Jason Alt, Unlocked ProTrader

Unlocked Pro Trader: The Legacy of Brawl

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Readers,

These Brawl decks might not do much to get people playing what is at its core a flawed format given its reliance on new manabase support every time Standard rotates and decks having a short shelf life, something EDH players traditionally hate, but they are impacting EDH quite a bit. How much, you ask?

Well, Throne of Eldraine gave us Emry, Lurker of the Loch, an artifact combo creature and it was kept out of the top 21 decks of the week by all 4 Brawl commanders. What is your LGS going to charge for this product with no MSRP, creatures that Standard control players will want multiple copies of like Shimmer Dragon and Alela, Artful Provacateur and a $20 mana rock? More than the Commander precons, I bet, and that’s a problem.

It’s not my problem to solve, my problem to solve is to come to grips with the fact that the #1 commander for the week Throne of Eldraine releases is a boring, linear tribal commander.

Boring and linear is something I’ll gripe about when I’m wearing my “EDH Deckbuilder Thursdays on CoolstuffInc.com” hat but today I’m wearing the visor I got in Vegas that says “La$ Vega$” on it and has the visor part tinted green so I can count money for hours without eye strain from fluorescent bulbs and I can tell you that linear and boring is good because the easier a deck is to build, the more there is a consensus on how to do it. That’s a good thing because it makes key cards go up in price and makes people have to buy them from us. Let’s look at Ser Gwyn and the future of Knights.

The ship has sailed on a few of the kittycats and that’s fine. Puresteel Paladin was a card we all saw coming a mile away but if no one played the deck, I figured the copies would be difficult to offload. Kittycats like this feel bad if you miss them, but if you were going to play the deck, you would have bought the card already and if you’re looking to make money, misses aren’t a big deal since there are plenty of other cards you can hit on. We have more turnaround time on other cards than we would have on Paladin and that’s what we should focus on. When people were looking at Ser Gwyn and saying “KNIGHTS” with no data from people building the deck, what did they miss when they were buying Puresteel Paladin at $10?

Anyone who doesn’t play EDH can see Knight Exemplar coming, but for whatever reason, it seems like people who don’t play EDH didn’t go that deep on Sram, a slam-dunk in the deck. The foil is currently less than twice as much as the non-foil, which is also underpriced. Sram is a card that’s kind of tough to reprint, works as a commander and as part of the 99 and draws a ton of cards. Kaladesh block was also really nutty so the price of boxes is going to grow by a lot so the odds of being able to get these for a reasonable price are pretty remote after the current supply is gone. Sram foils under $3 seems like a really obvious play to me.

One advantage of the kittycat deck being approximately a million dollars on eBay sealed is that it’s not attractive to snag these in bulk and bust them for singles, so while the reprinting did some damage to the price, it basically shook it off and recovered.

It looks like the price on this foil hasn’t changed a ton lately (the down trends are the card going out of stock, not plummeting in price) and it looks like some sites had it for $6 basically since it was printed and it’s still gettable under $10 a few places. Go get. Conspiracy cards are hot despite boxes being sold on eBay for basically dealer cost a while back and now that that feeding frenzy is over and there prices are still pretty high for a set like this, it’s safe to say the supply is what it is and this is a $10 card if Gwyn maintains. I normally don’t care for foils but this is a rare case with a dwindling supply that hasn’t triggered a price change.

Speaking of Kittycats, we’re seeing the fallout from a deck that never really was. Nazhan and Balan decks seemed like a good fit for Darksteel Plate and the shape of the graph bears that timeline of events out but it also reveals that demand was perhaps overstated. Be wary and nimble and if you want to capitalize on a potential second spike here, get in and out. I don’t know I like the inclusions page for Plate just yet.

Still, second spikes are harder and Plate IS a casual favorite and a pretty absurd card to boot. Equipping for 0 at Instant speed means you could save anything at any time, so maybe buy it AND Shikari.

This is gettable at $5 and the keyword “infect” makes this really difficult to reprint. Gwyn lets you load up 1 creature with all of your equipment if you want to and this is an excellent target. It has protection already, swords could give it more and you could KO someone, untap and have another combat phase in these colors. That’s spicy.

Ultimately, you should check the page out yourself, and we’ll delve into the less obvious decks like Alela and Korvold next week because there is a bit more time on that stuff because of the lack of kittycats in the decks. That does it for me but if you wouldn’t mind, leave me a comment to let me know what you would like me to cover or clarify and remember to like and share on social media. Until next time!

Watchtower

The Watchtower 9/30/19 for ProTraders – Plan Your Specs

By: Travis Allen
@wizardbumpin

Don’t miss this week’s installment of the MTG Fast Finance podcast, an on-topic, no-nonsense tour through the week’s most important changes in the Magic economy.

