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Hello, everyone and welcome to the freaky Friday edition of the Daily Stock Watch! Spoilers for Guilds of Ravnica are coming soon and we're pretty much sure that the 16/16 fatty with indestructible that they spoiled would spark a lot of speculations on what the set has in store for us. Today, I'll be playing the role of Nostradamus today and would make a prediction on something that might actually get reprinted there, so please take today's post with a grain of salt.
It kinda stings when I first saw Legion Loyalist getting spoiled along with other notable cards such as Deathrite Shaman, Abrupt Decay and Aurelia, the Warleader (with a very sick art!) even though they won't be Standard legal. With convoke emerging as a guaranteed mechanic in the set and knowing that Chord of Calling hasn't been reprinted since M15, I'm just scared of the fact that it could possibly be making its return in GRN which will hurt its stock financially drastically. As far as I can recall, Chord isn't even seeing play in any top tier decks in Modern as decks that relied on it and Collected Company has decided to stick to CoCo altogther as the current meta dictates. Despite of this, Chord of Calling is still a $10 card because of Commander implications and casual appeal, but I don't think such will be the case if it gets spoiled in GRN. This would easily be a $4 card (or $3, at worst) and you would be losing some money if you're still holding on to a lot of copies of this card. I'm trying to save you from that disaster, or I might be scaring you senseless with my analogy. Either way, I think I might be doing you a favor by letting you know that this could happen.
Where else is CoC seeing play? The most relevant deck you could see it on is with this Counters Company deck that almost made it to the top eight of Grand Prix Prague.
Counters Company aka GWx Vizier
Modern is a creature's world with probably the exception of KCI, Green Tron, and UWx Control variants as the only other top tier decks in the format that don't necessarily rely on an influx of creatures to win games. CoC would have easily been more expensive today if it made it to the final eight which would mean that people would go gaga over it and start hoarding or selling their copies for better value. Since it didn't happen and GRN spoilers are underway, it just hit me that WotC, as history would dictate, is fond of reprinting banner cards that contain a certain mechanic for a new set that features a nostalgia theme. I don't think there's a better representative for the convoke mechanic than Chord of Calling but I could be wrong. We could be talking about a $4-$6 loss per copy of this card if it gets reprinted entirely, or you could risk losing $1-$3 if you move yours around for a bargain before the whole spoiler season goes underway. That's a decision that I leave to you but I'm moving mine.
The Returning Players of Ravnica
The biggest loser from this bunch would be Legion Loyalist as it is the only card that is currently overpriced due to lack of supply and a decent amount of demand. Abrupt Decay would come in as a close second and even thought Deathrite Shaman is banned almost everywhere, WotC just can't seem to be contented with printing it just recently via Eternal Masters. I wouldn't want to look at more copies of my cards losing their current value in exchange for nothing so try moving around cards that are related to Ravnica in a sense. Modern is a harsh place for speculators as always.
At the moment, there is an abundance of supply for Chord of Calling across all major sites such as StarCityGames, Card Kingdom, ChannelFireball, and lots of vendors via TCGPlayer. I'm not sure if they have inside track of this possibility but it barely matters to big stores if a reprint does happen. Again, this is my feature for freaky Friday because I kinda freaked out with the possibility of a reprint so take it easy on your copies (and me!) if you want to believe my opinion.
And that’s it for this week's edition of the Daily Stock Watch! See you again next time, as we check out a new card that should be on the go, or good enough for speculating. 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!
All that being said, the deck has gained some serious tools over the past year. While their only hope was once to string together 20 damage in reach, Search for Azcanta and Teferi, Hero of Dominaria give Jeskai mainboard ways to successfully grind us out. To maintain our lead in the matchup, we need to play with these two cards in mind. The simplest way is by hiding our answer cards in hand until the right time: Ghost Quarter to pop a transformed Search and Reality Smasher to attack a resolved Teferi.
-4 Eldrazi Mimic
While opponents are statistically unlikely to end up at 1 life, the same can't be said of planeswalkers, as Modern players carefully plan their turns so their walkers finish turn cycles at that exact loyalty count. Gut Shot helps fend off enemy reach plans by nabbing Snapcaster, but its chief role here is killing planeswalkers. Mutavault-plus-Shot kills Jace after he Brainstorms on an empty board; Seer-plus-Shot handles a plussed Teferi; Shot alone eats the Teferi that came down and tucked our Chalice.
Post-board, this matchup becomes more about playing around disruption. Settle the Wreckage is all but guaranteed after siding, as are the rest of the sweepers in our opponent's 75.
