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M14 Spoiler Coverage

The core set M14 is scheduled to be released July 19, 2013 and will contain 249 cards.

About Quiet Speculation's M14 Spoiler Coverage:

A team of Quiet Speculation contributors will be following the gradual spoiling of the upcoming Magic: The Gathering set, M14. Stay tuned to this page for insights from some of the brightest minds in the MTG Finance community on the noteworthy mechanics and cards.

And if you're an Insider, be sure to check out the Spoiler Season section of the QS forums for more M14 discussion.

Release Date July 19th, 2013
Prerelease Events July 13-14, 2013
Magic Online Release July 29, 2013
Game Day August 10-11, 2013
Official Three-Letter Code M14
Twitter Hashtag #MTGM14
Number of Cards 249

Latest Spoilers:

07/11/13 - Jason

Mindsparker

So clearly Witchstalker is the elephant in the room and the card amongst this cycle getting all the attention, but I feel like you ignore Mindsparker at your peril. I don't know if 3/2 first strike for 1RR makes him good enough to maindeck or not- I'm not an actual wizard. What I can tell you is that this can wreak some legitimate havoc against control opponents. There seem to be all the elements for a mono red deck that punishes other colors for having greedy manabases possible, and this seems like it will help. Imagine your opponent taking five damage to cast a Supreme Verdict with Mindsparker and Burning Earth. Want to play a Think Twice? Go ahead. Flash it back while you're at it. Being hexproof is obviously better which makes Witchstalker appealing to a lot of players, but this guy is a monster in combat, will likely shock them at least twice before they deal with it unless they do so right away and he doesn't have to attack to deal them damage the way Witchstalker does.

That said, he's likely going to fall below his presale price because most of the set will. Still, this guy will fly under the radar, so be prepared to scoop him at his price floor since I could see him rebounding, especially if Theros gives white and blue some spells they can't help but play.

Banisher Priest

My Brainstorm Brewery cohosts are having a hard time deciding whether this a bad substitute for Fiend Slayer or a terrible substitute for Fiend Slayer. I think I want a Fiend Slayer around, and if it's got an extra power, so be it. Its cleric subtype might be relevant, it seems like a decent inclusion in EDH- I like this card and I think with as bad as this set is as a whole, this may be one of the few uncommons that ends up worth actual money. I would take one of these for a Shivan Dragon straight up. It sucks that you can't do stupid bounce tricks with him, but that's life. Fiend Hunter will be legal everywhere Deadeye Navigator is legal.

Blood Bairn

Now we have a Blood Baron and a Blood Bairn? What's wrong with the other Nantuko Husk variants? Not confusingly-named enough?

Savage Summoning

Testing (not mine) indicates this card is a lot better than you think it is. That's good, considering it's preordering at as close to bulk as preorders get; this is a low-risk spec that is all upside. That said, you jam four of these and you start out the game with fewer creatures than your opponent unless they're control, which makes this scream "PUT ME IN A SIDEBOARD!". Are creatures going to get countered a lot more now that we lose Cavern and control players get to wield the awesome cudgel of punishment that is Spell Blast? I just don't know. An Autumn's Veil for creatures, this could get played. I'll take these as throwins until someone does something with them- it beats the Scion of Vitu Ghazi I was getting before now.

Voracious Wurm

I'm reminded of Ajani's Pridemate and Kavu Predator. Look up what those cards buylist for. This could just as easily be a thing. Unfortunately, there isn't a ton of lifegain in M14 so this will likely almost solely appeal to casual players, but that's ok because I like casual players. I'll ship them all the Voracious Wurms their casual little BS lifegain decks can handle. I wouldn't rule this card out of contention for hitting the $2 mark, at least in the short term. I bet this is a card that will buylist for actual money in a year and you'll find these sitting on top of trashcans at Gen Con all weekend long.

07/10/13 - Sigmund

Xathrid Necromancer

Terrific flavor. It would have been an interesting inclusion in the Humans deck, except the Humans deck is about to rotate out of Standard. Oh well, 2/2's aren't too exciting anyways, so this likely remains casual fodder.

I think I like this card a lot more than Sigmund does. - Jason

Shivan Dragon

It's amazing how much power creep has occurred with creatures. I used to wish I could open one of these in ever pack. Now it's just a nostalgic bulk rare.

