March of the Machine’s Pro Tour actually had an impact on the secondary market! We don’t usually see Standard tournaments making a massive impact, but the Pro Tour being the pinnacle of competitive MTG, has definitely made a difference. Since this was a somewhat expected event, we already discussed many of the cards that saw some significant financial flux as a result of Steuer’s newest achievement.
That all said and done, Standard isn’t the usual motivator for secondary market prices in MTG, which means there’s still a lot more to cover! Commander is up to its usual antics, while other formats seem to take a small break. Let’s take a look, beginning with Skyhunter Strike Force!
Skyhunter Strike Force
Lieutenant is an interesting Commander keyword that applies its effects when a Commander is in play. Skyhunter Strike Force cares about decks that want to deal a lot of combat damage since your Commander instantly turns into a Melee anthem. You need to be attacking all of your opponents for Melee to make a big impact, so this Commander is best suited to decks that want to be attacking a lot. Ironically, while this card’s in-game application in Commander is not bad, it’s likely going up in price, instead, because of its creature types.
Knights have been surging lately, thanks to the new Eminence Commander from March of the Machine. The new Knight’s Charge preconstructed Commander deck has been driving up the price of any Knight card that is mildly playable in the format and did not see a reprint in recent sets. Cats are also quite a popular tribe in the format, but that one is not enough to be causing price increases on its own.
For the time-being, Skyhunter Strike Force is selling for about $6.50, according to TCGPlayer. This is massive when you put into consideration that this card wasn’t even worth a dollar a month ago. To be precise, the card was going for about 75 cents, signaling a 766% increase!
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Bennie Bracks, Zoologist
Here’s a card that has had a gradual price increase over the last few months that we haven’t really covered. Of course, astute players who have noticed the Convoke mechanic’s appearance on Bennie Bracks. This easily connects with the new Divine Convocation Convoke preconstructed deck, which explains why the card’s gradual price rise has become steeper after the release of March of the Machine.
This is strictly a fantastic upgrade to the Convoke precon and is also quite powerful in most decks themed around the mechanic. The best way, generally, to fuel Convoke strategies is through creature token creation from cards like Young Pyromancer. This strategy is so promising that it’s seeing some Pioneer experimentation.
Not only can these tokens help cast Bennie Bracks, but he can also draw a card on each end step. This means you will also draw cards on your opponent’s end steps if you created a token on their turn.
Financially, over the past three months, Bennie Bracks’ nadir was back in mid-February, where it was worth about $12. The card has almost doubled in price since then, selling for around $20 now, with $25 at the higher end of sales. Bennie Bracks is one of the Commander cards from Streets of New Capenna that comes from the set boosters, so it can be a bit tough to find a copy of this, contributing to the high price tag.
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Passionate Archeologist
It seems that the appearance of Nalfeshnee last week has created a new recurring theme for Commander price spikes. Cards that care about casting spells from exile are pretty hot right now, thanks to Etali, Primal Conqueror’s impact in Commander. Notably, Etali also had an absolutely fantastic Pro Tour March of the Machine showing, which may have impacted its price point.
Back to Passionate Archeologist, the payoff alongside Etali is pretty apparent. This card will turn the cards cast from Etali’s ETB ability into direct damage to your opponents equal to your mana value. That’s four triggers every time it enters.
Passionate Archaeologist has seen one of the steepest price increases this week. The card was only worth about $2.50 in mid-April, but has skyrocketed to about $12 on average just a month later.
Slivers are Starting to Move
A few different financial outlets are tracking various Sliver cards that are beginning to increase in price and the reason why is pretty obvious. The new Sliver Commander announced at MTG Con Minneapolis looks absolutely incredible, and it comes alongside the announcement of a new five-colored Sliver preconstructed Commander deck!
Notably, the list of reprints coming out in this Sliver deck has not been released yet. While players may start speculating on buys for upgrades to it, any speculation buys players participate in have a chance of getting destroyed by potential reprints in the Commander Legends set or in the preconstructed Commander deck. Therefore, I would advise against buying any of these cards for now unless you’re certain the cards will not be seeing reprints. The First Sliver is an incredibly powerful Sliver card that is seeing a price increase right now alongside Sliver Queen, which is a safe buy since it’s a Reserved List card as long as you’re willing to stomach the extremely high price.
Notably, this may also mean the Bonus Slot Sliver cards from Secret Lair products may see a rise in interest as well as Commander players who fall in love with Slivers, thanks to the new set, try to bling their deck out. Depending on the card, these can already be worth hundreds of dollars.
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Brazen Cannonade
An underrated Commander card that saw a lot of attention from various content creators this week, Brazen Cannonade appears to be a Jumpstart 2022 card that is solely rising in price now because it is no longer being underrated. In the right deck, Brazen Cannonade is capable of dealing a ton of damage and replacing your attacking creatures that died with its second ability.
This card’s secondary market price increase has happened over the course of the last two weeks, and it’s a pretty ridiculous one. Worth $3ish at the beginning of May, the card has since tripled in price, selling for between $8 and $12, with $9 being the more common price to find them at.
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