Hopeless Nightmare
4, Feb, 25

Standard Staple Enchantment Spikes 641% At Long Last

Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen the tremendous impact that Wizards’ Standard revitalization has had on the MTG markets. Now that it has regained its position as a genuine competitive option, players have been eager to play it. This equally means that players have been keen to pick up new and exciting cards for breakout decks.

Most recently, while it was a little ways back now, Esper Pixie decks broke out and took the Standard metagame by storm. Unsurprisingly, this new meta player caused a range of price spikes, many of which were staggeringly high. While things have settled down since then, it seems this deck isn’t quite done yet.

Hopeless Nightmare

Hopeless Nightmare

At the core of Esper Pixie decks, there’s always a playset of Hopeless Nightmare. This card is such a staple to the archetype that it’s undoubtedly fundamental. For just one mana you get a consistent source of damage as well as a means to deny your opponent resources.

On their own, a playset of this card is annoying to face, especially if you can’t afford to discard anything. Within Esper Pixie, however, this card becomes an absolute menace since it can easily be bounced and recast. While Esper Pixie decks do have plenty of options for these shenanigans, Hopeless Nightmare is essentially a one-card army.

Beyond just appearing within core Esper Pixie lists, Hopeless Nightmare is also a staple within Dimir Bounce lists. As the name suggests, this archetype utilizes the same bouncing shenanigans, albeit with a slightly more controlling focus. Players have even begun experimenting with this archetype in Pioneer, showing its impressive strength.

While the Esper Pixie archetype is already well established in Standard, it may be getting some extra attention soon. With the release of Aetherdrift, the archetype will be getting powerful new toys in the form of Momentum Breaker. While Esper Pixie is already a strong deck, this card has the potential to push it to another level.

Right now, it’s unclear what will happen to the Standard metagame following the release of Aetherdrift. Even if Esper Pixie doesn’t get a power boost, it likely won’t be going anywhere. As a result, it’s little wonder that demand for this car has remained consistently high, even throughout 2025.

The Spike

Hopeless Nightmare Price Spike

Over the past three months, the price of Hopeless Nightmare has been on an incredible rise. This isn’t too much of a surprise, considering that, prior to Esper Pixie picking it up, people weren’t really paying attention to it. What is impressive, however, is the fact that Esper Pixie has continued to spike in price even after its competitive debut.

At the start of January, copies of Hopeless Nightmare were selling for just $0.29 on TCGplayer. Even though the card was seeing competitive play, this price wasn’t too surprising considering it was an otherwise overlooked common. Thanks to the amount of supply available for modern MTG sets, moving the needle on common cards is easier said than done.

Evidently, however, it can happen as the price of Hopeless Nightmare has been rising steadily throughout January. Recently, as you can see above, this steady climb spiked heavily, likely due to the supply finally running out. Currently, on TCGplayer, there are only 60 near mint copies of Hopeless Nightmare left available for purchase.

Notably, while the supply of Hopeless Nightmare has definitely been stretched thin, it’s unlikely raw demand is wholly responsible for this spike. Given sales have peaked at $4.49, it’s likely that TCGplayer Direct has pushed prices up. Thanks to the convenience that TCGplayer Direct offers, this tends to happen a lot with in-demand competitive staples.

At the moment, you’ll only have to spend around $1.50 on a copy of Hopeless Nightmare, including shipping. While this is a fair bit under the current $2.15 market price, it’s nonetheless a significant way above past lows.

The Future

Currently, it’s rather hard to predict which way the price of Hopeless Nightmare will go. On the one hand, it’s a firm staple within any bounce deck and is very unlikely to be usurped any time soon. If anything, it looks like this card has a very bright future, given the upgrades that Esper Pixie may be getting soon.

Despite appearing to be destined for success, Standard can be a very fickle format where nothing is guaranteed to last. One powerful set can be all it takes for the metagame to completely shift in a different direction. While this has always been the case, Wizards is releasing an awful lot of Standard-legal sets throughout 2025.

While the power level of the three Universes Beyond sets shouldn’t push boundaries too far, Standard is still getting a lot of cards. Subsequently, the future of Esper Pixie, and bounce decks in general, aren’t guaranteed by any means. Should they fall out of favor, their price is bound to quickly tumble.

Ultimately, while there’s no guarantee that Esper Pixie is here to stay in Standard, there’s no guarantee it’ll disappear either. As a result, we’ll just have to watch the Standard metagame closest to see what’s performing best.

*MTG Rocks is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more
BROWSE
[the_ad id="117659"]