This week in the world of Magic finance things were fairly calm as we wait for Dominaria United spoilers to pick back up in a couple of weeks. The biggest gainer was a random old common - Cinderhaze Wretch - which has risen from bulk to $3 thanks to its synergy with Myrkul, Lord of Bones in Commander. If you can get an enchantment version of Cinderhaze Wretch thanks to Myrkul, you can activate it an infinite number of times to make your opponents discard their hands, which does sound pretty sweet. We've talked before about how it is generally worth buying or holding onto cards with unique effects, mostly in regards to bulk rares, but Cinderhaze Wretch shows this concept extends to older commons as well. 

Otherwise, we're still seeing a general increase in the cost of Pioneer staples, with Oath of Nissa, Indomitable Creativity, and Dreadbore all ticking up between 10% and 16% on the week. In general when you see the price of a card spike a ton in a day or two, that's a pretty clear sign of a buyout and that you should probably take the card's price with a grain of salt because there's a good chance that it's inflated due to a lack of supply. On the other hand, when you see a card slowly and steadily increasing week after week, that is generally a sign of legitimate demand from the playerbase. Dreadbore is a great example. Back in April it was floating at just above $2, now it is closing in on $8 after increasing week by week for the past few months. This suggests players buying into the Pioneer format, where Dreadbore is a staple removal spell in Rakdos Midrange, one of the best decks in the format. With the format finally on Arena's roadmap and a paper Pro Tour on the horizon, it wouldn't be a surprise if the slow, steady increase of Pioneer prices continued. The hype seems real.

Finally our usual spoiler season PSA: don't be tempted by early preorders. Sure Shivan Devastator is a cool card, maybe even a good one, Jaya, Fiery Negotiator looks like a playable planeswalker, and cards like Llanowar Loamspeaker and Evolved Sleeper could have homes in future Standard, but the mythics aren't worth $20 or $30 (where they are currently priced) and the rares aren't worth $10. The cards won't release until the beginning of September anyway, so you get quite literally no value from preordering them now. You might think this warning is unnecessary, but we can see completed sales on TCGplayer and there really are people who spend $30 on Shivan Devastator. Someone even payed $14 for Evolved Sleeper! Last time I wrote this reminder was after we got some early Streets of New Capenna spoilers and those cards - Jetmir, Nexus of Revels, Lord Xander, the Collector and Raffine, Scheming Seer - were all selling for between $20 and $30. Today, three months later, you can get all of those cards for less than $4. The same thing will happen with the Dominaria United cards. Be patient and wait until the set releases to order the singles you need and you'll save a ton of money.