I’ve spent a lot of time talking about cards in Standard that I feel are going to go up.

As someone who plays a lot more EDH than Standard, I can tell you that there’s some cards that have a value that’s purely based on their scarcity and age. Cards printed more than a couple of years ago were printed in noticeably smaller quantities. Wizards is stingy with precise numbers, but it’s been reported that each of the large fall sets since Zendikar in 2009 through Return to Ravnica in 2013 has been Wizards’ best-selling set ever. I can’t find that quote for this year, but I’m still looking!

One of the things that we have to be aware of is reprints. With three Limited Grands Prix scheduled for next May, it seems Modern Masters 2 is on the horizon. Some reprints will go up, some will maintain value, and some will go down.

Today, I want to go over some cards that I think would go down in value if printed in Modern Masters 2, a supplementary set (like Conspiracy) or a product like a Duel Deck or Commander.

Two examples of cards that lowered in value:

Avenger of Zendikar: As a mythic from Worldwake, there’s not a lot of these around. It was around $12 before being in one of the Commander 2013 decks, which lowered its price down to $6. The Commander version, with the same art and text but a different set symbol, is priced at half of that.

Maelstrom Pulse: This was in the $25 range as a rare from a small third set, and that wasn’t affected much by being a Grand Prix foil. When it was put into Modern Masters, the value fell to $10, and it’s not seeing as much Modern play since the introduction of Abrupt Decay. That swap for the cheaper mana cost has lowered the price on Pulse just a bit farther.

Spell Pierce: If I could go back in time to 2009, I would buy up all the foils of this card when they could be had for ten cents. The regular wouldn’t be a bad investment either. A reprint in MM2 seems quite likely, but the nonfoils won’t hold any value. Get out soon.

Splinter Twin: Another likely reprint, as the price has just gone up and up and up and up this past year. It’s $20 now, due to the set it was in, a large set with a short run and a high degree of popularity in Modern. Keep the ones you need, get rid of the rest.

Leyline of Sanctity: The new Leyline deck in Legacy has caused a rise in this price and other Leylines, but this is an incredible sideboard card against Storm and Burn, and will see a reprint tank its value. Remember, the playerbase has more than doubled in the four years since it was printed.

Cavern of Souls: The price on this has been creeping steadily upwards since its rotation out of Standard. It’s in demand from every format, and is another strong candidate for MM2. Expect the dip in price when it does, and pick up all you need for Cubes and EDH then.

Worldwake man lands: Celestial Colonnade especially, but all of them are worth reprinting in a cycle, either in MM2 or some other set soon.

The Eldrazi: Kozilek, Ulamog, Emrakul, and even It That Betrays. There’s always going to be a high demand for huge colorless creatures, and a reprint of these is going to happen soon.

Avacyn, Angel of Hope: She’s $30 purely due to casual demand. I will be very surprised if Avacyn or Linvala aren’t in the white Commander deck (Can I hope for Serra?) this fall.

Mana Reflection: We love doubling our mana. I played a game of EDH with a mono-Forest deck, with Rofellos on turn 2, this on turn three, and Genesis Wave for 14 on turn four. Good times.

Khalni Hydra: Sure, it can be free if enough stuff is already in play, but this is another that has a high price merely due to scarcity, not Constructed demand.

Maelstrom Archangel: Small set mythic, popular tribe, fun effect. Expect this to get cut by half when it gets another printing.

Sigil of the Empty Throne: This has already seen a minor bump due to the presence of enchantments in Theros making casual enchantment decks better. It got reprinted two years ago, and this is one of the cards where both versions have the same value.

Lord of Extinction: Purely a casual card, and one that would take a huge hit at its second printing. I’ve got one foil in one EDH deck and I sent all the others packing.

