Ashes of the Fallen: Tracking Price Drops WRITTEN BY Nicholas Lever

Hello readers, and welcome! Apologies for my absence—I have spurned all other responsibilities to ship enough cards to climb back into the Top 50 on the PucaTrade Leaderboards. If you received one of the 700 Circle of Protection: Reds I mailed out over the last few months, you’re welcome.

THE CROWN IS HEAVY

PucaTrade’s Future Site has some fantastic new features, and everyone has their favorites. For you, maybe it’s MTGO trading, support for non-English languages, crippling bugs, or maybe Derpy Horse being quietly put out to pasture. However, for a hideous nerd like me, my highlight is the new Trade Trends function.





We like to talk a lot in Magic about price spikes, but what about price drops? Sometimes, when Wizards decides to inexplicably reprint a card a into a fine powder, it’s up to us to throw that powder in the air like Lebron's pre-game ritual.

This week, I’ll be using PucaTrade’s historical price data to highlight some of the most radical price dips in Magic.

Maelstrom Wanderer (Planechase: 2012 Edition)

February 2016: 3037pp ⇒ February 2017: 1,031pp

If you’ve ever looked at Maelstrom Wanderer and thought it’d be a fun card to play, you’re right. Wanderer is talked about a lot in Commander circles, mostly between phrases like “busted as hell” and “if that’s your general you can leave.” I’m not going to go into that, but what I can say is that if you’ve never experienced the Maelstrom Wanderer VALUE BONANZA™, you haven’t lived. Hitting, say, a Rishkar's Expertise and a Palinchron off this thing is a feeling that will keep you warm on long winter nights.

This time last year, we were paying upward of 3000pp for Maelstrom Wanderer. What a difference a year (and a few tidy reprints) makes! If you are feeling extra cheeky, you can even score Planechase Anthology versions of Wanderer for only 900pp!

The only thing better than being able to Cascade twice is when someone says "Happy Birthday" and you say "You too."

Goblin Rabblemaster (Magic 2015)

December 2015: 1921pp ⇒ February 2017: 426pp

Playing Standard is a lot like falling in love: The exhilaration, euphoria, the wild reckless spending, and eventually, the crawling regret. Just like the truly smitten, we were blind. Blind to Goblin Rabblemaster and his many charms.

In fact, a quick glance at Goblin Rabblemaster’s Trade Trend history shows that he was actually under 100pp for quite some time until we all somehow realized that he can single-handedly destroy the board and win games in a few short turns.

Even long after the spark has gone, Rabblemaster remains a powerful and popular goblin—a Krenko, Mob Boss EDH staple and a real player in Frontier. Goblin Rabblemaster is just a honest goblin with nothing left to lose (except 75 percent of his value).

Regal Force (Eventide)

May 2014: 1500pp ⇒ February 2017: 586pp

Regal Force is another highly playable card that has just had its price smashed, with Eternal Masters (EMA) versions tumbling to 200pp. Dear reader, I’ve been shipping Basic Mountains for less than that.

In the days of Standard past, Nettle Sentinel and Heritage Druid would combo into a huge Regal Force draw—drawing six or seven cards was pretty routine. Regal Force is now so low, Heritage Druid is more than double its price.

If you’re in the one percent of the Magic population that doesn’t have an Elf deck, try Regal Force out with Followed Footsteps.

Burgeoning (Stronghold)

June 2016: 2866pp ⇒ February 2017: 899pp

Continuing in the theme of strong Green cards, Burgeoning had a huge drop after a reprint in Conspiracy: Take the Crown. A gasoline bonfire in Commander, a turn one Burgeoning often means beginning turn two with four lands in play; even the mighty Sol Ring weeps at such reckless power. It’s actually pretty nutty to see such a powerful effect dropping as low as 900pp, and the Conspiracy: Take the Crown versions are even lower at 307pp.

Burgeoning can easily outpace it’s much-loved brother Exploration, tossing out land faster than my dad tosses sausage sandwiches at a family reunion.

Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker (Khans of Tarkir)

April 2014: 4168pp ⇒ February 2017: 232pp

With maybe the highest percentage drop of this whole article, it’s Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker. NASA could have put together a team of 150 scientists and they still would not be able to come up with anything that’s dropped as hard as Sarkhan. Also, apparently in 2014, we were willing to burn up two crisp $20s for a five–converted mana cost Planeswalker.

