The MTG card Hostile Investigator has climbed to $7.19 in the past couple of weeks, a price spike of 234%. The card was worth just $2.50 at the start of May, and was estimated at barely over a dollar when Outlaws of Thunder Junction came out, but this Ogre Rogue Detective (now that’s a typeline) has proven itself far more valuable.
We’re pretty impressed, especially since the card competes with all-star Sheoldred, the Apocalypse for your four-drop slot. Perhaps that’s why it was initially valued so low.
Hostile Investigator is rising in price because it plays well in two MTG formats: Standard and Pioneer. The card has decent stats for a four cost black creature, and an ability that works great in a long, grindy game. It forces the opponent to discard a card, and gets you a Clue token in return. So it’s an immediate 3-for-1, and only gets better if you have other sources of Discard to hand.
In Standard lists and MTG Arena decks, Hostile Investigator is seeing play in Golgari Midrange. It’s a very solid sideboard card that you can pop into your deck if you’re facing control and leave out against a more aggressive deck (or Sheoldred – this card hates Sheoldred). It also seems like there may be a new variant of Golgari Midrange focused quite heavily around committing crimes where Hostile Investigator is a central pillar – but we’ll have to see if it catches on.
In Pioneer, meanwhile, there’s a Mono-Black Discard deck that seems ready made for Hostile Investigator. This controlling deck packs removal, Waste Not, and discard spells like Liliana of the Veil – and now most people are running at least two copies of the Outlaws of Thunder Junction card too.
It’s probably worth noting that foil copies of Hostile Investigator are a little bit cheaper right now – valued at $5.99. That’s presumably because many copies of this card were opened in Collector Boosters, where every card is foil.
While it might seem counterintuitive, this is actually about what we’d expect. Collector Boosters are guaranteed to contain a foil rare or mythic rare from either Thunder Junction or The Big Score, whereas it seems in Play Boosters, The Big Score cards can only be found in The List slot (20% of packs) where they’re also competing with Special Guest cards.
We’ve seen a couple of Big Score cards spike hard in the last week or so, like this green MTG mana ramp card that was better than anyone expected. Perhaps spoiler season was just so crowded that folks couldn’t keep up. If you’ve felt lost so far this year, our MTG release schedule guide could help reorient you.
Source: Wargamer
