The Rares of Eldritch Moon

July 15, 2016 Cliff Daigle

Let’s talk about rares, baby!

Well, let’s talk about some of the rares. There’s a few worth discussing but mostly, like in all sets, the rares are forgotten except when it’s time to open your draft packs. That’s the only time you’re hoping for something like a Bygone Bishop.

These are prices from TCG preorders, and I’m predicting what the prices will be when Kaladesh arrives. Keep in mind that an old piece of advice rings true this weekend: Trade everything you open. Prices are at maximum this weekend, so even your sweet foil mythic is going to go down. If you opened a foil Olivia, Mobilized for War and traded it opening weekend, that was $30 or so, now at $15. If you want to lock in value, get rid of it all immediately this weekend.

Bruna, the Fading Light ($1.50) – So this is a rare, whereas the other half is a mythic. I’m not sure why that was done but it means that one half of the Meld creature is much more common than the other, and this is a seven drop with not a lot of appeal outside of certain Commander decks. Getting the creature back immediately is good, though. I think this stays around $2, but just like Gisela, I think this being the Meld makes the foil highly sought after, and the foils will be between $15-$20.

Cryptbreaker ($2.50) – I have to admit, I’m super stoked about this card. There’s a lot of Zombies who don’t mind being in the graveyard, but the second ability is really fantastic. The casual appeal is why this card is so high right now, and that will taper down to the $1 range, but I would expect the foils to be in the $5-$7 range.

Distended Mindbender ($3) – I am hesitant about the Emerge mechanic, though it’s a fair way to cheat on mana costs. This offers the potential of discarding two cards and giving you a 5/5, but you already sacrificed a real card to get the 5/5. It’s possible that Kaladesh or the set after offer some amazing value to sacrifice, but until then, I’m skeptical. Bulk.

Eldritch Evolution ($8) – The hype machine is off and running for this card. I think that the price memory will keep this high, even as the number of decks playing it isn’t too numerous. You have to find something gamebreaking with the card, because it is straight card disadvantage. You’re not going to grind people out with this as we used to with Birthing Pod, you’re going to search up a gamewinner. I’ve seen a lot of lists trying to utilize this in many ways, but it’s notable that the preorder price has dropped $2 in the last week. I think this struggles to be a $5 card until it gets broken and then $15 seems easy. Foils are preselling for $28 and that’s right in line with what I would expect after the card breaks a Pro Tour metagame.

Hanweir Garrison ($2.50) – This is intriguing indeed. There are people comparing this to Goblin Rabblemaster, and that’s not unfair. What really makes it shine is how easily this plays with Thalia’s Lieutenant, and please note these tokens don’t go away. I think this price stays right about where it is, and might even go up during the next block.

Spell Queller ($7.50) – This is a hard price for an in-print rare to maintain, even one from a small set. I won’t be surprised to see it dip down to $5 and then climb back up to $10 if it sees lots of play. I have to admit that I’m leery at this price, and I want to see it do well before I move in on it. It’s powerful but it’s two colors, conditional, but it will absolutely win some games. I like what this does to Collected Company mirror matches!

Splendid Reclamation ($2.50) – The foils are preselling for $14 or more, and that’s a huge multiplier. I suspect that is Commander tech, and not necessarily something Modern cares about. I’ve looked, and seen a few murmurs that Legacy Lands decks love this card, but again, I would be leery of buying just on hype. Day’s Undoing for $20+ anyone?

Thalia, Heretic Cathar ($6.50) – Speaking of the CoCo mirror match! If you’ve ever played with Imposing Sovereign or the like, you know making creatures come in tapped is a very powerful ability. It puts them a full turn behind, and in a properly aggressive deck, that’s an enormous tempo play. She is the buy-a-box promo, but as we have seen with cards like Rabblemaster and Sylvan Caryatid, that doesn’t mean cheap. Modern and Legacy decks are absolutely going to try her out, and all this put together means I would expect her price to tick upward to $8 or so, and remain there for a while. When she rotates out in a year and a half, I’m going to want to get a lot of her to store away, because she’s also an amazing Commander card.

Accumulated Knowledge

UNLOCKED PROTRADER: CYAs

July 15, 2016 Ross Lennon

Hello, and welcome back! We are just a little over a week past the release of Pokémon GO (AND ‘Stranger Things’ debuts today on Netflix!), so who knows if anyone even plays Magic anymore, but for those of you who are holding strong… let’s just get this over with. I think I see a Poliwhirl outside!

