Weekly Winners (9)

Why? That is the main question with all three weekly winners this week. Why did they spike? Who caused it, and are the cards really that good? I hope to give you some of the answers. So, like every week, just in time for FNM, I present you the cards that will be the talk of the town tonight.

 

Want to help me out? Pitch me a tweet when you see something interesting @MTGPeter

 

#1 Nin, the Pain Artist +136% ($9.37) 

This kinky commander spiked this week, but why? Is it really that good? The short answer: not really. Tiny Leaders continues to be a thing. And for those of you not familiar, Tiny Leaders is a format, a kind of "mini-EDH" in which you can only play cards of CMC 3 or less. Including your commander. And Nin, the Pain Artist qualifies as a tiny leader. This means that people will consider playing her as a commander, just because her CMC is 2. 

There are only two commanders under CMC3 that are only red and blue. Nin, the Pain Artist and Jhoira of the Ghitu. So not much choice, and Nin, the Pain Artist's ability can work both for you and against your opponent. But, in Tiny Leaders there are no real insane combos with Nin, the Pain Artist. In EDH you can use Stuffy Doll and many other cards of CMC 4 and above. Check this thread for more combo fun. 

A lot of other commanders from the commander set have seen an increase in price, even the ones that are underwhelming. I believe that Nin, the Pain Artist is a price correction because of Tiny Leaders. And not because the card is popular, but only because she is one of two options you actually have if you want to stick to UR, and don't want to splash another color (and even then your options are limited). 

 

#2 Mishra's Bauble +118.9% ($9.48) 

Mishra's Bauble looks like a underwhelming waste of a slot in your deck, right? Well, no longer. It has spiked because of the new delve strategies popping up. With delve, you do need to have something in your graveyard to delve out. And often you need to do this multiple times, for instance when your opponent lands a bigger threat, or when your creature is destroyed. 

Jon Finkel wrote about a new modern deck called 'The Pantheon' in a Channel Fireball article. The deck focuses on landing a Tasigur, the Golden Fang on turn 2. Finkel writes about Mishra's Bauble in detail. But a long story short: it fills your graveyard, it gives you information about your opponent's deck and it allows you to hide cards -from Liliana for instance-. Finkel: "Mishra's Bauble looks like filler on the surface, but is actually one of the key cards in the deck and is very strong."

 

#3 Soul Spike +116.5% ($2.62) 

Two Coldsnap weekly winners! That doesn't happen very often. Soul Spike is also on the rise. And again, you might ask yourself if you are missing something. When I first saw it spike, I read and re-read the card and I felt like I was 15 again, staring at cards (Like Wasteland, Lion's Eye Diamond and Revised Duals) and did not understand what the fuzz was about. So, calm your nerves when I say: Soul Spike is not a good card. 

But, when you use it as a piece in a new Modern combo deck built around Necrotic Ooze and Griselbrand's ability, things start to become more clear. In this article you can see a decktech video about the deck. For those of you unable to watch: the deck uses Griselbrand to gain life after you have activated Griselbrand, so that you can re-use the ability more than twice in a row. And besides that, in this deck it is a solid removal card.

 

Other interesting movers:

 

Outpost Siege 

 

Whisperwood Elemental 

 

Summoner's Pact 

 

Animar, Soul of Elements 

 

 Flusterstorm 

 

Force of Will 

 

Cavern of Souls 

 

Blood Moon 

 

 

All time low report:

I'm planning to write about something different at the end of each month. See it as an encore to the regular article on friday. I hope I can keep this up every month!

This time I have selected the most interesting cards that are now at their all time lows. Just a gallery of most interesting cards that you will be able to get for low prices. For each card I will add a tag. Either, "bottomed" or "going down"; a little prediction whether you should wait a little longer before buying the card, or not.

Polluted Delta GOING DOWN

 

Flooded Strand GOING DOWN

 

Elspeth, Sun's Champion GOING DOWN

 

Exploration GOING DOWN

 

 Mutavault BOTTOMED

 

Stifle BOTTOMED

 

Misdirection GOING DOWN

 

Watery Grave BOTTOMED