Top Trades: May 27-June 3

Howdy, folks! It's Thursday, and that means it's time for Top Trades, the weekly series where we check in with some of the most popular cards from the previous week. So, what are players trading this time? Let's take a look!

Honorable Mention - Tempest Hawk

Number of Trades: 8 --- Number of Cards Traded: 37

Kicking off our week is one of Magic's burgeoning cohort of cards which allow you to run any number in your deck. Let's look at Tempest Hawk.

For , Tempest Hawk is a 2/2 Bird creature with flying and "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, you may search your library for a card named Tempest Hawk, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle."

Tempest Hawk has the potential to be a really fun card, if you build around it properly. Filling your hand with more and more creatures each combat is nothing to scoff at, especially when you back it up with the likes of Thrumming Stone or Mirror Box, cards which provide bonuses for multiple creatures with the same name. Granted, it doesn't come with the immediately game-ending self-synergy, like Dragon's Approach or Shadowborn Apostle, but it's still an army in a can.

#5 - Flawless Maneuver

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

Next up is our first pick from the main five of the week, a card that's coincidentally another white three-drop that abounds in Commander circles: Flawless Maneuver.

Although it costs , this instant more often than not is free, all thanks to the line of text "If you control a commander, you may cast this spell without paying its mana cost." So, free or not, what does it do? It grants all you creatures indestructible until end of turn.

White doesn't exactly get a ton of mass-survival effects like this: cards which come in and save a whole board in the nick of time. It's certainly getting more of them (Teferi's Protection, Everybody Lives!, etc.), but when it comes to pseudo-interaction like this, it's hard to compete with something free. All this to say, Flawless Maneuver has definitely carved out a worthwhile spot in Commander, and it isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

#4 - Colossal Grave-Reaver

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

Speaking of Commander, thanks to Tarkir: Dragonstorm's contingent of Commander decks, we have a new powerhouse to take a look at for Dragon kindred decks far and wide, Colossal Grave-Reaver.

For , Colossal Grave-Reaver is a 7/6 Dragon with flying and two triggered abilities. First, whenever it enters or attacks, you mill three cards. Second, whenever one or more creature cards are put into your graveyard from your library, put one of them onto the battlefield.

Colossal Grave-Reaver is an absolute menace. While it may not say so directly as part of any one trigger, this Dragon often brings with it another creature when it enters and/or whenever it attacks, thanks to that mill trigger that comes built in. Stock a Commander deck full of other sources of mill such as Life from the Loam and Colossal Grave-Reaver and watch as your new army rises from the graveyard.

#3 - Snap

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

Alrighty, folks, we're halfway through our list, so now it's time to take a brief pit stop with a card that's been useful across formats for more than two decades; it's Snap!

For , Snap is an instant that returns target creature to its owner's hand, then allows you to untap up to two target lands. Simple, almost free, and incredibly powerful.

First up, two mana to bounce a creature isn't exactly great, but it's not terrible, either, especially when there's more upside to be had. Speaking of upside, oh, boy, is it the untap clause where Snap becomes potent. Unlike classic free spells which are simply cast with no mana cost, Snap is worded so as to provide a refund. However, there are plenty of ways for lands to add more than one mana, and it's through that workaround that Snap quickly turns into its most common, most busted form: a ritual.

In cEDH, for example, Snap is most commonly paired with Gaea's Cradle, allowing Snap to be an instant-speed ritual that adds a boatload of green mana despite being a blue spell, highlighting its capacity to colorwash as well.

Snap may be a spell with few lines of text, but it sure makes great use out of every single one.

#2 - Heritage Reclamation

Number of Trades: 5 --- Number of Cards Traded: 11

Coming up next as our penultimate pick for the week is Heritage Reclamation, another flexible two-mana common, albeit this one is a whole lot newer.

For , this instant is a modal spell that allows you to pick from one of three options: destroy target artifact, destroy target enchantment, or exile up to one target card from a graveyard and then draw a card.

All in all, Heritage Reclamation is an excellent example of how flexibility and instant speed combine together to make even mediocre effects shine. On top of all that, the ability to basically cycle Heritage Reclamation through its last mode serves as icing on the cake, making sure that it's never a dead card.

#1 - Krark-Clan Shaman

Number of Trades: 6 --- Number of Cards Traded: 22

Here we are folks, it's time for our most traded card for the week. Drumroll, please... it's Krark-Clan Shaman! A powerhouse of Pauper and beyond, this one-drop combines an unrestricted sacrifice outlet with the potential for an instant-speed board wipe. Let's dig deeper.

For , Krark-Clan Shaman is a 1/1 Goblin Shaman with one ability; "Sacrifice an artifact: This creature deals 1 damage to each creature without flying." Now, as a 1/1, this usually means that you only get one chance to make Krark-Clan Shaman shine, since the resolution of its ability will kill itself, but one chance to make it shine doesn't mean one chance to activate it.

Since Krark-Clan Shaman has no restrictions on its activation (other than the base cost of sacrificing an artifact), it means that you can hold priority and sacrifice a whole lot of things all at once, sending out massive amounts of damage all at once, and all at instant speed. Combine this with cards that want to be sacrificed like Ichor Wellspring, and suddenly you have a synergistic core to one of Pauper's most powerful decks, Affinity.

Wrap Up

Alrighty, folks, that does it! Another week, another Top Trades, this time dominated by Pauper and Commander favorites. Tune back in next week for another installment, and thanks for reading!