Weekly Winners 2018 - 44

Interesting week with price increases mainly due to Modern and Standard. These are basically my favorite weeks to report on, since it's so much more fun to see how these metagames are evolving. Right in time for FNM, I present to you the cards that will be the talk of the town tonight!

 

#1 Tocatli Honor Guard $2.29 (+231.88%)

 

Tocatli Honor Guard sees play in several Standard decks both in mainboards and sideboards, mainly seen in Standard Boros and White Weenie decks.

When a card sees play in this many decks, it makes sense that the price shoots up. With its ability you can make sure your opponent will no longer be able to use their Enter the Battlefield triggers, adding value and it being a 1/3 makes it a suitable early-game blocker.

Tocatli Honor Guard
Ixalan	Buy on CardKingdom $2.49

 

#2 Life from the Loam $34.60 (+75.19%)

 

Life from the Loam has gone up across all prints the past week, making them go from about $20 to $35. It has been a popular Legacy staple for quite a few years already, mainly seeing play in Aggro Loam and Lands decks. However, it has also been popping up in Modern both in paper and online in Modern Dredge.

There's a simple reason why the Dredge deck has picked up this much steam, which has to do with the printing of Creeping Chill. Since this card has been printed, we've seen a decline in the number of Bridgevine decks. The deck uses creatures like Narcomoeba, Bloodghast, and Prized Amalgam to keep returning from the graveyard and attack. Simply killing those creatures won't do, since they (except Narcomoeba) will just keep coming back.

The deck also relies on Conflagrate to either kill opposing threats or to simply deal the last points of damage. It uses Life from the Loam both as dredge engine and to return cards to your hand to fuel Conflagrate.

Life from the Loam	Buy on  CardKingdom $32.99
Life from the Loam	Buy on  CardKingdom $32.99
Life from the Loam	Buy on  CardKingdom $32.99
Creeping Chill	Buy on  CardKingdom $0.25

 

#3 The Immortal Sun $20.73 (+43.06%)

 

This Mythic from Rivals of Ixalan has never been cheap. It started preselling around $10, fell down to about $7, but has gotten more appreciation now that it also sees competitive play. The card is played in Standard Selesnya brews, but it also stirring it up in other decks either mainboard or sideboard.

The Immortal Sun speeds up these decks a lot, by providing additional card draw making spells cheaper, making your creatures stronger and as added bonus, render your opponents' planeswalkers useless. It helps you stay alive until you're able to pump out a massive army of tokens, which all get pumped by The Immortal Sun, Trostani Discordant, Divine Visitation, and Venerated Loxodon. Once you've achieved this, it's time to overwhelm the opponent with your swarm of tokens.

I'm pretty sure this card will become a popular EDH staple, because of its versatility. It wouldn't be the first artifact to become popular in many kind of decks. Cards like Akroma's Memorial, The Chain Veil and Eldrazi Monument come to mind. I wouldn't be surprised to see this card hit $30, but for the price of $20 which it is at now, I wouldn't pick up too many copies unless you want to play with them. Foils I guess will become popular over time.

The Immortal Sun	Buy on  CardKingdom $19.99
Venerated Loxodon	Buy on  CardKingdom $0.99
Trostani Discordant	Buy on  CardKingdom $2.99
Divine Visitation	Buy on  CardKingdom $4.99

 

#4 Mist-Cloaked Herald $3.99 (+76.55%)

 

This Core Set 2019 common was already discussed in Weekly Winners 2018 - 31 from August 3rd. During that time, several "random" commons spiked from the Core Set 2019 like Llanowar Elves and Sun Sentinel. This was due that these cards were not available from regular boosterpacks, but only from the Core Set 2019 Welcome Decks, making them more rare. After these prices have settled back down, it seems that Mist-Cloaked Herald decided to spike again.

The reason is the popularity of this card in Standard Mono Blue decks as well as popularity on Magic Arena. Please note that its print from Rivals of Ixalan is selling for less than a dollar.

 

Cheap Pickups

Privileged Position $17.94

 

Ok, maybe not cheap-cheap, but since Privileged Position received its first reprint in Guilds of Ravnica: Guild Kits, it has come down a bit and sees its lowest point since January. It might come down a bit more, but this is a promising start.

Privileged Position
Ravnica	Buy on CardKingdom $19.99

 

Death Baron $3.00

 

Casual card Death Baron has come down a lot from its highest price point of $22. Now you can get a copy for only $3, which seems like a good deal.

Death Baron
Shards of Alara	Buy on CardKingdom $5.99
Planechase	Buy on CardKingdom $5.99
Core Set 2019	Buy on CardKingdom $3.99
Prerelease Cards	Buy on CardKingdom $5.49