I know you were all concerned about my wellbeing but fear not, I was simply on vacation. I have returned, eager to share with all of you my indispensable Opinions About Magic Cards. Throne of Eldraine has lit a lot fires under a lot of butts, with two of the more prevalent discussions regarding Oko’s strength, and the viability of Paradoxical Urza in Modern. Although now that I think about it the latter is unrelated to TOE at all, since it uses no cards from that set, and is simply occurring within the same chronological space. Whatever. We’ll talk about both!

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  ProTrader: Magic doesn’t have to be expensive.

Travis Allen has  been playing Magic: The Gathering since 1994, mostly in upstate New York. Ever since his first FNM he’s been trying to make playing Magic cheaper, and he first brought his perspective to MTGPrice in 2013. You can find his articles there weekly, as well as on the podcast MTG Fast Finance.

Casual Fridays

Prerelease time!

I love prerelease weekend. Every card is super expensive, brewers are going crazy, and I get to savor the sweet sweet tears of every Nexus player who’s sad that they can’t win the game by Tamiyo + Callous Dismissal + infinite turns, or a Teferi emblem.

Remember, the first rule of Magic finance is to trade everything away prerelease weekend. Yes, some things are going to go up. Almost everything else is going to go down, and rather than roll dice with value, get your value now.

Let’s look at some early price movement as people gear up for week 1 of the new Standard.

Fires of Invention (Now $4, up from $2.50)

I misses this card, and the good news is that if there’s a ridiculous combo deck to be had, those decks will have this as a four-of, making it a good candidate to double up again. It’s hard to get in at $4 and still get profit, so keep an eye out for cheap copies.

As for what shell this goes in, I have no idea at all. Sundering Stroke is a big damage card without X in the title, I’ve seen Fires in assorted Gate lists (as Guild Summit is pretty bonkers when you’re not tapping lands to cast it), or maybe you want some sort of superfriends deck. The sky is your limit, just watch out for The Elderspell.

Oko, Thief of Crowns (Now $28, up from $20)

Everyone is buzzing about this card and it’s impressive as heck. The new Arena event, where you get everything in Standard right away, is enabling people to play four of Oko right away, and I can smell the wildcards being burned from here. It’s powerful and cheap, with the bonus of being a nightmare for the aggro player. You can deal six on turn four’s attack, but that’s six damage not going to the face. 

Oko is going to be a staple of Standard for the next couple of years. I know the price will fall as time goes on, but the question is how far?

Rankle, Master of Pranks (Now $10, up from $8)

It’s not hard to see why this is good. It’s really tough for a card to be a rare in Standard and going for more than $10. There are a lot of very good aggro decks to be made in this new format, and Rankle can be a delightful curve-topper for you in that sort of deck. Flying and haste is a silly combination on a 3/3 for four mana, and Rankle also gives you the option of causing problematic sacrifices for each player. The modes don’t have to be good–the creature is gas and the abilities are just delicious extras.

Murderous Rider (Now $12, up from $10)

I love this card. I’m planning on purchasing a lot of copies in about three months, when the price is closer to $5. Twelve dollars is unsustainable for an in-print rare, especially one that doesn’t have Modern or Legacy implications. Please make sure you trade away all that you open this weekend. I assure you someone wants it, you just have to find that person before this price goes down.

Emry, Lurker of the Loch (Now $8, up from $7)

Standard is sort of meh on this card but the implications in other formats is very impressive. Whirza is going to take Emry for a spin, and there’s too many other wonky artifact strategies for this to not make an impact.

It’s possible that Emry lights up Standard too, but we will see. There’s not the same density of awesome/utility artifacts in the Standard format right now.

Gilded Goose (Now $7.50, up from $3.50)

I’m a little taken aback by this, but people are desperate to cast Oko on turn 2. Gilded Goose is now the only one-drop mana producer, and that extra speed seems to be worth the drawback of only making mana once. Oko’s popularity will directly impact this price, as without the high-impact three-drop, there’s no reason to play a one-shot mana dork. I fully expect the goose to come crashing back down to the $3 range once people come to their senses.

Fabled Passage (Now $9, down from $15)

I appreciate Wizards’ attempts at giving us fixed version of things that are too good for Standard. Here’s a fixed Prismatic Vista, allowing for everything but speed, and the price is reflecting that nerfing. I think this is a long-term staple, and I really want to have a healthy stock of these when the shocklands rotate out of Standard next fall. This card looks rather underwhelming next to shocks and Temples, but will be necessary to glue it all together.

Torvo, Lord of Garenbrig (Now $2, down from $6)

I wish this was going to be good but it’s going to be quite underwhelming. We just finished a Standard that could go Llanowar Elves into Steel Leaf Paladin…and I’d rather have the Paladin in 95% of cases. Torvo desperately needs some evasion, or trample, in order to be worth it. You don’t have long to sell these before they are bulk.

