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The Art of Art

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Hello everyone! I am back today to bring you a rarely discussed topic in MTG finance, card artwork. Part of this is because art is very subjective. As you know many Magic cards have various printings. Some have different borders, rarities, and artwork. All of these components tend to have varying effects on the prices among different printings of the same card. So today I will be discussing how otherwise similar cards having different artwork can affect price in a big way.

Many of the best artwork on cards are on the original version. While this is my opinion, I’m here to show you the price often reflects that. While that isn’t always the case, I find that  more often than not, the older artwork is superior. We know that the original printing of cards tend to fetch a slightly higher price than any reprints do. However, we can also see cards with the same artwork that are reprinted have prices very close to each other. Many cards boast the same or less than 5% price difference when the versions share the same art. This even applies to cases where one has a much smaller print run or wasn’t opened as much.

Some examples of cards that have been reprinted years after the original but containing the same artwork are:

Notice anything about these prices? The prices of the reprints are right in the same ballpark as the originals. Basically, the demand to have one version of these cards over the other is so small, that there isn’t a profound price difference even where the original has far fewer copies in circulation.

Additionally, many cards that have been reprinted with different artwork have similar prices. I have found that when the quality of artwork is relatively similar, two different versions of the same card tend to only have small price differences. In other words, if the player base is relatively split when it comes to artwork preference, the prices synchronize.

Some examples of this would be Goblin Guide, Engineered Explosives, and Vendilion Clique. The prices for these between their different sets and artworks is relatively consistent. In my opinion, this can be attributed to a lack of one artwork being vastly superior to its counterpart.

Today, I will be discussing cards whose prices do differ significantly. The most likely reason for these price differences in my opinion is the artwork. In some cases, the old frame versus new frame may cause a bit of the price difference, but for me, the true appeal of these cards is the artwork.

  1. Chord of Calling

I absolutely love the original Ravnica Chord of Calling. The way Heather Hudson uses the colors for the lighting and the focus on the giant bird are more pleasing to the eye than the M15 version. The M15 Chord comes off somewhat jumbled and confusing and I do not get the whole “I am summoning a sweet creature” vibe from it.

While both cards have a post-8th Edition frame, the Ravnica version commands roughly a 33% higher price tag. The price of the foil Ravnica version is three times higher than the M15 as well. This goes to show that when players are choosing how they want to search out their toolbox creatures in Modern and EDH they are willing to shell out a few extra dollars for the beautiful colors of the original printing.

  1. Venser, Shaper Savant

Venser is one of my favorite blue cards of all time. When he isn’t putting work in cube, he can be found smashing face in competitive and casual EDH alike. Just missing the bar of playabilty in Modern, it’s these casual formats that caused this amazing tempo creature to soar in price before being reprinted twice in recent years.

While I do like the blue colors in the newer Venser, the original Future Sight artwork is just so iconic. Future Sight commands the highest booster box price tag of all Modern-legal sets and Venser is right there on the box artwork as the focus. You can buy an entire playset of Modern Masters 2017 Vensers for the price of ONE Future Sight original version. And when it comes to foils, the newer version could buy you exactly one Chipotle burrito. A Future Sight Venser however, could buy you one burrito per day for a whole week. Because both Vensers have the post-8th Edition frame and rarity, it can only be surmised that the artwork plays a huge role here. I absolutely agree, you can’t beat Aleksi Briclot’s amazing artwork here and we will see another of his iconic works later.

  1. Cabal Therapy

Cabal Therapy may be the only uncommon on my list, but it has certainly earned its spot. The original Judgment printing is worth double it’s recent Eternal Masters counterpart. You could also buy two playsets of pack foil Cabal Therapy from Eternal Masters for the price of ONE Judgement foil. Now, some of this can be attributed to some preferring the old border compared to the new, but that’s not the end of the story.

