Getting a few leaks from MTG’s newest set is a great way to excite players for the upcoming story arcs beginning this week. What many MTG players may not have expected, however, is the absolute floodgate of leaks coming through a mishap with the Dominaria Remastered set. It looks like Phyrexia: All Will Be One Rares have found their way into this set by accident, currently spoiling 58 of the 60 new Rare cards, according to Reddit at the time of writing this article. Such a massive influx of cards is going to affect the secondary market, so what changes have occurred? We will be looking at and talking about unofficially leaked cards in this article, so count this as your spoiler warning in case you want to wait for professional reveals affiliated with Wizards of the Coast. One of these spikes, in the form of Ground Rift, is particularly strange.
Ground Rift
This card’s spike is very recent. While the card itself has spiked from about 30 cents to slightly under a dollar on average, the bigger story is how many of these are being purchased. In typical buyout fashion, these were being sold by the handful (hundreds of copies) following a spoiler that occurred. While the buyout started in full force on the sixth of January, there was also one that occurred at the end of November.
The card that has players flocking in droves to pick this up is a leak that goes by the name of Venerated Rotpriest. This has a rather unique effect that gives your opponent a Poison Counter each time a creature you control is targeted by a spell. The idea here is to target it with something like Ground Rift after you Storm enough to kill your opponent with Rotpriest triggers.
A Strange Speculation?
Whether the card is worth the hype or not, I would stay away from this movement. This is strictly speculation, but Ground Rift’s long-term spike may largely depend on whether the card picks up in Modern play due to Venerated Rotpriest. The issue is that Modern players already have a much more flexible Storm card that fits this role for just one more mana- Grapeshot.
Ground Rift will only be lethal if you can target stuff with the Rotpriest on board. While Poison Counters can still cut the amount of Storm you need in half, Grapeshot is much more versatile in situations where you do not have the Rotpriest on board. It can still end the game on its own as long as you have a Storm count large enough. For that reason, unless decks specifically want to play Ground Rift for the one mana reduction, I doubt that this is going to pan out. Notably, Grapeshot has seen a massive uptick in Modern play due to the rise of various Underworld Breach combo shells, another card that is seeing a huge secondary market uptick.
Anointed Procession
Anointed Procession was already a Commander staple before Phyrexia: All Will be One was printed, but a token synergy in both the main set and one of the preconstructed Commander decks may be causing this card to spike even further in recent times. Most notably, the Boros Commander preconstructed deck has a Commander interested in attacking tokens, which seems like a fantastic spot for an Anointed Procession upgrades.
Other leaked cards like White Sun’s Twilight and Skrelv’s Hive may have contributed to the recent spike seen with this card. For reference, the card has spike from about $27 to $40ish from the end of October, $5 of which occurred over the last two weeks. Price trends suggest that Anointed Procession’s spike may not be over just yet, but do note that a timely reprint of this card could cause it to drop in price.
Allied Fastlands Going Down?
One of the bigger leaks from the cards we’ve seen so far is the reprinting of ally-colored Fastlands. For context, Fast Lands are a series of lands that come in untapped as long as it is among three or less lands in play when they enter. Some Pioneer-legal examples of enemy-colored Fastlands are Spirebluff Canal and Botanical Sanctum. These both see a ton of play in the format.
With these reprints, understandably, comes some pretty severe price drops. Those who possess these Fastlands should not fret, however, as this reprinting is going to cause these to undergo a ton of demand. Allied Fastlands are now legal in Pioneer and Standard (which is relevant because the next Regional Championship is Standard), and Pioneer, in particular, is fast enough that Fastlands are going to cause a significant restructuring of decklists.
For now, however, Fastlands have seen $4-5 drops across the board over the last four-five days, which is incredibly fast. Prices are pretty unstable as a result of these leaks being unofficial, but you can find them for cheap right now. If these actually are reprinted in Phyrexia: All Will Be One, chances are they will be available for less for a little while. That said, don’t be surprised if these cards start to regain some value relatively quickly.
Read More: Huge Phyrexia: All Will Be One Leaks Reveal MTG Story Details
Mycosynth Lattice
Hoo boy, here’s a card that is incredibly broken under certain pretexts. Mycosynth Lattice had its reputation tainted by the creation of Karn, the Great Creator. With both of these cards in play, your opponent can’t use any of their cards, including their lands. The card was banned in Modern as a result of this lock becoming too problematic.
Why is this card spiking now? Well, the Brother’s War was a really heavily artifact-based set, so that is probably the main reason behind this. With the introduction of the Urza’s Iron Alliance Commander preconstructed deck, there are a lot of decks that care about artifact count or Affinity for artifacts, right now. This is an excellent upgrade to those decks since it literally turns everything into an artifact.
Phyrexia: All Will Be One leaks may be propelling this further. Not only do we now know that artifacts are still getting some love, but a one-sided Mycosynth Lattice was introduced as a four-mana artifact. This one won’t be locking opponents out with Karn, but it can still up your Affinity count to insane levels. This, among some other spoiled artifacts, suggests that, while the card type is not at the center of this set, it is still getting some meaningful support that may synergize well with Mycosynth Lattice.
Benevolent Hydra
This last card’s recent spike has nothing to do with Phyrexia: All Will be One, but it is one of the hottest cards on the secondary market right now. Benevolent Hydra was both featured as an underpriced gem by various Commander content creators and saw a targeted buyout shortly after. This caused the Hydra’s price to soar unexpectedly over the holidays, but a lot of the hype was caused under false pretenses. The card still sees a massive spike from its nadir, but Benevolent Hydra is struggling to find its price point.
Currently, Benevolent Hydra saw a spike from about $6 about two weeks into December to a price point that is all across the board. Many market watch sites have this card at about $24 currently, but Benevolent Hydra seems to be selling for between $15 and $20 currently. As you may expect, this card is presently seeing most of its play in Hydra and +1/+1 counter decks. Notably, counter decks got an uptick in popularity following the release of the Tyranid Swarm preconstructed deck.
This is Just the Beginning
We’re not even a week past when these Phyrexia: All Will be One leaks hit the internet, and most price trends need longer than a week to start making themselves known. This is only the beginning to market changes caused by MTG’s latest core set, so be sure to stick around to find out about what else is being looked into by the MTG community!
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