City of Traders

PreTQs, PTQs, and PTs: QQ

August 6, 2014 Travis Allen 4 Comments

By: Travis Allen

Did you catch Pro Tour Magic 2015 this weekend? It was Standard (inexplicably), and UW came out as top dog. The experience of watching the later rounds with Ivan Floch may have been familiar to those who watched Cifka win the Modern PT a year or two ago with Eggs, in which he had “won” the game but it was going to take ten to thirty minutes to execute the actual kill. Overall the entire thing was clearly defined by Sphinx’s Revelation and Thoughtseize. We didn’t learn too much useful information about what Standard will look like post-Ravnica, although it looks like Nissa is pretty legitimate. Ichikawa ran the full set with only nine forests in his deck to great success, so apparently the floor on how many forests you need for her to be good is quite low. Yet the biggest news of the Pro Tour wasn’t the cards or the decks, but rather, Organized Play announcements.

Helene Bergeot and the Organized Play (OP) team often use Pro Tours to roll out changes to the OP program, and this weekend’s Pro Tour was no different. The OP program encompasses things likes Grand Prixs, Pro Tours, Pro Tour Qualifiers, etc. This is the team that determines how many slots the PT has, how many pro points should be distributed on average at GPs, what constitutes silver/gold/platinum player levels, etc etc. At PTM15 there were changes made to GPs, PTs, and PTQs, with the PTQ change having the widest, most immediate effect on the most players.

Splitting the Baby

If you’ve been to a PTQ in the last year you’re probably aware they’ve been getting out of control. Qualifiers in Toronto have been easily clearing 200 players, and last year there was one that cleared 346 players or something obscene like that. Early GPs would have been easier to win than some PTQs are today. Clearly, a solution was needed. WOTC has decided that the way to tackle these monstrosities is to divide PTQs into two components, a local PTQ qualifier (PreTQ), and invite-only regional PTQs. Without just copy/pasting the article on the topic, the general idea is this:

Any local store that could run a GPT can now run a PreTQ once per season.
If you win a PreTQ, you qualify for a once-per-season regional PTQ. (There are sixteen in the US).
If you top four (or top eight if there are >128 players) a regional PTQ, you win an invite to the PT and the airfare to haul you there.

The local grinder is going to find themselves in a situation where they’re attending three to maybe nine or ten PreTQs a season, depending how many stores in their area are able to run them and how far the player is willing to travel. Keep in mind there are sixteen weeks each season. Between SCG events, GPs, GPTs, and the new PreTQs, the dedicated player could be competing in competitive REL events nearly every weekend of the year.

On a side note, for the first time ever, I’m personally finding that instead of my quantity of play being gated by the frequency of events I can/want to participate in, I’m instead concerned about the entry fees of so many events. PreTQs will likely be $20-$40 depending on whether they’re constructed or Sealed. Between ~$30 PreTQs, $40 GPs, $80 SCG weekends, and the expenses of travelling to all of them, playing Magic is getting brutally expensive. If you’re good enough to be regularly winning prizes at the events you should be able to come out ahead, but that isn’t going to be the case for the majority of players.

In conjunction with the frequency at which players will be able to participate in PreTQs, there’s another important component to this. PreTQ seasons are not tied to specific formats. That means that any time a store runs a PreTQ, they have the choice of making it Sealed, Standard, or Modern. Aaron Forsythe has said specifically that if they find the distribution does not line up with what they’d like they will take the reins of PreTQ formats, but for the time being it’s up to store owners to decide which format is best for their store.

Regional PTQs will still have their formats locked in by WOTC, but financially this is far less relevant than the free-form PreTQs. Because store owners can choose whichever format they like, there will be Competitive REL events in both Standard and Modern all year round. Gone is the Standard/Modern PTQ season and the increased scrutiny/prices they demand from the market. Instead, there is now going to be a much smoother demand for format staples year round.

