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Hello, everyone and welcome to a new week of the Daily Stock Watch! It's Thanksgiving week right now and that also means that it's time for the Ultimate Masters spoilers to start popping out. There are already a few surprises as early as now and this is the reason why I decided to start with an article about these cards that we've seen by now and try to analyze how it impacts its financial value in the long run. I will try to talk about cards that I am familiar with since I am into competitive Commander gaming and that's where I see some of them seeing play.
This was a $90 card when I featured it right here so it's kind of painful to see for those who got their copies anywhere that price range. It went mojos last September as it even hit a high of $300 before eventually going back down to $150 territory. It's now sitting at $81 (average price) and I wouldn't be surprised if it continues to dwindle down as the release of UMA approaches. I was very scared of speculating on the card back then because it's not part of the Reserved List and rightfully so, the reprint came sooner than expected. A good job to you if you were able to let go of these copies at its peak!
Another card that went berserk financially early this year is Runed Halo. As an almost exclusively sideboard card for UW Control, this went to as high as $49.99 back in January until it settled in the $40 range when I wrote about it. This reprint in UMA will definitely hurt its stock, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it dip down to $10-$15 as the Shadowmoor version is now at $28.50 (average price). It was clunky for me from a financial standpoint back then and I was never a fan of the card. This rendition of the card was merely an attempt from WotC to help stabilize the market for cards like this one that only saw print almost a decade ago.
I was so glad when I was able to sell my copies of this card for $50 just a few days ago when the spoilers wasn't up yet. I've had them with me for a while now and I remember getting lectured by some of my readers about how good this card was when I talked about it and honestly spoke bluntly about it in an actual game situation. Any sacrifice outlet is great in Commander, and I'll stand by that claim from here on out that this is probably the best one you could use on any deck that runs creatures (Food Chain is a green card and you could just right about insert the altar on any deck you want) so this reprint is actually good for those who wants copies of this card. I expect this to drop in the $20-$30 range once UMA is out in the market.
Back then, I thought this card was part of the Reserved List along with the likes of Volrath's Stronghold and Yavimaya Hollow but apparently, I didn't know much. This is one of the better cards that lets you sacrifice your creatures and have a decent pay off out of doing it by giving you two black mana instead of just producing one. It is another one of those reprints that's very much welcome to the Commander community, and I think that more of its kin are coming in the new few days of spoiler season. Although there's always a premium on lands regardless of format, I don't think that its current price tag of $48.45 will hold out because of lack of demand. It's an almost strictly EDH card for now and based on how Rishadan Port was hit hard by the Masters 25 reprint, expect the same to happen to this one. Another one of those cards that will go down eventually to $20-$25 territory once supplies hit their peaks.
WotC just can't stop printing Goyf. It has been included in every Modern Masters version, and it's no surprise that it was included in this one as well. I must say that this was the poster card of the whole Masters concept, and the lack of its success in Modern and Legacy has transitioned to a more affordable price of the card than its peak price of $219 each back in 2015. We've gone a long way since and the $65 price tag that it carries now will continue to slide as more copies of it are circulating in the market. I must say that the art for this card is pretty sick, and it should attract enough attention from a financial standpoint. I would still be after the box topper version of this card, though.
And that’s it for this edition of the Daily Stock Watch! See you again next time, as I continue to talk about more cards from Ultimate Masters. As always, feel free to share your opinion in the comments section below. And if you want to keep up with all the market movement, be sure to check in with the QS Discord Channel for real time market information, and stay ahead of the hottest specs!
Discounting the fact that it's ridiculous to ban a fairly innocuous card to make a powerful one reasonable, the point does stand that Arbor does grant GSZ significant utility, as Batterskull does for Stoneforge Mystic.
to set up an explosive turn two with Heritage Druid. It just felt inefficient as a ramp trick.
a normal land forces players to mulligan otherwise keepable hands.
This effect wasn't obvious in exploratory testing or in my practice matches, but as the test wore on, I had flashes of déja vu. I was able to take the same successful lines over and over thanks to all the tutors in my deck. The games did feel quite repetitive towards the end. It was rare for games to be exactly the same, as variance affects both decks, but the tutor-heavy games definitely bled into each other. I would describe the effect of playing Collected Company, Chord of Calling, and Green Sun's Zenith in the same deck as severely diminishing negative variance. It was like I took a variance sine wave and cut the bottom off. I don't recall losing many games where I resolved two tutors.
