By: Cliff Daigle

There’s no doubt that Commander is one of the prime forces at work when it comes to the prices of a lot of cards. There’s a combination of factors that make Commander a format that can be almost as expensive as Legacy:

• Singletons – I’ve said that this is one of the great lies of EDH; that you only need one of a card. The truth is that if you build multiple Commander decks, you’ll need more of certain cards, especially sweet lands.
• Age of Players – Commander has a powerful effect on older players: it enables the entirety of their collection. To someone with boxes of cards from playing years before, Commander is one of the only ways to play with those cards.
• Eternal – Aside from bannings, the cards don’t change, and you can keep cards in a deck forever.
• Battlecruiser Magic – I’m using Sheldon Menery’s term for this, as it’s accurate: EDH is where you go to cast Time Stretch and copy it twice, or Genesis Wave for X=43, or whatever expensive setup you want!
• Magpies – I’m trying out this term for those of us who collect shiny and unusual things, but don’t necessarily have a way to display the card/use the card. Where else are you going to put that SDCC Garruk, Caller of Beasts?

All of these elements come together and make Commander a format that can be surprisingly expensive. There’s not a lot that causes spikes in Commander prices, at least not all at once. Two years ago, with Nekusar decks becoming quite popular, there were spikes in a lot of cards like Wheel of Fortune (but not Memory Jar?) but that’s the exception.

Excepting, of course, the EDH ban list. Remember, Commander is a format that is not strictly official. The EDH Rules Committee maintains the ban list, and while some members of the committee work at Wizards of the Coast, it’s a small group of guys who make the ‘official’ decision.

Those decisions can cause some large and fast spikes when a card is unbanned (Staff of Domination) as well as some craterings when a card is removed from the format (Griselbrand).

This week, there were no changes to the banned list, meaning we have some time to think about what changes might be in store. It’s worth remembering that they don’t like to preemptively ban cards; they prefer to let players have the new toy for a little while and see how bad it is. Worldfire and Griselbrand come to mind as examples: it was clear they were probably no good for the format, but there was still a couple of months of play.

Let’s start with the current banned list and see what’s a candidate to be let out of the doghouse. I’m not going to go over every card, just the ones with a shot.

Coming

Biorhythm – Hear me out. It’s an eight-mana spell that carries a lot of risk to the caster. If you’re not casting it to kill someone, it’s a dead card. Plus, it puts your life total into a possibly dangerous spot too. Insurrection and other such spells also can end the game at eight mana, so I think this gets revisited eventually. Picking up a dozen sub-$2 foils and just putting them away seems like a safe bet, one which could pay off dramatically.

Unbanning potential: 4/10

 

Gifts Ungiven – There are a lot of comparisons out there for this card, from Intuition to Buried Alive or Fabricate, but being able to search up Mindslaver, Buried Ruin, Academy Ruins, and Crucible of Worlds and guarantee that you control every turn for the rest of the game…no thanks. I think it gets looked at and laughed away.

Unbanning potential: 2/10

 

Sway of the Stars – It’s ten mana to start the game all over again at seven life. Only suspended spells will get around this (I’m looking at you, Jhoira of the Ghitu) and it’s just rather annoying. I think Sway does eventually get off the list, and as another card with foils at below $2, there’s a lot of potential.

Unbanning potential: 7/10

 

Time Walk – This is a surprising card to see banned, as Time Warp, Time Stretch, etc. are all allowed. Timetwister is not banned either, so I think Time Walk gets its day as well. Considering the price, though, I don’t think there’s a big profit potential here besides the growth of Power.

Unbanning potential: 7/10

Now, let’s talk about some of the cards that folks want to have banned and how the price would be affected.

Going

 

Sorin Markov/Magister Sphinx – These are cards that set your life to ten, undoing the starting life buffer and undoing any lifegain you’ve worked on. This is an enormously powerful effect, and each has the potential to be used more than once. Sorin, having been printed twice but not for five years, has much farther to fall. The Sphinx, even in foil, is already rather cheap.

Banning potential: 6/10

 

 

Seedborn Muse/Murkfiend Liege/Prophet of Kruphix – All three of these untap some or all of your permanents on each other player’s turn, effectively giving you extra turns. Prophet even lets you play creatures, while the other two are progressively more narrow. These are cards that are more than just powerful, they are time-consuming and grant enormous benefits, requiring instant-speed answers at the end of the turn on which they are played. I would not be surprised if Seedborn and Prophet got hit first. Murkfiend might be allowed, since it’s only specific colors of creatures, but the other two are targets.

