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Insider: Looking Past the MM2015 Spoiler

Posted on May 15, 2015January 17, 2022 by Chaz V

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Hello readers and welcome back!

Chaz here again, It’s a busy time here in my life so I didn’t get a chance to wish all my readers' mothers a Happy Mothers Day! My final semester of my final degree is finally here. That’s a lot of finality! I’ve been ecstatic that it’s all coming to an end, but at the same time, really stressed out. I’m here to help all you Insiders, so let’s go ahead and get to the giant elephant in the room (or should we say Eldrazi)?

Well, at long last we finally have the entire Modern Masters 2015 spoiler. I could sit here and devote this entire article on what’s actually in the set, or if the set is a huge let down, or if the set is a huge success. That’s not my goal--I’m actually here to look past the spoilers, and go over what I think are some prime (and glaring) omissions from the set.

Before we go into these, I want to reiterate what I’ve said in previous articles; some cards that are omitted usually turn up soon thereafter. So, here’s everything I have come up with that has been omitted right up to the point of the new Serum Visions FNM promo that was announced by Wizards:

Omissions

The full list would have been too long to post here in the article, so I transferred it over to Trader Tools for everyone’s convenience. You can find it here. (Note that some promo printings were not able to be added.)

Not all of these have immediate Constructed viability and relevance, and some have multiple printings which could hinder possible growth. On the other hand, some of these cards are still only on one printing, and it’s uncertain when they might make a return. Some cards get reprinted sooner than others, and I have a feeling a card like Goblin Guide will be seeing another print run before a card like Chandra Ablaze.

I took the time to add all the available printings of each of the cards on that list, just so you all are able to have them for your records. It’s also interesting to see them, because there could be some attractive spread percentages to monitor as time goes on.

It’s just hard to fit some of these cards back into a regular expansion set, but they could show up in some supplemental product. It has become a tricky game in MTGFinance trying to determine when these cards are likely to be included. If I had to make an educated guess I would try to avoid the following cards for a long-term hold:

Could be re-printed very soon

I’m on the fence about any of the lands that dodged the reprint, so I would feel better about eyeing them after the Magic Origins release. It just feels like a good place to put some lands that provide color fixing, because that’s what usually happens in core sets.

If none of these cycles of lands end up in that set, then it’s basically open season, and there will likely be some gains over the summer. Battle for Zendikar will likely not include lands like Razorverge Thicket and other “fast lands” because their names are really plane-specific.

That’s not to say none of them could steadily increase until a reprint, but I just wanted to highlight again that one should short-sell them, and not continue to hold on to these. Goblin Guide especially. The cards I highlight on my list would be short-term sells, unless the specific lands don’t see a reprint.

Now to go into a few cards I wanted to highlight from the large list as potential cards to profit from. Originally I was going to include some uncommons, but luckily fellow QS writer Brian DeMars wrote about some of those already. If you haven’t read his article, check it out here. He touches on some really attractive commons/uncommons.

There is one uncommon I’d like to mention:

There was an error retrieving a chart for Eternal Witness

I understand there are a few of versions of this card. It also seems to have a knack for showing up as reprints in various products, so it may not be as lucrative as it looks on paper. But this is one uncommon that just keeps retaining value regardless. With it’s new life in Modern, alongside the popularity of Collected Company, it has quickly rose up the ranks in the “most played” lists.

With the printing of Den Protector in Standard, I don’t think there's an immediate place for this to be printed. Our likely spot is the new round of Commander decks, which is still a little ways off. This could be the uncommon to watch out for in the coming months. The spread percentage is already very attractive. If one would stock up on these, shipping them to buylists would mitigate a lot of the risk involved in investment.

If you've been checking the recent MODO Dailies, you’ll notice all sorts of Collected Company variants are starting to show up like wildfire. Whichever version it is, Eternal Witness is showing up 100% of the time.

I also provided the buylist stock chart--it seems vendors are changing the buylist on these all the time. Though they’re offering more than market value sometimes, with the buylist moving up over 2$ some days. I highlighted the Fifth Dawn version, but there was a similar trend on buylist fluctuations on each version of the card.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Glimmervoid

With Affinity consistently played in Modern, I think not showing up in MM2015 really makes this a safe bet going forward. According to deck stats, this card is almost always a three-of in Affinity decks. It’s a plane-specific card from Mirrodin, and unless this shows up for some reason in Origins, its inclusion into a product is up in the air. Showing a very attractive 20% spread, this could start trending upward like most cards do when they’re not reprinted. Infect is an inexpensive deck to play in Modern, but so is Affinity.

The reprint of Mox Opal may drive down the price of that particular card, but that may lead to Glimmervoid picking up the lost value. If one can snag copies of this at 9$, buylists are already paying 8$ cash.

The buylist chart also indicates some positive movements from vendors. In this month alone, the buylist keeps fluctuating in an upward trend, and has leveled off around 8/7.75$. Should MM2015 generate more Modern players, it looks like vendors are putting faith into the card by offering a very attractive buylist right now. Affinity, like I mentioned previously, will be a go-to option as a budget-friendly deck that’s also viable.

So that’s my look at the MM2015 spoiler. Hopefully we can all benefit from this list of cards to evaluate as potential investments as time goes on. Should the Modern Masters sets continue to be a bi-yearly release, I think there are some other very interesting cards on the list I created, and that list will continue to grow as more cards become relevant.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Living End

One last card before I go; should Living End become as relevant as it once was, I think it’s worth investing in. It’s still a very affordable deck, and with Fulminator Mage making an appearance in Modern Masters 2015, that perception may drive new interest in the archetype. Apparently the archetype is versatile enough even to incorporate Splinter Twin as another combo win-condition.

Living End the card has been trending down from its long standing high points, and it could easily rebound to those prices again, with no readily accessible reprint outlet for the card.

That’s all for this time, everyone. A note on the Trader Tools list--I would greatly appreciate everyone's comments in case I missed anything relevant. My methodology is to try to keep it as close to “Modern staples” as possible, with some casual hits sprinkled in there, the ones off the top of my head anyway. I may have missed some important ones, but perhaps they’re just a little more obscure to me.

Should something be added, comment, and I’ll add it to the list. I think this is a great starting point for everyone, to have these tools documented and readily available for us all.

