Top Trades: September 30-October 7

It's Thursday everyone! That means it's time for Top Trades, the weekly series where we check in with Cardsphere's most traded cards of the week and talk about which cards are moving around the most on the site.

So, which cards have made the list this week? Let's take a look!

Honorable Mention - Enduring Innocence

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

Starting us off as this week's honorable mention is a card that's continuing its run from a few weeks ago as one of the more popular cards from Duskmourn, and that's Enduring Innocence.

For , Enduring Innocence is white's entry into the Enduring cycle, a rare set of Glimmer enchantment creatures that each have the static ability "When this creature dies, if it was a creature, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control. It's an enchantment." Pretty nifty, right? A nice way to make sure you can eek out more value from the Glimmer's other abilities as the game goes on. So, outside of being a 2/1 with lifelink, what else makes Enduring Innocence stand out from the rest of the Enduring cycle?

Beyond the body and the hallmark Glimmer psuedo-resurrection, Enduring Innocence also has the triggered ability "Whenever one or more other creatures you control with power 2 or less enter, draw a card. This ability triggers only once each turn." Now, there sure are a lot of limitations on this ability - be it the word "other" or the cap of once per turn - but that doesn't discount the fact that drawing cards is still one of the most powerful things you can do in Magic.

#5 - Untimely Malfunction

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

Coming in as our first entry in this week's main list is Untimely Malfunction, an incredibly flexible utility spell that I imagine will be in a quite a lot of decks - be it Commander mainboards or Pioneer, Modern, and Standard sideboards - for a long, long, time. Why? Because Untimely Malfunction can do any of three pretty important things, all at instant speed, and all at a reasonable rate.

For , Untimely Malfunction is an instant with three modes to choose from. The first mode destroys target artifact, the second changes the target of target spell or ability with a single target, and the final mode makes up to two target creatures unable to block until end of turn.

Each of these modes is valuable t0 someone, somewhere, at some point or another in the average Magic game, and Untimely Malfunction offers all three with very little downside. Sure, there are artifact removal spells that cost only , same goes for combat tricks, but putting all these effects together is a whole other thing entirely. I'd keep an eye on this card; you never know when you'll be building something red that could use it.

#4 - Fear of Missing Out

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

Speaking of good red cards from Duskmourn, up next on our list is Fear of Missing Out, the first of Duskmourn's many Nightmare enchantment creatures to make our list. So, what's special about this one?

Well, for , you'll get a 2/3 enchantment creature that rummages when it enters (causing you to discard a card and then draw a card), plus one hell of a triggered ability off of delirium. Whenever Fear of Missing Out attacks for the first time each turn, if you have four or more card types among cards in your graveyard, you untap target creature. Then, after this phase, there is an additional combat phase.

This is the cheapest means to go about racking up extra combat phases that Magic has ever seen. Most of the time, effects like these cost around five mana, or come as part of a more impressive card that itself cost at least five mana. Fear of Missing Out costs just two, and the only hurdle to get through is achieving delirium, something which this card already works towards by rummaging when it enters. It's no wonder players are excited about this card.

#3 - Leyline of Resonance

Number of Trades: 8 --- Number of Cards Traded: 9

Looks like we've got three in a row, folks. Three red cards from Duskmourn, that is. So, what is it this time? None other than Leyline of Resonance - red's newest installment in the Leyline cycle.

Each of Magic's Leyline enchantments contain the replacement effect "If this card is in your opening hand, you may begin the game with it in play," and Leyline of Resonance is no exception. So, if you get lucky (which shouldn't be too hard in a 60-card constructed format with playsets and proper mulligans), it's pretty reasonable to assume that players will be starting the game with this card in play a lot of the time. So, what's the upside?

So long as this Leyline is in play, you copy each instant and sorcery spell you cast, provided that spell targets only a single creature and only a creature you control. That's a solid bonus, but those of you that remember our last installment of Top Trades will remember that this is part of a multi-card combo with Heartfire Hero that can close out the game pretty quickly, provided you cast (and then copy) enough combat tricks. Certainly not too shabby for a Standard set "free" spell.

#2 - Patchwork Beastie

Number of Trades: 8 --- Number of Cards Traded: 13

Moving on to our penultimate pick for the week, it's time for Patchwork Beastie to take a turn in the spotlight. Unlike the other Duskmourn uncommon on our list (Untimely Malfunction), Patchwork Beastie doesn't promise much in the way of flexibility. Instead, this creature is all about the opposite end of of powerful attributes - efficiency.

For just , Patchwork Beastie is a 3/3 Beast artifact creature with the delirium restriction of "Patchwork Beastie can't attack or block unless there are four or more card types among cards in your graveyard," and the triggered ability "At the beginning of your upkeep, you may mill a card." Put it all together and what have you got? A very above rate creature that has a built-in way of unlocking the restriction which its disproportionately cheap mana cost requires.

#1 - Abhorrent Oculus

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

Drumroll please as we roll out this week's most traded card...Abhorrent Oculus! That's right, modern-era Magic design has power crept Skaab Ruinator to the point that it's finally popular just about everywhere, especially Modern.

Alright, let's break down this card. For the low cost of and exiling six cards from your graveyard, Abhorrent Oculus is a 5/5 flying Eye creature with "At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, manifest dread." For those unfamiliar, in order to manifest dread, a player looks at the top two cards of their library, chooses one to put onto the battlefield face down as a 2/2 creature (just like morph or manifest) and puts the other card into their graveyard.

Duskmourn is a set with plenty of ways to fill the graveyard, and decks abound across formats that are all about quickly milling yourself, so it makes sense that a heavily discounted and evasive creature that also gradually fills up both the battlefield and the graveyard would find success somewhere. The biggest surprise, I think, was just the delay with which it happened. Skaab Ruinator saw its success limited because of the card type restriction in its exile clause which required that creatures be pitched in order to cast it, but that's not the case here. Instead, Abhorrent Oculus asks just asks for twice as many cards, and the outcome couldn't be clearer: that is a cost players are more than willing to pay.

Wrap Up

This week was all things Duskmourn. Between a Glimmer, a Fear, and a Leyline, we got a taste of some of the set's most popular cycles, plus a diverse range of playstyles. Enchantment synergies, delirium, and all things graveyard-related are through the roof right now.

Come back next week, when we'll check back in with Cardsphere for another edition of Top Trades. Thanks for reading!