Weekly Winners 2023 - 20

We have a fun week with cards moving because of Commander, Pioneer, and Modern. Cards from March of the Machine and March of the Machine: The Aftermath are having an impact. 

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

Articles

Jason Alt is back again with a new article. Consider the Mongoose is his latest installment in his Alt of the Deal series. He'll tell you why saying "X decks on EDHREC" is not a good metric for speculating without context.

You should really keep an eye on whenever Harvey posts one of his Over and Under articles. Interesting cards to keep an eye on which Harvey feels will either go up or down. Every other week he picks two cards that he feels are overvalued or undervalued.

Another article that's always worth a read is Corey's Modern Times. He embarks on a journey of reflection as he revisits the initial predictions made regarding the Modern playables from the highly anticipated set, Phyrexia: All Will Be One.

If you want to receive an e-mail in your inbox when a new article is published you can enable it in your e-mail preferences and/or join the Discord.

Onto the Weekly Winners!

#1 Magma Opus $12.98 (+172%)

Here we have Magma Opus, the big bad spell from Strixhaven: School of Mages. You get to deal four damage divided as you choose, create a 4/4, tap two permanents, and draw two cards. And even though that may seem like a lot of value, eight mana is pretty steep for a card that doesn't win you the game on the spot. Back when Magma Opus was legal in Standard, it saw a lot of play in Hinata, Dawn-Crowned decks. Hinata could make sure you could cast the spell for a far lower cost since Magma Opus can target up to six permanents and/or players. This could reduce the mana paid for Magma Opus to as low as two mana.

And while we still see this powerful instant being played in Hinata Commander decks, it's not the reason for the card to spiking this week. It seems to be all Pioneer related in Indomitable Creativity decks. You see, Magma Opus has an extra ability. You can discard it from your hand for two mana and create a Treasure token in the process. This either helps you ramp to sufficient mana, or gives you a target for your Indomitable Creativity. And while your Opus is in the graveyard, you may as well find a Torrential Gearhulk with your Indomitable Creativity, which in turn can cast the Magma Opus from your graveyard.

And when the game gets a bit longer, you can always hard cast your Torrential Gearhulk at the end of your opponent's turn, cast Magma Opus, tap your opponent out and/or clear blockers and have a 5/6 and a 4/4 to swing with.

Magma Opus	CardKingdom $3.49	TCGPlayer $2.98
Magma Opus (Extended Art)	CardKingdom $7.99	TCGPlayer $6.68
Torrential Gearhulk	CardKingdom $2.29	TCGPlayer $1.10
Indomitable Creativity	CardKingdom $13.99	TCGPlayer $10.02

#2 Nissa, Resurgent Animist $37.00 (+152%)

A new card from March of the Machine: The Aftermath has emerged to find her way into Modern 4c Elemental decks. Nissa shot up from about $15 to $37, but it seems like mainly the Retro Frame version went up the most from around $20 to $90, which is a 359% increase in the last week.

When we look at Nissa's abilities, it kinda feels like a Lotus Cobra and Risen Reef combination. Whenever the Landfall ability triggers, you will always get the same result as with a Lotus Cobra, but when you get to activate it a second time, you get to find an Elf or Elemental, which is not entirely unsimilar to what Risen Reef does. Except with Nissa you always get to find a creature, and you never get to put anything onto the battlefield with her. With plenty of Fetchlands in the deck, it should not be hard to trigger her ability a second time, and since you are already trying to make multiple Landfall triggers with Omnath, Locus of Creation, Nissa fits perfectly within this strategy.

Nissa, Resurgent Animist	CardKingdom $32.99	TCGPlayer $21.16
Nissa, Resurgent Animist (Extended Art)	CardKingdom $37.99	TCGPlayer $25.05
Nissa, Resurgent Animist (Retro Frame)	CardKingdom $39.99	TCGPlayer $25.45
Omnath, Locus of Creation	CardKingdom $15.99	TCGPlayer $12.40

#3 Rionya, Fire Dancer $6.13 (+79%)

Rionya is a Legendary creature from the Commander 2021 set, and has been rapidly moving up in the past weeks. She mostly stayed under the radar with her uptrend, but last week there was no way around her. She's already a somewhat popular Commander. With her ability you get to make at least one copy with haste of a creature you control at the beginning of your combat step. But if you're able to cast some instants or sorceries in your turn, you get to make additional copies.

There are probably a bunch of creatures available in her color that are worth copying at least once, but there is one particular new card that has been printed in March of the Machine that people are very eager to make copies of. That card is Etali, Primal Conqueror. Whenever Etali enters the battlefield, you get to cast a bunch of spells from your opponents. Copying Etali a few times may be game ending right then and there, since you get 7/7 hasty copies out of the deal with trample that can do a lot of damage. All you need is a Mirror Box so they don't die to the legend rule. Terror of the Peaks and Warstorm Surge will also do the trick.

Unfortunately Etali can't be added to Rionya decks, due to Etali's green identity, so Etali has to lead this Commander deck.

Rionya, Fire Dancer	CardKingdom $4.49	TCGPlayer $2.95
Rionya, Fire Dancer (Extended Art)	CardKingdom $5.49	TCGPlayer $5.55

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.*

 

Magus of the Wheel $5.00 - Moving up!

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

 

Jace, the Mind Sculptor $35.00 - Slowly moving down

 

Blex, Vexing Pest $1.00 - Stable

 

Magus of the Wheel	CardKingdom $8.49	TCGPlayer $8.81
Jace, the Mind Sculptor	CardKingdom $22.99	TCGPlayer $23.05
Blex, Vexing Pest	CardKingdom $1.79	TCGPlayer $1.80

 

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