Well this was an exciting Pro Tour, right? A pretty stacked Top 8 bringing us some great decks and great financial opportunities going forward. If you don’t want to be spoiled by Pro Tour results you should skip this article until you’ve seen it! Now I’m going to take you through the winners and losers this weekend.

Winners: Zombies

Well the mindless horde was pretty successful this weekend as its resilience allowed it to outlast control decks and it’s speed and efficient removal allows it to run over Mardu Vehicles. This deck looks like it will be a major player in the format for the next 2 months and the prices reflect that. In the past two weeks, Dark Salvation, Cryptbreaker, Relentless Dead, Diregraf Colossus, and Metallic Mimic have all seen pretty large gains and reached an all-time high over the weekend. What does that mean for the average player? Well if you want to play Zombies for the next 2-5 months then they’re probably going to be good and probably won’t get cheaper soon. Alternatively, if these cards have been rotting in your binder then this will be the best week to sell them off before they start to drop. I had a lot of these zombie cards that I sold this past week because I wasn’t sure they were going to show up in the numbers at the Pro Tour necessary to continue to climb. Given the fact that Gerry Thompson won the whole thing with the mindless horde, I think we still have a week or so of climbing.

Loser: New Perspectives

New Perspectives combo was featured in the first match of Constructed and the internet was basically bought out of the card. Personally, I think buying cards out on the weekend of the Pro Tour is foolish enough, but people didn’t even wait until the round was over because the deck lost. Turns out there were only 6 players playing the deck that weekend and none of them put up at least 6-4 record in constructed. If your local store is paying anything more than bulk rare price on this card I would be very happy to sell them this week. This deck might be fun to play at FNM but my perspective is it won’t rock the boat financially.

Winner: Aetherworks Marvel

This is the second Pro Tour featuring the ever popular energy to Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger conversion machine. Many players may not be happy with the power and speed that it brings to the game but you can’t deny its effectiveness. As you can see from the price graph, people have forgot that it’s a card twice now and we’ve had some pretty big spikes after it performs well at a big tournament. Aetherworks Marvel is the first card that will not fall off immediately but unlike the zombies cards, it will not rotate out of Standard in the fall. When Ixalan is released, the best target for Marvel, Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger will be leaving Standard and definitely dull the shine of playing Aetherworks Marvel. We have seen decks playing it as a value card and just finding Whirler Virtuoso, Rogue Refiner, and Torrential Gearhulk so I’m not sure it will be retired as soon as the zombies. As such, if you’re interested in playing them I would probably wait a week or two for the price to come back down a little bit. The buy in isn’t the same as the zombie cards because it’s legal until Fall 2018. Other cards in this deck are actually pretty inexpensive as the energy cards are mostly commons and uncommons. Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger is the most expensive and biggest spike on the weekend but it has a lot of long term value. It will probably never be less than $10 due to popularity in EDH and casual decks.

Loser: Mardu Vehicles

Mardu Vehicles made up the largest percentage of the day 1 metagame but had a paltry 58% conversion rate to day 2. That’s pretty bad considering Aetherworks Marvel decks made up a similar size portion of the Day 1 decks and had a 71% conversion rate. Zombies, the eventual winner, had a 72% conversion rate showing the true strength of the Top 8 decks. Even at the top tables, only 2 Mardu decks went 8-2 or better in Constructed. I don’t want to say this deck’s days are numbered but there is definitely a feeling that it isn’t going to continue performing as we had seen it at the last SCG Open. The price of the star card, Heart of Kiran is a pretty big indicator that players aren’t scrambling to play this deck. I would expect the future of the deck to be pretty grim as it’s other best cards (Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Archangel Avacyn, etc) are all rotating in the fall. If Hour of Devastation doesn’t give it a big shot in the arm, this deck’s days are numbered. If you own any of the cards from it now and aren’t planning to play it, I would suggest selling them. I don’t think you’re likely to get a better chance.

Loser: Torrential Gearhulk decks

When I say Torrential Gearhulk decks, I think you know what I’m talking about. The Blue and Red and sometimes other color decks with lots of counter spells and Gearhulks just isn’t good right now. Those decks made up a very small part of the metagame at the Pro Tour and can’t fight zombies and Aetherworks Marvel because they require two very different approaches. The fact that zombies has so many Glorious Anthem style effects in Liliana's Mastery, Gideon Emblem, Lord of the Accursed, and Metallic Mimic causes a lot of issues for Red based removal which tends to synergize best with counter spells. Unless we get some new and better removal spells in Hour of Devastation, I don’t foresee Torrential Gearhulk being a mainstay in Standard until rotation. As you can see from the price graph, there is always a slow dip right after a spike so you have time to buy in again later if you decide it’s something you want to do. For now, my verdict is sell!

If you’re a long time reader you will know from my first article that cards in Standard tend to make their final price descent 6 months from rotation. We got some a new lease on life from Battle for Zendikar and Oath of the Gatewatch cards but now it’s important to remember they are going to rotate after the next set. If you have anything collecting dust waiting for their chance in the sun, it’s time to move on. You’re going to end up losing a lot more value if you keep them! The Pro Tour was great and propped up a ton of cards so now is a better time than ever to get rid of anything you don’t need! Do some summer cleaning and then join me when I talk MTGFinance on Cartel Artisocrats!