The original artwork for Cabal Therapy was created by the talented Ron Spencer well over a decade ago and the artwork really speaks to me. I was actually shocked to see the original artwork of this piece change hands a couple years back for under $2,000. Nothing against the newer artwork, but the two are light and day to me. I could never part with my playset of Judgment Cabal Therapy and combined with the old border, there’s no other way to go.

  1. Mana Crypt

Just because you flip a coin for Mana Crypt doesn’t mean you should leave your artwork selection up to chance. The original Mark Tedin artwork for this powerful Vintage, Cube, and EDH staple evokes what I feel to be subtle ominousness. It looks so quaint, but complicated. Unwelcoming, yet fascinating. I always wanted to see what lies beyond that corner. Sometimes, I imagine that there are two wizards waiting there right around the bend, where the light source is coming from. One has a gift of mana for you, the user, waiting eagerly to provide aid when you reach for your Mana Crypt. The other wizard has a spear ready to offer you, stabbing you in your side when you reach to the crypt.

Anyways, my crazy fantasies aside, the price difference between the media promo version (which happens to be the original) and the new Eternal Masters Mana Crypt isn’t a figment of your imagination. The original crypt will set you back about 40% more than the newer one, so for those of you with many Commander decks, you could buy three new ones for the price of two old ones. I do believe the very handsome old border plays some part of this massive price difference, however you can’t discount the artwork when comparing the two. Since you are expecting the crypt to stick around on the board as long as you are, I would absolutely choose the original.

  1. Sneak Attack

Surprise, you’re dead! That’s what happens when you allow a Sneak Attack to resolve these days in EDH or Legacy. With the power creep of creatures over the past decade, Sneak Attack’s stock has risen quite sharply and it even finds itself the focus of a few Legacy decks. While it was recently reprinted in Eternal Masters with different artwork, the original from Urza’s Saga commands a 33% premium over the newer version. This is even despite an upshift from rare to mythic rare.

Now there is quite some allure to the older border when it comes to Sneak Attack. I absolutely love the old red border magnitudes above the post 8th Edition border.  But by far, the biggest selling factor for Sneak Attack is its artwork. Illustrated traditionally by Jerry Tiritilli, the artist for Rishadan Port, the colors and movement of the piece are absolutely stunning. Goblins teaming up and attacking a dragon beat some kavu attacking a random soldier any day for me. The Urza’s Saga version sticks out on the field quite vibrantly, despite me always grumbling when it is played against me. The masterful artwork combined with the amazing flavor text on the original means we certainly have a winner, and the price reflects that.

  1. Grim Lavamancer

Red players eat your heart out! If you have respect for the color red you will use the original Torment version of this amazing 1-drop. There are very few red artworks in all of Magic that beat out Grim Lavamancer to me. Jim Nelson hit it out of the park with the original art from 15 years ago. The blue of the lavamancer’s cloak contrasts the reds and oranges flowing from his hands. The facial expression on the lavamancer himself and the Obstinate Familiar on his shoulder really set the callous red player’s mood.

When it comes to pricing, it seems that most players agree with me. Non-foil Grim Lavamancers from Torment are priced around 40% more than their M12 counterpart. For the price of a single foil copy from Torment you could buy ten foils from M12. I cannot speak poorly of Michael Sutfin’s amazing artwork either, as he is also the illustrator of Sensei’s Divining Top, Vendilion Clique, and Exalted Angel. However, when it comes to this lavamancer, any choice other than the original would be grim.

  1. Tarmogoyf

“Ach! Hans, run! It’s a very price inflated version of the lhurgoyf!”

Surely everyone reading this has heard of Tarmogoyf. At one point it was the most expensive creature in all of Magic, even beating out Imperial Recruiter and Juzam Djinn. Thanks to recent reprintings, the mighty Tarmogoyf has shrunk in price to an affordable… $300 per playset. Well that could buy you the cheapest playset out there. If you want to play your goyfs in style, you will have to shell out closer to $500 for a playset of the Future Sight version. A this point, Tarmogoyf has been printed four times and I suspect that number to rise to five by 2019. Foil Future Sight Tarmogoyf is one of the most expensive foils in all of Magic. Commanding more than some Beta dual lands should be an indicator of how coveted the premium version of this powerful creature is. It would be cheaper to acquire a playset of foils from any other set than shell out for a single copy of this extremely rare foil. There are two reasons for the huge price difference between versions.

