Weekly Winners 2023 - 45

It's been a somewhat slow week when it comes to finance, unless you're a Dinosaur!

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

• Steve delves into the Commander format's recent additions, offering insights on which Universes Beyond: Doctor Who cards provide unexpected strategic depth and financial value, suggesting a potential shift in staple selections for mono-colored decks. Dive into More Doctor Who Picks to discover which cards might warp the format's future.
• Corey reflects on the evolution of Modern's meta and imagines a diverse landscape enriched by ten specific cards not currently legal, which could introduce new strategic depth without overpowering existing top decks. Explore his carefully considered wishlist in 10 Cards I Wish Were Modern Legal.
• Harvey discusses the significant changes in Magic's product lineup, focusing on the new Play Boosters starting with the release of Murders at Karlov Manor, and predicting the impact on both the Limited format and secondary market economics. Uncover the implications of this product shift in The Big Things - Pay to Play.

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Onto the Weekly Winners!

#1 Trapjaw Tyrant $25.96 (+100%)

This week we saw several Dinosaur creatures go up in price. The The Lost Caverns of Ixalan has been fully previewed, and we now know which cards are, and aren't, in the set. As a result, this mythic from Rivals of Ixalan has gone up quite a bit, since we now know it's not receiving a reprint. As you can see, it has the Enrage ability, which we saw on many Dinosaur creatures from the first Ixalan block. The ability gives an advantageous effect when the creature with the ability is dealt damage.

In the case of Trapjaw Tyrant, you get to exile a creature an opponent controls until Trapjaw Tyrant leaves the battlefield. So if you can properly protect it, you may be able to remove several creatures with it. This is such a powerful ability when you can exploit it. Since it's not reprinted in the upcoming Ixalan set, and interest in Dinosaurs is rising, the price has gone up.

It currently sees play in Commander decks arounds Gishath, Sun's Avatar, which is getting a much needed reprint. Zacama, Primal Calamity also is always a popular Dinosaur to build around. For the very same reason, we also saw Silverclad Ferocidons spiking this week. With this Dino's Enrage ability, your opponents will have to sacrifice a permanent whenever it's dealt damage.

Also in the past week we've been seeing Dinosaurs on a Spaceship going up more, which we already discussed in last week's article.

Trapjaw Tyrant	CardKingdom $12.99	TCGPlayer $25.96
Trapjaw Tyrant	CardKingdom $22.99	TCGPlayer $39.99
Silverclad Ferocidons	CardKingdom $5.49	TCGPlayer $6.46
Silverclad Ferocidons	CardKingdom $8.49	TCGPlayer $14.16
Dinosaurs on a Spaceship	CardKingdom $7.99	TCGPlayer $14.99

#2 Court of Ambition $4.56 (+36%)

Every time I see a card that mentions the Monarch, I have to take a step back and check what that does again. It was first introduced in Conspiracy: Take the Crown and returned later in Commander Legends. In a game there can only be one Monarch. Whenever a player becomes the Monarch, that player will remain that until a creature deals combat damage to them, at which point that creature's controller becomes the Monarch. The Monarch draws a card at their their end step.

So now that we have that little bit out of the way, lets talk about the Court of Ambition. When it enters the battlefield, you become the Monarch and your opponents have to either lose three life or discard a card at the beginning of your upkeeps. But if you're the Monarch, they have to lose six life or discard two cards instead.

I'm not sure how powerful the Monarch ability is in multiplayer Commander games, but when playing 1vs1, it's far easier to protect your Monarchy than if you have to stand off against three opponents. However, even when you're not the Monarch, you can seriously inflict some loss of life or card disadvantage to your opponents.

The card does seem like a decent upgrade to the Masters of Evil Commander deck, which is led by Davros, Dalek Creator, since Davros checks at the end of your turn whether an opponent has lost three or more life. So with Court of Ambition, only a single opponent has to choose to lose life for Davros can trigger.

Court of Ambition	CardKingdom $3.99	TCGPlayer $4.50
Court of Ambition (Extended Art)	CardKingdom $5.49	TCGPlayer $5.17
Davros, Dalek Creator	CardKingdom $0.99	TCGPlayer $0.49

#3 Cursed Totem $7.20 (+26%)

For this spike we have to mention that we're only talking about the Mirage print. The other prints seem to be far lower, and more stable. However, people usually prefer to have older reprints for cards, and they tend to carry a premium. Especially for the Mirage print, as it's the only black border version of this card carrying the original art.

Cursed Totem is an artifact that costs mana and shuts off creatures' activated abilities. It became Modern legal when it was printed in Modern Horizons 2, and quickly found its home in Modern sideboards, especially in decks that play Karn, the Great Creator that can easily fetch it when it's needed. This means that it's often included in Green Tron and Mono Black decks. But still, it's usually only a single copy in the sideboard.

But since Cursed Totem is an older card, it's also legal in Premodern, and that's also where we often see this card show up. It's a common sideboard card in Oath of Druids decks, for example. And people playing this format are exactly the audience that may be interested in this card in its old card frame from the original set.

Another reason that may have sparked interest in people getting their copies is that Wizards announced that they would no longer use words like "Totem", meaning that Cursed Totem cannot be reprinted, barring a functional reprint obviously.

Cursed Totem	CardKingdom $4.99	TCGPlayer $7.28
Cursed Totem	CardKingdom $2.99	TCGPlayer $2.85
Cursed Totem	CardKingdom $0.59	TCGPlayer $0.50
Oath of Druids	CardKingdom $10.99	TCGPlayer $8.00

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.

Combat Celebrant $4.50 - Moving up!

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

Pearl Medallion $7.62 - Moving down

Archfiend of Despair $10.81 - Slowly moving down

Combat Celebrant	CardKingdom $4.99	TCGPlayer $4.59
Pearl Medallion	CardKingdom $9.99	TCGPlayer $7.66
Archfiend of Despair	CardKingdom $15.99	TCGPlayer $10.84

 

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