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Spirit Bonds
This seems pretty nutty in limited. I don't know that it gets you as much card advantage as, say, Mentor of the Meek, but with no restriction on the creature's size, this is a solid addition to your deck. It will require you to play stuff behind curve, but a 1/1 flier in limited can win games, and indesctructibility is nothing to sneeze at. Solid role-player, probably not financially significant unless Standard really pumps its brakes.
Shield of the Avatar
This is a bad Darksteel Plate in EDH and standard doesn't want equipment that doesn't boost a creature's power. A "win more" card if ever I saw one.
Yisan, the Wanderer Bard
Vorel of the Hull Clade EDH players might want this guy for finding creatures with odd-numbered casting costs, but this is really slow. Despite putting the card into play, this guy isn't a tenth as good as Fauna Shaman and I don't think it's worth it if you're going to get clocked by our next card.
Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
Yep. Nuts to your Wanderer Bard.
I really like this guy in a modern deck like Brad Nelson used to run with the old Ob Nixilis. Getting this guy on turn 3 is very good. It turns your Path to Exile into a totally unfair removal spell, shuts off their fetches and Birthing Pod and generally makes life miserable for a lot of decks in Modern. I could see this as a sideboard card in Legacy Reanimator and I imagine foils of this will really be nutty due to EDH demand. He's a demon, he's a legend and he has two powerful abilities and 2 good keyword abilities. Why isn't this guy mythic? He would be the second coming of Disciple of Griselbrand if he were.
Goblin Kaboomist
Meh
Aggressive Mining
This is the card red wants to have in play late in a game of Limited. Is this the card red wants to draw early or even devote a spot to?
The real question is whether Standard decks will want this enough for it to matter financially. The only constructed deck I could see wanting this also contains four copies of Seismic Assault, which could be saucy. I can't predict the future, but I'm not betting on this being worth above bulk.
Master of Predicaments
This is a really saucy card. It allows your opponent to make mistakes. It is slightly game-able, though; if I want to keep big stuff off of the board, I will always guess that the mana cost is above 4 so if they drew something big, they can't play it. Most of the time, though, you guess the mana cost is low because lands put the odds heavily in your favor. This is one of the coolest sphinxes I have seen, but that probably isn't enough to make it worth more than a buck or two.
Soul of Shandalar
Someone on the Wizards website compared these to the Titans cycle and I threw up a little.
Return to the Ranks
Now THIS I can get behind. This is a much worse Immortal Servitude, true, but Immortal Servitude is leaving us soon. The more I look at this card, the less I like it. It didn't even take a paragraph for me to be disappointed. Immortal Servitude never got above $1.50. Can this possibly be worth more than that?
Soul of New Phyrexia
So we have 6 chances to whiff on a mythic instead of 5?
Jalira, Master Polymorphist
This is a card we've discussed before but now we know the full text of the card. I think this is fine. I could see building EDH around it, or upgrading creatures in a creature-light Limited deck. Popping this in response to an unfavorable trade or removal spell in Limited is going to be pretty good. EDH demand should keep this above bulk, but I think foils are safer. What is it with the terrible "soul" cycle at Mythic and good, Legendary creatures at regular rare? This is a bad EV financial set so far unless those souls end up more popular with casuals than the Titans did - they'll have a lot of slack to pick up because competitive players are already wrinkling their noses.
Great Article, but one thing I feel that I have to disagree with.
I think its far better for a set and for the game in itself if more of the mythics are “EDH cards” and thus big, splashy, but not terribly good for standard so it keeps their prices under control. And the cards that are staples and 4-ofs for standard to stay at regular rarity to keep their price in check. Personally I think wizards really took the high road in making Thoughtseize and Mutavault rares instead of mythics in Theros and M14, otherwise its just a blatant cash-grab.
We\’re financiers. We don\’t want to EDH cards to be cheap. We want to go deep on trade binders because we have mythics the EDH players want. We want to pick up the foils now when they\’re cheap because we know they\’ll appreciate. We want to be rewarded for understanding a format. Casuals who trade with us have stuff we want and we want to go deep on their binders. Casuals who buy boosters should buy more boosters to get that chase EDH general. That sells boosters and it\’s good for the game.
I liked the article though I disagree with a few of your calls;
“Why isn’t this guy mythic? He would be the second coming of Griselbrand if he were.”…His ability is powerful, but nowhere near Griselbrand. Shutting off their fetchlands is pretty cool…but drawing 7 is far more powerful, throwing on lifelink makes this comparison pretty far off (to me at least). If you want to screw with someone’s manabase in Legacy…you’re better off with Blood Moon.
As for the “Souls” at mythic…I actually don’t mind this much. I think they are more powerful than many think and serve as excellent “instant speed” mana sinks for the late game. A 6/6 first striker for 6 is pretty solid…the fact that for 5 mana you get to throw around 6 damage (granted 3 has to be to the opponent and 3 has to be to one of their creatures) means that at 10 mana you can gun down your opponents Souls and deal them 6. I also think Soul of New Phyrexia will be a very solid addition to EDH decks (that ability seems amazing given how prevalent Wrath style effects are), in fact my biggest concern is now that red “Obliterate” type decks may increase because you can really swing the game in one turn making all your stuff indestructible and blowing up all your opponents stuff.
Path to Exile doesn\’t have to be on the same power level as Swords to Plowshares to be the second coming of Swords. Legacy playability would go a long way toward helping its price, but it\’s not everything. EDH is the big factor here, and Gris is banned in EDH or it would be way more expensive.
Maybe I’m being daft again, but…
For Master of Predicaments, how exactly do lands affect your high/low choice, and put low in your favor, Jason?
If I choose a land card for the MoP, it DOES NOT matter if you choose high or low, I get to DO NOTHING. Lands aren’t cast, right?
If a land gets flipped up, they get nothing, and with a high percentage of their deck being under 4 with their lands costing 0, odds are they will flip up something costing under 4, so picking that makes them whiff. Still, if you pick low hoping to see a land, you won\’t be happy to see a Soul of Zendikar on top. Stuff under 4 you can handle easier, but stuff over 4 has lower odds. Pick your poision.
You do understand that you don’t flip a card off the top with the Master but choose from your hand, right?
No. I do now.
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