This week in the world of Magic finance, everyone is once again focused on Phyrexia: All Will Be One. Often when a new set releases some of the biggest price increases come from older cards that synergizes with the new set, but this week the opposite is true: our biggest gainers hate on the new set, specifically poison counters. First off Melira, Sylvok Outcast doubled in price to nearly $15 as one of the strongest forms of hate against poison counters. There have been times in the past where Melira was a Modern-playable combo piece, but it's been years since the card saw meaningful Modern play, so it seems like this is mostly based on Commander where players want to keep themselves from being toxic'ed out of the game. The Homelands rare Leeches, the only card in Magic that specifically removal poison counters from a player, also ticked up to $20 this week after being around $5 as recently as November. Much like Melira, Sylvok Outcast, Leeches doesn't see competitive play, which suggests Commander players are snagging copies to keep all the new toxic cards in check. My guess is that both cards trend back down fairly quickly. Leeches in specific always spikes when a new poison card is released before crashing back down to $5. Unless poison becomes extremely popular in Commander, the same thing is likely to happen again this time.
Don't worry, cards that synergize with new Phyrexia: All Will Be One cards are on the rise as well, just to a lesser extent. The Chain Veil climbed 11% to $30 thanks to the hype surrounding superfriends decks thanks to Ichormoon Gauntlet and the new planeswalkers. Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider (concept praetor) gained 7% up to a massive $55 as a way to double up poison counters. If you need a copy, the new concept praetor printing is actually the cheapest at the moment. Myr Superion shot up 73% to $4.50 thanks to hype for Myr tribal in Commander, while Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon gained 7% to $24 as players look to kill each other with poison counters in Commander. Thankfully most of these gains are relatively small, but look for them to continue for the next several weeks as players build decks around their favorite Phyrexia: All Will Be One cards.
Finally, checking in on Phyrexia: All Will Be One itself, priced have dropped a ton in the past week. Seven days ago a complete set would cost you just over $800, now it is down below $600 for a roughly 30% drop in just one week, but we've still got a way to go. A quick look at the price of the last few Standard sets will show that, while a set is in print, the cost of a complete set ranges from $200 to maybe $300, with The Brothers' War being the most expensive complete set at $296 and Streets of New Capenna being the cheapest at $207. This means that even to get in the high end of the normal range, Phyrexia: All Will Be One will need to lose about half of its current value, which leads to two pieces of advice. First, if you have cards from #MTGONE that you aren't planning to use, you'll get the most value selling or trading them soon before prices drop. Second, if you still need cards from the new set, you'll save a lot of moeny by waiting. Most sets see their complete set value fall to under $300 within one or two months from their official release date, and three months out most sets are pretty close to their floor, so if you don't mind waiting a bit, the best time to pick up your Phyrexia: All Will Be One cards will likely be right around the release of March of the Machines in two or three months.