07/08/13 - Sigmund

Planar Cleansing

If this is the best sweeper spell in M14 then I'm liking Supreme Verdict even more. I don't recall this card seeing much play last time it was printed, and nothing convinces me otherwise today. Sure, Verdict can't get non creatures but guess what - creatures are what matters most in Standard.

Silence

Just when this card was finally creeping out of bulk bins and into people's binder, it gets reprinted. I couldn't move these to dealers for a quarter a while back, but lately these have bumped up in price to being worth a couple bucks. So much for that - this reprint will pretty much cap Silence's growth right here.

Clone

I know it was supposedly "too complicated" for a core set, but can't we have Vesuvan Doppelganger back just one time? One time? This card can't even Legend-kill an opponent's creature now!

Traumatize

Wizards is determined to print this card until it's under a buck. It's getting pretty darned close.

Sanguine Bond

It's like the name of the game is reprint as many casual cards as you can to drop card prices! I remember when I discovered that this card was worth around $10...I was in utter shock. I had never once seen the card played in any format, yet there it was buy-listing in the high single digits. Well, that's all about to change. This reprint is easily going to half the value of this card while in Standard. Could Sanguine Bond increase again in the long term? Sure. Will this card be worth over $10 in 2013 or 2014? I highly doubt it.

07/04/13 - Gervaise

Strionic Resonator

Well hello there EDH beauty... For your convenience I have listed you the URLs to the Triggered abilities of the most expensive mana cost cards;

''When'' - http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?sort=cmc-&text=%20[When]
'' Whenever'' - http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?sort=cmc-&text=%20[Whenever]

One can do big things.  I am not sure whether using Rings of Brighthearth ($4.9 AVG) as a benchmark as it influences a total different mechanic (Activated abilities). Since it is a rare, it will pressure the price so I think every EDH player will get this card for a fair price and do some sick stuff with it.

 

Dismiss into Dream

I immediately disregard this as being a Standard/Modern playable as this card is directed towards the Casual & EDH crowd. The card feels like a Horobi, Death's Wail and can create funny situations. I like the art so a foil one might be a good thing to possess. I would not bank on these ones to be very valueable except the foils if it looks deadly.

Lifebane Zombie

A very interesting card in the current Standard aggro metagame. Intimidate certainly makes it semi-unblockable meaning the 1 toughness can be ignore when evaluating the card. So this card can take out a Ghor-Clan Rampager, Voice of Resurgence, Witchstalker, Angel of Serenity and exile it. If this is going to be sleeper priced, I would be keeping an eye on it. Moreover it is a zombie so it definitely goes in my Zombie EDH deck coming summer!

Imposing Sovereign

A Kismet on a stick that only affects creatures. Still it creates massive tempo advantage. I am sure Craig Wescoe will brew a solid white weenie deck with this one. Keep an eye on this on if underpriced!

 

Pyromancer's Gauntlet

Seems like a win more card. It can be fun in an EDH deck but the instant/sorcery/planeswalker restriction can be a bit more restrictive. Pricewise, I doubt this is going to be more than $2.

 

07/03/13 - Sigmund

Tidebinder Mage

Corbin will be pleased to see another Merfolk. Maybe there's a shot at having a Merfolk deck in Standard for 3 months before M13 rotates. But not likely. The question is, does this card make Modern or Legacy Merfolk stronger? I'm guessing not, but I still believe this card will remain slightly above bulk until people determine how good Tidebinder Mage is.

Haunted Plate Mail

I love the flavor of this card, and the artwork is decent too. Not old school decent mind you, but it seems spot on. I don't see this card trumping Batterskull despite being 1 mana less. Lifelink and the ability to bounce itself is just too powerful. In Standard I'm not sure if this card can get there. Four mana for a 4/4 just doesn't cut it anymore, even if another creature can wear the equipment. It would have been better if one could pay 0 mana to convert the creature back into an equipment only again, so as to avoid creature removal or sweep spells...hmmmm maybe that'd be too powerful?

Nightmare

Love the artwork, don't really care about the reprint. At least the card reminds me of back in the day.

07/02/13 - Sigmund

Witchstalker

This card reminds me a little bit (actually a lot bit) like Great Sable Stag. Witchstalker is a 3/3 creature that costs 1GG that is especially strong against black/blue decks. While not uncounterable, this guy is very difficult for U/B decks to deal with. While this won't matter much for Legacy (Swords to Plowshares), he may have a shot at Modern and Standard in the right metagame. Great Sable Stag was worth a solid few bucks during it's heydey and I wouldn't be shocked to see Witchstalker maintain at least that price tag while in Standard. If only the artwork didn't look terrible.

