MTG Weekly Price Spikes: 1/17-1/23

Last updated on January 23, 2026

Wistfulness | Illustration by Jesper Ejsing

Lorwyn Eclipsed is still driving price changes, but big moves are no longer exclusive to upgrades for its precons, Blight Curse and Dance of the Elements—though there are still connected moves. From a Premodern shake up to a promising new staple, these are the cards that have spiked this week to keep an eye on.

Pandemonium (1269%) & Saproling Burst (599%)

Pandemonium and Saproling Burst deserve to be bundled together because their sharp spikes are due to the same event: The recent banning of Parallax Tide in Premodern.

Source: MTGStocks.com

Source: MTGStocks.com

The banning of Parallax Tide might make room for a combo deck using these two cards to one-shot its opponent. Read more about it here.

Faerie Harbinger – 40%

While most of the Commander buzz surrounding ECL has centered on the precon commanders, they’re far from the only ones getting attention. Maralen, Fae Ascendant is the most popular commander from the main set, only a few hundred decks behind Ashling, the Limitless as the most built commander, per EDHrec. With this in mind, you can expect to see faerie and elf staples spike—like Faerie Harbinger.

Source: MTGStocks.com

While far from the flashiest faerie (despite having flash), Faerie Harbinger is a solid addition to faerie decks as a reasonable tutor you can hold up alongside counterspells and other tricks. Notably, it can find kindred cards with the faerie type, like Bitterblossom and Firdoch Core, so it’s more versatile that it might look.

Alela, Cunning Conqueror – 105%

Another benefactor of the new faerie commander, Alela, Cunning Conqueror has spiked this week, by a respectable margin.

Source: MTGStocks.com

Alela is already prominent in the faerie space as the most popular faerie commander, but it’s a natural fit for Maralen’s 99. Maralen needs a wide board, which means strong token generators like Alela are in high demand.

Wolverine Riders – 321%

The next price spike driven by Maralen’s explosive popularity is Wolverine Riders, a power elf token generator that makes four tokens a turn cycle.

Source: MTGStocks.com

The sheer number of tokens isn’t the only thing that makes Wolverine Riders remarkable for Maralen. Because its ability is restricted to working once per turn rather than only on your turns, creating tokens on opposing turns gives you another trigger, another chance to steal a spell.

Life Finds a Way – 412%

Life Finds a Way from the Jurassic World set has seen a substainal price boost, jumping to an average of $39 dollars this week.

Source: MTGStocks.com

While it’s unclear what inspired this price spike, it’s substantial enough to keep an eye on.

Cavalier of Dawn (130%) & Cavalier of Flame (104%)

While the ECL precons aren’t dominate the spikes this week like previous weeks, they’re still making waves. Cavalier of Dawn and Cavalier of Flame has climbed considerably, no doubt in response to the popularity of Dance of the Elements and Ashling, the Limitless.

Source: MTGStocks.com

Source: MTGStocks.com

These two—really, all the Cavaliers from Core Set 2020—are perfect for an Ashling deck. Since they have enters and death triggers, you can’t go wrong with evoking them, especially since Ashling’s token copy ability means two enters and death triggers per Cavalier.

Wistfulness – 273%

Wistfulness rounds things out this week with a respectable spike that might grow as the newly introduced incarnation makes waves in formats following the release of ECL.

Source: MTGStocks.com

Wistfulness is already making a name for itself in Standard. It’s been quickly adapted by Simic Nature’s Rhythm/Ouroboroid decks and a deck built around Wistfulness and the rest of the evoke elementals cycle took second place in a recent MTGO Standard Challenge. It also has potential as a Commander staple, as the card filtration and artifact destruction are extremely relevant in the format. Note that ECL has barely come out; the price of new cards are always open to big fluctuations, so this high of $44 dollars might not last long.

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