Top Trades: March 31-April 7

Happy Thursday, everybody! Another week, another Top Trades - the weekly column where we check out some of the most popular cards traded here at Cardsphere. So, what's been moving this week? Let's take a look.

Honorable Mention - Hare Apparent

Number of Trades: 7 --- Number of Cards Traded: 19

Hopping into April is the return of Hare Apparent, the newest in Magic's cohort of cards which allow you to run any number of them in your deck - regardless of normal construction limits. So, what do we get for running a whole lot more than just four Hare Apparents in our deck? Even more Rabbits.

For , Hare Apparent is a 2/2 Rabbit Noble that, when it enters, creates a number of 1/1 white Rabbit creature tokens equal to the number of other creatures you control named Hare Apparent. So, for all you Rabbit enthusiasts out there, this card is for you.

Not only do you get a 2/2 for - a pretty fair rate for a common - so too do you get a potentially massive army of Rabbits. While it may not be competitively viable in a Standard environment as cutthroat as this one, Hare Apparent certainly has room in Commander - everyone's seen death by a thousand Elves, why not cast an Overrun with a board of a thousand Rabbits?

#5 - Mistrise Village

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

Moving away from casual Commander and straight on into the world of cEDH, let's talk about Mistrise Village - our first of many Tarkir: Dragonstorm cards for the week.

First of all, let's talk about about the untap condition on Mistrise Village. This land enters the battlefield tapped unless you control a Forest or Mountain, meaning that it's never going to be the turn one land that many fast decks would dream it could be. That being said, it is pretty reliably untapped from turn two onwards (provided you play the right colors), so that means a lot.

A shockland it isn't, but don't count that tap clause as signing away this card's promise. Now, on to what it does.

Mistrise Village has two activated abilities - you can either tap it to add , or you can spend and tap it in order to make the next spell you cast this turn uncounterable. Interaction is always at a premium in competitive formats - just ask Force of Will and Pact of Negation - so a land that can dismiss all of that sure is an eye opener. Functionally, this ability really costs , since you'll be missing out on the mana that Mistrise Village could have added, but for all the cEDH players out there, let me ask this - if Ad Nauseam optionally cost and was uncounterable, would you pay the extra cost?

Tempting, right?

#4 - Warden of the Grove

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

Next up is Tarkir: Dragonstorm card number two, and the first in our long line of cards that were traded the lucky number seven times this week - Warden of the Grove. So, how's this Hydra doing, and where does it get counters if it doesn't have in its cost? Let's dig into it.

For , Warden of the Grove is a 2/2 Hydra with two triggered abilities. First, in an answer to our earlier question, this Hydra gets a +1/+1 counter on it at the beginning of your end step. Second, it has "Whenever another nontoken creature enters the battlefield under you control, it endures X, where X is the number of counters on this creature."

As a bit of a refresher, endure is an ability from Tarkir: Dragonstorm which - when triggered - causes the controller of the creature which is enduring to make a choice: either put X +1/+1 counters on that creature (where X is the endure number), or create an X/X white Spirit creature token.

This means that - provided you can keep the Warden around - you'll slowly build up a much stronger army, a much wider army, or somewhere in between as you see fit, all for . Not bad, especially given how mana intense a three-color set can be.

#3 - Herd Heirloom

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

Surprise surprise, more Tarkir! This time, it's a mana rock with a sneaky little combat trick tucked along side.

For , Herd Heirloom is an artifact with ": Add one mana of any color. Spend this mana only to cast a creature spell." Not bad, and certainly relevant in stompy Commander decks, but the real kicker comes in its other activated ability, which allows you to tap Herd Heirloom to grant a creature with power four or greater that you control trample and "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, draw a card," until end of turn.

For most mid-bracket green Commander decks out there, Herd Heirloom is both a mana rock and a card draw engine, as those are exactly the types of decks which will be running plenty of big creatures that already want to be attacking each combat. Already have enough mana for Craterhoof Behemoth? Great! Now you can draw a card off of it, too!

#2 - Scavenger Regent

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

Alrighty, it's our last Tarkir: Dragonstorm card of the night, but boy oh boy does it put in work, so let's get cracking. But first, an explanation of how Omens work.

In Throne of Eldraine, we were introduced to Adventures - a subtype of instant and sorcery which acted a lot like a second card attached to the main threat. These instants and sorceries all had the rule attached to them that, after casting them, they would go into exile, from where you could cast the main card. Well, that base technology is getting modified for Omens, another subtype of instants and sorceries which are stapled onto other cards. So, what's new? Well, unlike Adventures, once you cast an Omen the card gets shuffled back into your deck - not exiled. So sure, you'll be able to cast the main card at a later date, if you draw it, that is.

This brings us to Scavenger Regent, a 4/4 Dragon for with flying and ward - discard a card. Awesome, a low-color threat in a multicolor format - but wait, there's more! Attached to Scavenger Regent is Exude Toxin, an Omen sorcery for that gives all non-Dragon creatures -X/-X until end of turn.

For all you Dragon-typal aficionados out there, Scavenger Regent is the real deal. A boardwhipe that will leave you unscathed attached to a creature which can be cast pretty flexibly and receive any and all buffs from the support package your typal deck is already running? Now that's value.

#1 - Mystic Remora

Number of Trades: 7 --- Number of Cards Traded: 13

Last but certainly not least, you know, you love it (or you hate it) - it's Mystic Remora, the "fair" cousin of Rhystic Study.

For the unacquainted, Mystic Remora is an enchantment which costs , has cumulative upkeep - , and "Whenever an opponent casts a noncreature spell, you may draw a card unless that player pays ." So, why is an ever-present Commander staple moving around so much? Well, let's speculate.

Rhystic Study is a hated card - not universally so, but definitely with more people opposed to it than those that love it. It's also a Game Changer, one of Commander's new cards which affect the bracket of your deck's power. Mystic Remora, meanwhile, is at least partially balanced by the cumulative upkeep cost and isn't on the Game Changers list, meaning that there are more people out there who are interested in playing it (remove the concern of a higher bracket and you're sure to open up a card to more people).

So, with the Game Changers list getting more attention this month as Wizards has noted an upcoming shift in the roster, it makes some sense that people are eyeing what powerful cards aren't already on there.

Wrap Up

Alrighty folks, this week sure was a hit by a storm - a Dragonstorm, that is. Magic's return to Tarkir has absolutely blasted through Top Trades, blowing all the other trades out of the water (well, except for a Commander staple, that is). Come check back next week to see if the storm rages on, and thanks for reading!