Casual Fridays

The Beginning of the Fall

By: Cliff Daigle

Welcome to Magic 2015!

Last week I went over some prices from this set, where I’d expect them to settle out.

This week, I want to note some current prices and start to track how fast they fall. They will almost all fall, because the release of a set will allow the mass cracking of packs, to fill preorders and stock inventory. Buylists also kick in, and let me say this clearly: if you open something amazing, trade it or buylist it ASAP. I opened a Sun’s Champion on release weekend and buylisted it for $25 cash.

So if you crack a Chain Veil, you’re going to get more for it this weekend than you are for quite a while. Trade it to that person who’s dying for it. Don’t be afraid to call it out in a store, seeking that person who wants it SO BAD!

Nissa, Worldwaker ($37) – The midweek spike on Nissa indicates that someone, or a group of someones, has decided that the preorder/prerelease price on her was too low. If this is due to testing for the Pro Tour in August, or some Standard combination of cards. (She is pretty amazing with shocklands…) We don’t know what the motivation is for this spike, but it’s happened very quickly, since the stock on this card is currently very low. We are about to get a lot more available, though, so unless she takes over quickly, her price will lower again.

Garruk, Apex Predator ($25) – The eBay price on this card has dropped about $10 in the past weeks, and at seven mana I don’t think he will be more than a two-of in decks that can play him. It is worth mentioning that in the right deck, Nissa can get Garruk out on turn four without working too hard. His price probably won’t go much below $20, from people who like playing lots of planeswalkers.

Ajani Steadfast ($15) – Here is the problem with this Ajani: at four mana, he requires others to protect him. Without other creatures, he is likely to die quickly and have no lasting effect on a game. His decline will be thorough, barring something very unusual.

Jace, the Living Guildpact ($12) – While this Jace isn’t quite as powerful as some of his brothers, his ultimate is something everyone wants to do. He starts at five loyalty, and it can go up to six immediately on turn four. That’s a lot of damage to do quickly, and if needed, his bounce is expensive but useful. Putting a card in a graveyard appears to be something that the next block will care about, so that sort of speculation will keep him from going more than a couple bucks cheaper.

Sliver Hivelord ($12) – The downward trend has begun for a card that was preordering at $15. I would expect to see the price climb a little as Sliver EDH players scramble this week to get their singleton, and after that demand is met, there’s nowhere to go but down.

Chord of Calling ($11) – Even if there’s a Standard deck that starts playing this, it’s a core set rare. There will be lots and lots of these in circulation, and it needs to be a rather ubiquitous card (like Mutavault this past year) for such cards to keep a price. It sees some Modern play, but probably not enough to see a price increase. It will get to $7-$10 before long.

Soul of New Phyrexia ($10) – Yes, it has a neat activated ability, but this is no Aetherling. To play it and keep the ability open is going to cost 11…and won’t protect from Banishing Light and the like. The price will drop by half.

Perilous Vault ($7) – I suspect that this card won’t go much lower. It’s too good and too scarce to stay in the $5 range. This will be the bane of many Commander games, but considering how easy it is to build a graveyard recursion deck, perhaps this is for the best.

Waste Not ($7) – Dump it now. This will be lucky to stay at $2.

Hushwing Gryff ($3) – Let me talk you out of hoarding this card, looking at it like it is Aven Mindcensor‘s second coming. The Aven is a $10 uncommon because of the set it was in and the number in circulation. We don’t get the specific numbers, but a Magic 2015 rare is probably lots and lots more common than a Future Sight uncommon, solely due to the number of cards printed and players who open packs. The Gryff is not going to hit $10 based on Modern appeal, and I don’t want to hear any more Mindcensor comparisons.

City of Traders

Unobtanium

5 Comments

By: Travis Allen

I started playing Magic in 1993 or 1994; I forget which. I was young, as most of us would have been back then. This was the era when people unironically spoke of uncles that worked for Nintendo and Sega and claimed knowledge of special cheat codes that would make the characters in Mortal Kombat strip off their clothes. We played Magic at lunch mostly. Unsleeved decks with wildly imbalanced mana:spell ratios. I’m positive the decks were of no particular size. Card selection rarely moved beyond “all my green cards and black cards.”

