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The New Present of Narset

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I mean present as in, not the past or future. Like, right now. Because the set's about time travel...

What was I saying?

Oh, right. Narset Transcendent was widely hailed as one of, if not the best card out of Dragons of Tarkir. It was even pre-ordering at around $50. At the time, I referred to this price as completely outrageous, because even if it's just the best card that price in and of itself is an absurdity.


As you can see, the current price has dropped significantly from the pre-order price, and is even trending further downwards. The strongest case against holding on to copies of Narset is that control had an exceptional showing at the Pro Tour, and the best versions all eschewed her.

Andrew Cuneo, being one of the world's foremost authorities on control decks, wrote on Channel Fireball that he really didn't like Narset while testing for the Pro Tour. I would contend that Cuneo's list looks worse than the blue/black version, but the fact remains that neither have adopted the new Planeswalker.

This really shouldn't be too surprising, as an honest evaluation of the card does and always has shown that it just doesn't do much on its own. "Not much" is a very poor thing for a control deck to invest a turn and a card into. The high pre-order price and current steady decline were inevitable, with the pre-order price likely driven by "Jace syndrome".

The question is, how many planeswalkers do we need to overpay for before we stop worrying about missing the next Jace?

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Ryan Overturf

Ryan has been playing Magic since Legions and playing competitively since Lorwyn. While he fancies himself a Legacy specialist, you'll always find him with strong opinions on every constructed format.

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4 thoughts on “The New Present of Narset

  1. Besides the Jace Tax, Narset was also overhyped b/c she’s the first UW planeswalker in quite awhile, and UW is a favorite among lots of players.

  2. You say ‘need to overpay for’ as if you need to do it. Just don’t do it. Narset is not the house that people thought she was. Just because other idiots are paying 50 for not a 50 dollar Planeswalker doesn’t mean you should

      1. I realize that and I shouldn’t single a person, much less you, out. What I mean is that just cuz WotC spoils a PWer, SCG is going to price it high high high, and people in this hobby are just gonna throw money at it because they ‘gotta have their four’ for whatever reason.

        If we just don’t buy it at stupid prices and look at it with real eyes and not beer goggles and a “HELL YEAH LOOK AT THAT ART AND OMG CAN U BELIEVE THAT SHES A WALKER AND OMG THE COLORS” attitude, preorders will come down.

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