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Hello, everyone and welcome to a new week of the Daily Stock Watch! I made some brave predictions in the past for the Pro Tour, and it looks like some of them paid off. Before I go into details about these cards, let's check out the top eight decks from the event:
- WINNER: Lantern Control by Luis Salvatto
- FINALIST: Mardu Pyromancer by Gerry Thompson
- SEMIFINALIST: Hollow One by Ken Yukihiro
- SEMIFINALIST: UR Pyromancer by Pascal Vieren
- QUARTERFINALIST: Abzan by Reid Duke
- QUARTERFINALIST: Humans by Javier Dominguez
- QUARTERFINALIST: Humans by Andrea Mengucci
- QUARTERFINALIST: Traverse Shadow by Jean-Emmanuel Depraz
The Biggest Winners
The Breakdown..
THE FINALISTS - I've talked about half of the cards above in previous articles, and I'm glad that I was right on some of them. Bedlam Reveler was a bulk card when I featured it on this segment, and it's now sitting nicely at $7 after making it to the finals. It could have easily been $10 if it won the whole thing, but Lantern Control was the odds on favorite to win (and win it did) in a creature-heavy top eight. Mox Opal is a key component of the winning deck, but I think that it has already peaked at $70+ (and $80 seems farfetched for now with Masters 25 around the corner) and is still a four-of in Affinity, unlike the rest of the cards in the deck which are barely used anywhere. I'd still encourage you to stay away from the opals until you've seen the whole spoiler of the next Masters set, but it could hit the $100 mark if it dodges the reprint.
THE SEMIFINALISTS - Goblin Lore is the new hot card in the format, and I don't think that it will sustain this price tag if the deck doesn't continue its winning ways. A $15 uncommon is definitely a bait for trading purposes, but this can be attributed to the fact that it's hard to find copies of this card out in the open market. Along with another key cog of the deck in Burning Inquiry, this deck has made its way to the top (who could forget that turn one Burning Inquiry that left Reid Duke with just one land?!) and should be a fixture in the meta for a while. Meanwhile, Snapcaster Mage and Young Pyromancer also had fine performances (especially the latter with seven copies making it to the final eight) and this puts UR back on the map with a variant that's different from Storm. The very pricey Scalding Tarn also makes its appearance here, so this helps in keeping its price at the $70 range.
THE REST OF THE FIELD - The only deck to have two representatives in the finale was the Five-Color Humans deck that Collins Mullen has made popular late last year. Phantasmal Image and a singleton Kytheon, Hero of Akros are the new techs in these lists, and this was the primary reason why the image is a $7 card again. Although both decks came up short in the event, you would still see lots of it going forward, as it is very consistent and strong in what it wants to accomplish (Aether Vial won't also plummet back to earth despite of its reprint in IMA). It's also a welcome sight that Tarmogoyf made its presence felt in the Abzan and Traverse Shadow lists, so maybe we would be seeing more of it again in the coming days. Collective Brutality was a very popular card during the entire event, as almost any deck that packs black has a copy of it on their 75. I expect the price of this card to go beyond its current tag of $15, so start getting your copies now. Liliana of the Veil should stay put until we could see the whole M25 spoiler, but she shouldn't suffer much financially if it gets reprinted.
Final notes..
Whir of Invention barely moved even though it was well-represented in the winning deck, but I still have high hopes for this card going forward. I'd still go for copies of it for under a dollar and just store it away somewhere for the time being. Hollow One is also experiencing the same issues, but it is more restricted to a deck of this variety so I think that the demand for it going forward won't be as high as that with Whir of Invention.
And that’s it for this Monday special edition of the Daily Stock Watch! See you again tomorrow, as we go back to our regular routine on this segment. 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!
Bugs me that Whir is so cheap. Maybe because Kaladesh Washington heavily opened. One upside for it is the improvise mechanic attached which could only be reprinted in a edition with more cards with the same keyword.
Thanks for the free content.
I agree on your sentiment, Felipe. Going forward, there’s a lot of potential for the card, though. Get your copies while you could. Thanks for reading this segment always!
The fact that it’s cheap might have to do with fears of a banning of something in Lantern Control.
#1) Affinity This deck pulls out a lot of free wins and rewards good play, making a very attractive choice for many pros. It also helps that many of them have piloted a version of the deck at one point or another, so they probably will feel very comfortable in choosing it. I would be very surprised if we don’t see a copy or two of this deck in the top 8. #2) Lantern Control: Kaladesh and Aether Revolt made this deck a lot better, but it can be tricky to play, as well as mentally taxing for a tournament like the Pro Tour. The main problem with this deck is that you have to have a thorough matchup knowledge as well as dodge the Tron matchups. #3) Storm: A generally solid choice in the current metagame, this deck can be very hard to deal with and is now extremely consistent with Gifts Ungiven as well as the 7-8 spell cost reducers. Because of the deck’s graveyard interactions, discard spells are a little less effective here than they would be otherwise, especially since Inquisition of Kozilek can’t even hit Gifts Ungiven, making Storm more resilient than most other combo decks in the meta. #4) Eldrazi Tron: While this is my personal favorite deck, I do think it has dropped a little in viability, mostly due to the prevalence of humans decks.