This week has been rather quiet finance wise. Today is the release of Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate, but the cards have already been spoiled some time ago, meaning it does not really lead to extra spikes anymore since those have already happened (for now). However, that does not mean we don't see the effects of the newest Commander set this week. Cards are still moving somewhat because of it. I am keeping this week's article a bit concise since I am recovering from a COVID infection, but I hope you still enjoy!
Like every week, just in time for FNM, I'll now tell you about the cards that will be the talk of the town tonight!
Come discuss this week's price movements with us on Reddit.
In the beginning of this year we have been talking about Umbris, Fear Manifest a lot in the Weekly Winners articles. A lot of cards that cared about exiling your opponents' cards spiked because of it. It has been a popular commander ever since it was printed, and now it is trending up itself. The reason for this is that with the Baldur's Gate product Horrors have gotten some extra new support. And if you look at Umbris' second ability, you see that it cares about Horrors, while being a Horror itself.
First there is the printing of the Mind Flayarrrs commander deck with Captain N'ghathrod as its commander. The Captain is a Horror, gives Horrors menace, and an extra ability when the deal combat damage to a player. Being a Horror and all, it is not really a surprise that for a commander deck like that to make sense, there would also be Horrors in the rest of the deck. Cards like Zellix, Sanity Flayer and Psionic Ritual are some pretty fun extra support spells.
But in the main Baldur's Gate set we also find new Horror cards like Elder Brain that also plays into Umbris' strategy. And lets not forget about Tasha, the Witch Queen, that is one of the most popular cards from the set if I have to believe the Twitterverse. She also definitely has some positive interactions with Umbris and its strategy.
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| Umbris, Fear Manifest (Extended Art) | |
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| Tasha, the Witch Queen |
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| Psionic Ritual |
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This is The Ur-Dragon from Commander 2017 and for the people who are not aware about this card: this is a hugely popular Dragon commander. It only exists in foil, and is pretty expensive because of it only being printed in the one set with only a single reprint in a Secret Lair. Since it is also a popular card, you can imagine this would drive the price up.
The reason for this card moving up just a bit more is because of, you guessed it, Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate, because there again is a bunch of new Dragon support. There is a whole new cycle of Mythic Elder Dragon cards, along with Elminster. When we look at the Interests of last week we also see Old Gnawbone trending up with 18% to $60 because of the extra Dragon support. Unless The Ur-Dragon is heavily reprinted, I don't see this price coming down any time soon.
Jimmy also plays a Dragon deck in the latest instalment of Game Knights, but The Ur-Dragon is not played in that deck, so lets write it off as a coincidence! No, but really, Dragons are popular!
| The Ur-Dragon |
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| The Ur-Dragon |
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| Ancient Brass Dragon |
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| Elminster |
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| Ancient Copper Dragon |
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| Ancient Silver Dragon |
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| Ancient Gold Dragon |
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I am kind of intrigued by how this card is moving. It has been creeping up quite a bit for the past two months with no real reason except what looks like to be organic growth. I think people start to realise that Graveyard Trespasser may be a better card than first anticipated. We have seen it show up already a bunch in Standard, so it is not like this card was obscure or that no-one really took a good look at it.
But with Pioneer becoming more and more popular, it looks like this card is being adopted into that format, and mainly in Rakdos Aggro and Grixis Control decks. For 3 mana you get a 3/3 with a relevant Ward ability that can lead to card advantage when your opponent has to spend an extra card to get rid of it. When it hits the battlefield or attacks you get to exile a card from a graveyard (can also be your own) and gain life when needed. When it flips because of the Daybound/Nightbound ability you even get a 4/4 that can hate out your opponent's graveyard even faster.
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.
Ruthless Technomancer has been identified by the MTGStocks Premium Penny Stocks feature as a card that has bottomed for a bit but is now starting an uptrend.
Dark Confidant $30.46 - Slowly trending down
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| Flooded Grove |
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| Dark Confidant |
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