Top Trades: December 16 - December 23

Wonder | Illustrated by Rebecca Guay

Happy holidays, everyone! I hope the season has been treating you all well. The week (and the year) has just about wrapped up, and with it comes another edition of Top Trades, the weekly series where we check in with the most popular cards here at Cardsphere. So, what's been moving? Let's take a look!

Honorable Mention - Obsessive Pursuit

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

Kicking things off is our honorable mention for the week, Obsessive Pursuit.

For , Obsessive Pursuit is an enchantment from Avatar: The Last Airbender that causes you to lose one life and create a Clue token both when it enters and at the beginning of your upkeep. Additionally, it has a triggered ability that, whenever you attack, lets you put a X +1/+1 counters on target attacking creature, where X is the number of permanents you've sacrificed this turn. If X is three or greater, that creature also gains lifelink until end of turn.

Evaluated in a vacuum, Obsessive Pursuit is a nifty retake on Phyrexian Arena, granting some gradual card advantage as you trade in those Clues for cards. However, pair this with any sort of sacrifice support (token fodder, Phyrexian Altar, etc.), and Obsessive Pursuit quickly becomes a way to make a pretty menacing threat each combat.

#5 - Bulk Up

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

Speaking of combat threats, our first main-list pick for the week is Bulk Up, an uncommon from Foundations that can lead to explosive amounts of damage from seemingly nowhere.

For , Bulk Up is an instant that doubles target creature's power until end of turn. Additionally, it has a flashback cost of , meaning that you can cast it a second time from your graveyard later on in the game. Alternatively, if you're going for overkill, cast Bulk Up as normal, then flash it back immediately afterwards for a combined total of , quadrupling a creature's power until end of turn. A lot of mana, sure, but that turns a five-power creature into a lethal twenty-power attacker at a moment's notice. Not bad for an uncommon.

#4 - Great Divide Guide

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

Next up on our list, we're going back to Avatar thanks to Great Divide Guide.

For , this 2/3 Human Scout Ally creature both perfectly fixes your mana and provides a potentially massive amount of ramp, as Great Divide Guide's one line of text is "Each land and Ally you control has ': Add one mana of any color.'" Even if you don't play any other Allies, Great Divide Guide itself is one, meaning you get both mana ramp and fixing, every time. Stack it with other Allies to churn out game-ending threats, or simply play it as a better Prismatic Omen.

#3 - Wonder

Number of Trades: 5 --- Number of Cards Traded: 11

Here at third place is a nostalgic pick, one that traces its first printing all the way back to Judgement. Let's take a look at Wonder.

For , Wonder is a 2/2 Incarnation creature with flying and the ability "As long as this card is in your graveyard and you control an Island, creatures you control have flying."

Despite being a card no one ever really wants to cast, Wonder is a pretty powerful card. Discard it, mill it, sacrifice it, there are all sorts of ways to quickly get it into your graveyard, many of which can use it as a resource to pay a cost (just think to yourself about how many cards say "discard a card"). Once it's there, it'll be pretty hard to get rid of, save for graveyard hate that removes specific cards from graveyards.

#2 - Badgermole Cub

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

And now we're back to Avatar one more time this week for a creature that you'll most definitely want to cast: Badgermole Cub.

For , Badgermole Cub is a 2/2 Badger Mole creature with "When this creature enters, earthbend 1" and "Whenever you tap a creature for mana, add an additional ." (To earthbend, choose a land you control. It becomes a 0/0 creature with haste that's still a land. Put a number of +1/+1 counters on it equal to the earthbend number. When that creature dies or is exiled, return it to the battlefield tapped.)

Like Great Divide Guide, Badgermole Cub is a card that provides a nice bit of ramp at a minimum but can grow to be truly busted if properly supported. Elvish Mystic, Llanowar Elves, Birds of Paradise, all these creatures are effectively doubled while Badgermole Cub is in play. Alternatively, Badgermole Cub is also a bit of a sacrifice-doubler for key lands across competitive formats, allowing you to earthbend a Wasteland or fetch land just so you can sacrifice it and benefit from the death trigger associated with earthbended lands.

#1 - Orcish Bowmasters

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

Last but not least, another creature with a mana value of two, it's Orcish Bowmasters, a card that has come to play a defining role in every format it's legal in.

For , this 1/1 Orc Archer with flash brings with it one of the most painful triggered abilities in Magic: "When Orcish Bowmasters enters the battlefield and whenever an opponent draws a card except the first one they draw in each of their draw steps, Orcish Bowmasters deals 1 damage to any target. Then amass Orcs 1."

I'll throw out some common play patterns just to jog the imagination as to how busted this card is. Did your opponent just cast a Brainstorm? Now you can pay to deal four distributed however you choose, plus create a 4/4 Orc Army token in addition to your 1/1 Orc Archer. Or, better yet, do you have a Wheel of Fortune in hand? Cast the Wheel, hold priority, then cast Orcish Bowmasters: you'll end up with a 1/1 Orc Archer, a 21/21 Orc Army, and twenty-one damage to distribute. All for two mana.

Wrap Up

Our list this week may not have been exclusively creatures, but it sure was focused on them. Our top slots were all helmed by powerful creatures, while our honorable mention and fifth-place pick were both support pieces directly designed to benefit creatures. All in all, a pretty creature-heavy list. Check back in next week for another Top Trades, and thanks for reading!