What was amazing about this time was the total lack of information. The term “big data” is thrown around so much at academic conferences these days that it’s become embarrassing to genuinely use the term. In 1993 though, you knew nothing beyond your local playgroup. On the rare occasion that someone somehow obtained more cards, perhaps receiving a single booster pack as part of their birthday gift, you poured over them eagerly excited to see what other pieces of this giant puzzle existed. It really was a sensation that is so difficult to capture these days. It’s probably why I enjoy Dark Souls so much. It captures much of the “I have no idea what is happening and I love it” sensation from days past.

To this day I find I carry a strong visceral reaction to certain cards. It’s difficult to describe. Leviathan is probably the single card that best captures my memories of the game. Looking at the image on magiccards.info doesn’t really do it for me. I need to hold the cardboard in my hand. Copies from The Dark work best. When I grasp that card and gaze into it, attempting to lose myself in it’s aesthetic, I experience flashes of nostalgia that I can’t get manage anywhere else. Sometimes it’s the white font against the blue background, readability not a part of the lexicon of design back then. Perhaps it’s the way the tail disappears back behind the lighthouse, perplexingly descending from the clouds in a manner incongruent with your expectations a giant sea creature. It may be the offset mana symbols due to less printing oversight or the contrast between the ancient frame and the faded black border.

Regardless of what element of the card catalyzes these flashes of buried nostalgia, I find myself drawn to the original border. It is an icon of days faded, forever imbued with character and design flaws and mystery. The new border is fine, yes. It’s cleaner, easier to read, and meshes better with advancing mechanics. But it will never have the mystique and history of the original border. Whenever people tell me they prefer the new border I always feel a little sad for them, halcyon memories of childhood inaccessible with a simple piece of cardboard.

The result of all of this is that I acquire foil old border cards wherever possible. They help capture part of the magic of Magic for me. Mixing the history of the original border with the luxury of foils is my favorite way to collect. When was the last time you saw a mint foil card from any of the old sets? They are brilliantly shiny in a way that new foils completely lack. Some of the most beautiful Magic cards in existence are old border foils. (Henceforth OBFs.)

Normally when a new set comes out I’ll scan the spoiler for reprints, see if they had an older printing, and grab foil copies where possible. Off the top of my head I’ve got full or partial sets of Lay of the Land, Ray of Revelation, Llanowar Elves, Lightning Bolt, Last Breath, Worldly Counsel, and Naturalize.

When M15 was spoiled my process was no different. As soon as I saw the painlands I took to TCGPlayer to scoop up my foil Apocalypse copies. Let me tell you, “painland” could not be more appropriate.

Capture

Oof. $30+ apiece for a land legal in Standard for a single year that I may never actually have the chance to put into play. The worst part of this is that they aren’t getting any cheaper. Ever.

Possibly the most rock-solid place to invest your MTG funbux are OBFs. They may not rise quickly or often, but it is virtually impossible for them to get cheaper. No matter the card, copies will be limited by today’s standards. If they’re reprinted, the new copies will be in a different border, placing no strain on the original copies. Heck, as we can see with the painlands, reprinting of old cards actually makes the foils rise. Suddenly those foil Apocalypse Battlefield Forges that were listed at $6 forever are Standard legal and worth $20+ apiece.

Nearly every OBF is a great pickup simply because they have nowhere to go but up. Have a playset of foil UZD Yavimaya Elders? Great, it’s worth $60. If they get judge promo’d know how much your set of UZD ones would be? $60. If they get printed at common in M16 know how much your set of UZD ones would be? $100+, easily.

Demand for OBFs is not rooted in playability, but collectability and luxury. People collect them because they’re beautiful and original and unique, not because they need them to play a tournament. M11 Lightning Bolts are a buck. The only OBF of the card is $250. This is really what makes them the bastion of value that they are. It would be incredibly difficult for Wizards to print something that would devalue these cards. You think the Onslaught foils of Flooded Strand and Polluted Delta are expensive now? Wait until they show up in a fall set.

