Hidden Dragonslayer

Hidden Dragonslayer has grown from .3 to .7 tix since last Friday, because it is beginning to gain momentum alongside Deathmist Raptor. It was in the maindeck of two Top 8 finishers at GP Paris, the finals G/W Collected Company deck and an Abzan Megamorph deck. It was also in two of the Top 16 maindecks, in the same two archetypes. The card is great against Abzan Aggro and their Anafenza, the Foremost and Siege Rhino, and with Lifelink it does a lot of great work against red decks.

Stratus Dancer spiked to over 3 tix after its Pro Tour Top 8, so there is still a lot of upside to Hidden Dragonslayer as it grows into a mainstream top-tier staple of the format. The paper price still sits under $1, which is poised to at least double as the card picks up in popularity.

Crackling Doom

Keep your eyes on Crackling Doom. This card was a 0.1 tix near-bulk rare until the end of April, when the price began to rise with rumors of how strong it is against Esper Dragons and Dragonlord Ojutai. The card hit 0.4 tix in the matter of a few days, before falling back to 0.3 over the week.

Then, after GP Toronto, hype around Mardu Dragons increased demand and spiked the price to 0.6 tix. It has since fallen back to 0.3, but this past weekend it bumped up again to 0.5. I don’t expect that the price will fall below that 0.3 threshold again while in Standard, and now it will continue to rise towards 1 tix or more. The paper price is at a stagnant all-time low of $1, so now may be a great time to buy in before the summer brings the price upwards.

Rattleclaw Mystic

Rattleclaw Mystic is great with Deathmist Raptor, and it is being increasingly incorporated alongside that card. Rattleclaw Mystic has been receiving extra attention this week for its three-of inclusion in the Four-Color Collected Company deck that went 9-0 on Day 1 of GP Paris before ultimately finishing in 11th place. This deck has received a lot of attention for its innovation, and it will see many copycats, a wave that Rattleclaw Mystic is riding.

0.1 tix at the end of April, the hype around Deathmist Raptor brought the Mystic to 0.5 by the middle of last week. It fell to 0.3 by Friday, but over the weekend it headed back towards 0.5. All of the factors around this card, including the Deathmist Raptor synergy, the new publicized archetype, the fact that KTK is out of the competitive draft environment, and the fact that this card is a solid staple that could be played in a variety of decks until rotation next year means that it’s a great pickup unlikely to plummet in value, and potentially a big winner.

A flat $1.5 from December until April, Rattleclaw Mystic has slowly grown to nearly $2. I expect this price will only continue to grow at this slow and steady pace.

Soulfire Grand Master

The player that piloted Mardu Dragons to the GP Toronto final called Soulfire Grand Master his best card and that he would go from two to three copies. The archetype reached the Top 16 of GP Paris sporting four copies.

Soulfire Grand Master was once over 15 tix in the first week of March, but it’s now down to under 6. It was down to under 4 a week ago, but I believe Mardu Dragons is responsible for increasing the price. If Soulfire Grand Master becomes more widespread, the price will continue to grow higher, and all it will take is a big high-profile finish to begin the card spiking back towards 15 tix or even more.

The paper price has been steadily sliding downwards from around $13.5 at the time of the MTGO peak, down to $11. It’s possible the price continues to fall, but it could also be a good time to pick up some copies because Soulfire Grand Master is still relatively underplayed in Standard given its power level. I’m interested to see the card paired with Collected Company.

Anafenza, the Foremost

The cyclical nature of Standard has brought Anafenza, the Foremost to the forefront in the successful Abzan Aggro archetype, which is now back in the Standard spotlight. At the beginning of January, during this archetype’s peak in the metagame, this card was over 10 tix, but it had fallen to an all-time low of 3 tix by mid-March. It was relatively flat until mid-April, by which time it had doubled to 6, and recent metagame movements have brought it up over 7 and approaching 8 tix.

I expect that his card might have a little more juice in it, perhaps towards 10, but I would be wary. Abzan Aggro is great, and in fact my deck of choice du jour, but as the metagame reacts it will eventually become a worse choice and may fall from grace for a period, at which time the price of its headline mythic will fall back downwards.

The paper price has fallen towards $4, nearly half the all-time high of $7.5 near the end of February, and approaching the all-time low of $3.3 around Christmas. With KTK out of draft, this price is likely to increase. I also like the card’s potential in Modern, casual formats, and as a Commander, so over the long-term this is a solid holding.

Collected Company

Over the weekend Collected Company spiked from under 4 tix to over 7 tix. Like I predicted last week, this card still had a lot of legs to it, and it has just begun its dominance in Standard. This massive price spike is certainly due to hype from last weekend’s Grand Prix, and the general increase in the card on MTGO last week.

This card is here to stay, and while I think the price has now peaked for this week, it is unlikely to fall below 6 tix, and is just as likely to head towards 10 tix on the back of another big finish or dominance on MTGO.

The paper price has spiked from $5 last Friday to nearly $10 today. Don't expect to get them much cheaper this weekend, and expect to pay more from dealers.

-Adam