Magic’s secondary market is a largely unregulated economy. This is often held up as some sort of positive- be it an example of elsewhere unattainable libertarian ideals (fart noise) or a snarled inside joke out of the lips of ferocious jackals. In truth, there are both pros and cons to parking significant capital into an investment vehicle that has pictures of wizards and goblins on it (shocking!). One of the long-time issues in Magic specifically has been a lack of consumer and investor tools to operate as insurance against the various causes of loss (rough transition, I know, but we are powering through). The recent release of PucaShield has sparked an interesting conversation on the subject of consumer protection (as well as the larger impact of the site’s economic structure), so it’s going to be one of the topics we cover today. The rest are going to be various intersections of Magic and insurance that you should be aware of. I’m also going to be making today’s piece free, since it addresses very important needs that could impact the operation of local game stores. If you or someone you know operates a game store, make sure they at least read that section. Today’s title is taken from a well-worn term of insurance-insider jargon, referring to the sufficient methods and means of covering one own’s ass. In the interest of covering MY …self… let’s get the following out of the way off the bat: what follows is merely advice and neither myself nor MTGPrice are responsible for you being a knucklehead and doing something without first consulting a licensed professional. Yada yada yada, on with the article!

CYA: PucaTraders: So the inspiration for today’s piece was the introduction of PucaShield. This feature serves a few different uses, but it is primarily intended as a means of insurance against shipping/scummy traders/etc. The rate of the coverage is based on a percentage of its value (3% for free users, 2% for silvers, and 1% for golds), and can be purchased on a card by card basis. This means that while you may want to take a risk sending those $3 rares, you have an extra layer of protection when sending out something like a Mox. On the other hand, if you ARE sending something expensive, this sets a barrier for what is reasonable to otherwise spend on shipping (a Beta Mox Ruby will cost you about $43 worth of Puca Points, where as most reasonable USPS options will be significantly less). The way I am approaching trades has changed immediately, and I’m going to share my most recent batch with you below to explain why.

If you previously determined trades based on bonus offers, you may have a second consideration- cards in the ~$1 range that are on want lists. By committing to send out those two Burning-Tree Emissary, and purchasing insurance on three of the four cards in that envelope, I’ve guaranteed that the majority of the value in that package is going to be covered. Additionally, the point value earned by sending the uninsured copy essentially paid for all of my insurance for every trade listed. Since I’m expecting a couple of bounty bonuses also, it fudges the math to make the insurance about even with the 95pt uncovered Emissary.

The fascinating element to this (that we will go in-depth on as the results make themselves apparent) is that PucaTrade now has a points “sink” that may end up helping to combat inflation in the system. The potential here is that the Puca Point rallies back to toward the strength of the penny, rather than plummeting like the pound.

CYA: HOME OWNERS: Now, this paragraph is going to be brief for a few reasons, but the gist is this- there is no simple and easy way to truly carry insurance coverage on your collection. The problem is that most collections are living entities in the sense that it changes over time. If your cube stayed the same for the rest of time, was itemized, and your existing agent was able to put something together that would give you coverage in the event of your home being destroyed, that would be impressive. But, since people buy, sell, and trade cards, not to mention take them to events where theft has been on the rise, you’re going to have a rough go of it. Additionally, home (/apartment) insurance has some wrinkles from state to state, so what may work for someone won’t necessarily be an option for you. Ask around, explain the situation to your agent, and see what they can come up with.

The easiest thing to do, of course, is become extremely vigilant in where you bring your collection and what you do with it out of the house. This won’t cover things like fire and flood damage, but there are prevention techniques that you can take to minimize the frequency or the severity of those hazards.

Story Circle naming "Hazard Loss". — Story Circle naming “Hazard Loss”.

CYA: STORE OWNERS: Now, just as is the case with individual collectors (above), your available products and requirements may differ based on the rules and regulations of your state/province/country. Make sure that you consult your insurance agent before requesting any changes to an existing policy.

Okay, so as a business owner, you (should!) have some combination of the following insurance products:

Commercial General Liability: This is essentially your “whoopsies!” insurance, protecting you from stuff like slip-and-falls, pretend slip-and-falls, and anything else that may occur during the standard operation of a business. If you don’t own the building you’re in (and even if you do!), you should make sure that your landlord is listed as an additional named insured here.

