Weekly Winners 2020 - 38

Weird as it sounds, Morningtide is the set that delivers our top 2 winners this week. And that can only mean one thing: brewing is happening.

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!

 

See something interesting in the world of card prices? Be sure to pitch me a tweet: @MTGPeter

 

#1 Recross the Paths $6.12 (+1430%) - ALL TIME HIGH

 

Are you familiar with Goblin Charbelcher? No, it is not a Goblin, but an artifact that can outright kill your opponent when you don't reveal a land. If you think that is quite a gamble, think again! Goblin Charbelcher is part of a combo deck that uses (almost) no lands at all, making sure that once you get it firing, Goblin Charbelcher will go for the kill.

That might seem a long way from Recross the Paths, right? Think again, again! It flew out of stores because of a screenshot of a No Land Belcher deck by Sebastian Stückl. Check his tweet with a screenshot of the deck.

What you see here is a no-land variant of a Goblin Charbelcher deck in Modern. Keep in mind that even the Legacy versions of the deck use 1 land. So that is quite a novelty, especially since it is a Modern deck.

The creator of the deck pulls it off by using the Double-Faced lands from Zendikar Rising as a workaround for the manabase and the Goblin Charbelcher ability.

Lets get to Recross the Paths then. That card is not in the deck for you to win a clash with. Focus on the words: "put them on the bottom in any order". When you play Recross the Paths in a deck with no lands, all of your cards go on bottom in any order. Which in practice means that you can just stack your deck whichever way you like and need to combo out.

Oh and when you don't find that land (which you won't) the ruling on Recross the Paths says: "If you have only nonland cards in your library, you reveal your entire library (one card at a time), rearrange it however you like, and then clash. So if you really want, you can win the clash too and return Recross the Paths to your hand.

Recross the Paths was on many combo players lists, but never really got a breakthrough. Until now. And there it goes, to over $6. Expect the card to fall a bit as we have to wait for MTGO results to come in. If the deck sticks, Recross the Paths will be an integral part and with a price tag to match.

 

Recross the Paths	CardKingdom $0.79	TCGPlayer $6.12
Goblin Charbelcher	CardKingdom $1.99	TCGPlayer $1.73

 

#2 Knowledge Exploitation $15.99 (+310%)

 

Usually, cards from sets like Morningtide have no business in our weekly interest list. So whenever these pop up there, it is bound to have a good reason. This week we even have two of them!

Before I dive into the reasons for the spike, I'll give a bit of context on the way Wizards is adressing the popularity of Commander as a format in 2020. If you are knee deep into the format already, feel free to skip ahead.

Back in October 2019, Wizards announced that "big things are coming to Commander in 2020". In their article Wizards explains why they will be double downing on the format in 2020. There is a huge apetite for the format, players need reprints and the format is a portal for new players to learn the game. In cynical short: Commander is a cash cow, ready to be milked a bit more. But hey, if Wizards is making awesome new stuff, I have no problem buying that stuff!

As of Zendikar Rising, Wizards is printing Commander decks, alongside the regular product that will be added to Standard. They are replacing the Planeswalker decks added to other sets. These Commander decks have new products and reprints aimed at the format.

With that picture painted, let's get to the news. Knowledge Exploitation is spiking because of two new Commanders printed in Zendikar Rising: Commander Decks and Zendikar Rising. Knowledge Exploitation is one of those obscure cards from forgotten sets that now, suddenly, are interesting (again). The reason is quite simple: the card interacts very easily with any Rogue centered deck. There were already some Commanders available for a Rogue theme, but they do not see a ton of play.

That might change with the printing of Anowon, the Ruin Thief and Zareth San, the Trickster. Both are powerful enough to build strategies around. One has a real tribal theme, giving all of your rogues a +1/+1 bonus, while also advancing a mill strategy where Dimir is already known for. The other pushes another loved strategy: stealing your oppnents' shit and killing them with it.

Knowledge Exploitation feels a better fit with the stealing theme of Zareth San, the Trickster, but why would you not play it in a deck commanded by Anowon, the Ruin Thief? Stealing and playing your opponents' best and (probably) biggest costed instant or sorcery for just is a trick any Rogue deck could use.

This spike is not a speculative buyout but a good old organic spike. Demand driven by people who love to dip their toes into the Rogue theme.

 

Knowledge Exploitation	CardKingdom $8.99	TCGPlayer $15.99
Zareth San, the Trickster	CardKingdom $2.49	TCGPlayer $1.72

 

#3 Vampiric Tutor $138.95 (+13.74%) - ALL TIME HIGH

 

We've seen Vampiric Tutor popping up in the weekly interest list for quite some time now. All of its printings are trending up slowly but surely. To paint the picture for you: Vampiric Tutor was at $28 at release in 2016, at $40 in january 2018, at $50 in january 2019, at $75 in january 2020 and has now risen to new heights.

Vampiric Tutor is one of the few cards that see play in Vintage that make it to the Weekly Winners. It sees play in 14 different decks in that format, from tier decks to rogue brews. But it would be wrong to imply that Vampiric Tutor's rise is caused by Vintage. The biggest driver behind the uptrend is Commander. And especially decks commanded by Golos, Tireless Pilgrim, Kess, Dissident Mage and Breya, Etherium Shaper.

All three were released around the same time or after the latest reprint of Vampiric Tutor. Although I mention these three Commanders, the cards sees play in many, many other decks too. Tutoring for a card is very powerful in a 100 card highlander format. The demand for the card for Commander, plus that of Vintage and of casual play amounts in a card that has only one way to go: up. But it is also a card that is reprinted several times already, and just might be one of those cards added yet again in a Commander or Masters type set.

 

Vampiric Tutor
Visions	CardKingdom $129.99	TCGPlayer $99.99
Classic Sixth Edition	CardKingdom $119.99	TCGPlayer $104.48
Eternal Masters	CardKingdom $129.99	TCGPlayer $138.95

 

#4 Savannah $260.72 (+13.95%) - ALL TIME HIGH

 

With all the Reserved List cards trending up, relevant winners sometimes get buried. And Savannah is a good example of this. Duals are prime real estate for Legacy and Vintage players, but also for collectors and investors. They are not cheap, but are going to hold their value, unless Wizards is going to print better/ equal versions of the Duals (they won't) or abolish the Reserved List (they won't).

is not the most popular color combination in the Eternal formats, so Savannah has always been one of the cheaper duals. After a steep spike in spring 2018, the card lost some value in the 20 months after. But ever since the Corona crisis, Savannah is on an uptrend and is now at its all time high.

While many Reserved List cards are bought out and spiking to crazy heights, Savannah is different. The market price is actually moving up at the same pace as the MED price, somehing that is not true for so many other Reserver List cards.

On that point: many people have asked my why we don't cover all the cards from the Reserved List spiking. The reason is simple: there is no story to tell. People buy out the cards because they can with the goal to drive up the price. In most cases there is no demand for the cards whatsoever. And demand will most likely drop because of the price increase. Nobody was really interested in your proverbial 4/4, first strike, bands with other clerics, Legendary creature. And even less now that you need to pay $40 for a copy.

Instead, I'll keep getting you posted on the uptrending cards that matter.

 

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.

 

Arcbound Ravager $12.99 - Record low and trending down

 

Voice of Resurgence $6.64 - Record low and trending down

 

Imperial Recruiter $21.00 - Record low and trending down slow

 

Voice of Resurgence	CardKingdom $4.49	TCGPlayer $6.64
Arcbound Ravager	CardKingdom $11.99	TCGPlayer $12.32
Imperial Recruiter	CardKingdom $21.99	TCGPlayer $21.32