Top Trades: January 27 - February 3

Moonshadow | Illustrated by Olivier Bernard

Howdy, folks, and welcome to our first Top Trades of the month. January's come and gone, Lorwyn Eclipsed has fully entered the market, and now it's time for Top Trades, the weekly series where we check in with the most popular cards here at Cardsphere. So, what's been moving? Let's take a look.

Honorable Mention - Hexing Squelcher

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

Returning as our honorable mention is Lorwyn Eclipsed's "broken card," Hexing Squelcher.

For , Hexing Squelcher is a 2/2 Goblin Sorcerer that can't be countered and has ward - pay 2 life. Additionally, it grants those same abilities to the rest of your cards: your creatures have ward-pay 2 life, while all your spells can't be countered.

Ward - pay 2 life is certainly a nice bonus for you creatures, but, compared to the "can't be countered" component of Hexing Squelcher, the effect is meager by comparison. Red rarely gets meaningful ways to interact with things on the stack; Hexing Squelcher, meanwhile, assures that you won't need to worry about that problem once it resolves.

#5 - Moonshadow

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

Kicking off our main list for the week is a card that's growing increasingly popular across Magic's sixty-card formats as another easily gigantic, cheap creature. It's Moonshadow.

For , Moonshadow is a 7/7 Elemental creature with menace that enters with six -1/-1 counters on it. Additionally, whenever one or more permanent cards are put into your graveyard from anywhere while Moonshadow has a -1/-1 counter on it, remove a -1/-1 counter from it.

Whether your playing self-mill, discard, or even just cracking fetch lands, Moonshadow is a threat to consider. It comes down early, grows steadily, and comes with just enough evasion to get past chump blockers.

#4 - Sapling Nursery

Number of Trades: 9 --- Number of Cards Traded: 10

Coming up next is Sapling Nursery, a card that showcases a niche return of the affinity mechanic.

For , Sapling Nursery is an enchantment with affinity for Forests (meaning it costs less to cast for each Forest you control). As for abilities, Sapling Nursery has two: a triggered and an activated. First, whenever a land you control enters, create a 3/4 green Treefolk creature token with reach. Second, you can pay and exile Sapling Nursery to give Treefolk and Forests you control hexproof and indestructible until end of turn.

Sapling Nursery is an expensive bomb that takes a minute to finally get going, but once it does it can quickly lead to the creation of an insurmountable army. If you're playing a mono-green deck in Commander, I'm pretty sure this one's for you.

#3 - Twilight Diviner

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

Here at the halfway point is card that effectively serves as a reanimation-doubler: Twilight Diviner.

For , Twilight Diviner is a 3/3 Elf that lets you surveil 2 when it enters. Additionally, whenever one or more creatures you control enter, if they entered from or were cast from a graveyard, create a token copy of one of them. This ability triggers only once each turn.

Twilight Diviner's ability is a bit more niche and likely wont be triggering that many times to begin with, so, for those considering it, the question effectively becomes "is it worth it to pay to surveil 2 and clone my reanimation target." For plenty, the answer is yes.

#2 - Sunderflock

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

Our penultimate pick for the week is another massively expensive bomb with synergistic cost reduction, albeit without affinity. It's Sunderflock.

For , Sunderflock is a 5/5 Elemental with flying that, if you cast it, when it enters causes all non-Elemental creatures to be returned to their owners' hands. As for cost reduction, Sunderflock costs less to cast, where X is the greatest mana value among Elementals you control.

Sunderflock is the kind of creature that converts almost-wins into done games. Without any other Elementals, this creature costs a whopping nine mana and only leaves you with a 5/5 flier after all the return-to-hand shenanigans are done. Meanwhile, if you're already decently supported by any number of Elementals, it's not crazy to see Sunderflock cost anywhere between two to four mana. At that point, you'll have a certified army when all's said and done.

#1 - Library of Leng

Number of Trades: 14 --- Number of Cards Traded: 45

Last but certainly not least, we have our most traded card of the week, a speculative pick that's gaining a lot of traction thanks to some early previews for Magic's upcoming return to Strixhaven.

Library of Leng is a card that's as old as Magic. Debuting in Alpha, this artifact costs , allows you to skip your discard step, lets you choose which cards you discard if in case you ever have to discard randomly, and when you do discard cards, you can put them on top of your library instead of into your graveyard. So, why all the excitement?

In the forthcoming Secrets of Strixhaven, we're getting Lorehold, the Historian, a legendary creature that, among other things, gives all your instants and sorceries miracle while also causing you to discard and then draw a card on each opponent's upkeep. All this to say, Library of Leng is a great inclusion for any Commander decks helmed by this card as you can discard and then draw the same card thanks to Leng's replacement effect.

Wrap Up

Like most weeks recently, this list was dominated by the newest stuff : Lorwyn Eclipsed, with just a dash of preview-based speculation. Check back in next week for more Top Trades, and thanks for reading!