Soon enough, you’ll all have access to the new and improved version of Trader Tools! With it, you’ll be able to more easily track buylist changes, which will be invaluable information, since some of these cards have been showing up on those lists, and it shows stores have faith in some of the cards that were left out of this reprint set.

Until next time!

Chaz

Ponder Shuffle Episode 10- O.P.

Posted on May 15, 2015May 14, 2015 by Ryan Overturf

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Ryan and Jens discuss Magic organized play, both in terms of the Magic's current structure as well as in relation to other TCGs. Ryan gives a positive review to PPTQs one season in as compared to PTQs and Jens sheds light on some elements of Magic that other games lack that we perhaps take for granted.

Insider: Beating Collected Company

Posted on May 15, 2015January 17, 2022 by Ryan Overturf

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Collected Company has been exploding in popularity as of late. The potential to get six mana worth of creatures for four mana at instant speed is no trifling matter. With Deathmist Raptor being so well-positioned against midrange and control decks alike, it's not too surprising to see Collected Company performing so well in Standard.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Collected Company

With numerous strong GP finishes and lists littered all over MTGO Daily events, the Collected Company deck should absolutely be on your radar for Standard.

Even if you're trying to beat it though, the resilience and power of the deck is frustrating to combat. It's kind of like G/W Devotion started playing with Dig Through Time. Ultimate Price was a boon from Dragons of Tarkir against the existing green decks, but it's the pinnacle of mediocrity against the value engine that is currently showing up to the table.

Once the ball starts rolling, it doesn't take long for the deck to spiral out of control, and completely lock the ground out. In order to beat our enemy, we must first grok it. Here is what is likely to be the most popular flavor of Standard Collected Company decks:

Selesnya Collected Company

Creatures

4 Elvish Mystic

4 Fleecemane Lion

4 Den Protector

2 Hidden Dragonslayer

2 Warden of the First Tree

4 Deathmist Raptor

4 Courser of Kruphix

Spells

3 Dromoka's Command

4 Collected Company

2 Valorous Stance

3 Mastery of the Unseen

Lands

4 Temple of Plenty

4 Windswept Heath

4 Plains

2 Blossoming Sands

1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

9 Forest

Sideboard

3 Plummet

3 Hornet Nest

3 Arashin Cleric

2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion

2 Whisperwood Elemental

2 Reclamation Sage

A lot of dorks to gum up the ground, Den Protectors to grind you out while Deathmist Raptor attacks you, a couple removal spells and some gems like Mastery of the Unseen and Warden of the First Tree to go over the top of other decks playing on this axis.

While this has been the most successful list with a GP Top 8 and is likely to be the most popular, there are a few other flavors of Collected Company to keep an eye out for:

Golgari Collected Company

Creatures

4 Deathmist Raptor

4 Den Protector

4 Elvish Mystic

4 Grim Haruspex

4 Merciless Executioner

2 Qarsi High Priest

4 Sultai Emissary

2 Whisperwood Elemental

3 Courser of Kruphix

Spells

1 Dictate of Erebos

4 Collected Company

1 Hero's Downfall

1 Murderous Cut

Lands

6 Forest

4 Swamp

2 Jungle Hollow

4 Llanowar Wastes

1 Mana Confluence

4 Temple of Malady

1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Sideboard

2 Ainok Survivalist

2 Bloodsoaked Champion

1 Dictate of Erebos

1 Virulent Plague

4 Bile Blight

2 Display of Dominance

1 Whip of Erebos

2 Self-Inflicted Wound

Four-Color Company

Creatures

4 Fleecemane Lion

3 Seeker of the Way

3 Rattleclaw Mystic

4 Goblin Rabblemaster

4 Savage Knuckleblade

4 Mantis Rider

Spells

4 Collected Company

2 Dromoka's Command

2 Valorous Stance

3 Stoke the Flames

2 Ojutai's Command

1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion

Lands

4 Frontier Bivouac

4 Mystic Monastery

4 Windswept Heath

2 Forest

2 Plains

2 Yavimaya Coast

3 Mana Confluence

2 Temple of Triumph

1 Temple of Epiphany

Sideboard

1 Dromoka's Command

1 Ojutai's Command

3 Disdainful Stroke

2 Negate

1 Treasure Cruise

3 Arashin Cleric

4 Hornet Nest

Collected Company Beatdown

Creatures

4 Avatar of the Resolute

4 Boon Satyr

4 Den Protector

4 Elvish Mystic

4 Fleecemane Lion

4 Reverent Hunter

2 Surrak, the Hunt Caller

Spells

2 Aspect of Hydra

4 Collected Company

3 Dromoka's Command

2 Valorous Stance

Lands

3 Evolving Wilds

8 Forest

2 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

2 Plains

4 Temple of Plenty

4 Windswept Heath

Sideboard

1 Surrak, the Hunt Caller

1 Dromoka's Command

3 Arashin Cleric

2 Archetype of Courage

1 Become Immense

1 Gods Willing

2 Mardu Woe-Reaper

1 Nylea's Disciple

1 Reclamation Sage

2 Windstorm

While there are a lot of different versions, and likely to be even more diversity going forward, preparing for any one of these lists likely leaves you strong against the entire lot.

The most important element of all of these decks is that once they get going you are never going to kill them with non-evasive creatures. It's an unrealistic goal. Even if you have your own Deathmist Raptors going and have some Siege Rhinos for reach, they are inevitably going to overpower you on the ground.

There are three ways to go about combating these strategies. You can somehow find a way to do something even bigger on the ground, you can kill them with evasion if you're also able to stop them from killing you first, or you can kill them with reach.

Going Bigger

This deck puts a lot of stuff into play, but it does leave some wiggle room to go bigger. In particular, if you find yourself in a Deathmist Raptor mirror against an opponent with more Whisperwood Elementals and/or access to some Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx combined with Mastery of the Unseen, then they will likely find a way to overpower you.

You have answers in Dromoka's Command and Hidden Dragonslayer, but ultimately your tools just stop them from coming back at you, while you don't really have anything to overpower them. Perhaps decks more akin to older Green Devotion lists are weaker in the metagame at large, but they certainly trump decks relying on Collected Company for all of their advantage.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

Nykthos looks to be leveling off in price, but if it takes off as a way to crush Collected Company mirrors it could see small gains in the short term.

