Top Trades: August 18 - August 25

The Lonely Mountain | Art by Leon Tukker

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 - Bilbo's Gambit

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

Leading things off this week is Bilbo’s Gambit, a potent — and pretty unique — piece of white interaction out of The Hobbit.

For , Bilbo’s Gambit is an instant with gift a Treasure. At base rate, it returns target spell to its owner’s hand. If the gift was promised, players can’t cast spells this turn.

That’s a pretty unusual package. On one level, this is a tempo play; bouncing a spell back to hand can buy a turn against a big threat or force an opponent to spend their mana all over again. Once you add the gift clause, though, the card starts looking a lot more like a white pseudo-counterspell that can also shut the stack down for the rest of the turn. That gives it real appeal in slower white decks that want flexible stack interaction without stretching into blue.

#5 - Stock Up

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

Kicking off our main list of trades this week is Stock Up, which continues to be one of the blue’s more broken — and accessible — staples in recent years.

For , Stock Up lets you look at the top five cards of your library, put two of them into your hand, and the rest on the bottom in any order. While three mana — especially at sorcery speed — is usually too much for playable plus-one card advantage, the card selection that comes with digging five cards deep just cannot be overstated. Needless to say, there’s a reason this card sees play everywhere it’s legal.

#4 - Wizard's Staff

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

Next up is a newer blue powerhouse, and that’s Wizard’s Staff.

For , Wizard’s Staff is an Equipment artifact with both Equip Wizard and Equip . Once attached, this artifact gives equipped creature prowess and, if a triggered ability of that creature triggers, it triggers an additional time.

Wizard’s Staff is a card with a pretty respectable floor and an absolutely devastating ceiling. Need I say more than "double Vivi Ornitier triggers"? In all seriousness, though, Wizard’s Staff is one of those Equipment that, like Lightning Greaves or Swiftfoot Boots, will find homes in a diverse array of trigger-happy decks out there.

#3 - Desolation of Smaug

Number of Trades: 8 --- Number of Cards Traded: 9

Keeping the typal train going is Desolation of Smaug, a sorcery that knocks down your opponents while helping to prop yourself up.

For , Desolation of Smaug deals 3 damage to each non-Dragon creature, then adds four mana in any combination of colors that can only be spent to cast Dragon spells.

That’s a strong package for Dragon decks in particular, because it solves one of the subtype’s recurring problems: getting to the turn where your expensive threats can actually take over the game. Clearing mana dorks, utility creatures, and token boards and then immediately dropping your Commander as if you didn’t spend any mana at all is a huge advantage, and Desolation of Smaug does exactly that.

#2 - Giant's Boulder

Number of Trades: 8 --- Number of Cards Traded: 20

Just missing the top spot this week is Giant’s Boulder, a common artifact with a surprisingly broad utility package.

For , Giant’s Boulder scries 2 when it enters the battlefield. From there, you can pay and tap it to add one mana of any color, or go all the way up to , tap it, and sacrifice it to destroy target permanent.

That first activated ability makes it a fixer more than a true mana rock, but the full card gives you a little bit of everything: early card selection, color fixing, a cheap artifact, and a late-game answer to whatever permanent is causing problems. Those kinds of glue cards have a habit of turning up all over the place, which is exactly what we’re seeing here.

#1 - The Lonely Mountain

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

Topping the list this week is The Lonely Mountain, a utility land aimed squarely at Equipment decks.

The Lonely Mountain is a Mountain that enters tapped unless you control an Equipment. As a Mountain, it taps for , but beyond that it has “, : Create a 2/2 red Dwarf creature token. This ability costs less to activate for each Equipment you control. Activate only as a sorcery.”

That’s a nice little package for any deck already interested in suiting up creatures. Early on, it’s a largely painless inclusion that sometimes enters tapped.  Later in the game, it’s a reliably-untapped Mountain (in the right builds, of course) that can create an army all on its own.

Wrap Up

That does it for this week’s Top Trades. Between a flexible white pseudo-counterspell, another appearance from Stock Up, and a couple of new build-arounds from The Hobbit, this week’s list had plenty to dig into. Thanks for reading, and be sure to check back next week to see what cards are making moves next.