Playstation cards and Jaws are responsible for two of our winners this week. The last one is because of a rediscovered combo.
Like every week, just in time for FNM, I'll tell you about the Magic: the Gathering cards that'll be the talk of the town tonight! Come discuss this week's price movements with us on Discord.
Articles
Check out our other great content from this week.
Overlooked Commander Cards From Edge of Eternities by Steve Heisler
Cards To Watch From Avatar: The Last Airbender by Matt Grzechnik
Back to Basics Vol 1 - The Most Played Cards in Magic by Bill Bingham
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Onto the Weekly Winners!
This Giant Soldier from Commander 2015 has spiked hard this week, and it's all thanks to the PlayStation Secret Lair Superdrop. Kalemne has double strike and vigilance, and gets a +1/+1 counter for each experience counter you have. Whenever you cast a creature spell with mana value five or greater, you get an experience counter that sticks around even if Kalemne leaves the battlefield. While Kalemne has been around as a commander for years, it wasn't particularly popular until now.
The reason for the spike is Kratos, Stoic Father and Atreus, Impulsive Son from the God of War: Norse drop. This partner pairing cares heavily about experience counters, and thus gives a synergy with Kalamne. Since Kratos and Atreus generate experience counters, Kalemne can enter as a big threat. Experience counters are hot right now with support from both the PlayStation drop and Avatar: The Last Airbender, so other cards in this category could see similar movement. That said, the limited supply of the Secret Lair will likely cap how high this goes, and Commander-driven spikes typically fade over time once the initial hype dies down.
| Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas | | |
This blue enchantment from Urza's Legacy shot up, and it's all because players discovered its infinite combo potential. Second Chance sacrifices itself at the beginning of your upkeep if you have five or less life, giving you an extra turn. That doesn't really seem like a great extra turn spell, since you need to be dangerously low on life to pull that off. But as MTG YouTuber Ben Bateman recently showcased, this card goes infinite with several popular commanders, and the combo is surprisingly simple.
The highlighted combo is with Tameshi, Reality Architect. When Second Chance sacrifices itself to give you an extra turn, Tameshi can return it from your graveyard to the battlefield by bouncing a land. Since Second Chance triggers again on your extra turn's upkeep, you can keep repeating this process for infinite turns. You do need to maintain five or less life and bounce a land each time, but with infinite turns you just replay the land and easily win the game.
Cards like Adanto Vanguard, Spellskite, or even Phyrexian Processor help you quickly lower your life total, or you can use Tameshi's ability to replay Shock lands to hurt yourself. That said, Tameshi isn't the only commander that can go infinite with Second Chance. Hanna, Ship's Navigator, for example, returns it to your hand instead of the battlefield, making the combo more mana-intensive but still very possible. And Muldrotha, the Gravetide lets you recast it from your graveyard.
The fact that Second Chance is on the Reserved List, meaning it will never be reprinted, does also mean that the price is more easily manipulated. Some extra attention from a content creator can already move the needle drastically. But for a card that enables multiple infinite combos with popular commanders, Second Chance may actually have been flying under the radar for years.
| Second Chance | | |
| Tameshi, Reality Architect | | |
| Hanna, Ship's Navigator | | |
| Muldrotha, the Gravetide | | |
This Goblin Artificer printed in Commander: March of the Machine has spiked recently, and it's all thanks to Jaws, Relentless Predator from the Jaws Secret Lair. Hedron Detonator deals one damage to an opponent whenever an artifact enters under your control, and it can sacrifice two artifacts to exile the top card of your library and play it that turn. This means that the card can both push damage and provide card advantage, but definitely needs the right support to be good.
Jaws is the perfect commander for Hedron Detonator. Every time Jaws deals combat damage, it generates multiple Blood Tokens that each ping an opponent thanks to Detonator's triggered ability. Then Detonator can use these tokens for card advantage, but by doing so it will trigger Jaws to deal more damage. Both creatures work well together and becomes a must-answer threat. Other commanders, like Rocco, Street Chef and Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival, can use Detonator as well thanks to their exile strategies and artifact token generation, but these shells tend to be much less aggressive.
Hedron Detonator already saw some steady price increase since August, but the price went up faster after the Jaws Secret Lair went live on October 13th. Given how tied this spike seems to be to Jaws specifically, the price could drop once the hype dies down. That said, Jaws has quickly become one of the top 40 most popular mono-red commanders according to EDHREC, and with Hedron Detonator only having one printing, the supply may be relatively low.
| Hedron Detonator | | |
| Jaws, Relentless Predator | | |
| Rocco, Street Chef | | |
| Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival | | |
Cheap Pickups
Please note: for our 'record low' we consider the price of the card over the past seven years. Many cards were even cheaper (a) decade(s) ago. Also note: some cards are still going down, and might be even cheaper pickups next week.
Silverclad Ferocidons has been identified by the MTGStocks Premium Penny Stocks feature as a card that has reached its bottom and is starting a consistent uptrend.
| Silverclad Ferocidons | | |
| Mindbreak Trap (Borderless) | | |
| Susur Secundi, Void Altar | | |
