Top Trades: August 11 - August 18

Radagast of Rhosgobel | Illustrated by Anna Podedworna

Howdy, folks, and welcome to Top Trades, the weekly series where we do a deep dive into the most popular cards here at Cardsphere. So, what trades have players been making this week? Let's take a look!

Honorable Mention - Kíli the Resourceful

Number of Trades: 11 --- Number of Cards Traded: 12

Starting things off as our honorable mention is Kíli the Resourceful, a 1/2 legendary Dwarf Scout creature with storied that costs . (If you have any combination of three total artifacts, legendary permanents, and/or Sagas while you control a permanent with storied, you get an enduring story for the rest of the game.) Kíli puts that enduring story to work by letting you pay rather than pay the equip cost of the first equip ability you activate each turn (so long as you have the enduring story). Additionally, whenever another Dwarf or Equipment you control enters, draw a card. This ability triggers only once each turn.

While Kíli might not be a carbon copy of Puresteel Paladin, make no mistake: this Dwarf packs a whole lot of value for just . Card draw, discounted equips, everything a white go-tall strategy can ask for.

#5 - Giant Growth

Number of Trades: 8 --- Number of Cards Traded: 22

Kicking off our main list for the week is a card as old as Magic, and that's Giant Growth.

For , Giant Growth is an instant that grants target creature +3/+3 until end of turn. The classic, original combat trick, Giant Growth is a card that's been pretty playable (at least somewhere, be it Standard, Cube, etc.) since the game's inception.

#4 - Bilbo, Thief in the Night

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

On to the rest of our journey through The Hobbit, we've got Bilbo, Thief in the Night.

For , Bilbo is a 2/2 legendary Halfling Rogue creature that discounts spells you cast from anywhere other than your hand by . Additionally, whenever Bilbo attacks, you may cast an artifact, instant, or sorcery spell from your graveyard. If an instant or sorcery spell cast this way would be put into your graveyard, exile it instead.

Biblo is an absolute beast to deal with. While Bilbo does expose itself to risk by conditioning the primary value add (the attack trigger) on going to combat, that risk pales in comparison to the potential upside Bilbo opens up. Couple that with the discount for things like your Commander, graveyard shenanigans, and more, and you've got yourself a pretty potent two-drop.

#3 - Radagast of Rhosgobel

Number of Trades: 11 --- Number of Cards Traded: 13

Speaking of discounted spells, our third place pick is Radagast of Rhosgobel.

For , Radagast is a 2/5 legendary Avatar Wizard creature with "The first creature spell you cast each turn costs less to cast and can be cast as though it had flash."

A four-mana creature that discounts one creature spell a turn by is, on its own, nothing much. However, by adding flash to those spells, Radagast guarantees that you'll be able to make full use out of the discount, turn after turn after turn. No worries if your deck lacks any creatures with flash on their own: Radagast has you covered.

#2 - Bilbo's Gambit

Number of Trades: 11 --- Number of Cards Traded: 15

Our penultimate pick for the week, Bilbo's Gambit is white's newest venture into the world of proactive counterspell-adjacent interaction.

For , Bilbo's Gambit is an instant that returns target spell to its owner's hand. Additionally, you may gift a Treasure. If you do, Bilbo's Gambit also prevents all players from casting any more spells this turn.

Reprieve-style effects are good and Silence-style effects are good; Bilbo's Gambit gives you something pretty close to both on the same card, all at the cost of granting one of your opponents a Treasure token.

#1 - Belladonna Took

Number of Trades: 12 --- Number of Cards Traded: 16

Last but not least, we come to our most traded card of the week - Belladonna Took.

For , Belladonna Took is a 2/2 legendary Halfling Rogue creature with "Whenever a token you control enters, you may gain 1 life if this is the first time this ability has resolved this turn. If it's the second time, draw a card. If it's the third time, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control."

Belladonna Took is going to be a staple of token strategies going forward. Creating a bunch of tokens (not even creature tokens, mind you) each turn is trivially easy for dedicated strategies, and those last two parts of the trigger - drawing an extra card and buffing your army - are exactly the things a go-wide white deck will be clamoring for. Life gain isn't much, but there are plenty of decks out there that fuse token creature with lifegain triggers, so odds are that a good few players will find it to actually be among the most impactful triggers.

Wrap Up

The Hobbit has officially been released, and with it so too has a wave of powerful, multi-format staples been unleashed. Check in next week to see if the momentum continues or fizzles out, and thanks for reading!