Hello, everyone and welcome to the Thursday special edition of the Daily Stock Watch! Some decks have been under the radar for a while after losing much of their popularity (and swag, thanks to other tier one decks) but I think that one of them is definitely primed for a comeback over the weekend's Pro Tour. My pick for today is one of the key components of the deck that I think will break through again at PT RIX, and it could spike again if Infect performs well.

Infect became immensely (pun intended) popular in 2016 after winning some big events. This caused the price of Inkmoth Nexus to reach a high of $45.97 during the first quarter of that year. For a deck that could kill you twice as fast as a normal one, this card is highly regarded as the "finisher" as it allows you to beat an opponent out of nowhere as long as they are low on resources to defend themselves, and you have the spells needed to protect Inkmoth Nexus. Last year, the deck became less used because the format has shifted to a creature-based meta, which made cards like Fatal Push, Lightning Bolt, and Path to Exile more popular, all of which could actually finish off your Nexus at one go. However, recent history tells us that players are favoring big mana decks such as Eldra Tron and Titanshift, which means that they are more concerned about destroying the strategy of these decks via hand disruption or counter-magic (both of which Inkmoth Nexus isn't really concerned with).

With all these in mind, I think that now is the best time to use Infect again. The pros might have other things in mind but hey, that's just my two cents. For a more in-depth look at how the deck looks like, check this one out that recently went undefeated in an MTGO Competitive Modern League.

The list hasn't changed that much from the one that was extensively used two years ago, and this says a lot about a deck's capability of winning. Other tier one decks have adjusted to hate cards with the help of new technology from newer sets (Fatal Push, Search for Azcanta, and Kitesail Freebooter are the new ones that come to mind) so the lack of a new piece might be hurting the stock of infect here. The only upside I see in this deck's possible path to resurgence is the lack of a preparation for it in main decks, therefore allowing it to adjust to more removals post-board. However, land destroyers have been more prominent lately to respond to the threat of the big mana decks. I still see lots of room for Inkmoth Nexus to be efficient in a meta like this, as I doubt that your opponent's will single-handedly think of inserting land removals just so they could deal with the Nexus.

RG Ponza is actually a deck again, and it feels like it's 2009 all over again. There are a lot of land hosers in Modern, but Infect isn't all about Inkmoth Nexus. For all we know, Infect might just win the whole thing come Sunday.

Right now, Inkmoth Nexus is available in online stores such as StarCityGames, Channel Fireball, TCGPlayer, and Card Kingdom for $15.99-$17.99. This isn't really a good spec if it doesn't win, but the chances of getting hurt with purchases is minimal as the deck is still very much potent in Legacy. I'd like to look at the idea of this hitting the $30-$40 price range again if it does win (or at least two of the deck makes it to top eight), so I'd say that it would be good to gamble on at least two playsets for now. Stay away from foil copies for now, as there really isn't much growth in it even if the normal ones spike due to the availability of the WMCQ foils.

And that’s it for the Thursday edition of the Daily Stock Watch! See you again tomorrow, as we check out a new card that should be on the go, or good enough for speculating. As always, feel free to share 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!