Top Trades: May 20-May 27

Howdy, folks! It's Thursday, and that means it's time for another Top Trades, the weekly series where we check in with some of Cardsphere's hottest cards. So, what are folks scrounging up this week? Let's take a look!

Honorable Mention - Marauding Mako

Number of Trades: 6 --- Number of Cards Traded: 7

Starting off our list for the week is a card last seen way back when Aetherdrift first reared its head, and that card is Marauding Mako.

For , Marauding Mako is a flexible powerhouse currently accelerating the early-game advantage held by red decks across Standard. A 1/1 with cycling , this Shark Pirate also gets +1/+1 counters whenever you discard a card. Put the cycling together with that triggered ability and - voila - you have a card that is overflowing with self-synergy. What do I mean by that? Marauding Mako is a card that wants to be played in multiples. Casting it early on in the game provides you with an aggressive threat, while cycling away additional copies in the late game allows for those earlier copies to grow as the game goes on. Nothing to scoff at, especially when you fill the deck with other ways to discard cards.

#5 - Amphibian Downpour

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

Alrighty, on to the main list! Coming in at number five is a personal favorite of mine, a card seeing a bit of a resurgence across cEDH, and that's Amphibian Downpour.

For , Amphibian Downpour is an Aura with flash, storm, enchant creature, and "Enchanted creature loses all abilities and is a blue Frog creature with base power and toughness 1/1."

All in all, Amphibian Downpour is something like blue's version of Fire Covenant: an instant-speed removal spell that more often than not serves a role more akin to that of a board wipe. Sure, resolving an Amphibian Downpour that targets more than one creature depends on your opponents' actions, but Commander is a format with so many opponents trying to do so many things on any given turn that stack battles can get huge, and so can the storm count.

#4 - Merchant Scroll

Number of Trades: 4 --- Number of Cards Traded: 6

Next up on our list is another Commander favorite, albeit one that's much, much older, originally printed all the way back in Homelands.

For , this sorcery allows you to search your library for a blue instant, put it into your hand, then shuffle. Not the most widely applicable tutor (this is far from Demonic Tutor), but don't let the smaller list of legal searches fool you: Merchant Scroll can grab some potent stuff. Force of Will, Cyclonic Rift, and the newly legal Gifts Ungiven, all of these are notorious cards in Magic, and all can be found off of Merchant Scroll.

#3 - Craterhoof Behemoth

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

Ooh boy, speaking of Commander all-stars, here's a standout: Craterhoof Behemoth, now back in Standard.

For , Craterhoof Behemoth is a 5/5 Beast with haste and the game-ending triggered ability, "When this creature enters, creatures you control gain trample and get +X/+X until end of turn, where X is the number of creatures you control."

Over the course of years, Craterhoof Behemoth has earned a reputation as green's top-end threat in Commander games, and for good reason. Giving a board of three creatures +3/+3 each may not sound like a lot at first glance, but that's nine extra damage you're talking about, all with trample (fourteen damage if you count Craterhoof's base power). In long games of Commander backed up by mana dorks and tokens, however, it's ridiculously easy for Craterhoof to give a board +5, +10, or even more power to each creature. Now that's a lot of damage.

#2 - Dragonologist

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

Up next, its our newest card of this week's Top Trades; let's check in with Tarkir: Dragonstorm's very own Dragonologist.

For , Dragonologist is a 1/3 Human Wizard with "When this creature enters, look at the top six cards of your library. You may reveal an instant, sorcery, or Dragon card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order." Additionally, Dragonologist grants untapped Dragons you control hexproof. So, what should we make of this?

At the end of the day, Dragonologist is a Dragon kindred card with enough flexibility to be desirable in decks that aren't just playing Dragons. Sure, the limitation of just looking at the top six cards of your library means that there will be plenty of times that less Dragon-focused players may whiff, but the option to grab an instant or sorcery can really come in clutch from time to time. Add to that the hexproof which Dragonologist grants your untapped Dragons and now every threat you control is one step closer to living a turn in order for summoning sickness to wear off. Not a bad deal.

#1 - Revitalizing Repast

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

Here we are, folks, the most traded card for the week. Drumroll please as we reveal...Revitalizing Past? Yes, this week's most traded card is classic for Top Trades: a Modern Horizons 3 MDFC.

On the front face, Revitalizing Past is an instant for thgat puts a +1/+1 counter on target creature, as well as grants it indestructible until end of turn. On the back, Revitalizing Past is instead Old-Growth Grove, a land which enters tapped and can add either or .

Unlike the untapped MDFCs from Modern Horizons 3 - cards like Sink into Stupor and Boggart Trawler - Revitalizing Past is held back by always entering tapped, which means that this is a card which you'll essentially just be seeing in Commander. Given that context, the appeal of Revitalizing Past starts to be all the more clear, as it is effectively a combat trick stapled to a counterspell for removal. If you need to push through that little bit of extra damage or just save a creature, Revitalizing Repast has you covered.

Wrap Up

And that does it, folks! Another week, another Top Trades gone by. Outside of our honorable mention, this week was dominated by all things Commander. Competitive Commander, low bracket, high power, everything got a little bit of chit chat this week. Come back next week for another Top Trades, and thanks for reading!