Rashmi, Captain of Tides

It seems like every set gives me a card I’m so excited about I can’t even.

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The Gitrog Monster was a big deal because every set wasn’t supposed to get a amazing EDH card but now every set has one and it’s starting to get a little ridiculous. How many Sultai, Golgari and Simic generals can they force us to build? Why can’t they make a good Boros general that doesn’t force you to attack or durdle around with dwarves and cars and crap like that?

That was probably harsh – I have no idea whether Depala will be good or bad.

I am inclined to say this could be OK, especially since she triggers when she crews something and she’s big enough to crew Skysovereign on her own and Skysovereign is the only vehicle worth even pretending to care about at this point IMO.

Depala may seem durdly, but let’s not pretend people won’t build Dwarves and Cars as a deck in EDH as soon as the whole set is out. It doesn’t have to be good, you just have to come up with enough dwarves and cars to fill out a 99 card deck. I hate having to type cars, honestly. I hate that there are stupid cars in this set. I see people online calling Kaladesh their favorite set of all time. They’ve spoiled like 15 cards and 4 of them are cars. Here’s the crazy part – I like the Inventor’s Fair story a lot and I think it’s flavorful and cool and why not have one plane with advanced technology considering there are so many potential planes of existence, some that are only 100 or so years behind reality like in the case of Innistrad. I get all of that. Still, whenever I remember that there are cars driving around I’m like

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Even though I was totally cool with the Weatherlight in 1996, I’m super upset about cars right now. Go figure.

I don’t like much stuff because it allows me to focus on the stuff I do like and I think I’ll do that for the rest of this article because there is stuff I like. That stuff includes a creature they spoiled around the same time as the durdly dwarf skypilot. Her name is Rashmi and she is going to spike prices like it’s a keyword ability. Behold.

BOOM. This is an elf because why not? This draws extra cards, cheats stuff into play and in general gives you a huge advantage. The ways you leverage this advantage are going to be factors moving forward. I think this creature is this set’s Leovold (already, right?) and the cards affected are myriad. Here’s what I see mattering.

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Interest in Scroll Rack has cooled off. It never really materialized as a Miracle enabler in Legacy (same as Personal Tutor, which fell off a cliff) but EDH demand and new scarcity meant the new price was pretty sticky. Scoll Rack’s Commander’s Arsenal printing didn’t really do much for the price or add that many copies. Scroll Rack is basically the best way to get advantage out of Rashmi, allowing you to put back stuff you drew and set up your free spells. I don’t know how much money you can make with a buy-in this high, but if you want these and have been waiting, I wouldn’t wait much longer. This commander is going to push this card up and that’s basically all there is to it. Remember Anvil of Bogaradan and Teferi’s Puzzle Box? There’s less money to be made here, but we are looking at a second spike and I keep telling you that matters. This card is going to move.

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Eternal Masters helped the price of top but I think this new demand is going to un-help. I expect top to be back where it was before Eternal Masters based on the new demand. Eternal Masters never really introduced enough copies to curb demand to begin with so the price was always going to go back up. Maybe top had some more declining to do. We’ll never know because Rashmi is likely to push it back up. Whatever it’s at now, like $20, that’s the floor. I don’t think it keep declining in the face of new demand. If it keeps declining, wait until it recovers to buy in, but I feel like this is a signal to watch the price very closely. Eternal Masters is basically forgotten at this point so new copies will be introduced very, very slowly and I think the market is going to soak them very quickly with extra demand left over to push prices. This is another card to watch closely.

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This narrowly avoided inclusion on the Reserved List so there’s technically nothing stopping them from reprinting this, beyond inclination. I think they are quite disinclined to reprint this and this plucky rare that was less splashy than Recycle and Sarcomancy back in the day has really come into its own and gotten there in price. I’m suggesting a lot of cards with $20+ buy-ins but I think this is the reality. Rashmi is going to disproportionately affect cards that synergize well with it and I’m going to mention those first. Are you interested in Guile? Grab one before they go up another $10 in the next year or two.

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Sometimes people are really bad at this. The goofy 93/94 format temporarily spiked the Legends version of this card and that triggered people who don’t pay attention to run out and buy the other versions. That price spike has gone away, but a recent spike will only bode well for another predicated on real demand. Every Rashmi deck will want a Library if the builder can afford it and I think real demand will have a more permanent effect on price than pretend demand based on not understanding why a certain printing was going up.

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This had to recover from its Commander 2013 reprinting sometime, so why not today? New demand is going to push this up from its current level. Check out buylist price creeping up at the edge of the graph, there. This card was poised to move regardless and this won’t hurt at all.

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This price is stupid and we all know it. It was bought out when Prophet of Kruphix was banned and some people are jamming it in that slot as if it isn’t less than half as good as Prophet. Unfortunately the price seems like it’s sticking and Rashmi certainly won’t help. I think we’re stuck with $20+ Muse.

