Jeez! This MTG Standard Card is Getting Ridiculously Expensive

When it was first released, some players speculated that The Meathook Massacre would follow in the footsteps of The Great Henge The Great Henge This spell costs {X} less to cast, where X is the greatest power among creatures you control.
{T}: Add {G}{G}. You gain 2 life.
Whenever a nontoken creature you control enters, put a +1/+1 counter on it and draw a card. , a card that reached $50.00 during its legality in Standard. Well, those players were right. The Meathook Massacre is currently the most expensive card legal in Standard today (excluding fancy foil treatments). And it keeps rising in price!

The Meathook Massacre

As seen in the graph below, the regular art version of The Meathook Massacre recently jumped to about $53.00. The extended border copy is a staggering $70.00. And the Double Feature printing is $80.00 at the time of writing.

Considering what Meathook cost at the release of Innistrad: Midnight Hunt ($16.00), these current prices are astounding.

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Why Did The Meathook Massacre Rise in Price?

The Meathook Massacre’s high prices are due to its playability in both Commander and Standard.

In Commander, Meathook is commonly used in decks like Toxrill, the Corrosive Toxrill, the Corrosive At the beginning of each end step, put a slime counter on each creature you don't control.
Creatures you don't control get -1/-1 for each slime counter on them.
Whenever a creature you don't control with a slime counter on it dies, create a 1/1 black Slug creature token.
{U}{B}, Sacrifice a Slug: Draw a card. , Yawgmoth, Thran Physician Yawgmoth, Thran Physician Protection from Humans
Pay 1 life, Sacrifice another creature: Put a -1/-1 counter on up to one target creature and draw a card.
{B}{B}, Discard a card: Proliferate. (Choose any number of permanents and/or players, then give each another counter of each kind already there.) , and Tatsunari, Toad Rider Tatsunari, Toad Rider Whenever you cast an enchantment spell, if you don't control a creature named Keimi, create Keimi, a legendary 3/3 black and green Frog creature token with "Whenever you cast an enchantment spell, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life."
{1}{G/U}: Tatsunari and target Frog you control can't be blocked this turn except by creatures with flying or reach. .

But the majority of The Meathook Massacre’s recent demand can be attributed to Standard, where it has become a bit of a format staple. Let’s take a look at a few Standard decks featuring The Meathook Massacre:

Orzhov Control

This black and white control deck uses The Meathook Massacre to clear the way for powerful planeswalkers like The Wandering Emperor The Wandering Emperor Flash
As long as The Wandering Emperor entered this turn, you may activate her loyalty abilities any time you could cast an instant.
+1: Put a +1/+1 counter on up to one target creature. It gains first strike until end of turn.
−1: Create a 2/2 white Samurai creature token with vigilance.
−2: Exile target tapped creature. You gain 2 life. and Lolth, Spider Queen Lolth, Spider Queen Whenever a creature you control dies, put a loyalty counter on Lolth.
0: You draw a card and you lose 1 life.
−3: Create two 2/1 black Spider creature tokens with reach and menace.
−8: You get an emblem with "Whenever an opponent is dealt combat damage by one or more creatures you control, if that player lost less than 8 life this turn, they lose life equal to the difference." , to sit on the battlefield and accumulate card advantage.

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Rakdos Artifacts

Rakdos Artifact decks can actually use Meathook as a finisher. Once you make enough Construct tokens with Oni-Cult Anvil Oni-Cult Anvil Whenever one or more artifacts you control leave the battlefield during your turn, create a 1/1 colorless Construct artifact creature token. This ability triggers only once each turn.
{T}, Sacrifice an artifact: This artifact deals 1 damage to each opponent. You gain 1 life. , The Meathook Massacre can sweep the field and deal your opponent damage equal to the number of your creatures that were killed.

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Golgari Control

This deck makes sure the board is always clear of creatures. In addition to The Meathook Massacre, Sarulf, Realm Eater Sarulf, Realm Eater Whenever a permanent an opponent controls is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, put a +1/+1 counter on Sarulf.
At the beginning of your upkeep, if Sarulf has one or more +1/+1 counters on it, you may remove all of them. If you do, exile each other nonland permanent with mana value less than or equal to the number of counters removed this way. , and Culling Ritual Culling Ritual Destroy each nonland permanent with mana value 2 or less. Add {B} or {G} for each permanent destroyed this way. sweep the board of creatures, while Binding of the Old Gods and Boseiju, Who Endures Boseiju, Who Endures {T}: Add {G}.
Channel — {1}{G}, Discard this card: Destroy target artifact, enchantment, or nonbasic land an opponent controls. That player may search their library for a land card with a basic land type, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle. This ability costs {1} less to activate for each legendary creature you control. , take care of trickier permanents.

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