All of this leads to a simple but painful conclusion. The best time to buy an OBF is now. Whether you’re reading that sentence on 7/23/14 when this article goes live or three years down the road in 2017, it is still accurate. This conclusion is painful because many of these cards are already astronomically expensive. Those ONS foil Flooded Strands are $300, but the fact of the matter is that they aren’t getting cheaper. If you want them, acquire them sooner than later. This time next year one of two things will be true. They’ll either still be $300, or they’ll be $500+ because they were announced for the fall set. The one thing that won’t happen is that they’ll be less than they are today. Maybe you’ll be in better economic standings next year so you decide to wait, but just remember that you’re playing chicken with a train that you can’t see coming.

The absolute best place to go of course is actual reserve list OBFs. Reserve list cards are already gold, and grabbing OBFs – of which by my quick and almost assuredly inaccurate count there are under thirty – is icing on the cake. Just start at the end of this list and work your way backwards. What are some of the best choices?

Replenish – EDH staple and Legacy combo piece. Just because it’s not busting Legacy open right now doesn’t mean it can’t down the road.

Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary – Absurdly powerful legendary creature in one of the most popular tribes of all time? Can’t go wrong.

Metalworker – Inspires entire combo decks in Legacy and enables shenanigans in EDH.

Academy Rector – Another dormant Legacy combo piece that’s also popular both in EDH and casual circles.

Palinchron – EDH staple and generator of infinite mana.

Grim Monolith – EDH staple, Legacy and Vintage busted mana acceleration.

Deranged Hermit – Possibly the wackiest OBF on the reserve list. He’s the godfather of a silly beloved tribe that will always have a place in the heart of a subset of players. 

Old border foils are some of the most visually striking and iconic cards in the game. Their supply is miniature and chances of price surges reasonable. If reprinted they will gain value, not lose it.The worst case scenario for any of them is that Wizards reprints them in the original border ala Timeshifted cards, but even in that case it would merely slow their growth, not decrease their value. If you’re like me and you love the look of old border foils, now is the time to start buying. It’s painful, but it’s only going to get worse.

Uncategorized

Weekend Update for 7/19/14

2 Comments

By: Jim Marsh

Every week, some cards from Magic the Gathering increase and decease in value based upon a number of factors.

Let’s take a look at some of the cards whose values have changed the most and the factors behind why those changes have occurred.

10 Big Winners of the Week

10. Goblin Guide (Zendikar)
From $13.31 to $14.98 (12.55%)

Goblin Guide is one of the most aggressive one drops ever printed. A first turn Goblin Guide can take out a healthy amount of life. This is not even considered the life the opponent willingly sacrifices to play fetchands, shocklands, Thoughtseize or Gitaxian Probe.

Goblin Guide has become a format all star in decks that want to go from 20 to 0 as quickly as possible.

Recently a Rakdos Burn deck too first place in an SCG Modern Invitational Qualifier in Glendale. There are even another burn deck in the Top 8. Both decks ran a full four copies in the main deck.

It is also played in increasingly popular Boros Burn and straight Monored Burn decks in Modern.

Legacy has also seen the one mana 2/2 in heavy use. Red burn decks have been doing well recently with the addition of Eidolon of the Great Revel.

Mono-Red Burn has been seeing Top 8 performances in Legacy as well.

This is growth based upon increased real demand so I expect it to sustain itself and continue.

I would not be surprised to see this as a $20 card by the end of the year.

If you need a few copies you can still find copies of the Mirrodin Besieged Into the Breach Event Deck. It has two copies in there. You basically get the rest of the deck for free.

9. Dragonskull Summit (M13)
From $1.95 to $2.28 (16.92%)

The Modern Rakdos Burn deck did more than just bolster support for the Goblin Guides. The checklands are criminally underrated dual lands.

They are not as sexy as shocklands or fetchlands because they will not get you the mana you need on turn one.

They still deserve to be more than $2. You can use them just fine in Commander or any kitchen table game. I think the chances of them not being reprinted in a core set is just about nil. I would grab any you can find for under $2.

When they do come back to a core set you will see a bump like the pain lands and you can make a tidy profit. In the mean time you can run them in any of your noncompetitive decks (and several of your competitive decks as Rakdos Burn showed us.)

