Kidnapped By Yetis

Or is it Yeti? I don’t know the plural of Yeti. I think it might just be Yeti. Well, I guess it should be Yeti anyway, because I’m talking about just one Yeti.

Don’t worry, Yeti(s) aren’t the focus today, or even kidnapping. No, the title refers to the 2004 music video for the Beastie Boys song “Triple Trouble,” when they, if I am remembering this right, (I was in college at the time. Yes, I know I’m old, shut up) were on a red carpet for something and then a Yeti abducted them? That sounds really bad, that can’t be right. Also, the song isn’t great, either, really. 

So the Yeti took them to a Yeti cave and then made them do jumping jacks and then fed them lasagna. Are Yeti(s) snow monsters? Is this a Bigfoot? I don’t know, this video was real weird because everyone was doing weird designer drugs in 2004 because the Matrix Reloaded was popular.

Look, I promise I’m almost done talking about the Beastie Boys and a song they put out 20 years ago that I barely tolerate. What was my point? Triple Trouble is bad and Magic might have some triple trouble of its own. 

This Isn’t the Future We Were Promised! 

Anuses around the finance community clenched when we first saw Nyxbloom Ancient. People operating under the heuristic that “double is good” were concerned that double was going to soon become obsolete. Was triple going to be trouble? A lot of people thought so.

Since I record a lot of my finance thoughts in podcast form, which is nice when they’re good and problematic when they’re bad, people know what I said when that card was spoiled, or could find out. I like this because it keeps me accountable, and also I can use my detractors to Kibler Google past calls because they’ll find it faster than I would. Whatever I said at the time is very likely irrelevant (I hope, anyway) - what matters now is whether any of what the people hyped or the doomsayers predicted have come to fruition. 

Have we seen a dip or growth attenuation for doublers? Do triplers triple? Do they even see play? Let’s look at some data to determine the fate of a card whose future is very much in question.

Thrice Fiery

Until a few weeks ago, there were an equal number of cards that said the word “triple” from regular sets as there were from Un-sets. So we only had to follow two prices to see if “triple was trouble.”

Kind of an inauspicious beginning to this experiment. Jeska, Thrice Reborn is up a bit, but still way down from its initial “It’s a mythic planeswalker in a specialty set and it says triple? I think we’ll be glad we bought in at $10 each,” to its current “I opened the wrong Commander product, I think, I wanted the good one.” Still, Jeska is seeing some play, and is also relevant as a commander, especially a Partner commander. The thing is, this kind of barely triples. It triples the damage output of a very specific creature. It was designed to make its seven-power Partner commander just straight up kill someone. It’s a cool design, but we want Tripling Season, not Battle Mastery 1.5. I think we should look at the other tripler before we admit we’re in trouble.

Fiery Emancipation is VERY MUCH seeing play. Like, triple the play Jeska is. Also, it’s funny to me that its low was basically $10 and now it’s $30 on Card Kingdom. What’s the word for that price increase? That’s right, it went up 200%. Haha PSYCH you thought I dropped the triple trouble gag because I could sense it wasn’t going over but you’re wrong. The price tripled. If triplers triple, that could be good news for us if that trend holds. 

Now, Fiery Emancipation wasn’t the first card with the concept of “triple” on it. We mentioned earlier that Theros: Beyond Death, which came out two months earlier than Core 2021, was the set that had people clutching their binders and quaking at the knees. It turns out Nyxbloom Ancient doesn’t say “triple” on it, so we have a few more cards to look for when we search for “three times” on Scryfall.

The problem here is that these don’t triple. They triple, like, one thing. That’s good, don’t get me wrong, but it’s also kinda fair. A card that says “gain one life four times” is probably bad, but that doesn’t mean quadrupling is bad. With some work that card could get kind of broken because four triggers is a lot of value. But Primal Vigor isn’t good because it doubles a thing, it’s good because it doubles everything, including our opponents’ stuff, and that Doesn’t. Even. Matter.

Johnny Mnemonic

Most of the cards on here triple one thing. I didn’t even bother not cropping them, as a sign of disrespect. Mnemonic Deluge is the closest to a card that matters on this page of cards, so let’s have a look-see at it.

Well it’s very playable, but that set was opened a ton. Still, it’s almost $3 on TCG Player, and the past few months have been great.

In that period, it went from just above a buck to a little above three. There’s a word for that, I’m sure you know what it is by now. 

Finally, it’s time for the Boogeyman. 

In Bloom

 

There is one more pic, and it’s the real clincher.

Do you consider a spec failed if it “merely” doubles in price, plus ends up worth a lot so you don’t have to buy a jillion copies of it to clear money after shipping and fees? TODAY WE DO! This tripler didn’t triple! I want to see that triple. Maybe we should say “this hasn’t tripled yet.”

I’m seeing tripling everywhere. I feel like Jim Carrey in the movie 23 except my mouth isn’t full of half-masticated scenery. So why did we bother looking up the triplies? Put simply, there is another tripler making trouble, and it’s more similar to Fiery Emancipation than any other card on the list.

Into the Fire

Starting this high as a non-mythic, you don’t expect it to triple from $4.50, certainly. It not being mythic hurts it quite a bit, but I think if this gets down to a buck, a buck fifty, you might want to consider snapping off a pile. This is a card that will be $6, but not without being $2 first. 

Was it worth doing all of that to try and predict the future price of one card? I mean, I’d argue that’s not entirely what happened here. If triplers are the new doublers, what are some things we can learn from what tripled and what didn’t?

• People want a lot of damage more than they want a lot of mana

• People thought City on Fire was a $10 card for a hot minute, and if they thought it was reasonable then, it will seem reasonable again

• Wizards has been very, very tentative about releasing triplers. The few we got were supposed to seem special, not prepare us for a future where we’re lighting cigars with worthless copies of Doubling Season

I’m still getting the feel for how I’d like to structure what I’m writing on this site, so thank you for bearing with me as I get settled in. If you like this format, or hate it, or have suggestions and/or requests, I’m @jasonealt on Twitter. Thanks for reading. Until next time! 

Jeska, Thrice Reborn	CardKingdom $5.99	TCGPlayer $3.86
Fiery Emancipation	CardKingdom $10.99	TCGPlayer $7.37
Mnemonic Deluge	CardKingdom $2.99	TCGPlayer $2.49
Nyxbloom Ancient	CardKingdom $27.99	TCGPlayer $23.83
City on Fire	CardKingdom $5.49	TCGPlayer $4.00

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