Hello, fellow planeswalkers, and welcome to another edition of the Daily Stock Watch! Today, let's take a look at one of those cards that's always drawing attention whenever a banning (and potential lifting of bans) announcement is drawing close. It is a personal favorite of mine and I'm sure that it also helped you win a lot of games (and lose some as well!) during its prime.

If you checked the link above, you'll see that I was also one of those Jund players who loved to "spin the wheel" with Bloobdraid Elf's cascade. More often than not, it nets you a free spell that will hurt your opponent such as these cards:

As nostalgic as it gets, we won't see any of these getting cascaded in Modern anytime soon. Pro Tour Rivals of Ixalan is all set to be held on February 2-4 so expect the official Banned and Restricted Announcement to happen around that date. I'm not sure if people got confused with the change in the schedule announcement but for now, I am more inclined to think about what triggers these price spikes and why I'm not a fan of speculating on this card anymore.

For reference, let's compare how Jund looks like today (minus BBE) and how it looked like before when it was manning the fort:

Looking at that Jund deck from the past will give you an idea of how efficient BBE made every card with casting cost three or less in that deck. One look at today's list and you'll drool at the possibility of it cascading into a Kolaghan's Command[card], [card]Liliana of the Veil or Fulminator Mage. The power level will be a bit absurd if that happens, and I think that Magic's R&D team is well aware of that. Could you imagine flipping an Ancestral Vision off your BBE?

In case you're wondering why I've been talking more about BBE in Jund than any other deck, I think it's fair to say that it enjoyed the most success while it was there before it tasted the banhammer. Three years removed from that fateful day, people are still hoping that it will be unbanned and used in Modern. With the help of my Utility Checker, only forty seven Jund decks (the only legit deck in Legacy where BBE sees play) have made its way to the top 8 of any relevant tournaments this year, which accounts for a measly one percent of the Legacy top tier decks. It hasn't won any Legacy events in convincing fashion as well to merit any price jumps.

Last week, you could get BBE for as low as $0.52 but that window has now closed. Its average price is now somewhere in the $2-3 range, and it's funny that near mint copies of the card are out of stock on some stores like Star City Games and Channel Fireball. You could shop for them if you'd like your own copies via TCGPlayer and Card Kingdom for its average price. The foil copies (FNM promos, Alara Reborn, Eternal Masters) are all sitting north of $8 and is something that I won't even consider buying at this point in time.

With that in the hindsight, it's fair to say that this price spike is a preparation of sorts for people who've always hoped that the elf will find its way back to Modern. It's not really impossible for it to happen as the metagame has shifted in favor of decks like Eldrazi Aggro, Death's Shadow variants, and the suddenly popular Humans deck.

The re-emergence of a consistent midrange deck like Jund could even out the playing field or tilt it in full swing to its favor -- but this kind of puzzle solving is something that we should leave to those people who are in charge of banning cards in the first place. For as long as Modern is balanced, especially right after that Pro Tour, I don't see any reason for the ban on BBE to be lifted. I'd stay away from the hype if I were you.

Always feel free to voice your opinion in the comments section below. And if you want to keep up with all the market movement, be sure to check in with the QS Discord Channel for real time market information, and stay ahead of the hottest specs!