Seedborn would take the biggest hit, likely falling from $13 to $5 or so, and the foils would take a real hit. I wouldn’t be trying to hold any of the three foils for long-term investments. Prophet has a Clash Pack foil promo weighing down its price but the real loss would be in the future value. Murkfiend would also go down by more than half.

Seedborn & Prophet banning potential: 9/10
Murkfiend banning potential: 4/10

 

Deadeye Navigator – Another card that requires instant-speed removal and perfect timing. You want to respond to the Soulbond trigger to remove whatever they are flickering. This is a card that is exceedingly easy to abuse, yet it doesn’t have much of a price at all. Banning this would take it from dollar rare to bulk rare. The foil would take a huge beating, likely falling from $10 to under $2.

Banning potential: 8/10

 

Consecrated Sphinx – I was surprised that this wasn’t in Modern Masters 2015, and I’m surprised that it hasn’t been banned yet. Just like Primeval Titan was easy to steal, copy, and abuse, this is utterly ridiculous. Copying it means that two players get to draw an arbitrary number of cards, which is what got Trade Secrets banned. It’s at $15/$45 now, and if it gets removed from EDH I think it would settle at around a third of its former price.

Banning potential: 8/10

 

Mana Crypt – Now it’s true that this card is both amazingly expensive and generates fast mana, two characteristics that the Rules Committee frowns upon. Eventually, this will get banned for the combination, though it’s hilarious to see someone take 12 damage over the first five turns from this. It’s got Eternal formats buoying the price, though, so banning in Commander will only make a small dent in the prices.

Banning potential: 7/10

 

Tooth and Nail – Even at the high mana cost of this entwined, it’s rather degenerate. It’s not that much worse than Green Sun’s Zenith or Chord of Calling or other such cards, but I’m just tired of the same combos popping up. Name your combo, and it’s been done a bunch.

Banning potential: 6/10

If I left off your personal boogeyman when it comes to cards that need to be banned, feel free to mention it in the comments.

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By: Cliff Daigle

Last week I didn’t have the whole spoiler, so today, before you prerelease, I want to remind you to trade everything away. People will pay/trade more for these cards right now than they will at any other point.

Now, on to the rest of the cards I want to talk about. Mostly I’m basing my price predictions on their casual appeal, and if something gets popular in Constructed, expect a strong surge.

Archangel of Tithes
There are two equally annoying modes on this card and unfortunately, Tax decks are a thing, usually led by the Grand Arbiter Augustin IV in Commander.

This might have a place in a white devotion strategy, or some other deck. It combines can’t-attack and can’t-block effects, but instead of paying two or more mana, it’s just one.

I doubt this will ever be worth much more than a $4.

 

Woodland Bellower  
Value comes in many shapes and sizes. This gets you a range of things, but I imagine that in Commander especially, this will fetch up Eternal Witness pretty often. I wouldn’t overlook what Riftsweeper can do if people like to exile your pretty toys.

Also note that you can find anything that’s even partially green. Savage Knuckleblade, Knight of the Reliquary, Shambling Shell…whatever you need.

I think this has potential to keep a decent amount of value. I’m expecting it to stay in the $5-$10 range.

 

Ghirapur Aether Grid
This is the combo piece that a lot of casual decks have been craving, even if they didn’t know it. This will be a card with a higher-than-expected foil price for solely that reason. A surprising number of decks in a lot of formats don’t know what to do once they make 5,000 Myr tokens. The Grid allows for the game to instantly end, which is often a blessing in disguise.

Even foils of this uncommon won’t be worth much more than two dollars, unless there’s yet another infinite combo deck in Modern that exploits it.

 

Willbreaker
Key here is the targeting clause. It’s not just spells. It’s abilities as well. I am drooling to get one of these into my Experiment Kraj EDH deck and if someone at my prerelease opens a foil of this I’m going to overpay badly.

This is probably a bulk rare and a five-dollar foil. Too much has to go right for this to be good, but that’s never stopped us.

 

Herald of the Pantheon
As an enabler, this fits right into any Enchantress deck in any format. Amusingly, those decks tend to get stuck on mana, not cards, and the life gain is a handy bonus too. Still, it’s a minor cog and won’t ever have a huge price.

 

Erebos’s Titan
It’s sort of a shame that Wizards is stopping core sets right when they decided to use those sets to supercharge the soon-to-be-rotating block. It might just be coincidence, as Theros is featured in KG’s backstory.

