Welcome to the Top 10 for Fate Reforged! You guys all know the drill by now, so let's get to it.

Honorable Mentions

New Warriors

There are quite a few cards on my Honorable Mentions list but most of them break down into two categories. The first is warriors. There are a lot of warriors who could see play based on their tribe as well as their own merits. Here’s a list of some of the better ones.

Warriors

None of these cards alone were enough to make the Top 10, but I almost included them as a group in one of the spots. I think it would be cool if tribal warriors was a playable deck in competitive events, but I don’t think it will end up that way. Still fun to play around with.

Good Times in the Graveyard

There are a number of fun cards that could be paired with the Whip of Erebos decks in Standard, but I think most of them will end up as fun cards rather than competitive ones. Here are the cards I’m referring to:

Graveyard Cards

Solid Removal

Solid Removal

One of the best parts of the set are these following three removal spells. We have the versatile Valorous Stance that lets you protect your guy or remove theirs. Wild Slash gets through Gods Willing effects as well as being at the efficiency we were used to in the past as opposed to the now normal three-cost removal spells.

Lastly, Collateral Damage seems great in a world where tokens are running around all over the place. Make a token from Goblin Rabblemaster and instead of running it into one of their blockers, sacrifice it to kill the creature instead. All three of these cards are great role players and should find homes in Standard.

Interesting cards

Interesting Cards

Here are a few cards that I briefly considered as well. While these cards could see play in Standard, they are not the best cards in the set. They do have interesting applications though, but they are on the fence as to whether they are good enough to see play.

Now onto the Fate Reforged Top 10!

10. Soulfire Grand Master

What better way to start off a Top 10 than with a controversial pick. I can’t be the only one who thinks this is the most overrated card in recent memory. It isn’t as bad as Time Reversal, but I do think this card’s price is going nowhere but down.

Let me explain my stance on this card. From my perspective, this creature is a measly 2/2 for two mana that does have relevant abilities but will rarely connect with your opponent because of the nature of the format. Green decks are not going to magically disappear and so you are left with a creature that’s unable to easily damage your opponent. Certainly being able to buy back your spells late-game is great, but overall I’m still surprised by players' high opinions of this card.

In Modern I like this card much more than in Standard because that format is much different. I could easily see Soulfire Grand Master fitting into a couple different decks in Modern and being pretty good in them. You have cheap spells to rebuy if you get to the mid or late game and giving your burn lifelink is particularly relevant in Modern.

As for Standard, I don’t expect players to be replacing their Seeker of the Way with this new high-priced mythic, nor adding spots for another two-cost creature. Therefore, unless this guy makes a new home for himself, I see him sitting on the sidelines.

On a positive note, if we think outside the box, I do think there is a solid application for the Grand Master. Many times, Jeskai Control decks (or similar versions) sideboard in more creatures after game one based on the fact that their opponent is likely sideboarding out many of their targeted removal spells. Soulfire Grand Master could be a great creature to have in your sideboard because he will act like a bad Snapcaster Mage but still do a lot of important and powerful things for your control deck.

9. Torrent Elemental

Last week, I wrote about how this creature was vastly underrated and underpriced. This week, Torrent Elemental's price has picked up and we see it coming in at number nine on my list. I wouldn’t say that this is the most powerful card in the set by a wide margin, but I do think the format is well positioned for it to be the workhorse of these Sidisi, Brood Tyrant decks.

So often, the board state with Sultai decks becomes clogged. The deck thrives on the late game so clogging the board is exactly what you want to do. The bad part is that sometimes it becomes hard to win through a crowded and complex board state and it’s definitely hard to do so within the normal fifty minute time frame. Torrent Elemental breaks those board states and whenever you want to be attacking, he forces through a lot of damage.

Additionally, being able to delve him away and then cast him from exile seems like a great way to gain some additional card advantage. Overall, a five-mana creature like this is unlikely to oppress the format, but I do think it will impact it in a positive way. I still like trading into copies of this card, especially if you can find copies that players don’t care about. The card seems innocent but it’s going to have a big impact on games of Standard.

Finally, there is a slight possibility that it will see some play in combination with Food Chain and Misthollow Griffin. Food Chain isn’t winning any big tournaments but it is a nostalgic archetype that players like to fiddle around with, and that could help the price as well.

8. Crux of Fate

With U/B Control having a presence in Standard, I think this is an obvious inclusion in that deck. Five mana is an acceptable cost for a sweeper these days and Crux of Fate is in a color that doesn’t frequently get the effect.

Another consideration for this card is how popular it is likely to be for casual and Commander players. I know that a lot of cards are sold to players that don’t regularly play in tournaments and this is the type of card they will love. Foils will likely hold their value well also. Stock up on as many regular and foil copies, because the starting price is close to the bottom for this card.

