Weekly Winners 2018 - 39

An interesting week with some nice and even surprising spikes. This week's spikes are interesting for almost all formats and it is good to see that we have another week where the top spikes have real demand driving them, instead of speculation.

 

#1 Doom Whisperer $19.71 (+64.39%)

 

If you are wondering why this card spiked to almost $20; then first just look at the card. It is a 6/6 flying and trample for the mear sum of . On top of that, you get a card advantage ability that works well with the Golgari and Dimir strategies in the new Ravinca set. This card is good enough to spike interest of brewers in almost all formats, maybe even including Legacy, although for that format the card probably needed to be even more powerful.

Doom Whisperer is mostly interesting for Standard and in the past week there has been quite some speculation on its effect on the format in several podcasts. In particular the UB Surveil deck is named as an archetype that can develop into a powerful force. But with those stats, all decks that play or can splash a card would probably consider running it.

Also watch out for this card in EDH. Black flying creatures with great stats and no drawbacks are not that common, and for some graveyard strategy decks Doom Whisperer might be a good addition.

 

#2 Gaddock Teeg $51.78 (+29.48%)

 

Gaddock Teeg is one of those fairly recent classics from Modern and Legacy that has not seen a reprint in Duel Decks or Masters sets. It is a popular sideboard card in both Modern and Legacy, but it spiked because it sees mainboard play in the SCG Baltimore's winning deck.

Gaddock Teeg has a fairly unique taxing ability, since it taxes only cards that are above . Normal 'heatbear' abilities usually tax players to pay extra mana for each (noncreature) spell they want to play or want to keep into play. Gaddock Teeg prevents your opponents from playing any 4+ spells, even when they have enough mana. That makes Gaddock Teeg a very consistent and dependable card.

My guess is that Gaddock Teeg is on Wizards' wish list to reprint in an upcoming special set, especially if it remains so popular and high-costed as it is now. With reprinting it, they can make a nice double strike: the card is iconic enough to be one of the posterboys for a new set, and by reprinting it, Wizards makes Modern (and to some degree Legacy) a little more accessible.

 

#3 Curse of Opulence $4.95 (+400%)

 

Curse of Opulence is an example of a buyout. The chance of a sub-dollar card going to $20 all of the sudden where the price will stick is extremely small. As we have seen, the price has already dropped down to $5, which is still way too much for what it does. But usually there’s a reason for these spike though.

In this case it seems to be the hype around Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer. So basically what you’re trying to do is spend to play Curse of Opulence (preferably in the beginning of the game) and add to your token count. These Gold tokens can help you cast bigger spells, but more importantly, they can become different tokens later on in the game. Also, it seems fun to influence other player’s decisions because of this. For that seems like a decent fun effect.

In Europe however, this card can still be found for under €1. I expect this card to slowly come down when people realise the demand simply isn’t high enough.

Cheap Pickups

#1 Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle

 

When this card was spoiled, I really loved the flavor of it, but I sure wasn't going to spend $12 for it that it was selling for in the beginning. Now that it has come down to below $5, I'm seriously considering it. I think it's an unique card and an awesome card to build a deck around.

Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle
Commander 2018	Buy on CardKingdom $4.49

 

#2 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker

 

A card that has reached its all time low this week and can be bought for less than $10. Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker doesn't really need an introduction. It's arguably one of the most powerful goblins ever printed and because of its unique ability, it can go infinite with several other cards. Of course Deceiver Exarch and Pestermite come to mind.

Deceiver Exarch	Buy on  CardKingdom $0.25
Pestermite	Buy on  CardKingdom $0.29
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker	Buy on  CardKingdom $14.99
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker	Buy on  CardKingdom $10.99
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker	Buy on  CardKingdom $9.99
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker	Buy on  CardKingdom $9.99