Weekly Winners 2020

Spoilers for Double Masters have concluded and with the recent bannings in multiple formats we can look at a new Standard. Not a lot has moved, besides mainly reserved list cards.

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 City of Shadows $129.99 (+500.97%)

This land from The Dark shot up overnight by over 500%. Is there some secret new tech? No. Was it mentioned by a popular content creator? No. Has the card been banned for being controversial? No. Will the card ever be reprinted? No. And only the negating answer to the last question matters for this spike. City of Shadows is one of those cards on the reserved list that will never be reprinted. It being from a set as old as The Dark means there's a limited supply as well. Prices are expected to only go up in the future for reserved list cards.

However, please keep in mind that even though the average price has gone up tremendously, the market price has stayed below $30. When we look at the cards offered on TCGplayer we see plenty being offered for $30 or less.

This most likely means someone put up the price for way higher than it is worth driving up the average, or someone bought it out and the price went up because barely any were listed. Don't start hoarding City of Shadows, because even it being on the reserved list doesn't make it a good card. It also doesn't see much EDH play: EDHREC only has 345 decks listed with it.

Once every while we seem to have a craze for reserved list cards. It usually happens when the rest of the Magic finance market is a bit slower, and investors seem to be looking for a safe place to put their money. Usually reserved list cards are considered a safe investment. Last week, but also the week before that, we saw several of these cards go up:

Undiscovered Paradise - $19.99 (+185.16%)
Tetsuo Umezawa - $150.00 (+138.28%)
Powerleech - $27.21 (+113.24%)
Caverns of Despair - $87.49 (+100.02%)

Again for these cards it seems that the market price has barely moved. When we look at a longer term graph of, for example, Undiscovered Paradise we see a pattern you can see in all cards mentioned above. Occasionally the prices spike for them to come down again. However, they usually come down around 10% to 30% higher than the price before the spike.

Undiscovered Paradise	CardKingdom $10.99	TCGPlayer $19.99
City of Shadows	CardKingdom $27.99	TCGPlayer $129.99
Caverns of Despair	CardKingdom $44.99	TCGPlayer $87.49
Tetsuo Umezawa	CardKingdom $99.99	TCGPlayer $150.00
Powerleech	CardKingdom $7.99	TCGPlayer $27.21

#2 Retrofitter Foundry $23.99 (+161.04%)

The last time we discussed Retrofitter Foundry it was January in Weekly Winners 2020 - 04 where we saw this card show up in Legacy UB Ninjas lists. The reason this time is no different because of the latest success this deck has had in two Legacy Challenges last weekend.

When played with Ornithopter you can have a 4/4 construct artifact on turn 1. But the flying 0/2 thopter also enables cards with Ninjutsu. This ability makes it possible to sneak creatures unblocked into play and have their combat damage ability triggered. In this case the deck runs Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow and Ingenious Infiltrator to get some card advantage.

The latest finishes in the Legacy Challenges has spiked interested again in this card, making it go up.

UB Ninjas by THEHAMBURGLAR

Creature (18)
2	Baleful Strix	$1.68
4	Ingenious Infiltrator	$0.99
4	Ornithopter	$0.25
4	Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow	$0.80
4	Changeling Outcast	$0.44
Instant (14)
1	Drown in the Loch	$1.00
1	Fatal Push	$2.19
1	Murderous Cut	$0.38
3	Daze	$1.34
4	Force of Will	$49.80
4	Brainstorm	$1.13
Sorcery (7)
3	Thoughtseize	$13.40
4	Ponder	$2.50
Artifact (3)
3	Retrofitter Foundry	$11.66
Land (18)
2	Underground Sea	$699.00
2	Swamp	$0.10
2	Flooded Strand	$30.38
4	Island	$0.10
4	Prismatic Vista	$23.99
4	Polluted Delta	$37.22
Sideboard (15)
2	Plague Engineer	$1.07
1	Eliminate	$0.24
3	Force of Negation	$44.90
2	Back to Basics	$9.00
4	Leyline of the Void	$2.25
1	Null Rod	$86.67
2	Liliana, the Last Hope	$4.30

Buy from TCGplayer $1829.34

Ornithopter	CardKingdom $0.25	TCGPlayer $0.25
Retrofitter Foundry	CardKingdom $12.99	TCGPlayer $23.99
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow	CardKingdom $7.99	TCGPlayer $6.70
Ingenious Infiltrator	CardKingdom $0.35	TCGPlayer $0.42

#3 Muxus, Goblin Grandee $38.00 (+34.09%)

Oh, Muxus! Where to start?! Since Jumpstart came out people have rediscovered Goblins and especially in Historic. Muxus was everywhere the first weeks and some people have speculated that his reign may be short-lived in Historic, pushing to ban him from the format.