The Titan has a lot of potential and requires multiple readings to get right. What isn’t clear is if cubes want this or Phyrexian Obliterator for their mono-black aggro decks. There’s a long and awesome history of four-drop 5/5 creatures in black, and this one has two upsides! Not to be overlooked is how this survives Languish in Origins Limited or control shells in Constructed.

As for its price, it’s going to see a fair amount of play in a lot of formats. I would expect this to start high and trickle down slowly over time.

 

Hangarback Walker
By itself, this card isn’t terribly impressive. Two mana for each +1/+1 counter is rather meh, even if there’s good value to be had when it dies.

A little help makes it amazing, though. Doubling Season is the granddaddy of them all. Season on five means Hangarback Walker for six mana and six counters, then twelve tokens. Ding! Parallel Lives, Gilder Bairn, even Hardened Scales will help this be better than its bulk price.

 

Evolutionary Leap
I am not overwhelmed with this card. Everything depends on what you find, though it wouldn’t be too hard to build a deck where everything entered the battlefield, or left it, for value. I’d love to see this chained a few times and then reloaded with Second Sunrise or the like. Bulk rare.

 

Talent of the Telepath
I don’t like to use the term ‘staple’ for EDH or Cube, as there’s a lot of ways to build your experience. However, almost everyone builds a ‘stop hurting yourself’ sort of deck that uses your opponents’ overpowered cards against them. Bribery is the oldest and most feared (target the Kaalia of the Vast player, get Iona, Shield of Emeria) and Knowledge Exploitation costs seven mana. Talent is more random in its payoff but it costs significantly less and might even get you two copies. Now if you’re play in this alongside Hive Mind in a Riku of Two Reflections deck…I’m going to to go make a sandwich while you figure out who does what first.

This will not be a bulk rare, more like $1-$2, and likely $6 in foil.

 

Pyromancer’s Goggles
This is amazing. Just amazing. Normally you have to do a lot of work to copy spells, like get Riku of Two Reflections to survive. The Goggles pay you off easily and almost immediately. Suddenly, Lightning Bolt is a great card to hold till turn five, when you can double up on it. This is another card that doesn’t require mono-red spells, either. Invoke the Firemind is my first thought, but there’s all sorts of great spells to copy.

I wouldn’t be surprised if this popped up as a fun-of in Legacy or Modern. It’s true that more people maindecking Kolaghan’s Command makes the Goggles a weaker inclusion, but how much value do you get if you’re copying your own Command?

This is going to be $3-$5 in regular and more than $20-$25 in foil all summer long. The prices will creep down, but if an Eternal deck does well with it, it’ll spike pretty hard.

 

Demonic Pact
People are brewing in lots of formats with this humdinger of a Donate target, and it’s tricky to evaluate. In cube, it’s unlikely to see play, but there are all sorts of Jinxed Idol/Bazaar Trader/Zedruu the Greathearted decks out there. I see this as another $5 card with a big premium on the foil, $15-$20.

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By: Cliff Daigle

Magic Origins has some cards that will impact more formats than Constructed. We don’t have the full spoiler yet, (though it might even be released by the time this is posted) but I want to go over some of the cards that you’ll see a lot of in Cubes, Commander, and other kitchen table formats.

Elemental Bond

Let’s start with the doozy. This is a hammer of a card in any green deck, and this has some Standard potential. Imagine this in decks that loop Den Protector and Deathmist Raptor?

Commander has had assorted versions of this card for some time. Garruk’s Companion is the direct comparison, and that’s a card that enables all sorts of shenanigans. Trust me on this: There’s no card that I love seeing more than Garruk’s little buddy in any green deck, and this new enchantment is cheaper and harder to kill.

This will never be terribly expensive, but the foils will have a surprising premium, likely about $5.

Sphinx’s Tutelage

One of the things that makes Psychosis Crawler a surprising card at a dollar is that it takes something you love doing (drawing cards) and turning it into a weapon against other players. Tutelage will take longer than Crawler will, under most circumstances, but people love their mill decks.

I think that this will go a long, long way, in casual games and in finance. It’s a strategy and a win condition that only asks you to draw cards, something blue decks want to do and are very good at.

The foils will also have a higher premium, probably about $3.

Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen

Yet another legendary elf lord and this one is good but not overpowering. It’ll show up in elf Commander decks as a mass booster, but it’s more about value than power with this card. Gaining a bunch of life is good, but attacking with a lot of elves likely means you were going to win anyway.

