Card prices are moving in Standard, Modern, and Commander this week. Also the Marvel cards are making an impact!
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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Thanks to Duskmourn: House of Horror Demons are, once again, all the rage these days. They're making waves in Commander with new support and showing up strong in competitive formats too. In both Standard and Pioneer, Demon typal decks have been unexpectedly powerful lately. After Dimir Demons took home the win at Magic World Championship 30, prices started climbing.
Archfiend of the Dross is one of the key cards in this deck. Since the card was previewed it was clear that this four-mana 6/6 flyer had potential. Of course, it does come with a risk: it can lose you the game if its counters run out. But usually, four turns is often all it needs to finish off your opponent. Paired with Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber, which offers card draw and value, you've got yourself a better version of Phyrexian Arena.
This recent success has pushed the price up quite a bit. Not too long ago you could buy Archfiend of the Dross for around $0.60, but since the recent showing, its value has soared. Right now, a copy is going for around $4.80, with listings starting at $5. Even the showcase version is seeing an uptick, though it's still a bit cheaper than the regular version. With all the new love for Demons, this surge in price might not be done yet; but keep in mind that these spikes can be unstable, and the price could drop again once the initial rush is over.
This Demon also spiked back in June of 2023. Back then it was due to a combo with Metamorphic Alteration which was showing up in Pioneer. These decks try to play Archfiend of the Dross and then make sure their opponent receives a copy of it using Metamorphic Alteration. Since the targeted creature will become a copy of Archfiend of the Dross, but was already on the battlefield, it will receive no oil counters. When they pass the turn, the opponent will lose the game due to the Archfiend's upkeep trigger.
If your deck plays sufficient historic permanents, Excalibur, Sword of Eden can be cast for rather cheap and can let Captain America, First Avenger hit for a lot of damage when equipped. But there's another reason it works well with the Captain, and that's because of its impressive mana value. This means that it can be "thrown" by our hero and deal twelve damage.
And while Mjölnir, Storm Hammer may not be as powerful as Excalibur, it does have some interesting utility. Being able to tap down creatures and keep them tapped is pretty useful and makes sure Captain America can get his damage in. Plus, it can attach itself to Captain America when entering the battlefield, leaving his free equip ability to grab another weapon.
This Equipment makes sure the equipped creature grows whenever another creature dies. Blade of the Bloodchief has been on the rise for the past few weeks, and it's not because of Vampires like you'd expect. Even though a reprint of extremely popular commander Edgar Markov has been previewed for Innistrad Remastered. And it also has nothing to do with Captain America!
At the beginning of October, the Blade was just under $3, but it’s now shot up to around $6. The culprit is a new Modern combo involving Basking Broodscale, a card that lets you make an infinite amount of 0/1 Eldrazi Spawns. By combining this with Blade of the Bloodchief, you generate a ton of colorless mana, eventually using that to make a huge Walking Ballista to kill your opponent.
Urza's Saga is another important piece in making this combo happen, as it can easily tutor out Blade of the Bloodchief. This has also led players to revisit other one-mana artifacts that might be suitable for similar combos. We've seen Saga find combo pieces like Shuko for the infamous Nadu, Winged Wisdom, and now it's doing the same for this Eldrazi combo.
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.
Jacked Rabbit 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.
The changes around the Commander format are really having an interesting effect on the market. Fortunately, Pioneer and Modern are also making sure that things are moving.
