It is official. Snake-Eyes have totally taken over the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG format. Many players are now treating the competitive landscape as tier zero, with Snake-Eye engines commonly taking up 80% or more of the winners' metagame. Whether you’re playing the ‘pure’ Snake-Eye variant or prefer the Fire King approach, if you don’t have a plan for this absurdly expensive tier-zero deck, you’re gonna have a bad time.
With such a powerful presence in the current metagame, any cards attached to the Snake-Eye mirror are bound to see a lot of interest. We already discussed how the presence of the Snake-Eye cards partially caused Bonfire to soar past $100 per copy. The financial impact of these cards has not stopped there, as one unexpecting card has returned to the competitive tables from ten years ago.
Magical Spring
Magical Spring is not an incredibly common card to see in competitive Yu-Gi-Oh decks… at least, not yet.
Magical Spring showed up at three copies in a few Snake-Eye decklists that top-eighted various regional and YCS events across the world. With more than 80% of the majority of tournament metagames involving Snake-Eye decks, you may think that Magical Spring’s sudden increase in price is due to its potential to be good in the mirror match. You, dear reader, would be right.
To our findings, Magical Spring appeared in at least three different top-eight lists this past weekend. Many of the competitors who got these finishes appeared in YouTube deck techs recording their results and their thoughts on the card.
Many were impressed with what Magical Spring accomplished in the Snake-Eye Mirror. Because both Snake-Eye and Fire Kings want to utilize face-up spells to navigate combos, including monsters as continuous spells, Magical Spring can commonly draw a couple of cards at least.
While Magical Spring performs ok against the pure Snake-Eye variants, it really shines when playing against the Snake-Eye Fire King builds. Because Fire Kings may need to pop, or destroy, their own cards to progress in their combo sequences or otherwise gain value, Magical Spring can ironically screw up their combo sequences, temporarily making their spells and traps indestructible. This intended downside to the card can ironically be a big advantage in your favor.
The Spike
Because of Magical Spring’s newfound competitive prowess, the card has spiked on TCGplayer from a market average of 60 cents for a Limited edition and $1.24 for a first edition in the middle of January to commonly selling for between $8 and $10 regardless of variant. This pricing persists between all variants of the card.
Whether or not Magical Spring continues to be a powerful card in the Snake-King mirror or a passing fad is something we are not sure about. This card certainly seems powerful enough to see play into Fire King variants, which did incredibly well this weekend. Regardless of whether Magical Spring drops off or not, it is a card to keep an eye on.