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Hello, everyone and welcome to a new edition of the Daily Stock Watch! Standard season is in full bloom and there is still no clear picture as to what the best deck in the format is, so we'd like to take advantage of all the breaks that we could get as finance junkies. The card that I would feature today is one of those cards that gained some leverage from the arrival of Dominaria, as it rose from the ranks of a bulk rare to that of a vital cog and the centerpiece of a mid-tier deck in the format. Our card for today just reached its all-time high of $6.99, and there might some more room for growth if it gets the much needed exposure that it clamors for in the Pro Tour.
Tendershoot Dryad was a bad card until Slimefoot, the Stowaway, Llanowar Elves and company arrived from DOM. Suddenly, you have a Saproling lord that produces its children every turn (mini Groots, if you don't mind) and pumps them subconsciously to smash you whenever they get the chance. Backed with some efficient removals from black, the deck could give every opposing deck a run for its money on any given time. Just so you know what I'm talking about, take a look at this Golgari Saproling deck.
Golgari Saprolings
With a steady flow of threats that are scattered across the board, this deck is balanced on both offense and defense until it could power out Tendershoot Dryad which serves as a pseudo-Overrun effect if you're unable to stymie the saproling platoon that has been established before its arrival. It doesn't have a hard time reaching the absolute stage of ascension with all the tokens around, and it seems that clogging the board is how Standard would look like for the next couple of months. I really like how this deck is looking, and I think that it is well-positioned to beat any deck on a consistent basis because of its resilience. There's probably more room for financial growth for this card, as this deck is very cheap to build with majority of the role players coming in from DOM.
Ascension Key Cards
Some of these cards will finally make sense as we enter an era of permanents in Standard. With Settle the Wreckage and Fumigate as the solid real creature sweepers in the format, games could start to get dragging if the meta shifts to a midrange-control type of environment. Since players are still working on fast decks that rely on the likes of Goblin Chainwhirler and Heart of Kiran, it might take some time before this Golgari Saproling deck becomes a legit threat to the upper tier of the format. It would be a good start though to get your copies, as Ixalan will be around for a while and this will probably be one of the best shells to build on once some of the Standard sets rotate out in the latter part of the year. I like how Tendershoot Dryad and its kin are positioned to make a run in the future.
At the moment, you could get copies of Tendershoot Dryad from online stores such as StarCityGames, Card Kingdom and TCGPlayer for anywhere between $6-$7.99. Channel Fireball is dried out and should be refilling at the same price range soon. I think that this card will easily be a $10 in the future, barring any insane addition to the other decks in the upcoming core set, so get yours while it's still on the rise. I could be wrong about this, but I just feel that it would actually be a good time to pick them up now, especially if you intend to play Standard for the coming season.
And that’s it for today's 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!
Also, worth noting that Tendershoot Dryad is a snap include in every Saproling Commander deck from now until the end of time. Love the idea of picking up foil ones.
I also noticed that other saproling-related cards in older formats such as Utopia Mycon gained some steam. Thanks for the extra info, Brian!