Top Trades: March 31 - April 7

Jumbo Cactuar | Illustrated by Jason Kiantoro

Howdy, folks, and welcome back to Top Trades, the weekly series where we check in with the most popular cards here at Cardsphere. So, what are folks trading this week? Let's take a look!

Honorable Mention - Sprout Swarm

Number of Trades: 6 --- Number of Cards Traded: 10

Almost as if it was bought back from last week's Top Trades, our honorable mention this week is Sprout Swarm, an instant that has a new combo releasing soon thanks to Witherbloom, the Balancer.

For , Sprout Swarm is an instant with convoke and buyback that creates a 1/1 green Saproling token upon resolution. While already an easily breakable card, this becomes an infinite token machine when combined with Witherbloom, which grants your instant and sorcery spells affinity for creatures. So, assuming you've got four creatures, the cost reduction from affinity will make Sprout Swarm cost just to cast, buyback cost included, a cost easily covered by tapping the 1/1 green Saproling token you created from your previous cast of Sprout Swarm. Rinse and repeat and there you have it: infinite 1/1 Saprolings at instant speed.

#5 - Collective Resistance

Number of Trades: 4 --- Number of Cards Traded: 8

Coming in as our first pick of the week is Collective Resistance, a flexible bit of interaction in green that scales with how much mana you can put into it.

For , Collective Resistance is a modal spell with escalate , meaning that the base mana cost gives you access to one of the spell's modes, and you can pay an additional to choose an additional mode any number of times. (You may only choose each mode a maximum of once.) The modes are: destroy target artifact, destroy target enchantment, and target creature gains hexproof and indestructible until end of turn.

In practice, Collective Resistance is a pretty reliable combat trick that can save one of your creatures from dying in a fight or two a removal spell, while also serving as the occasional piece of artifact/enchantment removal for when you need it. Rarely will you be in a position to escalate the spell, but flexibility and marginal returns are the name of the game when it comes to Magic.

#4 - Malakir Rebirth

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

Up next is our first MDFC of the week, Malakir Rebirth.

For , Malakir Rebirth is an instant that reads "Choose target creature. You lose 2 life. Until end of turn, that creature gains 'When this creature dies, return it to the battlefield tapped under its owner's control.'" A cheap way to dodge removal, effectively flicker a creature that's about to be sacrificed, or even just save something valuable in combo, Malakir Rebirth is a pretty solid spell all on its own. What skyrockets its potential, however, is the flexibility afforded by the back face.

On the back side, this card is Malakir Mire, a land that enters tapped and has ": Add ." While pretty bad on its own, this is effectively insurance: if you need a land and have no use for Malakir Rebirth, then play the back side. If you're covered on mana, then cast Malakir Rebirth without any worries.

#3 - Jumbo Cactuar

Number of Trades: 5 --- Number of Cards Traded: 6

Crashing through at the midpoint of our list this week is a card that's as deadly as it is goofy: Jumbo Cactuar.

For , Jumbo Cactuar is a 1/7 Plant that, whenever it attacks, gets +9999/+0 until end of turn. You read that correctly: a single attack trigger boosts this card's power to 10,000 each combat. Thank god it doesn't have trample built in.

In all seriousness, Jumbo Cactuar essentially plays like a creature that has deathtouch so long as it's attacking... until you start to support it, that is. Any effect that gives this thing trample, or unblockable, or even a humble Fling is effectively a two-card combo to take a player right out of the game.

#2 - Witch Enchanter

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

Here as our penultimate pick for the week is the second MDFC of our list: Witch Enchanter.

On the front face, Witch Enchanter is a 2/2 Human Warlock that, when it enters, destroys target artifact or enchantment an opponent controls. On the reverse side, you have access to Witch-Blessed Meadow, a land with ": Add " that enters tapped unless you pay three life as it enters.

Flexibility is the name of the game when it comes to MDFCs, and boy, oh boy, does Witch Enchanter pack it in strides. While the front face may be pretty expensive when evaluated alone, it's not too far from the standard three-mana creatures that destroy artifacts and/or enchantments when they enter (e.g., Reclamation Sage).

Moving to the back face, suddenly that extra cost on the front side seems like a distant memory. Three life definitely isn't free, but the ability to enter untapped at pretty much any stage of the game and immediately add colored mana easily places Witch-Blessed Meadow among Magic's more powerful utility lands.

#1 - Hallowed Fountain

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

Wrapping up our list for the week as our most traded card is a staple of mana bases throughout Magic: Hallowed Fountain.

The Azorius contribution from the infamous shock land cycle, Hallowed Fountain is a Plains Island land that enters that battlefield tapped unless you pay two life as it enters. (Since it's a Plains and an Island, it inherently has ": Add or .") 

Simple, flexible, and oh, so powerful, the shock lands have come to dominate the mana bases of just about every format they're legal in, save for Legacy and Vintage, where they're outclassed by the original duals. The core of this success? Being able to enter untapped on pretty much any turn of the game: from the earliest stages to the closing turn, Hallowed Fountain (and the rest of the shocks) has your back.

Wrap Up

With the exception perhaps of Jumbo Cactuar, this week really was all about flexibility. Modal spells, spells that can be lands, lands that can enter untapped over the course of the game, this week had all sorts of cards to demonstrate just how valuable flexibility can be. Check back in next week for another Top Trades, and thanks for reading!