Still, it’s a legendary elf. That will help its price some but not much, since it is the foil rare in the green intro pack. Don’t expect the card or the foil to break $2.

Pia and Kiran Nalaar

Chandra’s parents make for an interesting card. You get four power and toughness for your four mana, some of it flying and some of it able to be used for Shock value. This is both better and worse than the ability of Bosh, Iron Golem but there’s a lot to do in red artifact decks. I’m looking forward to the eventual cycle of four-color legends, as the one without green enables a great set of artifacts in a Commander deck.

This is another foil inclusion for the Intro packs, unfortunately for their price. I suspect that while there is more demand for this card than for Dwyen, there simply will be too many foils out there to keep the price high. This will max out at $3.

Blessed Spirits

I have a suspicion that this will be a card sought after in foil. The card is negligible in its power level, but the art and the story makes this card inhabit a unique space.

As a father of two, I confess I find this a bit creepy. I suppose I do prefer happy ghosts of children to graphically dead ones, but they are a bit unnerving in looking that way.

Much like Gift of Orzhova, I think this will have a surprisingly high premium on the foils. I’d expect it to be around $4, but not less than $2. There won’t be much long-term potential for growth, nor will there be huge demand.

  

Kothoped, Soul Hoarder, Alhammarret and the Hixus, Prison Warden

These are the other intro pack foils and they will be lucky to get to $2. None of them is particularly overpowering in casual formats in terms of what they do. They are unique, yes, but the casting costs and ubiquity will prevent them from being financially relevant.

Languish

This has potential. Black isn’t lacking for sweepers but it’s nice to be spoiled for choice. A lot of Cubes will seize on this as an alternative to Damnation, at least until it comes down in price.

Managorger Hydra

In case you haven’t ever played against it, Taurean Mauler is definitely a card but it is infinitely chump-blocked.

I love it when people say “it dies to removal” as a rebuttal for big creatures. If your deck is full of threats that must be answered, then eventually, there are no more answers.

Managorger Hydra will never have a big price but it will show up in all sorts of casual formats.

Tainted Remedy

False Cure is a supremely awesome “Gotcha!” card. Tainted Remedy loses the surprise factor but lifelink isn’t optional. I don’t think this will make it into Cubes but there are a lot of Commander groups that will play this in the 99.

I confess I’d be more likely to play something like Erebos, God of the Dead for the multi-function utility, but if you know people that like to go off with Sanguine Bond and Exquisite Blood, this might be the enchantment you need.

Flameshadow Conjuring

This is an incredible card for Commander. We have had versions of this effect before (Minion Reflector) but Commander is where we love to jam value creature cards. There are blessed few creatures worth playing that don’t enter the battlefield with a good effect.

I’ve written before about my almost-all-creature deck, and this card is fighting for a place in that deck. It’s cheap but only for decks with red, which limits it somewhat.

I would expect this to be slightly above bulk rare in price, but the foil will be around $4-$5 because of people like me.

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By: Cliff Daigle

First of all, thank you to everyone who responded well to last week’s Father’s Day piece. It meant a lot to me to read all the positive feedback.

So here we are, the last Core Set until the next time that Wizards rearranges things. It’s hard to believe, but it was 2009 that we were given Magic 2010, which was aligned with Zendikar, widely considered the one-two punch that brought Magic its current ridiculous and so far sustained growth.

In a way, I’m sad. Core sets became a fun combination of the old and the new. Mechanics could be expanded on without needing a whole block (bloodthirst!) and certain cards could be proven as amazing in a variety of strategies, perhaps most notably Tormented Soul as an enabler for exalted decks one year and bloodthirst the next.

We also missed out on being able to call a set “M16” and that’s just a missed opportunity for unamusing mixups with people who have no idea what’s being discussed.

This week, though, I want to focus on the five origin-story planeswalkers, and see where they will end up.

 

Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy // Jace, Telepath Unbound

First of all, Tibalt set a very low bar for two-mana planeswalkers. Jace, as a looter, is already better than Tibalt and pretty good as looters go. It’s only two mana, which cannot be overstated. It’s cheap and easy at 1U.

The synergy of his abilities, and his loyalty, is what’s impressive. I do not find it hard to believe that Jace can be flipped on his first activation, what with cards like Thought Scour, fetchlands, and Satyr Wayfinder around. His loyalty is also an impressive five to start, but if you’re only filling your graveyard with Jace’s effect, five loyalty on turn seven is a lot less noteworthy.