The most obvious reason that sticks out, is the border. I would wager that on my list, the card that has the most contribution to its price from its border is Tarmogoyf. The amazing and unique Future Sight border that appeared on “future shifted” cards hasn’t been replicated since, and players do jump at the chance to throw them in their deck. We see this with other cards like Street Wraith, Narcomoeba, and Bridge from Below. I absolutely love this frame as well and can certainly see it contributing to the price difference.

However, let’s not forget that Tarmogoyf was upshifted to mythic rarity when it was reprinted in all three Modern Masters sets. Because the original version is simply a rare, we must attribute another factor to its price premium. The artwork for Tarmogoyf certainly plays a factor here. I will admit, the original artwork for Tarmogoyf is peculiar. It was produced by an artist who was given one other card and never illustrated for MTG again. Calling Tarmogoyf’s artwork a masterpiece would certainly be pushing it. “Iconic” is more aligned with how I feel when I see a Future Sight Tarmogoyf. The artwork actually looks amazing when combined with the border, something few other cards can boast. Immediately recognizable and always sizeable, it leaves me and many others hungry for the original.

  1. Polluted Delta

I was tempted to put all five original Onslaught fetchlands here on the list but decided that I would just do my favorite, Polluted Delta. You can’t beat a traditional Rob Alexander landscape painting and it isn’t remotely close when compared to the Khans of Tarkir version. Polluted Delta is one of my favorite artworks of all time and it is absolutely one of the top 10 most powerful lands ever printed to boot. The colors Rob uses to illustrate a very calm but tainted scenery are perfect and this artwork will always command respect from me. Also the Khans version has flavor text. Ew.

The Onslaught version is about 40% more expensive than the Khans version and for good reason. Did I also mention the 700% difference in price between the two pack foils? That insanity partly comes from the amazing old border but you gotta hand it to the artwork as well. It is a display of good taste to use original Rob Alexander fetchlands from Onslaught, but those aren’t the only of his works you should pay a little more for…

  1. Hallowed Fountain

Number 2 on this list shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone but I chose the Ravnica shockland cycle. Just like the fetchlands, I decided to focus on my favorite one of the bunch rather than dive into the set of 10, but for artwork the original 10 are vastly superior on each count.

Hallowed Fountain is one of the best pieces of artwork for the game, hands down. The amount of detail and intricacy in the artwork isn’t seen in the rest of the game, old or new. The size and scale of the piece is remarkable and the use of shadows and details makes it quite stunning. Mr. Alexander strikes again and it is always nice to be able to use a fetch by Rob to grab a shockland by Rob.

As for the price, you are going to pay roughly double for the original Dissension version over the Return to Ravnica edition. The foil version of the original is worth roughly 550% more as well. That means you couldn’t even buy a single copy of a Dissension foil for the price of a playset from Return to Ravnica. Both versions have the exact same border and the exact same set rarity, so the artwork seals the deal here.

  1. Thoughtseize

The moment you have all been waiting for, the number 1 spot. Thoughtseize was the main card that inspired me to write this article in the first place. I found the difference in artwork quality so vast and the playability of the card so frequent that I had to bring up the discussion.

Thoughtseize from Lorwyn is illustrated by the talented Aleksi Briclot and captivated everyone from the moment it was printed. Don’t let the beauty and elegance of the colors fool you, getting Thoughtseize’d is no fun at all. One of the most powerful plays in Modern, Legacy, and sometimes Vintage, it would behoove a player to have the best artwork of the card. After all, it often sits there, glaring your opponent in the face taunting them, as you write down the contents of their hand. Might as well give them something nice to look at.