If any random PreTQ can be Modern at any point, grinders are going to need to keep decks together and updated at all times. Instead of trading/selling singles out of season, they’ll be forced to keep them. Format staples like Snapcaster and Tarmogoyf aren’t quite as vulnerable to seasonal changes as role-players, but those role-players should become much more stable. You can see Spellskite’s price bounced around over the last two years as a banner role-player. With constant demand, these rollercoaster prices should be less frequent for well known quantities. You’ll still see wild price rides on flavors of the week that spike and drop drastically, but the cards everyone is already aware of should be much more stable.

Standard will see this smoothing as well, although less so since FNM and SCG events ask players to keep cohesive decks together with more regularity. The effect will be most pronounced in Standard after the spring set is released. During the months of May through August (aka now) Standard prices take a real beating for a variety of reasons, one of which is that there’s no real reason for most players to keep up on Standard decks just a few months before rotation. A handful of Standard PreTQs during the summer months will incentivize a lot more players to keep their important rotating staples. It won’t completely shore up drooping interest and rotation fears, but it will help alleviate it.

This new world of constant PreTQs doesn’t seem like the best scenario for those of us looking to capitalize on markets in flux. The old PTQ system rewarded the types of people that kept on top of the cycles and the best strategies to profit from them. In other words, me and you. Annual repetition has been one of the best ways to make profit on MTG if you have patience. Pick up rotating cards, grab staples during the off-season, then ship them when demand rises. With PTQ cycles gone it will be tougher to generate value in that way. It will still happen, of course. Standard staples like the Temples are dirt cheap right now but will assuredly climb in the fall. But those types of opportunities going forward will be less obvious, less available, and riskier overall.

Mirrorweave

Another large change in the OP we need to care about is the standardization of Pro Tours. Or should I say the Standardization. Going forward, all Pro Tours will be Standard.

I find this upsetting on multiple levels. Nothing but Standard PTs means that one PT to the next there will be far less diversity than we have in years past. The decks that do well at the Dewey Pro Tour will look an awful lot like the decks that do well at PT Khans. Does Thoughtseize crush PT Khans? Don’t expect Dewey to change that much. If all four Pro Tours last year were Standard, you can bet your sweet cheeks that Sphinx’s Revelation would have been in the Top 8 of all four. If you hate tier one Standard cards now, you are going to loathe them in short order.

Another facet to all of this is that we won’t be seeing superteams trying to break Modern once or twice a year. Putting twenty guys in a house for two weeks with a singular goal of finding the best deck in Modern is good for the format in moderation. They set the format, identify the pillars, and show the rest of us what to do. Then the general public tweaks the big decks over the following months, trying out new cards in their established decks until the next Modern PT when the pros reassess what the last few sets added. Even if it hasn’t felt like it lately, Modern PTs definitely have an impact on the format. There are eight cards on the Modern ban list that weren’t there at the formats inception, and all eight bans can be traced back to their respective performances in a PT. PTQs aren’t getting cards banned and changing the format. Without a Modern PT, the format is going to be considerably more stale, which will lead to less interest and less breakout cards.

The most financially troubling part of all this is that we lose the Block Pro Tour. The Block PT has always been an odd duck, as it’s the only high level event that normal players never encounter. As removed as it is from the general player, watching it is a lot of fun and the information it provides is invaluable. Seeing what succeeds at the Block PT is a huge indicator of what the format will look like post-rotation. Without Block, we’re going to have trouble identifying which cards are the true key players in the upcoming Standard.

To see why this matters all we need to do is look back a few days. There were only a handful of unique M15 cards that showed up in the Top 8, and the painland cycle makes up roughly half of them. What M15 cards will matter beyond the lands and Nissa? PT M15 certainly didn’t tell us. If PT Journey had been Standard, we’d have no idea what this coming Fall would look like. PT Journey put Courser of Kruphix, Sylvan Caryatid, Kiora, and more on the map, giving us insight into what would be good once Khans hits. Obviously nobody expects those Block decks to translate, but it allowed Theros stars to shine without being drowned by Sphinx’s Revelation.

