We have Standard dictating the prices this week. But Rabbits in Commander are also popular.
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.
We've talked about several of the Talent enchantments from Bloomburrow recently, and when I saw this one pop up on the Interests I figured we'd surely have talked about it before. Apparently we didn't, and I'm as shocked as you are!
Just like the other Talents, this enchanment has the Class sub-type and needs to be leveled up by pumping more mana into it for extra abilities. The card is spiking because it's doing really well in Standard. While it has been showing up in Sultai and Simic tempo decks, the main reason is that it's included as four-of in the Floodcaller Combo deck.
Standard's removal of choice for the decks that play black. It's no secret that black has multiple ways to get rid of creatures. And while cards like Go for the Throat, which costs the same, are also legal in Standard, the exiling part of Anoint with Affliction is often important. When we look at the Standard metagame there are certain decks that you should stand a chance against. One that's been a deck in several forms over the past few years is mono-red aggro. And in this case it's mono-red Prowess.
If you want to stand a chance against this deck, you most likely need some cheap removal - but simply killing the creatures often isn't enough. Heartfire Hero, for instance, will deal some additional damage to you when killed, but not when exiled. This can definitely be the difference between a win and a loss. We also see cards from the Enduring cycle in Standard as well that come back when they hit the graveyard. And while Anoint with Affliction can't hit them all, it can hit Enduring Innocence and Enduring Vitality. Does this last one sound familiar? Scroll up a bit!
And last but not least, we also have the Azorius Tempo/Reanimator deck that plays a combination of Haughty Djinn and Abhorrent Oculus. Simply killing these creatures often isn't enough since they come back through Helping Hand and Recommission. Exiling them is the way to permanently get rid of them. Another thing to consider is that we also occassionaly see Poison decks in Standard, which Anoint obviously has a synergy with.
Anoint with Affliction is also finding its way into Pioneer. It's a very effective way to get rid of cheap creatures permanently.
This legendary creature from Jumpstart 2022 is quickly climbing in price. It had come down considerably since March 2023 but is now back around its all time high. Preston is a Rabbit Wizard, and while Rabbits have been popular for quite some time, they've reached new heights since Bloomburrow came out.
Preston, the Vanisher was already used occassionally as commander. One strategy that people use with Preston is to play flicker effects like Ephemerate or Teleportation Circle to make creatures come back and trigger Preston. But a card that we discussed last week is making Preston go up now. With Hare Apparent players are trying to make decks with this Rabbit and looking for a good commander. Since Preson also cares about making tokens it seems like a fitting theme for the deck. And while there probably more commanders that fit the bill, players seem to be trying Preston out here. Last week we also discussed Thrumming Stone going up because of the Hare to Ripple to more Hare Apparents and put them onto the battlefield. Keep in mind that a deck can have any number of cards named Hare Apparent.
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.
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.
