The MTG card Glasspool Mimic has surged in price by 300% in just over a week. On November 19 it was valued at $3.10 by MTG Goldfish. But by today, November 29, it’s gone up to a much pricier $9.
What’s behind the sudden price increase for this MTG card? The answer is simple: it’s a couple of brand new broken strategies for the MTG Pioneer format. These new combo decks use the Lost Caverns of Ixalan mechanic Discover alongside clone cards like Glasspool Mimic, to win the game on the spot.
Several Ixalan cards started spiking last week due to an earlier version of this deck that used Quintorius Kand’s damage-dealing effect to win. However, that deck has now been phased out for a new version that doesn’t need the MTG planeswalker at all, and just wants to load a bunch of creatures onto the board.
You can end up with a bunch of Trumpeting Carnosaurs, give them haste, and swing for lethal. See the video below for an Explorer version of the deck.
Why go for Glasspool Mimic over any of the other clone cards? The answer is that, weighing in at just three mana, Glasspool Mimic can be summoned up with a Discover 3 card. Geological Appraiser has Discover 3, so you can grab the Mimic by playing it as early as turn three and start the combo rolling.
The deck is stuffed with high-cost cards like Magma Opus (also spiking) which can be discarded for ramp but can’t be hit with Discover. The last crucial piece of the puzzle is Eldritch Evolution, which lets you jump from Geological Appraiser to Trumpeting Carnosaur or Doomskar Titan, your haste enabler.
While the prices are rocketing up on the cards for this busted deck – and even a possible hate card Roiling Vortex – you may well want to wait a week before rushing out to snatch a playset.
That’s because Wizards of the Coast has just announced that it will be adding cards to the Pioneer and Modern MTG banlists next week. It would be very sad to buy the most competitive Pioneer deck at a premium, only to have it immediately blown up by the powers that be on December 4.
For more Magic content, check out our list of the best MTG Arena decks and the 2024 MTG release schedule.