Welcome back, readers and speculators!

As you might have expected, Pro Tours have the largest effect on card prices. It seems that while there are definitely some players who like to make their own path, a large percentage of players prefer to mimic the pros, with perhaps a tweak or two.

Plenty will just copy decklists card for card, and while I'm not going to judge them for that, it is critical to understand why the card is in their in the first place--if you want a good example read over Ari Lax's sideboarding in of Mass Calcify against Jeskai Aggro in the quarterfinals of PTKTK.

Anywho, the best thing about the Pro Tour is that it can cause massive spikes in demand for certain cards. This Pro Tour was no different, however the cards that spiked were a little unusual. Not because of their power level, but because unlike in a lot of previous Pro Tours, the spikes occurred on regular rares as opposed to mythics.

Here were the two biggest winners:

1. Dig Through Time

This card found a home in the Jeskai Tempo/Burn decks. These decks tend to play a lot of cheaper cards (including burn spells) to fill their yard up. The ability to find the higher damage burn spells for two mana--since the yard serves no purpose for this style of deck--is exactly the type of answer they needed.

Dig Through Time was a $2-card that jumped to $13 (we're going to ignore the one-night $17 spike). This was actually a pretty easy call given we saw the Jeskai Burn decks do so well the week before at the SCG Open and this card does seem like an obvious natural fit.

Sadly, I myself didn't make any moves on it (though I did keep both copies I already had). I honestly didn't expect it to be a four-of given the diminishing returns of the delve mechanic.

2. Siege Rhino

This is one I actually did think might do well. My friend and I had been playtesting Junk Midrange (or Abzan for the newer players) for a while and the Rhino was a beating. If you didn't understand why this card is ridiculous....

This card used to be the most efficient beater printed. It was the template for future cards like Grinning Demon and even Master of the Feast. Five-plus-power black creatures for four or less mana come with a drawback. The sad part is good ol' Juzam can't beat a player with Squirrel Nest.

Now WoTC gives us a 4/5 for four...and it has trample...and it has a built in Blood Tithe. Ari Lax got a concession on turn five in the finals by going turn four Rhino, turn five Rhino.

Mythic Rares

Now for the Khans mythics that saw significant gains.

1. Pearl Lake Ancient

This card saw the second highest percentage gain of any card (with #1 being Dig Through Time). It showed up as a one- to two-of in the U/B Control sideboards as the new Aetherling. What it lacks in unblockability it makes up for by allowing control players to "re-use" scry lands and being uncounterable.

A lot of people seemed to miss that it has prowess, which is more important than it seems at first glance. When basically every spell in your deck besides these guys is one third of a Giant Growth, he can easily two-shot someone.

2. See the Unwritten

This was my pick for the breakout card of States/PTKTK solely based on my own playtesting. Of course there was clear bias there (as I adored Summoning Trap back in Zendikar). But the ability to dig for and cheat in large creatures for six mana is already decent on its own--throw in the fact that with a deck built around it you can get two creatures and you're looking at a pretty solid card.

This card was seen in the G/B Constellation decks (played by none other than Johnny Magic himself). When you slap on constellation triggers (typically giving your opponents' creatures -1/-1) this card turns into a Plague Wind that also cheats in creatures. A lot of people failed to notice that it puts the other cards into your graveyard so it has decent synergy with the delve mechanic.

3. Wingmate Roc

This was the top choice among the QS crowd for likely breakout star and it didn't disappoint. While not as dominant as originally expected, it showed up where it counts...the finals. This guy had a solid 80% gain from a week and a half ago.

What's important to note is that the two cards you'd most likely have assumed to breakout didn't: the planeswalkers. While both had solid showings, neither jumped up in price (likely because they already were expensive). Sarkhan actually dropped a little, while Sorin did make a slight gain (but was by no means a jump).

Non-Khans Cards

But Pro Tour Khans of Tarkir wasn't a Khans block format, it was all of Standard. So lets look at the non-Khans cards that saw significant play.

1. Hero's Downfall

The best black removal spell in Standard right now with the ability to kill any creature, or just as importantly any planeswalker (not named Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker after his +1 has been activated), saw a very nice jump thanks to PTKTK. It's jumped back to its pre-Event Deck price.

2. Sylvan Caryatid

The best mana fixer we have in Standard right now showed up as a four-of in the finals. Helping to ramp out turn three Siege Rhinos all day, Caryatid proves that one turn faster makes a huge difference. However it's important to note that the price of Caryatid didn't seem to move up much with its strong PT showing, most likely because it was already expected to show up in high numbers.

3. Elspeth, Sun's Champion

Often described as the "best thing you can do for six mana" in Standard, Elspeth provides both a wrath effect and an instant army effect stapled together. She's a straight up win condition that provides excellent card advantage and is the bane of "monster" decks everywhere (at least ones not running Stormbreath Dragon and/or Doomwake Giant). She showed up as a three-of in Ari Lax's winning deck, but showed up six times in the Top 8 (granted three were in sideboards).

4. Prognostic Sphinx

This card actually showed up nine times in the Top 8 decklists (five of which were in sideboards), but he was one of the stars of the block format. While he didn't jump a whole lot, so much Theros was opened that a card would have to be a major breakout star to see a big jump. However, you can clearly see a small spike thanks to so many copies in the Top 8.

And that's your Pro Tour Khans of Tarkir wrap up. See you next week for another installment of MTG Stockwatch.