Top Trades: May 26 - June 2

Strength of the Harvest | Illustrated by Paolo Parente

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

Honorable Mention - Flow State

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

Flow State is the breakout uncommon from Secrets of Strixhaven that proves just how valuable card advantage is. For , this sorcery lets you look at the top three cards of your library, pick one to put in your hand, then put the rest back on the bottom in any order. Alternatively, you get to pick two cards if you have both an instant and sorcery in your graveyard when Flow State resolves.

Picking one card out of three for is totally playable in plenty of environments. Picking two cards out of three, meanwhile, is format-defining. Standard, Pioneer, Modern, etc.... there's a reason this card keeps popping up on our lists.

#5 - Pensive Professor

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

Kicking off our main list for the week is Pensive Professor, a powerful new synergy piece for counters-matter decks across Commander.

For , this 0/2 Human Wizard has increment, meaning that it gets a +1/+1 counter whenever you cast a spell with mana value greater than either this creature's power or toughness. Beyond growing Pensive Professor, this card also has a triggered ability that draws you a card whenever it gets one or more +1/+1 counters placed on it.

Either through increment, which is pretty easy to get started, considering that Pensive Professor has zero power, or any other sort of +1/+1 counter synergies, odds are the Pensive Professor will be a consistent source of card advantage wherever it goes.

#4 - Strength of the Harvest

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

Next up is one of the ever-popular MDFC lands from Modern Horizons 3: Strength of the Harvest.

On its front side, Strength of the Harvest costs and is an Aura enchantment that grants enchanted creature +1/+1 for each creature and/or enchantment you control. On the reverse side, Haven of Harvest is a land that enters tapped and has ": Add or ."

Generally speaking, the tapped MDFCs from Modern Horizons 3 are a weaker cycle than their mono-colored, untapped counterparts. However, that's not to say you should dismiss this dual- colored tapped cycle entirely. Mana fixing is always useful somewhere, especially when the fixing has the flexibility to be anything else when you're ahead on mana.

#3 - Flashback

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

Here at the halfway point is a card that's as simple as it is powerful: Flashback.

For , this instant grants target instant or sorcery card in your graveyard flashback until end of turn. The flashback cost is equal to its mana cost.

In practice, Flashback lets you double up on some of competitive Magic's most important cards all at a moment's notice: tutors, rituals, even counterspells. It might not be the full-graveyard access of Yawgmoth's Will, but it's also just one mana. Sometimes all you need is just one more card.

#2 - Tree of Perdition

Number of Trades: 8 --- Number of Cards Traded: 10

A popular Commander pick ever since it first debuted in Eldritch Moon, our penultimate pick for the week is Tree of Perdition.

For , this 0/13 Plant with defender has one ability: ": Exchange this creature's toughness with target opponent's life total." In a game where life totals start at 40, that means Tree of Perdition can wipe off 27 life for no investment other than the initial mana cost. If you're playing even more cutthroat, why not shave down the Tree's toughness a bit first with, say, Toxic Deluge for 12, then tap it to set an opponent's life total to 1? That's the kind of game plan Tree of Perdition opens up.

#1 - Slumbering Trudge

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

Topping off our list for the week is our most traded card, Slumbering Trudge. For , this 6/6 Plant Beast enters with 3 - X stun counters on it. Additionally, if it enters with stun counters on it this way, tap it when it enters.

This card does one thing and it does it really well: it's a big creature for very little mana. Play it turn one for just to guarantee access to it untapped in the midgame, play it for so it's untapped right away later on, or play it for anywhere in between as your access to mana increases. Regardless of how you do it, Slumber Trudge will wind up being a pretty big green creature - and that's often enough.

Wrap Up

Well, folks, that's a wrap on this week. Thanks for reading Top Trades, and check back next week for another installment.