Top Trades: February 24 - March 3

Abigale, Eloquent First-Year | Illustrated by Mark Zug

Howdy, folks, and happy Thursday! The week has just about wrapped up, and with it comes another edition of Top Trades, the weekly series where we check in with the most popular cards here at Cardsphere. Ready to take a look? Let's dig in!

Honorable Mention - Deceit

Number of Trades: 7 --- Number of Cards Traded: 9

Starting off the week as our honorable mention is one of two Elemental Incarnations from Lorwyn Eclipsed that are gracing us this week: Deceit.

For , or an evoke cost of , Deceit is a 5/5 Elemental Incarnation with a whole host of enters triggers that depend on what mana was spent to cast it:

When this creature enters, if was spent to cast it, return up to one other target nonland permanent to its owner’s hand.

When this creature enters, if was spent to cast it, target opponent reveals their hand. You choose a nonland card from it. That player discards that card.

Deceit offers flexible advantage at all points of the game. For , it's a bounce spell. For , it's a hand-hate spell. For , it's a late game threat, a bounce effect, and hand hate. Now that's value.

#5 - Abigale, Eloquent First-Year

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

Moving on to our main list for the week, Abigale, Eloquent First-Year is a really interesting one.

For , Abigale is a 1/1 legendary Bird Bard with flying, first strike, and lifelink that, when it enters, removes all abilities from up to one other target creature, then puts a flying, first strike, and lifelink counter on that creature.

Abigale is a card that serves two distinct purposes at once: first off, it can completely shut off a problematic utility creature. Many of Magic's most important utility creatures have less than stellar stats, so boosting their combat prowess isn't a huge issue. At the same time, many of Magic's best combat threats have little in the way of utility abilities, meaning that trading their built-in abilities for a full suite of combat-relevant keywords can be a huge upside.

#4 - Winnowing

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

Next up is a typal board wipe with serious built-in cost reduction: it's Winnowing.

For , Winnowing is a sorcery with convoke that reads "For each player, you choose a creature that player controls. Then each player sacrifices all other creatures they control that don't share a creature type with the chosen creature they control."

At best, Winnowing is a sweeper for just that leaves you with an untouched board while simultaneously wiping away all but one creature of your choice per opponent. Is that the most likely use case for it? Probably not, but it does show just how impactful Winnowing can be when deployed as a game-ending spell in a dedicated typal deck.

#3 - Nihil Spellbomb

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

Here at the halfway mark is a brief segue from Lorwyn Eclipsed: Nihil Spellbomb, a classic of constructed Magic from throughout the ages.

For , Nihil Spellbomb is an artifact with two abilities, one activated, one triggered. It has ", Sacrifice Nihil Spellbomb: Exile all cards from target player's graveyard," and "When Nihil Spellbomb is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may pay . If you do, draw a card."

Plenty of artifacts have been printed across Magic's history that serve the one-off purpose of exiling a graveyard: Relic of Progenitus, Sentinel Totem, etc, the list goes on. What sets Nihil Spellbomb apart, however, is the potency that comes from hitting a whole graveyard at once, and only one graveyard at once. Some cards only selectively hit one card at a time, while most others exile all graveyards. Nihil Spellbomb, meanwhile, lets you keep yours, a valuable resource in many decks.

#2 - High Perfect Morcant

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

Our penultimate pick for the is High Perfect Morcant, one of the most popular Elf commanders to have come out in recent memory.

For , High Perfect Morcant is a legendary 4/4 Elf Noble creature with "Whenever High Perfect Morcant or another Elf you control enters, each opponent blights 1." (To blight 1, a player puts a -1/-1 counter on a creature they control.) Additionally, High Perfect Morcant has "Tap three untapped Elves you control: Proliferate. Activate only as a sorcery."

High Perfect Morcant blends two of the stand out mechanics from Lorwyn Eclipsed (and previous Lorwyn releases) into one card. -1/-1 counters? Check. A typal build? Check. A very, very popular typal build? Double check! Jam all your Elves into a deck, round it out with some -1/-1 counter support, and you've got yourself a deck.

#1 - Wistfulness

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

Last but not least, we've made it to the most traded card of the week, our second Elemental Incarnation: Wistfulness.

For - or an evoke cost of -  Wistfulness is a 6/5 Elemental Incarnation with two cost-dependent enters triggers. First off, "When this creature enters, if was spent to cast it, exile target artifact or enchantment an opponent controls." Secondly, "When this creature enters, if was spent to cast it, draw two cards, then discard a card."

Just like Deceit before it, Wistfulness brings with it an amazing about of value and flexibility throughout the course of the game. Removal for , card advantage for , or a game-ending threat and both of those value add-ons for .

Wrap Up

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles may be just behind us, but Lorwyn Eclipsed continued to show us its popularity and dominance this week. Check back in next week for another Top Trades, and thanks for reading!