I would have expected some more Wilds of Eldraine spikes by now, but it all seems pretty quiet, except for one card! Yet, the Lord of the Rings cards are still moving up!
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.
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:
Edward delves into the Competitive MTG Finance series, discussing the current state of Pauper, highlights from the upcoming Wilds of Eldraine set, and the impact of Orcish Bowmasters across multiple formats in the MTG landscape.
Jason tries to tie in Limp Bizkit references while diving deep into the potential of Rowan, Scion of War, highlighting key cards that synergize well with the deck and their financial implications in his latest instalment of Alt of the Deal.
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This one may not come as a surprise to everyone. Wilds of Eldraine has been fully revealed and one of the more prominent creature types is Faeries. No wonder that Faerie Harbinger has gone up, since having a tutor in your Faerie deck is pretty valuable. This Faerie Wizard was printed in Lorwyn, and has not received a notable reprint, just an inclusion in The List.
So even though Faerie Harbinger is uncommon, it still fetches a notable price by sheer lack of reprints, and more notably no reprint in Wilds of Eldraine itself, even though it would have been the perfect set for it. When we look at popular Comander decks that it's included in, we see the new Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor show up, which makes a lot of sense. This Faerie lord pumps other Faeries, and may draw you some cards. Brewers are also putting it in Obyra, Dreaming Duelist. Going all the way back to Lorwyn, we also find commanders like Wydwen, the Biting Gale including it.
At the beginning of this month, you could buy a Flame of Anor for about $1.50. It's steadily been moving up since then, but the last week the uptrend went a lot faster. Now you'll have to pay $9.50 for a single copy. It's found a strategic place in the Modern Crashing Footfalls decks. This deck tries to cheat out 4/4 Rhinos by casting either Violent Outburst or Shardless Agent. Since there are no spells in the deck of mana value two or less besides Crashing Footfalls, you get to make two Rhinos with trample. With a little bit of luck, through Gemstone Caverns, this can be done as early as turn two, after which your opponent has to try to deal with these tokens, while you protect them with your counter spells.
So where does Flame of Anor fit into the deck? Well, it's a flexible piece of removal or card draw, depending on the situation, at instant speed. The card becomes even better with a Wizard in play. Fortunately some of these builds have Magus of the Moon coming from the sideboard, which is a Wizard. So you even get to choose two modes when casting the Flame. But there is another secret option in the form of Mutavault. This land can become a 2/2 creature with all creature types, which includes Wizard.
When the card was originally previewed, people became excited about it. Some people believed it may have the potential to make Snapcaster Mage playable again in constructed formats. Since Snapcaster Mage is a Wizard, you can give Flame of Anor Flashback and cast it again for two modes. And indeed we see these cards being played in Modern Izzet decks together occasionaly, but the card seems to have more success in the Crashing Footfalls decks.
About two months ago we talked about this card when it started seeing play in Legacy. This week there's not much difference, however, the card is getting even more popular in the format. I usually try to not talk about what a card does too much, because you all can read the image above, but when it comes to cards like this I think it's important to refresh our memory a little bit. Forth Eorlingas! can be cast for , and you get to create X 2/2 red Human Knight creatures with trample and haste. Now that's the easy part of the card to understand. But, whenever at least one creature you control deals combat damage to a player that turn, you become the Monarch. And that is the part I always stumble and have to think really hard about what that does again. Whenever a player is the Monarch, that player gains the ability to draw a card at their end step. And they'll remain the Monarch until an opponent deals combat damage to them, after which that opponent becomes the Monarch. So if you are the Monarch and stay that as long as possible, it will net you an additional card each turn. More cards is more better! You can probably see that it's a good thing that you get to create a few hasty creatures, and then immediately can use them to attack and become the Monarch.
Like I mentioned before, the card sees play in various Legacy builds like 4 color control, Jeskai control, or Initiave builds. But the card is also seeing play in Vintage Jeskai decks. With sufficient quick mana, Forth Eorlingas! can finish the game pretty quickly. That being said, there are also plenty of Commander decks that can use a card like this. However, in games that have more than one opponent, the Monarch is also more easily stolen from you. So beware!
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.
Drana and Linvala has been identified by the MTGStocks Premium Penny Stocks feature as a card that has reached its bottom and is starting a consistent uptrend.
That's it for this week. Make sure to check back next week for more Weekly Winners!
Arjen
Arjen has been playing Magic since Ice Age and has mostly played the Legacy format. Ten years ago he founded MTGStocks because he and his friends wanted to buy Magic singles at the right time to play with.
The changes around the Commander format are really having an interesting effect on the market. Fortunately, Pioneer and Modern are also making sure that things are moving.
