Mythic Predictions for Shadows over Innistrad

The full spoiler is (probably) going to land today but since I have to write ahead of time, I always feel a little caught.

I want to go over the previewed mythics and make some predictions, not about how much they are now, but where they will be in about a month.

As always, I don’t think you should pre-order anything, as it’s almost always a better plan to wait a little for the hype to die down. (I’m looking straight at you, $15 Thing in the Ice!)

Sorin, Grim Nemesis

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I like that he lets you draw and punish all at the same time. It’s pretty awesome to boost yourself up and then push others down. However, he can only deal with one problem at a time, as compared to other good six-mana planeswalkers, like Chandra, Flamecaller or Elspeth, Sun’s Champion. I think he’s got really great potential for top-of-the-library shenanigans, like Worldly Tutor for Draco. At his cost, and with these abilities, I wouldn’t expect him to be much more than $15.

Jace, Unraveler of Secrets

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This plus ability is amazingly good. It’s a Scry 1 short of a card too good for Modern! You dig fast and have much more control over getting what you need. This is a pretty mediocre Commander card, until you get to the ultimate, which is the epitome of what every annoying blue deck wants to do. Five mana is not unreasonable, and he does get to come down and bounce a problem away, at which point the control player starts plusing away. I can see this getting some play, though it would be so much better with a four-mana wrath effect to play the turn before playing this. I think his price will bounce between $10 at first and bounce up to $20-$25 when the control deck appears.

Nahiri, the Harbinger 

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Now we are talking. Four mana and can come down, solve a problem, and then start drawing/enabling Madness effects. Plus, it’s totally reasonable to play Nahiri, exile something, let her get attacked, then play another Nahiri. Multiples can also get discarded away easily with the plus ability. Exiling the target is super-relevant as well. I like Nahiri, though her ultimate is pretty uninspiring. It’s kind of a rough time to be enemy-colored, though, and I think that will keep her around $15-$20.

Arlinn Kord 

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Oh the flavor. I love the flavor on this card, and I think she’s much stronger than she appears. You have such flexibility on what you can do with her, and that’s key. You can make a creature big, vigilant, and hasty (so it can defend her) or you can make a token and flip. Then it’s time to be offensive or defensive and as long as you can plan a turn or two ahead, she’s going to dominate. Plus, at four mana in the ramp colors, she’s frequently going to be on the board a turn early. I think she’s going to see a lot of play in decks that want to play a lot of creatures, and likely stabilize in the $10-$15 range.

The Gitrog Monster 

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Conveniently, Groundskeeper is in this set too, and while I love the late game of sacrificing extra lands to draw cards, he’s going to make you jump (hop?) through too many hoops. I don’t think this will stay over $5 for long.

Archangel Avacyn 

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Flash, Flying, Vigilance is already amazing. Transforming her is going to be all up to you and your deck, though, because your opponent is going to kill her first. If your deck is full of cheap, disposable creatures, they will also die when she flips, and she’s got no protection. I love her flavor, and it’s a great story card, but I don’t see right now what she is besides the front side. Casual appeal will keep her foils high, but she won’t break $10.

Behold the Beyond – Bulk mythic. Just look at how much play Diabolic Revelation gets.

Geralf’s Masterpiece – Being able to bring it back might be relevant, but so few decks will want to pay this cost. Bulk.

Mindwrack Demon – Four mana for a 4/5 flying trample would seems to be worth the risk of four life a turn. It’s a risk, but it has potential as a curve-topper in an aggressive deck. I have a hard time believing this stays at more than a buck or two, though.

Seasons Past – We’ve had other mega-Regrowth effects before, like Praetor’s Counsel, and that was never very expensive. This will likely stay just above $2.

Wolf of Devil’s Breach – As a Madness enabler, this is rather outstanding. You can’t pitch the card at your opponent directly, but there are going to be decks that use this to great effect. The Wolf is Fiery Temper‘s best friend, distributing three damage twice for three mana. I don’t think every deck wants this, but I do think enough will to keep it around $3-$5.

Ulvenwald Hydra – A fixed Primeval Titan? Really?? I’m going to have to think about this for Standard but I can tell you that this is going to be a chase Commander card.  Finding one land is unexciting in some decks, and Gaea’s Cradle-broken in others. Nonfoils won’t be more than $5, but I would expect foils to be in the $20 range.

Goldnight Castigator – This is a bad card. This is as all-in as you can get, four hasty power that if you attack, effectively halves your life total. Don’t play this. Ever. Bulk.

