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Picking Pioneer: Bulk Picks from Throne of Eldraine

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A large percentage of dealing in bulk cards is knowing which cards currently have value or have a high potential upside in the future. So while any bulk buyer worth their salt will know to pick Veil of Summer and Aether Gust, the real value is in cards that get left as draft chaff with high potential upside. These cards usually have unique and powerful effects or are undercosted relative to other options.

Identifying these cards is not always easy, starting with Throne of Eldraine. Picking Pioneer will give the best bulk picks for each set in the format starting with Throne of Eldraine. Cards will be chosen on primarily on the likelihood for long-term upside based on uniqueness of the effect, competitive play, and/or availability

Mystic Sanctuary

Formats: Modern, Legacy, Vintage


As a totally unique effect on a land and minimal deckbuilding cost for blue decks, Mystic Sanctuary is a great long term hold. In formats with fetchlands, this allows players to rebuy critical instants and sorceries at will. Get your Show and Tell, Scapeshift, or Dig Through Time discarded or countered? Just crack a fetch for this Throne of Eldraine common on your opponent's end step, untap and jam.

On the other hand, need to draw a Counterspell or Thoughtseize to disrupt your opponent for just one more turn? Sanctuary will have you covered. The sky is really the limit (or as high as a limit it can be for a modern era common), but eternal play is a sure mark of sustained demand especially after packs stop being opened. Mystic Sanctuary will probably end up closer to Warped Landscape than Bojuka Bog, but there are a lot worse positions than finding dollar bills in draft chaff.

Thrill of Possibility

Formats: Pioneer, Modern, Pauper


It is amazing what a changing a single line of text can do to a card, but the upgrade from sorcery, Tormenting Voice to an instant, Thrill of Possibility is a perfect example of how minor changes (and a banning RIP Faithless Looting) can totally change the landscape of how good certain effects can be. Thrill has two major utilities as either a graveyard enabler for decks looking to pitch cards while simultaneously digging for other pieces or velocity boosters for spell-based decks looking to turn cards from trash to gas at instant speed.

In Modern, the former can primarily be seen in Jund Conscriptor decks looking to combo off with Eldrazi Conscription and Storm Herald. While the latter can be seen in Pioneer where the card pulls double duty as both a way to get Arclight Phoenix in the graveyard and trigger its ability all in the same card, or a way to fix blank draws in the Lotus Field decks.

Thrill is also picking up steam in Pauper as a juiced card draw spell in Burn and Goblins looking to get across the finish line in the late game. Thrill is not likely to ever reach more than a dollar but will be a solid buylist filler until something better comes along.

All That Glitters

Formats: Modern, Standard, Pioneer


There are plenty of effects that can Voltron up a creature for massive damage based on the number of artifacts (Urza, Lord High Artificer) or the number of enchantments you control (Ethereal Armor), but this Throne uncommon is the only one that gets +1/+1 for each and is quickly becoming a staple in decks looking to suit up one slippery buddy and battle (Slippery Bogle or Favored Hoplite across multiple constructed formats with sometimes the full four copies. Ethereal Armor would be its closest analog and regularly buylists for more than $0.25, so the upside is certainly there for similar cards with a higher rarity.

All That Glitters might shine in 60-card constructed formats but is also picking up in EDH where it's a solid role player in artifact and or enchantress decks. While it sees 50% as much play as Ethereal Armor based on EDHRec.com it is still played in more than 2,000 EDH decks registered on the site. Similar Bogles cards have always been solid buylist options, but the ceiling is kinda low for these effects. That said, it already has a very strong floor for the same reason; certainly not a home run, but a solid pick up.

Beanstalk Giant

Formats: Standard, EDH


Unlike the above picks that will have long term upside as 60-card constructed staples for a large number of decks, the future of Beanstalk Giant // Fertile Footsteps is primarily based on casual and EDH demand. The rich flavor of all the adventure cards for Western High Fantasy will draw in more casual minded players into adventure-based decks. With the limited number of adventure cards that are at or above rate, those decks will likely be mostly concentrated in green for other enablers like Edgewall Innkeeper. With that in mind, the giant provides a totally unique effect for adventures that naturally synergize with bigger and slower formats i.e. this will be a must include for any and all green adventure decks.

This is similar to how even the B squad of Ninja creatures (Looking at you, Mistblade Shinobi usually get added to Ninja decks just based on how few of them there are. The upside of cards like this tends to be solid especially if the adventure mechanic returns in a later set.

Summary

Those four cards are my sleeper hits for Throne of Eldraine, each offering a mechanically unique effect with solid long term upside of essentially zero investment. So while these cards might not be buylisting for much, if at all, right now the future is bright for making easy money on turning Trash to Treasure. If you think I missed any sleeper Throne of Eldraine picks let me know in the comment section! If you are interested in learning more about getting into bulk check out my Bulk to Bayou series only available at QS!

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