Another week and another Weekly Winners. There definitely are some interesting spikes going on, and this week we see some spikes because of Standard, Pioneer and Modern, and a spike that is a little hard to pinpoint where it is coming from. But nonetheless it is interesting to watch. Dominaria United spoilers will also start soon and that will probably also have some effect on prices.
Like every week, just in time for FNM, I'll now tell you about the cards that will be the talk of the town tonight!
Come discuss this week's price movements with us on Reddit.
Our first winner is a rare card from Mirage, which notably also is on the reserved list. As we all know by now, the reserved list is a promise from Wizard of the Coast to never reprint any of the cards on that list, meaning the supply on these cards is quite low. This makes it easier for people to manipulate these prices since they are easily bought out.
Phyrexian Tribute is a black sorcery, costs and an additional cost to sacrifice two creatures. When you pay these costs, you get to destroy a target artifact. Destroying artifacts is not really something black usually does, meaning these cards that do break out of the color pie is expensive to cast for their effect or have a serious draw back. There is another mono black card that is able to destroy artifacts, which also is on the reserved list. That card is Gate to Phyrexia and costs you about $70.
The reason this card spiked could be because of Dominaria United, where the Evolved Sleeper was spoiled already. On it we see a return of Phyrexians, that could have spiked people to buy this card. There also is a leaked card from this set that may play well with Phyrexian Tribute. We will discuss this card a little bit further below. But to be honest, most signs point to this being a targeted reserved list buyout. Did you know we have a Handy List of all the cards on the reserved list?
I WILL NOW DISCUSS THE LEAKED CARD FROM Dominaria United IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW, SKIP TO THE NEXT WINNER
The card leaked is called Sheoldred, Insidious Conqueror, and is a black legendary creature. The two notable abilities are "Whenever a non-token creature you control dies, draw a card. This ability only triggers once per turn" and "Whenever a non-token creature an opponent controls dies or an opponent discards a creature card, put that card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control. This ability only triggers once per turn". So playing Phyrexian Tribute means you can get some triggers from Sheoldred. Of course we do not know for sure whether this leak is real, and like I mentioned earlier, I doubt this is the reason for the spike.
This red mythic from Aether Revolt is a sorcery and costs . It reads Destroy X target artifacts and/or creatures. For each permanent destroyed this way, its controller reveals cards from the top of his or her library until an artifact or creature card is revealed and exiles that card. Those players put the exiled cards onto the battlefield, then shuffle their libraries.
Often when cards like this are printed, and you have to flip your library until you find a card that matches whatever it is looking for (in this case an artifact or creature), people will build their decks around this and make sure that the only card worth hitting matches these limitations. In this case players will only put one creature or artifact in the deck (or multiple of the same) to make sure that whenever they resolve Indomitable Creativity, they will always have the same outcome.
And that's exactly what we see happening here. Indomitable Creativity are doing pretty well consistently in Modern decks that are named after this card. The strategy of the deck is to create an artifact or creature token with, for example, Hard Evidence, Prismari Command, or Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and destroy it with Indomitable Creativity. When that happens, you start flipping over your library and you will always find Archon of Cruelty, and get to put that onto the battlefield. In the sideboard of these decks we will also find creatures like Iona, Shield of Emeria or Emrakul, the Aeons Torn to be able to battle different strategies more effectively.
There is also a version of this card that tries to hit Velomachus Lorehold to put on the battlefield. Since it has haste, it can immediately attack, revealing the top seven cards of your library and you get to cast an instant or sorcery spell from among them without paying their mana cost. Players try to hit a "take an extra turn spell", and do this several times to kill their opponent or to at least get them an advantage that can no longer be realistically overcome.
Indomitable Creativity is not the only card that has this kind of effect. We also see it on Transmogrify for example, that also sees play as a one-off in the Modern decks just mentioned. And it also exists as blue variant in Polymorph.
This week we see two version of this card in our interests. We have the regular version from Innistrad: Crimson Vow and the Innistrad: Double Feature version. The latter one has jumped more this week both in percentage and absolute value. This likely has to do with it being far more scarce than the regular version.
Hopeful Initiate is a 1/2 Human Warlock and only costs . It has Training and , Remove two +1/+1 counters from among creatures you control: Destroy target artifact or enchantment. But it mostly gets it power from being a one drop and being able to grow quickly because of Training. It sees play in several formats.
First we see it being played in several types of Standard decks. Decks like Boros Aggro, Mono White Aggro, and Orzhov Midrange. But we also see this card as a 4-off in Pioneer in Mono White Humans and Bant Humans.
In Commander it also sees a bit more additional play with a recent commander from Baldur's Gate. That card is Lae'zel, Vlaakith\'s Champion, along with Background Master Chef.
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.
Blade of the Bloodchief 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 fourth article in the "Yearly Winners 2024" series tailors its analysis based on community feedback. It offers a refined look at MTG card values, focusing on the cheapest versions of cards and excluding 2024 prints.
Unveil the most dramatic price shifts of 2024 in our third Yearly Winners analysis! This exclusive report focuses on absolute dollar changes, revealing the biggest movers in the market.