The original Thoughtseize from Lorwyn is worth about double the Theros version. When it comes to foils, things get crazy. Lorwyn Thoughtseize foil versions have really been shaken up lately on the market and the prices have been fluctuating between expensive and very expensive. Currently, an original foil Thoughtseize will set you back close to $600, while a Theros foil goes for around $45. Considering both cards have the same set rarity and border, it is another clear indicator of artwork superiority.

And that concludes my list of cards that demand premiums based on their superior artwork. There were many cards that I felt missed the list not on their merits but because rarity shifts had too important a role in their price. For instance, Snapcaster Mage from Innistrad is worth roughly the same as the Snapcaster Mage from Modern Masters 2017. I believe the original artwork far outshines the reprint, but the price hasn’t reflected that yet due to the upshift in rarity. The same goes for Vampiric Tutor from Visions and Eternal Masters.

I hope you enjoyed reading about these amazing pieces of Magic history as much as I enjoyed gathering them. I hope we see a new direction of artwork, calling back to days long gone in the future. What are your favorite versions of popular cards? Do you prefer the newer art style or the old? Feel free to let me know in the comments!

Rachel Agnes is a VSL Competitor, Phyrexian Princess, Collector of all things shiny and a Cube, Vintage, Legacy, and EDH enthusiast.
Catch on Twitch and Twitter via Baetog_.

Jason Alt

Unlocked Pro Trader: The Next Shoe To Drop

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Commander 2016 commanders are selling out like they’re made out of heroin and taste like Nutella. With the set being officially declared out of print and big box retailers no longer restocking shelves with C16 product (or if they do, replacing it with something that’s not quite as good, though some people think it is better), people are finally taking a look at TCG Player stock of the commanders and realizing how easy it is to buy them out. The rest of the Magic community, unaware that a card being sold out on TCG Player doesn’t mean the price automatically has to go up 200%, buys out the rest of the internet because “OMG Breya is $60 on TCGPlayer but I found 10 copies on Card Kingdom for $5! I’m rich!”

PSA – you better want all of these singles for yourself because they will not sell

Magic Finance is weird sometimes. However, while it’s too late to get in on Tymna, Breya and Thraisos, all of which popped this week, there’s still time to get ahead of the other cards that are good buys for the same reasons that people think the other cards were good buys. C16 is going to be harder to get, partner commanders are likely to be unique and therefore if you want the partner commanders, now is the time to buy and it will be a long, long time before we get more 4-color commanders. There are cards that haven’t popped yet and I think there are some opportunities to make some money. Let’s explore.

 

Ash Barrens

I’m not convinced the window is closed on this. It’s pretty solidly a few bucks on a lot of sites, up from about 50 cents, but there are a lot of copies available for around a buck. I think EDH demand coupled with a modicum of Pauper demand (which is a real thing, but not really enough to move a card on its own, though I think it’s a non-zero factor for cards relevant in other formats) could see this hit $3 and a reprinting might not move the price down as much as you might expect. Myriad Landscape maintained $3 after a reprinting, though that’s uncommon and therefore in fewer of the decks than Ash Barrens. Barrens triggers cycling and discard stuff which is relevant with Amonkhet cards so it’s getting even more scrutiny as people try to figure out if it’s worth it to play stuff like Archfiend of Ifnir in EDH (I think it is because of cards like Windfall, personally). This has room to grow and the Magic Community is split between people who bought this under $2 hoping it hits $5 and people who think this is bulk and will sell it to you as such.