Using Evasion

A trend that you may have noticed in Abzan decks is the reintroduction of Wingmate Roc. Brad Nelson rocked two maindeck copies on his way to a Grand Prix Top 8 recently:

Abzan Aggro

Creatures

4 Fleecemane Lion

4 Rakshasa Deathdealer

4 Siege Rhino

2 Warden of the First Tree

2 Wingmate Roc

4 Anafenza, the Foremost

Spells

4 Abzan Charm

3 Dromoka's Command

2 Hero's Downfall

3 Thoughtseize

2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor

Lands

2 Forest

2 Plains

3 Caves of Koilos

3 Llanowar Wastes

1 Mana Confluence

4 Sandsteppe Citadel

3 Temple of Malady

3 Temple of Silence

4 Windswept Heath

1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Sideboard

3 Den Protector

3 Ultimate Price

3 Drown in Sorrow

2 Duress

3 Self-Inflicted Wound

1 Thoughtseize

While Siege Rhino merely trades with Deathmist Raptor, Wingmate Roc flies over him and his friends again and again, along with dodging Hidden Dragonslayer, and producing multiple bodies even in the case of Dromoka's Command. Additionally, Anafenza, the Foremost and Abzan Charm help the deck to remove Raptor from the game and keep the Company decks on a more fair level.

Another deck with some threats well-positioned against Deathmist Raptor is Mardu Dragons. Just having removal for Collected Company's creatures doesn't provide a ton of value, but taking chip shots with Draconic Roar and Crackling Doom while curving into evasive monsters is a great way to ignore value in the form of ground-pounders.

Mardu Dragons

Creatures

4 Seeker of the Way

2 Soulfire Grand Master

4 Goblin Rabblemaster

4 Thunderbreak Regent

4 Stormbreath Dragon

2 Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury

Spells

3 Thoughtseize

4 Draconic Roar

4 Crackling Doom

2 Foul-Tongue Invocation

1 Kolaghan's Command

1 Murderous Cut

Lands

2 Haven of the Spirit Dragon

4 Bloodstained Mire

3 Temple of Triumph

1 Temple of Malice

1 Temple of Silence

4 Caves of Koilos

2 Battlefield Forge

3 Mountain

1 Swamp

4 Nomad Outpost

Sideboard

1 Thoughtseize

1 Kolaghan's Command

2 Read the Bones

2 Outpost Siege

2 Crux of Fate

4 Anger of the Gods

1 Mastery of the Unseen

1 Dragonlord Kolaghan

1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion

There's a reason that the Company decks are siding Windstorm and Plummet. These two decks exploit the weakness to fliers better than others due to access to Thoughtseize. They can either take answers to fliers or just cause the Company decks to stumble in the early game.

From these two decks, I find the price of Anafenza, the Foremost and Crackling Doom to be bafflingly low. Both cards are great abstractly and in the current metagame. I'd be happier putting my money into Anafenza, but I'd recommend picking up at least a set of Crackling Doom.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Anafenza, the Foremost

There was an error retrieving a chart for Crackling Doom

Killing Them With Reach

The most obvious way to use reach to beat an opponent is to load up on Stoke the Flames and Lightning Strike. Atarka Red is still a real deck, but it has some rather serious consistency issues coupled with the fact that the Collected Company deck is capable of producing a lot of blockers quickly.

The real way that I advocate killing them with reach is with the super-spicy fringe Rally the Ancestors decks.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Rally the Ancestors

Due to Facebook's incredible utility at enabling stalkers, I saw this list pop up on my feed posted by a friend of a friend of a friend. I don't have any idea who Michael Segal is, but apparently he 4-0'd a daily and 4-1'd a PPTQ with this build:

Four Color Rally

Creatures

4 Sylvan Caryatid

4 Satyr Wayfinder

4 Nyx Weaver

2 Courser of Kruphix

2 Mogis's Marauder

4 Siege Rhino

4 Sidisi, Brood Tyrant

1 Torrent Elemental

3 Gray Merchant of Asphodel

1 Sidisi, Undead Vizier

Spells

3 Commune with the Gods

3 Rally the Ancestors

2 Murderous Cut

Lands

2 Forest

2 Plains

3 Windswept Heath

4 Yavimaya Coast

1 Mana Confluence

4 Sandsteppe Citadel

4 Opulent Palace

3 Llanowar Wastes

Sideboard

2 Mastery of the Unseen

3 Drown in Sorrow

1 Treasure Cruise

2 Dead Drop

2 Valorous Stance

3 Thoughtseize

2 Arashin Cleric

I have no idea if this deck is actually good, but Rally decks did have a good showing at the first round of RPTQs. There are a lot of individual heavy hitters here, with Rally producing a "combo kill." It's worth noting that if you Rally back a Nyx Weaver you get another crack at Rallying the next turn. Obviously you'll be hoping to rebuy some Sidisis and more Nyx Weavers to reset your graveyard, as Rally exiles, but the option is there to sometimes play a non-lethal Rally to potentially set up a lethal one.

I'm not in love with Rally as a spec target, but it would be very difficult for the card to go down in price. Despite moderate success, the card and deck haven't taken off yet, and it's not hard to imagine a breakout performance at a GP or a post-rotation printing make this card worth a couple bucks in the future.

Is Collected Company the new deck to beat, or the flavor of the week? Probably somewhere in between. Khans Standard remains awesome, and there's a deck to play for everybody. There are definitely ways to beat Collected Company, but I'd make sure that I had a plan for the deck before I shuffled up for my next Standard tournament.

Thanks for reading.

-Ryan Overturf
@RyanOverdrive on Twitter

Would You Prefer Reprints Maintained the Original Card Art?

Posted on May 14, 2015May 14, 2015 by Ryan Overturf

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If you're at all interested in the discussion of Magic art, then you'll likely be interested in the Original Magic Art blog. Currently, the blog is running a poll asking readers which MM15 cards had better original art and which have improved in their new form. You can vote in these polls here.

For whatever reason, I usually find myself favoring original art. This is no doubt in part due to nostalgia established by the original printings- though I'm much less likely to care on cards that I would never play with/ aren't Meddling Mage. And then in some cases the new art just baffles me. Specifically, I wouldn't feel the need to spend money on this:

When I already had the rights to this:

Ultimately discussions like this probably aren't for people like me, as the first example of new art that I like that I could think of was the new Summit Prowler. It's still fun to compare the "new hotness" to the " classic genius" though.

