This week in Magic finance the biggest news is continued interest in banned Commander cards. We discussed this last week, but if anything the trend of people buying cards that are banned in Magic's most popular format accelerated this week. Leading the way was Primeval Titan (timeshifted), with various printings increasing around 200% which to put the price of the six-drop between $15 and $20. While Primeval Titan (timeshifted) being unbanned in Commander seems unlikely to me (we've played some games with it unbanned and, thanks to the quality and quantity of utility lands these days, it's incredibly overpowered), at least it sees Modern play in Amulet Titan. Other similar increases from Biorhythm, Sylvan Primordial, and Coalition Victory, all of which at least doubled up in price this week, carry even more risk, since if they don't get unbanned they are essentially unplayable in every format and their price will quickly drop back towards bulk. While I can see buying these cards if they are super cheap, at current, inflated prices, the risk is simply too high.

Meanwhile in Modern, Phyrexian Crusader (up 139% to $17 this week) is suddenly hot tech. It turns out that in a world where Boros Energy is somewhere between 25% and 30% of the meta, protection from red and white is a powerful ability, leading to the three-drop showing up outside of Infect decks in archetypes like Dimir Murktide, Mardu Energy, and Golgari Zombies.  The card was as much as $40 right after March of the Machines released bringing poison counters back to the game before falling below $5 after a Secret Lair reprinting. Over the short term the price could climb even higher, although the odds of a meta-shifting banning of Boros Energy seems super high, which means I'd be looking to sell my extra copies before the December ban list update.

Finally in Standard, the Duskmourn verge lands are on the rise, with many member of the cycle gaining between 15% and 67% on the week, putting the price of the most in-demand members of the cycle around $10. The cards are seeing heavy Standard play and some Pioneer play, although have yet to make a huge impact on Modern. Based on play rate, the cycle ranks behind fastlands, painlands, and surveil lands in Standard, making it less likely that we see these cards spike towards $20 like triomes or surveil lands. While they could keep ticking up slowly - they are legal in Standard for three more years after all - I wouldn't be surprised to see this cycle settle at $10 or less unless the cards take off in Modern or Commander.