I also really like how planeswalkers are getting “Until your next turn…” abilities as opposed to “Until end of turn…” because it highlights the difference in power of planeswalkers vs. creatures. Saltfield Recluse is a surprisingly hard card to play around in combat, and Jace’s plus ability is on a par with that, even with the lack of instant-speed interaction.

I see this sixth version of Jace as an easy fit into most Cubes, and lots of EDH decks. I would be surprised if he was more than a niche player in Standard, but I wouldn’t rule out free re-use of spells in the graveyard in Eternal. Unlikely, yes, but I can see him as a ‘fun-of’ in some Delver decks. His price will probably not go below $10.

 

 

Kytheon, Hero of Akros // Gideon, Battle-Forged

Oh, Savannah Lions. You were once a rare, and no upside was needed. Now, there’s no shortage of 2/1 creatures with abilities for one mana, and your time has passed.

KG here is going to go right into every Cube with an aggressive white deck. He’s surprisingly tricky to flip, as he needs the right combination of attackers into blockers or open mana for his activated ability. Once flipped, though, he plays merry hell with your opponent’s plans.

He’s got two plus abilities, the first of which unfondly reminds me of the first time he was printed. Also, here’s our second “Until your next turn…” ability and it’s a bit tricky. Using this before combat doesn’t grant vigilance, using it afterwards means you have a creature that can live through combat…so you’re likely winning anyway.

KG (I hope this nickname sticks!) is going into Cubes, as I said. His +1 is going to be sneaky-relevant in Commander too, and there will be no shortage of him at kitchen tables everywhere. I think his price matches that of Jace.

 

 

Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh // Chandra, Roaring Flame

This is a stunning, stunning design. I think Chandra is easily the most Constructed-playable of these five and she is a must-kill threat in Standard. I would be a little surprised to see her in Modern or Legacy burn, but the potential is there.

It is not hard, at all, to imagine her played on three and flipping on turn four. When she’s flipped, she will have dealt three and add two more if you desire. Any red spell triggers her, not just instants or sorceries.

Cards like Gelectrode, Cinder Pyromancer, or Lobber Crew have always had potential to add damage to spells, but Chandra V is a level beyond that. She also jumps right into Cubes as a worthy addition to Burn archetypes and while her first two abilities aren’t going to be relevant in Commander, her ultimate hits everyone hard and must be respected.

I do not see Chandra at less than $20 for her lifespan in Standard. If she starts seeing Legacy or Modern play, she could be twice that.

 

 

Liliana, Heretical Healer // Liliana, Defiant Necromancer

This fourth iteration of Liliana is not as overtly powerful as any of her previous versions. Notably, she’s missing any way of killing creatures, though her transformation gives you an immediate blocker.

She could flip the turn she enters play, and that’s powerful in and of itself. I can’t find a creature right now that sacrifices for value, like Cartel Aristocrat, but the potential is there. Her abilities are nicely synergistic, but that emblem is amazing and a half. The emblem is going to be what decks are striving for in casual settings, and rightfully so.

She’s preordering for around $20, and that’s likely a bit high. Her flip condition is easy to meet and her abilities are worth protecting, so I’d expect to see her around $15.

 

 

Nissa, Vastwood Seer // Nissa, Sage Animist

I love this version of Nissa, but that’s not the same as saying she’s very good. This is the flip planeswalker that seems expressly designed for Commander, because she’s only good with lots of land. It’s very easy to generate seven mana, but having seven land is not what Constructed decks are designed to do. 

Let’s be clear: Coiling Oracle every turn is not among the most broken things to do in Commander. It’s a good thing to be doing, but the emblem and the legendary token are much less exciting. I am going to enjoy playing with Nissa, but Elemental Bond is going to draw players far more cards than Nissa will.

I believe that this will be the cheapest of the five, and not see much play outside of Commander. She’s not overtly powerful enough for most Cubes, as a 2/2 that finds you basic Forest is very meh. Remember, the land goes to your hand, not into play. Basics only, and not even directly into play.

Her price will reflect her lack of power: She’ll be under $10 by Halloween, and I suspect she’ll be nearly $5 by her rotation time.

Some other thoughts:

I’m treating the two unofficially spoiled ones (Jace and Nissa) as the truth, and if they aren’t the real deal, I accept the mistake.

Also, if these five are indeed the SDCC promos, that puts a larger number of them out there for the collectors and the magpies who need special shiny versions of cards for Cubes and EDH. (I’m one of them!) Don’t overlook the value of having the SDCC versions out there, putting a cap on the individual foil prices.

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