7. Shaman of the Great Hunt

6. Brutal Hordechief

Next up I want to discuss both #7 and #6 on the list, which are very similar effects in different colors. Both are have their own merits but in the end you’re doing an extra damage each turn with your other creatures. My initial impression is that Brutal Hordechief is better than Shaman of the Great Hunt because it takes a turn to get a +1/+1 counter whereas Hordechief deals the damage right away.

Hordechief being a warrior has some interesting applications. The warrior deck has not been very competitive thus far, but with a bunch of new warriors in Fate Reforged, it’s possible the archetype becomes playable.

Either of these four-drops can be played alongside the sweet token makers in Standard and both setups would yield strong sequences. It will be interesting to see which of these two cards sees play, but both might. The red one does pair well with the on-color Hordeling Outburst though, so I expect that combination will at least be tested.

As far as financially, I think both of these cards will drop a little bit in value but for the most part, I like their current price tag of approximately $10. I think they will go down a couple dollars, but should stabilize after that. These two cards should trade well to a variety of players as they will be used in many different ways.

5. Monastery Siege

Monastery Siege seems like one of the most undervalued cards in the set. One of the main reasons for this is not only is it new and strange, but its best applications may be in the sideboard rather than the maindeck.

While the bonus draw and discard helps smooth draws as well as fill your graveyard for various delve spells, the second ability is the one that seems like it will push the card to see play. In Standard, there are a lot of spells that target players or permanents and adding an additional two mana to them seems like a way to keep yourself out of burn range and your creatures safe from removal spells. This enchantment doesn’t protect you from Crux of Fate, End Hostilities or any other mass removal, but anything targeted will be much harder to cast.

4. Flamewake Phoenix

Let me first say, I am ecstatic that wizards is finally taking the phoenix creature type seriously. As a mythical creature they are extremely cool and hard to kill. It took a long time for us to get a Chandra's Phoenix that closely embodied the rising-from-the-ashes mythos the creatures are known for. Now we have a couple other good creatures of the same ilk.

Ashcloud Phoenix being in print is essential to the conversation for a number of reasons. Not only is it cool that one phoenix will help the other rise from the grave, but that gets us one step closer to phoenix tribal! Okay, that will probably never be a reality we live in, but our new phoenix joining the clan is quite the potent one.

There are some major differences between Flamewake and Chandra's Phoenix. The positive changes are that it only costs one mana to bring it back from the graveyard. With Chandra’s, not only did you need to be packing a bunch of burn spells but you also had to replay it on your turn.

Unfortunately, to balance this we are going to have to be attacking every turn. It would be great to be able to block but that is not in any game plan with this card. Additionally, you do need to be playing with four-power creatures, but with the ferocious mechanic in Standard, there are plenty of options to make this happen.

Overall, this is a powerful aggressive creature that has late-game applications because of its cheap recursive cost. There are tons of good three-cost spells in Standard right now, but I think even with the available card pool, the format will make room for the new phoenix on the block.

3. Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

At the beginning of my process writing this article, one of my biggest questions was how high up the list Ugin, the Spirit Dragon would be. Initially I thought he might end up at number one, and for good reason. This enormous planeswalker not only removes all of the threats from the board, but he also exiles them in the process. With all of the crazy Whip of Erebos shenanigans in Standard, exiling creatures has become a particularly relevant endeavor.

The more I analyzed the set and thought about each card’s implications, the more I realized that Ugin was not well suited to be the number one card in the set. Surely he is the most iconic card in the set and that almost propelled him to the top, but will he really see much play costing eight mana? That is surely one of the most asked questions about this set. I believe the answer is that yes, you will have to battle against this card at FNM and probably at bigger events also.

There is no question that this planeswalker will see some play, but what is likely to happen is that he will show up at a one-of in a couple different Standard decks. In addition, he will most likely join forces with Karn Liberated in Modern to beef up Tron’s removal package even more.

With so few copies likely to be included in decks, Ugin lands at number three on the list. All of his abilities are powerful and he reaches his ultimate much faster than most planeswalkers. So, if you like control decks, I would look to pick up a couple copies of this new card at some point.

Unless you need him for a deck right away, I would wait a couple of weeks to snag your copies because I doubt that he can sustain $30 for long. There would be many factors that need to happen in order for his price not to drop. $15-$20 is a much more believable price range and I expect the market to adjust to that price within a few weeks of release.

2. Warden of the First Tree

Often new cards are compared to older cards and then fail to live up to the standards previously set by the older cards. In this case, our Warden of the First Tree here will always be "the new version of Figure of Destiny."