8. Furyborn Hellkite (M12)
From $2.53 to $2.99 (18.18%)

Is anyone using this dragon outside of Commander or casual Magic? Does it even matter?

It is a mythic rare dragon with a keyword that has already been reused once.

It is a seven drop that lands on the table with an audible thump.

Right now there is even an advantageous disparity in the value of the card. You have noticed it has shown up both in the winners and losers section of this column recently.

The vendors are willing to sell them to you for as low as $0.92. There is a buylist offering $1.50.

There is no excuse for it being less than $2 and less than $1 on a mythic rare dragon sounds like a solid deal to me.

7. Darksteel Forge (M14)
From $1.96 to $2.32 (18.37%)

Darksteel Forge is getting ready to rotate in September when Khans of Tarkir is released.

It is not being played in any competitive decks so why is it seeing an increase in price?

M15 brought with it a subset of cards that card about artifacts. One particular card that I know people are brewing with is Chief Engineer.

Mirrodin showed us what a disaster affinity for artifacts can be from a development standpoint. The ability to grant all of your creatures convoke is probably as close as we are going to get to seeing affinity in standard.

It makes all of your Ornithopters and Memnites (in Modern) into free Birds of Paradise in a heavy artifact deck.

Will it work? It hardly matters. All that matters is that someone is asking the question and playing with decklists.

This will be the best chance you have to out your Forges before rotation. Always sell into hype.

6. Cemetery Reaper (M12)
From $1.54 to $1.87 (21.43%)

Zombies, tokens, graveyard hate. Oh my! This is the casual trifecta. I love the fact that it makes 3/3 zombies for three mana.

I also love the fact that there is a buylist offering $1.00 when there is a vendor selling for $0.44.

At a dollar or less for a lord with a popular creature type you can hardly go wrong. You have your out.

5. Llanowar Wastes (10th Edition)
From $4.49 to $5.48 (22.05%)

We are going to see a lot of fluctuation in pain land prices over the next year. Most of the movement will be over the next week or two.

There is speculation that Tarkir will be a wedge block. That will mean that Llanowar Wastes could be needed to make Junk, BUG and RUG decks function.

If you have any lying around I hope you are selling them now.

At this point only more M15 is being opened and that will keep prices in check. We have been told that there is another dual land cycle coming out with Tarkir. I do not see a lot of pain lands being used while shocklands are available. After rotation we may have something else worth playing with.

Sell while the prices are high.

4. Ad Nauseam (Shards of Alara)
From $3.82 to $4.85 (26.96%)

I have a soft spot for crazy combo cards. Ad Nauseam lets you draw as much as you want to at instant speed for as much life as you are willing to pay.

The power of Ad Nauseam is tempered by the fact you have to build your deck around it. There are still several powerful storm decks that make use of it.

The SCG Modern Invitational Qualifier in New Holland earlier this month featured an Ad Nauseam deck in the Top 8.

Legacy also has a few decks with it including ANT and TES.

This card is an essential piece of the decks in question and I would gladly trade for any. A few more Top 8s and this could be a $10 card.

3. Legion Loyalist (Gatecrash)
From $2.01 to $2.65 (31.84%)

Legion Loyalist is used in standard Red Deck Wins and budget casual goblin decks that do cannot afford Goblin Guide.

I do not see why it is getting a bump with mere months left in standard but I would sell out now.

Buylists are still purchasing them for up to $1.65 which is more than the $1.45 that some vendors are asking.

This card has a hard ceiling ahead of it so this is probably the best out you are going to get before they become bulk rares.

2. Galerider Sliver (M14)
From $1.89 to $2.60 (37.575)

Few slivers are good enough to be played outside of sliver decks. Galerider Sliver is one of them. Sometimes it is played in Mono-Blue Devotion in standard.

A 1/1 that flies for a single blue mana is pretty decent. It is fantastic when it is giving your sliver legion evasion.

A lot of people are looking at the new slivers and asking if they can finally have a sliver deck in standard.

The only important thing you need to be worried about is that they will try the deck out.

