The MTG card Suncleanser has shot up in price in a very short window, after it turned out to be a key sideboard card for Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3. This handy creature cost just 50 cents a week ago, but is now priced at $7.97, according to MTG Goldfish.
As we said, the reason for this card’s sudden 1494% spike is Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3. Suncleanser can remove counters from creatures and then stop them gaining them, but the more important ability is the second one, which stops players gaining counters. Why is that helpful? Because Modern Horizons 3 brought back the Energy mechanic in a big way.
There were quite a lot of players using Energy strategies in Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3, which took place this weekend (June 29). 14 players ran Boros Energy midrange decks, using cheap cards like Unstable Amulet, Static Prison, Guide of Souls to apply early and constant pressure.
Meanwhile 22 players ran Jeskai Control. This deck had the Evoke elementals and various other cards that don’t use Energy, but still relied on the Energy resource for vital removal cards.
Both decks are completely shut down by Suncleanser, which strips players of their Energy and stops them gaining any more, completely ruining their decks’ gameplans if they can’t get rid of the creature fast. When much of these decks’ removal, cards like Wrath of the Skies, Static Prison, and Galvanic Discharge, rely on Energy too, facing just one Suncleanser can be game over.
We saw this secret weapon in action, in fact, as the Pro Tour winner Simon Nielsen used the card to win out against Javier Dominguez in the quarter finals.
We should note that this particular price spike could be quite short-lived, depending on whether Energy remains a big part of the modern meta. It seems foil copies briefly jumped up to $40 (from $1) but have already crashed back down to $22.70 – perhaps indicating that this price jump is driven mainly by hype.
If only Suncleanser’s first ability targeted permanents and not just creatures, then it would be a brilliant counter to The One Ring, which is frankly out of control right now.
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