Property: This includes both real property (buildings) and what’s called ‘business personal property’ or ‘contents’ (stuff). This is actually pretty tricky with regards to card shops, so we are gonna run through the rest of the list really quickly first. Put a mental pin in this, though.

Worker’s Compensation: If you have a certain number of employees (determined by your state), you may be required to carry WC coverage. This isn’t a Health product, but it covers them in the event of an injury during the course of business. Non-employees injured are covered under that first one, General Liability.

We’ll talk about additional coverage options later, but those are really the big three. Back to property though- most businesses that sell a product have a specific cost tied to the acquisition of that product (be it a wholesale price or the cost of materials and labor). That’s called the “Replacement Cost”, and it’s pretty much the basis for most property insurance policies. With Magic cards, however, you only have a clear replacement cost for booster boxes (the price on your invoice)- meaning that if that Mox Sapphire goes up in flames, you are going to have a hard time litigating with your carrier that you need a new one (while answering the question, how much does it cost?).

When I cover a card store, I ask one major question: “How much money do you need to get an inventory/furnishings/technology that can get you up and running again?”. This number should include computers, tables, and anything else if you were starting from scratch. Be aware, you are mostly insuring against hazard loss (wind, fire, water, heart), and theft typically won’t be included unless you have some serious security in place already.

Maybe don't let this guy show up at FNMs, either. — Maybe don’t let this guy show up at FNMs, either.

The only other thing to mention to your agent is that you DO have a regular schedule of events. Some carriers have tried to distance themselves from game stores that run things like tournaments, simply because it means they are open more and later hours, and more time is just more exposure.

That’s all for today, hopefully this was helpful to you or someone you know. Oh, and here’s what I’ve been spending a lot of those incoming puca points on, as a heads-up for the next two Standard formats:

When DTK/Origins rotate, we are going to be looking at a format that has two VERY powerful UW creatures (Reflector Mage and Spell Queller), and having the mana to cast them is going to be crucial. All of the above lands are less than the price of a booster pack (Canopy Vista is currently around $3), and these feel like potential steals in a few months. We don’t know anything substantive about Kaladesh yet, but the set will have new lands- but expect these to still see a raise in market share as things like the pain lands cycle out.

Until next week!

Best,

Ross

Jason Alt

Article on Redundancy Article

July 14, 2016 Jason Alt 3 Comments

Last week, I wrote about cards that I thought were redundant copies of cards that are already played in EDH and were liable to get jimmy-jammed in EDH decks because who doesn’t want two chances to get the effects they like? I didn’t mention anything from Eldritch Moon because you’re not my boss and I do what I want.

I think this week I am going to scour the Eldritch Moon spoiler and pull out like two or three cards and say “Why did I think this was enough of a premise for an entire article?” and have to scramble to do something at the end. My plan is just to mention all of the cards from Eldritch Moon that I think will be good in EDH regardless of whether or not they are redundant copies of cards already getting use. Sound good? I’m asking a question that you can’t answer because I can’t hear you and if you think about it for a few seconds, you’ll come to the conclusion that it’s because I don’t care what you respond. You’re getting the article you deserve, not the one you wanted so buckle in, nerds, because I have no idea how this article is going to turn out.

Eldreduntant Mooncy

There are cards in Eldritch Moon that are going to be basic reprints of cards that already exist. Probably. I literally haven’t looked at the spoiler with that in mind. I mean, there is one obvious one I can think of off the top of my head, but I haven’t really looked much at uncommons with respect to… I’m just going to go look now and report back.

Wow, I found one right away. This makes infinite mana with Food Chain, so that’s cool. You can play this in decks that can’t run blue for Misthollow Griffin, such as Prossh. I don’t know why you’d go infinite with a card other than Prossh, though. Still, Food Chain pairs with this and it’s a second Misthollow in the blue decks that run the combo. This has Legacy playability, also, so keep an eye on this.

There are officially more cards than I had anticipated. Good.

This one is solid. Flicker effects are always welcome and spells like this that can flicker creatures and have upside are always welcome. This can even blank their creatures in combat though the +1/+1 counter isn’t really upside at that point. Still, this has a lot of parallels.

This was nearly arbitrageable (That’s a word) before its 5th printing. I’m glad they gave us a new card because a 6th printing would have been silly. Not as silly as having an arcane spell in Innistrad, but still silly. A new card is likely to be in draft chaff for free and is likely to buylist for a quarter. I don’t know about you, but I’ll pick up a quarter off of the ground so I’ll surely take a quarter out of draft chaff. It ain’t sexy but it’s worth identifying these cards before they go up rather than after.

