The seismic shifts currently shaking Magic’s Modern format have set another MTG card bouncing up in price. This time, it’s the artifact Trinisphere, which has shot up from $15.40 to a far more exorbitant $43.70. That’s a pretty substantial 184% price rise for Darksteel copies of the card. Cheaper versions are available, such as the recent Fallout Secret Lair reprint, but all variants are trending upwards in price.
This old card’s new popularity seems to result from the rise of the exciting new Modern deck, Ruby Storm. Modern Horizons 3 has given Storm decks all the tools they need, and tons of players have been trying out the archetype, causing a bunch of cards like Ral, Monsoon Mage and Pyretic Ritual to go up in price.
It seems now the pendulum has swung the other way, and cards that can deal with Ruby Storm are getting more expensive too.
Trinisphere is a great example of this. This artifact card makes all spells that would cost less than three mana cost three mana instead. The effect is applied after any cost reducers (or increasers), which means key Ruby Storm cards like Ruby Medallion and Ral, Monsoon Mage are suddenly no use.
This can stop the deck’s cycle of making mana and impulse drawing cards in its tracks. While Ruby Storm decks can deal with the issue, using Wish to fetch up an answer to Trinisphere, they have to invest six mana to do so, which is going to be a major tempo hit.
Tron is the archetype now main-decking copies of Trinisphere, which you’d think would normally be a firm sideboard card. It makes sense: the deck only has a few cheap cards – and most of its MTG mana ramp comes from lands, which aren’t impacted by Trinisphere at all.
We’d assume Ruby Storm won’t be so dominant once the shine has worn off, at which point you’d expect Trinisphere to go down in price as well. But only time – and competitive tournaments – will tell.
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