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Over & Under: Transcendent Master

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I got an IM from the inimitable Patrick Chapin the other day, and we got to talking about RoE's Mythics.  We both believe that the Mythic market may be due for a correction due to all the high-dollar cards in the set.  One thing led to another, and eventually we found a point of contention. 

See, I've played some games against white's big leveler.  And in those games, it was like watching LeBron James dunk on a woefully under-prepared opposing squad.   In one case, Elspeth was doing her best Daniel Gibson impression from the above video.  The Master just took to the air and slammed the game home, and there wasn't much I could do about it.  After all, if I found an answer to the giant monster heading my way, there were still a horde of 3/3 Students on the ground, just waiting to take care of business in his stead.

Chapin and I disagreed here.  I commented that the $15 price tag on Transcendent Master "seemed about right" and he was absolutely not having it.  I respect the man's opinion, but I held firm.  We made a gentleman's wager, since I really don't believe in betting in the tradition sense.  If Transcendent Master is $14 or above on June 8th, which is a week after the Pro Tour in San Juan, Chapin owes me a beer at the next event we both attend.  If it's below, I owe him one.

Now you guys get to weigh in.  With a frothy cold pint on the line, do you take the Over or Under on Transcendent Master at $14?

[Incidentally, this is about the length of the old style of posting I was talking about in my poll.  I can do these far more often than I can release article-length content.  I like them infinitely better, too!]

Kelly Reid

Founder & Product Manager

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21 thoughts on “Over & Under: Transcendent Master

  1. This is good. Keep doing this. As for Master… I'm not sure he will dominate yet in a Jund-heavy metagame. 3/3 for 3 isn't bad, but I can't see him getting to his 6/6 form very often in games against aggro decks, which have to be at least 50% of every metagame right now. I wouldn't be surprised to still see him above $10 in June, since he has such potential, but I think $14 might be too high.

  2. I expect him to find a home. He is pretty sick. But I'd still take the Under there, but not by much. I expect him to end up 10-12. He is not game over when he hits the board, but he has great early and late value.

  3. Also, question – is this $14 by StarCity prices, CF, motl? I wouldn't be extremely surprised if StarCity still had them at $14 in June, but they seem to occasionally suffer from price inertia.

  4. If Lord Canti had been in Worldwake, I could see it. As it stands, the card's facing stiff competition in 2 new decent Planeswalkers, 3 Legendary Eldrazi, a Dragonmaster, and a repeatable Timewalk on a stick. Oh, and some guy named Vengevine too.Too many cool cards means people will crack many packs, and the over-all price level will sink. At the current prices, the EV is higher than the cost of a pack, which is unsustainable in the long-run.

  5. Also, about the comment on not playing Extended, I actually love it as a format. It's not as broken as older formats and innovation is constantly being made. It has the tools to answer any deck, which makes it a million times better than Standard in this regard.

  6. I would take the Under on this one as well.It's not a 4 of in any conceivable deck right now and even if it was, would it shoot up to Tier 1 status vs Jund and UW control decks?

  7. I think I might have to go with the Under as well on this. I played with TM in limited and it was a house. But in Standard (or Constructed in general) I'm not so sure.Basically, if Vengevine is as good as you and Chapin say it is (and I'm with you on that), Path and possibly Oust are the go-to cards to deal with it. Transcendent Master becomes collateral damage, as both of those cards simply shrug at TM's indestructibility.As someone who is connected at the hip to UW Control, Jace TMS also comes to mind as a maindeck answer to TM.I think we're going to see a lot less of spot removal "destroy" effects, so indestructibility seems almost irrelevant except to survive Day of Judgment, Martial Coup and Consume the Meek. That does make a good case for playing TM in a deck that wants to Wrath the board, but in that situation, you're either holding back on Wrath (to level up TM) or you're holding back TM until post-Wrath. That sort of hesitation could cost you the game, especially if they simply Path it when it becomes relevant.I could be wrong, of course, but this is the way I see it at the moment. I think I would have rather seen TM with Shroud than indestructibility.

  8. Under. This card has been so hard to price. Earlier in the week you could scalp finishing ebay auctions for $6 a playset and watch them side by side with BIN selling at $30 a playset. They've gone up, but I agree that there are too many good Mythics. Vengevine is the one I'm watching. $20 doesn't seem sustainable, but at least the card might have a home in a couple of decks.

  9. Gonna go with Kelly and take the Over. I don't see this guy having a huge impact on Standard, but he does have a ton of casual Timmy appeal. The same casual appeal kept Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker near $20 for months, so I can see this leveller holding its value in the near term.

  10. Under, man. I hope people try to speculate and run this guy, but I foresee more people getting double-Time-Walked by him than people actually living the dream. Man definitely dies a lot.

  11. Under. It's just so rough when he gets bolted. A creature that fat with no protection is just awkward.I think there are simply too many ways to answer this guy. Nobody has to take in special consideration to deal with him, because the removal you were already playing is efficient at whatever level he is.Plus, if consuming vapors sees play, being the only indestructible guy left on the board is kind of okk-ward.

  12. I just bought my playset on Ebay for $6.50 each. It really depends on what happens to the metagame. Transcendent Master is so so at 3/3 but excellent at 6/6 lifelink. He doesn't even need to get to 9/9 indestructible to win the game. Transcendent master really plays very similarly to Baneslayer. He basically demands to be removed just like Baneslayer. Very few cards demand to be removed like TM. You can't let him sit on the board and get to 9/9 or even 6/6. At 6/6 he's slightly worse than Baneslayer and at 9/9 he's better. He costs a lot more mana overall, but less mana upfront. Overall I think he's not as good as Baneslayer, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him in the 15-20 dollar range.

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