Welcome back everyone for some more budget Magic! This article is going to be a little bit different. We are still going to be talking about budget cards, but we are going to take a look into some cards that have been mentioned in the past, are going up in value, but are still at a good price!

The first card is one I brought up back in 2020 on a website I used to write for, and that card is Spirit of the Labyrinth. The non-foil is $2.72, and the foil is $18.49 on average (mtgstocks.com). We are looking at the non-foil in this case, but when I first discussed it, I was targeting the foils. I wanted to make use of this in the Commander originally. However, when I was thinking of cards to use in Pioneer once it was created, this one came to mind.

Next up is Blood Sun, and the non-foils are a huge bargain still! The current price for the non-foils is $1.50, the foils are at $6.74, promo pack non-foils are at $2.07, and the prerelease foils are at $5.00 (mtgstocks.com)! For speculation purposes, I would target the promo pack non-foils and prerelease foil copies. For regular play you could still buy the promo pack non-foils without feeling like you were ripped off. The foils have gone up just about double in price since I last talked about them in 2020, but the price really is not bad in my opinion! If you have trade available, that's what I would use to acquire those if you are in the market.

Going into playability, I thought Commander would gobble this thing up considering all of the lands with abilities! The same could be said about Pioneer. Lands like Thespian's Stage play a good part in the format currently, and decks utilizing its ability, like Lotus Field, would hate seeing Blood Sun hit the battlefield. Another thing to consider is it shuts down fetch lands! I know the main fetch lands are not in Pioneer, but Blood Sun is utilized in both Legacy and Modern formats respectively. This is cause to watch the price closely and make sure we get copies before they get too rich for our wallets! This is one I would not sleep on for too much longer if you are looking to acquire some!

Now, I know some might be thinking "well that is just one win con, and that won't be enough to drive up value." There are plenty of cards out there that have gone up in value on scenario-based usage, and this has the potential to do the same if it sees more usage. To add to this, we can use another pet Red card of mine in Unleash Fury. We can use Dying Wish on a card like Rotting Regisaur turn four, turn five use Unleash Fury, then Fling it at our opponent for a total of fourteen damage. Of course, if your opponent is open for attacking, do that before flinging it.

I feel like I really need to sell this to those reading, so I am going to give another way to utilize Dying Wish. In a Jund (Black/Red/Green) build we can use yet another pet card of mine in Champion of Rhonas to execute an obnoxious win con. Turn four we play Champion of Rhonas as if we are not using mana dorks or ramp cards to cast early. Turn five we attack and exert Champion of Rhonas to drop a beast in Impervious Greatwurm. Main phase two we attach Dying Wish to the Impervious Greatwurm and fling it for what should be lethal damage, as long as it was not removed prior. Dying Wish foils are still at what I would consider a steal, so definitely get yourself a playset of them!

The last card for today is Sage of Hours. At the time of me writing, the non-foils have gone up twenty-eight percent and the foils have gone up over one hundred eighty percent to $24.99 (mtgstocks.com) since we discussed this back in early March! I was not expecting the jump to happen so quick after the posting of the article, but I did mention how I was surprised this one did not pop in price already! The foils at this point are out of the budget range, but I would highly recommend trading or even buying the non-foils if you have the means to do so. I will just reiterate what I mentioned prior that this is a low risk, high reward play if executed properly in both Commander and Pioneer. I have not been able to keep up on Modern or Legacy, but I would not be surprised if someone tries breaking it in either format.

That is all for today, I hope you enjoyed this read and come back next time for more budget talk!