This week seems to be all about Modern Horizons 3, and I'm pretty sure we'll see a shake-up of the Modern meta. But looking at the previous Modern Horizons sets, other constructed formats may be affected as well!
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.
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Deven's article, The History of MTG Finance, traces the transformation of the Magic finance landscape from its early reliance on Standard format speculations to the current Commander-dominated market, detailing key shifts in collector behavior and the emergence of financial strategies that have shaped trading and card valuation over the years. He also touches on how social media and online platforms have revolutionized the way players and investors approach the market.
In Cards to Pick Up Before Death Race in 2025 Jason offers a savvy preview of essential cards to acquire in anticipation of the new set, focusing on budget-friendly options that synergize with anticipated gameplay mechanics, especially around Vehicle-themed cards. He provides strategic insights into how these cards might be utilized to enhance gameplay in the upcoming "Death Race" meta.
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Hi there. I'm back once again to talk with you about our Lord and Savior Dandân. This format has been coming up way more than I expected in the Weekly Winners series. As a quick recap, there is a somewhat fringe format called "Dandân" or "Forgetful Fish", which is an 80-card, two-player format where both players play off the same deck and share the same graveyard. Other than that, the rest of the game is played with typical Magic rules: take your opponent from 20 to zero or deck them. All you need to play is the deck, and dice to keep track of life totals.
Multiple cards have been spiking because of the format, to which we can now add Sea Kings' Blessing. We do have to note that this card is from the Legends set, and while it isn't on the reserved list (since it's an uncommon), it hasn't been reprinted since. Cards from these older sets tend to carry a higher price tag, especially if no additional supply has been added.
Good ol' Shuko! An uncommon from Betrayers of Kamigawa that hasn't been reprinted since, meaning that the card is 19 years old. Shuko is an Equipment for that gives the equipped creature +1/+0. But that's not the power of Shuko. Its real power comes from the equip cost. And because it matters for the rest of the story, let's quickly glance over the rules text on equipping: Equip is an activated ability of Equipment cards. "Equip [cost]" means "[Cost]: Attach this permanent to target creature you control. Activate only as a sorcery."
The important part here is "target creature", meaning you're targetting a creature you control for free, and more importantly, since it's free you get to do it over and over and over again. This hasn't gone unnoticed for 19 years, meaning it wasn't bulk before the spike to begin with. This card is even part of the Cephalid Breakfast decks in Legacy where one of the combos is to keep equipping Shuko to Cephalid Illusionist to mill yourself until you have no library left and play your win condition from there. Nowadays that win condition is Thassa's Oracle, but Laboratory Maniac used to be a different, albeit somewhat the same, win.
But if this archetype in Legacy is already that old, then why is it spiking all of the sudden? It seems like the reason is a card that was previewed from Modern Horizons 3. That card is Nadu, Winged Wisdom. This Bird Wizard gives all your creatures an ability that whenever it's targeted you get to reveal the top card of your library. If it's a land card you get to put it onto the battlefield and otherwise put it into your hand. However, this ability will only trigger twice each turn.
Except... If each of your creatures has that ability, you get to trigger it twice for each creature you have on the battlefield. But you do need a way to target all your creatures twice! Enter Shuko, which you can conveniently use to equip to your creatures with Nadu in play. That's going to give you a lot of cards and lands. If you would combine these two cards with Springheart Nantuko you can also draw your entire library if you keep hitting sufficient lands in between. Since every time a land enters the battlefield, you can pay to make a copy of the create it enchants, but if you don't you still get a 1/1 green Insect. In either case the token will also get the ability from Nadu.
But our previous winner, Sea Kings' Blessing, also works very well with Nadu, since you can target as many creatures as you like for just a single and may have contributed to the spike of that card.
Sadistic Glee is a common from Tempest and only had a reprint in the Battle Royale Box Set. It's an Aura that puts a +1/+1 counter on the creature it enchants whenever a creature dies. In the right deck that can quickly grow a creature! That's why it occasionnally sees play in decks around Massacre Girl or Juri, Master of the Revue.
Once again it's a Modern Horizons 3 card that made it go up this past week. Basking Broodscale, also a common, was previewed to be in the set. This Eldrazi Lizard will create an Eldrazi Spawn token which you can sacrifice for a whenever a +1/+1 counter is placed on it. Do you see the combo yet? If you enchant Basking Broodscale with Sadistic Glee, all you have to do is sacrifice one of these tokens for a mana. The token dies, triggering the Aura, and putting a +1/+1 counter on the Eldrazi which, in turn, will trigger and create a brand new Eldrazi Spawn token. Rinse and repeat.
Now you have infinite mana and an infinitely large Basking Broodscale. There's probably sufficient things to do with both!
Greenbelt Rampager is a rare Elephant from Aether Revolt that I frankly don't recall seeing before, and also don't think it shows up in a lot of Commander decks. However, this still is a 3/4 Elephant for only , with the downside that you need to pay two energy counters when it enters the battlefield or else you'll have to return it to your hand. But if you do, you'll get one energy counter!
For the ones keeping track of Modern Horizons 3 previews, you probably have already seen that energy counters are one of the themes in that set, and thus may not be surprised that also for this winner a new card was printed that made the price of Greenbelt Rampager go up. Primal Prayers was previewed recently and can go infinite with Greenbelt Rampager. This Enchantment lets you play creatures with mana value three or less from your hand as though they had flash by paying one energy counter.
To go infinite, the only prerequisite is that you have no energy counters when you play Primal Prayers. So when you play it, you get to play Greenbelt Rampager for one energy counter. But since you only now have one energy counter left, you can't pay the two, and have to return the Elephant back to your hand which nets you another energy counter. Now you have two again. Rinse and repeat!
This combo however doesn't really do anything yet. You do need a third card that does something with these triggers. One possibility is to use Beast Whisperer so you can draw your library if you wish to do so. But there are plenty of other cards available that can help you with that.
In a lot of ways Primal Prayers looks like a nerfed (or fixed) version of Aluren. This card from Tempest, which on the Reserved List, has seen play in Legacy decks. And while the deck certainly isn't Tier 1, it still occassionally sees play. A recent decklist can be found here.
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.
Worldsoul's Rage has been identified by the MTGStocks Premium Penny Stocks feature as a card that has reached its bottom and is starting a consistent uptrend.
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.
We're not done with spikes because of Modern Horizons 3 just yet! A lot of constructed play things going on, but fortunately we also have a Commander spike.
Modern Horizons 3 isn't done causing spikes yet, but it seems to be settling a little bit with the official release today. Still plenty of cards to discuss.
Another week with multiple constructed formats driving up prices. Fortunately I also get to talk about my favorite format, Legacy. Plenty of fluctuations going on!
My last article that I write while on holiday. We've had a fun week with cards from Modern, Pioneer, Standard, and Commander moving. It also shows that Modern Horizons 3 is having its first impact on prices.
Card prices fluctuating because of Commander, Legacy, and Modern! What else can we ask for to make a week this interesting? Read up on the Winners of the Week.
