Top Trades: December 9 - December 16

The Earth King | Illustrated by Ryota Murayama

Howdy folks, and welcome to 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 - Boomerang Basics

Number of Trades: 7 --- Number of Cards Traded: 12

Coming back around as this week's honorable mention is Boomerang Basics, a cantrip-meets-bounce spell that has been putting in plenty of work.

For , Boomerang Basics is a Lesson sorcery that allows you to return target nonland permanent to its owner's hand. If you controlled that permanent, you get to draw a card, too.

First off, the one weakness of this card: being a sorcery. Since it can't be cast as an instant, Boomerang Basics is decently limited in how it can be played over the course of the game. It'll never be a combat trick, and it can't save a creature at a moment's notice. However, since it can hit any kind of nonland permanent and can target your own permanents, it can be used to clear an opponent's blocker, reset a valuable enters trigger for a permanent you control, or reset an annoying engine (*cough* The One Ring *cough*). All this to say, it's still a great card, even if it can't be used as flexibly as some other bounce spells.

#5 - Monument to Endurance

Number of Trades: 4 --- Number of Cards Traded: 6

Kicking off our list is an artifact from Aetherdrift that has attracted some renewed attention thanks to its heavy role in Standard: Monument to Endurance.

For , Monument to Endurance is an artifact with a triggered ability that lets you choose one of three modes whenever you discard a card; however, you can't choose the same mode more than once each turn. You can draw a card, create a Treasure token, or have each opponent lose three life.

Between the cards with cycling from Aetherdrift, the all-present engine Artist's Talent, and the many cantrips strewn throughout the Standard's many releases, Monument to Endurance has plenty of discard support to have it trigger over and over again across a game. Mana, cards, and damage; what more could you ask for?

#4 - The Earth King

Number of Trades: 5 --- Number of Cards Traded: 5

Up next is The Earth King, a powerful legendary creature from Avatar: The Last Airbender that can quickly pull a ton of lands out of your deck and put them straight into play.

For , The Earth King is a 2/2 legendary Human Noble Ally creature that creates a 4/4 green Bear creature token when it enters. Additionally, The Earth King has "Whenever one or more creatures you control with power 4 or greater attack, search your library for up to that many basic land cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle."

While The Earth King might not be able to get a land by attacking alone, that Bear token it creates can get the job done pretty readily. Snowball it together with any number of other big creatures that green is known for, and before you know it you'll have more lands than you know what to do with.

#3 - Malevolent Rumble

Number of Trades: 5 --- Number of Cards Traded: 7

Here at the halfway point is Malevolent Rumble, a green pseudo-cantrip that packs in ramp and creature token synergies all in one.

For , Malevolent Rumble is a sorcery that lets you reveal the top four cards of your library, choose up to one permanent card from among them to put into your hand, then put the rest into your graveyard. Additionally, you'll create a 0/1 colorless Eldrazi Spawn creature token with "Sacrifice this creature: Add ."

For two mana, Malevolent Rumble is a sorcery that does just about everything a green player can want while simultaneously being relevant across all stages in the game. Need to dig for a better card? It's got you covered. Want to dump cards into your graveyard for graveyard synergies? It's got you there, too. Want a blocker or an extra ? Say it with me now: it's got you covered.

#2 - Artist's Talent

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

Coming in as our penultimate pick for the week is Artist's Talent, the premier Class enchantment printed in Bloomburrow, which has gone on to dominate Standard while simultaneously creeping into other eternal formats.

For , Artist's Talent is a Class enchantment that starts off with the triggered ability "Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, you may discard a card. If you do, draw a card." By paying , it moves to level two, where it gains "Noncreature spells you cast cost less to cast." Lastly, by paying another , it'll move to level three, at which point it gains "If a source you control would deal noncombat damage to an opponent or a permanent an opponent controls, it deals that much damage plus 2 instead."

At each stage, Artist's Talent is a reasonably costed value package. Most importantly for competitive play, however, the base level version of Artist's Talent is strong enough on its own that you can happily play it without ever worrying about needing to level it up.

#1 - Shared Roots

Number of Trades: 6 --- Number of Cards Traded: 7

Wrapping up our list is this week's most traded card: Shared Roots.

For , Shared Roots is a straightforward piece of ramp with some incidental synergies stapled to it. A Lesson sorcery, Shared Roots lets you search your library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, and then shuffle.

At two mana, Shared Roots is ahead of the curve for the majority of land-based ramp in green. Kodama's Reach, Cultivate, all of these effects cost around three mana on average. Shared Roots may not tutor a second land to your hand, but it does cost a whole mana less, meaning you'll be able to untap with that extra mana a whole turn earlier. On top of that, as a Lesson, Shared Roots fits in with all sorts of Avatar Commander decks popping up in the set's wake. Uncle Iroh, for example, makes Lessons cost less.

Wrap Up

Well, folks, we finally got a week where Avatar has loosened its grip. Instead, we've got a pretty broad overview of the formats and some of the newish cards being played in them. Modern Horizons 3, Bloomburrow, Aetherdrift, and, of course Avatar all got a moment to shine this week. Come back next Thursday for another Top Trades, and thanks for reading!