Insider: Buzzing My Way to Victory

Posted on May 14, 2015January 17, 2022 by Mike Lanigan

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While the majority of Magic players have been loving Standard, I’ve been left feeling out of place without a deck I’m attached to. There have been a lot of words written about Abzan Aggro over the past few months and I’ve done my fair share of contributing to that. Through that whole time playing the deck though, I never really felt it was my deck. It was the deck that I was playing because I didn’t have anything else to play.

There were some minor innovations on my part, mostly in the sideboard, but I was basically playing a stock deck. Contrary to what history has taught me about myself, I did find success with Abzan Aggro, but even then, it didn’t really feel like my deck. I was doing the same thing as everyone else, which is fine, but that’s not how I get my edge.

My success typically comes when I attack with an unseen stinger and my opponents are left trying to react to situations they are not used to being put into. Hopefully Hornet Nest is the right orb for the job.

Right now everyone is enamored with the synergistic interaction of Den Protector and Deathmist Raptor. When you have a combination of cards reminiscent of Bloodbraid Elf and Vengevine, players will eventually take notice. With the hive mind at work, interactions like these rarely stay hidden for long. Even though these two Standard cards are not of the power level of their predecessors, they are one of the most potent combinations in the format.

Even though they are indeed powerful, the obsession of the masses is going too far. We don’t need to be jamming these two cards into every deck. If players are doing that though, let’s counter them. I thought the best way to do that was with Anafenza, the Foremost, but that didn’t go so well. So, the next theory is that Hornet Nest is the hard counter I’ve been looking for. Certainly it will never block Den Protector, but it will clog the ground for everything else.

Let’s start by taking a look at the deck designed by Caleb Durward over at Channel Fireball. After playing with the deck a bit, I’ve changed a couple cards.

R/G Bees

Creatures

4 Elvish Mystic

4 Sylvan Caryatid

4 Courser of Kruphix

4 Hornet Nest

2 Ashcloud Phoenix

1 Polukranos, World Eater

1 Stormbreath Dragon

2 Whisperwood Elemental

1 Dragonlord Atarka

Spells

3 Roast

3 Setessan Tactics

2 Chandra, Pyromaster

2 Xenagos, the Reveler

4 Chord of Calling

Lands

4 Temple of Abandon

2 Rugged Highlands

4 Wooded Foothills

10 Forest

4 Mountain

Sideboard

2 Magma Spray

2 Plummet

1 Merciless Executioner

1 Minister of Pain

2 Reclamation Sage

2 Goblin Rabblemaster

2 Ashcloud Phoenix

2 Stormbreath Dragon

1 Nylea's Disciple

After the usual green suspects, we get into some interesting numbers on previously played cards due to the inclusion of Chord of Calling. When M15 first came out, Chord of Calling was one of the most powerful cards in the format. Chord is inherently powerful on its own, but as the format progressed, it was pushed out of the metagame. You need to be running early creatures to fuel the deck, but as long as you are, the card is an amazing tutor.

When I first looked over the deck, I was surprised because it didn’t seem like a Chord of Calling deck. Usually decks that run the tutor spell have many singleton targets for a variety of situations. In this deck, you do have some targets maindeck that you would want in certain situations, but mostly the convoke spell adds consistency to the deck. You can get powerful threats against control or Hornet Nest against aggro. Then once you are able to sideboard, you have access to some more tutor targets.

By playing a card that gives you so many options in deck building as well as gameplay, you are setting yourself up to have a lot of decisions. This will allow you to play whatever roll you would like, but typically each game will involve planning a couple turns ahead.

You may make plays like baiting your opponent’s removal with Courser of Kruphix because you would rather have Hornet Nest in play. Sometimes waiting until you have five mana so that you can play both Hornet Nest and Roast in the same turn will be the right strategy whereas other games you will need to Roast your opponent’s creature and then follow up with your other creatures.

Each game is different and you need to use the tools in your hand to the best of your ability while playing to your outs in your deck. Unlike with other decks, sandbagging lands in your hand to bluff your opponent is almost never a good idea because there are often times when you want ten mana so that you can Chord for Dragonlord Atarka.

The biggest reason to not play this deck is due to the rough tactical match against strict control strategies. Esper Dragons and Abzan Control are some such strategies that typically provide a severe challenge and are difficult to defeat. That is the case for every deck that faces them, but it may seem worse with this deck because it’s designed to defeat creatures that are attacking.

Fortunately, your aggressive matchups are so favorable, the sideboard is your playground for control decks. I have sided in as many as ten or twelve cards against certain decks. So far, my record against control decks is more wins than losses, but each match is always a challenge. You need to use your resources, no matter how awkward they are. I’ve cast Setessan Tactics to have my two creatures fight, used it to counter Drown in Sorrow, as well as a mini-Overrun to finish off an opponent. Every card, no matter how out of place, can be used to help you win.

So many cards in this deck are well positioned in the metagame right now. Hornet Nest is great against Deathmist Raptor. Stormbreath Dragon is amazing against Dragonlord Ojutai, Wingmate Roc, and Abzan Charm. Ashcloud Phoenix and Whisperwood Elemental are great against everything. Dragonlord Atarka is a huge blowout against every deck. This deck is built on cards that match up well against other players’ strategies.

There are two black cards in the sideboard that may look out of place, but serve an important role. Both are typically found with Chord of Calling, but can also be cast with Sylvan Caryatid.

Merciless Executioner is another answer to Dragonlord Ojutai that can also be used in a variety of situations. Minister of Pain is a potent weapon against any token decks like Jeskai or Mono-Red. No opponent will be playing around your Chord for this card and will usually play right into their own defeat. The same goes for Merciless Executioner, but it’s less of a blowout because they are only losing one threat, whereas with Minister of Pain they are losing all or most of their army. These two singletons are like a sucker punch to the face.

If you are looking for something a little different but not as intense as R/G Bees, I’ve also been working on a deck that uses a lot of these same cards but also takes advantage of the Deathmist Raptor plus Den Protector interaction.