Path of Bravery

Wow, Wizards is REALLY trying to make lifegain good. But this once again feels like a "win more" card. It reads: If you're winning, you now have a card to help you gain lots of life and win more. But it just seems so risky unless you're running a deck with a heavy focus on lifegain. I'd hate to be down in a game and top-deck this card. I'm not a believer.

Bubbling Cauldron

I will NOT give in to your lifegain pushing antics, Wizards. Move on.

Bogbrew Witch

Wow I'll be pretty annoyed to open this rare. Now you are just trying too hard...what does this stupid Newt thing do anyway?

Festering Newt

Ok, so you want me to pay 4 mana for a 1/3 creature, then next turn pay 2 mana to tutor out a Bubbling Cauldron, then wait another turn to tutor out a Festering Newt, then pay another mana and activate the Cauldron sacrificing Newt in order to kill a creature and drain 4 life from my opponent. Man that's a lot of work. It would be cooler in a multiplayer EDH game, but then the chances of drawing the Cauldron or the Witch are 2/99. I'm done here.

07/02/13- Jason

With the furor around Modern Masters abating a bit and with San Diego Comic Con unofficially starting tomorrow, it feels like a good time to cover a few of these cards that were spoiled since we last took a look at it. There's good stuff here, even if Chandra promises to underwhelm.

Speaking of Comic Con...

Garruk, Caller of Beasts

There isn't much hope for the tape deck if you don't have your set of these on lockdown already. I contacted a few of my usual sources who will be hitting SDCC and no one can hook me up so I guess I'll just have to be jealous of the folks who can get these for free and make a mint. Casual players love Planeswalkers, competitive players love Planeswalkers, collectors love Planeswalkers, and they especially love hard to find ones like these. Expect these to be worth infinity for a while.

Garruk himself looks overcosted. He is pretty powerful, but so was Sorin Markov and we all saw how little play he got. I can't justfiy preordering him at $35.

Kalonian Hydra

All hope is not lost, green mages. If unmolested by Doom Blade, this guy will wreak some serious havoc. How about pairing him with Corpsejack Menace to do some serious damage? Oh, that sounds like a Timmy deck? Really? Well Darwin Kastle likes to run Corpsejack Menace. He did pretty well at the Block PT with it, in fact. He's in the Hall of Fame. Are you? No? Ok, then. Maybe you want to try this guy out with some evolve guys, some Corpsejack Menace and maybe you want to thank me when you can't lose at FNM. This guy seems like a must-answer. This seems powerful, though whether I want to preorder them at $15 a pop, I don't know. I say try and pack these guys since $15 seems high unless they're played in a ton of decks, something I don't see, bullish on this card though I am.

Galerider Sliver

Wut. Was 2 mana REALLY too much to pay for Winged Sliver? This makes me give serious consideration to trying to build Legacy Slivers now that we have a Muscle Sliver reprint as well. I don't think there is enough gas in the Slivers we have to build a deck for Standard, so paying $7 for these to preorder seems... non-correct. I expect these to tank after no one plays them in Standard, which should give you an opportunity to scoop them for next to nothing. If Crystalline Sliver can be $3-$4, this can be the same, so get these less than that and wait. If these never go below $4 I'll be surprised, but not shocked, I guess. Casual players love Slivers almost as much as they love being the only people who buy Core Set booster packs.

Darksteel Forge

Why?

Door of Destinies

This USED to be worth money.

07/01/13 - Sigmund

Chandra, Pyromaster

I've seen arguments for and against this Planeswalker. Her casting cost is reasonable and she can come into play, protect herself and go up to 5 loyalty. The fact that her +1 ability stops a creature from blocking instead of attacking makes her feel like an aggro Planeswalker. But her other two abilities feel more mid-range like. I may be wrong, but I don't see a home in Standard for this Chandra. Perhaps when the format rotates and the card pool for Standard shrinks significantly, she'll have a chance to shine. But in the meantime, I can't justify preordering...too much risk.

Oath of the Ancient Wood

Translation: Enchantment Rare
Whenever ~Oath of the Ancient Wood or another enchantment enters the battlefield under your control, you may put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.

