Weekly Winners 2019 - 15

War of the Spark spoilers are upon us and keep impacting the market! A very interesting week in the world of magic card prices. And, just like last week: a lot of staples from the eternal formats breaking records and/or gaining substantially.

 

#1 Leveler $7.97 (+738%)

 

This huge spike is all due to the spoilers for War of the Spark. Players and speculators jumped on Leveler after seeing the new Jace Planeswalker from WAR: Jace, Wielder of Mysteries. Leveler removes your library from the game and with Jace, Wielder of Mysteries in play, it lets you win the game, instead of losing. Seems an easy and logical spike due to the spoilers.

However, there is more to this story. In what particular format is this combo with Leveler going to be good? We already have Laboratory Maniac and it does exactly the same as Jace, Wielder of Mysteries for the combo with Leveler. And Maniac is cheaper than Jace. The combo with Jace is not good enough for Modern, Legacy or Vintage and it is not Standard legal. That just leaves EDH. And in EDH people already had access to both Leveler and Laboratory Maniac and it did not spark more than 123 EDH decks on EDHRec.com that actually run Leveler. Maniac however sees quite some play in EDH.

It does not seem particularly plausible that Leveler suddenly becomes so much more competitive in EDH with the printing of Jace, Wielder of Mysteries. The spike seems to signal something different. When looking at speculation chatter about Leveler the bottom line seems to be that people are buying the card out of fear of missing out (FOMO). One speculator bought 50 copies and showed them off. Speculators dismissed the actual quality of Leveler or the power of its combo with Jace, Wielder of Mysteries; but jumped the bandwagon anyway. And the current price is the result. My guess is that it is safe to sell or trade your copy of Leveler if you have it lying around.

 

Leveler	CardKingdom $3.49	TCGPlayer $7.97
Jace, Wielder of Mysteries	CardKingdom $8.99	TCGPlayer $5.50

 

#2 Sunforger $9 (+656.30%)

 

Wait, what? It does what? Sunforger is one of those cards that makes your opponent read, re-read, frown and ask that question when you cast it, or unequip it. Yes; you can tutor for something with CMC and play it without paying for it for just . You do need to equip it for ; so that essentially means that you have to pay for CMC .. but the dude/dudette you attach it to gets +4/+0 as well and you can swing with that before unequipping it. When used well, Sunforger can be a powerhouse in your EDH or Casual deck and it saw a fair amount of play in EDH before this week. And a copy of the card costed you about $1.

And then Feather, the Redeemed was spoiled. That new Legend can not only be your Commander, it works well with Sunforger too. The card you tutor gets returned to your hand; ready for another go. A thrilling new idea for an EDH deck with a new exiting commander. And that's enough for Sunforger, especially because it already saw play in EDH and Casual.

 

Sunforger
Ravnica	CardKingdom $4.99	TCGPlayer $9.00

 

#3 Balduvian Rage $7.25 (+639.80%)

 

Both Sunforger and Balduvian Rage were subject of discussion on the Command Zone; a content creator for EDH players. Both in relation to Feather, the Redeemed. Getting the spotlight in the Command Zone seems to be a big instigator for players and speculators alike to jump on a card.

The reason is simple. Feather, the Redeemed and Balduvian Rage have synergy. You cast it on a creature you control, return it because of Feather, the Redeemed's effect. Rinse and repeat. Destroy any blockers your opponent has, make the targeted creature unblockable, whatever works to get the damage through.

 

Eternal Update

Please note: yes we know that Modern is not an Eternal but a non-rotating format.

If you want to stay in the loop on card prices, be sure to sort our Weekly interests table on highest price instead of the biggest percentage change every now and then. Cards that are already expensive just don't spike with 100%+ like our three winners of this week. But their actual gain in dollar value surpasses the big percentage spike. They don't show up in the top rows of our winners, but they are interesting anyway.

This week, instead of the Cheap Pickups (don't panic, those will be back next week) I want to share some Eternal staples with you that have been gaining in price over the past weeks. Many of them are going up because there does not seem to be a set coming up that is going to reprint them. Some thought Modern Horizons would reprint them; but that set only adds new cards to Modern. And other cards, that are deemed too powerful for reprints in Modern Horizons are gaining as well.

 

Force of Will $145.99 (+17.43%)

 

Dark Confidant $75.85 (+8.36%)

 

Blightsteel Colossus $82 (+7.91%)

 

Chalice of the Void $64.99 (+8.9%)

 

Azusa, Lost but Seeking $48.48 (+7.76%%)

 

Wasteland $44.95 (+12%)

 

Flooded Strand $38.43 (+6.78%)

 

Gemstone Caverns $44.99 (+11.53%)

 

Blightsteel Colossus	CardKingdom $69.99	TCGPlayer $82.00
Gemstone Caverns	CardKingdom $49.99	TCGPlayer $44.99
Azusa, Lost but Seeking	CardKingdom $42.99	TCGPlayer $48.48
Flooded Strand	CardKingdom $47.99	TCGPlayer $38.43
Dark Confidant	CardKingdom $69.99	TCGPlayer $75.85
Chalice of the Void	CardKingdom $69.99	TCGPlayer $64.99
Force of Will	CardKingdom $129.99	TCGPlayer $145.99
Wasteland	CardKingdom $39.99	TCGPlayer $44.95