Weekly Winners 2023 - 33

This week we have a card moving up because of Modern, the Commander Masters Eldrazi precon is still stirring things up, and there's a Secret Lair Angels deck!

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

Articles

The past few months we've been focusing on putting out more quality content, and I'd love to share the next few articles with you, since they're worth a read:

• Jason looks at the Commander Masters Cycles in his latest article and which ones are worthwhile for you to take a look at.
• And staying within the same context, Matt discusses the Commander Masters Decks in his latest instalment of New Horizons and which cards in these decks are good ones to keep an eye on.
• Do you know which new cards may end up being Commander staples? Steve will tell you exactly which recent cards he thinks will end up in a lot of decks in History, Restapled - Lands, Ho; Prices, Low.

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 Herald of War $4.97 (+139%)

Going to be honest here, I'm not 100% sure I understand what is going on with Herald of War. It's a 3/3 Angel for five mana that makes your other Angel and Human spells cheaper. Now you're probably already aware that Angels are a pretty popular creature type. We see them plenty in Commander decks, but also in Pioneer and Explorer. And that's exactly what I feel is happening here. Wizards announced their new Secret Lair Angels: They're Just Like Us but Cooler and with Wings. 

 

Players can buy a full Commander deck revolving around Angels. Assuming that this deck will sell well, which it most likely will, there are plenty of players who want to upgrade these decks. So the hunt is on for cards that work well within the Angel type that aren't included within the deck and may be viable upgrades. Herald of War was probably targeted as a good upgrade for the deck, and thus people are getting their copies. That being said, what I find a bit odd is that the Avacyn Restored version is still staying behind price-wise. So if you still want to get your copy, you may want to buy that one.

We also see Firemane Commando move up for this same reason.

This is not the first time we've seen this effect happening. With the Heads I Win, Tails You Lose deck we saw Frenetic Efreet spiking, which we discussed in Weekly Winners 2021 - 46. And a few weeks later we saw Game of Chaos go up because of the deck. And as a more recent example we saw Sliver Hive, and a few other Slivers and Eldrazi, spiking because they were not present in the much anticipated Commander Masters precon decks.

Herald of War	CardKingdom	TCGPlayer $3.91
Herald of War	CardKingdom $4.99	TCGPlayer $3.72

#2 Urza's Workshop $19.15 (+79%)

Since July we've seen a pretty steady uptrend in the price of the regular version of Urza's Workshop. Which was about the time the decklists were shown for the Commander Masters precon. One of these precons, as you may know, is the Eldrazi Unbound deck. Eldrazi are these huge big scary creatures that usually take a lot of mana to cast. You can imagine that these decks already play the Urzatron lands to generate obscene amounts of mana, Urza's Workshop works pretty well in the same strategy. Assuming that in these Commander decks you'll also play plenty of artifact mana rocks, Urza's Workshop can make multiple mana when tapping.

But besides that we also occassionally see the card being played in Legacy Mystic Forge decks. If you can find multiples, they can all tap for multiple mana and help you ramp up to those sweet game-ending spells!

Urza's Workshop	CardKingdom $24.99	TCGPlayer $12.07
Urza's Workshop (Extended Art)	CardKingdom $11.99	TCGPlayer $7.49

#3 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon $35.00 (+40%)

Ugin, the Spirit Dragon's price is on the rise, thanks in part to the popularity of colorless Commander decks. It's a solid fit for the Eldrazi Unbound deck we discussed earlier, but it's also getting some love in the Modern format. After Pro Tour: Middle-earth, Mono Green Tron got a boost, especially with The One Ring in the mix. This has made Tron decks, especially those with Ugin, more common in regional events.

Who doesn't know Ugin? Spend and wipe out the entire board, with just Ugin left standing! Pricewise, Ugin's seen some changes. The Core 2021 version went from about $15 in July to around $32 now. Some versions even hit $40. Fate Reforged Ugins are similarly priced, with a few going for $50. 

Ugin, the Spirit Dragon	CardKingdom $42.99	TCGPlayer $32.97
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon	CardKingdom $42.99	TCGPlayer $28.67
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon (Borderless)	CardKingdom $47.99	TCGPlayer $36.95

Cheap Pickups

Please note: for our 'record low' we consider the price of the card over the past seven years. Many cards were even cheaper (a) decade(s) ago. Also note: some cards are still going down, and might be even cheaper pickups next week.

Surrak and Goreclaw $4.62 - Moving up!

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

Tarmogoyf $11.08 - Moving down

Kira, Great Glass-Spinner $4.58 - Slowly moving down

Surrak and Goreclaw	CardKingdom $4.49	TCGPlayer $4.07
Tarmogoyf	CardKingdom $13.99	TCGPlayer $11.11
Kira, Great Glass-Spinner	CardKingdom $4.99	TCGPlayer $4.47

 

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