Weekly Winners 2024 - 25

21 Jun
by Arjen

Modern Horizons 3 is still making a lot of waves in multiple formats, especially with Eldrazi.

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

  • Harvey revisits Murders at Karlov Manor to assess its performance since its rocky release, analyzing how changes in market perception and price corrections have influenced its current standing. He delves into the factors that initially led to its decline and how the set is now beginning to stabilize, offering insights into the broader market trends. For a detailed analysis of the set's rebound, read Checking in with Karlov Manor - Has the Set Rebounded?
  • In Nadu - Modern All-Star?, Corey showcases the rising star Nadu, Winged Wisdom, analyzing its unexpected dominance in Modern and its powerful synergies that are reshaping the meta. He delves into the innovative strategies and key cards that make Nadu an all-star, providing a deep dive into its competitive viability and financial implications.

  • Steve highlights overlooked gems from Outlaws of Thunder Junction that can elevate your Commander deck, detailing unique synergies and powerful interactions that might have slipped under your radar. He emphasizes how these cards can fit seamlessly into various strategies, offering a fresh perspective on deck-building potential. To uncover these hidden Commander staples, read Commander Cards You Missed from Thunder Junction.

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Onto the Weekly Winners!

#1 Ashes of the Fallen $17.50 (+224%)

This artifact from Saviors of Kamigawa has shot up this week. The set turned 19 just two weeks ago, and since this particular card hasn't received a reprint since, there's a relatively low supply of it. When it comes into play you get to choose a creature type, and Ashes of the Fallen will give each creature card in your graveyard that creature type in addition to its other types. Since it's a colorless artifact and only costing , it can fit into any deck that revolves around a specific creature type. However, not all creature types really care about being in graveyards.

In Commander: Modern Horizons 3 we have the Graveyard Overdrive precon, and as the name suggests, it cares about the graveyard. This deck has Disa the Restless as the commander, and while Disa is a Human Scout, the deck itself is packed with Lhurgoyfs and support like Tarmogoyf Nest. When we look at Disa, the first ability will immediately make clear what the interaction is with Ashes of the Fallen. Whenever a Lhurgoyf permanent is put into your graveyard from anywhere other than the battlefield, put it onto the battlefield. This means that you can try to discard or mill your creatures, and with Disa and Ashes of the Fallen in play, you can put them all onto the battlefield.

And while we're on the subject of Tarmogoyf, don't forget that this card that once was over $200, can nowadays be bought for about $10. But it seems like the Universes Beyond: Fallout version is actually starting to move up!

Ashes of the Fallen
Disa the Restless
Tarmogoyf Nest
Tarmogoyf
Tarmogoyf
Scrounging Deathclaw - Tarmogoyf (Showcase)

#2 Psychic Frog $8.32 (+135%)

The Frog is loose! It may be one of the more underrated cards in Modern Horizons 3, but people have discovered the value of this little amphibian. For just two mana you get a 1/2 creature that gets a +1/+1 counter for the cost of discarding a card. And when it does combat damage to a player of planeswalker, you get to draw a card, and you can even give it flying by exiling three cards from your graveyard.

It currently sees play in Legacy, Modern, and Vintage whenever a deck can support the colors. Games have already been reported to be closed out by just a Frog that couldn't be answered. For example, the Frog is showing up as a full playset in Legacy Reanimator. Sure, being able to discard cards in the deck does support the strategy, but there are cheaper ways to do that, like Putrid Imp.

The Frog also can be found in several Delver builds in both Legacy and Modern, like Grixis and Dimir. Aspiringspike already played a Dimir deck in Modern a few days ago. Probably related, we also see Geralf's Messenger, which also is played in that same deck, moving up a little bit this past week.

Psychic Frog
Psychic Frog (Retro Frame)
Psychic Frog (Borderless)
Geralf's Messenger
Geralf's Messenger

#3 Pyretic Ritual $9.48 (+96%)

Apparently Pyretic Ritual is getting close to a $10 card. This ramp red ramp spell was only printed in a regular set in Magic 2011 (M11), and while it had some smaller reprints in a Secret Lair and a Mystery Booster, those aren't adding sufficient supply to drive down the price.

Before the spike (it briefly went as high as $18) this was a $3 card. Since it was printed at common rarity in M11, there are quite a lot of copies around, but with the expanding player base Magic nowadays has, even those numbers aren't enough, especially since this card isn't played as a one-of (you want at least three, probably four). But now in Modern Horizons 3 there has been a notable reprint making it legal in Modern: Ruby Medallion. This makes all your red spells cheaper, which enables some new archetypes.

Ruby Storm

Creature(5)
Enchantment(3)
3
$52.07
Artifact(11)
4
$19.00
Sorcery(20)
2
$5.63
4
$0.75
2
$18.01
1
$10.99
Instant(8)
4
$3.14
Land(13)
4
$94.62
9
$0.10

In Legacy the Red Medallion Storm is a deck that has put up some numbers in the past. Ruby Medallion is one of the key cards in this deck, since it makes it far easier to storm out and kill your opponent with a Ruby Medallion. But there's another new card in MH3 that enables these decks, both in Modern and Legacy, and that is Ral, Monsoon Mage. Ral costs two mana and makes instants and sorceries cheaper. Since Seething Song is banned in Modern, decks trying to storm off this way all want to play Pyretic Ritual, so you can see why people are trying to get their copies in.

Pyretic Ritual
Pyretic Ritual
Ruby Medallion
Ral, Monsoon Mage

#4 Eldrazi

In the past few weeks we've been talking a lot about Eldrazi. Not that surprising, with Modern Horizons 3 and the Eldrazi Incursion precon bringing all new support to this creature type. Last week we talked about Calamity of the Titans and the week before that it was Darksteel Monolith. This week is no different, and we have several Eldrazi cards and support cards that have shot up. This segment will show you several of these cards and their spikes.

Calamity of the Titans
Calamity of the Titans (Extended Art)
Skittering Cicada
Skittering Cicada (Extended Art)
Flayer of Loyalties
Flayer of Loyalties (Extended Art)
Kozilek's Command
Kozilek's Command

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.

Kellogg, Dangerous Mind $4.22 - Moving up!

Kellogg, Dangerous Mind has been identified by the MTGStocks Premium Penny Stocks feature as a card that has reached its bottom and is starting a consistent uptrend.

Shark Typhoon $3.32 - Slowly moving up

Oko, Thief of Crowns $4.51 - Slowly moving down

Kellogg, Dangerous Mind
Shark Typhoon
Oko, Thief of Crowns

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.


More from Arjen:

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