Some of our sideboard cards require specific sequencing. Relic of Progenitus is best cast after Jeskai spends precious permission countering Eternal Scourge, or dedicates a turn to casting Surpeme Verdict; that way, the artifact provides an extra plus on cast. Sorcerous Spyglass comes down right after opponents cast a planeswalker, or after we've dished out our threats. It can also be cast in place of a threat if we're playing around a sweeper, or to see if it's worth attacking a certain way or leaving mana up to pop Relic. Smuggler's Copter too has a sequencing quirk after siding: it's usually best cast after our actual creatures, as opponents will leave mana up and have answers for it. Ideally, Copter resolves the turn before opponents start casting planeswalkers.
Contemporary UW Control decks overwhelmingly lean on Terminus as their sweeper-of-choice, to our detriment; the sorcery happens to be Modern's only card to permanently answer Eternal Scourge. Relinquishing that unassailable angle does hurt, but all is not lost. UW still lines up poorly against our cards on a fundamental level: Thought-Knot attacks their hand, Scourge weakens their spot removal, and creature lands team with Smuggler's Copter and Reality Smasher to threaten planeswalkers and keep the pressure on through board wipes.
-2 Matter Reshaper
Bomb becomes more of a liability if we expect Stony Silence. I've found opponents less keen on boarding Stony in for game 2, but very keen for game 3. Before then, they simply don't know how many activating artifacts we play, as they haven't seen Relic and Bomb. Between those, Powder, and Copter, Stony can effectively "Blood Moon" us by blanking multiple cards in our hand and deck. The best way to beat Stony is to counter-board by removing our activating artifacts. Serum Powder and Ratchet Bomb are the first to go; I like keeping Copter and Relic, since their upside is so high (especially the former now that UW has gone Miracles). Prioritizing openers with lots of aggression punishes opponents for keeping hands with a do-nothing enchantment.
Despite benching Simian Spirit Guide, we trend more aggressive after siding, mainly because we're no longer spending early turns producing a Chalice. It also becomes challenging for UW to set up a clock against us, as we keep all our mainboard removal, and Gut Shot pulls double-duty as planeswalker pounder and Clique killer; they then trend more reactive. In other words, our respective game 1 roles are reinforced, albeit with both players toting some narrower bullets.
Ratchet Bomb can be played whenever and start ticking up to 3. It's fine with that many charge counters; Detention Sphere can no longer stick, and 1-2 more ticks let us blow up a planeswalker or Lyra. If opponents won't recover without tokens, or token generators are telegraphed, it's usually best to hold Bomb in hand until the right time.
While UW lines up better against us than Jeskai, I wouldn't call the matchup unfavorable by any means. But it does work differently than it used to, and now revolves around a new set of cards. Succeeding is a matter of learning how to play to and around those cards.
This weekend's offerings were at my LGS, Black Gold, and then the store from my 
My round 4 opponent never shows. Yeah, free win? Anyway, round 5 is against HollowVine, which is apparently better against graveyard hate at cost of explosiveness. In any case, game 1 is pretty easy for me, as I have time to remove his big creatures, build a Spirit wall, and then win in two swings. I feel that the weirdness of his deck costs me game 2. I lose by the skin of my teeth and I think it's because I misidentify Hollow One as the threat when I really needed to Path a then-tiny Lotleth Troll. I'm not sure though, because it was so close, the extra damage from the One early may have killed me. Game three he's stuck on one land and I have Rest in Peace.
This tournament begins far worse: my Bridgevine opponent kicks things off with Looting discarding Vengevine and Bridge from Below followed by two Endless Ones for Zombies and an angry plant. Game 2 I Cleric his opening Bridge and Settle his board. Game 3 he has turn one Vine but no follow up or second land, while I have turn two Rest followed by lords for the win.
For round 3, my opponent mulligans on the draw, thinks awhile, keeps, and scrys bottom. The only game action he takes is discarding Bloodghast to hand size turn two. He scoops the turn after, apparently never finding a land. I assume it's a graveyard deck and board accordingly. It is Hollow One, but his draw is pretty clunky, and he Burning Inquiries away most of his removal. After the match he told me that his game 1 hand was Street Wraith, Faithless Looting, and two Ones. Any red source and that hand is insane. Given that Hollow One is a high-variance deck, I think it's a reasonable keep. You don't play that deck to play safe Magic.
win. I have been winning more games that I probably shouldn't on paper, but that may not be the strategy working out: I play very fast, and coupling that with looser lines really throws opponents off. However, I've also been losing more close games.
Reflector Mage. The only time I played Kira was against Humans, and she was better than Mage or Bugler in that situation since my opponent's good creatures were already gone and I needed to get a clock going. Having protection from their Reflector Mages was theoretically good, but didn't actually come up.
