Top Trades: September 30 - October 7

Multiversal Passage | Illustrated by Pablo Mendoza

Howdy, folks, and happy Thursday! I hope everyone has had a good first week of October. Friday's just around the corner, and that means it's time for Top Trades, the weekly series where we check in with the some of the most popular cards here at Cardsphere. So, what's been moving this week? Let's take a look.

Honorable Mention - Spectacular Spider-Man

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

Kicking things off as our honorable mention this week is Spectacular Spider-Man, a flexible flash-enabled creature that can serve as a board savior in a pinch.

For , Spectacular Spider-Man is a 3/2 legendary Spider Human Hero creature with flash that can also gain flying until end of turn if you pay . Additionally, you can pay and sacrifice Spectacular Spider-Man to give all other creatures you control hexproof and indestructible until end of turn.

Thanks to the lack of a tap requirement and Spectacular Spider-Man's flash, this creature can also be functionally read as a three-mana response akin to Heroic Intervention, albeit much harder to counter thanks to its nature as a creature spell. Or, if you don't need to save your board, then you're left with a (sometimes) evasive 3/2 for two. Not bad, especially in white.

#5 - Multiversal Passage

Number of Trades: 6 --- Number of Cards Traded: 9

Coming in at number five on our main list for the week is a pretty interesting land, a strange hybrid of all of Magic's Pathways lands (Branchloft Pathway, etc.), plus a shock land added on top.

Multiversal Passage is a land that, as it enters, asks you to choose a basic land type. Multiversal Passage is that land type. Additionally, as Multiversal Passage enters, you may pay two life. If you don't, it enters tapped.

Alrighty, so, first: the positives. Essentially an all-in-one basic land (until you play it), Multiversal Passage has the potential to add any color, making sure that it's never the wrong land when you see it. Additionally, if shock lands have proven anything, the down side of paying two life is a very reasonable cost for mana flexibility.

On to the negatives. Part of the reason the shock lands are so great is that you can fetch for them with ease; having a basic land type in zones other than the battlefield matters for a plethora of effects, and Multiversal Passage doesn't have that benefit. Sure, it may be a Swamp or the like while it's on the battlefield, but you can't use Verdant Catacombs to find it.

#4 - Peter Parker's Camera

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

Up next on our list is a cheap way to copy a couple of abilities... until the film runs out.

For , Peter Parker's Camera is an artifact that enters with three film counters on it. What to do with the counters? Peter Parker's Camera also has ", , Remove a film counter from this artifact: Copy target activated or triggered ability you control. You may choose new targets for the copy."

Magic has plenty of ruthlessly effective ways to copy triggered abilities these days, but less common is the ability to copy activated abilities, so while Peter Parker's Camera costs some mana to activate and only has three uses, don't let that fool you: there are plenty of activations worth copying that few other cards can as readily hit.

#3 - Consign to Memory

Number of Trades: 7 --- Number of Cards Traded: 10

Speaking of abilities, coming in at third place is a counterspell that is taking over eternal formats thanks to its rare ability to counter triggered abilities en masse. Let's talk about Consign to Memory.

For , Consign to Memory is an instant that reads "Counter target triggered ability or colorless spell." Additionally, it has replicate , meaning that you can pay any number of times. For each time you do, copy Consign to Memory, and you may choose new targets for it.

At face value, Consign to Memory is the go-to card for countering both an Eldrazi spell and the potent triggered ability that is put onto the stack when it's cast (such as Emrakul, the Aeons Torn and the "take an extra turn" clause). While that's an excellent use case, it's far from the only one.

Stopping the return-to-battlefield trigger on Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, countering your own sacrifice trigger after an evoke cost has been paid, or even just countering a Sol Ring; the flexibility on this card cannot be understated, and nor should the value of its targets.

#2 - Mistvault Bridge

Number of Trades: 8 --- Number of Cards Traded: 13

Our penultimate pick is another card granted to us by the Modern Horizons lineage, this time from Modern Horizons 2.

Mistvault Bridge is part of a ten-card cycle of lands, each of which enters tapped, can add either of two different colors of mana, has indestructible, and is an artifact as well as a land. In this case, Mistvault Bridge can add and .

In Pauper, Mistvault Bridge has carved out a steady slot as a go-to land for any Dimir+ affinity decks currently performing particularly well. Thanks to the bevy of affinity-discounted cards in the deck, Mistvault Bridge's enter-tapped clause is less detrimental than in the average deck, as its very nature as an artifact serves to already provide for many of the deck's spells.

#1 - Superior Spider-Man

Number of Trades: 9 --- Number of Cards Traded: 11

Last but not least, we return to Marvel's Spider-Man, now with Superior Spider-Man.

For , Superior Spider-Man is a 4/4 legendary Spider Human Hero that can optionally enter the battlefield as a copy of any creature card in a graveyard, except it keeps Superior Spider-Man's name, power, and toughness. When Superior Spider-Man does enter as a copy this way, exile the card it copied.

It may not be a reanimation spell, but a graveyard quasi-clone is always a strong floor. Plenty of creatures are defined far more by their abilities than they are their power or toughness (Atraxa, Grand Unifier comes to mind as a recent option), and Superior Spider-Man is a solid option for cheating your way past some of the cost that usually bars access to the strongest of abilities.

Wrap Up

This week was a diverse mix of cards from across formats, plus a sprinkling of some of Marvel's Spider-Man's most popular Spider-Man incarnations. Check back in next week for another Top Trades, and thanks for reading!