Lurking Predators

Down from $7, this card took a real hit. The question is what will happen to the cards in Stalwart Unity once MSRP is no longer enforcing the price of the total deck. Stalwart Unity has the most value in cards that were not new in Commander 2016 so while the demand for the cards in the Atraxa deck are in a tug of war between the competing forces of the fact that a $20 Atraxa is in the deck and that the sealed decks sell for like $70 or more on eBay, things are more cut-and-dried for the cards in Stalwart Unity. That deck was the worst-selling deck which means there will be loose copies of the deck on shelves (or on sale to make room for new inventory, which is a great opportunity) but once even that supply is gone, MSRP no longer determines the prices of the cards in the deck. Demand takes over and demand is weird for the deck. It has a lot of durdly cards in it, but those durdly cards are casual favorites. If Prismatic Geoscope doesn’t go anywhere, this deck has the worst Commander 2016 cards of all of the decks, also. Kraum , Ludevic and Sidar Kondo are all pretty bad. Benefactor’s Draught could get there, conceivably, as could Seeds of Renewal, but more likely is that the Commander 2016 cards in the deck all sort of peter out. Should that happen, there is nothing new to soak up value meaning the old cards have to do a lot of the heavy lifting. Will the value spread equally or will it be weighted somehow? I think that’s more likely and while we can’t know exactly, we can sort of eyeball how the value will be weighted (this won’t be 100% accurate because the number of copies matters, also). Using this metric, Lurking Predators isn’t the strongest pick in the deck, however. Lurking Predators has some upside for sure, and under $2, this is a no-brainer given how good it is and how $7 it used to be. I bought in at $1 like I said I would when this card was first spoiled, but I don’t think this is going to see $1 again.

Tempt With Discovery

Everything I said about Lurking Predators is true of this card, except in checking out which cards were played the most per EDHREC, this is played twice as much as Lurking Predators. This isn’t as “splashy” and obvious but this is a bit of a secret staple of the format, impacting a ton of decks. It’s gotten cheap due to the reprinting and another one is plausible but for now, this seems like a low-risk spec and likely grows as much as if not more than Lurking Predators. There were way more copies of a C13 card than an M10 card but this is played twice as much so those factors might cancel each other out meaning if one of these hits, they both should. But you know what’s in twice as many decks as Tempt with Discovery and four times as many decks as Lurking Predators?

Propaganda

This gets printed every couple of years in a Commander deck and it still maintains a decent price. I think this could eat up some of the growth the cards in the deck experience. This is played in so many decks that it’s bound to recover better than cards with fewer copies and that’s why I’m lumping it in with a bunch of other $2 cards that used to be $7 and will probably be $5 from the same deck. That’s all predicated on none of the Commander 2016 cards in that deck really growing but that seems like a fair assessment. Obviously, Kynaios and Tiro are the exception since that’s a very popular deck lately, but the rest of the cards look sort of lethargic.

Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder

This guy hasn’t popped, yet and it kind of makes sense. Boros is pretty bad in EDH and what Bruse does, there are angels who do it. Still, Bruse can partner and that’s the best thing about him. Partner commanders are unique and this makes him have more upside than other boring Boros commanders because at least you can have access to other colors. If you can get in under $2, I think the reprint risk is low enough that this is a nice medium-to-long-term gainer and it’s worth picking these up since other people don’t seem to be paying attention to him. Right now, EDHREC has this in as many decks as Tymna, a card that is disappearing everywhere.

Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix

Kydele makes infinite mana and can be partnered which can put you into up to two other colors, or 0 if you want to partner Kydele with Thraisos and win every game. If you can get a creature that creates colorless mana and can go infinite with as little as an Umbral Mantle and a Brainstorm, look no further. This is even a useful inclusion in the 99 of decks like Kruphix (should be mandatory, really) and while some of the sexier targets are being gobbled up, this is in more decks than Tymna and should be looked at accordingly.

Looking at the cards in the Kynaios and Tiro deck made me think about targeting other decks where the balance of the value wouldn’t be soaked up by new cards and would therefore likely lead to older cards to regain some of their value (barring a subsequent reprinting, if you want to see what repeated reprintings does to promising specs, look no farther than Mycoloth or Windborn Muse) so I took a look at Open Hostility, also (the Saskia deck).

