Weekly Winners 2019 - 11

15 Mar

by Peter

Speculation on EDH and the new set War of the Spark is moving the markets. Also: Modern staples keep going up because they will not be reprinted in Modern Horizons.

#1 Riptide Entrancer $6.84 (+418.18%)

Our #1 winner shot up last night and is now almost $7. Riptide Entrancer sees no play in any competitive formats, but it does see play in EDH. With 667 decks listed on EDHREC.com; you can say that it sees a fair amount of play, but far from a staple. The top 3 decks it sees play in are decks commanded by:

Both Animar, Soul of Elements and Ixidor, Reality Sculptor show an increase in price as well. But not as much as you would expect, considering the high spike of Riptide Entrancer. Remember, in EDH you just need 1 copy, so effects on the market are much lower compared to a deck in Standard getting more popular for instance. EDH, however, is extremely popular and in some areas the most played format. So don't underestimate the effect on the format on card prices either.

Riptide Entrancer's spike does not seem to be related to organic demand only. When you click the 'buy from' buttons on the card page, you'll be redirected to the chosen store. There you can see the current supply. At the time of writing TCGPlayer has 0 copies and Card Kingdom has only 6. Considering that, I cannot rule out that this spike was due to a buyout. The fact that it is a sudden spike, with no gradual gain in market price and a spike in foil price preceding this buyout are all signs of a buyout.

#2 Oath of Nissa $4.42 (+225%)

Oath of Nissa spiked this week because of the announcement of War of the Spark. A new set that is interesting because of quite a few things. I've listed them for you in random order:

The set is not officially part of a block
It is a set not revolving around a plane, but around an event
It features planeswalkers as the main mechanic/ card type
All boosters contain a planeswalker
The set contains 36 planeswalkers
Those planeswalkers are new, no reprints
For the first time in eight years, a new paper novel will be released accompanying the set
The set will enter Standard (on may 3rd)

Planeswalkers are meant to be powerful cards to have in play. Finding your planeswalker(s) is as important as being able to cast them and keep them in play. Oath of Nissa helps you do both. For just you get a planeswalker-ponder and casting any colored planeswalker is going to be easy once it lands.

Just the announcement of a planeswalker-heavy set proves to be enough for Oath of Nissa to gain in price significantly. And expect it to rise some more as spoilers roll in. And since Oath of Nissa sees fringe play in Modern and is widely popular in EDH already, that is going to inflate its price further.

Misty Rainforest	Buy on CardKingdom $79.99
Ixidor, Reality Sculptor	Buy on CardKingdom $1.79
Riptide Entrancer	Buy on CardKingdom $1.79
Animar, Soul of Elements	Buy on CardKingdom $13.99
Oath of Nissa	Buy on CardKingdom $2.29
Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive	Buy on CardKingdom $0.25

#3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor $119.30 (+6%)

For three weeks in a row, Jace, the Mind Sculptor has been the #4 most significant winner. And since Weekly Winners has only 3 winners, all I could do is mention it when talking about other cards. But this week, I chose Jace, the Mind Sculptor as the #3 winner because the card just keeps going up.

You might have noticed a trend. Other Modern and Legacy staples have been rapidly increasing in price as well. The reason in all cases is simple: there are no viable sets that are going to print Jace, the Mind Sculptor any time soon. The card broke records in the start of January, and that was before Modern Horizons was announced. A set that excluded all cards already in Modern, meaning the neither Jace, the Mind Sculptor, nor Fetch Lands nor Surgical Extraction was going to see a reprint. This not only boosted the price on those cards, but also Jace, the Mind Sculptor's price.

Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Worldwake	Buy on CardKingdom $129.99
From the Vault: Twenty	Buy on CardKingdom $114.99
Eternal Masters	Buy on CardKingdom $119.99
Masters 25	Buy on CardKingdom $114.99

Cheap Pickups

Please note: for our 'record low' we consider the price of the card over the past 7 years. Many cards have been even cheaper (a) decade(s) ago.

Nahiri, the Harbinger $5.96 - Record low and bottoming out

Temple Garden $6.26 - Record low and going down hard

Spawn of Mayhem $6.06 - Record low and bottoming out

Prime Speaker Vannifar $8.71 - Record low and going down

Temple Garden	Buy on CardKingdom $6.99
Nahiri, the Harbinger	Buy on CardKingdom $6.99
Spawn of Mayhem	Buy on CardKingdom $5.49
Prime Speaker Vannifar	Buy on CardKingdom $7.99