R/G Megamorph

Creatures

4 Elvish Mystic

4 Rattleclaw Mystic

4 Den Protector

4 Courser of Kruphix

4 Deathmist Raptor

4 Ashcloud Phoenix

2 Stormbreath Dragon

2 Whisperwood Elemental

Spells

2 Roast

3 Lightning Strike

2 Setessan Tactics

Lands

4 Temple of Abandon

3 Rugged Highlands

4 Wooded Foothills

10 Forest

4 Mountain

This deck is quite similar to other strategies available in Standard, but it uses different cards to accomplish its goals. So many of these creatures are hard to kill and you have a variety of morphs to confuse your opponent with. This list is untested, but I would be happy bringing this deck to battle with no testing.

At $2, Ashcloud Phoenix seems like a great pick up in your trades this week. If the format shifts and more players start going back to playing it, players will quickly remember the previous price and the card will jump back up. We have a lot more time to play this card in Standard so there is plenty of time for the price to bump back up.

It’s not a dragon for Draconic Roar, but the fact that it blocks and survives both Thunderbreak Regent and Dragonlord Ojutai is a huge point in the Phoenix’s favor. If Hordeling Outburst, an uncommon from the same set with a promo, can sustain $2, there is no reason that a mythic that’s seeing play should be the same price.

Additionally, I think Rattleclaw Mystic is a card you want to stock up on. Once Sylvan Caryatid rotates out of the format later this year, players will be looking to Rattleclaw for their mana acceleration. This also gears decks towards playing Temur because the mana dork gives you access to all three colors. If we don’t get another way to accelerate our mana, the everyone is going to need their Rattleclaws.

While you’re at it, pick up some Savage Knuckleblades because if everyone’s playing Temur, he’s their best threat. The fetches may be keeping the prices of every other card in the set down, but that can only last for so long. Now that players have stopped drafting Khans, we should start seeing cards from that set increasing.

Top Sellers

Recently, I’ve had some particularly interesting top sellers at my store. Most of these are real-time data evidence of what casual players are into these days. No surprise that at the top of the list are random planeswalkers. It hasn’t been the new ones that have been selling well for me though, but rather the iconic characters from M15.

[tt n='Ajani Steadfast'][tt n='Jace, the Living Guildpact']

You may not be seeing Ajani Steadfast or Jace, the Living Guildpact across the table at your competitive events, but I can barely keep these two in stock. As of this writing I have one copy of Ajani and two of Jace. My buy price on these two cards is above average and so is my sell price. Nevertheless, I still sell most of the copies of these cards that I get in stock.

Chandra, Pyromaster has also been selling well, but she is at least a competitive card so it’s easier to understand why she is selling.

[tt n='Godsend'][tt n='Icefall Regent']

The award for most interesting card I’m sold out of goes to Godsend. This overcosted equipment from Theros block has been selling steadily since its release and its price has stayed surprisingly constant as well. Recently I even bumped it up to five dollars. Based on my sales of this card, it seems like a good trade target and one that will likely increase over the next year or two. No competitive player will be interested but there will be a lot of interest from those playing for fun.

[tt n='Ojutai Exemplars'][tt n='Zurgo Bellstriker']

From Khans block we have the following cards leading my top sellers list. Icefall Regent, Ojutai Exemplars, and Zurgo Bellstriker are all almost sold out. Exemplars might be worth trading for because it’s close to bottoming out and could be a major player later on once we have some other cards to go with it.

That’s all for me today. If you have played with or against R/G Bees, post your thoughts in the comments below. Is this the next deck to break into the metagame? Is it too wacky to be consistent? Also, please share your thoughts on my trade targets. Are there other cards that are moving well for you?

Until next time,
Unleash the Force!

Mike Lanigan
MtgJedi on Twitter
Jedicouncilman23@gmail.com

Quick Stock: Dack Fayden Sell-Side Spike

Posted on May 13, 2015 by Chaz V

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So, as of this morning there seems to be a sell-side spike on Dack Fayden. As per the stock report this morning, the card has increased 69% putting the card at a "new" high at around the 50$ range. Now, there were some telling signs that the price could increase, but this drastic increase will most likely not hold. The card may not return to it's original pricing, but the initial capital investment for a marginal gain is not a good use of funds.

The one good thing going for Dack is his inclusion in a supplemental product, which are not opened at the same rate as regular expansion sets. Without a new surge of demand, and without a viable Constructed setting, there won't be a justified reason to pay the new pricing on the card. While I did say Conspiracy boxes aren't as readily available, there is still a lot of product out there floating around in various places. If this leads to an increase on people busting into their Conspiracy packs, then you can expect the price to drop.

The telling sign here was the buylist price increasing steadily, but not at an alarming rate. The drastic sell-side buyout will be disproportionate to the general demand of the card from buyers, and from stores not increasing buylist pricing to match the new price. To show off a little preview of the new Trader Tools coming down the pipeline (very soon) here is what was happening to the buy-list pricing on Dack Fayden:

Highlighting what the market place is looking like already, the spike (and card) has already started downward, as any hoarded copies are being dumped into the market. This race to the bottom is highlighted here on TCGPlayer.com, where the initial buy-out happened.

As you can clearly see, when more people catch on about the "spike" sellers will starts scrambling to get as much profit as they can from the copies being held, or extras in inventory. So one can determine from the trends, that there wasn't much to be had on this particular card. While the "spike" and percentages look very appealing, this was a sell-side buyout; it could just be one person trying to manipulate the market by clearing out one market. In this case it was TCGPlayer, and every other site followed suit, but there were (and still are) copies out there in the 30$ range. As the pushback from buyers starts to settle in, multiple sellers trying to under-cut each other will continue to undercut driving the price further downward.

My prediction is that this card will likely not reach it's initial pricing, but will most likely end up in the mid $30 area. Which was the "new" floor of this buy-out, considering many were not as bold to purchase those copies.

So, let's re-cap:

This was a sell-side spike.
While the card most likely won't return to old pricing, it will probably trend downward from this new price. Settling in the 30$ area.
While this is a sell-side spike, this card is worth watching for another potential investment down the road.
Sell immediately and get profit if cards were purchased 25$ and below.