This isn’t exactly Judge’s Familiar, considering that can go in a white deck, but this has a bit of upside in the right deck. Equipment can make this a floating Mana Leak and there is precedent for cards like this seeing play.

The $0.50 retail is less impressive when you see it buylists for literally nothing. Being a rare and not being an FNM promo should help wanderer, and having its power affect the cost of the spell should, also.

EDH players LOVE Voidslime. They can’t get enough of it. Why? Because it does two very important things. This is a Voidslime that doesn’t have to go in a green deck, but can, meaning Voidslime players now have a second Voidslime and people who couldn’t play Voidslime now can if they have access to blue. Is being compared to Voidlsime flattering? Let’s find out.

I would say so. Do I think Summary Dismissal will be $11? Not really. That doesn’t mean buying in at bulk is a bad idea. I think Summary Dismissal has a lot of upside and I think Voidslime does a pretty good job of demonstrating that. Anyone who argues that 4 CMC is harder to hold up than 3 CMC has never held 5 CMC up for Desertion all game like I do routinely. I think the mana difference is pretty trivial and not having green in the casting cost more than makes up for an additional total mana. If you’re playing Voidslime but not Plasm Capture, I’m not sure what you’re doing with your life, anyway.

This is another Song of the Dryads, but color shifted. Color shifting as a way to reprint cards is going to piss me off before this article is over, I can feel it. Is there upside here?

You tell me. Song of the Dryads is in a precon where the total cost of the cards that aren’t this one are already well over MSRP because it’s full of elves. This doesn’t need to be $4, it wants to. I think Imprisoned in the Moon at bulk has some upside based on a $4 analog existing.

This is a wheel effect. Nekusar likes wheel effects. It only affects one player, but I don’t think that’s a reason not to play it if you have room. I think that this could have some upside.

Plus, every other red card in Eldritch Moon is trash in EDH.

“But Jason, didn’t you just say that every other red card in Eldritch Moon was trash in EDH?”

Yes, and I meant it. This is not a red card. Oh, no. Oh, no no no. This is a blue card. You can dress it up in a fancy pink border and paint a kitty cat on it like a Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper but I know this is Donate. It’s Donate. It does what Donate does. It’s Donate.

Am I mad that we have Donate in red? @$#% no, I’m not! It’s in Bazaar Trader colors! It allows it to be played in a ton of different decks that Donate couldn’t be played in. So why am I miffed? Because the phrase “It allows it to be played in a ton of different decks that Donate couldn’t be played in” is their justification for color-shifting a card on the Reserved List and pretending it wasn’t a functional reprint.

I don’t want to live on a planet where Harmless Offering can cost as much as Donate, so realistically, the ceiling is like $1.75. Buy with that in mind.

This has super prowess! Anyone playing Wee Dragonauts is likely to want to jam this along with Chandra’s Spitfire. Neither of those cards is worth a ton, but, whatever.

This can be construed as a lot better than a card that just makes each player draw. Making them loot is essentially milling everyone and if you’re set up to be milled and they aren’t, you can benefit when they are at a disadvantage. This can give you hella Waste Not triggers, ensure even players with empty hands have to discard and generally it can squeeze people who are behind. It can also be seen as a benefit to everyone, letting players all draw and discard land or excess spells if you want to play a group hug thing. There are a ton of ways to build around this and it’s bound to impact EDH. That’s good because it reminds me of another land that’s similar.

This is a $1 land that just came out that is situationally better than (although situationally worse than, also) a card that is $13 and climbing. Have we seen something like this before? We sure have. Every card from last week’s article, basically. This is a great example of a card that we’re fairly certain we’ll see get there in price it’s only a matter of time. I imagine the graph of the price of GRS will be Nike Swoosh-shaped. So if you’re on the fence about picking up a bunch of cheap copies when it’s bulk, just do it.

Do you see what I did there? I referenced the Nike thing. From the thing.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for you this week, join me next week where I’ll be talking abou… I just wrote like half an article. I knew this would happen.

Well, since I still have some room, there are some cards I like for EDH that are going to get cheap and then get expensive so it’s worth discussing them.

This is a bulk rare that will be a decent commander, melds into a beast of an Angel and is a Legendary angel. This is a great card to snag hella copies of in bulk.