Once Upon a Time (Now $14, up from $11)

Another card that demands to be a four-of, I like this a lot more at $11 than I do at $14. Yes, it’s making waves in a lot of formats and that’s good, the second copy is pretty rough in those formats. I think it’ll be more popular in Standard, helping shore up questionable mana bases that are using shocklands, temples, and guildgates to smooth out the stresses.

Cliff (@WordOfCommander) has been writing for MTGPrice since 2013, and is an eager Commander player, Draft enthusiast, and Cube fanatic. A high school science teacher by day, he’s also the official substitute teacher of the MTG Fast Finance podcast. If you’re ever at a GP and you see a giant flashing ‘CUBE DRAFT’ sign, go over, say hi, and be ready to draft.

Uncategorized

Unlocked Pro Trader: More like Chu*LAME* Amirite?

Readers,

Throne of Eldraine is almost upon us, but fortunately we have had knowledge about the Brawl decks and some of their contents for weeks and weeks and it still hasn’t been enough time to get over what a gigantic bummer Arcane Signet is. It’s not even a Signet, a Signet taps for 2 mana if you pay 1 colorless to activate it. It’s Felwarcane Stonegnet.

The card isn’t just not a Signet, it’s a problem. It’s the Command Tower of mana rocks which means there’s no good reason not to jam it in every 2+ color EDH deck. The problem? It’s only being printed so far in the (let’s be honest, terrible) Brawl precons which means the only way to get an Arcane Signet right now is buy a $30 precon or buy it from someone who did. How much is this dumb card going to cost? They’re $30 on TCG Player right now, so enjoy that. Super cool lazy card, Wizards.

The Brawl precons aren’t a TOTAL disaster because they also gave us a really obvious Commander that I wrote about a while back before we had any data. Well, now we have data, so I’m going to revisit it because I’m nothing if not thorough.

Call it a coincidence, but Chulane, the Throne of Eldraine card we’ve known about the longest, has the most decks on EDHREC. It’s why I’m going to write about it instead of another commander with less data. I take this job very seriously, you guys.

One aspect we shouldn’t overlook is that Wizards is foisting Brawl upon us whether we like it or not. This means Chulane has some appeal in both formats since it’s in a precon and that could give it and the cards that are currently legal in Standard a bit of a boost. However, most of the cards that are good in Chulane aren’t legal in Standard or they’re good on their own (think Smothering Tithe) so Chulane won’t help or hurt their prices. I want to look at the cards that Chulane effects directly, because they’re making themselves known.

Notice anything? Astute readers of this column will already have noticed that the price on TCG Player is quite a bit higher than the price on Card Kingdom. The first thing I like to do in that instance is click on the Card Kingdom link to make sure that price is live and it’s not merely the price at which the card sold out.

Well, then. There are probably a lot more than 20 copies, but 20 is the most they will list at a time so…. well, so people like me can’t buy them out. Is $0.79 a pre-spike or post-spike price? If it’s post-spike, does the $2 they are getting on TCG Player indicate there is room to grow or is it a result of one of the weekly changes to their fee structure TCG Player has made lately?

Clearly Chulane has made an impact. If Chulane isn’t the most popular deck ever, it’s tough to see an uncommon being propped up enough for you to be glad you paid $2, and I don’t think buying Card Kingdom out at $0.79 means you can turn a profit, but I like that this card went way up on the basis of Chulane because it shows the deck has juice, at least in the short term. I wonder what else has upside that I didn’t talk about last time (Aluren is still pretty hot).

I’m going to be real honest, I didn’t see this recovering this much this soon. It’s a testament to how well Ultimate Masters managed to balance needed reprints with not tanking prices forever. They threaded that needle perfectly, which I’m sure was an accident, but I’ll take it. Perhaps there is some upside with the rest of this list

Could there be cards on this list about to go up? It’s possible. The main takeaway here is that even a reprinting at a lower rarity on a nuts card like Lab Man wasn’t enough to keep it down and that’s worth knowing about.

Those $7 copies on Troll and Toad don’t look half bad right now. Even without Chulane coming along and being a very good fit for this card in EDH, this is still a card that’s going places. I like Karametra very much in Chulane decks and while there were better times to snap this up, it’s gettable for 30% lower than its current max price which means there is money to be made.

Ugh, I’m going to build this stupid, boring deck, aren’t I? I am.

They haven’t demonstrated they are going to stop printing this and another printing could really ding you, but I like this at its current price quite a bit. You have to weigh reprint risk – even foils aren’t safe from that at this point.

As always, check out the full page for the deck. There are a lot of cards in here and I omitted some because I don’t think they are a good spec for various reasons so if I omitted something you think is strong, let’s debate it in the comments section. As always, thanks for reading. Until next time!

MAGIC: THE GATHERING FINANCE ARTICLES AND COMMUNITY