So that about wraps things up for this Quick Stock, as always it's beneficial to look over the numbers and data, and really figure out what's going on behind the scenes of these spikes. The best investment on this card has passed, and I think without viable Constructed play the price will stagnate and trend downward. Like I mentioned before, there are good things going for this card as a potential investment again at some point. The foil multiplier is far past normalcy, and any new interest in this card could slowly pick this card up again. At the same time, Conspiracy boxes will start to slowly disappear as each new card from that set generates interest, or the foil EV keeps on being extremely lucrative.

As it stands there are probably better things to invest in.

Modern Masters 2015 Playables: Hits and Misses

Posted on May 13, 2015 by Sheridan Lardner

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As with most set releases, the full Modern Masters 2015 Spoiler was met with mixed reviews. Some players applauded Wizards for improving the set's mythics, reprinting key staples, and increasing the print run. Others lashed out for a supposed lack of solid rares, the absence of other key staples, and other unfavorable comparisons to the first Modern Masters. Although all Magic sets produce these divided opinions, it is more pronounced with Modern Masters 2015 because of the value of certain cards and the high expectations surrounding the product. It's impossible to not compare it to MM2013. Both sides certainly have a case. There have been numerous articles, posts, and analyses on the set, including both articles and reddit posts on its expected value, general set reviews, and thousands of posts worth of player opinion. But one element missing from most of these analyses is the playability of Modern Masters 2015. Not just the value: plenty of articles and experts have written extensively on this. Rather, on how the cards in the set truly represent the Modern staples and playables of the namesake format.

By its nature, Modern Masters was promised as a set full of Modern hallmarks. Wizards sure did build up expectations. In their initial set announcement, the designers promised "every card in Modern Masters can be added to your favorite Modern-format decks". The Release Notes affirmed these goals, stating "some of the most beloved and iconic cards from the Modern format will appear in the same booster packs". Sure, there would be a Limited component at play, but this isn't "Sealed Masters 2015". This is "Modern Masters 2015", and people want to see Modern playables in the set. In this article, I want to see if Wizards fulfilled the promises and if Modern Masters 2015 lived up to the hype. Again, this isn't so much a financial analysis, which has already been done in multiple other places. This is about the playability of the average Modern Masters card and if the cards making the cut are really "the most beloved and iconic cards" in Modern. To do this, I'll identify the "Modern staples" of MM2015 both on their own terms and in comparison to those in the original Modern Masters. This will give us a more objective way of comparing the sets and seeing if MM2015 is really the success story players expected it to be.

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Expectations Around Playability

Let's start with the Tarmogoyf in the room: does playability really matter for MM2015? Do the cards really need to be Constructed format staples, or is there room for the Limited experience? Although I don't think MM2015 needs to sacrifice Limited for the Constructed players out there (no common Lightning Bolt, thanks very much!), I also think it's pretty clear this is supposed to be a gateway set for aspiring Modern players. It's also supposed to be a set to drum up interest in the Constructed format, both for veterans who just need more cards, and for new players who want to start their Modern collection. And really, we need to be honest here: you don't make Goyf the postermonster of your set release to not create high expectations for Constructed playability. If Goyf is your mascot, you better believe people have high expectations.

There are mountains of evidence that Wizards also views it this way. In addition to the quotes I mentioned earlier in the article, this set was always marketed as a Constructed entry point. Just look at those PAX East spoilers to hype the set: Goyf and Karn Liberated, two Constructed powerhouses from the format. This was also the central impetus behind the set's designers: as Maro said in his May 4 "Mining the Past" article, "The design team started by listing all the cards they wanted for Constructed reasons." All of these reasons and a dozen others we could have listed all show MM2015 is about both a Limited experience and also a Constructed showcase. More importantly, this suggests players are completely justified in expecting lots of Constructed staples. Wizards may not have intended to give this, but the expectation was very reasonable given the set's framing. If nothing else, it is reasonable the set have at least AS MANY playables as the original MM. MM packs were less expensive and the designers had less experience. So regardless of Wizards expectation-building for MM2015, the 2013 MM alone would build player expectations for something at least as good.

Defining Playability

Given that playability clearly matters for MM2015, let's think of ways to operationalize it. To start, playability does not always mean "monetary value". For instance, Mana Leak is as cheap as it gets (even in foil!) but this is a solid Modern playable any new player would love to have in their collection. Cards like that are a big reason you can justify buying a box, particularly as an entry-level Modern newcomer who wants to build up that Modern arsenal. Playability also doesn't mean playability in some other format. This ain't "Commander Masters" or "Kitchen Table Masters". Sure, some MM2015 cards are going to necessarily be reprints for other venues. I'm as happy as the next guy that Kozilek isn't so pricey. But those kinds of reprints should not come at the expense of the Modern cards, especially given the expectation Wizards built around the set.

That brings us to my personal top pick for gauging playability: prevalence in Top Decks. If a card sees maindeck or sideboard play in any tier 1, 2, or even 3 deck, I'll count that baby as a Modern playable. Now, "tier 3" doesn't mean "tier 5", so although we might include some Soul Sisters or BW Tokens cards (hi Spectral Procession), we are definitely not including Mystic Snake because it has "potential" in your FNM Bant deck. I only care about solid playable cards that could reasonably go into the collection of a new Modern player, or fill out the binders of a veteran one. Price is obviously going to be a factor in the background here because there is naturally a strong correlation between price and playability. But I want to assess MM2015 as a Modern set, not just as something you turn around on eBay or for CF/SCG store credit. That's a lot of work and that's not the reason most people buy this set.

As a final disclaimer before we get started, I acknowledge the Limited environment is important and that too much Constructed emphasis can be at odds with a good Sealed/Draft experience. But this should not come at the expense of Constructed cards. I don't care how much Comet Storm benefits the Limited experience. Things like that should not get in the way of a set primarily marketed as a Modern set, especially when they are are so many cards that can fill its slot and fulfill both demands.

MM1 vs. MM2015: Playability Showdown

Looking at those tier 1, 2, and 3 decks, I checked to see what MM and MM2015 cards could be considered "staples" at the time of their printing. For MM, this meant looking at cards from last year's metagame. Murderous Redcap may have been an unintentional victim of the January 2015 bannings, but he was a serious tier 1 player when the first MM hit the shelves. I also don't give any weighting to staples based on their deck. Sure, a Twin reprint carries more weight than a Repeal reprint, but remember Wizards' promises around the set. They didn't promise "tier 1" reprints. They just promised reprints that could go into "Modern decks". Simic Graft and Elementals aren't "real" Modern decks. They have Modern legal cards, yes, but they aren't "Modern decks" the way most people understand that term. So as long as a card was playable in a competitive or semi-competitive deck, it got counted.

