This week in the world of Magic finance, the focus was on a combination of Pioneer and Commander. The biggest gainer this week was Collective Defiance, which has suddenly found Pioneer play in conjunction with Narset, Parter of Veils as a way to wheel away opposing hands. The end result is the Eldritch Moon rare increasing a massive 768% to nearly $9. Perhaps the biggest takeaway here is that the Pioneer hype is real. The number of players in leagues on Magic Online is up around 400% from its low a year or so ago. The the first paper Pro Tour (and qualifier) for Pioneer is coming, and we got official confirmation this week that Wizards is working towards adding the format to Magic Arena with the help of the Explorer format. Add this all together, Pioneer is likely to keep getting more expensive. If you're interested in the format, I'd look at picking up staples sooner rather than later.

Speaking of Pioneer, Maze's End is also on the rise, more than doubling in price to just under $11 this week. This is, in part, because Maze's End is a solid (and extremely budget friendly) Pioneer deck and in part because among a huge number of Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate leaks, there have been some cards (including new legends) which care about the Gate land type. Combined, these factors make Maze's End a solid pickup for both Pioneer and Commander players; just be warned that its possible the lands gets reprinted, maybe as soon as Commander Legends 2.

Finally, the prices of cards from Streets of New Capenna itself are starting to normalize. Take the new Triomes for example. They were around $20 during the start of presales, and are now under $10. The question is just how low the cycle will go while the set is being opened. During Ikoria Standard they were as little as $5 or $6, although I'm not sure the New Capenna Triomes well go as low now that everyone knows just how good the lands are in Commander and even in non-rotating 60 card formats like Pioneer and Modern. I'd wait just a bit longer to see if prices drop more once the set fully releases next weekend, but then pick up what you need this summer, because prices will start to climb once New Capenna stops being opened after Dominaria United releases in a few months.