Of the new stuff in Open Hostility, Stonehoof Chieftain and Tymna and one other card look promising but the rest of the new cards don’t look that good. That said, the old cards don’t look that good, either. Without MSRP to enforce some modicum of a price, the market is going to do whatever it will with these prices and I think some of the cards will rebound absent anything holding them back. Buying this deck is a losing proposition but clearly people were doing it and the singles are out there. But what has upside?

Conqueror’s Flail 

Even at its current $4ish, I think this has legs. It’s not quite Blade of Selves but it’s still very useful and as long as players are going to be aggressive with their creatures, this has a home. Equipment is a bit of a tough sell unless you are building around it, though, and most of the time the only equipment that makes a deck is Lightning Greaves and/or Swiftfoot Boots. Still, this shuts down annoying spells from other decks and can give a creature a significant boost in its power for a small mana investment and that’s got to appeal to people. I think with the narrowing spread on this card, we’re in good shape.

Is that enough value for you? It should be. There are some cards that haven’t popped yet but likely will in the coming months. A lot of these cards are good investments if their reprint risk is low and there are some factors I want to talk about that we should look at. If we want two years of growth, which should be enough to get in, profit and get out, we need to avoid stuff that will be in Commander 2017. What do we know about that stuff?

  • 4 Decks instead of 5. With 56 new cards promised, we’ll see fewer reprints than normal since there will be more new cards per deck.
  • The decks will be tribal. Stuff like Urza’s Incubator seems bad. Stuff that’s a-tribal seems safer. Still, being tribal indicates risk while not being strictly tribal doesn’t indicate a lack of risk. Use cards’ tribal affiliation as a means of disqualifying them as a spec but not as a means of qualifying them.
  • How many colors are these tribal decks likely to be? And in what combinations? If you don’t think there will be a Hydra deck, maybe Managorger is a good pickup. Maybe lay off of Mirror Entity.

That’s it for me this week. Next week there will be another topic, probably some Commander 2017 speculation. If you want me to address a certain topic, hit me up in the comments. Until next time!

Watchtower

UNLOCKED: The Watchtower 5/8/17

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. And if you enjoy playing Magic, make sure to visit https://scry.land to find PPTQs, SCG Opens, and more events on an interactive map with worldwide coverage. Find Magic near you today.

With only a single weekend’s worth of New Standard events in the books, and those having been impacted by a late-stage ban, we got a triple limited GP weekend. This is a tad irksome, as I’m sure many of us would have liked to see a more fleshed out format get a chance to stretch its legs. Now we’re heading into the stretch before the Pro Tour with only one good Open to look back on. I suppose that at least this PT will be a bit more exciting, since it’s so much more unexplored than it normally is, especially at this time of the year.

Our best bet will be to watch MTGO dailies to see what floats to the top. Don’t expect the online meta to match the Pro Tour at all of course. Instead, we want to see if any especially powerful or interesting interactions appear. Does a UB control deck pop up that finds a tremendous amount of synergy between Pull from Tomorrow and Liliana, Death’s Majesty, for instance? The deck it lands in may suck, but the cards themselves would be worth considering.

Keep in mind that I’ve also already talked about some cards in previous weeks that are still appealing, especially Aetherworks Marvel. There’s also stuff like zombies, which is looking good, but that I can’t really write about because Cryptbreaker and Relentless Dead already jumped and there isn’t enough meat left on the bones to be worth serious consideration.

Commit//Memory

Price Today: $1.50
Possible Price: $8

In Magic, there are a few truths. Wizards could put $100 bills in the packs and players would complain about how they are folded. Always Bolt the Bird. And, despite an infinite amount of practice and an infinite amount of chances, as a whole we’re bad at figuring out what cards are good. Aftermath, the latest edition of split cards, is yet another example of that.

Basically, any effect or mechanic that acts as though it’s an additional card in your hand is good, even if they’re overcosted. It was true of Flashback, and it’s true of Aftermath. Six mana to Wheel of Fortune is way too much, as is four mana to Commit something, but being able to cast the former several turns after the latter is going to warrant the slot. We’re beginning to see that manifest in a few places.

