Weekly Winners 2020 - 13

A crazy, but interesting week in MTG Finance. We have seen things happening that we have never seen before. As usual, I have three interesting winners for you, but selected from a very, very small pool of winners.

Like every week, just in time for (digital) FNM, I'll now tell you about the cards that will be the talk of the (digital) town tonight!

 

#1 Steal Enchantment $4.99 (+345.54%)

 

Always keep an eye out for cards with unique abilities. Steal Enchantment is a prime example. It is the only card out there that (with errata) reads: "you control enchanted enchantment". Sure, there are cards that let you control another permanent, but those start at . Steal Enchantment is only .

Seems fair, since it targets only enchantments, and who needs to play such a specific card anyway? Well, with Theros: Beyond Death, there are quite some enchantments you'd love to steal from your opponents. Those Gods for instance, that your opponent uses as a commander in EDH. Especially those that are indestructible. Gaining control of an opponent's creature permanently (and without drawbacks or hurdles) starts at .

And Steal Enchantment works on other enchantments as well, and there are plenty of those, outside the latest set too.

What makes Steal Enchantment jump in price is the combination of having a unique effect and being from an old set with a limited print run. Not many copies are around and stores don't have huge stacks of it lying around. An uptick in demand creates a price increase very quickly.

Steal Enchantment
Tempest	CardKingdom $1.29	TCGPlayer $4.99

 

#2 Eldrazi Conscription $11.05 (+10.50%)

 

Our second Weekly Winner is not really a spike, but more like a relevant uptick. In different (non-Corona) circumstances, it would have never made it into the Weekly Winners at all. But with only four relevant possible winners to choose from, Eldrazi Conscription is the pick of the litter this week.

On the other hand, it feels quite refreshing to write about cards that are not spiking an insane amount because of big events. Eldrazi Conscription is up because of a new list in Modern that 5-0'd two Modern leagues this week on MTGO. Just two lists, but this week it is enough to make it into the Winners.

A slight uptick because of new tech. Still to early to tell if Eldrazi Conscription will continue to rise. If the deck becomes more popular, it definitely will increase in price. Just like the other two winners this week, the card has a unique ability and if it gets included in competitive play, it will go up. More play, more up.

Eldrazi Conscription
Ultimate Masters	CardKingdom $9.99	TCGPlayer $11.05

 

#3 Painter's Servant $28.60 (+5.85%)

 

Our third winner is also (just) a slight uptick because of new tech. But that makes it all the more interesting. I chose it over covering Test of Endurance again, that was a weekly winner last week.

Painter's Servant has seen several spikes over the last years. It goes up every few years as new Legacy decks emerge that can use it. For as long as I've played Legacy competitively, Painter's Servant has been around.

But this week, new Deck Tech emerged as two RUG Snow Painter decks 5-0'd MTGO Legacy Leagues. Another deck went 4-1, two others 3-2. The new build includes Emry, Lurker of the Loch. Check out the decklist:

 

Corona Update: impact on card prices visible

This week, no cheap pickups. I'll give you an update about the effects the Corona Virus could be having on the prices of Magic Cards. I'll write about four topics concerning the matter. This time, I won't speculate, but just tell you what I have seen in our data this week.

Much fewer winners

A clear effect of the current crisis is the very, very small amount of winners in our daily and weekly interests. Normally I have to filter my way through the daily and weekly winners. This week, for the first time ever (since we have filters), I had to turn all of them to the lowest settings, to get a decent list.

The card market it not at all crashing (yet), but it is not gaining much either. Since this situation is unprecedented, we have no idea of knowing whether this is the new normal, or just the beginning of the first 'recession' in MTG Finance history that we at MTGStocks.com know off. At least since the printing of Chronicles. But that had totally different reasons altogether.

It doesn't matter if you are optimist, realist or pessimist... All we can do is wait and see how this will turn out eventually. The rest is just speculation. And if I feel the need to write more about it, I will write it with that disclaimer: as speculative.

 

(Relative) Small amount of -10%+ losers

49 cards have dropped more than 10% this week. That is much more than we usually see. It also means that we don't see the total market crashing this week.

 

Most big losers have the same characteristics

I've looked closely at the biggest losers this week. And there is a big similarity visible amongst many of them. Check out Splinter Twin, Silence and Mana Vault for instance.

Those cards show a big difference between the market price and the AVG price. Normally, that's a sign a card will trend up when there has been a spike of uptick lately.

This week we saw some cards with the exact reverse effect. Splinter Twin is the best example. It is this week's biggest loser, after a recent spike. The market price did not trend up as much as normally happens. In most other spikes, we see the market price catching up to AVG, to start dwindling after that, pulling down the AVG price with it. Cavalier of Thorns is a good example.

 

Most played cards relatively stable

This week I've created a special inventory on MTGStocks.com, to track the changes of prices over a longer period of time. I've virtually bought 1 copy of 5 most played cards from Legacy, Modern, Standard and Pioneer. A good mix between lands, rares, mythics and uncommons.

The date I chose to virtually buy the cards on is January 20th, 2020. The day the first case of Corona was found outside China.

This week, the total value of the cards went down with 3.5%. And with 1.1% since yesterday.

But, compared to January 20th, my virtual investment is still giving me profit. I bought cards for an amount of $416,14. Today, that inventory is worth $428.86. An increase of 3%.

I will keep you posted about this over the coming period and show you the relevant changes.