Relentless Dead 

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If you need something to sacrifice for value, here you go. It’s efficient, resilient, and entering a phase of Magic where exile spells are incredibly common. No, really, I mean it. We’ve got more exile effects than I ever can recall at once and this poor guy is going to take the brunt of it. I love the art, recalling Endless Ranks of the Dead, and while I want this to be good…he’s going to be steady at about $3.

Olivia, Mobilized for War

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One thing the last round of Madness cards taught us is that you want to have free discard effects, such as Psychatog. Olivia isn’t quite free, as you are playing a creature, but the potential is there. A 3/3 flying for three mana is an excellent starting point too. She will hold at about $5, because extra copies of her just get used as fuel for the next creature you play.

Sigarda, Heron’s Grace – Please don’t play this thinking she has hexproof. She’s got a big target on her, and while I like her ability to play a long game and grow a quick army, I don’t think she will stay at more than a dollar or two.

Descend upon the Sinful – This is a powerful card, but it’s got a high mana cost. The tools are there for a classic control deck, between this and Planar Outburst. Wiping the board and having a creature left behind is pretty amazing, though. I like this a lot as a Commander card too, as it’s a strict upgrade over Final Judgement, a card that doesn’t see enough play. This will not break $5, though.

Startled Awake – How much do we love mill cards! This has its own built-in recursion, but it’s slow and imperfect. Skulk is not unblockability, a 1/1 or any zero-power creature can block it, ruining your nefarious plan. This is going to win a lot of Limited games and not much else, though I can see the foils of this going for a high premium. This will struggle to not be bulk.

6 thoughts on “Mythic Predictions for Shadows over Innistrad”

  1. I feel as if you under valued the whole set of mythics. The past shows us at least 1 card will hold a $20 value or more for its lifespan in standard. Which card I’m not sure yet. You haven’t identified any chase mythics from your picks.

  2. Jace is a 2 mana creature that dies to EVERYTHING and he’s $100, I don’t think you should judge Relentless Dead so harshly. It’s a more interesting card than Undergrowth Champion and I think that is still $3 so Relentless Dead has to be more based on casual appeal alone. And Arlinn Kord LESS expensive than Nahiri…am I missing something? Allied walker vs. enemy walker, Tribal walker vs. ummm, out of place walker. Nahiri the card makes sense until u look at the WR casting cost and that should kill her playability as there’s no white madness cards. And Nahiri is just awful vs Manlands…there were a few of those in the last set lol.

    Also, price memory is a thing and I don’t think you took that into account in your article. There will be a lot of unhappy Thing in the Ice buyers along with all these mythics. Sigarda has a chance as she dodges a lot of general removal spells in Standard.

  3. Relentless Dead is going to be steady at about 3$??? Is almost at 17$ right now!I don’t think is gonna fall below 12$!

    1. You’re forgetting the fact that removal in the last block more or less was in the form of exiting creatures. Relentless dead may have the ability to surprise initially but once there’s a target on its back in standard, it’s just going to eat an exile spell

  4. John, what creature has had more of target on their back than Jace? How much is Silkwrap for an Uncommon? And Jace was still close to $100. Complete disregard may pick up steam as a black exile spell, especially with Anafenza and Rhino rotating…but you can play Relentless Dead alongside Ayli and sac it for one mana so that it doesn’t get exiled. Or you play it with another Zombie named Nantuko Husk to prevent the exiling.
    Goyf dies to Abrupt decay and Swords and Path, it’s still $125+. If a card is good it will see play as a 4 of. As Mike just said the card is roughly $17 right now…it’s not dropping to $3. “Dies to XYZ removal” is almost never a reason for a low mana cost creature to lose value. Creatures 3, 4, 5 mana and up maybe, but even then there’s exceptions. Relentless Dead is a mythic with phenomenal flavor and casual appeal and should be Standard playable, if it drops to $3 I’ll buy 1,000. If it drops to $5 I might seriously get 100. Look at how much Blood Artist is based on casual appeal!! Also look at the values of Alhammaret’s Archive (sp), Days Undoing, See the Unwritten, etc.

  5. I don’t understand why everyone always plays the “it dies to x” argument. Sure, relentless dead eats an exile spell and then you don’t have him anymore. But your opponent just used their exile spell on it instead of your 3 or 4 drop.

    Now I’m not gonna argue it’s long term value, as I dunno. I’d guess $8 because every semi competitive timmy player like me wants a play set for funsies, and someone will try and break a modern zombies deck.

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