Weekly Winners 2018 - 41

Another week of interesting, organic demand driven spikes. We are seeing interesting movement for both Standard and Modern, but also a small surpise for Legacy and Vintage.

 

#1 Necrotic Ooze $8.42 (+304%)

 

Necrotic Ooze is one of those cards that feel good or powerful when you first see it, but disappoints you when you try to build a deck around it. By the time you have your (and your opponents') graveyard filled with some goodies and you cast Necrotic Ooze, chances are that it is either countered, removed or just blocked (when no evasion abilities are in the graveyard).

At the same time, it is always good to keep an eye on cards like Necrotic Ooze. Someone or something is bound to 'break' the card; making it spike. And that is exactly what happened this week. Necrotic Ooze's spike has everything to do with its synergy with Doom Whisperer and the speculation that it might be good in Modern.

On October 9th, Ben Friedman posted an article on SCG.com with the title: "Necrotic Ooze is on the verge of breaking in Modern". In his article (which is worth the read) Friedman makes the case for Necrotic Ooze as a combo with Doom Whisperer.

Whenever new decks are announced or speculated upton in non-rotating formats; this will always pique the interests of players and speculators. Friedman's take on Necrotic Ooze seems convincing enough for the card to spike to $12. In the past days its price fell to $8.42.

With no actual results in from Modern decks that feature Necrotic Ooze, only time can tell if this spike in price will stick.

Necrotic Ooze	Buy on  CardKingdom $4.99
Doom Whisperer	Buy on  CardKingdom $25.99

 

#2 Star of Extinction $7.15 (+276.32%)

 

Star of Extinction somehow reminds me of the earliest games of Magic I played, back in the day. Me and my magic buddy played four colored decks, cramming in everything that seemed powerful like Crash of Rhinos and Viashivan Dragon and cutting unplayable crap cards like Wasteland or Lion's Eye Diamond. Just topdecking your way to that high-costed 8/4 trample that wins you the game instantly.

By itself Star of Extinction is an extremely underwhelming card. You just need to have other cards that combo with it to make it worth your while. Cards like Spitemare or Stuffy Doll. Nice for kitchentable magic, or maybe EDH.

But now, Star of Extinction seems to be a contender to see play in Standard, as it combos with the freshly printed Truefire Captain. A nice idea, and a game winning combo. But how viable this strategy is remains to be seen. is really a lot of land. Sure, you can ramp into 7 lands; but you still need a deck consistent enough to give you both copies of the combo, while not getting manascrewed or manaflooded. And when your Star of Extinction hits the stack, is it allowed to resolve; or is Truefire Captain allowed to survive?

I'm looking forward to seeing brews in Standard with Star of Extinction, since I really love these kinds of combos.

Star of Extinction	Buy on  CardKingdom $4.99
Truefire Captain	Buy on  CardKingdom $0.25

 

#3 Doom Whisperer $24.95 (+24.75%)

 

Doom Whisperer is up almost 25% this week. And since there is already so much written and speculated about the card, that is really an accomplishment. Usually, pre-release prices are way too high. Many, many cards are overhyped and overpriced in the weeks leading up to the release of a new set. Interestingly, Doom Whisperer was undervalued. When that happens, a card is overlooked during spoiler season, and suddenly seems so combo with an older card; making it interesting for Modern or Legacy.

That was not the case with Doom Whisperer. From the day it was spoiled it was clear that the card was going to play a big role in Standard, and might even be powerful enough for Modern. I guess many Legacy players ran the math in their head when they first saw the card 'is it good enough for Legacy?, it just might be'. Probably quickly followed by: 'nah.. but cool card anyway'.

As of now Doom Whisperer sees play in no less than 6 Standard archetypes, and might even become a piece in Modern. The card has proven to be as good, maybe even better than expected; making it worth its former $20 price tag. Driven by organic demand both the AVG and the Market price have been going up steadily this past week. The AVG price seems to have hit a plateau, just $0.05 shy of the $25 mark.

 

Cheap Pickups

Assassin's Trophy

 

Sure, $21.80 for a recently printed card is not cheap; but is certainly is a lot cheaper than its $35 - $30 prerelease price. Even though the card sees play in Standard, Modern, Legacy and Vintage, it cannot hold its prerelease price.

Assassin's Trophy
Guilds of Ravnica	Buy on CardKingdom $22.99

 

Pact of Negation

 

Before getting reprinted for the second time, Pact of Negation was a $35 - $40 card. After Masters 25, Pact of Negation dropped hard and has hit the $10 mark this week. The card probably won't stop there as its gradual price loss seems to stick to its downward trend.

Pact of Negation
Future Sight	Buy on CardKingdom $16.99
Modern Masters	Buy on CardKingdom $14.99
Masterpiece Series: Amonkhet Invocations	Buy on CardKingdom $59.99
Masters 25	Buy on CardKingdom $13.99