Top Trades: September 8 - September 15

Desert Were-Worm | Illustrated by Aldo Domínguez

Howdy, folks! Welcome to Top Trades, the weekly series where we check in with Cardsphere's most popularly traded cards. So, what are players pick up this go around? Let's take a look.

Honorable Mention - Giant's Boulder

Number of Trades: 8 --- Number of Cards Traded: 20

First off, our honorable mention, the card that won't quit: Giant's Boulder.

For , Giant's Boulder is an artifact that causes you to scry 2 when it enters the battlefield. Additionally, it has the activated abilities ", : Add one mana of any color," and "", , Sacrifice this artifact: Destroy target permanent."

Between Giant's Boulder's three abilities - the enters trigger and the two activated abilities - you essentially have yourself a card that can be relevant at any and every point in the game. Scry 2 for that initial is some pretty real card selection for a trivial amount of mana, while the first activated ability - mana filtration - allows Giant's Boulder to smooth out your curve in the early game. Pair that with the ability to destroy the most annoying permanent on the field once you've established a solid mana base, and the card comes full circle

#5 - Dáin's Company

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

Next up, an up-and-coming staple for just about any Dwarf-typal deck that can include it: Dain's Company.

For , you get a 2/2 Dwarf Warrior creature that has lifelink so long as you control another Dwarf. Additionally, when Dáin's Company enters, you get to look at the top four cards of your library, then reveal up to one Dwarf or Equipment card from among them and put it into your hand. The rest of those cards go on the bottom of your library in a random order.

In sixty-card constructed, Dáin's Company is an easy card to chain together. Cast one, dig four cards deep, find a second copy, cast another, etc. Suddenly you wind up with an army of lifelink Dwarves despite only initially having the one in your hand to begin with. Broadening out to Commander, Dáin's Company is both a typal mainstay as well as a utility piece of Equipment decks, an archetype that has historically been red and white to begin with.

#4 - Desert Were-Worm

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

Moving on over to number four, let's take a look at Desert Were-Worm.

For , Desert Were-Worm is a 0/5 Dragon Wurm creature that gets +2/+0 for each Mountain you control. Additionally, whenever you attack with creatures that have total power twelve or greater for the first time each turn, untap them; after this phase, there is an additional combat phase.

Twelve is a pretty big number in Magic... until you realize that this card costs six mana and, if you're playing mono-red, then there's a pretty decent chance that all six of that mana came from Mountains and as such Desert Were-Worm is already a 12/5 anyways. That's the thing about this card: it looks a little clunky at first but snowballs incredibly quickly.

#3 - Smaug the Magnificent

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

Speaking of cards that get out of hand quickly, our third pick from the main list this week is Smaug the Magnificent.

For , Smaug the Magnificent is a 4/3 legendary Dragon creature with flying, haste, and "Whenever Smaug attacks, he deals damage equal to the number of Treasures you control to any target." Enabling that attack trigger is Smaug's upkeep trigger, which reads: "At the beginning of your upkeep, create a Treasure token."

Smaug is an aggressive, efficient, and evasive threat that hits the board and immediately makes an impact, pressuring life totals regardless of whether or not you already have a Treasure horde. But beyond being aggressive, Smaug is also its own enabler: keep it around long enough and you'll either be ramping into more bombs to speed up the clock or using your unused Treasure as a growing source of damage thanks to that attack trigger.

#2 - Ragged Short Spear

Number of Trades: 6 --- Number of Cards Traded: 18

Next up is our penultimate pick for the week, another in our long line of aggressive red cards for the week: Ragged Short Spear.

For , Ragged Short Spear is an Equipment artifact with "When this Equipment enters, you may discard a card. If you do, draw two cards." Additionally, Ragged Short Spear has equip and grants equipped creature +2/+0.

Ragged Short Spear - like Giant's Bolder Before it - is an artifact that does an excellent job at being flexibly valuable across the game. Regardless of whether you have a creature or not, Ragged Short Spear is always usable as a way to rummage through some cards and (hopefully) find something better. If you do have a creature, meanwhile, Ragged Short Spear is a solid - albeit expensive - way to close out a game with a boost of power.

#1 - Weftstalker Ardent

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

Last but not least, our most traded card of the week - our final aggressive red pick: Weftstalker Ardent.

For , Weftstalker Ardent is a 2/3 Drix Artificer creature with "Whenever another creature or artifact enters the battlefield, this creature deals 1 damage to each opponent." Capping it all off, Weftstalker Ardent has warp , meaning that you may cast Weftstalker Ardent for just instead of its mana cost. If you do, exile Weftstalker Ardent at the beginning of the next end step, then you may cast Weftstalker Ardent on a later turn from exile for its mana cost.

Weftstalker Ardent is an efficient way to churn out extra damage on a token storm turn, making low-cost cards like Mishra's Bauble and Memnite into lethal sources of damage if you can chain enough of them together. Plus, if your first go-around doesn't kill the table, no matter: just pay the full on a later turn and try it again.

Wrap Up

That's a wrap on Top Trades for the week, folks. Essentially all red, this week was a testament to just how desirable efficient, aggressive threats remain. Check back in next week for another edition of Top Trades, and thanks for reading!