This Week in Magic - Week 42

This week was plagued with old, obscure cards, but between the fog shined a few gems. We also had an interesting no bans announcement from Wizards that hinted something may be coming off of the ban list in Modern. Let’s plow through all the crazy cards that saw an uptick, this week in Magic!

Urborg Justice might as well be known as street justice. It may not be lawful, but it’s poetic. This is a reserved list card, instant and has a relevant mana cost. The only downside is that the effect is very mediocre. This is Commander playable for sure, and I actually want to throw it in a deck or two. As for the price spike, I haven’t come across anything concrete, but I’ll keep my ears open.

While this didn’t set any price records, it is a Standard card that saw some very healthy movement this week thanks to tokens decks doing well. Once this cools off in Standard, I could see picking up a few copies for various strategies in Commander. You can’t have enough doubling effects, and being white is a break from the usual green doubling effects.

Gush is a very powerful Vintage card and sees fairly consistent play. It’s even playable in some 1v1 or multiplayer Commander decks. Duel deck printings are strange and usually defy card pricing, as the smaller amounts of sets opened means less product in circulation than regular sets. The only downside is that duel deck set symbols are historically terrible looking.

Killer Bees on the swarm! 93/94 format has been gaining popularity and it seems that anything that could be and is playable has investors drooling. While the concept of the 93/94 format (The only cards legal to play with are from 1993 and 1994) is sweet, the paper world can get quite expensive. It’s fun to play with what is basically powered down decks. If MTGO implemented this online, I think it would be a great way to introduce players to older cards.

I really enjoy one-sided wipes like Kindred Dominance, and while I prefer Crux of Fate, not everyone likes to play with dragons. My only issue is that it costs black mana. I think it’s time we got a colorless tribal wipe so that every color can play one. Yeah, it will be super powerful, but it would also be super sweet!

While I’m trying to talk as little as I can about old, obscure cards, I have to talk about some this week. There’s not much else spiking! Divine Intervention is a card that had me scratching my head. For some reason, I don’t have any memories playing with this, and it seems like something that I would have tried to make a deck out of for the hilarity. I can’t think of any ways to break this, or any reason why someone would play with it.

Foils of the Week!

Bloodbraid Elf was the center of discussion this week as Wizards announced no bannings in any format, but they did hint that they would be looking at unbannings. I’ve been saying for awhile that BBE will come off the banned list someday, and if that’s true, some people are going to make some serious money. Lost Leonin doesn’t see any play, yet the foils were bought out this week. I’m still investigating why. Shrine of Burning Rage has quickly become an all-star in Modern burn, so the foils are starting to disappear quickly. Thanks to storm being everywhere in Modern, Rule of Law has quickly become the go to hate card, so it’s only natural that players are buying the foils up.

Cheap pickups of the Week!

Non-foil Bloodbraid Elf hasn’t spiked yet, so it might be a good time to buy these before they go fast. On the same note, Stoneforge Mystic is about as cheap as its been in years, so scoring some copies before the end of the year should be a priority. Also related to Stoneforge, Sword of the Meek will probably see an uptick around the same time. It’s not a guarantee, but even the ban list speculation can be enough to make some money. Finally, I think it’s a good idea to pickup some Iconic Masters sealed product. The hype has already worn off and some vendors are selling these much cheaper than they should be.

MTGStocks Mystery Chart of the Week!

Last week’s mystery chart was Pendelhaven. I switched it up a bit this week…

Conversation of the Week!

This week, it only seems right to talk about the Modern ban list. Todd Stevens wrote a terrific article over at Star City Games on the premium side. He breaks down each card on the ban list and discusses if it has a chance of coming off. Modern is very healthy right now, but storm is pretty close to being oppressive, so we will have to wait and see what the Pro Tour holds. If storm dominates the Pro Tour, we might see it get hit with the ban hammer at the same time something comes off the ban list. It’s still early, so no one knows, but we can speculate!

The best Commander card you’re not playing!

This week, the best Commander card you’re not playing is Soulfire Grand Master. Not only is it a good long term investment, but it’s a great Commander card. In constructed, most people don’t use the buy back because it’s too slow, but in Commander it is the primary reason to be using this.