Weekly Winners 2023 - 40

The previews for Universes Beyond: Doctor Who are in full swing, but we don't see any noticable action yet on other cards. Plenty of Commander cards moving around in price, though.

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

• Matt evaluates the Fall 2023 Secret Lair Superdrop, discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the seven drops, while also touching upon the themes and financial implications of the included cards in his series New Horizons.
• In History, Restapled, Steve delves into the nuances of what defines a "staple" in the Commander format, evaluating cards for their potential impact and value in specific deck archetypes and broader gameplay scenarios.
• Harvey discusses the introduction of Special Guests in Set Boosters, a new category of reprints that are thematically tied to their respective sets but are not Standard legal, and delves into the potential impact of these cards on the demand for Set Boosters and the broader MTG market in The Big Things.

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Onto the Weekly Winners!

#1 Nurgle's Rot $2.36 (+115%)

It seems like every week we find another victim of the wildely popular Eriette of the Charmed Apple commander. Last week we talked about Overwhelming Splendor to going up for this very reason, and the week before that it was Ghoulish Impetus. This card is also showing up on last week's interests, but then only the Extended Art variant.

Nurgle's Rot is an interesting Aura from the Universes Beyond: Warhammer 40,000 set, and can be found in the Ruinous Powers Commander deck. It can only enchant your opponents' creatures, and really wants those creatures to die so you can create a 1/3 Demon. The card was mainly popular in decks around good old Ramses Overdark for obvious reasons. Ramses can simply tap to kill an enchanted creature. Easy-peasy. But when that creature dies, Nurgle's Rot will also return to your hand. Similar to Ghoulish Impetus, we like to have Auras that return within a Eriette of the Charmed Apple deck. For just that seems like a pretty good deal, since the creature can also no longer attack you or a planeswalker you control.

I suspect we see the same effect on Daxos the Returned that has been going up the past week with 44% to $8.53. Daxos will gather you experience counters and can create Spirit tokens that have power and toughness equal to the amount of experience counters you have. It's exactly in Eriette's color identity, and seems to be a perfect fit for the deck.

Nurgle's Rot	CardKingdom	TCGPlayer $2.71
Nurgle's Rot (Surge Foil)	CardKingdom	TCGPlayer $6.50
Daxos the Returned	CardKingdom $8.99	TCGPlayer $9.94

#2 Monster Manual $6.28 (+45%)

With the release of Wilds of Eldraine there were some extra Adventure cards printed and support for the ability. This usually means that these cards that already existed may have gotten better. Monster Manual is an Adventure card printed in Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate that seems to have found a home in a new Commander deck. The Zoological Study part is a sorcery that mills you five cards, and then returns a milled creature card to your hand. The other part is an artifact with an Elvish Piper effect, but arguably harder to remove than Piper since it's not a creature.

$0.60$0.99

The card seems to have found a home in Beluna Grandsquall decks. Beluna was printed recently in Wilds of Eldraine and works pretty well with Monster Manual. It also cares about milling, but now you get to return those milled Adventure cards back to your hand. When Beluna itself hits play, you get to play your permanents that have an Adventure cheaper.

Monster Manual	CardKingdom $6.49	TCGPlayer $12.77
Monster Manual (Extended Art)	CardKingdom $6.99	TCGPlayer $8.88
Beluna Grandsquall	CardKingdom $0.99	TCGPlayer $0.60
Elvish Piper	CardKingdom $4.49	TCGPlayer $4.57

#3 Grim Hireling $6.68 (+42%)

I'm having a bit of a hard time figuring out why Grim Hireling went up this week. Definitely not saying that the card isn't good, and may very well be worth the price. Grim Hireling creatures Treasures whenever you deal combat damage to your opponents. Obviously you can use Treasures to cast spells, but Grim Hireling also can use them as removal with its second ability.

$0.29$0.39

The price trajectory of Grim Hireling is pretty interesting. When it was released in Commander: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms in July 2021 it sold for about $3, then a few months later in December 2021 it spiked to $18 out of nowhere. Back then we talked about it in Weekly Winners as well. It saw play in decks around Thalisse, Reverent Medium and Kalain, Reclusive Painter, for example. But even then there wasn't really much to go on except mostly anticipation on what the card may be able to do. The price quickly dwindled back down after that to around $10, and then back to around $3.50 when it was reprinted in Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate.

It seems like it's now finding a home as well in Alela, Cunning Conqueror decks. While Grim Hireling itself is not a Faerie, being a Rogue is pretty close since those two types are often combined. But Faeries are also very good at having some evasive ability and sneaking in combat damage here and there, netting you Treasure tokens pretty quickly.

Grim Hireling	CardKingdom $6.49	TCGPlayer $6.24
Grim Hireling	CardKingdom $5.99	TCGPlayer $5.94
Grim Hireling (Extended Art)	CardKingdom $8.49	TCGPlayer $8.16

#4 For the Ancestors $3.22 (+46%)

This instant from [set]1470[/card] has been seeing a little uptrend lately. For only three mana you get to look at the six top cards of your library, and put any number of cards from a chosen creature type into your hand. And as a cherry on top, you get to do it again later for four mana. This card basically slots right into any Commander deck that revolves around a single creature type with green. It seems like an absolute no-brainer in any typal deck.

The price trajectory of this card also seems pretty wild. When it was previewed on July 17th 2023, it started preselling the very next day for $30, and according to the market price, it actually sold for around that. However, the average came down pretty quickly and crashed around release of the set to about $5. Currently the regular version of the card can be bought for around $3, but you can get the extended art version for even less.

It kinda feels similar to Collected Company in some ways, but the main downside of Collected Company is the "mana value 3 or less" restriction. Barring creature types like Elves, there are plenty of creature types that typically have a higher mana value than that. Also in Commander, there always are big plays on the end of the curve that you simply cannot hit with it. With For the Ancestors you're able to find these more expensive creatures. The card seems popular in Sliver decks, and especially around Sliver Gravemother, which is barely a surprise since this instant is included in the Sliver Swarm Commander deck. But we also see it included in Tyvar the Bellicose and Fangorn, Tree Shepherd. 

For the Ancestors	CardKingdom $3.99	TCGPlayer $4.39
For the Ancestors (Extended Art)	CardKingdom $2.79	TCGPlayer $2.74
Collected Company	CardKingdom $9.49	TCGPlayer $8.39
Sliver Gravemother	CardKingdom	TCGPlayer $9.87

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.

Anguished Unmaking $4.48 - Moving up!

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

Glimpse of Nature $12.10 - Moving down fast

Sneak Attack $4.54 - Slowly moving down

Anguished Unmaking	CardKingdom $4.99	TCGPlayer $5.27
Glimpse of Nature	CardKingdom $7.99	TCGPlayer $9.91
Sneak Attack	CardKingdom $6.49	TCGPlayer $4.54
Sneak Attack (Retro Frame)	CardKingdom $5.99	TCGPlayer $5.12

 

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