Commit//Memory is most immediately being put to use in a UG Turbofog deck, an archetype that pops up roughly once every two years. It involves drawing a lot of cards, putting a lot of lands into play, probably taking some extra turns, and yes, casting whatever variant of Fog is currently legal. In this case, Commit stops (or puts back) a problematic permanent from coming down, such as Aetherworks Marvel or an Ishkanah, Grafwidow, and then it shuffle-up-and-deals everything, probably drawing its caster three to seven cards while frustrating your opponent. It appears to be a locked four-of in the strategy so far.

We’re also seeing it pop up in various control strategies; mostly UR Control. Those shells are running four Torrential Gearhulk basically by default, and thanks to Gearhulk’s wording and Commit’s status as an instant, we get one of those powerful synergies I mentioned earlier. In this case, you can flash down Gearhulk on the end of your opponent’s turn and Wheel of Fortune, giving yourself seven brand new cards to work with immediately, while your opponent has to wait through your entire turn before they get access to theirs.

It’s a little tough to say that a card with a combined mana cost of ten is going to be a major component of Standard, but if Turbofog establishes itself as a tier two (or even tier one???) deck and the control lists find they like being able to Torrential Gearhulk a Wheel of Fate, it could easily end up one of the most valuable rares in the set. That may sound expensive, but really, probably means it would sit in the $5 to $9 range. Still, that’s a good bit higher than the $1.50 you can score copies for today.


Hazoret the Fervent

Price Today: $7.50
Possible Price: $13

Admittedly, Hazoret isn’t yet positioned as a purchase. Even though I think he may take a stronger position in the format, I’m still hoping we see his price slip closer to $4 or $5 before he’s seriously worth considering. With the Pro Tour this weekend though, there may not be enough time for that to happen. Depending on how things break, it may be tough to flip copies for a profit if you’re buying and selling on TCG, but there could certainly be profit if you’re the type of player that carries a trade binder.

As for the card itself, “The Pervert,” he’s a heap of damage in exactly the way red decks want it. He’s a hasty four-drop, which is sort of the standard for aggressive red cards, you turn him on by doing exactly what you want to anyways, which is dump all your cards, and finally, he provides reach, which is desperately important when you’re trying to close the game out.

We didn’t see too much of him at Atlanta last weekend, but he was a 4-of in two 5-0 constructed leagues, alongside Scrapheap Scrounger, Key to the City, and a bunch of madness cards. That’s enough to at least draw our attention.

Were he to take the position as the top end of multiple aggressive strategies, Hazoret’s price would push into the low teens. Most of the decks are commons and uncommons, and so far it looks like Hazoret could be the only mythic in several lists. Given that there’s almost always at least one aggressive deck that does reasonable at a Pro Tour, I’d encourage you to look for these in trade this week at your store, and if it’s the type of card you’d like to play with, at least consider purchasing a set for yourself.

Silvergill Adept

Price Today: $3
Possible Price: $10

Loathe as I am to admit it, lest Corbin hear me, Merfolk isn’t the worst deck in Modern. In fact, it’s one of the best fair decks you can find. There’s nothing too clever or fancy, just a slew of threats that will get your opponent dead real fast if you don’t execute your game plan perfectly. It also gets to play with Aether Vial, a card who makes the “fair” description of Merfolk questionable at best.

Merfolk popped up on MTGO recently, and really, it doesn’t actually leave. It’s always there, casting Spreading Seas and then attacking with four unblockable 5/5s. The list is fairly consistent too, and therein lies our target: Silvergill Adept has been a permanent part of Merfolk since Modern was introduced. With the need to maintain such a high creature density, Merfolk can’t make room for very many spells. Silvergill plays much-needed double duty here, attacking and drawing cards both. There’s room for Merfolk to move around some of the numbers it plays based on meta, but I don’t think I’ve seen a successful list a single time that didn’t have all the Silvergills it could manage.

