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Good boi MTG card spikes 170% after sneaking into the best Modern deck

This blinking Magic: The Gathering card and adorable corgi is currently spiking in price thanks to a surge of play in the Modern format.

MTG art showing a loveable, excited Corgi

The recently released Magic: The Gathering card, Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd is spiking in price, going from $2.10 one month ago to $5.60 today. Though it’s still pretty affordable right now, this price spike may just be heating up, as the card is seeing increased play in more than one top Modern deck.

Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd is a new blink card released in the latest straight-to-Modern MTG set Modern Horizons 3. This cute corgi is a two mana creature with flash which, upon attacking, can exile a permanent, then return it to the battlefield at the next end step.

While you can use that effect to temporarily remove a problematic permanent from your enemy’s board in a pinch, the far more common tactic is to blink your own permanents to get repeated value from your ETB triggers. Phelia also gives +1/+1 counters to your own creatures when you do this, a nice little cherry on top.

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In the past few weeks, a deck has really taken off in Modern which could not function without Phelia. The current Orzhov Midrange archetype is a dedicated blink deck, full of permanents with powerful ETBs like Solitude and White Orchid Phantom, which work perfectly with Phelia, as well as other blink cards like Flickerwisp.

This deck’s impressive rise to prominence – which came despite the strategy not getting any boost from December’s card unbannings – has caused plenty of other price spikes in the past few weeks. It’s helped Overlord of the Balemurk become one of Duskmourn’s most expensive MTG cards, for instance, and is now boosting both Phelia and another MH3 creature, Recruiter of the Guard.

However, it’s not the sole cause of the spike. Phelia is also seeing a little bit of play in the very best Modern deck of the last six months, Boros Energy. Uncowed despite being hit by the recent MTG banlist changes, Boros players have been able to experiment with new card options since losing Amped Raptor.

The MTG card Seasoned Pyromancer

Consequently, many are now slotting in a couple copies of Phelia, to use alongside cards like Seasoned Pyromancer or Fable of the Mirror Breaker, or just to blink a troublesome blocker. This will no doubt be contributing to the price spike as well.

For more Magic: The Gathering stories, read our MTG release schedule guide – or check out our list of all extant MTG Arena codes.