Weekly Winners 2021 - 01

After the Kaldheim leaks, the official spoilers have now begun! And one spoiler in particular makes its mark on the Weekly 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!

 

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

 

We wish you a happy & healthy 2021

We would like to wish you a happy and healthy 2021; with lots of good games of magic, preferably in a post-pandemic world with exciting Magic Fests, great gatherings around the kitchentable and spectacular FNMs.

And last but not least: may all your opening hands be keepers, may all your Brainstorms resolve and may all your Ponders not shuffle!

#1 Magus of the Vineyard $8.15 (+338.17%)

 

Our #1 winner in our #1 weekly winners of 2021 is a previously quite underrated card: Magus of the Vineyard. A nice piece in any ramp deck that seeks to gain quick advantage on the battlefield. For a 1-drop, Magus of the Vineyard at first seems insane. But then you read that one word: each. Each player gets a free or when that's not your color to spend on spells. Worst case: you help your opponents more than yourself. And even when it helps you and your opponents equally, it kind of defeats the purpose of playing it altogether.

But even then, Magus of the Vineyard might still be underrated. Its one of those cards that can have a dramatic inequal effect in the right build. And those of you who follow EDH closely might already have connected the dots: Yurlok of Scorch Thrash. With that commander, you punish your opponents for unspent mana and make sure that they can't spend it. Magus of the Vineyard comes in quite handy.

Magus of the Vineyard sees play in several other Commander builds, but nowhere near the amount of play in Yurlok decks. Outside EDH the card sees no play in competitive formats.

 

Fires of Yavimaya	CardKingdom $1.79	TCGPlayer $0.50
Yurlok of Scorch Thrash	CardKingdom $0.39	TCGPlayer $0.50

 

#2 Into the North $2.60 (+176.60%)

 

Since it was printed, Into the North has been under $1. But that changed this week. And Kaldheim is the reason. We have not seen a lot of snow-themed spells that are spoiled or leaked at this time. But it would surprise nobody that there is going to be 'snow' in Kaldheim. One would expect snow-covered basics and maybe some snow permanents that are good enough to make ripples in EDH, Modern or Legacy. In the wake of this, Into the North might gain some value. But even then the card remains quite underwhelming, considering all the other non-snow centered ways to fetch and find snow-covered lands.

For Into the North to spike, something very substantial needs to happen. And it did! Quite surprisingly, we were treated with fetchable, dual colored, snow covered lands that enter the battlefield tapped. And the best part: they are printed at common rarity! And all 10 combinations are printed in one set, so no waiting for other guilds or shards in later sets.

But, let us keep our feet on the ground. It is very nice to finally have fetchable dual-colored lands at common. Especially for lower-powered or otherwise restricted formats like Pauper. But these lands are not going to make an impact on non-snow decks in Legacy or Modern since we already had a cycle of fetchable duals that entered the battlefield tapped, we already have the triomes and the shock-lands.

But for decks that use snow-mana, things could be different. Triomes are used in snow-control decks and they could be replaced with these. For EDH these lands are a great addition to decks that use snow mana, but also as an extra fetchable non-basic dual. It certainly makes playing a better mana base a bit more accessible for those that need to pinch their pennies.

Well, let's get back to Into the North. With it, you can put a snow land directly into play. With it, you can not only make an extra land drop, you can also fix your mana in a multi-colored deck; using the new snow duals.

I really do wonder if there is going to be a rare-cycle of snow lands in Kaldheim as well. Maybe 2021 turns even more freaky than it already is (after one week!) and we finally get our snow-covered Underground Sea ;-).

 

Underground Sea
Revised Edition	CardKingdom $729.99	TCGPlayer $640.99

 

#3 Kaervek the Merciless $24.48 (+140%)

 

Our third and last winner fits the pattern of the past few weeks quite nicely. Again, this spike is caused by EDH and specifically (in part) by Yurlok of Scorch Thrash. Having it in play next to Yurlok means that whenever your opponents do manage to play something, they have to pay with their lives, as well as their mana. Bottom line: whether you spend you mana or don't, it doesn't matter; you'll lose life anyway. A perfect fit for this strategy.

Outside Yurlok decks, Yurlok of Scorch Thrash is seen in decks commanded by Sakashima of a Thousand Faces, Rakdos, Lord of Riots and Obosh, the Preypiercer (Extended Art) too. And in a range of other decks too. This pumps up demand and makes its price soar.

 

Yurlok of Scorch Thrash
Commander Legends	CardKingdom $0.39	TCGPlayer $0.50

 

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.

 

Master Transmuter $4.74 - Record low, trending down

 

Rings of Brighthearth $6.42 - Record low, bottomed out

 

Staff of Domination $5.05 - Record low, bottoming out

 

Master Transmuter	CardKingdom $3.49	TCGPlayer $4.74
Rings of Brighthearth	CardKingdom $5.49	TCGPlayer $6.72
Staff of Domination	CardKingdom $4.49	TCGPlayer $5.05