Top Trades: June 23 - June 30

Loki, God of Mischief | Illustrated by Vilhelmas Banys

Howdy, folks, and welcome back to Top Trades, the series here at Cardsphere where we take a look at some of the most popular cards traded in past week. So, what are this week's movers? Let's take a look!

Honorable Mention – Seeker of Skybreak

Number of Trades: 6 --- Number of Cards Traded: 12

Kicking things off this week is a card that I've got a feeling we probably won't see again on Top Trades any time soon, and that's the newly banned Seeker of Skybreak.

For , Seeker of Skybreak is a 2/1 Elf creature that has “: Untap target creature.” While a 2/1 for two that can untap a creature is totally fine on its own, things rapidly start to get problematic when you realize that Seeker of Skybreak can tap to untap itself, presenting an infinite loop. Throw Hawkeye's Bow into the mix – an Equipment that deals 1 damage to each opponent whenever equipped creature becomes tapped – and those infinite tap/untap shenanigans become a two-card combo for infinite damage. That's too much for early-game potency for Pauper, and so Seeker of Skybreak has been banned.

#5 – Emeritus of Ideation

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

Moving on over to our main list for the week, first up is Emeritus of Ideation, a splashy blue mythic from Secrets of Strixhaven demonstrating just how far back the prepared creatures can dig for inspiration.

For , you get a 5/5 Human Wizard with flying and ward that enters prepared, immediately unlocking Ancestral Recall. Additionally, you can re-prepare the Emeritus by exiling eight cards from your graveyard whenever it attacks.

Emeritus of Ideation is a card that sits pretty comfortably in between control finisher and Commander value-play, drawing a hefty amount of cards pretty reliably, with the ability to translate graveyard fodder into repeat Ancestral Recall casts turn after turn. In sixty-card Magic, that's usually one to two Ancestral Recalls per game, though the sky's the limit with this card in a dedicated Commander shell.

#4 – Price of Freedom

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

Next up is a pretty flexible piece of interaction, and that's Price of Freedom.

For , Price of Freedom is a Lesson sorcery which destroys target artifact or land an opponent controls, letting that player search their library for a basic land to put into play tapped as a trade-off. And, as a little extra bonus, you get to draw a card.

Magic has been printing more and more potent utility lands in recent years with not a whole lot in the way of solid interaction to keep those in check, but thankfully Price of Freedom is a pretty solid step forward. Plus, between the flexibility to hit artifacts and the upside of drawing a card, Price of Freedom as a whole rounds out a pretty playable card-neutral piece of interaction. Your opponent gets a card back (the basic land they search for), you get a card back (the card you drew), but that two mana you invested gave you control of the board. Not bad for a Lesson.

#3 – The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl

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

Here at the halfway point is one of the more powerful legendary creatures to have come out of Marvel Super Heroes (complete with combo potential, too), and that's The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl.

For , The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl is a legendary 4/4 Squirrel Human Hero that creates a 1/1 green Squirrel creature token whenever it enters or attacks. Additionally, it has the activated ability “: Create X 1/1 green Squirrel creature tokens, where X is the number of Squirrels you control.” So, all in all, Squirrels have their Krenko: a legendary creature that doubles your creatures, turn after turn.

Already, this is pretty powerful stuff. Squirrels have gotten a lot of support in recent years, and The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl is a threat in the command zone just as much as in the ninety-nine. Outside of Squirrel typal, however, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl also is showing up in Commander's competitive scene, as the ability to double the number of Squirrels you control can go infinite with another cEDH powerhouse: Earthcraft.

#2 – Loki, God of Mischief

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

Moving to our penultimate pick of the week, next up is a card that's eerily reminiscent of Nadu, Winged Wisdom, although thankfully much more tame.

For , Loki, God of Mischief is a 2/1 legendary God Sorcerer Villain creature with the triggered ability “Whenever a player or permanent becomes the target of an ability you control, draw a card. This ability triggers only once each turn.”

For two mana, this is a totally reasonable card, although not one to be underestimated. With the right support, Loki draws two cards a cycle in one-v-one Magic and up to four cards in Commander. Plenty of cards have repeatable abilities that you can either trigger or activate at least once a turn to reach Loki's threshold, and once you do the value snowballs pretty quickly.

#1 – Mole Man, Moloid Master

Number of Trades: 12 --- Number of Cards Traded: 14

Last but not least, our most traded card of the week, it's Mole Man, Moloid Master.

For , Mole Man is a 1/1 legendary Human Villain creature that lets you play land cards from your graveyard. Additionally, Mole Man has the landfall triggered ability of “Whenever a land you control enters, create a 1/1 green Minion creature token named Moloid with ‘Whenever this creature attacks, you may mill a card.'”

Three mana is a pretty standard baseline for effects that let you play lands from your graveyard – Crucible of Worlds, Ramunap Excavator, etc. Mole Man goes above and beyond, turning each land you play into a creature as well, creatures that can mill to find you more lands so you can make more creatures. That's a pretty valuable engine-and-enabler setup right there, exactly why Mole Man has spiked in popularity recently.

Wrap Up

Well, folks, this week was Marvel Super Heroes'  time to shine. Hawkeye's Bow broke Seeker of Skybreak, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl has become a Commander favorite, Loki is drawing a respectable amount of cards, and Mole Man is pushing the limits on what a Crucible of Worlds remake looks like these days. Check back in next week for another Top Trades, and thanks for reading!