Ok, so enchantment strategies are often weak in Standard and giving your creatures +1/+1 counters seems underwhelming. In Legacy I'd rather just draw cards when I play my enchantments and I see no home in Modern for this card. I'm sure this is playable in some sort of enchantment based EDH deck but other than that I don't really get it.

Manaweft Sliver

Gemhide Sliver just became obsolete, although I suppose in casual decks you can run 8 of these mana-producing Slivers. I remember Gemhide Sliver being a non-bulk Uncommon at some point, so I suspect these will be worth holding onto. Foils should especially be sweet pick-ups early on for a long-term hold (assuming Slivers are a hit yet again).

Dark Prophecy

While creatures keep getting stronger and stronger, Enchantments get weaker and weaker. Compare this to something old-school like Necropotence. See what 3 black mana used to get you?! Anyway, this card seems pretty mediocre...and risky. Imagine having a bunch of creatures on the battlefield while sitting at 5 life and your opponent casts Supreme Verdict. There's no "may" ability here, that's GG.

Elite Arcanist

This card has some potential, especially in casual formats. But the risk of getting 2-for-1'd here is quite large. You have to have a card worth exiling in your hand, first of all, and then you have to pray that your opponent doesn't simply kill or bounce your creature for a turn. Then on your turn you have to pay mana to cast the spell anyways. So you really aren't gaining value here until your second activation (unless the spell is really special or you can't afford to have it countered). Sorry, 4 mana 1/1's are rarely financially relevant so I'm putting my money elsewhere.

06/14/13 - Sigmund

Liliana of the Dark Realms

I was almost convinced to invest in a few Lilianas a few months ago when all this talk about Mutilate and swamps was going on in the forums. Glad I didn't. These reprinted Planeswalkers are only going to drop in price now. It's also worth noting that Liliana of the Veil may go up in price in time (after initial dip at rotation) since she's likely not going to be reprinted.

Ajani, Caller of the Pride

Another ho-hum reprinted Planeswalker. After initial hype, this guy really dropped hard in price. Expect to see that trend continue has tons more copies hit the market.

Jace, Memory Adept

While I'm relieved my Jace, Architect of Thoughts won't drop in price much now that they've avoided reprint, I can't really get excited about Memory Adept. Let's hope for better red and green Planeswalkers, because we're getting to the point where people will be disappointed in their rare for ripping these. At least it means another free pack for now.

06/13/13 - Jason

We have gone quite a long while without an update because no one cared about M14 with Modern Masters coming out. With MM completely spoiled and people happily drafting, we had an update a few minutes ago I couldn't wait to share.

Mutavault

I didn't really think this would be in M14, but I brought it up on the podcast with Ryan Bushard, Corbin Hosler and SCG Open winner Chris Andersen totally as a joke. Luckily this lead to a discussion about what to actually do if this card did make it in. The concensus was that Mutavault would likely be somewhat weak in the first months of M14 at minimum, and probably weak longer than that. This means there will be an initial spike of "Oh man, I need to get four Mutavaults" to drive the price up, followed by "Oh man, this card is so underwhelming!" coupled with more copies hitting the market to drive the price down. So, if you have copies, sell into the initial hype spike, wait for the price to tank, and pick it back up. This card is not going to be printed in future core sets and this is likely the last printing it will see. Wait for it to bottom out and snap these. It's very strong in Modern and Legacy and I doubt a ton of core set gets bought, and as long as there is Modern Masters and Ravnica block available, not drafted a ton. You saw how many duel decks it took to bring the price of Thragtusk down. Since there won't be that many copies of Mutavault flooding the market, the price depression based on its unplayability will create an artificially-low price floor. Exploit this to your advantage and scoop these on the cheap, then sit back and wait for people to remember this card is a monster in older formats.

05/28/13 - Gervaise

Thorncaster Sliver

For 5 CMC this looks pretty mediocre to be constructed playable except in casual Sliver or EDh decks. Therefore I don't value it higher than a dollar.

Ogre Battledriver

This has some Constructed potential when you can sneak it in on Turn 3. I personally feel if one plays this on Turn four, it is already a bit too late in aggro decks since the first three turns are critical. Still it is a 3/3 Ogre that can boost creatures and give it haste. I think this is going to be a sleeper.
In EDH token decks, this can be a good finisher too.

 

Megantic Sliver

A Sliver Collective Blessing on a stick. For the budget Sliver players, this is a substitute to Sliver Legion and others as I am very confident this card won't make it past the bulkrare box.