I would sell these away into the excitement but I would not worry too much if you don’t manage to move everything.

Slivers are a casual favorite so even if you have a few lying around there is almost always someone who is looking for what you have. I have gone through more Muscle Slivers and Winged Slivers in the past year than I ever would have guessed.

1. Battlefield Forge (9th Edition)
From $3.42 to $5.13 (50.00%)

The pain lands have found new life with M15. Everyone is looking for lands to replace their shocklands come rotation.

I like Battlefield Forge best out of the lot of them. An aggressive deck does not mind sacrificing a few points of life for mana consistency.

Boros Burn is the exact kind of deck that would prefer to do that rather than wait a turn and scry. It can also regain the life with a Warleader’s Helix.

Battlefield Forge is also one of the few enemy pain lands that sees play in modern. Everyone knows about Shivan Reef but Battlefield Forge is also picking up momentum in modern Boros Burn.

If you are going to be trading non-Izzet enemy pain lands these are the ones I would concentrate on.

I think they will hit their ceiling right after rotation when aggressive decks are at their peak.

5 Big Losers of the Week

5. Woodfall Primus (Shadowmoor)
From $6.13 to $5.37 (-12.40%)

Woodfall Primus is a casual and commander favorite.

He is a big fatty that is tough to kill and gets rid of pesky noncreature permanents like Planeswalkers or equipment.

He was reprinted in Modern Masters last year and took a hit. He is still suffering from that but I think he is nearing his floor. I would try to trade for them around $5 for some of those enemy painlands everyone is going to be opening for the next few months.

4. Elvish Piper (M10)
From $9.10 to $7.87 (-13.52%)

I remember using Elvish Piper to cheat out Thorn Elemental, Ancient Silverback and other fatties that have not aged nearly as well. It is still a popular inclusion in commander, cubes and any casual green deck with forests.

It has been printed a half dozen times and it can be printed in any core set that wants it.

There is also some potential to make some profits. You can get them for as little as $6.30 from vendors and sell them for up to $7.10.

3. Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth (Planar Chaos)
From $26.27 to $22.57 (-14.08%)

M15’s reprint of the legendary land is causing it to sink like a rock. Does standard really need mana fixing that smooth?

Eternal formats make good use of Urborg. Modern players use it in The Rock, BG, 8 Rack, Monoblack Infect and a host of Gifts variants.

Legacy uses it to do broken things with Dark Depths in Junk Depths and 4 Color Loam.

There is still a chance to make some money. You can buy them for as low as $17.94 and sell them for as much as $20.47.

This may be the only money to be made since it will take a while for the price to recover.

2. Lifebane Zombie (M14)
From $4.79 to $4.10 (-14.41%)

This zombie is taking a hit. It had a pretty good standard hey day with Monoblack Devotion, Orzhov and Golgari midrange decks that used it to preemptively deal with Blood Baron of Vizkopa or Polukranos, World Eater.

Fortunately it will not drop to bulk rare. It has seen some play as a sideboard card in Modern BG and Orzhov decks.

I would still try to trade them away as quickly as you can.

1. Pulmonic Sliver (Time Spiral)
From $4.68 to $3.63

Poor Pulmonic Sliver. It had such a unique and powerful effect for a five mana sliver.

One of the biggest weaknesses of sliver decks is that they depend on flooding the battlefield with creatures. This makes them susceptible to Supreme Verdict or Damnation. Pulmonic Sliver would help you rebuild.

Now for the same five mana you can just make your slivers indestructible. If your opponent plays Day of Judgment you can laugh all the way to the red zone.

Even the flying is not as impressive with Galerider Sliver coming down on the first turn.

There is still a bright side.

Vendors are now selling them as low as $0.75 and buying them for as much as $2.25. That will bring a smile to anyone’s face.

