Weekly Winners 2021 - 12

For the first time since the COVID pandemic hit, our interest page looks like normal for a change! Many (huge) spikes from different sets and eras. I choose to see this as an omen of better times ahead!

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 Chain of Smog $21 (+4,100.00%)

 

Wow! It has been a long, long time since we've seen a card spike with more than 4k%. At first glance you might think it's a fluke, but remember: it is spoiler time again! And Chain of Smog's spike is connected to some new tech in Strixhaven: School of Mages.

With every new set printed, the task to check for insane combos gets harder and harder for Wizards R&D. Remember: every card that is considered needs to be checked for crazy and possibly game-breaking interactions with existing cards. With so many cards out there it is bound to be a daunting task. And though when Wizards is confident when a card is concieved, only after a set is born: printed and visible for the public they really learn if they maybe missed something.

When you take a look at Chain of Smog and this recently spoiled card: Witherbloom Apprentice you might conclude that Wizards has missed something. If you target yourself with Chain of Smog, you may choose to copy it. Unless you are going for hellbent or try to pull some other trick, targeting yourself with a discard spell is not a wise move. Keep copying and targeting yourself is even worse. Unless you have Witherbloom Apprentice in play. Because for every time you copy it you gain 1 life and all opponents lose 1. And remember: you don't need to pay mana to copy Chain of Smog. So you can do this infinite times for only .

What we're looking at is a game-winning combo in Legacy, Commander and Vintage. Especially for Legacy this could be a very interesting new combo strategy. With just a total of 4 mana you can win the game. Legacy has more killer combos, and plenty of ways to deal with them. The main guardian being Force of Will.

A simple counter-, removal- or discard spell stops this combo in its tracks. And there are plenty of those for no mana cost, or just a single mana of a color. But throw white or blue into the mix of the combo and you can protect yourself with cards like Force of Will of Silence.

The 4,100.00% spike proves that people jumped on Chain of Smog after learning the possible combo. Even though the combo is powerful, a banning is not something that I suspect; the eternal formats have plenty of ways to keep things like this in check.

But I still wonder: after years of hosing combo decks in Legacy, did Wizards really intend to create another combo piece for that format?

One thing to mention as well is another card that works well with our #1 winner: Professor Onyx. It has the same ability, but with a 4 mana cost, it is much steeper to combo with it. As Professor Onyx was one of the first cards spoiled from the newest set, it already affected the price of Chain of Smog.

 

Chain of Smog	CardKingdom $14.99	TCGPlayer $21.00
Drowned Catacomb	CardKingdom $6.99	TCGPlayer $6.50
Force of Will	CardKingdom $139.99	TCGPlayer $129.16

 

#2 Illumination $12.64 (+2,909.52%)

 

Two multi-k spikes in one week is pretty unique, especially now. But this week produced exactly two of them. Over a course of 7 days Illumination has spiked to a price of $12.64 and a trailing $6.10 market price.

This spike is kind of a mystery. A speculative buyout is the first thing that comes to mind. But those most often happen in one or two days, not over a course of seven. The steep increase in price looks like a organic buyout, but there is no evidence to be found that it actually is one.

No tweets, no youtube videos, no forum posts no reddit-posts or comments are to be found that mention Illumination. No decks, no tournament results. On top of that, Illumination has 0% play rate on EDHRec.com.

It is mighty peculiar that a former $0.33 card now has a $6.10 market price for no obvious reason. It sees no play, there is no demand for it. Up until now I have seen no relevant spoilers from Strixhaven: School of Mages that might interact with it.

So a card with no demand and that sees no play gets bought out. What do the buyers know that we don't? Speculation on an upcoming spoiler? Something that's relevant for Vintage, Legacy or EDH?

Or is it a more simple reason? Illumination is a unique card since it is a white counterspell for just two mana. A card like this is pretty rare, especially considering the small print-run of Mirage. But even then... To make a buck there needs to be demand. And up to now, I've found no reason to suspect any upcoming demand. Be sure to let me know when I've missed something!

EDIT: A few kind Reddit users mentioned a YouTube-video from Tolarian Community College that featured the card as cheap card you are not playing in EDH. Since it was published on March 18th and the card started to rise in price on that date, it seems plausible the two are connected.

 

Illumination
Mirage	CardKingdom $1.49	TCGPlayer $12.64

 

#3 Magma Sliver $55.86 (+663.11%) - And other Slivers

Magma Sliver, Synapse Sliver, Galerider Sliver, Brood Sliver. What do these cards have in common? Sure, they are all Slivers. But on top of that they've all seen no reprints in regular sets.

Ever since Time Spiral: Remastered was printed, we've seen several Slivers gaining value. Closer inspection reveals that there is not a big amount of demand for these Slivers and their spikes are most probably the cause of speculation over a possible uptick in the popularity of Slivers. Whenever a tribe gets love in the form of reprints, this tends to inspire people to dust off their old decks and start playing them again.

Modern has a Slivers deck that sees some competitive play. Those lists do not include the Slivers from Legions. But it does feature Galerider Sliver. That last card has real demand, but the lowest price of the cards mentioned here. That really says something about how realistic the value of the other mentioned slivers are.

If demand for these cards picks up (it probably won't) their prices may stay high. If there is no demand, prices will dwindle.

 

Synapse Sliver	CardKingdom $24.99	TCGPlayer $74.99
Magma Sliver	CardKingdom $12.99	TCGPlayer $55.86
Brood Sliver	CardKingdom $14.99	TCGPlayer $25.37
Galerider Sliver	CardKingdom $10.99	TCGPlayer $21.00

 

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.

 

Turntimber Symbiosis $6.75 - Stable downtrend

 

Opposition Agent $16.04 - Slight downtrend

 

Scroll Rack $25 - Slight downtrend

 

Turntimber Symbiosis	CardKingdom $7.99	TCGPlayer $6.75
Scroll Rack	CardKingdom $27.99	TCGPlayer $25.00
Opposition Agent	CardKingdom $19.99	TCGPlayer $16.04