Weekly Winners 2020 - 12

A very interesting week that allows me to explain a bit about care valuing and the effect of certain characteristics on card prices. And, for the third week in a row, combo decks cause a card to spike!

Like every week, just in time for (digital) FNM, I'll now tell you about the cards that will be the talk of the (digital) town tonight!

 

#1 Ugin's Nexus $2.95 (+128.68%)

 

There are certain types of cards that you always need to keep an eye on. Cards with alternative mana costs, cards with alternative wins, cards with unique effects and cards that grant you extra turns.

Ugin's Nexus is a great example of that rule of thumb. When it was spoiled, its prerelease price was not really high for a mythic but much higher than the $0.69 price tag it held for years after release. But, as with more cards like this, it eventually spikes when someone can make good use of it. When a new card gets printed for example, or a new deck that runs it performs well.

And that's the case for Ugin's Nexus. This week, a Pioneer sacrifice deck netted some 5-0 results and gaining quite some attention with that. As per usual, people start buying cards that are still cheap to be able to build the deck. Ugin's Nexus is one of those cards. A Mythic that is potentially powerful in a constructed format is dirt cheap at $0.69. So players and speculators jumped on that, causing the card to spike. Check out the deck below.

Ugin's Nexus
Khans of Tarkir	CardKingdom $1.99	TCGPlayer $2.95

 

#2 Test of Endurance $19.78 (+95.45%)

 

Ugin's Nexus is not the only rule-of-thumb-card that has spiked this week. Test of Endurance almost doubled in price as well. And this second winner of the week is a perfect card to explain a bit about card valuing. It has several characteristics that increase the value of a given card:

• An unique ability
• An alternative win card
• A workable card (mana cost/ ease of combo)
• From an older set
• No reprints
• Sees play in a popular format (EDH)

Every time you subtract one of the six characteristics, the value of a card would decrease (unless price memory kicks in, Tarmogoyf is a good example of that).

Test of Endurance doubled in price due to the increase in EDH play. Theros: Beyond Death features cards that promote life gain, and make it easier to pull of a win with Test of Endurance. I'm talking about Heliod, Sun-Crowned and Daxos, Blessed by the Sun. But be sure to check out EDHRec.com to get a full overview for Test of Endurance.

Test of Endurance	CardKingdom $14.99	TCGPlayer $19.78
Daxos, Blessed by the Sun	CardKingdom $0.25	TCGPlayer $0.30
Heliod, Sun-Crowned	CardKingdom $16.99	TCGPlayer $16.00

 

#3 Angel's Grace $13.49 (+28.60%)

 

Our third winner is Angel's Grace, and that means that for the third week in a row, a card from a combo deck makes it into the Weekly Winners! As combo player that fills my heart with joy.

Angel's Grace kinda fits the rule of thumb too, as it is a card with a unique ability. There are other cards that make it impossible to lose (and your opponents to win), and many other cards with damage prevention. But only Angel's Grace has the combination of both and split second, making it the ideal tool to buy time, or some more space to combo out.

A Modern format Ad Nauseam combo deck has been performing well on MTGO, and 5-0'd a Modern league a few days ago. Again, one of the driving cards behind this is Thassa's Oracle. That Merfolk has caused the most cards to spike in 2020 thus far. It has been mentioned in 7 of the 12 Weekly Winners this year. But let's close of by focusing back to the deck, check it out:

 

Cheap Pickups

Please note: for our 'record low' we consider the price of the card over the past 7 years. Many cards have been even cheaper (a) decade(s) ago. Also note: some cards are still going down, and might be even cheaper pickups next week.

 

Spellskite $6.68 - Record low and going down

 

Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God $9.23 - Record low and going down slowly

 

Sarkhan Vol $7.19 - Record low and going down

 

Cemetery Puca	CardKingdom $1.99	TCGPlayer $1.94
Spellskite	CardKingdom $7.49	TCGPlayer $6.68
Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God	CardKingdom $8.99	TCGPlayer $9.23