The Magic: The Gathering card Harvester of Misery has spiked by 360%, jumping from $4.20 to $19.30 in just the past five days, according to MTG Goldfish's price tracker.
This black creature card has been thrust into the limelight, appearing in one of Standard's top decks. Since it's a mythic rarity card only printed in one set, it was in a prime situation to spike if demand shot up.
That's suddenly happened, because Harvester of Misery made a name for itself at Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed at the weekend. This was a surprisingly varied tournament, with seven different strategies in the top 8 - a far sight from the Izzet-dominated tournaments of yesteryear. But there were two players at the top both using the same Dimir Excruciator archetype, and each ran three copies of Harvester of Misery.
In fact, Luis Salvatto and Christoffer Larsen had identical decklists, a Dimir Reanimator build that seizes victory by copying Excruciator from the Graveyard using Superior Spiderman, then milling the opponent out. Larsen took this deck right to the end, winning the Pro Tour, and ensuring hundreds of players were immediately scrutinizing the build.
Harvester of Misery plays a key role in this deck as flexible removal. It can be discarded to get rid of one creature or cast/copied to wipe away a board full of critters. And since its uncounterable spot removal mode pops it into the graveyard, it also helps to fuel the deck's graveyard strategies, synergizing with mechanics like Harmonize and Collect Evidence.
Mythics are already much harder to get hold of than rares, and chase mythics are a major reason why Standard is so expensive. According to some analysis by TCGPlayer, mythics from Big Score are about 30% scarcer than normal, making Harvester of Misery a very scarce Magic card indeed.
Do you follow Magic's competitive scene? Some players are saying this was the best tournament in years, but we'd be keen to hear your thoughts over on the Wargamer Discord.