Weekly Winners 2023 - 39

29 Sep
by Arjen

This week Wilds of Eldraine is still stirring prices up, but mainly in Commander, and a card that's old enough to drink (legally) has spiked to new heights.

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.

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Articles

Corey, in Modern Times, discusses the dynamic shifts in the Modern format, focusing on the significant price movements and gameplay impact of cards like Lorien Revealed, Flame of Anor, Up the Beanstalk, and Chalice of the Void, and their roles in various deck archetypes, while also speculating on their future values and potential for reprint. Explore the dynamic world of Modern MTG here.

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Onto the Weekly Winners!

#1 Radiate $9.70 (+96%)

Lets kick things off with a rare from Torment. For those not keeping track, this set came out in Febuary 2002, meaning that this card is now old enough to order a drink in the US. Radiate basically turns a single target spell, into a target-all spell. Whenever a spell is on the stack that targets a single permanent or player, Radiate will copy that spell for each legal target. That's pretty nutty!

The card has a rather interesting price trajectory. Back in 2013 it only cost about $0.50, but has been steadily climbing right up until May 2022, where it was about $4, and then has been steadily on the decline since, only to sky rocket since the end of August. It's one of those cards that has been flying under the radar for some time, as it's a bit obscure with only a single printing.

It may not be an easy include in a lot of decks, but it has potential for plenty of three-card combo opportunities. And it seems that it's found a home in a new Commander deck. Imodane, the Pyrohammer, a new Human Knight from Wilds of Eldraine, plays pretty nicely with this card, as they both care about spells with only a single target. But whenever such a spell deals damage to a creature, Imodane will do that amount of damage to each opponent. So let's say there are 10 creatures on the battlefield, and you (or an opponent for that matter) puts a Lightning Bolt onto the stack targeting one of these creatures. Before it resolves, you target the Bolt with your Radiate. Now all 10 creatures (plus your opponents) will be targeted by copies of Bolt, dealing 30 damage to creatures in total, and Imodane will make sure that damage will be done to each opponent as well. That's a lot of damage to go around.

Radiate
Imodane, the Pyrohammer
Imodane, the Pyrohammer (Extended Art)

#2 Overwhelming Splendor $6.78 (+36%)

Next up is a mythic from Hour of Devastation, and it's one of those cards that may really start costing you friends. It's a more expensive Humility that only affects a single player, but it also makes sure the enchanted opponent can't activate any abilities that aren't mana or loyalty abilities. When you enchant a player with this Curse, it can be pretty devastating. 

Like we saw last week with Ghoulish Impetus, which is still pretty high up on the Interests of the past week, Auras are more popular since the release of Wilds of Eldraine. Overwhelming Splendor is another one in the color identity of Eriette of the Charmed Apple, who really cares about having Auras on the battlefield, but she cares more about Auras that enchant creatures, which Overwhelming Splendor is not. However, we also have Yenna, Redtooth Regent in the set. She cares about enchantments in general and can copy them. Now what's more fun than one opponent being cursed by Overwhelming Splendor? Two opponents being cursed by it!

Overwhelming Splendor
Eriette of the Charmed Apple
Yenna, Redtooth Regent

#3 Misleading Signpost $4.20 (+37%)

This card could be a Commander staple. It was also recently discussed by Matt in his New Horizons article. For you get to redirect an attacker, which feels like a really valuable combat trick. But even if the card turns out to be useless in your hand, you can simply flash it out and have a mana rock.

Preventing a single attacker for a single turn for three mana may not really sound all that valuable, but Misleading Signpost can also be seen as a piece of removal. Let's say a problematic creature is being declared as attacker. Doesn't really matter if it's attacking you or someone else. You can flash the Signpost in, and make sure it attacks a different opponent (or maybe even make it attack you) so that it can be blocked dead. Sure, it's a bit more convoluted than just playing removal, but in blue the options are more limited when it comes to hard removal.

The card seems to be included most often in decks around Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor or Alela, Cunning Conqueror, which is unsurprising because these are all in the same Wilds of Eldraine deck Fae Dominion. But it's also slowly finding it's way into decks around Errant and Giada, which cares about the flash ability.

Misleading Signpost
Misleading Signpost (Extended Art)
Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor
Alela, Cunning Conqueror
Errant and Giada

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.

Vexilus Praetor $4.88 - Moving up!

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

Karn, Scion of Urza $6.10 - Moving down

Bribery $5.97 - Slowly moving down

Vexilus Praetor
Karn, Scion of Urza
Bribery

 

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

Arjen
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.


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