The first time around, it took a little while for Figure to catch on. I may have been playing the card right from the set release, but it wasn’t until the pros preparing for the Pro Tour came up with their Boat Brew that the Magic community caught on to the power of the card. These days, new sets are talked about and broken down much more than they were even five years ago, so I’m sure it’s no surprise that the First Tree’s front line of defense is so high on my list.

Just like Figure though, I think we are still underestimating the power of this card. Warden is like playing your Fleecemane Lion on turn one. Not only that, but he isn’t stopped by all of the other green cards in the format that block other aggressive creatures. Warden is also not going to be taken down by tokens like the rest of the two-mana cost creatures out there.

Another part of the puzzle is the converted mana cost of the removal spells. Because all of the good removal costs three or more, you will likely get in a couple of hits before they kill him. These things make Warden quite good in the current format. If players start running the new Wild Slash, he won’t be quite as good but I doubt that is a main deck card in this format.

A major distinction for me between the two super levelers, Figure and Warden, is that Warden gets trample instead of flying. The flying aspect was one of my favorite parts of Figure of Destiny and the fact that Warden gets trample makes him much easier to defeat. I do like that you can use the third ability repeatedly to make Warden bigger every turn you don’t have something better to do.

Warden of the First Tree is going to see a lot of play and at $10, I think he is one of the most undervalued cards in the set. Not only can he go right into the already successful Abzan Aggro, but I think Abzan Midrange might include a couple copies in their 75 somewhere as well. Another important note is that on his first level, he does become a warrior. I’m not sure how relevant that will be, but an Abzan Warriors deck could emerge that would love to include this amazing new creature.

I know that I am excited about this creature and I think there is room for growth also. Trade into copies of this guy if possible within the first week or two and you will be happy you did.

1. Monastery Mentor

Doesn’t Monastery Mentor feel like the monastery mentor? I think the biggest crime with our number one card on the list is that he is not a legend. Don’t get me wrong, the fact that he isn’t a legend means that we can have multiple in play at the same time which seems terrifying for any opponent to behold, but this mythic rare would definitely feel more mythic if his name was something like Elias, Monastery Mentor or something like that.

Names aside, our flock of Monastery Mentors have a list of great prerequisites attached to them. First of all, to become a mentor to monks, one must study the art of noncreature spells. Players love their Delver of Secrets // Delver of Secrets decks and this creature fits that mold as it was designed to.

What would a good mentor be without students to teach? These mentors bring lots of pupils to the party too and they are definitely well taught. Each of the monk student tokens being able to use prowess is incredibly busted. They will be breaking boards in half as well as skulls of planeswalkers just like you.

Never fear though, for the meager price of $120, you can obtain your very own playset of mentors to teach your opponents the error of their ways. Monastery Mentors may not have a mythic feel to them, but they certainly do have powerful enough abilities backed by a strong price tag that make them feel mythic for certain.

If this card is half as good as it seems on paper and the rest of the set pans out like it seems it will, I think $30 is a reasonable and sustainable price for our new prowess dude. He is a very strong competitive level card and should see a lot of play in Standard, Modern, and possibly even Legacy.

Fate Reforged’s Financial Future

As I was setting up Fate’s spreadsheet for my store, I noticed more and more how similar it seems to a set like Born of the Gods, Journey Into Nyx, or Dragon’s Maze. We may be getting some amount of fetch lands in our Fate Reforged boxes, but even that is not likely to help the prices of the cards in the set. There are only six cards that I have listed to buy for more than $2. The most common buy price on my spreadsheet is $1. If history serves us then most or all of these low price cards will be in the $1.50 range in a month.

What this means is that the financial value of this set leaves a lot to be desired. I think the biggest problem with the set is that there are no rares worth investing in. Flamewake Phoenix is great but past that, I can’t really advise you to do anything other than trade away your other rares while they are still worth something.

The mythics in this set are a somewhat impressive group though. Six of the ten mythics are worth double digits and most of them should continue to hold most of their value. Clearly we will see a drop in their prices but most of them shouldn’t drop as much as we’ve been used to with previous sets. Even the ‘bulk’ mythics of the set seem poised to still have a couple dollars in value and not be true bulk.

Don’t waste time holding onto most of the cards in this set, start trading them away for more stable cards right away.

Do you agree with my financial advice and my top 10 order? Are there any hidden valuable cards in this set? What, if any, cards do you think have the chance to go up in value? Hit me up in the comments with your financial thoughts as well as what differences your top 10 has.

Until Next Time,

Unleash the Cube Force!

Mike Lanigan
MtgJedi on Twitter
Jedicouncilman23@gmail.com