Top Trades: April 29-May 6

Howdy folks, and happy Thursday! The first week of May has come and gone, and with it it's time again for Top Trades, the weekly column where we check in with some of the most popular cards here at Cardsphere. So, what are folks trading this go around? Let's take a look!

Honorable Mention - Stock Up

Number of Trades: 8 --- Number of Cards Traded: 13

Did you know that Stock Up is in the top five most expensive cards in Aetherdrift? That's right, this uncommon has blown past the $10 mark and is on it's way past $15 - if it isn't already by the time this article is out. So, what's all the hullabaloo?

Well, for , you get a sorcery that's somewhere between Divination and Dig Through Time, as resolving Stock Up lets you look at the top five cards of your library, pick two to put into your hand, then tuck the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.

Two cards for three mana is a pretty solid rate, but where this card really shines is that card selection. Dig Through Time - a card that got rapidly banned across formats - let you look at only two more cards. Sure, being an instant and costing one mana less (assuming you could exile six cards to pay the delve cost) are both great qualities, but Stock Up has only a single in its mana cost and doesn't require a stacked graveyard in order to be castable. No wonder this thing sees Vintage play.

#5 - Gifts Ungiven

Number of Trades: 5 --- Number of Cards Traded: 5

Speaking of blue cards that can lead to long pauses while players debate their card selection options, it's finally time to talk about Gifts Ungiven, arguably the most powerful card to have come off of the Commander banned list in the most recent update.

For , Gifts Ungiven is Intuition but you get to snag one more card...sort of.

Unlike Intuition, Gifts Ungiven is a tutor that lets you grab a variable number of cards (with different names, that is), allowing you to pick up to four cards. When you do, target opponent chooses two of those cards and puts them into your graveyard, then you put the other two into your hand. Because of this, it means that Gifts Ungiven frequently has a second life as a double-Entomb, grabbing two monstrous reanimation targets which your opponent is then forced to put into your graveyard. Other times, it'll just grab four scary cards; Rhystic Study, Mystic Remora, The One Ring, and Smothering Tithe are all pretty good options.

In cEDH, Gifts Ungiven will also often just straight up tutor for a package of cards where there is no wrong choice. Grabbing Snapcaster Mage, Reanimate, Thassa's Oracle, and Demonic Consultation, for example, will guarantee that you have access to some combination of cards that will end with an empty library and a Thassa's Oracle trigger on the stack if deployed correctly.

#4 - Esper Sentinel

Number of Trades: 6 --- Number of Cards Traded: 6

Hey! Look! It's another card that's everywhere in cEDH right now, although this deceptively powerful card isn't going to win you the game the turn that you play it. No, instead we're looking for passive value, and it's all thanks to an engine I didn't mention in my "scary cards" pile off of Gift's Ungiven; here's Esper Sentinel.

For , Esper Sentinel is a 1/1 Human Soldier artifact creature with the triggered ability "Whenever an opponent casts their first noncreature spell each turn, draw a card unless that player pays , where X is Esper Sentinel's power." Overall, this cost is essentially just whenever Esper Sentinel sees play (it's a staple in white cEDH lists but isn't too popular anywhere else), but don't let that fool you - ask anyone who has ever played against Rhystic Study and they'll tell you that one mana is still too much to pay.

It's also worthwhile to note that Esper Sentinel doesn't just impact the first noncreature spell an opponent casts on their turn, but each turn. This means that it can draw up to three cards per turn in a Commander game, a feat that's not too uncommon during protracted stack battles where free interaction is flying around left and right and players are already tapped out. That's a whole lot of card advantage for just , especially as the game goes on.

#3 - Kessig Flamebreather

Number of Trades: 6 --- Number of Cards Traded: 7

Alrighty, now away from cEDH and on to another type of competitive powerhouse: Kessig Flamebreather, a card that's putting out plenty of damage in Pauper.

For , Kessig Flamebreather is a 1/3 Human Shaman that, whenever you cast a noncreature spell, deals one damage to each opponent. Pretty insignificant on its own, sure, but when you stick a couple of these together on the battlefield and back them up with a deck full of cantrips, cheap damage-dealing spells like Lightning Bolt, and aggressive threats like Delver of Secrets, you'll quickly find yourself far ahead of your opponent's life total.

Don't believe me? Just check the Pauper database. From Burn to Delver decks, Kessig Flamebreather has found itself a home.

#2 - Rat Colony

Number of Trades: 7 --- Number of Cards Traded: 18

Next up on our roster of powerful commons is Rat Colony, an old favorite amongst players looking to jam as many copies of a single card into a Commander deck as possible and call it a day while also playing an established typal deck. Hare Apparent and an army of Rabbits? No thank you - we're playing powerful piles; we're playing Rats.

For , Rat Colony is a 2/1 Rat that gets +1/+0 for each other Rat you control and, as I mentioned earlier, breaks the deckbuilding limits on cards per deck, allowing you to run as many Rat Colony per deck as you'd like.

Overall, Rat Colony is far from the most powerful card in the "any number" contingent. Hare Apparent comes with an army, Tempest Hawk tutors for itself, the list goes on. That being said, Rat decks have existed for a while, with cards like Marrow-Gnawer turning a single Rat into an army. With so much support, it's easy to see why a relatively lackluster common like Rat Colony can quickly explode when not dealt with.

#1 - Helm of the Ghastlord

Number of Trades: 8 --- Number of Cards Traded: 16

Last but not least, it's time for our final pick of the week. Drumroll please for our most traded card...it's Helm of the Ghastlord! So, what is this thing, and why has another common appeared on our list?

For , Helm of the Ghastlord is an Aura enchantment that grants enchanted creature two bonuses, provided that the enchanted creature meets some color requirements. If the enchanted creature is blue, it gets +1/+1 and gains a triggered ability that draws you a card whenever it deals damage to an opponent. If enchanted creature is black, it gets +1/+1 and gains a triggered ability that causes an opponent to discard a card whenever that player is dealt damage by enchanted creature. Importantly, these abilities stack; a creature that is blue and black will get +2/+2, cause you to draw a card, and cause an opponent to discard a card whenever it deals damage to them.

All in all, Helm of the Ghastlord is a pretty fun card for lower-bracket Voltron Commander strategies - decks that want to win the game by making their commander huge so they can deal 21 points of commander damage as quickly as possible. Sure, it's far from broken, but it's exactly the kind of fair, powerful fun that these decks gravitate towards.

On the more busted side of things, Helm of the Ghastlord's draw-a-card trigger isn't held back by a combat damage restriction, meaning that there are plenty of ways to abuse it. Stick it on a Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind and now you've got an infinite combo! Why would you do this and not just play Curiosity? Well, if you're running a Grixis deck with Niv-Mizzet in the 99 anyways, then why not both?

Finally, it's worth noting the influencer-hype going on right now with this card. As we approach the preview season for Magic's Final Fantasy crossover expansion, one of the Commander face cards that has been previewed so far (Y'shtola, Night's Blessing) goes decently well with Helm of the Ghastlord, as Y'shtola both cares about you casting cards with mana value three or greater and cares about players losing four or more life in a turn. Since Y'shtola is both blue and black and has two power on its own, Helm of the Ghastlord brings it up to that critical four-damage threshold.

Wrap Up

This week was a fun one spread across the world of Commander, with a dash of Pauper thrown in for good measure. From cEDH to casual, Commander was the star of this week! Check back in next week for another Top Trades, and thanks for reading!