Top Trades: July 1-July 8

PuPu UFO | Illustrated by Racrufi

Happy Thursday, everyone, and a belated happy 4th of July to all the readers in the United States! I hope everyone had a fun weekend and is ready for another Top Trades, the weekly series where we check in with the most popular cards here at Cardsphere. So, what have folks been picking up? Let's take a look!

Honorable Mention - Slime Against Humanity

Number of Trades: 12 --- Number of Cards Traded: 23

Popping in to say hello is a long-time honorable mention of Top Trades, a classic of contemporary low-power Commander, Slime Against Humanity.

For , Slime Against Humanity is a sorcery that breaks Magic's conventional deckbuilding restrictions, allowing you to run any number of copies in your deck. Why? Because this card gets stronger the more of them you play. Upon resolution, Slime Against Humanity creates a 0/0 green Ooze creature token and places X +1/+1 counters on it, where X is two plus the total number of Oozes and/or cards named Slime Against Humanity which you own in exile and your graveyard.

Sure, Slime Against Humanity has some innate synergies with any Ooze kindred deck, but where things really snowball is when you full out the fringes with extra copies of this card. for a 2/2 isn't good, but the next one you cast will be for a 4/4, then a 6/6, and from there things get really scary, really fast.

#5 - Ultima

Number of Trades: 6 --- Number of Cards Traded: 8

So, what should you do when you're staring down an opposing battlefield full of massive Ooze tokens created thanks to our honorable mention? Wipe the board, of course, and what better to do that with then our first main-list pick of the week, Ultima.

For , Ultimate is a sorcery that destroys all creatures and artifacts, then ends the turn. Importantly, because of the end-the-turn clause, Ultima's resolution prevents any leaves-the-battlefield related triggers from resolving, as the turn will end as part of Ultima's effect. All in all, a fine little bow wrapping up an otherwise standard board wipe... until you start thinking about how to break this.

Pair Ultima with any sort of flash-enabler (perhaps Standard's own Valley Floodcaller), and now Ultima isn't just an instant-speed board wipe, it's also an extra turn spell. Ending your turn is par for the course if you time it right; ending an opponent's turn is functionally a Time Walk - or better - if you can pull it off.

#4 - Annul

Number of Trades: 7 --- Number of Cards Traded: 8

Coming in at fourth place is a classic piece of interaction dating back to Urza's Saga: Annul.

For , Annul is an instant that can counter either an an artifact or enchantment spell. Not a terribly common piece of interaction across Magic's contemporary competitive formats (it's been a while since a nonzero mana value piece of noncreature countermagic was played in competitive formats outside of Standard and Pioneer), but still versatile enough to hit enough of the boogeymen in Commander that it will pop up from time to time.

Keep an eye out for someone playing mono-blue classics, like Talrand, Sky Summoner or Baral, Chief of Compliance. The odds are pretty high that Annul will be somewhere in the 99.

#3 - Astrologian's Planisphere

Number of Trades: 7 --- Number of Cards Traded: 9

I knew Final Fantasy would bring with it some powerhouse cards for everything from Modern to cEDH, but I'll be honest, a sleeper rare showing up as an all-star in Vintage was not exactly on my bingo card. So, what artifact has become friends with the Moxen this week? It's Astrologian's Planisphere.

For , Astrologian's Planisphere is an Equipment artifact with job select, an ability much like living weapon. When an Equipment with this ability enters, its controller creates a 1/1 colorless Hero creature token, then attaches the Equipment to it, bypassing the initial round of equip costs (which, in this case, is ).

Once equipped, Astrologian's Planisphere grants equipped creature the Wizard creature type and the triggered ability "Whenever you cast a noncreature spell and whenever you draw your third card each turn, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature."

So, why all the hype? First off, Astrologian's Planisphere is effectively a two-mana 1/1 which gets two +1/+1 counters whenever its controller casts either Brainstorm or Ancestral Recall for the first time each turn (triggering both the noncreature spell as well as the card draw conditions). Beyond that, the bevy of free spells (Black Lotus, the Moxen, etc.) are all abusable sources of extra counters.

#2 - PuPu UFO

Number of Trades: 8 --- Number of Cards Traded: 8

Moving away from the competitive space, it's time to take a trip back to the realm of casual Commander, this time, for an exploration of one of colorless's newest ramp pieces, PuPu UFO.

For , PuPU UFO is a 0/4 artifact Construct Alien creature with flying and two activated abilities. First up, the ramp part: you can tap PuPu UFO to put a land card from your hand onto the battlefield. Not tapped, not a basic land card, anything. Not bad for a two-drop.

As for the second ability, you can pay to make PuPu UFO's base power become equal to the number of Towns you control until end of turn. All in all, this will only matter in a small handful of Towns-kindred lists, but more text is more text (so long as it's not downside, that is).

#1 - Vivi Ornitier

Number of Trades: 10 --- Number of Cards Traded: 11

Last but not least, we come to our most traded card of the week, and boy, oh boy, does this little guy deserve it. So, let's dive in, and talk about how broken Vivi Ornitier is.

For , Vivi is a legendary 0/3 Wizard creature with ": Add X mana in any combination of and/or , where X is Vivi Ornitier's power. Activate only during your turn and only once each turn." This activated ability is backed up by Vivi's triggered ability, which causes you to put a +1/+1 counter on Vivi and deal 1 damage to each opponent whenever you cast a noncreature spell.

Suffice it to say, in the right deck, Vivi makes a lot of mana really, really quickly. Resolve Vivi, then watch as all your free spells (be they useless baubles, like Darksteel Relic, or broken artifacts, like Mox Opal) turn into both damage and mana.

Wrap Up

It's been more than a month now since Final Fantasy hit shelves, and the new-card allure is starting to wear off. That said, some broken stand-outs are still dominating the list, and rightfully so. Check back in next week for another Top Trades, and thanks for reading!