absolutely love this card in any deck with 3 or more colors. 5 color decks benefit the anthem the most. It’s just too bad that he doesn’t pump himself.