Bloomburrow has been fully previewed and we can see the set moving prices. This week it's all about Commander movement!
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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Onto the Weekly Winners!
Securitron Squadron, an artifact Robot from Universes Beyond: Fallout, has been on the move. This creature has Squad , which basically is a kind of multi-kicker which creates tokens of Securitron Squadron. But this Robot also puts +1/+1 counters on creature tokens when they enter the battlefield. When you pay the Squad cost, all copy tokens will see each other entering the battlefield, and thus grow larger.
Obviously this card does well in decks that revolve around other cards in the Universes Beyond: Fallout, like Mr. House, President and CEO and Yes Man, Personal Securitron. But this hardly seems like a surprise since they're found together in the Hail, Caesor precon deck. When inspecting Securitron Squadron, you would think it would do well in token based decks. I mean, it grows creature tokens entering the battlefield. In the right deck that can give your board a nice little boost.
And recently we've received Ghired, Mirror of the Wilds in Outlaws of Thunder Junction that can create tokens of tokens. And with Securitron Squadron, that can get out of hand pretty quickly if these tokens all are a little bit bigger. But I feel that Bloomburrow may be the reason for the card going up now. We've received plenty of new commanders that care about creating tokens, of which I feel Baylen, the Haymaker is going to be one heck of a popular commander. It's a Rabbit, it's strong, and it feels fun. These new commanders may drive the demand for Securitron Squadron, but I find it hard to pinpoint exactly which one.
| Securitron Squadron | | |
| Securitron Squadron (Showcase) | | |
| Securitron Squadron (Surge Foil) | | |
This mythic from Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate has been going up this past week, but if we look a little bit more closely to the price trajectory, we see its movement already started around the beginning of July. But before we get into the why, let's start with talking a little bit about the what. This flying Vehicle can be crewed for 3, and will exile a player's graveyard when it enters the battlefield. And not only that, but when it does combat damage to a player, you may put a creature card exiled with Nautiloid Ship onto the battlefield under your control. So we can exile our opponent's graveyard, but we can also choose to target our own.
The uptrend started around the time Universes Beyond: Assassin's Creed was previewed. In this set we found, amongst others, Mary Read and Anne Bonny that can loot away cards into your graveyard. Since Nautiloid Ship is colorless, it will fit in any color identity deck, and thus will work fine there. By throwing our goodies into the graveyard, we can later exile it and try to get it back for free. But another new commander printed in that same set is Edward Kenway. Edward cares about Vehicles being on the battlefield, because it will create Treasure tokens. But Edward also tries to steal your opponent's cards whenever a Vehicle does combat damage, and thus seems synergetic to the abilities of Nautiloid Ship. These two belong together!
But this mainly explains why Nautiloid Ship started climbing in price at the beginning of July. Why the jump now? Well, that seems to come from the Animated Army deck that we'll find in the, now fully previewed, Commander: Bloomburrow set. It seems like Nautiloid Ship may be a good upgrade to that deck with its commander [card]Bello, Bard of the Brambles[/card]. Bello makes your non-Equipment artifacts, and thus Vehicles, of mana value four or greater into 4/4 Elemental creatures with indestructiable and haste. Plus it will grant the ability "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, draw a card" to it. So as soon as you play Nautiloid Ship, it will be a creature with haste and can attack immediately. Pretty good!
And it feels like we may be seeing the same jump from Thunderhawk Gunship as well.
| Nautiloid Ship | | |
| Nautiloid Ship (Borderless) | | |
| Mary Read and Anne Bonny | | |
| Edward Kenway | | |
| Bello, Bard of the Brambles (Borderless) | | |
| Thunderhawk Gunship | | |
| Thunderhawk Gunship (Surge Foil) | | |
This Halfing Peasant from Commander: The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth can create a bunch of 1/1 Halflings and Food tokens if you have the mana.
But now let's test your memory! Remember me talking about commanders from Bloomburrow? I specifically mentioned one that I felt was going to be popular. Yes, we're talking about Baylen, the Haymaker again. Now earlier in the article, we didn't really get into Baylen, but now feels like as good a time as any. Baylen can generate mana when you tap two tokens, draw a card when you tap three tokens, and distribute +1/+1 tokens (plus trample) when you tap four tokens. Baylen wants to have as many tokens as possible on the battlefield to generate a lot of value. And Farmer Cotton seems like one of the best enablers for this Rabbit out there!
| Farmer Cotton | | |
| Farmer Cotton (Extended Art) | | |
| Baylen, the Haymaker | | |
Let's discuss this last-minute addition to the Interests. It's an oldy from Alliances, and before we get into the card, it's important to know that this card is on the Reserved List, and thus will never be reprinted. This means that the supply is lower than for most cards, and when demand spikes, the price easily jumps up. It also means that you have to be wary whether a card on the Reserved List is actually worth its price after a jump. Is there really demand, or are people simply buying up this card because they expect this card to get more demand?
Gustha's Scepter is worded in an older style, so let's quickly glance over the more standarized oracle text. This artifact only costs and has two activated tap abilities. You can either tap it to exile a card from your hand face down or you can tap it and return a card exiled with this artifact to your hand. But, if you lose control of Gustha's Scepter, then all cards exiled this way will be put into your graveyard.
The reason for this card going up, once again, seems to be because of a new card in Commander: Bloomburrow called Flubs, the Fool who will let you play an additional land on each of your turns. And whenever you play a land or cast a spell, you get to draw a card, but only if you have no cards in hand. If you do have cards in your hand, you have to discard a card. Being able to play Gustha's Scepter for and then hide your cards in exile so you can get Flubs to draw you cards is indeed a synergy. And while I think Flubs may become a popular casual commander, I think the spike of Gustha's Scepter is purely speculation at this point and I wouldn't buy this card for $13.
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.
Annie Joins Up has been identified by the MTGStocks Premium Penny Stocks feature as a card that has reached its bottom and is starting a consistent uptrend.
| Annie Joins Up | | |
| Jace, the Mind Sculptor | | |
| Archaeomancer's Map | | |
