Justice Hunters has finally arrived in the West, and with its arrival is the inevitable shift in the second-hand market for cards that have some strong synergy.
Infinitrack River Stormer
Infinitrack River Stormer originally comes from The Infinity Chasers expansion from 2019. Last month, Infinitrack River Stormer was only worth around $2 on average, before it started to climb upwards.
Around the end of July, copies of Infinitrack River Stormer had reached the peak of its current market value at about $9 to $10.
Since then, it has dropped down to around $6, but it looks like the second-hand market is starting to rise once again. Recent sales have returned to around the $7 to $8 mark, and the analytics provided by TCGplayer are showing an upward trend.
Even the 2020 reprint of this XYZ card is showing an upward trend, even though its current market value is lower than its counterpart. Costing less than a dollar on average at the start of July reprinted copies of Infinitrack River Stormer are already pushing to $4.
Generic Level-5s w/ K9
The source of these market movements can easily be traced back to the new K9 archetype that was introduced in Justice Hunters. The K9 units are focused on the summoning of multiple Level-5 main deck monsters.
Lucky for Infinitrack River Stormer, it only needs Level-5 monsters, which K9 units can too easily supply.
Once on the board, Infinitrack River Stormer can not only slurp up a potential problem piece, but it could also do some cheeky combo lines with cards like Planet Pathfinder or Scrap Recycler.
The former of these lines could easily be used to bring out any deck’s needed Field Spell for more consistency. The Vanquish Soul archetype could make use of this little interaction as their Field Spell, Vanquish Soul, Start! is a powerful extender in its own right.
The Future of K9
We can’t rightfully predict how the second-hand market will perform when the next expansion, Doom of Dimensions, makes its western debut. That said, the K9 archetype is getting a new support card in the form of K9-04 Noroi.
Earth
Machine/Effect
If your opponent has 2 or more cards in their hand, you can Normal Summon this card without Tributing.
You can only use each of the following effects of "K9-04 Noroi" once per turn.
If this card is Normal Summoned: You can Special Summon 1 non-Machine "K9" monster from your Deck, but you cannot Special Summon from the Extra Deck, except "K9" monsters, while you control that face-up monster.
You can send 1 face-up "K9" card you control to the GY; look at your opponent's hand.
Noroi is an Earth Machine monster, allowing it to be a target for Infinitrack River Stormer’s search effect.
Once on the field, Noroi has great synergy with the K9 archetype through either summoning of an extra deck K9 monster or through Noroi’s information gathering by allowing the controlling player to look at the opponent’s hand.
The K9 archetype can easily incorporate Infinitrack River Stormer into its play lines, and once Noroi becomes available in the TCG, River Stormer can easily be used for further extension that loops back into the K9 engine.
Given the potential the K9 archetype has shown with its representation in tournaments and how generically friendly River Stormer is, there’s a good chance this card will continue to rise in market value.
Without a current reprint, copies of this XYZ monster might start to hurt the wallet a little. Not enough to make it inaccessible to a lot of players, but probably enough of a price boost to make a player wish they got it when it was cheaper.