With Skirk Prospector it is possible to ramp out Muxus as early as turn 3. If you manage to reveal Krenko, Mob Boss along with Goblin Warchief or Goblin Chieftain from Muxus' ability you can immediately make some extra goblins which you can sacrifice for extra mana and put some more into play from your hand. Killing your opponent on turn 3 is definitely a possibility. Refer to the decklist below.

Goblins

Creature (36)
2	Gempalm Incinerator	$0.25
3	Goblin Warchief	$0.60
3	Goblin Instigator	$0.20
4	Conspicuous Snoop	$3.67
4	Wily Goblin	$0.39
4	Skirk Prospector	$0.25
4	Muxus, Goblin Grandee	$4.49
4	Krenko, Mob Boss	$2.25
4	Goblin Matron	$0.25
4	Goblin Chieftain	$2.65
Land (24)
1	Phyrexian Tower	$21.20
3	Castle Embereth	$0.39
20	Mountain	$0.11
Sideboard (15)
1	Gempalm Incinerator	$0.25
2	Goblin Chainwhirler	$1.05
3	Goblin Cratermaker	$0.25
3	Legion Warboss	$0.65
4	Goblin Ruinblaster	$0.25
2	Soul-Guide Lantern	$0.20

Buy from TCGplayer $55.93

But we also see Muxus, Goblin Grandee show up in Legacy. Imagine being able to cheat him into play from a Goblin Lackey or a Warren Instigator trigger. Usually these two Goblins were used to cheat Siege-Gang Commander into play, but they have found a new friend.

Goblins - Legacy by Soimba_airwave

Creature (33)
1	Pashalik Mons	$0.50
1	Goblin Chainwhirler	$1.05
2	Gempalm Incinerator	$0.25
2	Goblin Cratermaker	$0.25
2	Goblin Piledriver	$1.32
2	Goblin Warchief	$0.60
2	Muxus, Goblin Grandee	$4.49
2	Skirk Prospector	$0.25
2	Sling-Gang Lieutenant	$0.39
3	Goblin Ringleader	$0.50
3	Mogg War Marshal	$0.20
3	Munitions Expert	$0.30
4	Goblin Lackey	$10.00
4	Goblin Matron	$0.25
Artifact (4)
4	Aether Vial	$6.41
Land (23)
1	Bloodstained Mire	$32.04
2	Wooded Foothills	$29.79
3	Rishadan Port	$9.04
3	Mountain	$0.11
3	Badlands	$392.00
3	Arid Mesa	$13.99
4	Wasteland	$17.06
4	Cavern of Souls	$44.78
Sideboard (15)
1	Goblin Trashmaster	$4.04
2	Surgical Extraction	$3.04
2	Mindbreak Trap	$64.50
2	Red Elemental Blast	$1.00
3	Pyrokinesis	$0.50
1	Grafdigger's Cage	$1.99
1	Pithing Needle	$1.00
1	Relic of Progenitus	$5.01
2	Chalice of the Void	$72.38

Buy from TCGplayer $1493.76

Warren Instigator	CardKingdom $10.99	TCGPlayer $8.23
Goblin Lackey	CardKingdom $12.99	TCGPlayer $10.50
Krenko, Mob Boss	CardKingdom $5.99	TCGPlayer $4.95
Goblin Warchief	CardKingdom $0.49	TCGPlayer $0.49
Skirk Prospector	CardKingdom $0.25	TCGPlayer $0.25
Muxus, Goblin Grandee	CardKingdom $27.99	TCGPlayer $38.00
Goblin Chieftain	CardKingdom $3.99	TCGPlayer $2.52

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.

Liliana, Waker of the Dead $5.18 - Record low and trending down

Lukka, Coppercoat Outcast $5.50 - Record low and trending down

Riptide Laboratory $5.40 - Record low and stable

Fabled Passage $7.14 - Record low and trending down

Fabled Passage	CardKingdom $6.99	TCGPlayer $7.14
Liliana, Waker of the Dead	CardKingdom $8.49	TCGPlayer $5.18
Riptide Laboratory	CardKingdom $6.49	TCGPlayer $5.40

Jul 28, 2023

Of course cards are moving because of Lord of the Rings, but we have some interesting cards from several constructed formats as well.

Arjen