Weekly Winners 2021 - 15

This week we see two spikes because of the same common from the Strixhaven: School of Mages set. Pretty interesting to see what a common can do to prices. With Strixhaven releasing we are expecting some fun weeks ahead where everyone is trying new brews and come up with new strategies.

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!

 

#1 Knollspine Dragon $19.99 (+264%)

 

A spike because of a Strixhaven: School of Mages card. This time the culprit comes in the form of a common Dragon's Approach. The synergy is fairly obvious. If you manage to get 5 Dragon's Approach in your graveyard, you can search your library a dragon and put it into play. If you find Knollspine Dragon you can discard your hand, which may contain a few more Dragon's Approach. Now Knollspine Dragon will do a bunch of damage to your opponent and you can search up another dragon.

Shadowmoor already is a set with a relative low supply and the only reprint was in the Mystery Boosters, of which we aren't really certain how much it actually added to the supply, but consensus seems to be that it isn't significant.

Dragons have always been popular, but they are on the watchlist of a lot of people, since we know there's a set coming revolving around Dungeons... and Dragons. Chances are that we will see new ones popping up and probably also cards that support the tribal. Cards like Drakuseth, Maw of Flames and The Ur-Dragon already have an extreme upward price trajectory, which largely seems to be in preparation for the upcoming summer set.

 

Dragon's Approach	CardKingdom $2.49	TCGPlayer $3.14
Drakuseth, Maw of Flames	CardKingdom $3.99	TCGPlayer $4.70
Knollspine Dragon	CardKingdom $7.99	TCGPlayer $19.99
The Ur-Dragon	CardKingdom $34.99	TCGPlayer $41.98

 

 

#2 Spellweaver Helix $5.02 (+251%)

 

I certainly did not expect to see this card on the Interests, but when we closer inspect it, it makes a bit more sense. When it comes into play, you may remove two sorcery from a single graveyard (so can also be your opponent's) from the game. Whenever a card is played with the same name (not just by you) as one of the cards your exiled (imprinted) with Spellweaver Helix you may copy the other imprinted card and play it without paying its mana cost.

Now where do we see the word "copy" arise a lot? Right! Strixhaven: School of Mages has introduced the Magecraft ability where you get some value for casting or copying an instant or sorcery spell.

Now this doesn't seem too exciting now does it? There's another reason though. In Commander we see that this card gets played alongside Thrumming Stone and together with... Dragon's Approach. The addendum on Dragon's Approach that lets you play any number of copies is not merely interesting in 60-card constructed, but also in Commander where you can usually only play one copy of each card. We still have to see how viable this combo is, but it looks like it's definitely being explored.

 

Dragon's Approach	CardKingdom $2.49	TCGPlayer $3.14
Spellweaver Helix	CardKingdom $4.99	TCGPlayer $5.02
Thrumming Stone	CardKingdom $59.99	TCGPlayer $69.00

 

 

#3 Thran Quarry $18.83 (+122%)

 

I find the price trajectory of Thran Quarry rather interesting. It seems quite exponential when we look at it as if some people realised it is a good card, demand went up a bit and the demand was noticed by others and more and more people started buying it. It seems somewhat different than just another buyout in my opinion.

Thran Quarry already showed up in Commander decks with Animar, Soul of Elements, Edric, Spymaster of Trest, and Sliver Overlord. All three of these depict commanders that are used in creature heavy decks, and where Thran Quarry is a potent manafixer. Especially the last commander of the three struck me as important, since we noticed in the past few weeks that Sliver have regained some traction because of the reprinting of several slivers in the Time Spiral: Remastered set.

 

Sliver Overlord	CardKingdom $44.99	TCGPlayer $92.62
Edric, Spymaster of Trest	CardKingdom $4.99	TCGPlayer $3.23
Animar, Soul of Elements	CardKingdom $10.99	TCGPlayer $9.09
Thran Quarry	CardKingdom $7.99	TCGPlayer $18.83

 

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.

 

Omnath, Locus of Creation $6.00

 

Ashaya, Soul of the Wild $7.00

 

Pact of Negation $17.71

 

Ashaya, Soul of the Wild	CardKingdom $8.49	TCGPlayer $7.00
Omnath, Locus of Creation	CardKingdom $5.99	TCGPlayer $6.00
Pact of Negation	CardKingdom $19.99	TCGPlayer $17.71