Weekly Winners is back!!

After a year and a half Weekly Winners is back! For now. For a more detailed explanation on why I was gone, and why I'm back click here. This is Weekly Winners, so in this article, it's all about the cards! And talking about a long time ago: all three winners of this week are from sets that are 10 years old. But hey, they may be from some time ago, they're still relevant.

So, once again, just in time for FNM, I'll tell you now what cards will be the talk of the town tonight!

#1 Pyrohemia $4.69 (+388.54%)

What a great week to be back! This week I can present you one of my favourite cards as the weekly winner: Pyrohemia. The red, timeshifted brother of good old Pestilence. Oh, the joy of destroying all your opponents' creatures in a multiplayer game, while at the same time exploiting the damage you and your creatures get. In the old days we used Urza's Armor and Cemetery Gate (to prevent pestilence from being destroyed).

But, 2018 is calling. And so is the new set: Rivals of Ixalan which has its prerelease today. Pyrohemia is not only the red version of Pestilence, it is also the modern legal version of that enchantment. That's the reason why Pyrohemia spiked while Pestilence did not. Also, Pestilence had a much larger print run and is very much more in stock.

With the release of Rivals of Ixalan some new creatures will enter the battlefield that have some very nice synergy with Pyrohemia. And what makes it even better: they're dinosaurs!

The enrage ability is not new, but the simple fact that with that new dino you can activate Pyrohemia and get a copy of Polyraptor, activate it again, and now get another two Polyraptors. Rinse and repeat. So if you are a EDH player, or have buddies that brew insane "casual" multiplayer decks but don't include removal spells (like my buddies); you'll end up like this:

Also good to mention that with Trapjaw Tyrant you can sweep the board, but with precise targeting. Every red (or black) mana you pay gives you another chance to remove an opponents' creature. And remember: in the cleanup step all damage is removed, so in your opponent's turn you have another 4 activations left. If you have the mana.

And there comes Cacophodon. It does not say non-land. So yes, you can untap your lands to activate Pyrohemia again. More creatures can be removed, more copies and yes, more mana.

Fun fact: the first actual card that practically has the enrage ability is Fungusaur. Which Wizards decided, for the occasion, to errata. It is no longer a "Fungusaur", but a "Fungus Dinosaur".

 

#2 Runed Halo $40.99 (+78.22%)

Runed Halo was really at odds being declared #1, simply because it is a card that sees tournament play, and in top tier decks. Also, it more than doubled in price this week! For those of you interested, and because my last piece was so long ago, below, I will explain how I choose the cards for the weekly winners.

Whenever there is a big tournament, all eyes are on the top players and most of all, on the quarter finals, semi's and the big final. And when that final is a mirror match, like in last weekend's SCG Modern Open in Columbus, this creates extra interest in certain cards. People scour their collections and look if they are also able to get that top tier deck together.

Even while Runed Halo is only a two-off in Benjamin Nikolich's sideboard of his winning deck, it is no surprise it gained value. Runed Halo is from an older set, with a limited print run. It has no reprints and it a card that is used in multiple Modern decks, and sees some fringe Legacy play as well. This combination of factors makes Runed Halo's spike understandable.

But since it was on a high price level even before the spike, I really wonder if the card can hold its current price tag. When UWR control keeps doing well, maybe. Unless the card is reprinted, it will always be a powerful, fairly unique card, with a limited print run. And that always warrants a $10+ price tag.

 

#3 Resplendent Mentor $2.89 (+542.22%)

And another card from Shadowmoor qualified for the top 3 this week. Resplendent Mentor is an example of one of many cards with the label: doesn't do anything, unless something is printed that makes this very good. But not a prime example, since it is not that powerful, even with a freshly printed new card called Famished Paladin.

Resplendent Mentor and Famished Paladin are a decent combo, since you can tap the Paladin an unlimited amount of times, and it untaps automagically because of it's mentors influence. Pretty decent in casual multiplayer and EDH. But not new; there are many unlimited life combo's, so nothing really unique.

By adding some other EDH/ casual gems you can make this decent combo very janky. Aetherflux Reservoir, Sanguine Bond or Cliffhaven Vampire for instance. Hell, make it the jankiest combo ever by playing Minion of the Wastes or even better: Nameless Race. With that last card you can watch your opponent figure out the wording and slowly but surely conclude that yes, they will be dead soon.

But like all janky, 3 piece combo's around, it still has to come together. Especially in EDH. Yes, if you luck out and draw all your three combo pieces, you have a good deck. But most of the time, you don't. Or, as someone in the White House put it so eloquently:

 

Who// What// When// Where// Why

I'll explain in short how I choose the top 3 of the week. With previous instalments of the Weekly Winners, I got a lot of questions about this, and also, a fair amount of angry people that did not agree with my choices. So, I thought it was a good idea to write a little about my choices for weekly winners.

Little background

Before going in to the card choices, I like to share that I don't really like talking about myself in the Weekly Winners. A personal pun here and there is no problem of course, but I see to many Magic articles that read like personal diary entries of the writers. About what they like, feel, think or did. My goal for the Weekly Winners is to write a neutral, but fun piece of information that explains why a certain card has increased in value. To word it differently: the Weekly Winners is not about me, but about the cards, and about giving you background information on why price changes occur.

And since I'm sharing, I'll share another two things with you as well. First of all, I'm not a US citizen. Also, English is not my native tongue. I'm actually from The Netherlands, and currently living in Amsterdam. So I will make mistakes in my spelling and language. I tend to overlook typos, but sometimes I'm just not aware of them.

Second: I'm not a speculator. The last time I bought single cards was about 7 months ago, for my Grixis Delver sideboard. Spikes and speculation hurt me just as they hurt you. And sometimes I profit of off them, just like you when you happen to have some obscure card that is now suddenly $10 or even higher.

Card Choices

So now on to the card choices and a little background on how I make my choices.

First of all, it is highly subjective, there is no mathemethical calculation being done or some standard procedure I keep onto. The first thing I look for is the card that has the biggest gain in %, and in $. It is easy for a $0.15 card to spike 500%. Eternal format staples can fluctuate more in absolute dollars but don't have a big percental difference. So, the winners are not just the top 3 biggest gainers.

Next thing I look for is a story. What can I tell about a card? If something looks like 'just a buyout' I usually don't cover it. Unless the buyout in itself is an interesting story to tell.

By deciding on 'the story'; I also try to satisfy people that play different formats when I can. This week 2 cards that are played in EDH/casual are featured, and 1 modern staple. That's just 2,5 formats, no Standard, no Legacy. It happens. These three cards stood out this week, also because two of them have a link with the release of a new set this week.

Sometimes when I decide what three cards to focus on, I choose on personal ground. For instance, if a Standard staple and Legacy staple are tied for the #3 spot (one gets covered, the other one doesn't) I will lean towards the Legacy staple, simply because I know more about the format. I read up on Standard, but I don't play it often. I can write a better story about Legacy. But don't be alarmed, this is not an automatic thing: if the Standard card is the better story, I'll go with that.

To conclude, I'll give some insight in my thoughts about choosing the #1. Usually I go with the card that has gained the most in %. But this week is already an exception to this. Resplendent Mentor had the biggest gain, but Pyrohemia was the better story. Even Runed Halo surpassed the Mentor, simply because a 100%+ gain of a Modern staple is more newsworthy then a dime-priced obscure uncommon that happens to combo with a new printing, that requires fairytale, never-ever land deckbuilds to support it.

Having said that. The #1 slot in Weekly Winners is reserved for the biggest percental winner. Unless other cards are a better story. Maybe I have to rephrase that: unless I, subjectively decide it to be a better story.