Top Trades: August 19 - August 26

Biotech Specialist | Illustrated by Alexandre Honoré

Howdy, folks, and happy Thursday! I hope everyone has had a good week; now that things are just about wrapped up, let's take a look back on the week's most traded cards. That's right, it's time for Top Trades.

Honorable Mention - Cryogen Relic

Number of Trades: 10 --- Number of Cards Traded: 18

Coming up first is this week's honorable mention, an artifact that just loves to pop in and out of existence: Cyrogen Relic.

For , Cryogen Relic is everything you want out of a two-mana bauble; that is, a cantrip stapled to an artifact. Draw a card when it enters? Check. Draw a card when it leaves for any reason? Check. The ability to sacrifice it for some value? Sure thing: just pay as well and you'll be able to put a stun counter on up to one target tapped creature.

Ultimately, Cryogen Relic functions a lot like Ichor Wellspring, except this card works with exile effects as well as the standard sacrifice synergies. The last resort of sacrificing it to itself is a nice bonus, but really this little bauble serves one purpose: just keep blinking it.

#5 - Biotech Specialist

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

Our first main-list pick this week is Biotech Specialist, a card that combines one-time ramp with an additional synergy for sacrificing artifacts.

For , this 1/3 Insect Scientist creature brings with it two triggered abilities. First, when it enters, you create a Lander token. Lander tokens are artifact tokens that have ", , Sacrifice this token: Search your library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle." Additionally, Biotech Scientist's also causes it to deal two damage to target opponent whenever you sacrifice an artifact.

Boy, oh boy, another card that makes me glad that Dockside Extortionist is banned in Commander. In all seriousness, though, the obvious synergy here is with any Treasure token you can possibly get your hand on. So long as Biotech Specialist is in play, those tokens provide both damage and mana, all at a moment's notice.

#4 - Lightstall Inquisitor

Number of Trades: 6 --- Number of Cards Traded: 8

Next up on our list is a neat little add on for plenty of Death and Taxes-esque white control decks out there: Lighstall Inquisitor.

For , Lighstall Inquisitor is a 2/1 Angel Wizard with vigilance and an interesting enters trigger.

"When this creature enters, each opponent exiles a card from their hand and may play that card for as long as it remains exiled. Each spell cast this way costs more to cast, and each land played this way enters tapped."

All in all, Lighstall Inquisitor is an above-rate creature with a minimal mana cost that slows your opponents down by a turn; all good things, especially when you're playing a "fair" deck like Death and Taxes (a white-based strategy that relies on tax effects to slow the pace of play). On the less-fair side of things, Lightstall Inquisitor is also an excellent card to flicker; remember, cards exiled with it are taxed for as long as the card is exiled, not as long as Lighstall Inquisitor is in play.

#3 - Terrasymbiosis

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

Counters? Card draw? Our next pick has all that, and in green!

For , Terrasymbiosis is an enchantment that, whenever you put one or more +1/+1 counters on a creature you control, allows you to draw that many cards. However, you can do this only once each turn.

The once-per-turn restriction here is a substantial one, but the flexibility of choosing when to trigger Terrasymbiosis helps to mitigate it. Putting a single +1/+1 counter on a creature during your upkeep is great, but know how you can put ten during your main phase? Simple: skip the upkeep opportunity to draw and wait until the main phase.

Green is a color all about draw cards based on having big creatures, or a lot of creatures. It's rare to have an effect that helps you gain card advantage as you build out that army, and Terrasymbiosis fits right in that role.

#2 - Pain for All

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

We've made it to second place, folks. This week's penultimate pick is Pain for All, an Aura that'll be distributing a lot of damage if it - and the creature it enchants - can stick around for at least a bit.

For , Pain for All is an Aura with enchant creature that, when it enters, causes enchanted creature to deal damage equal to its power to any other target. Additionally, whenever enchanted creature is dealt damage, it deals that much damage to each opponent.

Essentially the question "Why are you hitting yourself" given Magic form, Pain for All is an easy way to make a creature a potent combat threat. Any time it's blocked it'll take damage - damage that'll be pointed right back at each opponent. The same thing goes whenever it blocks something; now, the attacking creature might as well have been attacking its controller.

#1 - Loading Zone

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

Last up on our trip through another seemingly relentless week of Edge of Eternities picks, we come to Loading Zone, a card that combines (or at least mentions) just about all the mechanics of Edge of Eternities in one card.

For , Loading Zone is an enchantment with warp that doubles each instance of counters being placed on creatures, Spacecrafts, and Planets you control. So, let's break down what that looks like, especially against the context of Edge of Eternities.

First off, warp. The ability to pay early on to get a single turn's worth of Loading Zone should not go underestimated. Sure, there's no enters or leaves trigger inherent to this card, but if you have any effect that could place a relevant counter, Loading Zone gives you a one-off chance to double it for just .

Moving to the mention of Spacecrafts and Planets, both of these card types usually have some sort of ability to naturally have counters placed on them, such as through the station ability (which taps creatures in order to place charge counters). Thus, Loading Zone doubles the rate at which you can max out the benefit of cards with station. Now that's potent stuff.

Wrap Up

Alrighty, folks, another week has come and gone, and with it six more cards from Edge of Eternities that have been dominating the trades on Cardsphere as of late. Come back next week for another edition of Top Trades, and thanks for reading!