[Edit] As rightfully pointed out by helpful QS members, this creature gets the +3/+3 bonus too making it worth more than a bulkrare due the fact it will be demanded more. Therefore it is handy to know if your trading community has people who want to build a (casual) sliver deck so you can stock these up in your binder.

 

Vastwood Hydra

First thing to note is that this is a Rare opposed to the other Mythics Hydra (Apocalypse Hydra Khalni Hydra Primordial Hydra Savageborn Hydra & Protean Hydra )

The prices of those mythic hydras are relatively stable but this being a rare might make it worth less than its colleagues. Still it is a card worth having in your trade binder since it is a hydra and casuals love ''Big Creatures''

 

05/27/13 - Jason

Primeval Bounty

So the more I read this, the more absurd it seems. It's obviously a bomb in limited, but could it get there in contructed? Having every instant spell double as a permanent Giant Growth seems useful against red strategies and free-wheeling dudes seems great. Even making an ordinary land drop is fun with Bounty in play. If it sees play at all it will likely go over $5 and since this will likely start out at bulk in trades, it's very low risk. If anyone breaks this it will take a while so you can accumulate these. This is obviously nutso in EDH, so snag cheap foils if foils of this don't just start out expensive. Lots of opportunity with a card this powerful because not every format is fast.

Liliana's Reaver

Great googily moogily this card does work. When Searing Spear leaves, 3 toughness will be much less of a liability. This card isn't great against its natural enemy, Boros Reckoner, but this is a Precinct Captain on steroids. You could choose to view it as a bad Grave Titan, but I'm sticking with "good Precinct Captain" and I'm going to keep a close eye on this card.

Want to know the depressing part? I haven't seen a single black rare I think is as good as Disciple of Bolas. Disciple is a great card that never got traction and never was worth much. I don't care how good Liliana's Reaver ends up, I'm still going to think "it's worse than Disciple of Bolas" and that means it's likely not going to ever be worth anything. Expect to see even a card as exciting as this end up worth bulk, like much of the set will be.

05/25/13 - Sigmund

Serra's Angel

Serra Angel isn't going anywhere, though I think it's time for a new artwork. What do you think? Maybe if we got like 1,000 people to sign a petition we could go back to the original artwork again...

Coral Merfolk

Oh man, another Merfolk! Maybe Corbin's Standard Merfolk deck has a shot yet. Oh wait, this guy's not playable never mind. Sorry, but being pitchable to Force of Will doesn't merit the additional colorless mana when compared to Savannah Lions.

Young Pyromancer

I don't think this guy will ever be relevant in Constructed play, but it seems like he can generate a lot of value in Limited. You attack me with two Coral Merfolk, I shock one and get a 1/1 elemental, block the other with said elemental, and net a nice 3-for-1. Or something like that.

Elvish Mystic

Would it have killed WOTC to have just printed Llanowar Elves instead? I mean, I get that it was always confusing how the original artwork only showed 1 elf when the card was plural, and I never really understood how a group of elves could only amass to be 1/1, but still. Do we need another functional reprint for EDH or something?

05/24/13 - Jason

Chandra's Phoenix has been confirmed!

This efficient creature was the lynchpin of aggressive, red-based strategies. Utilizing the quick clock and resilience of the phoenix and the versatility of red direct damage, this card will be a player in standard coupled with a few weeks of Searing Spear and then doing its damage coupled with the spell in M14 printed to support it.

Mother &*^%$er.

Burning Earth

That's what I'm talkin' 'bout! Remember Manabarbs? Do you remember how, well fair Manabarbs was? Well this card is non-fair. A mono red deck will want to utilize the back-breaking oppression that comes with a card like this that punishes players for using non-basics. Mono red will have no reason to use non basics, for example, but even bringing this out of the board allows you to play around it and make sure you punish them for using their land.

When we saw this card spoiled a friend said "Price of Progress" at the same time I was saying "Manabarbs". This card, which I'm nicknaming Barbs of Progress, is going to do serious work. With the loss of a raft of efficient creatures like Stromkirk Noble and Flinthoof Boar, expect red to get a bit grindier and cards like this to do serious work. Sorry about your luck, Maze's End decks.

