Readers!

I have wondrous news! Decks are beginning to populate decklist websites, and in their wake, the EDHREC serpent hoovers up their luscious contents and regurgitates them on your carpet like a dutiful pet. Is it a gift or a warning? You don’t know, you don’t speak serpent language because they don’t have one. Serpents don’t have vocal cords, you idiot.

I’m here to poke around in the entrails and divine any information I can. Let’s get our hands dirty, shall we?

There isn’t a ton, and it’s mostly in “order these cards were spoiled” order for now, which is fine. We knew we’d get a ninja, and we have known that ninja was Satoru for what feels like a month. Hidetsugu, too. So is there any meat left on the bone considering people could have been tinkering with builds for a while? Let’s look!

Satoru Umezawa

Seems like there is a split between big creature to ninja in for 2BU and ways to make sure you get through unblocked. High Synergy cards aren’t always the best specs, but it is where we find picks that are more specific to this deck than to others. Anything stand out?

I started with the card I think has the least room to grow. I liked this initially under $10, and while I still do, I wouldn’t pay $10 for this, which means my gut says it likely won’t hit $20. Would you buy at $10 trying to get out at $12? No. What about $8? If you would, this is under $8 for now. It has multiple printings but that hasn’t stopped its price climb too much. I like this, and I like other specs even more.

$20 on CK for a card in barely 6,000 decks in the last 2 years? I have a feeling its inclusions may be more historical (think Kaalia decks, etc) but EDHREC doesn’t display that data.

Yet.

I don’t love this as a spec, but even with its high price, it’s primed to move. Check out CSI’s stock.

This graph for the Jumpstart version is WILD. This is about to hit a historic low, but there are lots of printings. This needs help from more than just Satoru, maybe, but it also opened at 25, went down, then got above 25. This can’t tank forever, and with copies at $12, I like it.

I wasn’t sure what to make of a card like this, so I decided to see where it ranked amongst other non-mythics in MH1.

This is already on the high end of non-mythics between $5 and $10, but this set has been out of print a while. Will Satoru make this more popular than Giver of Runes? I think we needed to see they were showing us Ninja in advance and pay attention then, unfortunately.

Basically all other Ninja are even worse. There is another kind of card for this deck, though, that will benefit more from data and is less kittycat in nature.

There are a few quick hits that don’t deserve their own heading but do deserve a mention.

“Hinata, Crown of Dawn”
{1}{U}{R}{W}
Legendary Creature — Spirit Kirin
Flying, trample
Spells you cast cost {1} less to cast for each target they have.
Spells your opponents cast cost {1} more to cast for each target they have.

This seems like all of the cards with Strive that target are in play, at minimum.

Here is a scryfall search for “Any number of targets” to get you started. This dropped literally seconds ago so I haven’t had time to fully explore this, but it’s interesting.

This has a strive cost of 1 which makes it a very exciting target.

It seems pretty likely that if we look at Twinflame for the ceiling on these spikes, we’re looking at $2 minimum. I think the deck looks fun and I bet these bulk rares make some people some money.

Hinata makes Magma Opus cost 1RU but I doubt it makes it cost more money given how recent it is. Still, if you did build Hinata, Opus would be a shoo-in.

You have to weigh how you feel about low risk versus high supply. I’m in for a couple of playsets.

Final Fortune and friends already went bonkers in price because of Obeka, but Sigarda’s Aid and other equip aids could get there. If CK can charge $14 for a Sigarda’s Aid, I can pay $8 on TCG Player.

There will be plenty more hits as cards continue being spoiled, so check out my Twitter account for my thoughts. Until next time!