By James Chillcott (@MTGCritic)

5 Winners of the Week

With a bunch of the Dragons of Tarkir cards finally taking up their positions as dominant standard cards, we have now officially entered the age of the Elder Dragons. Let’s have a look at what’s up with Magic cards that are moving and shaking this week:

1. Blasting Station (Fifth Dawn, Rare): $2.44 to $3.91 (60%)

Fifth Dawn is certainly an aged set at this point, but the sudden motion on this card is almost certainly related to some Tiny Leaders speculation that is better off ignored. If you have these lying around, feel free to sell or trade into the hype.

Format(s): Casual/Tiny Leaders

Verdict: Sell

2. Icefall Regent (DTK, Rare): $3.00 to $4.75 (58%)

In a format where the metagame is constantly shifting between control, aggro and mid-tier archtypes at the top tables, a relatively cheap threat that can answer Siege Rhino and make removal more costly is proving to be a reasonable 1-2 of in a few different decks. The Esper Dragons build has the most momentum, but Jeskai Dragons, UB Dragons and even some weird Temur builds have been pushing this guy into the red zone lately. This is close to his natural limit as a rare seeing moderate play, so it’s time to unload if you are holding these.

Format(s): Standard

Verdict: Sell

3. Dragonlord Silumgar (DTK, Mythic): $8.75 to $13.04 (49%)

This Elder Dragon sees less play than Dragonlord Atarka, but has the tailwinds from being played in what many feel is the best deck in the format, aka Esper Dragons. At $13-15 I unloaded the copies I got in at around $5 during pre-order season this week, but if the deck stays popular, or the card enjoys a favorable metagame shift in the fall, it’s possible this card pushes past $20 at some point while legal. With the metagame being as unpredictable as it has been, my call was to exit, but you’ll need to decide for yourself what comes next.

Format(s): Standard/Casual/EDH

Verdict: Sell/Trade

4. Dragonlord Atarka (DTK, Mythic): $15.00 to $20.99 (40%)

Having gotten in on this king of the beat down at $6, I was likewise happy to exit around $18 this week, net of fees. That’s a truly great return, and you should be happy to exit in similar fashion even if this card could push $25-30 on steady play into the fall, since you should be able to find better returns on fresh specs around the time of Modern Masters 2 release events.  There is no denying the power of the card and foils are especially tasty as long term holds if you can snag some at good prices during the upcoming summer standard doldrums.

Format(s): Standard/Casual/EDH

Verdict: Sell/Trade

5. Wilt-Leaf Liege (Dragons of Tarkir, Mythic Rare): $23.26 to $27.84 (20%)

I’ve been seeing this card pop up more often in Modern lists lately, especially with Liliana back on the prowl. It’s in some danger of a reprint in Modern Masters 2015, in which case it falls back to $4-5 in a hurry, so I’d be taking profits here if I was holding any.

Format(s): Standard/EDH

Verdict: Hold

3 Top Losers of the Week

1. Shaman of the Great Hunt: $7.28 to $6.48 (-11%)

Originally hyped as a great finisher for RG and Temur brews, this guy has largely fallen off the radar in Standard and his price tag is suffering accordingly. If it falls into the $3-4 range, I may start considering an entry point, but so far I remain unconvinced on his potential for big gains regardless of what happens in the metagame.

Format(s): Standard

Verdict: Sell

2. Tasigur, the Golden Fang: $7.02 to $6.25 (-11%)

Tasigur is close to his natural supply peak, and as a card basically never played as a 4-of, he may have some more room to drop heading into the Modern Masters focused events of early summer. He doesn’t see play in most Esper Dragons builds, nor in RG Dragons or RG Aggro, so his Standard future largely hinges on the prospects for Abzan Control, a deck that is still well positioned against the field. I’ll be all over the card in the $4-5 range, because even if he doesn’t find a $10 price point this fall, he will eventually on Modern and Legacy play as a long term hold. Short term specs are a lot more interesting when you have a solid backup plan. The foils are also under-priced at $25, and I’ll be acquiring additional copies shortly.

Verdict: Hold

3. Sarkhan, Unbroken: $20.16 to $17.99 (-11%)

Temur focused Standard lists abound, but most of them aren’t winning tournaments. As a result, this objectively powerful planeswalker is testing new lows, and could get as far down as $10-12 if he doesn’t put up big results before summer. I like getting out of this card for now, looking to get back in later on when we hit rock bottom.

Verdict: Trade/Sell

James Chillcott is the CEO of ShelfLife.net, The Future of Collecting, Senior Partner at Advoca, a designer, adventurer, toy fanatic and an avid Magic player and collector since 1994.

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