Even though we've started Adventures in the Forgotten Realms spoiler season, the finance world is still all about Modern Horizons 2 this week. This week's biggest winner - Ashes of the Fallen - jumped a massive 889% to $13.49 thanks to Grist, the Hunger Tide (showcase) being legal as your Commander. The Kamigawa artifact combos with Grist's +1 ability by turning all creatures in your graveyard into Insects, greatly increasing your odds of double or triple hitting with the +1. We've talked about this before, but the biggest lesson here is to buy (or at least hold on to) cards that have unique effects, because sooner or later Wizards is likely to print a Commander that synergizes with them no matter how janky or bad they might look. If you're not looking to spend more than $10 on Ashes of the Fallen, both Conspiracy and Maskwood Nexus can work as substitutes, although most creature-heavy Grist, the Hunger Tide (showcase) decks probably want all three.

Meanwhile in Modern, the biggest gainer was Geralf's Messenger which doubled up to $30. The Zombie has emerged as a surprising Modern staple in Yawgmoth, Thran Physician (timeshifted) combo decks that look to use Yawgmoth's ability to repeatedly sacrifice two undying creatures to win the game. Geralf's Messenger is especially important to the strategy because of its enters the battlefield drain ability which allows Yawgmoth's Hospital to win without a Blood Artist effect on the battlefield. If you're looking to play Yawgmoth's Hospital, you don't really have an option other than picking up Geralf's Messenger at its new, inflated price. Since it isn't really played in any other archetype, if you aren't interesting in the Yawgmoth deck, feel free to trade or sell your copies while the price is high. At $30, Geralf's Messenger looks like an easy choice for a reprint in a future Masters set.

Finally in the world of Modern Horizons 2 expected value (which you can track on the prices page) the numbers have dropped enough that the set might be about done losing value (and doubly so since the focus of the Magic world is about to shift to Adventures in the Forgotten Realms). While all sealed boxes are still positive expected value, when you take into consideration the cost of selling cards and that the EV calculation is based on retail prices, it's no longer massively profitable to crack boxes. The best deal of the bunch is actually set booster boxes, which currently have a $479 expected value compared to a $255 cost. Meanwhile, the expected value of collector boosters is down to $551 after being well over $1000 a couple of weeks ago. This is in large part due to the declining prices of foil-etched old border cards, which are worth a lot less than normal (non-etched) foils, and, in some cases, about the cost of their non-foil counterparts. Draft boosters have an EV of $358, which isn't as exciting as it sounds considering a box costs around $280. If you're still looking to crack some packs, set boosters are the way to go, although collector boosters still have a lot of special editions that could end up pretty valuable long-term.