We're seeing cards spike this week, mainly because of rumours and expectations of future products. The standard metagame is slowly settling, and we see these effects on the prices of Core Set 2020 slowly stabilising. Just in time for FNM, I present you the cards that will be the talk of the town tonight!

 

#1 Woodland Mystic ($3.99) and Imperial Outrider ($6.02) (+850%)

 

Why are these two random commons so expensive? Funny story! In week 29 of last year, we talked about the same effect about Llanowar Elves in our Weekly Winners 2018 - 29. These spikes are not a glitch. Sometimes we have those, when a vendor makes a typo in registering a card and for example enters $199, instead of $1,99. However, this time, these are actually the prices we registered.

The reason is just like last year: these cards are not actually in Core Set 2020, in the sense that you won't be able to pull it from a booster. They will only be available in welcome decks and spellslinger starter decks, of which the print run will be much, much smaller than the actual core set.

If we look at at Llanowar Elves and Mist-Cloaked Herald, which are the same type of commons from the Core Set 2019, we see that these prices are unlikely to hold.

 

#2 Catalyst Stone $4.99 (+807%)

 

This card was kind of a weird spike to me. According to EDHREC, it only sees minor play in decks. The only thing I was really able to find is that it may be built on a rumour about Commander 2019. On the website of Blackfire, a European distributor selling Magic among other things, has the Commander 2019 product up on its page.

It seems the page has been altered already, but it used contain the following line:

Each deck has a returning keyword ability as its main theme. The four featured abilities are populate, flashback, morph, and madness.

Seems like people may be anticipating this rumour to be true, and stocking up on Catalyst Stone.

 

Catalyst Stone
Odyssey	CardKingdom $0.79	TCGPlayer $4.99

 

#3 Mana Maze $9.22 (+631%)

 

Since the unbanning of Painter's Servant, which we also discussed last week, we have seen a few cards go up in price. Mana Maze is one of them. Wouldn't it be fun if every spell is blue and this cards limits the number of spells a player can cast each turn?

Especially if you manage to play an instant in someone's upkeep, you're basically Silenceing them for the rest of their turn.

 

Painter's Servant	CardKingdom $44.99	TCGPlayer $43.00
Mana Maze	CardKingdom $4.99	TCGPlayer $9.22
Silence	CardKingdom $2.29	TCGPlayer $1.69

 

#4 Lifeblood Hydra $16.95 (+578%)

 

I feel this card is mainly spiking because someone decided to buy it out. Hydra as a tribal is popular, and with the printing of Gargos, Vicious Watcher and Unbound Flourishing these decks could get a real boost. Because it only has two prints, which are both quite some time ago already, there's a low supply.

 

Lifeblood Hydra
Commander 2014	CardKingdom $5.99	TCGPlayer $14.97
Commander Anthology	CardKingdom $4.99	TCGPlayer $16.95

 

Upcoming set and the faery hype

Spoilers/Rumours ahead about the new set! You've been warned.

It looks like the next set, which will be officially revealed tomorrow during SDCC2019, may be called Throne of Eldraine. Mark Rosewater has already confirmed that Eldraine is indeed the name of the plane. The following invitation was sent out:

Since there are faeries printed on the card, people immediately jumped to conclusions and we've seen spikes of Secluded Glen, Oona, Queen of the Fae, and of course Bitterblossom. Mark Rosewater has already mentioned that there are indeed faeries in the set, but not by far as many as people are assuming. This already indicates that these spikes may mainly the work of people trying to make a buck in the upcoming set. However, if we do see good faeries in the next set, making the tribal more popular, these prices could stick or go up more. But for now, we can only speculate.

 

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. Also note: some cards are still going down, and might be even cheaper pickups next week.

 

Kethis, the Hidden Hand $3.28 - Record low and going down

 

Mutavault $8.98 - Record low and bottoming out

 

Risk Factor $4.20 - Over its hype and going down

 

Nahiri, the Harbinger $5.85 - Record low and bottoming out

 

Mox Tantalite $7.89 - Record low and bottoming out

 

Mutavault	CardKingdom $11.99	TCGPlayer $8.98
Nahiri, the Harbinger	CardKingdom $4.99	TCGPlayer $5.84
Risk Factor	CardKingdom $2.79	TCGPlayer $4.20
Mox Tantalite	CardKingdom $7.99	TCGPlayer $7.89
Kethis, the Hidden Hand	CardKingdom $2.79	TCGPlayer $3.28