At the time, Sarkhan was actually the best Red Planeswalker we’d ever gotten our hands on, Standard was slow, and no one had figured out that just jamming as many Siege Rhinos as possible was practically always the best play.

Yep, thanks for the memories Sarkhan, now fly down from whatever price bracket you were in. You're bulk now.

Stifle (Scourge)

April 2014: 4049pp ⇒ February 2017: 524pp

Seeing Stifle at 500pp is one of the reasons I wanted to write this article. It’s like I've lost my mind and gone to crazytown.

Stifle is such an interesting, subtle, and powerful card. In fact, Brian Rowe (who is exceedingly both pleasant and incredibly knowledgeable) has made a whole video on What can you Stifle? Spoiler: Griselbrand, Craterhoof Behemoth, Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, Batterskull, Miracles, Storm triggers, Ancestral Vision, and a Beyoncé body roll. Stifling away a fetchland feels so wrong and so right.

If you’re feeling extra cheeky, you can nab Conspiracy Stifles at an even 400pp for a three-quarters the price of the Scourge copies. Sounds like a Conspiracy to me...

I'll see myself out. Thank you.

Gamble (Urza's Saga)

April 2016: 2989pp ⇒ February 2017: 1251pp

Gamble started to move up when Eternal Garden was putting up results in Legacy, but with an EMA reprint, the price has reversed. The Indiana Jones EMA version is already dipping as low as 565pp, and—just like the weird goblin in the Urza’s Saga artwork—Gamble possibly still has a long way to fall.

Everyone loves tutors, and being able to fire off a first turn Gamble is very powerful. Sometimes, Gamble functions like a Red Entomb, with the risk of dropping the card you searched for into your graveyard negated by cards like Daretti, Scrap Savant, Beacon of Unrest, Goblin Welder, or Pulsemage Advocate.

But remember, always Gamble responsibly.

Ravages of War (Portal Three Kingdoms)

April 2016: 9847pp ⇒ February 2017: 5497pp

If you really, really needed access to a second Armageddon in Highlander or Commander, Ravages of War is your best option, and—as a rare from Portal Three Kingdoms—it's more expensive than my divorce attorney was.

It was great to see Ravages of War as a Judge Promo last year. The foiling, holo stamp, the slick black border... I guess if you’re going to destroy everyone’s land and make the game miserable, do it in style.

The price history for the Japanese language Ravages of War looks like a fun little slide.

If you’ve never played Armageddon or Balance effects that seem symmetrical, you’ll quickly notice that they aren't. In Commander, cleaning up all the land on the table after you’ve played a huge threat leaves everyone very few ways to stay in the game. You don’t even need spicy Crucible of Worlds, Flagstones of Trokair, or Land Tax tech, just laying a land after you’ve Ravages of War’d is still puts you ahead.

Remember that cards from Portal Three Kingdoms are so expensive because they were printed when the entire Magic community could fit into a Sizzler and they wouldn't even have to bring in chairs from the back room.

Also if you play this in Commander you are a sociopath.

Berserk (From the Vault: Exiled)

April 2016: 8848pp ⇒ February 2017: 5479pp

Completing our triumvirate of one-mana spells, it’s Berserk. This card was over $100 for as long as I care to remember, so seeing it at 1322pp for Conspiracy 2 versions feels like I’m living in some sort of Depression-era Magic economy where you can also buy a house for $2 or whatever.

Plus, the Conspiracy versions don’t have that retina-scorching FTV foiling process that we all know and love.

Berserk means game over pretty much every time it's played. Infect is terrifying with Berserk and voltron Commanders like Uril, the Miststalker or Rafiq of the Many can hit for lethal damage out of nowhere.

Multiplayer, Berserk can be even better. The dream is to target another player’s Commander that’s attacking, destroying their creature and mostly likely a long-term friendship.

Wrap Up

And that's all for this edition of Fell the Mighty! Join me next time, when I pick a new round of faded beauties. If you’ve got any insight into great cards at historic lows, be sure to let me know over on the PucaTrade Discord. I’ll be giving out bogus dating advice on the #trades-paper forums.

Until next time, I’ll be on the slopes shredding, the way only I can shred.