Weekly Winners 2023 - 13

No Commander this week! Instead we have two cards going up because of Modern, and one because of Legacy. Very fun week, with some bonus spike cards as well!

Like every week, just in time for FNM, I'll tell you about the cards that will be the talk of the town tonight! Come discuss this week's price movements with us on Discord.

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Do you like the Weekly Winners? Because Ryan has a series where he looks up the price trajectory of cards that were discussed in the Weekly Winners a year ago. Read his new instalment of Where Are They Now? to keep up with these prices.

In New Horizons Matt talks about several cards from the new Secret Lair Series and where he sees the price going. He also talks about the single unique serialized The One Ring card.

And welcome aboard Steve, who posted his first article yesterday! History, Restapled is a Commander-focused column which attempts to determine a newer card's status as a staple, therefore its potential to command a decent price, through a look at how cards that are similar, synergistic, or competing have fared in the past financially.

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Onto the Weekly Winners!

#1 Soul Spike $6.95 (+439%)

 

This isn't the first time this instant from Coldsnap is spiking. The last time we talked about it was in a Weekly Winners article from 2015. Back then it went up because of an interaction between Griselbrand and Necrotic Ooze. Today it's going up because it's seeing play in Modern Rakdos burn.

The past few weeks it's been putting up some results on MTGO, where Soul Spike is included four times in the deck. What I find interesting about this deck is that none of the cards that are in the list are new. It's not like a new card from Phyrexia: All Will Be One enabled the deck or anything. It started recently showing up in the beginning of this month as a mono-black burn deck, and now also in a Rakdos variant.

While the card is not on the reserved list, it's never been reprinted since Coldsnap. So barring a reprint, this card may have some room to grow. But we're also seeing another card from this deck move up: Sleeper Agent. This card has received two reprints since its original print in Urza's Saga, including a spot in The List. This is an interesting creature for that you have to gift to an opponent, but will deal 2 damage to its controller during their upkeep. Sleeper Agent went up 90% to $3.59.

Soul Spike	CardKingdom $1.49	TCGPlayer $6.95
Sleeper Agent	CardKingdom $1.29	TCGPlayer $3.59
Sleeper Agent	CardKingdom $1.49	TCGPlayer $3.20
Sleeper Agent		TCGPlayer $1.79

 

#2 Brought Back $3.41 (+44%)

 

In the past week the card Brought Back has seen a significant increase in value, jumping up by 45% to a price of $3.41. This surge in popularity can be attributed to its use in Modern Elementals decks, where it's become a key component in some builds where it's being experimented in. By using Brought Back to return two fetchlands to the battlefield as early as turn two, the deck can generate enough mana to cast huge creatures like Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines, while maintaining control of the board.

Brought Back can not only be used as ramp, but also to counter removal. At the end of your opponent's turn when you used your creatures as chump blockers, or when your opponent has played removal, you can use Brought Back to... well... bring some creatures back. Brought Back also has a strong interaction with creatures that have the Evoke ability, such as Mulldrifter, Solitude, and Fury. By evoking one of these creatures, the player can effectively sacrifice it to gain a beneficial effect, such as drawing cards or removing a creature from the battlefield. Then, by using Brought Back, the player can return the creature(s) to the battlefield, effectively bypassing the downside of the Evoke cost and gaining additional value.

Meanwhile, Emeria, the Sky Ruin is a powerful land that allows players to return creatures from their graveyard to the battlefield. By using Brought Back as ramp on your fetchlands, it's relatively easy to get to seven Plains, seeing as every single non-fetch (and non-Emeria) land is a Plains.

Also important to mention that Aspiringspike recently featured this deck in his YouTube video, and SaffronOlive played a different deck with Brought Back last week.

Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines	CardKingdom $39.99	TCGPlayer $32.58
Mulldrifter	CardKingdom $0.35	TCGPlayer $0.40
Brought Back	CardKingdom $2.79	TCGPlayer $3.41
Emeria, the Sky Ruin	CardKingdom $21.99	TCGPlayer $16.97

 

#3 Reckless Impulse $3.47 (+244%)

 

On March 6th a Banned & Restricted announcement was released by Wizards to ban two cards in Legacy. One of these cards was Expressive Iteration, to reduce the power level of the well-known Izzet Delver decklists.

This isn't the first week that we've discussed a card going up because of these bans.

And while these bans did seem to open up the metagame a bit in Legacy, you can imagine that Delver decks definitely didn't go away. They are still very strong decks and represented in the current meta. But the fact is that a slot opened up in the deck to be filled. And it looks like Reckless Impulse is the card of choice for some players. And while it offers less selection than Expressive Iteration, it still is a two-mana sorcery that "draws" you two cards.

Also important to note, if you want to play the Mono Red Kuldotha deck in Pauper, you definitely need four Reckless Impulse. And while the Innistrad: Double Feature version of Reckless Impulse seems to especially go everywhere price-wise, there definitely is an upward trend as well for the regular version, and particularly the foils.

Reckless Impulse
Innistrad: Crimson Vow	CardKingdom $1.49	TCGPlayer $1.23
Innistrad: Double Feature		TCGPlayer $5.77

 

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.

 

Currency Converter $4.50 - Moving up!

 

Currency Converter has been identified by the MTGStocks Premium Penny Stocks feature as a card that has reached its bottom and is starting a consistent uptrend.

 

The Golden Throne $5.24 - Slowly moving down

 

Maze of Ith $3.47 - Slowly moving down

Currency Converter	CardKingdom $5.99	TCGPlayer $4.50
The Golden Throne	CardKingdom $39.99	TCGPlayer $5.24
Maze of Ith	CardKingdom $5.49	TCGPlayer $3.47

 

That's it for this week. Make sure to check back next week for more Weekly Winners!