The Gilded Goblin

Saito’s Been Brewing Again

1 Comment

By: Jared Yost

Pro Tour personality @TomoharuSaito has been a busy man. He  has provided the Magic community not one, not two, not three, but thirteen (at the time of this writing) decklists that players can use to get an idea of what Standard might be like until Khans is added to the card pool. He did this for Journey Into Nyx as well but I only found out recently about those Twitter posts he made in May. Some of his May ideas panned out while others did not. I think most didn’t pan out because the top tier strategies are pretty much set in stone at that point, at least in the U.S. Who wants to learn how to play a new deck near the end of the season? The decks did provide insight into several cards, however, and got people talking about cards like Prophetic Flamespeaker which was featured in some of the decks from his last batch. This time around, I’m going to dive deeply into Tomoharu’s decklists and see if we can’t glean any information about which cards might see play after rotation. I think posts like these are helpful in seeing future Standard possibilities.

He displays the decks in an elegant, simple way. He compiled the decklists together on a playmat and took a picture of each list that he thought would see play over the next couple months. Afterwards, a quick post to Twitter and all of a sudden everyone is buzzing around this news. Please check out his lists on Twitter, then come over to this Reddit post to get an idea about what the community is saying about the most recent batch of decks.

From my reading of the Reddit comments players seem to be very divided on how “good” the actual decklists are. Are these only Tier 2 strategies? Is he tricking the entire populace, listing all of these decks out and then going to decide to play something completely different? Could this be chalked up to the uniqueness that is the Japanese Magic scene? We’ll just have to wait and see when the results start rolling in.

From a financial standpoint, these decklists are a powerful tool to let us know the possible directions that Standard could go. Thirteen decks is a lot of data to go through. Let’s see which cards Tomoharu Saito thinks are going to be played the most based on the number of times they appear in each of the decklists. Lets run the numbers and see how many copies of each card are present in the decks.

* – Represents a card that we will see through rotation (commons excluded)

# of Copies Card
56 Forest
33 Mutavault
28 Swamp
27 Plains
26 Mountain
16 Courser of Kruphix*
16 Elvish Mystic
16 Sylvan Caryatid*
16 Overgrown Tomb
16 Temple of Malady*
14 Llanowar Wastes*
12 Thoughtseize*
8 Burning-Tree Shaman
8 Chandra’s Phoenix
8 Desecration Demon
8 Experiment One
8 Lotleth Troll
8 Soldier of the Pantheon*
8 Battlefield Forge*
8 Breeding Pool
8

Mana Confluence*
8 Temple of Triumph*
8 Abrupt Decay
8 Devour Flesh
8 Lightning Strike
8 Stoke the Flames*
7 Boon Satyr*
6 Temple Garden
6 Sign in Blood
6 Ajani Steadfast*
5 Polukranos, World Eater*
5 AEtherspouts*
4 Ajani’s Pridemate*
4 Altac Bloodseeker*
4 Boros Elite
4 Dreg Mangler
4 Dryad Militant
4 Eidolon of Blossoms*
4 Erebos’s Emissary*
4 Firefist Striker
4 Fleecemane Lion*
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Galerider Sliver
4 Goblin Rabblemaster*
4 Gyre Sage
4 Kalonian Tusker
4 Lifebane Zombie
4 Liliana’s Reaver
4 Loxodon Smiter
4 Manaweft Sliver
4