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This price didn’t stick. People didn’t like Awakening in that slot quite as much as they liked Prophet. Unfortunately, that second spike could see up paying $6-$8 for Awakening forever. It’s not as good but people who build the deck won’t care.

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This is a card you might be able to make some money on. The ceiling is likely the $15 this card pretended it could sell for at one point. The steady increase in price as we pile on years between now and 2011 could make us money even if an increase in demand doesn’t, but I like my odds of beating this current price increase curve. Dealer interest is cooling off right now, but I don’t expect that to continue after Rashmi starts lighting people up.

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There is some money potentially to be found here. This is a great way to make sure you get something good with a Rashmi trigger. Just be sure this isn’t the first spell you cast that turn unless you’re trying to draw it.

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This is a great way to impart flash to your expensive creatures and get triggers on their turn. This spiked a long time ago because of that blue moon deck and has been flat since. New demand coupled with the copies being concentrated in the hands of dealers which is what so often happens when a card spikes out of nowhere and can’t sustain any of the demand that people pretended was there should see a pretty healthy climb if Rashmi is as popular as I imagine.

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Finally, a card you might be able to make some money off of. I think there are way too many copies of this card for the excess to be soaked up by some demand from Rashmi and that’s too bad because Yeva is a match made in heaven with Rashmi.

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The $2 foil has some more upside, though and I think dealers were already looking at increasing their holdings in it. I think there is probably a decent shot at some growth here although I’m not sure you’d want this to be the only foil in the deck. EDH demand for foils is a tricky thing to predict but this is promising.

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This is too recent and too underplayed elsewhere to really catch on but I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that this is amazing in a Rashmi deck.

I am sure this list is going to grow as more people start brewing with Rashmi. EDHREC isn’t populated right now because no one is really registering their decks on tappedout and the like, but when they do, we’ll have some analytical data to back up our picks with. As it is right now, I’m trying to cobble together a pick list based on a few scattered lists in discussion forums and it’s going… OK. In a few weeks we’ll know a lot more and the best part about EDH speculation is that we’ve got weeks. There are no weekend spikes, cancelled orders and there’s no need to be glued to coverage. We have time so let’s use it.

11 thoughts on “Rashmi, Captain of Tides”

    1. If only anyone read them. Feel free to share them on Facebook and Twitter. Glad you enjoy what I’m putting out there -I work hard on these.

      1. Hi! Its been 10 years since i stopped playing and i’ve just learned of this site as i’m thinking about sellng a major part of my collection. I found the article very interesting even if i’m not playing anymore and it definitively seems like a must-read for players that take deckbuilding and MTG “economics” seriously.

        Can i ask you something? I understand that some cards are bound to gain in value – case of Sensei’s Divining Top referred in the article. What other cards do you believe could get their prices up with this new expansion? Do you think the opposite can also happen (cards dropping price) – because the new cards counter an exiting archetype a bit too effectively – or are price drops something that is only expected when there are reprints?

      2. Prices tend to be sticky and take a minute to go down. A dealer will raise the price they’re selling the card for in a hot second if they think they can get more money, but why be in a hurry to lower prices? You may sit on cards longer but they will sell eventually. Reprints throw off the supply/demand equation profoundly and people have more options as far as where they can get copies so that makes prices tank. Reprints or bannings are basically the only thing that can tank prices, and even then not as much as new adoption can spike them.

      3. Insightful musing!

        It seems strange because we kept hearing about this
        power downcreep, but really we are getting a lot of
        ramp & resource heavy effects across multiple colors.

        Rashmi gives us a scaling Cascade. I feel it was
        Rashimi who taught the Bloodbraid Elves how to
        “do their thing” They get haste, but he gets to use
        the ability repeatedly (can I get a Shielding Plax?)

        Simic is so inexpensive & rewarding, Shorecrasher
        Mimic + Favor of the Overbeing is already so scary,
        and this just makes the next turn more daunting.

  1. Not to blow smoke up your ass Jason, but your articles are the reason I come here and the reason I’m signed up to Pro. Chin up, they are a great read and prove invaluable insight into EDH and its effects on card price. They have made it so I can get in on tech I didn’t know about ahead of the curve, and turn a tiny profit to keep the hobby that little bit cheaper for me.

    Keep up the good work!

  2. Depala, Pilot Exemplar wouldn’t be great in my EDH meta. Her problem is that dwarves have terrible stats and vehicles show tempo disadvantage. Aurelia is better as a boros general.

    1. I was thinking about this conundrum a bit & remembered
      picking up several copies of Umbral Mantle Equipment.

      It enables you to crew your vehicle. 3 untaps & gives
      a nice +2/+2 bonus. the extra upside is it equips for 0
      so you can move it to another “dwarf” so if you have
      enough mana, you are attacking with everyone buffed.

  3. For what its worth – I very rarely comment (maybe once or twice while imprisoned in a blue Eldritch Moon) but I have been reading your articles for some time across multiple sites (including at least one you no longer write for) and I always enjoy your perspective and humor.

  4. Agree with the comments here – yours are some of the best articles out there. 🙂

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