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Hello, readers and welcome to a new week of the Daily Stock Watch! The Modern madness continues today with a surprisingly risky spec gambit for whoever bought out the copies of our featured card. Who would have thought that a witty (yet wild) idea to beat Chalice of the Void for one or zero is by proliferating? Are people buying into that risk by going for this card? Absolutely not. It actually has something to do with the new Affinity variant called "Hardened Modular" that runs this card in their main decks that's causing this hype train.
Buyouts are happening everywhere and that's for a good reasoning. A recent MTGO Modern MOCS just concluded with three players making it to the top eight running this list that looks and feels just like Affinity, except that it's mono green and was reliant on the modular ability more than anything else.
Hardened Modular by Joao_Andrade
As much as it looks like the Affinity of old, this one attacks you in a way that aren't really suspecting it to. Sure, it could kill you in an instant via infect with the classic Arcbound Ravager and Blinkmoth Nexus one-hit combo but what makes this variant extra scary is that it could do it a whole lot earlier, thanks largely to Hardened Scales and Throne of Geth. Almost every Affinity list would succumb to a turn two Stony Silence but this list doesn't die to that one card hoser because of green cards in its sideboard such as Nature's Claim and Natural State. Therefore, there is no surprise that Affinity has gone missing in the top tables and was replaced by this archetype that could still catch some people off-guard with its ways.
Throne of Geth has spiked to its all-time high of $3.02 as of writing, but I already saw the TCGPlayer median price hitting the $6+ range while supplies continue to thin out. This card is from a fairly old set called Scars of Mirrodin where Modern staples such as Blackcleave Cliffs and Seachrome Coast come from. An uncommon that hasn't been reprinted (and which I believe won't be getting reprinted anytime soon) such as this one will continue to spike as more players start searching for it to try the new deck and we might be looking at its new standard price for the coming months.
What We Could Still Spec On
Just like every other archetype that's only starting to gain traction in Modern, there are still plenty of pieces that could be used for this deck or are already in this deck that could still see some financial gains. The meta has adapted to a sideboard plan that hates on graveyards more (Rest in Peace, Remorseful Cleric, Leyline of the Void) and less on artifact hate (although less copies of Kataki, War's Wage are around, Stony Silence remains an auto-inclusion in white-based sideboards) which puts this deck in a tremendous position to make a case for tier one consideration in lieu of Affinity. This makes Throne of Geth such a valuable card going forward and justify its price increase further. We could still make a last minute run for it before it goes completely off the charts.
At the moment, StarCityGames, Card Kingdom, and ChannelFireball have all gone out of stock of this card. Only a few vendors remain on TCGPlayer with copies of it and with a vast majority of those that still have it for under $3 is because it's either a non-English copy of the card, or the condition is non-mint. I would still go for the ones under $3 if the condition is tolerable, especially if you'll need it for playing. Foil copies of this card hasn't been around for a while but it would be an awesome pickup at $10 or less if ever you come across one. There's still some time to buy it before it goes obsolete!
And that’s it for today’s edition of the Daily Stock Watch! See you again next time, 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!