Nemesis of Mortals*
4 Nighthowler*
4 Pack Rat
4 Precinct Captain
4 Predatory Sliver
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Satyr Wayfinder
4 Scuttling Doom Engine*
4 Slitherhead
4 Sliver Hivelord*
4 Soul of Innistrad*
4 Spiteful Returned*
4 Sunblade Elf*
4 Voice of Resurgence
4 Wall of Mulch*
4 Yisan, the Wanderer Bard*
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Maze’s End
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx*
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Sliver Hive*
4 Steam Vents
4 Temple of Enlightenment*
4 Temple of Epiphany*
4 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth*
4 Yavimaya Coast*
4 Banishing Light*
4 Detention Sphere
4 Necromancer’s Stockpile*
4 Path of Bravery
4 Waste Not*
4 Advent of the Wurm
4 Boros Charm
4 Chord of Calling*
4 Dissolve*
4 Druid’s Deliverance
4 Fog
4 Grisly Salvage
4 Izzet Charm
4 Searing Blood*
4 Shock
4 Sphinx’s Revelation
4 Warleader’s Helix
4 Anger of the Gods*
4 Duress
4 Mind Rot
4 Supreme Verdict
4 Urban Evolution
4 Jace, Architect of Thought
4 Kiora, the Crashing Wave*
3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos*
3 Fiendslayer Paladin
3 Firedrinker Satyr*
3 Frenzied Goblin*
3 Pharika, God of Affliction*
3 Shivan Reef*
3 Hero’s Downfall*
3 Drown in Sorrow*
3 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion*
3 Garruk, Caller of Beasts
3 Liliana Vess
3 Nissa, Worldwaker*
2 Bonescythe Sliver
2 Megantic Sliver
2 Voyaging Satyr
2 Stomping Ground
2 Ulcerate*
2 Brave the Elements
2 Ephemeral Shields
2 Golgari Charm
2 Commune with the Gods
2 Restock*
2 Garruk, Apex Predator*
2 Vraska the Unseen
1 Battle Sliver
1 Blur Sliver
1 Constricting Sliver*
1 Hornet Queen*
1 Keranos, God of Storms*
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Striking Sliver
1 Syphon Sliver
1 Venom Sliver
1 Azorius Guildgate
1 Boros Guildgate
1 Dimir Guildgate
1 Golgari Guildgate
1 Gruul Guildgate
1 Izzet Guildgate
1 Orzhov Guildgate
1 Rakdos Guildgate
1 Selesnya Guildgate
1 Simic Guildgate
1 Reclamation Sage*
1 Call of the Conclave

The decks were quite diverse and the card list reflects this. However, we’re also trying to glean some information as to what cards Saito values the most from Standard sets that aren’t rotating in the fall.

Top 10 Rares Appearing Across Decks Through Rotation:

Courser of Kruphix (16)
Sylvan Caryatid (16)
Temple of Malady (16)
Llanowar Wastes (14)
Thoughtseize (12)
Soldier of the Pantheon (8)
Battlefield Forge (8)
Mana Confluence (8)
Temple of Triumph (8)
Boon Satyr (7)

Honorable Mention:

AEtherspouts

If you’re a Standard player you will want to pick up your copies of these cards because they are the most likely to get played across several archetypes. You’re chances of being able to use the cards once Khans comes up are pretty high if you decide to pick up cards on this list.

Courser of Kruphix, Sylvan Caryatid, and Temple of Malady round out the top three. They appeared in both spike and fringe strategies (fringe examples include Maze’s End and BG Zombies), and when they did each deck contained a playset of them. Llanowar Wastes comes in at a close fourth with Thoughtseize to round out the top five. I would advise picking up all cards at the current prices if you plan on playing them.

Soldier of the Pantheon, Battlefield Forge, Mana Confluence, and Temple of Triumph all appeared as a playset in two decks. Boon Satyr appeared as a playset in one, and three copies in another. These are probably the best cards to spec on, and personally I would put my money on Soldier of the Pantheon and Mana Confluence as the breakout cards of the four. Boon Satyr and Temple of Triumph should also be solid going into rotation but I don’t think the gains will be as good as Soldier or Mana Confluence.

AEtherspouts appeared in control lists that utilized blue. I’m not sure how well these decks were tested, but it couldn’t hurt to pick up a a few copies for EDH or if you plan on playing one of them in something like UWR Control or a similar build.

Cards not in this list but still should be looked out for – Chord of Calling, Urborg, the other Temples, Painlands, Eidolon of Blossoms, Fleecemane Lion, Anger of the Gods, and Scuttling Doom Engine. They each are good enough to merit play as well.

Top 10 Mythics Appearing Across Decks Through Rotation:

Ajani Steadfast (6)
Polukranos, World Eater (5)
Sliver Hivelord (4)
Soul of Innistrad (4)
Kiora, the Crashing Wave (4)
Brimaz, King of Oreskos (3)
Pharika, God of Affliction (3)
Elspeth, Sun’s Champion (3)
Nissa, Worldwaker (3)
Garruk, Apex Predator (2)

Mythics are an interesting bunch. Due to Wizard’s policy of trying to create format staples as rares rather than mythics, we find that a large majority of mythics in this list are played in only one of Tomoharu’s builds. Ajani Steadfast and Polukranos buck this trend, but Polukranos only appears as a Chord of Calling Target in his mono green devotion list. It appears that he will be good in the new green deck based around Nissa.

