Weekly Winners 2020 - 42

Since the Standard bannings the metagame is slowly settling and it seems to be far more healthy than it was before Omnath-fest. This week we see a card from Zendikar Rising in our Weekly Winners, and not only because of Standard. We also see EDH drive some prices, which is not uncommon seeing as how popular the format is and remains.

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 Skyclave Apparition $6.00 (+100%)

 

While the difference since last week is only $3, there's a good reason for Skyclave Apparition to go up. It is played in Legacy, Modern and Standard in established archetypes like Death & Taxes or Spirits. For 3 mana you have a catch-all for non-land permanents and 2/2 body for . In the Legacy Death & Taxes builds it seems to have completely replaced Council's Judgment. Leaving a 2/2 creature behind and being able to Aether Vial it into play is a big plus over the Sorcery.

What also caught my attention is that the foil prerelease version of Skyclave Apparition seems to be cheaper at this time at $4.31. That's especially interesting because of the COVID-19 pandemic only a handful of people actually went to prereleases and FNMs, meaning there probably aren't that many copies around. The extended art of Skyclave Apparition (Extended Art) is currently $7.39, not that much more expensive than the original copy.

 

Skyclave Apparition	CardKingdom $5.99	TCGPlayer $6.00
Council's Judgment	CardKingdom $1.99	TCGPlayer $2.32

 

#2 Trade Routes $8.12 (+35%)

 

We discussed Trade Routes as well in Weekly Winners 2019-44 because of the printing of Mystic Sanctuary in Throne of Eldraine. It enabled a combo in EDH with Trade Routes and Time Warp. You can take an extra turn, bounce the land with Trade Routes, and replay the Mystic Sanctuary to put Time Warp back on top. This will give you infinite turns.

However, it feels like this time around it has more to do with the abundant cards we have with Landfall. We also see Eternity Vessel ($7.50 +75%) in the Interests of this week. With Trade Routes you can bounce your lands and replay them for landfall triggers or any other ETB effect it may have.

 

Trade Routes
9th Edition	CardKingdom $3.99	TCGPlayer $6.95
Mercadian Masques	CardKingdom $5.49	TCGPlayer $8.12

 

#3 Sword of the Animist $12.80 (+33%)

 

This card was tipped to us through Twitter and I'm pretty sure at some point I saw the card, but never realised how amazing it is. Whenever the equipped creature attacks you may search your library for a basic land card and put it into play tapped. This can happen in turn 3 for the first time (without additional ramp and such), and can get you an extra landdrop each turn plus an additional landfall trigger.

I can imagine this is an amazing inclusion in a lot of casual EDH decks where it is often important to ramp to get to your huge payoff spells. When looking at EDHREC they list it in 24009 decks 6%. This makes it abundantly clear that I should have known about this card earlier...

 

Sword of the Animist
Magic Origins	CardKingdom $12.99	TCGPlayer $11.25
Commander 2017	CardKingdom $11.99	TCGPlayer $12.80
Archenemy: Nicol Bolas	CardKingdom $9.99	TCGPlayer $11.50

 

Lets meme it up

Thieves' Guild Enforcer (Promo pack) $504.19 (+8,275%)

 

The card was listed at $999.99 skewing the average, so move along. Nothing to see here. If you are willing to pay $500 for this card, I'm sure you can find plenty of people willing to part with it for that price. The market price is still below $5. This also goes for the regular printing of this card.

Rogues are pretty popular though, and Thieves' Guild Enforcer is definitely a key card in the deck. The regular foil version only costs $5.01, and the extended art is $9.93 for the normal version and $13.17 for the foil version. I suggest picking up one of these instead.

 

Walking Dead $3.65 (+116%)

 

Over a hundred percent increase of a common from Legends and it isn't even on the Reserved List! I do not know for sure why this card went up, but I think it is a fair educated guess that it has to do with the notorious Secret Lair: The Walking Dead box. Maybe people who ordered the box want to have this card with it as well for some reason?

Last week the sale closed and we can now take a look at the singles prices from the box, with a grand total of $210,88. But we'll just have to wait and see how these prices will move once the boxes are actually shipped and singles actually hit the market. When reading social media, you may have noticed that all secret lairs take forever to ship.

• Rick, Steadfast Leader: $32.99
• Daryl, Hunter of Walkers: $26.99
• Glenn, the Voice of Calm: $27.99
• Michonne, Ruthless Survivor: $27.99
• Negan, the Cold-Blooded: $34.98
• Treasure Token: $9.99
• 5 walker tokens: $9.99 each

 

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.

 

Paradox Engine $5.34 - Record low and bottoming out

 

Council's Judgment $2.32 - Bottomed out

 

Jace, the Mind Sculptor $50.75 - Record low and bottoming out

 

Council's Judgment	CardKingdom $1.99	TCGPlayer $2.32
Jace, the Mind Sculptor	CardKingdom $54.99	TCGPlayer $50.75
Paradox Engine	CardKingdom $4.99	TCGPlayer $5.34