Let's start with the MM2015 playables. Here are the cards along with one of the notable decks they belong to. I also give the count of playables in each rarity. Don't worry about percents and more analysis: that's coming later. Big shout out to MTGSalvation user izzetmage, whose post in an MM2015 thread was one of the inspirations for this article.

[su_spoiler title="MM2015 Playables: Mythics (12/15)" style="fancy" icon="arrow"]Bitterblossom (Faeries)
Dark Confidant (Jund)
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite (UW Tron)
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn (RG Tron)
Iona, Shield of Emeria (UW Tron)
Karn Liberated (RG Tron)
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker (Twin)
Mox Opal (Affinity)
Primeval Titan (Amulet Bloom)
Tarmogoyf (Abzan, Jund)
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre (RG Tron)
Vendilion Clique (Twin, UWR Midrange/Control)
[/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title="MM2015 Playables: Rares (15/53)" style="fancy" icon="arrow"]
All Is Dust (RG Tron)
Blinkmoth Nexus (Affinity)
Cryptic Command (Twin, UWR Control)
Daybreak Coronet (Bogles)
Etched Champion (Affinity)
Eye of Ugin (RG Tron)
Fulminator Mage (Living End, Abzan)
Hurkyl's Recall (blue sideboards)
Leyline of Sanctity (white sideboards)
Mirran Crusader (GW Hatebears)
Noble Hierarch (Infect, Abzan Liege)
Spellskite (various sideboards)
Splinter Twin (Twin)
Surgical Extraction (Mill)
Wilt-Leaf Liege (Abzan Liege)
[/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title="MM2015 Playables: Uncommons (17/80)" style="fancy" icon="arrow"]
Boros Garrison (Amulet Bloom)
Celestial Purge (white sideboards)
Combust (red sideboards)
Cranial Plating (Affinity)
Deathmark (black sideboards)
Dismember (Merfolk, various sideboards)
Electrolyze (Twin, UWR Control/Midrange)
Expedition Map (RG Tron, Mono U Tron)
Flashfreeze (blue sideboards)
Golgari Rot Farm (Amulet Bloom)
Gruul Turf (Amulet Bloom)
Lightning Bolt (Jund, Twin, Burn)
Mutagenic Growth (Infect)
Remand (Twin, Grixis Delver)
Selesnya Sanctuary (Amulet Bloom)
Simic Growth Chamber (Amulet Bloom)
Spectral Procession (BW Tokens, Soul Sisters)
[/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title="MM2015 Playables: Commons (11/101)" style="fancy" icon="arrow"]
Apostle's Blessing (Infect)
Burst Lightning (Burn, Twin)
Darksteel Citadel (Affinity)
Mana Leak (UWR Control, Grixis Delver)
Raise the Alarm (BW Tokens)
Repeal (Mono U Tron)
Smash to Smithereens (Burn)
Thoughtcast (Affinity)
Tribal Flames (Domain Zoo)
Vapor Snag (Merfolk)
Vines of Vastwood (Infect)
[/su_spoiler]

Now let's look at staples from the original MM. Same convention, but note some of the older decks included to reflect the time of its release.

[su_spoiler title="MM2013 Playables: Mythics (8/15)" style="fancy" icon="arrow"]
Dark Confidant (Jund)
Elspeth, Knight-Errant (Zoo, UW Control)
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker (Twin, Kiki Pod)
Sword of Fire and Ice (Hatebears)
Sword of Light and Shadow (Hatebears)
Tarmogoyf (Jund, BG Rock)
Vedalken Shackles (Blue Moon)
Vendilion Clique (Twin, UWR Midrange/Control)
[/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title="MM2013 Playables: Rares (25/53)" style="fancy" icon="arrow"]
Academy Ruins (Mono U Tron)
Æther Vial (Merfolk)
Angel's Grace (Ad Nauseam)
Arcbound Ravager (Affinity)
Blinkmoth Nexus (Affinity)
Blood Moon (Twin, Blue Moon)
Chalice of the Void (various sideboards)
City of Brass (Amulet Bloom, Ad Nauseam (some versions...))
Cryptic Command (Twin, UWR Control/Midrange)
Engineered Explosives (various sideboards)
Ethersworn Canonist (Melira Pod, Affinity)
Gifts Ungiven (4C Gifts)
Glen Elendra Archmage (Kiki Pod)
Glimmervoid (Affinity)
Kataki, War's Wage (Melira Pod)
Kira, Great Glass-Spinner (Merfolk)
Knight of the Reliquary (Zoo)
Life from the Loam (Assault Loam)
Lotus Bloom (Ad Nauseam)
Maelstrom Pulse (Abzan, Jund)
Pact of Negation (Amulet Bloom)
Reveillark (Melira Pod)
Scion of Oona (Faeries)
Slaughter Pact (BG Rock, Jund)
Summoner's Pact (Amulet Bloom)
[/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title="MM2013 Playables: Uncommons (14/60)" style="fancy" icon="arrow"]
Desperate Ritual (Storm)
Electrolyze (Twin, UWR Control/Midrange)
Eternal Witness (Melira Pod)
Flickerwisp (Death and Taxes)
Kitchen Finks (Melira Pod)
Lightning Helix (UWR Control/Midrange)
Manamorphose (Storm)
Mind Funeral (Mill)
Murderous Redcap (Melira Pod)
Path to Exile (Zoo, UWR Control/Midrange)
Relic of Progenitus (various sideboards)
Spell Snare (Twin, UWR Control/Midrange)
Tidehollow Sculler (BW Tokens)
Tribal Flames (Domain Zoo)
[/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title="MM2013 Playables: Commons (13/101)" style="fancy" icon="arrow"]
Echoing Truth (Storm, Ad Nauseam)
Empty the Warrens (Storm)
Faerie Macabre (Living End)
Grapeshot (Storm)
Lava Spike (Burn)
Peer Through Depths (Scapeshift)
Pestermite (Twin)
Raven's Crime (4C Gifts)
Rift Bolt (Burn)
Search for Tomorrow (Scapeshift)
Spellstutter Sprite (Faeries)
Stinkweed Imp (Dredgevine)
Street Wraith (Living End)
[/su_spoiler]

Now that we have the playables down, we can start breaking down the sets based on their playability. The following table shows some key stats about the sets themselves, as well as the percentage of each rarity that could be considered "playable" by the above analysis. We'll use these numbers in a moment to compute an overall playability rating for the two sets.

