This upcoming week of MTG is going to be a huge one. Standard bans just got announced, Lord of the Rings spoiler season is beginning this Tuesday, the Arena Championship resolves on Sunday, and next weekend is the beginning of the new Regional Championship season!
Unfortunately, not all of these points are yet affecting the secondary market, but many soon will be. At the time of writing, the biggest influencer on the current secondary market appears to be the last point on the list. Players are preparing for a serious bout of competitive Pioneer, driving a lot of innovation in the format over the past week. As a result, many of these things have been discussed on the site throughout the past week, but there is a lot to look at here.
Knight-Errant of Eos
Knight-Errant of Eos has seen a considerable price spike thanks to the current Pioneer flavor of the week. After last week’s Pioneer Challenge ended up in a faceoff of aggressive decks using Convoke, one of the more feared mechanics the game offers thanks to the potential design mistake named Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis, players were afraid that Pioneer would get taken over by a new aggressive menace.
Because of the deck’s sudden appearance, especially in regards to the beginning of the new Regional Championship season, we highlighted this card last week as one to watch out for. Those who may have decided to take the plunge are being heavily rewarded. Before the spike, Knight-Errant of Eos wasn’t even worth a dollar. Now, its currently selling for between $5 and $10 for the most part, but its current average seems to be around $6. That’s a 500% minimum increase from our previous report!
Personally, I am unsure if I would advise buying in at this point. As someone who partakes in Pioneer a fair bit, I think this deck is a little overrated at the moment. That said, there is lots of opportunity for the deck to be solved and become the next tier one archetype but, right now, its just not there yet.
Invasion of Gobakhan
Another payoff in the Boros Convoke deck, Invasion of Gobakhan’s spike is largely driven by the new Boros Convoke hotness, but the card sees play in other places. It’s also quite good in Mono White Aggro in Pioneer and sees play in some Azorius Soldiers, Mono White, and the new Jeskai Dragons deck in Standard.
Interestingly, Invasion of Gobakhan has a financial history that is very atypical of the average MTG card. It is very normal for an MTG card to have an inflated price during the prerelease season, but this is actually when Invasion of Gobakhan’s price was actually the lowest. According to TCGplayer, the card started around $2.30 and has increased over the past few months to what is now as high as $17!
The card is not generally going for quite that much but is commonly over $10. Chances are, this is the sleeper card of the March of the Machine set that people missed. The Convoke deck may just be overhyped at the moment, but this card is likely the real deal.
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Reckless Bushwhacker
Pioneer players may notice that there is an overwhelming theme to today’s financial report… Reckless Bushwhacker is yet another payoff to the WR Convoke deck in Pioneer. Combined with the power of Gleeful Demolition, one of the biggest tools this deck has to use, Reckless Bushwhacker can easily run out nine or more damage as early as turn two!
Notably, however, Reckless Bushwacker is also a part of the 8-whack archetype of old in the Modern format. Considered a decent budget option that has a strong Murktide matchup, this deck can be surprisingly popular in some local metagames.
Either way, the Oath of the Gatewatch uncommon has gone from being borderline bulk to something with a respectable price – $3 to $5 each! Players who drafted during the Oath of the Gatewatch days may want to dig through their bulk – I’m definitely putting some time in my calendar.
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Ozolith, the Shattered Spire
Besides being an absolute powerhouse in the March of the Machine Limited formats, Ozolith, the Shattered Spire is also an incredible addition to the Hardened Scaled deck in Modern. Essentially extra copies of the deck’s namesake card, Ozolith can also add counters to your creatures itself. Even the card’s downsides are converted to upside thanks to the card’s innate Cycling.
A lot of people immediately saw the potential for Ozolith to upgrade the Hardened Scales strategy – it’s basically a one-for-one copy of the ability, after all. However, when March of the Machine first released, Hardened Scales did not see a lot of Modern play, but this may not have been due to the deck’s viability. This archetype was also plagued by an MTGO bug – one of the core cards for the archetype did not work properly. Since many MTG players tend to wait for something to break out from the online client, this may have affected the deck’s playability more than its power level did. Regardless, the deck did see a huge power spike thanks to this new tool.
Either way, Ozolith, the Shattered Spire has increased in price a bunch after Hardened Scales broke out online. The card now goes for between $5 and $8, whereas it used to go for a bit under $2.50.
Doric, Nature’s Warden
Doric, Nature’s Warden from the Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Secret Lair has seen a massive uptick over the past few weeks! Many who have utilized her as a Commander have absolutely loved the play experience with her.
Chances are Doric’s price increase is reflected by a highlight in EDH content creation, but it is a well-deserving one. Doric allows you to steer your games into a unique space that other cards before her have been unable to capture.
In terms of price, Doric has more than doubled, increasing from $10 to $21 throughout May.
These Aren’t the Only Spikes!
Many of the spikes that we take a look at here have actually been referenced before. There was another significant spike this week, but, since we already talked about that one in detail, we did not mention it here.
In terms of recommendations, there’s not much to note. A few new Pioneer archetypes have hit the scene once again, but they aren’t getting nearly as much attention as Boros Convoke did last week. Zurgo and Ojutai also made a huge splash at the Arena Championships but with Standard bans now here; it’s tough to evaluate whether or not the strategy will still be good post-ban.
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