Without any of this information it’s going to be much more difficult to identify the fall pillars through the noise of the old set. Next year we are going to be a lot less sure about which Khans cards are going to be big role players once Theros rotates than we are sure about the Theros staples that will be good as Ravnica rotates. The silver lining here is that if you’re very good at predicting power levels you’ll be able to identify the Coursers when they’re only $2 and make an absolute killing when they inevitably hit $15+. Of course this is exceptionally difficult, and even the best don’t manage to identify the pillars consistently. Those that can read the format well will make even more money than they have been with fall rotations, but it will be much tougher for the average player to wring value from Block results.

The new PTQ system smoothes demand curves, removes annual price cycles, and obliterates many small vendors, leaving them with no good way to buy and no good way to vend. The PT change means we have less overall interest in Modern, less top Magic pros working on finding awesome Modern decks, and less information about fall metagames. Overall I’d say PT M15 was pretty bad for those of us interested in making money on cardboard.

The Gilded Goblin

Collectable Reprints

August 4, 2014 Jared Yost 7 Comments

By: Jared Yost

Reprints are a fickle beast. If there is enough demand for a card when it is reprinted, like Tarmogoyf and Dark Confidant when Modern was being pushed upon the Magic community, the market can respond in a frenzied way by spiking the price because of increased demand. Mutavault is a more recent example of this, where it was reprinted for Standard and was the most expensive rare for quite a while because it fit into so many deck strategies. Casual demand is the other reason that cards are reprinted which almost always will result in a price decline.

Today I’m going to focus on the casual demand of reprints by highlighting the new Duel Deck Anthology. Based on the duel deck announcements, I wondered what the most expensive cards from the upcoming duel deck anthology currently command as singles. Gathering some data from MTGPrice we can see that the following cards are the most expensive from the decks.

Card Name	Fair Trade Price	Best Buylist Price
Demonic Tutor	$28.06	$19.25
Akroma, Angel of Wrath	$23.45	$12.47
Liliana Vess	$12.93	$7.56
Jace Beleren	$10.79	$5.07
Garruk Wildspeaker	$9.23	$5.00
Ancestral Vision	$8.47	$5.19
Counterspell	$8.43	$5.55
Chandra Nalaar	$7.22	$3.25
Daze	$5.22	$3.70
Imperious Perfect	$4.96	$2.51
Goblin Warchief	$4.63	$3.75
Reya Dawnbringer	$4.08	$1.80
Wirewood Symbiote	$3.67	$1.51
Luminous Angel	$3.27	$1.85
Heedless One	$3.23	$2.50
Elvish Promenade	$3.06	$1.75
Goblin Ringleader	$2.92	$1.50
Wirewood Lodge	$2.79	$1.56
Magma Jet	$2.76	$1.62
Siege-Gang Commander	$2.76	$1.35
Rancor	$2.57	$1.40
Twilight Shepherd	$2.56	$1.18
Fact or Fiction	$2.38	$0.90
Ambush Commander	$2.35	$1.01

The first question that pops to mind when I see this list is if they are going to create new art for some of the cards, like Liliana or Jace, or if they are doing strict reprints keeping everything the same except for the new card border. I expect that they are keeping the art the same but let’s pose a hypothetical scenario where they decided to give some of the cards new art.

If they create new art for some of the cards, then I could see many of the current duel decks singles prices dropping 20% or or more. I’ve been fascinated with watching over the years which art of a particular card version the community decides it likes more than another especially when new cards are released. Players love the original Demonic Tutor art but I also hear much praise for the DvD art as well as the judge foil art commissioned. Many times it will come down to personal preference, whether someone prefers a card art due to nostalgia, artistic style, or the subject portrayed in the art. Even still, though there are many different artistic tastes out there, most of the time players can still reach an unofficial consensus of which art piece comes out on top out when discussing a Magic card and its reprint(s).

Card art is definitely a factor that boosts the desirability of a card – if you don’t believe me, try and purchase one of the newly released judge foil basic lands.