Essentially, the takeaway here is that Ajani Steadfast probably has the most to gain from rotation if white weenie or green/white aggro becomes a dominant deck over the summer. Though I’m not sure if Ajani is the right walker to put in these decks – I feel like Elspeth, Sun’s Champion is much stronger and I would rather pick her up seeing her on this list. However, I also haven’t been a Magic Pro Player of the Year and everyone could be undervaluing Ajani because they haven’t tested him. Then again, I have no idea if any of these decks have been tested so it’s kind of a hard call at this point. $15 is a little rich for my blood, so if it starts going down towards $8 I think it would definitely be a good planeswalker to pick up. At the very least, if you’re playing white weenie you should be getting Brimaz which the list confirms. 

Sliver Hivelord only earns a spot in this list because people will try to make the Slivers deck work. I have no idea how good it might be but I’m guessing it won’t gain much traction from people outside of FNM. Plus, many of the pieces are rotating in the fall so I’m staying far away from slivers mainly for that reason.

Soul of Innistrad was the only soul mentioned to make it into any lists. Pharika and Keranos were the only gods to show up, and Keranos only showed up as one copy in the UWR control build. I’m not sure if the souls and gods are worse than I initially thought but this might confirm in many peoples minds that they are. I still wouldn’t discount many of them, especially Soul of Theros or Soul of New Phyrexia once rotation hits. Pharika is appearing in lists since she is such a cheap god so I would say getting in lower than $5 is pretty good for her at this point. I think she will see marginal play in the future.

Kiora was only in the Maze’s End list, which means that she doesn’t really have a home yet come rotation. Maybe something will pop up over the next few months. At $14, I don’t really see her going lower so you won’t be making a mistake buying in. I just don’t think she has that much room to grow unless another slow control deck like Maze’s End comes along.

Nissa and Garruk are tough to analyze at this point. Something tells me that somebody knows something about Nissa due to the recent price surge she has experienced over the last week. However, it could just be that a lot of casual players want her as soon as she comes out. Afterall her second +1 ability isn’t that great outside of a mono green deck. Based on these concerns I don’t think her current $35 price tag is warranted. Even Garruk, Caller of Beasts was only around $25-$30 at his peak and he suffered from some of the same issue (second activated ability only worked for green).

Garruk, Apex Predator can only go in those really controlling shells as a finisher from the looks of things. Even with all the ramp in Standard getting out a seven mana planeswalker is tough. Maybe it will be easier with the introduction of Khans but I don’t think it is going to pan out this way. Get rid of your copies for $25 now and pick them up later when they are cheaper.

Trader’s Edge

Twitter posts like these are exactly why you should have an account. Twitter in general provides valuable information to the Magic community and these posts especially can provide the right kind of value to the financial minded. The decklist pictures quickly give us an overview of the new Standard possibilities without each one of us having to do the leg work of putting a bunch of decks together. The hardest part is playtesting which will tell you which cards perform the best in their respective archetypes.

But at least we’re not fumbling around in the dark. At the very least, Tomoharu Saito’s decklists allow the community to have a vibrant discussion on the merits of each deck and which cards are the deck’s frontrunners. Which cards do you think will make the most impact on the upcoming Standard?

I’ll leave you with the notable uncommons that were found in the decks. I’m not one to speculate on uncommons (unless they are extremely undervalued) but these are the top uncommons that appeared in Tomoharu’s decks:

Stoke the Flames  (8)
Ajani’s Pridemate (4)
Altac Bloodseeker (4)
Erebos’s Emissary (4)
Nemesis of Mortals (4)
Spiteful Returned (4)
Sunblade Elf (4)
Wall of Mulch (4)
Dissolve (4)
Searing Blood (4)
Frenzied Goblin (3)
Drown in Sorrow (3)
Ulcerate (2)
Restock (2)

MAGIC: THE GATHERING FINANCE ARTICLES AND COMMUNITY