I did not appreciate that because I had multiple tutors in my deck, I could have pushed the Elves deck harder than I actually did both in-game and in composition. In normal Elves, it was correct to hold the actual tutor, Chord, for whatever I needed to win the game. I fired off Company anytime I could just for value. However, in test Elves, GSZ allowed me to smooth out and actually hit my ideal curve for a very low price. Chording for Heritage Druid was okay, but casting GSZ for it was busted. The way I ended up using my tutors was GSZ for power, Company for bulk, and Chord for specialized cards. This division of labor function frighteningly well.
My other mistake was not appreciating just how busted Elves could be. There were a number of times where I had nine mana available turn 3. I didn't record how many, because I didn't realize that it kept happening until midway through testing. Had I been playing it, I could have GSZ'd for Craterhoof Behemoth and won the game, which I couldn't quite do with Ezuri because of summoning-sick creatures.
I know that I was skeptical of Bloodbraid Elf and Jace, the Mind Sculptor when I 
Wizards also doesn't want tutoring to be 
Gemstone Caverns #3 also moved main to make room for another Spatial Contortion, a hedge against Humans and Spirits. It usurped the second Scavenger Grounds main, which I feel is too slow to reliably hose contemporary graveyard decks without Simian Spirit Guide or a fast Thought-Knot Seer as backup. Grounds is better against fair decks as a way to nerf Tarmogoyf, complicate Snapcaster Mage plays, or recur Eternal Scourge.
Sideboarding:
Game 3, W (Play; P 7 – M 6): I keep a seven with three Temples, Seer, and Reshaper, and soon draw a second Reshaper. My turn one Temple is chased by a second Temple and the Seer, which sees a bunch of lands and exiles Summoner's Pact. Next turn, I cast two Reshapers, and my opponent concedes when I attack him for 10.
Sideboarding:
Game 3, W (Play; MP 6s – 7): I keep a one-lander with Temple-Relic and miss a land drop, but then rip one and cast Scourge from exile. My opponent's creatures eat kill spells in the meantime. I eventually let him keep a Scavenging Ooze, as the graveyards have been exiled. This is a longer game in which my opponent resolves 4 Liliana of the Veil (Seer crucially exiles a Liliana, the Last Hope). The walkers keep dying to Blinkmoth Nexus after minusing, and Mutavault is joined by Seer towards the end to close things out, trading with a reluctant Ooze.
Game 1, W (Draw; MPPPPMMMMM 1ss – 7): I almost keep a six-carder with Gemstone and Scourge, but end up Powdering it. The other hands are clear Powders or ships; towards the end, they stop having lands. I end up with a one-carder of just Eldrazi Mimic and scry Smasher to the bottom.
Sideboarding:
Sideboarding:
Sideboarding:
Sideboarding:
Game 2, W (Draw): My opponent leads with Hierarch, and I respond with Temple, Mimic. He drops another Hierarch and an Inkmoth Nexus. I swing and hold up removal, but end up letting through 4 Poison in the air. I fail to make a third land drop, swing, and pass again. He boots up the Inkmoth and casts Might of Old Krosa in the main phase. I respond with Spatial Contortion, which meets Blossoming Defense. Spirit Guide exiles for R and I Dismember it, winning the counter-war; my opponent hits for 2 with Hierarch and passes. I cast Reshaper and beat my opponent to death with that and a Mutavault, finally making my third land drop on turn six or so.
Sideboarding:
Game 3, L (Draw): This time around, I single-handedly lose the mid-game slog to a resolved Crucible, which my opponent uses to Field of Ruin me about six times. Lyra Dawnbringer resolves minutes away from time, and my first Dismember is Negated; the second one goes through, but a follow-up Baneslayer Angel spells my doom.
Sideboarding:
Sideboarding:
Going forward, I'd like to swap a Blinkmoth and the last Grounds for two more Mutavaults. These should help in the control and combo matchups. There are fewer small fliers around without Signal Pest, and our fair matchups already seem fine without Grounds. We also have more cards in the side right now to fight small creatures and graveyard decks, respectively, and I'd like to keep it that way until I have a chance to at least cast Ravenous Trap once.
The matchup was decided by Oblivion Stone and Ugin. Popping a single Stone wasn't always enough to stabilize thanks to all the tutors in Elves, but buying the space to cantrip into Ugin was still great. However, if Elves got in a strong enough hit before Ugin, it was far easier for the test deck to still win by tutoring for Shaman of the Pack. Grafdigger's Cage and Damping Sphere weren't major factors because both decks brought in artifact destruction and could just work through the hate naturally.
GSZ gave Elves far more ways to get around Mage and hit the payoff cards to overwhelm Humans. The best strategy for Humans proved to be an airborne attack, which meant keeping in Kitesail Freebooter. Subsequently, it was plausible for Humans to take the only Chord or Collected Company in the control deck's hand, then Mage the other payoff card and successfully race the random beaters. That plan became almost impossible with the addition of GSZ.