I’m pretty sure even Terese Nielsen is baffled at what people are offering for these basic lands. Not that I blame them – it’s a smart business decision that will lead to further profits down the road based on the rarity of the lands. Word on the street is that there are only 5,000 of each of these land packets being distributed to judges. That’s on par with the SDCC Planeswalkers, which means you know they are already going to be hard to find. An Arthur Halavais comment on reddit provided an even more pressing case for the expected rarity of these lands:

The uber collector is going to want these for a cube and that means they are going to want as many as they can afford. Based on the price and rarity, whoever that may be is going to have a hard time getting 50 copies of each of these judge lands – but you know that someone is going to try. This is why shops and vendors seem to be scrambling over each other in a mad dash to acquire these lands as fast as possible before people realize what they have.

Circling back to the hypothetical new art scenario, new art could spur interest for cards that receive it. If it comes to light that new art has been commissioned for the flagship cards of this set then I would hold off liquidating any copies of cards you may have from the old duel decks. Wait for community input on the new art, and if the response seems negative than the old versions may keep much of their old value or continue to rise over time. If the response seems positive, or if the art is exactly the same, then it will depend on the card whether the old version will go up in the long run or be suppressed by the reprint.

If the art is the same for the reprints, in other words a strict reprint, my thoughts will differ depending on the card. This is what I think will happen to prices if the art stays the same.

Demonic Tutor – Price decrease. The only reason this card is the most expensive from the first four duel decks is because it is the cheapest black bordered version of the card. Now that even more black bordered versions are going to be flooding the market get out while you still can.

Akroma, Angel of Wrath – Stable price. Still hold onto Akroma for the fact that she is an angel even though she has arguably been outclassed in recent memory by other creatures. Angel collectors are gonna collect and this card is no exception.

Liliana Vess – Price decrease. Along with M15, Liliana Vess is getting yet another reprint in the anthology. I realize that this is a foil version but the market is about to get mass flooded with M15 and then again in December once people start busting open these anthology packs and selling the individual decks. Regardless of art, there are just too many copies out there to justify holding this one.

Jace Beleren – Stable price. Outside of the book promo, this is the next most popular foil version of Jace Beleren. I attribute this popularity to the unique card art of this version because it shows Jace with his hood down versus the other two Beleren art pieces where he is shown hood up. I don’t expect this version’s price to drop much, if at all.

Garruk Wildspeaker – Price decrease. Garruk isn’t nearly as popular as our boy Jace, and this Garruk was printed more than Jace so there are even more of them out there. He’s only around $8 right now and I definitely think that could lower once more are introduced into the market.

Ancestral Vision – Price decrease. Barring a Modern unbanning, more copies entering the market means a price suppression.

Counterspell – Stable price. Counterspell is one of those weird commons that never gets cheaper and seems to maintain its price over the years regardless of reprints. Counterspell has a billion printings and still manages to hover around $1 NM for a common. The only reason that JvC Counterspell is $8.50 is…that’s right, because Jace is in the art. With even more copies of Jace art being printed it will only go down from here.

Chandra Nalaar – Stable price. The only reason I think it will stay stable is because Chandra Nalaar from the duel deck is the only Chandra with different art from the original Lorwyn version. In addition to being foil, the art is fantastic for the JvC version and I think this will buoy the price.

Daze – Price decrease. Common with the same art as Nemesis that isn’t a foil. Expect a significant price drop.

Imperious Perfect – Price decrease. Non-foil version with the same art will drop the price, at least for a little while. Casuals love elves and this card will sustain a $5 price tag in the long run regardless of the three printings it already has. I think you sell now, pick up Perfects once the EvG duel deck is reprinted and then buy back in at the new lower price. Then just wait for it to climb back up again.

Goblin Warchief – Price decrease. Goblins are less popular than elves, so I don’t see Warchiefs price rebounding like Perfects. Sell now before the reprint.

