Top Trades: July 22-July 29

Umbral Collar Zealot | Illustrated by Dmitry Burmak

Welcome welcome, everybody! The week has just about wrapped up, and with that comes another installment of Top Trades, the series where we check in with some of the most popular cards here at Cardsphere. So, what have folks been picking up recently? Let's take a look.

Honorable Mention - Watery Grave

Number of Trades: 11 --- Number of Cards Traded: 15

Golden Chocobos, Singularity Foils, a roster of seven simultaneous bannings; Standard Magic and its product lineup sure has had a lot of news coming out of it these past few months, so much so that I'd forgive you if you forgot that shock lands were back. Well, folks, starting off as our honorable mention this week is a land that'll shock you back into Standard: it's Watery Grave.

For those unacquainted with Magic's second most powerful dual land cycle, the shock lands are a set of ten lands which each come with two basic land types. Additionally, you can pay two life as each of those lands enter. If you don't, they'll enter tapped. Watery Grave is the blue-black installment, carrying the Island and Swamp subtypes.

All in all, the shock lands are terribly powerful for two reasons. First, their capacity to enter untapped is completely left up to you; no worries if you've missed another land drop, or don't have the right basic land already in play, or if you have too many lands out. The shock lands ask a simple question: pay two life, or don't? On top of that, these lands can be found off of anything that searches for basic land types... like Magic's most broken land cycle, the fetch lands.

#5 - Umbral Collar Zealot

Number of Trades: 8 --- Number of Cards Traded: 12

Starting off our main list for the week, meanwhile, is another card printed in Edge of Eternities, this time one that Watery Grave lets you cast.

For , Umbral Collar Zealot is a 3/2 Human Cleric that lets you sacrifice creatures in order to surveil one, without restriction. That's right: this efficiently costed, relevantly subtyped, above-rate creature is an unconditional sacrifice outlet that also allows you to mill yourself. It might not be the go-to creature for competitive 60-card Magic, but I've played Commander long enough to know that there are plenty of aristocrats and self-mill devoted strategies out there that'll be eager to snatch up a copy of this crafty uncommon.

#4 - Cryogen Relic

Number of Trades: 8 --- Number of Cards Traded: 19

Speaking of 60-card formats, our next pick is a level further down on the rarity tent pole but is nonetheless making waves throughout competitive Magic... well, throughout Pauper, that is. So, what's all the rage with Cryogen Relic?

For , Cryogen Relic is an artifact that causes you to draw a card whenever it enters or leaves the battlefield. Additionally, you may pay and sacrifice the Relic to put a stun counter on target tapped creature.

In Pauper, classic battles for card advantage is a common refrain that plays out over grindier matchups, so much so that the two-card package of Ichor Wellspring and Reckoner's Bargain has played a dominating role for a while now. In that scenario, Ichor Wellspring functions nearly identical to Cryogen Relic, albeit with a slightly more flexible mana cost ( vs. Cryogen Relic's ) and a lack of its own self-sacrifice option. Cryogen Relic, meanwhile, is a card that can be flickered to keep triggering double the value of Ichor Wellspring, as well as sacrifice itself to stall the game out longer if the going gets tough.

#3 - Starfield Vocalist

Number of Trades: 10 --- Number of Cards Traded: 12

Before we get to our third choice for this week's Top Trades, let's start things off by talking about a new mechanic that pops up on this card: warp.

Warp is a new alternate cost that's popping up in Edge of Eternities that allows players to get an early turn of extra value from their creatures (so far, that's all we've seen warp on). Rather than paying the normal cost for a spell, you may cast that spell for its warp cost. If you do, you'll exile the creature that spell becomes at the beginning of the next end step. You may cast that spell from exile on another turn (normal timing restrictions apply). Now, on to Starfield Vocalist.

For , or, for a warp cost of , Starfield Vocalist is a 3/4 Human Bard that doubles any and all triggered abilities of permanents you control on the condition that those triggers are the result of permanents you control entering the battlefield.

Starfield Vocalist is a great example of a card with no immediate value of its own still being useful for a single turn, if you play your cards right. If you warp in Starfield Vocalist, then it effectively reads as a sorcery for that doubles your enters triggers until end of turn. Follow that up with something as humble as Cryogen Relic, and you're drawing an extra card. Toss in a classic like Snapcaster Mage and you're flashing back a whole second spell.

#2 - Pinnacle Starcage

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

Coming in as our penultimate pick of the week, we're keeping the Edge of Eternities rocket blasting along with Pinnacle Starcage, a pseudo-board wipe that also packs a punch as a late-game finisher.

For , this artifact brings with it a hefty enters trigger: "When this artifact enters, exile all artifacts and creatures with mana value 2 or less until this artifact leaves the battlefield." Later on, you can pay . When you do, put each card exiled with Pinnacle Starcage into its owner's graveyard, then create that many colorless 2/2 Robot artifact creature tokens and sacrifice the Starcage.

Pinnacle Starcage is a great way to clear a cluttered board, especially in Commander. Mana dorks and mana rocks alike will all be wiped away with staggering ease, exactly the kind of effect to help put a mono-white deck back into the game. Plus, coming with a late-game army of Robots is no small bonus, either. Clearing a board just to fill it all yourself later on is pretty clear recipe for success.

#1 - Icetill Explorer

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

Goodbye Oracle of Mul Daya, hello Icetill Explorer. Edge of Eternities might as well have been Zendikar in space, because boy, oh boy, did this set pack some stellar stuff for lands-matters strategy. So, on to Icetill Explorer, our most-traded card of the week.

For , this 2/4 Insect Scout brings with it three lines of text that all culminate in a land-playing engine the likes of which we haven't seen in a while. First up, Icetill Explorer allows you to play a second land each turn. Secondly, you may play lands from your graveyard. Finally, whenever a land enters, you mill a card. Put this all together, and you'll be churning through your deck in no time.

Wasteland, Strip Mine, any and every fetch land... Icetill Explorer doesn't just give you the option to have more lands in play, it also lets you double dip on some of Magic's most potent sacrifice-based activated abilities. Whether it's building your resources or destroying your opponents, this Insect has got you covered.

Wrap Up

Edge of Eternities came out, and not a Final Fantasy card was left in sight! Sure, we've seen shock lands before, but these are back in Standard now, so I'm counting them as proper new stuff. Come back next week to see if Edge of Eternities can keep its stride, and thanks for reading!