Uncommon Has 400% Price Surge After Aggro Decks Dominate Standard

Last updated on September 25, 2024

Cut Down | Illustration by Dominik Mayer

Black's success in Standard after the release of Bloomburrow and the popularity of low-cost aggro decks are pushing Cut Down‘s price up dramatically.

After hovering at about $1 for most of this year, the uncommon black removal opened this Friday at $4 in US markets after yesterday's $6 spike, according to MTGStocks. If you happen to have drafted DMU a lot, it may be a good idea to check your bulk binders – you may be sitting on a bunch of copies you may want to get rid of right now. 

Source: MTGStocks

A lot has changed in Magic's Standard meta since Bloomburrow arrived – but black keeps doing what black does best, and nobody does it better than Cut Down. Even when premium targets like Raffine, Scheming Seer have been rotated out of the format, a 1-mana answer to nearly every early threat is a welcome addition to any black deck.

And black's business is booming in Standard right now.

Golgari aggro and Dimir aggro – already forces to be reckoned with before rotation – have become two of the strongest decks in the current Standard meta, and both pack Cut Down in their 75. But besides shaking things up, Bloomburrow has produced at least two other strong, black-leaning decks: Rakdos aggro and Orzhov aggro.

All four decks play Cut Down in their main deck or sideboard as an excellent tool to fight aggro decks of all stripes. After all, Black is not the only aggressive color in Standard town: Gruul and Boros are two other top-tier aggro decks that survived rotation unscathed, and mono-red decks have welcomed many of Bloomburrow’s mice into their ranks. Cut Down is black's most efficient Standard removal against all of these aggressive strategies.

Gev, Scaled Scorch leads one of the breakout aggro decks this season: Rakdos aggro is jam-packed with Bloomburrow‘s burning lizards but makes use of Cut Down in the sideboard and Outlaws of Thunder Junction‘s Laughing Jasper Flint to switch to a more controlling role when needed.

Bloomburrow‘s top bat commander, Zoraline, Cosmos Caller, heads a brand-new Standard archetype: Orzhov aggro. While Gev, Scaled Scorch‘s lizards burns opponents' life totals, Zoraline prefers hand disruption with Hopeless Nightmare, Bandit's Talent, and Liliana of the Veil – but can also bring Cut Down from the sideboard against overly aggressive opponents.

With all four black-leaning color pairs having excellent decks in Standard, and aggro decks in general having a field day right now, it's not surprising that black's premium removal is in high demand.

Prices have remained stable thus far for Go for the Throat given its ample supply (Assassin's Creed most recently, last year in LotR and MOM), but Cut Down‘s has only been printed in Dominaria United and scarcity seems to be driving prices up.