Since it’s a bulk rare, I thought “I bet foil copies will be reasonable” and then I remembered that the back is half of Brisela, so the foil price of Gisela is going to really screw with the foil price of Bruna. Either Gisela’s foil price will price everyone out of the market or Bruna’s price will be dragged up? It’s still a foil Angel on the front…

Personally, I think this will be like the McDonald’s Monopoly thing. You know how there are like 0 Boardwalk game pieces but they put Park Place in just about every meal? It doesn’t make the Park Place stickers worth more money just because all you need is Boardwalk after that. I feel like since there will be like 3-5 times as many foil Brunas, it shouldn’t matter and foil Gisela will be all that matters. Buy accordingly.

Would you play your Disenchant at Sorcery speed if it meant you could kill a creature? You would? Me too.

How hard is it to throw a Scroll Rack into your Superfriends deck? Besides, we already have Oath of Jace to help us Scry. This could be a very fun card.

This will hit bulk. There is absolutely nothing to enable this in Standard and it’s probably not good enough for Modern or Legacy. This card is a snap-include in a lot of EDH decks and when this is bulk, trade for these. You get players wanting to trade some bulk rare for their FNM deck. Good. Get rid of Standard bulk rares and trade them for EDH bulk rares because in two years, you’ll look like a genius. Skirsdag High Priest used to be worth two Parallel Lives in trade. I was happy to ship my priests out.

This card is simply amazing. It tutors for stuff that isn’t always easy to tutor for, especially in white and the fact that it’s a creature means it’s easier to recur in white since you have flicker effects and not Eternal Witness effects. Grabbing a Serra’s Sanctum or Jitte with this seems dirty.

Stuff like this just goes up over time inevitably. I don’t know if it’s EDH or casual that will drive it, but this has upside and it’s liable to be bulk for over a year.

This is the cheapest EDH mythic in the set and I can’t figure out why. People are so Standard-centric in their initial pricing. If this is still under $2 when the set comes out I will consider my readers sufficiently informed and drop a couple hundo on these guys. I don’t see them getting a ton cheaper because bulk mythics aren’t that much less expensive than these are now. Have you READ this card? I expect a 5x foil multiplier and I expect these to approach their closest analog.

These cards aren’t exactly the same, but Mind’s Dilation is pretty close in terms of power level and I can see a mythic hitting $4 if a non-mythic is $6 or $7 and climbing.

I am not super impressed with this, but I imagine people play it, if only to run the whole cycle.

This is stupid in EDH where you can use it to deal someone 27 damage. Killing them with Tragic Slip or Triskadekaphobia after is optional.

Buy these at their floor. Lordy, lordy; this card brings the heat. It’s a personal Planar Birth in relevant colors? Be still my heart. This card is ready to go in any dredge deck, in The Gitrog Monster or Titania and basically any deck running Squandered Resources. Hot diggity.

I have exceeded my word allotment once again. Is this the last card I wanted to discuss or were there more cards I could mention but I don’t get paid extra to talk about them? I guess you’ll never know.

Join me next week where I may start out by talking about leftover cards from this article. Or not. You have no idea.

Jim Casale

Grinder Finance – The Moon’s the Limit

July 11, 2016 Jim Casale 9 Comments

As with every set, I like to make a list of cards that I would consider “non-bulk” that are likely to be useful over the lifetime of a set in Standard. Some of them are pretty obvious (like Duskwatch Recruiter) but some are not so obvious (Angelic Purge). If you missed my last article, here, I outlined the cards I pick from Shadows over Innistrad commons and uncommons.

Eldritch Moon Commons:

Bloodbriar
Displace
Drag Under
Exultant Cultist
Fogwalker
Galvanic Bombardment
Ironclad Slayer
Ironwright’s Cleansing
Olivia’s Dragoon
Prey Upon
Primal Druid
Spontaneous Mutation
Stensia Banquet
Succumb to Temptation
Take Inventory
Terrarion
Thermo-Alchemist
Thraben Standard Bearer
Turn Aside
Ulvenwald Captive
Waxing Moon
Wretched Gryff

Eldritch Moon Uncommons:

Blessed Alliance
Campaign of Vengeance
Chilling Grasp
Conduit of Storms
Courageous Outrider
Crop Sigil
Cryptolith Fragment
Curious Homunculus
Drogskol Shieldmate
Emrakul’s Influence
Faith Unbroken
Foul Emissary
Furyblade Vampire
Geist of the Lonely Vigil
Gnarlwood Dryad
Graf Harvest
Grizzled Angler
Hamlet Captain
Incendiary Flow
Kessig Prowler
Lashweed Lurker
Lone Rider
Mockery of Nature
Mournwillow
Murder
Nebelgast Herald
Nephalia Academy
Noose Constrictor
Repel the Abominable
Ride Down
Rise from the Grave
Scour the Laboratory
Shreds of Sanity
Unsubstantiate
Vampire Cutthroat
Whispers of Emrakul

