Top Trades: September 2 - September 9

Pinnacle Emissary | Illustrated by Alejandro Pacheco

Howdy, folks, and happy Thursday! Another week has flown by, and that means it's time for Top Trades, the weekly series where we check in with the most popular cards here at Cardsphere. So, what are folks trading? Let's take a look!

Honorable Mention - Pinnacle Emissary

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

Warping in from Edge of Eternities is this week's honorable mention, Pinnacle Emissary.

For - Pinnacle Emissary is a 3/3 Robot artifact creature with "Whenever you cast an artifact spell, create a 1/1 colorless Drone artifact creature token with flying and 'This token can block only creatures with flying.'"

Pinnacle Emissary does a ridiculously good job at setting up an army of evasive threats. Sure, it can't create any Drones on its own, but the second you cast another artifact things will start to snowball. Assuming you've paid Pinnacle Emissary's full cost, this is a pretty fair rate; you probably won't be doing too much more the turn you cast it, so that gives your opponent an opportunity to interact before the Drones hit the battlefield. However, Pinnacle Emissary really doesn't need more than a turn to put in some heavy lifting, thanks in no small part to that maximally flexible warp cost.

A warp cost of just one mana is so insignificant that you can pretty readily follow it up with at least a couple of cheap artifacts. There are plenty of low- to no-cost artifacts out there, regardless of power level, so spending the two mana which you've saved by warp-casting Pinnacle Emissary on other artifacts should be able to net you a couple of Drones. Couple that with Pinnacle Emissary's ability to be cast off either or , and this card really is primed to come down whenever it's needed.

#5 - Generous Gift

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

Coming in as our first pick of the week is one of white's most versatile removal spells in recent memory, and that card is Generous Gift.

For , Generous Gift is an instant with a straightforward effect: destroy target permanent, and that permanent's controller creates a 3/3 green Elephant creature token.

Generous Gift doesn't see terribly much high-level play due to its fair mana value, but don't mistake that to mean this card isn't seriously worth considering at the Commander table. White has plenty of board wipes, but instant-speed spot removal for any permanent is a rare commodity. Planeswalkers, lands, battles... these are things white doesn't usually get to one-shot, and Generous Gift is a wholly playable answer to those.

#4 - Cursed Totem

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

Speaking of answering a wide array of threats, now we get to talk about the first of two stax pieces on our list: Cursed Totem.

For , Cursed Totem is an artifact which prevents activated abilities of creatures from being activated. Simple, straightforward, and ruthlessly backbreaking. Whether you're using Cursed Totem as a build-around lock piece to shut out problematic decks (cough Sisay, Weatherlight Captain cough) at the cEDH table or in lower-bracket Commander as a means to slow the onslaught of creature-based mana production, Cursed Totem has got you covered.

#3 - Narset, Parter of Veils

Number of Trades: 6 --- Number of Cards Traded: 14

Next up on our list is a stax piece goes beyond Cursed Totem's intrinsic parity; that is, it immediately and without effort allows you to get ahead while your opponents suffer asymmetrically. Let's talk about Narset, Parter of Veils.

For , Narset, Parter of Veils is a legendary planeswalker with a starting loyalty of five. As a static ability, Narset prevents your opponents from drawing more than one card each turn. Additionally, she has one loyalty ability; you can remove two loyalty counters to look at the top four cards of your library, reveal a noncreature card from among them to put into your hand, then put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.

Narset is the ideal stax piece. She shuts off your opponents from one of Magic's principal resources (card advantage) while not just leaving you unencumbered, but also allowing you to actually make additional progress on the very same resource axis that she shuts your opponents out off. To contrast, Cursed Totem is a powerful stax effect that is also symmetric; if you have creatures with activated abilities, you suffer to. Not so with Narset: load up on all the card advantage you want.

#2 - Stomping Ground

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

Alrighty folks, now it's time to shift from the two stax pieces on our list to the two lands on our list. First up, a Magic classic brought back into Standard by Edge of Eternities, let's get the rundown on Stomping Ground.

You know them, you love them, the shock lands are Magic's second-best cycle of mana-producing dual lands, eternally locked behind their original inspiration tracing all the way back to Alpha. These lands each have two basic land types (and with them, the corresponding intrinsic mana abilities), as well as the optional requirement that two life be paid when they enter. If you don't pay, then they'll enter tapped. Otherwise, they're untapped.

Stomping Ground here is the red and green entrant in the shock land cycle. If you're playing red and green in any format that this card is legal in, save for Vintage and Legacy, then odds are you'll be running it.

#1 - Witch's Cottage

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

Here we are, the most traded card of the week, another land that brings with it a basic land type.

Witch's Cottage is a nonbasic Swamp that enters tapped, unless you control three other Swamps already. Additionally, when Witch's Cottage enters untapped (either due to its own condition or something like Horizon Explorer), you may put target creature card from your graveyard on top of your library.

Witch's Cottage already meets two of Magic's biggest criteria for being a powerful land: it can enter untapped, and it can be searched for off of a fetch land. Put those together with any form of additional value, and you've got yourself a dangerously powerful card design. Fortunately, controlling three other Swamps is a real limitation on being untapped, and putting a creature card from your graveyard back on top of your library is a pretty balanced reward, so Witch's Cottage isn't destroying formats. That said, it is a very easy include for a wide variety of decks, so it's no wonder that it has made an appearance on Top Trades.

Wrap Up

These past few weeks have been pretty heavily dominated by Edge of Eternities, but this week has shown that - after the hype of a new release boils down - there are plenty of gems from Magic sets gone by that players are still eager to add to their decks. Check back in next week to see what's new with Top Trades, and thanks for reading!