MTG Fallout previews may be at the center of the MTG world right now, but that doesn’t mean that the rest of Magic has stopped moving. Competitive formats have been innovating with new cards from Murders at Karlov Manor, and some archetypes are beginning to rise in popularity across formats.
One particularly explosive archetype got a new tool in Murders at Karlov Manor that is causing some cards from recent MTG sets to explode in price.
Knight-Errant of Eos
Knight-Errant of Eos has been particularly popular in multiple MTG formats as of late. The Human Knight has had a decent home in Pioneer for quite some time now, featured in the Boros Convoke archetype that aims to leverage Gleeful Demolition with Convoke payoffs like Venerated Loxodon and the Knight-Errant itself.
If you’re drawing hot, Boros Convoke can be difficult to beat. The deck heavily revolves around very tight sequences involving Gleeful Demolition to show its true strength. In a perfect world, swinging in for more than 20 damage on turn three is very doable. If you don’t get your powerful Convoke plays off, however, the deck’s performance is like night and day.
In Modern, Knight-Errant sees some fringe play in similar strategies, but the deck does not perform nearly as well there as it does in Pioneer.
Considering that consistency seems to be the issue with this Pioneer strategy, it makes sense that Boros Convoke saw a rise in popularity after a new card was introduced that makes the deck more consistent. What many players may not have expected, however, is that this card also allowed Standard to adopt a similar strategy. Boros Convoke now rules the Standard format.
Another Inspector
As we, and many others, have pointed out multiple times, Novice Inspector is incredibly similar to Thraben Inspector in almost every way. These essentially function as the same creature, Investigating on entry while offering a one-mana white creature.
All of these aspects are very important for Boros Convoke strategies. Create a Clue gives Gleeful Demolition a target to create three Red Goblin tokens with, and the white body allows Venerated Loxodon and Knight-Errant of Eos to hit the battlefield on turn two a lot more consistently through utilizing five creatures to Convoke them out. This not only maximizes your turn-two board presence, but it also maximizes the payoff of your Convoke creatures.
This is the biggest push in power for the Boros Convoke archetype across Standard and Pioneer, but Standard also received some other tools from Murders at Karlov Manor that allows the Convoke strategy to be viable in that format while not being quite as powerful as the Pioneer variant.
The Spike
As mentioned earlier, Knight-Errant of Eos is the card being affected by these price spikes. The card has continually been increasing in price since early January, where TCGplayer market values have the card at $2.20. Prices started spiking pretty heavily a month later, and now Knight-Errant of Eos is selling for around $6 on average. That said, outliers for this card have been selling for as much as $13.
Knight-Errant of Eos is not the only card that has been rising in price because of the increased viability of the Boros Convoke archetype. Warleader’s Call is currently only found in the Standard version of Boros Convoke, but it is undeniably a powerful payoff for the deck. Not only does it give your wide board a boost, but Warleader’s Call also has an Impact Tremors effect. This ensures that, even after your board of dorks gets wiped, Warleader’s Call can continue providing value as you unleash your next wave of minions.
Warleader’s Call hit its nadir at the beginning of February, dropping to $2.92. Since then, the card has to a market average of $9.50. It commonly sells for between $8.50 and $10. Considering that Warleader’s Call has both competitive and Commander interest, this price is not surprising.
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Gleeful Demolition
Last, but certainly not least, Gleeful Demolition has already been mentioned multiple times throughout this article. While Knight-Errant of Eos may be one of the flashy payoffs that the Boros Convoke strategy can employ, it’s no exaggeration to say that, if it weren’t for Gleeful Demolition, this strategy just wouldn’t work. This one drop is the one that creates a bunch of bodies that can be used for Convoke costs in the first place and makes finishes like Imodane’s Recruiter and Reckless Bushwhacker that much more deadly.
Demand for Gleeful Demolition has certainly risen, as this Phyrexia: All Will Be One uncommon has spiked from less than a dollar to $4.24 over the course of February. If you were an avid Phyrexia: All Will Be One drafter, or opened a few boxes chasing after Elesh Norn and Atraxa, it may be worth going through your bulk, as these innocuous uncommons are now surprisingly expensive.
Expect to See Convoke Everywhere!
Magic Con Chicago is coming this weekend. While the preview panel on Friday is going to be incredibly exciting, massive Standard and Pioneer tournaments will be taking place at the venue. Considering how popular Boros Convoke is in both of those formats, chances are Gleeful Demolitions will be resolving all over the place.
Big tournaments like these, however, are also what cause major metagame changes. Between the Standard Pro Tour Qualifier and the Pioneer Pro Tour, the best players in the world are all culminating in one place. Will Boros Convoke remain a meta powerhouse? If not, these cards could fade into obscurity faster than you think.
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