I'm predicting this card is $2-$6 and if that seems like a big window, it's because I think those are the upper and lower limits. It will likely be many prices between those. If this starts out bulk, which it might, I would buy in. I can't see it going much above $5 since it seems like a bit of a sideboard card to me, but it's powerful and it has potential utility in casual (it may be too slow for Modern)

Into the Wilds

What if Oracle of Mul Daya were harder to kill?

This seems like a bit of a Timmy card, but with no indication of whether we'll get Farseek or Rampant Growth, this may be the best ramp enabler the core set has to offer. That seems somewhat unlikely (cultivate wouldn't be terrible) so this will be relegated to slower decks that really want to play extra lands (this says "put onto the battlefield" not "play"). I can't see this being worth real money, and I can't see it being the only green ramp spell. This seems fun in Maze's End decks- an archetype I'm pretty sure won't be a thing despite what we saw in block, but which I've mentioned twice now.

Devout Invocation

"Army of the Damned is $4 on the buylist?! WHY?!" - Me, like 18 months ago.

This card is bad. It's powerful, but it requires you to do things you don't want to do like have seven mana and tap all of it and tap all of your creatures. If you're super far ahead that you can tap everything for a turn, congrats, you didn't need to play this card to win. If you do need the angels to win, you're giving them a turn with your pants down to kill you.I don't like it in limited or constructed.

HOWEVER. Good players are going to undervalue this. Bad Casual players are going to overvalue this. Casual players are my favorite people to trade with. I pull my own phone out, I show them the price of each card I am taking and I make no attempt to trick them in any way. When you trade with casuals, they strip your binder of Moonsilver Spears and fill it with Snapcaster Mages. Even if you value Snapcaster at $30 and Spear at $0.25 it doesn't matter, you got rid of stuff you can't get rid of at FNM, a GP or on eBay. This card will be a snap pickup at near bulk and it will enjoy a few glorious weeks or months of being way above bulk on buylists as casual players buy these faster than retailers can stock them. Even if this is $1 on the buylist, if you can't make money picking these up as a throw-in and turning them into a dollar you should check your pocket for holes. I. Love. This. Card.

 

05/23/13 - Sigmund

Scourge of Valkas

Being a 5 mana 4/4 flying dragon didn't really get me too excited. Thundermaw Hellkite is just better. I started to read this guy's ability and I was almost excited. Then I got to the part where it says it does damage equal to the number of DRAGON'S you control. What? I can see it dealing damage equal to its power or something like that, but how many Dragons are playable in Standard nowadays? I'm sure someone is going to love this in their casual Dragons deck, but that won't merit buying into this guy until he bottoms out in price.

Rise of the Dark Realms

A nine mana sorcery that still doesn't guarantee you're winning the game? Cute. Slamming this card in a massive EDH game would be amazing...except you have to hope and pray that a) the spell doesn't get countered and b) no one wraths the board before your next turn so you can attack with everyone. I get that this flavor is "Mythic"-like, but I'd rather open a Thoughtlace that accidentally was placed in the pack over this one.

Goblin Diplomats

I really like the flavor of this card. The artwork is appropriate and the ability is very goblin-like. I definitely want one of these for my chaotic mono-red EDH deck, but will I be alone in this regard? The card doesn't make you allies, but it does force action. I actually don't think this card will hit bulk bins, but it's difficult to say with confidence if it will see real demand. I'm on the fence here, but I'm guessing the card won't hit anyone's radar if it doesn't show up in any constructed decks.

Ratchet Bomb

It's cool to see Ratchet Bomb come back. It was a playable card in Standard previously and it will be yet again. While most copies will be destined to the sideboard, I still think these will move in and out of trade binders frequently. What confuses me though is how the card's price seemed to jump when this was spoiled. Don't reprints bring the price of cards down? I mean, I'm sure it will be played more often and demand will increase, but supply is going to go through the roof. I'd sell all my copies now if I had any.

05/23/13 - Gervaise

Ajani's Chosen

Constructedwise this needs a full turn four and five to grind the value out of those 2/2 tokens. I feel this is a more of an EDH card with a niche target market. Therefore the price will be around a dollar so having one in your binder is a low-cost approach which can reap benefits if you find the right person looking for this card.

Devout Invocation

 

I do not think this has potential in Competitive Constructed. It feels like a worse Entreat the Angels as the Tapping clausule is not part of the casting cost so players may respond on this card leaving you without any tappable guys. In any case this looks like a 'win-more' card in EDH and the fact it is a sorcery leaves out the sneaky 'EOT get loads of Angels' strategy. I run an EDH Rhys the Redeemed token deck myself and I won't see myself playing this card over Elesh Norn or Craterhoof Behemoth.