Reya Dawnbringer – Price decrease. I don’t think older copies will dip below $4, especially the Game Day Promo, yet the new version isn’t going to be worth that much based on the Conspiracy reprint price. She just got reprinted in Conspiracy and can barely sell for $1 on TCGPlayer. I don’t think the DvD reprint will be worth $4 like the older versions.

Wirewood Symbiote – Stable price. This is a great card in the Legacy Elves deck, which players might get interested in building if they decide to pick up the EvG duel deck anthology reprint. I have a hard time believing it will fall below $3 retail though if it does I am going to scoop up as many copies as I can.

Luminous Angel – Stable price. Players clearly prefer the DvD art to the Mirrodin art based on TCGPlayer averages so if the reprint art is the same I don’t see her moving from $3 retail.

Heedless One – Price decrease. The only reason the EvG copy sells for $3 TCGPlayer average is because it is much rarer than the Onslaught version, which sells for $1.50. I don’t see this card ever dropping below a $1 due to casual demand but the original EvG copy will drop in price due to this reprint.

Elvish Promenade – Price decrease. Elvish Promenade might be worth more than Heedless One however the price will still drop to around $2 or so with the new reprint. It is an uncommon that has three printings so price is partially propped up by rarity. Like Imperious Perfect, pick up after the reprint and wait for it to go up slowly over time.

Goblin Ringleader – Price decrease. The EvG copy is around $3 right now, so like Promenade and Heedless One I can see this one going down to $2 as well.

Wirewood Lodge – Stable price. This is a favorite addition to Elf decks and being a land is pretty powerful. I don’t expect the price to move much if at all.

Magma Jet – Price decrease. Already has a ton of printings and just got a reprint in Theros. I don’t expect this to be more expensive than the Theros copy which is around $0.60 TCGPlayer average.

Siege-Gang Commander – Price decrease. The EvG foil is only $3 TCGPlayer average so the reprint is only going to suppress the price. Siege-Gang is a great card but it also had three printings besides the duel deck.

Rancor – Stable price. One of the top casual card aura’s, yet unfortunately its price has been hugely suppressed already by the recent M13 reprint. I don’t see the price up going up though at the same time I think that casual demand will prevent the card from dropping in price.

Twilight Shepherd – Stable price. Again, angel creature type so the casual demand is there. I don’t think this is going to move in price.

Fact or Fiction – Stable price. Just like Reya, the price can’t drop lower than $0.50 to $0.60 for this uncommon but only because it was just reprinted in Conspiracy. Not a reason to move your copies or acquire more.

Ambush Commander – Stable price. It’s only around $1.50 to $1.75 so I don’t think it is going to go lower yet you don’t want to buy in because I don’t think players like their lands being blown up once they become creatures.

My two cents on the upcoming Duel Decks Anthology. Leave a comment letting me know what you’re watching from the set or if you’re planning to get rid of anything before the release.

Uncategorized

Weekend Update for 8/2/2014

August 2, 2014 Jim Marsh 4 Comments

By: Jim Marsh

Every week, some cards from Magic the Gathering increase and decease in value based upon a number of factors.

Let’s take a look at some of the cards whose values have changed the most and the factors behind why those changes have occurred.

10 Big Winners of the Week

10. Dictate of Kruphix (Journey into Nyx)
From $0.89 to $0.98 (10.11%)

Dictate of Kruphix has seen a little bit of play in block but standard does not quite have enough pieces to put together a competitive Turbo Fog deck at the moment.

Its true home is with casual players. Who does not love a Howling Mine with flash? I think this will be a casual staple for years to come and at under a dollar the opportunity cost is minimal.

Keep in mind that Journey into Nyx sales were cannibalized by Conspiracy.

I like these as long term holds with the possibility of short term gains if they see adoption post rotation.

