The saga MTG card Showdown of the Skalds has seen a major price spike of 280%. While it’s still pretty cheap right now – only having risen from $0.50 to $1.90 – it appears the card is still spiking hard at time of writing. While we’ve seen dozens of saga MTG cards (the likes of Kiora Bests the Sea God and Birth of the Imperium) lifted by top MTG Lord of the Ring commander Tom Bombadil, it’s actually a new MTG Pioneer deck that’s causing this little jump.
A Boros Pioneer deck which revolves around Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival is the new hot thing in the format. This underappreciated card, which – as part of MTG March of the Machine Aftermath – probably went unnoticed by many, is an amazing aggressive token generator.
Pia spits out thopters with haste and flying each time you cast a card from exile. So Showdown of the Skalds, which provides impulse card draw and +1/+1 counters, is a perfect fit for the deck.
While still relatively untested, the Pia deck seems to be making waves on MTG Online and local competitions.
What else does it play? Well, it runs recent Standard scourge Bonecrusher Giant, along with impulse draw like Wrenn’s Resolve (which started July at $0.50 and is now up to $2.00). For removal, Chained to the Rocks works as a one mana exile spell, and has also spiked 300% in the last two weeks.
2023 seems to be a great year for the Boros MTG color combination. This is the second hot Boros Pioneer deck of the year, with Boros Convoke still a popular option – and one that drove its own flurry of price spikes back in May.
For more MTG price stories, check out our list of the most expensive MTG cards of all time. And for Magic: The Gathering freebies, take a look at the complete catalogue of MTG Arena codes.