Top Trades: July 14 - July 21

Daze | Illustrated by Min Yum

Howdy, folks, and welcome back to Top Trades, the weekly series where we check in with the most popular cards from the previous week of trading here at Cardsphere. So, what cards have been making moves this time around? Let's take a look.

Honorable Mention - Hex Magic

Number of Trades: 6 --- Number of Cards Traded: 9

Leading things off this week is Hex Magic, a pretty potent wheel from Marvel Super Heroes.

For , Hex Magic is an Arcane sorcery that exiles all the cards from your hand, then has you draw that many cards. Until the end of your next turn, you may play the cards exiled this way.

By coupling actual card draw with the pseudo-impulse from a turn's worth of accessibility to the hand you exiled, Hex Magic sits at a level of power just above that of your average wheel. Sure, you can't go from zero cards to seven this way, but you can go from six to twelve.

#5 - Refurbished Familiar

Number of Trades: 5 --- Number of Cards Traded: 16

Starting off our main list is Refurbished Familiar, an aggressive Pauper threat out of Modern Horizons 3.

For , Refurbished Familiar is a 2/1 artifact creature Zombie Rat with affinity for artifacts and flying. When it enters, each opponent discards a card, and for each opponent who can't, you draw a card instead. That combination means the card can come down for very little mana in the right shell - often as low as just - while also generating immediate value by attacking your opponents' hands. It might not be the flashiest threat to have ever been graced by affinity, but it sure is a potent one.

#4 - Daze

Number of Trades: 5 --- Number of Cards Traded: 17

Next up, we have one of the most ubiquitous and infamous free counterspells in all of Magic, and that's Daze.

For , Daze is an instant that counters target spell unless its controller pays . More importantly, you may return an Island you control (not just a basic Island, but any Island) to its owner's hand rather than pay its mana cost.

Free counterspells are pretty much always good; a free counterspell than can be cast when it's the only card in your hand especially so. It might not have the full countering prowess of Force of Will, but hitting the right card when a player is down on mana is absolutely respectable in its own right, cementing Daze's place across competitive formats.

#3 - Malevolent Rumble

Number of Trades: 6 --- Number of Cards Traded: 13

Coming in at number three is Malevolent Rumble, a green pseudo-cantrip that does a little bit of everything.

For , Malevolent Rumble is a sorcery that reveals the top four cards of your library. You may put a permanent card from among them into your hand, put the rest into your graveyard, then create a 0/1 colorless Eldrazi Spawn token that can be sacrificed for .

That's a pretty efficient package for two mana: selection, graveyard setup, and a small burst of ramp all rolled into one make this exactly the card that just about any strategy can look at and find some value in. The Eldrazi Spawn token also matters more than it might first appear to, since it represents mana, a blocker, a token (for token synergies), and a potential trigger for anything that cares about creatures dying. All in all, Malevolent Rumble does pretty much everything.

#2 - Eviscerator's Insight

Number of Trades: 6 --- Number of Cards Traded: 15

Just missing the top spot this week is Eviscerator's Insight, another Modern Horizons 3 card that has left a sizable impact in Pauper.

For , Eviscerator's Insight is an instant that asks you to sacrifice an artifact or creature as an additional cost to cast it, then draw two cards. It also has flashback for , letting you get a second use out of it later on.

The appeal here is pretty straightforward. Black decks that are already interested in disposable creatures, artifact fodder, or graveyard barely mind paying the additional cost (if anything, they probably benefit from it), especially considering this spell can be flashed back later on. Boost that power by making this an instant, and you've got yourself a flexible, repeatable, synergistic source of card advantage all rolled into one.

#1 - Cast Down

Number of Trades: 8 --- Number of Cards Traded: 12

Last but not least, another piece of potent interaction that has cemented itself in Pauper, we have our most traded card for the week: Cast Down.

For , Cast Down is an instant that simply destroys target nonlegendary creature. That text box is about as clean as it gets, and while the nonlegendary restriction is real in just about every format, Pauper still remains largely unaffected by Magic's recent deluge of legendary creatures, meaning that Cast Down still remains an efficient and flexible piece of removal across the format.

Wrap Up

Outside of Hex Magic, this week was basically Pauper's time to shine. From Eternal classics, like Daze, to Modern Horizons 3 up-and-comers, Pauper remains an exciting format full of cards from across Magic's history. Check back in next week for another Top Trades, and thanks for reading!