9. Slaughter Pact (Future Sight)
From $5.39 to $5.96 (10.64%)

Every competitive deck wants to run the best removal available to it. It is no wonder that Slaughter Pact is run in nearly every Modern deck with access to black mana.

In the SCG Modern tournaments on both 7/25 and 7/27 the winning decks ran two copies of Slaughter Pact main deck. One of them even had another copy in the sideboard.

Slaughter pact is used in several competitive and fringe modern decks including the Rock, Golgari Midrange, Melira Pod, Junk (Abzan,) Jund, Ad Nauseam and Amulet of Vigor.

It is even used in Omnishow in Legacy.

This card took a hit when it was reprinted in Modern Masters last year but it is on its way back. I think these are great pickups as they continue to recover.

It is simply used in too many decks to not continue to increase over time.

8. Aetherling (Dragon’s Maze)
From $0.93 to $1.03 (10.75%)

Aetherling has been the finisher of choice for control decks in every variation.

We have seen Azorius, Esper, Bant and Jeskai (WUR) Control deck bide their time until this evasive and difficult creature was able to close out the game.

Its time in standard is nearly at an end though.

You really should have traded these away a long time ago. They are already near bulk and within a few months that is exactly what they will be.

Aetherling has not seen any adoption in any other format.

Get rid of them while you can.

7. Brain Maggot (Journey into Nyx)
From $0.82 to $0.91 (10.98%)

Brain Maggot is part of standard and block Golgari and Junk (Abzan) Constellation decks. This is a good indicator that the deck can be good enough to pick up steam at rotation.

Unfortunately Back to Nature was reprinted in M15. This would seem to put a wrench in things. I have yet to see any copies of the hoser in any sideboards so this may not be a bad thing.

This makes me cautiously optimistic for the deck. You could probably get these as toss-ins on a trade.

6. Demonic Tutor (Unlimited)
From $20.34 to $22.85 (12.34%)

You may recognize Demonic Tutor from pretty much every vintage deck that has any access to black mana.

It is also used in every black commander deck by anyone that owns a copy.

It is one of the most powerful tutors ever printed.

It is also being reprinted as part of the Divine vs. Demonic Duel Deck later this year.

It is not often that you see a negative spread on a vintage staple but you can buy them for as low as $17.89 and sell them for $18.91.

There may be a price dip later this year after the Duel Decks are re-released. We still do not have a lot of information on them but I think this will be the high price for next couple years.

5. In the Web of War (Betrayers of Kamigawa)
From $1.93 to $2.18 (12.95%)

This rare from Betrayers of Kamigawa is a little pricey at five mana.

I’d rather run Ogre Battledriver in pretty much every case. It is cheaper and gives you an extra body.

I do like that you can buy them for a little as $1.09 and sell them for up to $1.35.

4. Oona’s Prowler (Lorwyn)
From $2.07 to $2.38 (14.98%)

I see the price bump but I cannot find anything to attribute it to.

It is a rare from Lorwyn and part of the powerful faeries tribe. I cannot find any results indicating even fringe modern play.

Maybe someone is trying to make Waste Not work?

If you have any buylists are now offering $1.50 for them so I say take the money and run.

3. Crystalline Sliver (Friday Night Magic)
From $8.45 to $9.93 (17.51%)

The new slivers have yet to have any impact in standard but they are always popular in casual games.

Sliver Hivelord is a great new commander for slivers. There are only so many ways do deal with indestructible slivers and Crystalline Sliver makes it even tougher.

If you are going all out on a sliver commander deck you will want the nicest version which is why the Friday Night Magic copy is the one that is growing the most.

There are still some vendors selling them for as little as $3.49 and you can sell them for as much as $4.32.

2. Terra Stomper (Zendikar)
From $1.41 to $1.66 (17.73%)

Terra Stomper is legal in standard thanks to the green planeswalker deck that is used to demonstrate the game newer players.

This means old Zendikar copies of the uncounterable fattie are now getting some attention. It practically calls out for Monogreen Devotion to give it a try.

