Hello, everyone.

This week I'm going to talk about some of the best two-drops in Modern that you might consider investing in on MTGO based on their current low prices. Modern is a very fast format where early plays are crucial. One-drop slots are often occupied by one-mana spells like Serum Visions, Canoptek Scarab Swarm, Though Scour, Thoughtseize, and Inquisition of Kozilek. The two-drop slot is where you find the most powerful creatures in the format. Like what, you may ask?

No. 1 – Tarmogoyf

Here it comes, the best vanilla creature ever printed in Magic's history. You might already know that the price of this card is going steadily downhill, as it has been reprinted three times. Further adding to its descent, with the printing of Fatal Push and with Death's Shadow decks taking over the midrange decks in the format, this card has lost a lot of popularity. However, if you look at its long-term trajectory, this card has typically recovered after previous reprintings (Modern Masters 2013 and 2015) and is at an all-time low. It might take a while to get your returns on this card, but I feel Tarmogoyf is worth investing in.

No. 2 – Snapcaster mage

I think this is the favorite card of most blue players. Being able to flash back a spell at instant speed, plus having a body in play, is too powerful in Modern. Snapcaster Mage is dropping in price, towards the 10-ticket mark. Snapcaster has been maintaining a price of 14 or more since Modern Masters 2017, and I'm not very sure on the reasons for the recent price drop, because it is widely used in Vintage and Legacy in addition to Modern. Based on all the play it sees in so many formats, I think this is fine to pick up as the price slides a little further

No. 3 – Dark Confidant

The flavor text: "Greatness, at any cost" best describes price speculations. Sometimes, we get to earn a lot of tickets from our good specs, but we will also inevitably lose money due to incorrect picks or unpredictable events. If we are not willing to pay the cost (buy cards as specs), then we will never have the chance to see great profits. Dark Confidant is one of the best card-draw engines in Modern and Legacy. The opponent will usually need to deal with it immediately or they will be behind on cards, and Confidant's controller can take over the game with the incremental advantage. Currently, the card is at 11 tickets, which is pretty low compared to the price five months ago.  I suggest picking up playsets of Confidant with the price between 10 and 11 tickets.

No. 4 – Grim Flayer

Grim Flayer was a staple in the Standard format last season. However, the price quickly dropped below 10 tickets as rotation neared. Interestingly, the price of Flayer is now back above 10 tickets with the help of Abzan decks appearing in Modern events. Players who have played Abzan or Jund decks before should have know that this card is like Tarmogoyf five through eight in those decks – if an opponent can't handle it, they lose very quickly. Looking at the current price graph, it seems that it is ascending in price again, so I suggest picking up some copies at the current price.

No. 5 – Scavenging Ooze

Scavenging Ooze is a living graveyard-hate and life-gain engine which is mainboardable in almost every green deck. Its price has been fluctuating between 2 and 4 tickets consistently after the Modern Masters 2017 reprint, so you should put this card in your watchlist and buy them when the price is on the low end of that range. In the long run, I think it will pass the 4-ticket mark at some point. If you read my article last week, I think we can put Scavenging Ooze under the cyclical movement category discussed there.

No. 6 – Bloodghast

This card is played in a large number of decks in Modern – Dredge, White-Black Smallpox and various Rogue decks. Bloodghast provides virtual card advantage through its landfall ability, which synergizes well with effects like Smallpox and self-milling. From the graph, we can see this is another card that has fallen into the cyclical pattern, and the best time to buy copies is when they are below 4 tickets. At its current price, we've missed the best opportunity because it has just increased in price a bit. But it's not too late to notice the patterns on this card.

No. 7 – Selfless Spirit

Selfless Spirit is another card in addition to Grim Flayer that was popular in Standard last season. The main purpose of this card is to protect your creatures from being swept away by board wipes. Boros Charm or Golgari Charm is occasionally used to similarly protect creatures, but both require the player to leave up two mana, while having a risk of getting countered. Selfless Spirit, on the other hand, allows the creature deck pilot to play more creatures into the board. At the current price, I think it's worth investing in some copies.

No. 8 – Chalice of the Void

Despite being an XX mana cost card, this artifact is usually used to shut down one-drops in the early game, so I think its fine to include this card as a two-drop on this list. The price of Chalice reached its peak between June and July, and it's currently back down to about 30 tickets, which is half the price of the peak price. This card was reprinted in Kaladesh as an Invention, but the price still went up after that, which means the price drop now is not because of the mentioned reprint. By looking at the graph, we can see that the price is still going downward, so I suggest you guys keep track of the movement here – if it does hit the 25-ticket mark, you may want to pick up some copies for investment.

No. 9 – Abrupt Decay

Abrupt Decay is one of the best hit-all removal spells in all Eternal formats. This card has been reprinted a few times, so the price of Decay is relatively low compared to last year, but after looking at the graph, we can find out that the price is constantly fluctuating between 1.5 and 3 tickets. The play here is simple: buy when the card is around 1.5 and sell when it hits somewhere near 2.8.

No. 10 – Hangarback Walker

Similar to Chalice of the Void, Hangarback Walker is usually being cast on turn two. Decks that play this card are: Eldrazi Tron, Krark-Clan Ironworks combo, and occasionally Affinity. This card can be very annoying for the opponent in certain matchups. Based on the graph, I suggest buying this card whenever it's below 1.5 tickets, as the price stays consistently between 1 and 2 tickets. If you are investing in this card, you can probably wait for the bigger spikes, like the ones in mid-June and mid-August this year.

Alright guys, that’s all for this week. I want to thank you all for reading, and I’ll see you all again next week!

–Adrian, signing out.