It’s been a long time since non-Commander formats significantly impacted the Secondary market! Don’t get me wrong, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, is a massive player in recent days that sees both constructed and Commander play. That said, multiple market movements this week have been caused by Modern players trying to adapt to a perceived menace after the recent ban of Yorion, Sky Nomad.
Indomitable Creativity
Following Yorion’s ban, Indomitable Creativity saw another considerable price increase. This recent increase marks a more than 500% increase from the middle of June. At its lowest recent point, Indomitable Creativity was worth about $5. It is now quickly approaching $30.
The strategy of Modern’s Indomitable Creativity deck is simple: get a creature or artifact out, usually a token from Dwarven Mine, and turn it into an Archon of Cruelty. This nine-mana behemoth causes your opponent to sacrifice a creature, discard a card, and lose three life whenever it enters the battlefield or attacks. To make matters worse, you also get to draw a card and gain three life. Because Dwarven Mines are fetchable Mountains, this combo can come out of nowhere. Besides being able to cast the spell, no setup is required for the Modern version of this deck.
For those wondering, Archon of Cruelty has also seen about a $5 increase from $8 to $13 since Indomitable Creativity’s recent Nadir.
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Orvar, the All-Form
As Archon of Cruelty became more dominant in Modern, this guy started popping up in various sideboards. Unlike Indomitable Creativity, Orvar also sees a lot of Commander play. Commonly seen as a part of the new archetype led by Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief, Orvar tends to show up anywhere where cards that care about single-target effects may lie.
Orvar’s role in Modern is a bit different. While most players know Orvar for his targeting abilities, it can be easy to forget that this Legendary Creature has a second paragraph in text. If an opponent’s ability discards Orvar, you can create a copy of a permanent in play.
This is an absolute game-changer for the Creativity matchup. Archon of Cruelty makes you discard a card when it enters the battlefield. You can immediately discard Orvar and get your own copy of Archon. This will cause their Archon to die to your sacrifice ability. Since you should be untapping with your copy, you should also be able to get an attack in. This can allow you to deal with a two-Archon Creativity as well, as long as you have a card to discard to the first Archon trigger since discarding Orvar will likely cause your copy to be sacrificed to the second trigger.
Orvar saw a significant price increase on the secondary market this week. The card has been skyrocketing since mid-September, and while initial price increases were likely Commander-focused, Modern is starting to play a more significant role. Recently worth only $2.60, the card has risen to about $7.50. There is a ton of variance at this price point. This suggests that, even though Orvar appears to be mid-spike, it may start settling down soon.
Scratching the Surface
There have been a lot of smaller movements over the past month for constructed. Mox Amber is a key example of something that has gained about $10 in value in the background as a result of an up-and-coming Modern deck. Regardless, it looks like constructed formats may begin to have a larger impact on the secondary market as competitive play begins to return to tabletop.
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