Top Trades: September 29 - October 6

Darklight Phoenix | Illustrated by Wayne Reynolds

Howdy, folks, and welcome to October! It's time for another Top Trades, the weekly series where we check in with Cardsphere's most popular trades. So, what cards have been swapping hands this week? Let's take a look.

Honorable Mention - Liliana the Repentant

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

Last week, we had Liliana the Faultless make it to our Top Trades main list. Now, following shortly behind, it's time to check out the counterpart: Liliana the Repentant.

For , Liliana the Repentant is a 2/2 legendary Human Warlock creature with "Whenever another creature or planeswalker you control enters, mill two cards." Additionally, Liliana has "Exhaust - : Return target creature or planeswalker card from your graveyard to the battlefield. Put a +1/+1 counter on Liliana. Activate only as a sorcery. (Activate each exhaust ability only once.)

Liliana combines two effects seamlessly into a flexible value-add for all sorts of graveyard-based strategies, turning the entry of each creature (and planeswalker) you control into a little boost of resources for any delve, escape, dredge, or - in line with her exhaust ability - reanimation shenanigans you might be planning.

#5 - Hall of Echoes

Number of Trades: 12 --- Number of Cards Traded: 13

Moving on to our main list for the week, we've got another Reality Fracture pick (spoiler warning: every card this week came from Reality Fracture), and that's Hall of Echoes.

Hall of Echoes is a land with ": Add " and ": This land becomes a copy of target creature you control until end of turn. The 'legend rule' doesn't apply to permanents you control this turn."

At the very least, Hall of Echoes is a mana-producing land that enters untapped and has upside, which is enough to get brewers tinkering from across Magic. Add in the fact that its copy ability doesn't require the land to tap, meaning that it can both help pay for its own activation via that mana ability and that this copy ability can be activated multiple times in a turn (e.g., activate it once, hold priority, activate again a la classic Scion of the Ur-Dragon combos), and you've truly got yourself a brewer's paradise.

#4 - Darklight Phoenix

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

Next up is Darklight Phoenix, an Echoverse variant of Arclight Phoenix.

For , you get a 3/2 Phoenix with flying, haste, and "At the beginning of combat on your turn, if two or more creatures died this turn, return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield."

While Darklight Phoenix is far from as broken as its red inspiration, it's far from bad. At the very least, Darklight Phoenix's trigger is worded such that, if it died pre-combat, all it needs is one other creature dying (on either side of the board) in order to come back, a condition that's pretty easily met in grindier decks running the likes of Fleshbag Marauder and Chainer's Edict,

#3 - Geist of Saint Thalia

Number of Trades: 13 --- Number of Cards Traded: 15

Here at the halfway point of our list is Geist of Saint Thalia, a cost-reducer that has found itself seeing play across formats.

For , Geist of Saint Thalia is a 1/2 legendary Spirit Cleric creature with flying and "Noncreature spells you cast cost less to cast." That's an absurdly powerful static ability, making fine cards good, great cards stellar, and stellar cards outright broken. Plus, as a 1/2 flier, Geist of Saint Thalia actually has some combat relevance, chipping away at life totals slowly thanks to evasion over the course of long games.

#2 - Pia, Aether Ascetic

Number of Trades: 18 --- Number of Cards Traded: 21

Our penultimate pick this week is another busted legendary Echoverse uncommon, and that's Pia, Aether Ascetic.

For , Pia is a 2/2 legendary Human Druid creature that allows you to discard a card when it enters. If you do, you get to search your library for an enchantment card, put it into your hand, then shuffle.

In order to understand Pia's relevance, it's crucial to recognize that, prior to Pia, mono-green had no real way of tutoring for enchantments. That has been the domain of white and black cards historically, but now Pia is breaking the mold, giving Commander decks without those colors a way to efficiently tutor up the likes of Rhystic Study and Underworld Breach.

#1 - Sphinx's Approach

Number of Trades: 23 --- Number of Cards Traded: 66

Last but certainly not least we have our most traded card of the week, and that's Sphinx's Approach.

For , Sphinx's Approach is an instant that draws you two cards and lets you run any number of copies of it in your deck. The payoff for running a bunch of copies, however, is where this really shines: after drawing your two cards, you may exile Sphinx's Approach and four other copies of it from your graveyard. If you do, you get to search your library for a Sphinx creature card, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle.

Beyond just being a fun build around, like Persistent Petitioners and Tempest Hawk, Sphinx's Approach also has some pretty potent synergy with the card Sphinx of the Chimes, which lets you discard two cards with the same name in order to draw four cards. Being a Sphinx itself, this means that you can tutor for it with Sphinx's Approach, then discard two copies of Sphinx's Approach in order to draw as many as four more. Rinse and repeat until you find yourself with an empty deck, then win from there!

Wrap Up

Well, folks, that's the wrap on this week's Top Trades. Reality Fracture has finally had its time to shine, and boy, is it an exciting set for traders here at Cardsphere. Come back next week for another Top Trades, and thanks for reading!