I know you’re all hyped about Dominaria being out, and rightfully so, but the truth is that our attention as finance-minded people needs to be on the just-finished Ixalan block and the soon-to-rotate-from-Standard blocks.

A couple of weeks ago I talked about Kaladesh, and now it’s time to go over the best long-term value from Amonkhet and Hour of Devastation.

What I’m looking for is one of three things:

1. Eternal appeal, meaning that the card sees some play in Modern, Legacy, or other non-rotating formats
2. Casual appeal, so cards that Commanders, Cubers, or 60-card “Every dragon ever printed” kitchen table players love.
3. Cards that do something no other card does, or that has a strong similarity to some other card that has gone up over time.

If one of those is met, I’ll think about it. Two is a likely buy, and all 3 means I’m snapping it up.

So let’s talk about some cards!]

 

Anointed Procession ($7.50)

This is the most available token-doubling card around, considering that it’s a new rare. Stuff like Doubling Season, Primal Vigor, and Parallel Lives all command greater prices on lower supply.

That doesn’t stop this card from being an excellent investment. Yes, there’s an occasional Standard deck that’s using the card, but the tokens lists aren’t amazing yet. (Aryel, Knight of Windgrace would love for you to play Anointed Procession!)

Where this shines, though, is in the casual market. The demand for this card is high enough to push the price up to being the #6 card in Amonkhet, and the most valuable non-mythic.

It’s not going to dip at rotation, but instead start to creep upward. It’s never going to have a huge spike, but if you’re the kind of person who tosses cards in the box and forgets about them for years, this is your card.

Irrigated Farmland (and any cycling land under $3)

I really love the cycling lands in Commander. They are fetchable and so much more reasonably priced than shocks and duals. Being able to cycle it away in the late game is an acceptable tradeoff for it coming into play tapped. Again, this is one for gradual growth and has a real reprint risk. This would be a good set of cards to get in a cycle of Commander decks, unless you have a lot of them. I think it’s worth the risk.

Regal Caracal ($4 for foils)

I’m all for niche decks, and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how many Cats there are out there. This kitty is best friends with Brimaz, King of Oreskos, but the number of Cats is higher than you think. Get on the foils while they are dirt cheap, and before they print a new Cat Legend and this jumps to $10.

Harsh Mentor (50 cents/$4 foil)

I would be in on the foils a lot heavier than the nonfoils. This has popped up in a few sideboards but a deck placed 68th at a Modern SCG Open with three of the mentors in the maindeck.

My favorite interaction is how this stops the Druid/Vizier combo, as the untap effect on Devoted Druid means two damage, ruling out the infinite mana combo. It’s a niche card, sure, but it’s a cheap niche card. Worth having a few foils around for when they spike to $10, sometime in the next year.

Glorious End (50 cents nonfoil, $2 foil)

This one is the purest spec pick, but it does something unique, and I’m generally willing to spend a few bucks on one-of-a-kind effects. Yes, Final Fortune does this more cleanly, but that’s not Modern legal. What I’m doing here is picking up a bulk mythic in anticipation of someone breaking the card, and there’s a case to be made in foils or nonfoils. Generally, I like having foils for more of a premium, but if you want to grab 20 nonfoils I’d support that too.

Samut, the Tested ($2.50/$6)

The only thing keeping this version of Samut from being a $15 foil is that she doesn’t fit in Atraxa decks. Having the ability to go find two more ‘walkers with her ultimate is just bonkers. I grabbed a couple foils under $5 off eBay just to sock away and keep handy. I don’t think we will ever get another card that interacts with planeswalkers the way Doubling Season does…but we did get Deepglow Skate…

Solemnity ($1.50/$7)

That’s a big jump in foils, and I’m not really sure why. Is it because of the combo with Decree of Silence? It’s only in a little over a thousand decks on EDHREC, so I don’t think that’s it.

There’s a bump here and even if I don’t know why it is, it’s a cheap enough card with a unique effect. Worth having in stock.

Scavenger Grounds ($4/$12)

Now here’s a target and a half. Here’s the graph:

Granted, a lot of its recent spike can be chalked up to increased Standard play, but it’s showing up a little in Modern, and that’s where things can get very spicy.

Ramunap Excavator ($3/$8)

This is an amazing card when utilized properly, and I’d be a lot more enthusiastic about the foils if there wasn’t a Buy-a-Box version lurking. It synergizes with a lot of decks, sees some Modern play, and something I want to have a few copies of for the day when it gets broken.

Hollow One ($15 foil)

There are a lot of flavors of Hollow One decks running around, and while I personally despise random discards, I can’t argue with the power or the results. Fifteen for a small-set foil rare that gets played in a top-tier strategy as a four-of says “I ought to be $30” and you should purchase accordingly.

Cliff is an avid Cuber and Commander player, and has a deep love for weird ways to play this amazing game, as well as being guest host on MTGFF when needed. His current project is a light-up sign for attracting Cubers at GPs, so get his attention @wordofcommander on Twitter if you’ve got ideas or designs.