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Daily Stock Watch: Marionette Master

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Hello, readers and welcome to the Thursday edition of the Daily Stock Watch! There has been some hype surrounding Storm the Vault, one of the upcoming cards from Rivals of Ixalan, and it's no surprise that different brews are coming out of nowhere to try and exploit its power. Today, we'll take a look at one of the cards that I think will be the beneficiary of this new craze.


Marionette Master has been one of those cards that players have tried building around since it was printed, but never really found its niche in Standard. Since Storm the Vault was spoiled, people were already thrilled to have a version of Tolarian Academy in Standard as part of a potential combo-shell that could win games using a huge Walking Ballista, or make Tezzeret the Schemer look really good.

Our very own Adam Yurchick has his own take of a "Storm the Marionette Master Combo", and this is how it looks like:

Marionette Master will be one of the win conditions in this artifact-themed deck that aims to flip Storm the Vault as soon as it can, to take advantage of its raw power. Along with Tezzeret the Schemer and Walking Ballista, a flipped Vault of Cataclan could produce lots of mana to allow the deck to operate at will, with games probably ending at the hands of Marionette Master and Hidden Stockpile.

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Based on the Utility Checker, Marionette Master hasn't made any appearance in Standard as part of any maindeck or sideboard strategy going into large tournaments. This could all change very soon if the Storm the Vault deck becomes a success, which also somehow hinges on the idea that Aether Hub is still legal in Standard after the next banning announcement. A four-color shell would be hard to maintain without it, and all this hype that's keeping Storm the Vault above $10 would make very little sense if the deck can't be efficiently used to challenge the top tier decks in Standard.

Right now, Marionette Master is simply sitting at bulk territory at around $0.25, so it's not really that painful to keep some playsets of it. You should be able to find lots of it via Star City Games, TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom, and Channel Fireball, or just try looking for it via the nearest LGS from your place. It's a low-risk, high-reward spec that might just be the break that you've been looking for all along.

And thatā€™s it for the Thursday edition of the Daily Stock Watch! See you again tomorrow, as we check out new cards 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!

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