As a Lorwyn uncommon, overall supply is comically low compared to many other Modern staples. There’s a fair bit on TCG right now, but it’s been a real card for years, so there aren’t a lot of copies left hiding in the woodwork. It jumped to $6 about three years ago, and $4.50 one year ago after Harbinger of the Tides was printed. One of these days it’s likely to be a highly in-demand card again, and if that comes before it’s reprinted, $10 will be on the low end of the range of potential prices.

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 2012. You can find his articles there weekly, as well as on the podcast MTG Fast Finance.

 

Casual Fridays

Preparing for BFZ Rotation

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I wrote a lot of words when 18-month Standard was introduced. Many many pixels were burned out with the weight of speculation about what would happen to prices.

So now, we are looking down the barrel of the realigned plan, with Shadows Over Innistrad block and Battle for Zendikar block both rotating at the end of September. That’s about five months away, but with this current infusion of energy and vitality into Standard brewing, I want to look at what’s worth keeping till the end and what you should be getting rid of soon.

Battle for Zendikar

Gideon, Ally of Zendikar ($25): I would get rid of any extras you have. He’s got some appeal outside Standard, especially as he makes an Ally every turn, but he’s a small presence in a couple of Modern sideboards and that’s it. He’s still the defining card of Standard, though, while he remains legal.

Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger ($23): I recognize that this card is about the best thing that Aetherworks Marvel can cast, and is a four-of in those Standard decks. Keep in mind, though, that this is also one of the best things to do in Modern Tron, and is also a popular card in the semi-niche Legacy Cloudpost decks. The foils available for $40 or less are something I would like to have going forward, as the Commander appeal is high. Keep all you have right now–he’s not going to dip far, if at all, when he rotates.

Sunken Hollow ($4) and the other double-check lands: If you think Frontier has a future, this is a fun spec. Fetches will be legal, and these would be among the choices for fetchable duals, since shocklands aren’t going to be allowed. I’m not going to load up on these, not yet. There is a market for these until September, as manabases are going to play lots and lots of duals (and Islands especially, for Engulf the Shore).

Part the Waterveil ($3.50): I don’t think these will fall very much, but this is among the best of the Time Walk effects in the modern day. I’m going to be trading for these on sight for the next year as a long-term hold.

Oath of the Gatewatch

Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet ($22): If you like Golgari, or delirium decks, you love this card in Standard. Otherwise, he’s ready to take a big dive. I don’t want to have any at all in my possession when rotation hits. Keep your four if you love the deck in Standard, but he’s a one-of in Modern Jund and while he’s good in Commander, he’s not good enough to keep his price high. A loss down to the $10-$12 range seems likely.

Kozilek’s Return ($11): I’d get out of this card too. It’s already done some funky tricks with its price during its time in Standard, and it’s seeing very little play outside Standard. Get rid of them.

Chandra, Flamecaller ($7): Overshadowed by the Torch, and it’s going to lose some big value at rotation. Sell/trade away all of your copies.

Thought-Knot Seer ($7): The spotlight is off of the Eldrazi in Standard, but my goodness, this is a popular card in older formats. I’m advocating that you keep the ones you have, and aggressively go after more, especially the $20 foils that will be popping at some point.

Eldrazi Displacer ($7): Thought-Knot shines in Modern, and Displacer is not only good in that format but it’s an all-star in Commander. I’m in for picking these up in foil or in nonfoil. We know that the Commander decks this year are tribal, and having one of those decks be Eldrazi seems unlikely.

Oath of Nissa ($4): Not worth keeping, and I’ll get in on some foils after rotation if they fall to about $3, as I think that’s a good entry point for the effect in Superfriends Commander decks.

Sea Gate Wreckage: ($1.50/$3): I’d be picking these up all over the place going forward. I love the potential when it gets lower and lower, but it’s seeing just enough play to keep it out of bulk territory.

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