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Hello, everyone, and welcome to another week of the Daily Stock Watch! Last week, we focused primarily on some Modern cards that saw some financial movement over the last couple of tournaments. In the aftermath of Pro Tour Ixalan, it's time for the spotlight to shine on Standard.
So for today's segment, we'll focus on one of the weekend's biggest gainers:
As per MTGStocks, this card was at around $17.58 last Friday before the Pro Tour and now sits in the $25 to $30 range after four copies of the card made it to the top 8 (two each used in Mike Sigrist and Piotr Glogowski's Four-Color Energy decks) . What easily comes to mind for MTG purists is that in a Pro Tour, players are not carried to the top 8 by the strength of their Standard deck alone; you'll also have to factor in their Limited record. Guess what, though?
Sigrist and Glogowski made it to the top 8 on the strength of a combined sixteen wins, three losses and one draw for the Standard portion. All four copies of their Vraska, Relic Seeker were in the main deck, so it certainly didn't slither its way in to the top for the current hefty price tag it carries. But is this tournament enough reason to buy in now?
For reference, let's take a look at Piotr Glogowski's list (8 wins, 1 loss, 1 draw – Swiss record):
4 Color Energy
Personally, I like this list better because Skysovereign, Consul Flagship was chosen over Chandra, Torch of Defiance. It interacts very well with Vraska in taking care of creatures (that's not named Hazoret, the Fervent) on the opposing side of the table, and it also allows Vraska to focus more on troublesome enchantment or artifacts. To be honest, I think this is the main reason why it is so good in this deck. It gives you access to sideboard-like card effects while giving your opponent a two-turn clock to work on before they go down to one life. The 2/2 Pirate creatures (with menace!) it creates is also constant pressure if left unanswered, and could definitely win games on its own.
Wait, there were only four copies of Vraska in the top 8. This lady has seven. Why aren't we talking about her instead?
It is true that both of the 4C Energy decks in the top 8 played two copies of Nissa in their boards, though I'm not sure if its role is to sub in for Vraska or just to add card advantage for certain matchups. However, this card's price hasn't moved an inch despite of the exposure from the Pro Tour top 8. It's probably due to too much supply, or people are just wary that it's a fringe player in an otherwise awesome deck.
At the moment, Star City Games is out of stock on Vraska, and you could expect them to restock at around $30 soon. TCGplayer has some merchants still selling them for $27, but the supply isn't really too high. Channel Fireball is your best bet for getting your own playset, as they still have a trove of it at $28 each. Foil copies are just sitting at $35 once they are restocked, barring any movements from sellers, and could be a good price to buy in for collection or playing purposes.
In general, I think more packs of Ixalan will be opened as there are still upcoming tournaments where they'll be given out as prize packs. Despite the absence of Masterpieces in this set, it has somehow performed better than expected, but still remains below market value (box value for Ixalan is currently at the $65 to $75 range) for the entire set. This could all change very soon if we see more movement from mythics like Vraska and that would only mean that more packs would be cracked by the public.
For now, I'm still skeptic with its value and I'll only buy in for spec purposes at $15 and below. If you'd be using it, getting them at around $20 would be the best price in my opinion. It is a strong card, no doubt, but I'd rather focus on these two for the time being:
Always feel free to voice 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!