As usual, I’d pick every double-faced card due to their rarity. You never know when another Lambholt Pacifist will turn up. Another thing I would like to note is the general power level of the draft cards is pretty high. A lot of them could see Standard play which bodes well for the set as a whole. I think Wizards of the Coast has finally developed a good small set plan because this set looks similar in power level to Oath of the Gatewatch which brings us such hits as Reflector Mage.

The Under Appreciated:

I did some testing today with Eldritch Moon and these are the cards that stood out most to me

It’s a little unassuming but it fits in great with the “Go wide” plan that a lot of white decks have right now. It’s often a 3 mana sorcery that can kill Avacyn or worse and has the kicker of tap a creature to pump your team. It will likely be important in G/W Mirrors as it doesn’t really allow you go get blown out like Dromoka’s Command. The ability to kill an Always Watching or Evolutionary Leap instead of accidentally hitting a less useful Gryff’s Boon or Oath of Nissa means it will also have a lot more utility like Dromoka’s Command.

Mausoleum Wanderer and Selfless Spirit are the real glue that will make Spirits a thing in Standard. Mausoleum Wanderer gets an upgrade from the $10 uncommon from Shadowmoor, Cursecatcher. Flying and the ability to get pumped by playing other Spirits means it’s a real clock. With a Rattlechains in play, both of these creatures’ activated abilities get a lot better. No longer can people play around “on board tricks” when all of your Spirits have flash.

If zombies are even remotely on the cusp of being good, this card will be very very good. It reads oddly because it’s a removal spell that also makes creatures. It’s the best kind of 2 for 1 because it lets you scale it based on the state of the game. It will be great to draw this on turn 1 and turn 20. It’s probably not going to be the Declaration in Stone in this set but it is definitely going to be a solid role player for Zombie decks.

You know all the decks that play Kozilek’s Return because they have big fatty Eldrazi to trigger the other side with? Well theoretically you don’t even need that anymore. Nahiri’s Wrath is really good at blowing up your opponent’s board if you’re just interested in survival and it does it at a nominal price. If you have some extra lands and a World Breaker you can blow up all of your opponent’s planeswalkers (which are generally hard to kill for ramp) and ensure you survive long enough to rebuy the World Breaker and keep going. If World Breakers are not really your thing, Nahiri’s Wrath also combos pretty well with Emrakul. It can fill your graveyard with card types or discard Emrakul herself to kill any planeswalker. It also sets up any kind of reanimator strategy up pretty well by putting creatures in your graveyard and killing threats.

One of the new mechanics in Eldritch Moon is emerge. You know what’s really good to emerge? A creature with a death trigger. Matter Reshaper lets you curve nicely into an Elder Deep Fiend or other 7 cost emerge beast without giving up cards. You get to basically make a down payment on your emerge guy and it threatens to block. I’m a pretty big believer it’s hard to go wrong with a creature that hits so many important notes in Standard. The fact that you can also hit Reshaper off of Collected Company is just icing on the cake.

A lot of people caught on to Rattlechains on Friday. With the full spoiler some players decided they were willing to play it and it saw a modest jump from $1 to about $3 on TCGPlayer. I played some games today and this is easily the best card in the Spirits deck. It was very powerful before but with all these new Spirits it will be a top tier creature. I’m not sure $3 will be the ceiling for this creature for the next month.

Did you remember this was a spirit? Since the Spirit deck will likely be playing much of it’s game on it’s opponent’s turn, being able to hold up a counter spell or crack a clue will be invaluable. This guy hasn’t quite caught everyone’s eye yet but since all of the best spirits cost 2-3 mana it is unlikely to not make the cut. I think this is more likely a $3-4 role player in a few weeks than the bulk rare it currently is.

Final Thoughts

This might be one the best sets in a long time. Plan accordingly for the fall when everything is stupid expensive because it’s the small Summer set.
Conspiracy 2 Spoilers will start in a few weeks. This is getting tiring
Next year’s schedule for Grands Prix will be revealed at Pro Tour Eldritch Moon. Make sure you tune into to coverage to see if your city will get a GP next year!

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