Top Trades: March 3-March 10

Howdy folks! It's Thursday, and that means another week has just about wrapped up. So, what cards have players been picking up this time? Let's check in with this week's Top Trades.

Honorable Mention - Tamiyo's Safekeeping

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

Starting things off this week as our honorable mention is Tamiyo's Safekeeping, one of the most versatile pieces of defensive interaction that non-blue decks in Pauper have at the moment.

For , this instant grants target permanent you control hexproof and indestructible until end of turn, and also gains you two life. Certainly not the most complex or wordy of Magic's more powerful spells, but critically important when timed properly. So, what are players using this for? Simple: to push through with game-winning creature combos in Pauper.

Basking Broodscale-based combo decks remain one of the format's strongest archetypes, but since these lists tend to go big rather than go wide they can pretty quickly be beat by a well-timed piece of removal. Fortunately for Broodscale, the printing of Tamiyo's Safekeeping meant that the deck didn't need to expand into other colors (blue or white) in order to protect its creatures, since instant-speed hexproof and indestructible is all they could ever ask for.

#5 - Ulamog, the Defiler

Number of Trades: 4 --- Number of Cards Traded: 5

Kicking off our main list for the week is a much more expensive, much more complicated card than Tamiyo's Safekeeping, but boy oh boy will you be rewarded for resolving it: Ulamog, the Defiler.

For , Ulamog, the Defiler is a 7/7 legendary Eldrazi creature that, upon cast, will cause target opponent to exile the top half of their library, rounded up. Once Ulamog actually resolves, it enters the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters on it, where X is the greatest mana value among cards in exile. This synergizes with its next ability, which grants Ulamog annihilator X, where X is the number of +1/+1 counters on it. Finally, as a cherry on top, Ulamog has ward - sacrifice two permanents.

Cutting right to the chase, if you resolve Ulamog - and its triggered ability - you are probably going to win the game. Assuming you get three +1/+1 counters (not a huge ask, considering the popularity of cards like Ketramose, the New Dawn in Modern), the Ulamog is a 10/10 with annihilator 3 and a ward ability that eats away at opposing boardstates before interaction can even resolve. Sure, it might not have trample, but after a few turns there won't be any blockers away to stop you. All you have to do is find a way to get ten mana.

#4 - Oviya, Automech Artisan

Number of Trades: 5 --- Number of Cards Traded: 5

Next up on our list is our first Aetherdrift card of the week, and that's none other than Oviya, Automech Artisan - a creature that readily solves Ulamog's trample problem.

For , Oviya is a 1/2 legendary Human Artificer with two abilities - one static, and one activated. First, Oviya grants each creature that's attacking one of your opponents trample. Crucially, this doesn't say each creature "you control." So, if you've got Oviya out in a Commander game, then Oviya will buff your opponents' creatures, too, provided that they're using them only against each other. Nice design via omission there, Wizards.

As for the activated ability, you can pay and tap Oviya in order to put either a creature or Vehicle from your hand directly onto the battlefield. Plus, if a Vehicle is put into play this way, Oviya will also grant it two +1/+1 counters. Shortcutting mana costs, granting trample, maybe Oviya really was made to cheat into play the Eldrazi?

#3 - Mendicant Core, Guidelight

Number of Trades: 5 --- Number of Cards Traded: 6

Here at the halfway point is Mendicant Core, one of Magic's first Robot creatures (whatever happened to good ol' Constructs?). So, for just , what does this legendary Robot do?

Mendicant Core, Guidelight is a */3 legendary artifact creature with power equal to the number of artifacts you control. It has Start your engines!, a mechanic that grants the player a speed level which starts at 1 and increases whenever an opponent loses life during your turn, but no more than once per turn. As a payoff, Mendicant Core also has max speed, an ability which unlocks once the speed level is maxed out at 4. Once that happens, Mendicant Core's triggered ability becomes usable, which allows you to pay whenever you cast an artifact spell in order to copy it.

On its own, Mendicant Core isn't terribly scary; a 1/3 isn't exactly the most powerful creature when it comes to reliably increasing your speed. Once that max speed is reached, however, copying all your artifact spells for just is an incredible rate, one which will readily make Mendicant Core into a much more powerful creature.

#2 - Scrawling Crawler

Number of Trades: 5 --- Number of Cards Traded: 7

Speaking of artifact creatures, our penultimate pick for the week is Scrawling Crawler, a pseudo-Phyrexian Arena on a creature that can slot into any deck thanks to its lack of color.

For , Scrawling Crawler is a 3/2 Phyrexian Construct artifact creature with two triggered abilities. First, at the beginning of your upkeep, each player draws a card. Second, whenever an opponent draws a card, that player loses one life.

Strictly speaking, Scrawling Crawler isn't card advantage, since every card it draws you is balanced out by a card drawn by your opponent. However, there is a real advantage to the draw trigger occurring in your upkeep, as that means that you'll be the first player to have the full ability to play that card. Unless your opponent draws an instant and has mana at the ready, whatever they draw will just sit in their hand until their turn, giving you just that much of an edge as the games goes on, very similar to the edge you'll be gaining as your opponent loses a minimum of two life each turn cycle.

#1 - Ephemerate

Number of Trades: 7 --- Number of Cards Traded: 10

It's finally here, folks, this week's most traded card. Drumroll please, as we welcome another one-mana instant to our roster. Let's talk about Ephemerate.

For , Ephemerate is a instant with rebound, meaning that when it resolves - if you cast it from your hand - it goes into exile and you can cast it from exile, without paying its mana cost, at the beginning of your next upkeep. That's right, two spells for the price of one. So, what are doing twice? We're flickering something; each time Ephemerate resolves, exile target creature you control, then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control.

Ephemerate has been a historically powerful card, flickering any and every creature with powerful enters-the-battlefield triggers, from Grief to Fury. Nowadays, however, it's pulling double duty as a cantrip, thanks to its interaction with Ketramose, the New Dawn. Key to this interaction is Ketramose's ability which causes you to draw a card whenever one or more cards are put into exile from the battlefield and/or graveyard during your turn, an ability which triggers twice thanks to Ephemerate's built-in rebound ability.

Wrap Up

This week was pretty diverse, with cards from all sorts of formats popping up. That being said, one thing's for certain - Aetherdrift is absolutely still pulling its weight. From reviving time-tested strategies in Modern to pushing new cards for Commander, this set continues to make waves. Check in next week for another installment of Top Trades, and thanks for reading!