Bonescythe Sliver

If Slivers become a real thing in competitive, this one might be a good finisher card a la Hero of Bladehold. It is a cheaper Fury Sliver in a casual or commander Sliver deck so it will have some demand there. Since it is a rare I will see it stabilizing around $2-$3 as is Essence Sliver

 

Colossal Whale

The art looks fine, I mean there is a Pirate ship! But other than that I think (from an EDH point of view) I rather have Stormtide Leviathan. I would be surprised if this card is going to be worth more than 1.5$

 

Jace's Mindseeker

It can have potential in Control's sideboard. With the upcoming rotation, Snapcaster will rotate out so milling five is less dangerous. In EDH decks this card will shine in Blink decks ( Equilibrium , Cloudstone Curio, Restoration Angel, Momentary Blink etc.etc. )

That said I do not think it will carry an expensive pricetag unless it is being played maindeck in a Tier 1 standard deck in the coming months.

Windreader Sphinx

 

Looks like a different Isperia, Supreme Judge draw a card clausule. It cost 1 mana more and has more defensive statistics. Being a Mythic, I still see this as a cheap mythic in the sense of Misthollow Griffin cheap. I don't see this played in Standard/Modern and will be skipped over in EDH decks too

 

05/21/13 - Sigmund

Scavenging Ooze

Let's talk the spoiler elephant in the room, Scavenging Ooze. I'm so relieved this card is finally seeing a reprint. Ever since the creature broke out in Legacy I've wanted a set but haven't felt like putting out the cash required to purchase it. Now that the card is being reprinted, I can finally get my copies cheaply.

But beyond the obvious price implications, it's exciting to see this card now hitting the Modern scene. What impact will the ooze have in Modern? I expect it will have some influence and it will be in competition with Deathrite Shaman to eat graveyards up. This makes both the Shaman and Tarmogoyf slightly worse. Net, this card will have a major impact in Standard and Modern, and the price should drop significantly due to reprinting. I'd wait for this card to reach some sort of bottom and then acquire. The card will definitely drop in price, but the long term viability of the card is very strong and demand will be more than ever before now that it's Modern legal.

Archangel of Thune

The ultimate question is whether or not this Angel is as powerful as Baneslayer Angel. Let's see...power and toughness are both lower but the Arachangel of Thune has the power to pump your own creatures. It seems like a close call to me, but I am not sure if the Archangel of Thune can overcome the fact that she is only a 3/4 vs. a 5/5. Sure, she can gain you some life with lifelink and pump your dudes, but is that enough to become dominant? I thought Submlime Archangel was very strong and her influence in Standard was shortlived. This creature is an Angel and Mythic, so she won't ever become worthless. But I doubt she becomes the $50 card Baneslayer Angel once was.

Seraph of the Sword

Being an Angel fan, I naturally have an obligation to mention this card. She doesn't quite have protection from creatures, but being a 3/3 flier that also acts as a Wall of Vapor is noteworthy. I'm not sure if this rare Angel will ever get there in Standard, but she can provide infinite blocking and some offense in the air on some occasion. I'm not preordering this one but I'm definitely keeping my eye on it. I need her for my Angel collection anyway!

Grim Return

Grim Return is like a Standard Reanimate, but it's much weaker. Since the creature has go to enter the graveyard from the battlefield, the opportunity to be broken is not there. No chance to discard a creature and then Reanimate it. My guess is that this card doesn't see play in constructed formats.

Awaken the Ancient


Red Deck Wins is always a popular Standard strategy, even if it isn't always the most powerful. A four mana 7/7 creature with haste isn't anything to laugh at. Trample would have made this card better, but I can still see this card becoming somewhat useful in a RDW Standard build. Land destruction isn't popular in Standard, so the risk of being 2-for-1'ed is low. That being said this card won't ever become worth more than a couple bucks, even though it is aggressively costed.

Ring of Three Wishes

This card has some excellent flavor, and it should remain popular with the casual crowd. Talk about power creep - this card is much more powerful than the original Ring of Three Wishes. It seems genies have become more powerful these days. Still, any value on this ring will be driven by casual play, as the card is way too slow even for Standard. Picking up copies on the cheap once M14 is released could pay out in the long run because EDH players love searching their library for cards to put into their hand.

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