Weekly Winners 2018-2

For those who thought this weekly winners would be completely about Standard: that is not the case. Enough movement both inside and outside standard to report on!

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

#1 Circular Logic $5 (+316.67%)

 

Since the announcement that there will be Pauper side events at Grand Prix in 2018, the pauper format suddenly became more interesting for collectors of paper pauper staples. That is an important distinction, simply because up until now, pauper was mainly a format on MTGO. Now Pauper comes to paper, there are bound to be spikes, and yes, also some buyouts by speculators.

Circular Logic is a prime example of a card that spiked, just because of this reason. Its a powerful counterspell played 4x the Inside Out Combo deck that makes up around 4% of the (online) pauper meta. With #9, it just makes the top 10 of most played decks.

But Circular Logic is still a understandable winner this week. First of all, the card is from a older set that has a smaller print run, compared to recent sets. That's important because it means that there are not so many copies of the card available, in comparison to a run of the mill uncommon from 2017. Outside a FNM promo, Circular Logic was not reprinted. Supply and demand kicks in, and you get a price spike. This also makes it a nice and safe target for speculators.

If you look at Circular Logic from, say, a Legacy perspective, the $5 price tag on it seems totally unreasonable. Altough the price might drop again, count on this card to retain most of its value over a longer period of time. Circular Logic is a pretty decent counterspell in the pauper deck that plays it. It features many cantrips like Gitaxian Probe and Ponder, bound to fill your graveyard quickly. By using Tireless Tribe you can discard Circular Logic at any given time, making it possible for casting it for its madness cost.

 

#2 Ravenous Chupacabra $2.08 (+163.29%)

 

You can go for the goat with this new, spicy and flavorful uncommon from Rivals of Ixalan. With its $2 price tag, its now the most expensive uncommon in the set, outpricing Merfolk Mistbinder. For 2BB you get a pretty good deal in both Limited and Standard when you add Ravenous Chupacabra to your deck. Usually, you get a 2/2 vanilla creature for 1B, and a removal spell with some downsides for the other 1B. But Ravenous Chupacabra combines a 2/2 body with a removal power that rivals Terminate and Go for the Throat. You won't need red to cast Ravenous Chupacabra, and you don't have the 'non-artifact' drawback. But wait: creatures can be regenerated when targeted by it. Considering just on card power and usefulness, Ravenous Chupacabra warrants a higher price tag.

But there is more. After the recent Standard bans, other decks will compete to become the best and/or most played deck in Standard. And Ravenous Chupacabra has already found its way into three Standard decks:

• Grixis Midrange (#1; 16% of meta)
• Black-green Constrictor (#8; 5.51% of meta)
• Esper Midrange (#9; 5.41% of meta)

So, hide your Merfolks and Gearhulks, el Chupacabra is hungry!

 

#3 Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca $22.99(+95.66%)

 

Even though Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca did not make it in the top 10 cards that gained the most value in percentage; it can still be the only option for winner #3 of this week. Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca is a centerpiece in the Standard Blue-Green Merfolk deck. The reason for the value increase is simple: with Temur Energy and Ramurap Red out of the equation, the Merfolk deck has better chances in the competitive scene. The deck is now 8% of meta.