If you’re at all in tune with the Modern metagame, Energy decks are the new craze. Ob Nixilis, The Adversary is seeing quite the price increase this week thanks to synergy with a breakout Modern Horizons 3 card. It isn’t quite enough to get Nadu, Winged Wisdom off of its lofty throne, but the deck will likely take over the format soon. After all, many players expect the winged menace to get banned from the Modern format. Considering a Modern Regional Championship Qualifier season is coming up, players are likely plenty eager to get ahead of the curve. Let’s take a look!
Ob Nixilis, The Adversary
- Mana value: 1BR
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Card Type: Planeswalker
- Text on the card: Causality X. The copy isn’t legendary and has starting loyalty X. (As you cas this spell, you may sacrifice a creature with power X. When you do, copy this spell. The copy becomes a token.) (+1) Each opponent loses 2 life unless they discard a card. If you control a Demon or Devil, you gain 2 life. (-2) Create a 1/1 red Devil creature token with “When this creature dies, it deals 1 damage to any target.” (-7) Target player draws seven cards and loses 7 life.
When Ob Nixilis, the Adversary was first released, players thought it would pack a serious punch. While the card has always been decent, it wasn’t the $50 powerhouse players thought it was. Regardless, Ob Nixilis, the Adversary is making waves alongside the new MTG card Ocelot Pride.
Ocelot Pride has the ability to create a ton of tokens, so long as you’ve gained life this turn. This isn’t difficult to accomplish thanks to its Lifelink keyword. Guide of Souls, an elite option for decks using Energy, can also accomplish the Lifegain requirement without you needing to connect with Ocelot Pride.
With City’s Blessing active, which isn’t too difficult to acquire, instead of just creating a Cat for your troubles, Ocelot Pride creates a copy of every token you created this turn. This includes the Ob Nixilis tokens created by using Causality.
Ob Nixilis’s Causality effect allows you to sacrifice a creature when you cast the Planeswalker. If you do, you get a copy of Ob Nixilis, the Adversary with Loyalty equal to the sacrificed creature’s power. While the dream is to somehow sacrifice something with seven or more power, Ocelot Pride takes Ob Nixilis in a different direction.
Because the created Plandswalker is a Token, Ocelot Pride can copy it with its ability. The tokens created by Ob Nixilis also happen to be nonlegendary, so you can have as many as you want. Line up City’s Blessing, and a few Ocelot Prides, and your opponent will be buried in copies of Ob Nixilis, the Adversary. Sadly, this interaction has been bugged on Magic Online, but we assure you, this is how it works.
For those curious about trying this for themselves, the tokens created by Ocelot Pride will enter with the same loyalty as the original token.
The Increase
The original form of Ob Nixilis, the Adversary demonstrates just how massive of a price increase this card is seeing. Worth about $4 pre-spike, outliers for the card are selling for as much as $15! Here, we’ll list all the variants pre-spike, post-spike, and include the highest sale on the card:
- Original: From $4 to $8.50, $15 outlier
- Borderless: From $3 to $14
- Promo Pack: From $3 to $(7-9)
- Showcase: From $3 to $12
- Showcase Etched Foil: From $9 to 20, $25 outlier
Of course, Ocelot Pride, the card causing this spike, has also seen some massive price increases, averaging around $42 apiece.
Energy decks definitely seem like the real deal, and splashing black for Ob Nixilis, the Adversary is becoming a more and more popular way to play the deck.
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