There are a truly staggering number of Magic: the Gathering cards out there. While many of them are memorable, a great deal more of them are destined to lie forgotten, gathering dust at the bottom of bulk bins. Until a few days ago, Flourishing Defenses was a card left behind by history. It has seen very little play since it debuted in Shadowmoor 17 years ago. The recent reveal of the card High Perfect Morcant has breathed new life into Flourishing Defenses, allowing this formerly overlooked enchantment to truly flourish.
Flourishing Defenses creates a 1/1 green elf warrior token whenever a -1/-1 counter is put on a creature. High Perfect Morcant makes your opponents place a -1/-1 counter on one of their creatures whenever an elf enters the battlefield under your control.
By playing High Perfect Morcant while you already have a copy of Flourishing Defenses in play she will make each of your opponents place a -1/-1 counter on one of their creatures. This will then create a number of elves for you equal to the number of counters that just hit the table. These elves entering the battlefield will then cause more -1/-1 counters to be placed. This loop will continue until every creature not controlled by you is dead, and you’ve got a massive army of elves ready to sweep across the now empty table before you.
This incredibly powerful synergy has not gone unnoticed by the MTG community. According to data from TCGplayer, Flourishing Defenses was worth only $0.31 a month ago on the 15th November. On December 11th, the day that High Perfect Morcant was revealed, the card underwent a colossal price spike, leaping up in value to $21.45 (£16.04). In the days since, the price has dipped down to $13.49 (£10.09. While this is almost eight dollars lower, it still represents a 4,251% increase compared to the card’s previous price.
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