As the Fabled format continues to move forward, each new tournament that passes is a showing of established trends vs new discoveries. Recently, it seems the latter has been on the rise, as two cards have managed to gain a foothold in the current format. Thanks to this, both these cards are now seeing a surge in secondary market value, increasing by over 300% in the past couple of days.
Basil - Undercover Detective
Released in the Reign of Jafar set, Basil - Undercover Detective was a relatively underutilized card when it was new to the scene. From its debut up until last week, copies of this Super Rare were sitting in the bargain bin at less than a dollar.
Over the course of the first week of Fabled’s release, there was some moderate movement as copies started rising in price to just under $2. Following this, during the second week of Fabled’s official format, copies of Undercover Detective suddenly jumped to a $5 market average. Some recent copies have already hit a $6 price point, while the cold foil variants are commanding a $15 to $20 market value.
Looking at recent tournament data, the majority of Emerald decks are already using three to four copies of Basil - Undercover Detective. While it's unclear if Basil will hold its position in the metagame, now could be a good time to pick up a playset. Should demand increase, we could easily see this card selling for $10 on average.
Late Game Skulldugery
Basil - Undercover Detective is one of those late-game tools Emerald decks have been packing into their arsenal to eke out an edge for the end-game attrition. The current format for Core Constructed has been rife with a lack of direct board removal tools that this card can emulate to a light degree.
In terms of its ability package, this version of Basil is a bit of a lightweight for its cost. Where Undercover Detective shines, however, is its ability to delay any late-game threat on the opponent’s field as it bounces a target back to the hand.
Depending on the match-up, Basil - Undercover Detective could also function as a mill tool as the opponent’s hand becomes a delectable target for Basil’s ‘Interference’ ability. This makes the timing of Undercover Detective’s deployment a little tricky to judge. A player doesn’t have a lot of opportunities to catch up when a match is already in its closing stages.
Scrooge McDuck - Afficionado of Antiquities
An older card, Scrooge McDuck - Afficionado of Antiquities, was only worth around 50 cents on average back in August. Since then, the price of this card has fluctuated while steadily creeping up toward a market value of $3. Cold Fold copies, meanwhile, have jumped up in price to $10, largely due to their scarcity and collectible value.
Standard Game Tool
Unlike most Lorcana cards that spike in price, Scrooge McDuck - Afficionado of Antiquities is a pretty vanilla card. Despite its lack of overall utility, however, this card has a pretty impressive stat line.
At 4 ink cost, a 2 in Lore, those 5s in both Strength and Willpower make Afficionado of Antiquities a brick wall. If you’re sitting opposite this card, you’d be forced to either use one of your limited direct removal tools or sacrifice an equally powerful character to stop this card via challenge.
Unfortunately, Scrooge McDuck - Afficionado of Antiquities does suffer from being an uninkable card, limiting the number of copies players would run. As a result, players typically only run three copies, but Afficionado of Antiquities is nevertheless a strong mid-game board presense. Even with this strength, however, it's unclear how long this card will stay in the meta. As powerful as Afficionado of Antiquities is, it could easily be overshadowed by other cards that facilitate a deck's win condition more efficiently.