This week was a bit more exciting, compared to last week. Most of the spikes are reserved list or buyout related, but enough interesting stories to tell. Also, we see Ikoria cards going down this week, as the cards settle into their prices from prerelease overhyping.
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!
Jeska, Warrior Adept's spike is caused by a speculative buyout. And buyouts like these show how easy it can be to drive up the price of a certain card. Jeska, Warrior Adept is a type of card that gets targeted by speculators because it is a fairly unique card from an older set that has not been reprinted. Add a new commander that works with it to the mix and you have a good candidate for a buyout.
That commander is Kelsien, the Plague from Commander 2020, already out in Asia and released today in the rest of the world. Kelsien, the Plague makes 'pingers' a new strategy in EDH. At this time Jeska, Warrior Adept sees no play in EDH or any other format outside a kitchentable deck.
If this proves to be a successful buyout really remains to be seen. With a market price around $1.50 and a €0.50 European price, I don't think that Jeska, Warrior Adept will keep its current price level. That will only happen when Kelsien, the Plague gets really popular and people are willing to pay top dollar for Jeska, Warrior Adept, instead of another card that pings.
Our number two winner is also the second buyout this I will cover this week. Vexing Shusher spiked because of a warning on the MTGFinance subreddit, stating that the supply of the card was drying up. This happens more often on that subreddit, but a lot of the times there is a specific reason for that, because a card gets mentioned in coverage or performs well during a tournament. But this time, the given reasons were not substantiated. It was enough to trigger the last copies being bought out, causing a spike.
Vexing Shusher is a unique card, from an older set and is pretty powerful in the right deck. But on the other hand, it sees no competitive play, some play in EDH and kitchentable. But not close to an amount of play that warrants an almost $40 price tag. That is nothing short of ridiculous for a card like Vexing Shusher. It is no surprise that the market price for this card did not move after the spike. It holds steady at $12.57; the pre-spike price of the card. It might move up a little, but nowhere close to the price it is now. If you happen to have a few unplayed copies lying around, this might be the time to sell them or trade them away. If you can of course, now a lot of countries are on lockdown and stores are closed.
Wow! Mox Diamond just keeps going. This week the card broke its record high and a playset of these will now cost you $1.385. So just a little more than a single US stimulus check. When looking at magic from a financial perspective, Mox Diamond is one of the safest 'investments' you can make. The card is on the reserved list, sees competitive play, sees play in EDH and has great old-school flavor. Oh, and also: it's a mox. And that counts for something too.
We see more reserved list and 'gold list' cards going up over the past weeks. Mox Diamond's increase fits that perfectly. I do have a few reservations about the future of these cards. Under normal circumstances, you'd expect Mox Diamond to hold its value, almost no matter what. But with record unemployment in the US and a recession setting in, Mox Diamond is also one of the cards you could easily turn into a car payment or groceries. We don't see people selling their collections, but there is no way to be sure if that is going to happen in the near future as buying (and keeping) Magic cards could become more and more of a luxury.
Cheap Pickups - Ikoria Edition
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.
This week, I've added a few extra cheap pickups. All of them are from Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths. During prerelease, most card prices are way too high and many cards get overhyped. In the weeks after release many of them come crashing down. And that has happened this week. Most of them will come down some more, but this little list will update you on the cards that have certainly been overvalued during prerelease.
Fiend Artisan $20.47 - Record low and going down
Ketria Triome $5.50 - Record low and going down hard
