Happy New Year! 2020 has started with some finance fireworks, as two cards skyrocketed to new heights due to the recent spoilers. And this week I can top it off with some very interesting cheap pickups as well.

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!

 

#1 Eldrazi Conscription $9.24 (+129.28%)

 

With a $4.03 price tag Eldrazi Conscription was not a cheap card to begin with. And because of that, a 129% spike overnight is quite a lot for a $4+ card.

Not only 2020 is upon us, so are the Theros: Beyond Death spoilers. And Eldrazi Conscription's spike has everything to do with that.

Three days ago, Storm Herald was spoiled. With this creature you can surprise your opponent by returning any number of Aura cards from your graveyard and attach them to any creatures you control. You do need to exile them at end of turn! To make things easy, Storm Herald has haste, so you can attach any Auras to him and attack if you don't have any targets.

What happens next is easy to predict. People started to think: what is the best Aura I could possibly return to the battlefield? The answer is plain and simple: Eldrazi Conscription.

Attaching it to Storm Herald it will give you an 13/12 trample, annihilator 2, attacking with haste. Who wouldn't sign for that? For just one extra, you can give it double strike with Assault Strobe. And if you fancy to cast that instant speed, you have plenty of options for or extra. Good luck surviving a 26/24 swing with trample and annihilator.

Double strike is just the first thing that comes to my mind. Brewers will probably find things way better than that, to take full advantage of the combo between Storm Herald and Eldrazi Conscription.

Just for such a sweet combo feels like a good deal, but beware! You need to go through many other steps before you can even get it to work. You'll need to draw both cards, discard Eldrazi Conscription in the process, survive any counters and removal (Storm Herald is in Bolt and Shock range). There might be blockers or combat tricks up your opponent's sleeve. Navigating all that on your turn 3 will prove quite a challenge. It can be done, for sure, but will it be better and/or more fun than existing combos?

Whatever you do, keep an eye out for cards like Faithless Looting. They not only generate a lot of card advantage, they turn the disadvantage of discarding into something good. And I say cards "like" Faithless Looting, simply because that card is banned in Modern and only legal in Legacy, Vintage and EDH.

 

Faithless Looting	CardKingdom $0.35	TCGPlayer $0.61
Eldrazi Conscription	CardKingdom $5.99	TCGPlayer $9.24

 

#2 Walking Ballista $29.99 (+45.02%)

 

This week I almost chose to have a shared #1 spot in the Weekly Winners. To avoid confusion and debate, I have chosen to stick to the proven format. But Walking Ballista's spike could well have been the #1 in many of the past weeks.

When a card with a $20+ price tag spikes with 45% something really interesting is happening. It means that people are willing to put down $80 out of the blue to buy into something that they think is worth the risk.

Well, they might be right. Two days ago, Heliod, Sun-Crowned was spoiled. With it, you may put a +1/+1 counter on a creature whenever you gain life. And for you can give a creature lifelink.

Now imagine you have Walking Ballista in play and you give it lifelink. For each 1 damage you deal, you gain 1 life, and you may then put one +1/+1 counter on a creature you control. Put it on Walking Ballista and you can deal another damage, get another +1/+1 counter and so on. In short: if it was allowed to target people in other games, you could take out all attendees of a MagicFest with this combo. If none of them has removal or counterspells of course ;-).

Keep in mind that Walking Ballista already sees play in Pioneer, Modern and Legacy. With that, Pioneer gets an instant combo to reckon with in their meta. I wonder if the design team spotted this combo. And if they have, I wonder how they think this will affect the meta.

Oh, one last thing for all you multiplayer EDH enthusiasts. Heliod, Sun-Crowned can be your Commander. Its Heliod isn't a creature is only in effect on the battlefield. In your Command Zone, it is as printed: a legendary creature.

Walking Ballista

CardKingdom $29.99

TCGPlayer $29.99

 

#3 Primal Growth $3.59 (120.25%)

 

Well, it is time to dig out your old cards, for we have a spike on a common that was cheap in most of its history, in all of its printings. Especially look out for the Planeshift printing of the card. It is still $0.45 at this time, but its market price has far surpassed the AVG price. A telltale sign of a price increase over the coming days.

Primal Growth was reprinted in two Commander sets and sees some play in those formats. It is a popular ramp card in decks that have many permanents on hand, or give you an extra advantage when you kick the card. The best examples are:

• Atla Palani, Nest Tender
• Meren of Clan Nel Toth
• Tatyova, Benthic Druid

In the most recent set, Korvold, Fae-Cursed King was printed. Another commander that makes use of the "drawback" that is involved when kicking Primal Growth. As you might notice, three of the four mentioned Commanders are from recent sets. Due to an increase in Commanders that are relevant for Primal Growth, we see an increase in its price.

 

Meren of Clan Nel Toth	CardKingdom $22.99	TCGPlayer $17.10
Primal Growth	CardKingdom $1.29	TCGPlayer $3.59
Tatyova, Benthic Druid	CardKingdom $1.29	TCGPlayer $1.20
Atla Palani, Nest Tender	CardKingdom $2.79	TCGPlayer $3.35
Korvold, Fae-Cursed King	CardKingdom $9.99	TCGPlayer $9.97

 

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.

 

Geist of Saint Traft $6.65 - Record low and going down

 

Flusterstorm $12.15 - Record low and going down

 

Lord of Extinction $5.66 - Record low and going down

 

Paradox Engine $6.36 - Record low and bottoming out

 

Geist of Saint Traft	CardKingdom $4.99	TCGPlayer $6.65
Lord of Extinction	CardKingdom $9.99	TCGPlayer $5.66
Flusterstorm	CardKingdom $7.99	TCGPlayer $12.15
Paradox Engine	CardKingdom $6.99	TCGPlayer $6.36