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Market snapshot checked October 24, 2026. Card prices move quickly; the figures below are Scryfall’s listed USD market prices when checked, not guaranteed sale prices or a promise about where a card will trade next.
This week’s Draftsim roundup points to three different reasons a Magic card can jump: a new competitive role, concentrated Commander demand, and a popular new commander pulling up the cards that make its plan work. Those stories are useful for deckbuilders because they explain what people want. They are much less useful as a shopping list.
Reader takeaway: buy a card because it fills a job in a deck you intend to play, and compare the exact printing and current listings before paying a spike. A plausible demand story explains attention; it does not make a price durable.
Dark Matter Manipulator: tournament demand has a shorter fuse
Draftsim reports that Dark Matter Manipulator has become a four-copy card in successful Modern Rakdos Delirium lists, with some Legacy Hogaak lists also using it. That is a specific and testable demand story: competitive players need multiple copies, and results can bring more players to the same list. Draftsim’s account is dated October 23, so treat its metagame share and tournament examples as a snapshot of that reporting period, not a permanent ranking.
The card’s current Oracle text is simple: when it enters, you mill three cards, and it gets +2/+0 for every seven cards in your graveyard. Scryfall listed its USD market price at $7.63 when checked October 24. That number supports the claim that it is no longer a throw-in; it does not tell you what a local shop or a particular printing will cost. The relevant question for a Modern player is whether the deck still wants the full playset after the next results and metagame shifts. For everyone else, one competitive card can be an interesting pickup without being a reason to buy four.
Knacksaw Clique: scarcity amplifies a Commander trend
Knacksaw Clique is a different case. Draftsim connects its reported rise to Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy decks in cEDH, while noting that the card has only one printing, from Shadowmoor. Its ability costs {1}{U} and tapping to exile the top card of an opponent’s library; until end of turn, you may play that card. The creature also has flying. It is not a generic “good in blue” inclusion: it asks for mana and an untap, and its payoff depends on having useful targets and windows to activate.
Scryfall listed the card’s USD market price at $12.96 on October 24. A single-printing card can react sharply when a small group of tuned lists wants it, because supply does not refill immediately. That same scarcity cuts both ways for buyers: if Kinnan lists move on, the pool of interested players may be narrow. If you are building Kinnan, test whether the activation is worth a slot in your actual pod. If you are not, “it is scarce and currently popular” is a weak reason to chase it.
Jace and the polymorph package: commander popularity creates neighbors
The third story is about a deck’s surrounding package. Draftsim describes Jace, Multiverse Architect as a fast-rising commander and points to Divergent Transformations and Polymorph as cards that help put large creatures onto the battlefield. Jace’s -3 exiles another creature or planeswalker you control, then finds a creature or planeswalker from the top of your library. Divergent Transformations exiles two target creatures and replaces each with the first creature card its controller reveals. Polymorph destroys a creature, then replaces it with the first creature its controller reveals.
Those effects reward a deck built with the right targets and few unwanted hits. Jace can turn a disposable creature into an Archon of Cruelty or Serra’s Emissary, but each extra creature in the library changes what the effect can find. This is a deck construction choice, not a free upgrade: protect the setup, choose a target mix, and consider how often your removal spell has to target your own creature.
Scryfall’s October 24 USD market listings were $5.06 for Divergent Transformations and $2.63 for Polymorph. Those figures are for the records returned by Scryfall, not every printing. Check the exact edition, condition, seller and shipping before comparing. A commander can generate sustained demand, but early popularity is also when people are most tempted to buy before they know which builds will stick.
A quick check before buying
- Need it for your list? Identify the slot it fills and what you would cut. If there is no specific answer, wait.
- Is the demand broad or concentrated? A four-of in tournament lists can move differently from a one-of in one commander archetype.
- What exactly are you buying? Compare printing, language, condition and local availability. Scryfall’s market field is a reference point.
- Can the deck’s results change? Tournament adoption and a new commander’s first wave are both capable of cooling off.
The useful part of a price-spike report is the explanation of demand. Dark Matter Manipulator has a competitive use case; Knacksaw Clique combines narrow Commander demand with scarce supply; the Jace package shows how one commander can lift adjacent spells. Use those explanations to decide whether the card belongs in your deck. Let someone else pay a premium for the theory that every chart only goes one direction.
Sources: Draftsim’s October 23 weekly price-spikes roundup; individual card text, legality, art and USD market fields checked on Scryfall, Scryfall, Scryfall, Scryfall and Scryfall on October 24, 2026. Prices are USD market snapshots and can change.