The most interesting thing is that the M15 version of the Stomper is valued at $3.46. This is odd since the deck it comes in is free. It is also included in the M15 Deckbuilder’s Toolkit. It is scarce enough though that it is virtually a mythic rare.

I would trade them while you can. You can even help out some new players by offering a replacement Terra Stomper along with other cards they need to build their collection for their M15 copies.

1. Ensoul Artifact (M15 Foil)
From $5.68 to $20.78 (265.85%)

There really is no competition for the biggest winner of the week.

Early testing with Ensoul Artifact in Modern Affinity has been promising.

Sure you can make your Darksteel Citadel an indestructible 5/5 but why stop there?

How about Inkmoth Nexus? Either they have an answer or they are on a two turn clock. It would even dodge Creeping Corrosion or Supreme Verdict. Unlike Steel Overseer Ensoul Artifact does not force you into overextending.

Vault Skirge and Ornithopter are also impressive with the aura.

That does not even take into account flexibility to turn a creatureless battlefield into a slaughter when you enchant a Mox Opal or Springleaf Drum into a 5/5 with virtual haste after mass removal.

It does not matter whether you think this is good enough or not. What is important is that other people do. These people play eternal formats and want the foils.

Keep your eyes open. You will have a chance to trade some Standard playable cards into the hottest new thing in Modern. I just would not let them rot in my binder too long.

5 Big Losers of the Week

5. Satyr Firedancer (Born of the Gods)
From $1.52 to $1.33 (-12.50%)

This does not feel like a $1 card to me. It has not had the impact that Eidolon of the Great Revel had but it is still being used in multiple formats.

Modern and standard are using it in Boros Burn and Red Deck Wins variants.

Even Legacy Burn decks sometimes run it.

If you are bullish on this card then I would sit on at least a play set. It is as low as it is going to get.

If you are bearish on it you can still make a little money.

You can buy these for as little as $0.35 and sell them for $0.75.

That should make everybody happy.

4. Hokori, Dust Drinker (Betrayers of Kamigawa)
From $2.33 to $2.02 (-13.30%)

Hokori, Dust Drinker is used in Modern GW Hatebears.

It is also one of the most trollish commanders imaginable. It is a Rising Waters on legs.

I expect we will see more Hatebears with the recent printing of Hushwing Gryff.

Hokori is a pretty safe pick up. You can get him for as little as $0.99 and sell him for $1.07.

3. Battlefield Forge (9^th Edition)
From $5.59 to $4.70 (-15.92%)

Standard Boros Burn, Boros Midrange and Naya Aggro all want Forges to help fix their mana.

We now have confirmation Khans will include wedges so I expect these will also see play in Mardu (RWB) and Jeskai (WUR) decks.

However the multiple printings of the painlands and the amount flooding the market from M15 will drive all of their prices down.

I would move these quickly.

2. Elbrus, the Binding Blade (Dark Ascension)
From $2.68 to $2.25 (-16.04%)

I really enjoy the flavor of this card. It is a double sided legendary equipment that turns into a 13/13 demon.

It is not going to be reprinted any time soon if ever. It has a lot of casual appeal but outside of commander it is pretty unrealistic.

I like it as a long term spec just due to sheer novelty but realistically your Magic dollars are probably better served elsewhere.

1. Flames of the Blood Hand (Betrayers of Kamigawa)
From $3.00 to $2.34 (-22.00%)

Burn has been getting a lot of attention in Modern recently.

You have Kitchen Finks, Spike Feeders and Daybreak Coronets pushing players out of burn range.

That is part of why Flames of the Blood Hand is essential in those matchups. It keeps the game plan progressing while shutting off escape routes.

Monored Burn, Boros Burn and even Rakdos Burn have been appearing in Top 8s and Top 16s. I would look at this as a fire sale (pun intended) on Flames of the Bloodhand and pick some up.

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