Weekly Winners 2024 - 21

Plenty of cards moving. We're seeing Modern Horizons 3 impacting prices, but there's also plenty of Commander stuff that's moving.

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 delves into the impact of Outlaws of Thunder Junction: The Big Score mini-set on the market post-release, highlighting its unexpected price movements and potential future trends. Check out his insights in Checking in with The Big Score.
• Steve dives into overlooked but potent cards from recent releases, suggesting their value could skyrocket once the hype from Outlaws of Thunder Junction cools off. Find out more in his latest article from the History, Restapled series Sleeper Hits from Recent Magic Sets.
• Corey examines, in Three Cards Spiking Because of Modern Horizons 3, how the release of Modern Horizons 3 has driven price surges for certain Modern format staples, emphasizing the set's significant influence on market dynamics.

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Onto the Weekly Winners!

#1 Freestrider Lookout $5.36 (+336%)

This rare from Outlaws of Thunder Junction seems to be one of those cards that was almost $15 during presales, but then quickly dwindled back down to below a dollar, since apparently it didn't quite live up to the hype. However, it turns out it indeed is a good card and is now moving back up again. The 3/3 Human Rogue will let you try to find a land within the top five cards of your library whenever you "commit a crime." Crime is a new keyword ability introduced in this set, and applies to anything you do that targets an opponent, anything they control, or anything in their graveyards.

The card is doing pretty well in the competitive scene as it sees play in several constructed formats. We see it in Standard in Golgari and Sultai Midrange, but also in Pioneer and Modern decks. But what really boosted the price was that Aspiringspike played the card in a Valakut deck in Modern on his stream the past week. This definitely isn't the first time that Aspiringspike caused cards to spike.

When we look at Commander, we see that Freestrider Lookout also found it's way into a few decks there. Most notably in newer commanders like Vraska, the Silencer, but also in more fringe decks like Hansk, Slayer Zealot and Legolas, Master Archer. But there's another reason the card went up, and that's because of a new card in Modern Horizons 3. The Necrobloom will appear in this set and some people feel that this will lead to Freestrider Lookout becoming a staple in Commander decks around that.

$0.30$0.49

$2.49$2.79

Freestrider Lookout	CardKingdom $6.49	TCGPlayer $5.36
Freestrider Lookout (Extended Art)	CardKingdom $7.99	TCGPlayer $9.40
Freestrider Lookout	CardKingdom	TCGPlayer $3.74
Hansk, Slayer Zealot	CardKingdom $2.49	TCGPlayer $2.82
The Necrobloom	CardKingdom	TCGPlayer $8.00

#2 Nerd Rage $4.00 (+167%)

This card is found in the Science! Precon from Universes Beyond: Fallout and, not surprisingly, is played in decks around the commander from that precon Dr. Madison Li. But the card was also seen as an upgrade to the Mutant Menance deck revolving around The Wise Mothman. Nerd Rage itself is an Aura that will draw you two cards when it enters the battlefield and no maximum hand size. The creature it enchants can potentially get +10/+10 whenever you attack while ten or more cards in your hand. This can lock up a game pretty quickly.

$0.30$0.49

But the reason for the spike seems to come from Eriette, the Beguiler from Outlaws of Thunder Junction. Eriette cares about Auras being attached to creatures your opponents control, meaning most Auras can potententially become a "steal a creature" effect. That combined with a draw effect makes Nerd Rage an easy include in the deck.

Nerd Rage	CardKingdom $3.49	TCGPlayer $4.00
Nerd Rage (Surge Foil)	CardKingdom	TCGPlayer $24.00

#3 Eldrazi Temple $7.50 (+67%)

This card can't really be a surprise. The previews have been going strong from Modern Horizons 3 and one of the themes is pretty clear: Eldrazi. We've seen multiple new Eldrazi and colorless support spells been previewed. Eldrazi creatures have been an archetype in Legacy and Modern, as well as Commander. In Modern the deck was even so strong that Wizards felt that Eye of Ugin needed to be banned in the format on April 4th 2016. Eye has seen a little bit of price movement as well, but it seems pretty stable at this point. I can't guarantee we won't see it show up next week on the Weekly Winners, though.

$37.00

$92.50

And as long as Eldrazi Temple isn't reprinted in Modern Horizons 3, there's good reason for these prices to go up. We don't know whether the cards printed will be good enough for Eldrazi to become a popular format in constructed again, but with the extra support there's at least sufficient reason to believe that people will want to make Commander decks. Remember that even though the set is called MODERN Horizons, there still are Commander precons, one of which one is Eldrazi Incursion.

Eldrazi Temple	CardKingdom $3.49	TCGPlayer $7.18
Eldrazi Temple	CardKingdom $4.49	TCGPlayer $8.99
Eldrazi Temple	CardKingdom $3.49	TCGPlayer $7.18
Eldrazi Temple	CardKingdom $2.99	TCGPlayer $5.90

Warhammer 40,000 cards

I briefly want to discuss a few cards from Universes Beyond: Warhammer 40,000. Several seem to be going up this past week. Before we get into them, let's show some charts!

These three cards are high up on our interests this past week. I found it difficult to find really good reasons for them to go up at this point. There definitely is some chatter around these in MTG finance circles, but mainly because they're simply good cards and will find a spot in a deck at some point and are being designated as "long term holds." But more notably, they are also hard to reprint since they are bound by name to the Warhammer universe.

$5.81$7.49

Especially Herald of Slaanesh seems like a good card that may become popular in waves if Demons get more support in future sets. Herald of Slaanesh makes other Demons cheaper and gives them haste. Especially with commanders like Be'lakor, the Dark Master and Rakdos, Patron of Chaos being popular, this creature is a no-brainer.

Herald of Slaanesh	CardKingdom	TCGPlayer $2.83
The Lost and the Damned	CardKingdom	TCGPlayer $2.99
Shard of the Nightbringer	CardKingdom	TCGPlayer $3.23

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.

Case of the Locked Hothouse $3.41 - Moving up!

Case of the Locked Hothouse has been identified by the MTGStocks Premium Penny Stocks feature as a card that has reached its bottom and is starting a consistent uptrend.

Karn, Scion of Urza $5.16 - Moving down

Panharmonicon $2.30 - Slowly moving up

Case of the Locked Hothouse	CardKingdom $3.49	TCGPlayer $3.40
Karn, Scion of Urza	CardKingdom $5.49	TCGPlayer $5.15
Panharmonicon	CardKingdom $4.49	TCGPlayer $2.28