Category	MM2015	MM2013	Difference (2013-->2015)
Total cards	249	229	+20
Playable % (Mythics)	80%	53%	+27%
Playable % (Rares)	28%	47%	-19%
Playable % (Uncommons)	21%	23%	-2%
Playable% (Commons)	11%	13%	-2%
Playable % (TOTAL)	22%	26%	-4%

There were two big takeaways from this table. The first is that commons and uncommons aren't much different in these two sets. MM2015 is a bit lighter in this department than its predecessor, but the difference isn't so large as to count as a "break" with expectations. That said, I think if we added value to this equation, expressing playability as a function of price, we would start to see the gap widen. Helix, Path, and Snare were big MM reprints. MM2015 has playables in those slots, but they aren't of the same quality in some players' eyes.

The other big takeaway is the most obvious: the rare and mythic distribution. MM2015 exemplifies the "Mythic Lottery" approach to set design. These are both valuable mythics as well as useful mythics, and you will almost always be happy to open one (or livid due to Comet Storm). The original MM, by contrast, has both fewer mythics and a bunch of really crappy ones. Absolutely no one wanted to open those Kamigawa dragons, except maybe that kid who has been rocking his dragon deck since [mtg_Card]Shivan Dragon[/mtg_card made him who he is today. In place of those mythics, however, MM has much better rares and also more of those rares. This was a big draw to many players. It's also largely absent from MM2015, which has more cards (all in the uncommons), costs more money, but somehow had worse rares. That's not to knock the rares we did get: Spellskite, Hierarch, Command, Liege, etc. are all excellent reprints. It's just to observe a difference in distribution affecting overall pack playability. This is reflected in the final numbers. 22% of the MM2015 cards are "playables" as compared with 26% of the first MM's.

Speaking of which, it's time to tie this all in to packs and boxes. It's one thing to know what percentage of a set is playable. It's another to put that in dollar terms. The table below attempts to do this. First, I calculate the "expected playability value" of any given slot in a pack (e.g. 21% of MM2015 uncommons are playable, there are 3 uncommons per pack, so the EPV for that slot is .28*3=.2). Then I show the number of playables per pack and box you are expected to open, adding in the EPV for the foil slot (I don't show those calculations to save space). Finally, I end with a dollar valuation for playables: that is, the average dollar amount you need to spend on the product to get a single playable card. In my view, this is the best number to assess the relative playability of the two sets.

Category	MM2015	MM2013	Difference (2013-->2015)
Cost per pack	$9.99	$6.99	+$3.00
Mythic EPV	.1	.1	+0
Rare EPV	.2	.4	-.2
Uncommon EPV	.6	.7	.-1
Common EPV	1.1	1.3	.-2
Playables per pack	2.3	2.7	-.4
Playables per box	55	65	-10
Average $s spent for one playable	$4.35	$2.56	+$1.79

Stated another way, for every $4.35 you spend on Modern Masters 2015, you can expect to get 1 playable card. With the first Modern Masters, however, you had to spend only $2.56 to get 1 playable card. MM2015 has, on average, 2.3 playables per pack and 55 per box. Old MM had 2.7 playables per pack and 65 per box. Rounding those numbers would widen the gap: 2 per pack and 48 per box for MM2015 and 3 per pack and 72 per box for MM.

For me, this is really where MM2015 falls apart and where a lot of player dissatisfaction is justified. Say what you will about the price of the cards: Wizards isn't actually trying to print money, so we can't get too upset about that. But the playability of the set is just a lot lower, especially relative to its price. I think this is the numeric explanation, the quantitative articulation, of why many players are disappointed with the set. All those promises we talked about earlier in the article? Although they aren't entirely absent from the set, MM2015 definitely has less Constructed Modern applicability and staples than the original. That gets even more disappointing when you see how many of the questionable cards got included in place of a more playable alternative. Profane Command over Damnation? Mirror Entity over Serra's Ascendant? Guile over Lord of Atlantis (seriously, where the heck are the Merfolk??). Any of these substitutions, let alone those at uncommon and common, could have increased the playability index of MM2015 without ruining the draft environment or making the product too expensive. So these numbers really do justify a lot of frustration I see in the community, particularly among those players comparing the two MM sets.

General MM2015 Observations

It's unfortunate MM2015 does not have the same playability as the first MM, particularly in terms of your purchasing power in the set. But that doesn't mean it didn't have some general hits and misses we can't talk about independent of that playability. I want to end the article with a quick review of the winners, losers, and question marks of the set. This is the more traditional kind of MM2015 review you've probably seen elsewhere, but hey, you can't do a Modern Masters article without it.

The Good

In my last article on MM2015, I made some reprint predictions about what would and would not be in the set. Some of those cards are included in the "winner's" bracket for MM2015. Opal, Command, Hierarch, Fulminator Mage, and Remand were all big inclusions here, and everyone in Modern is thankful for them. Some pleasant surprises in this department were Spellskite, Primeval Titan, Bitterblossom, and Leyline of Sanctity. It's important that all Modern players have access to good sideboard cards. But it was also unclear that Wizards would reprint cards just because they are Modern sideboard staples. Spellskite and Leyline show that this is absolutely in line with the product. Leyline gives Modern players that edge against Burn as well as an edge against Abzan. Spellskite is a catchall against Abzan, Infect, Twin, and a host of other decks. It's important that players have access to sideboard cards like this, regardless of what deck they are building, and Modern newcomers weren't going to dish out $80 for a playset of sideboard bullets for matchups that were "only" 20% or so of the metagame. The other reason I'm particularly happy about Leyline (not to mention Titan, Liege, Cryptic), is that it prove Wizards is willing to reprint partial cycles in MM sets to address supply issues. This bodes well for future releases.

Also, Twin is back. Got that one wrong in the last article (that was my "risky" prediction), but everyone is happy to see the card back. Say what you will about Twin, but it's a solid tier 1 deck and it's important that new players have access to tier 1 staples.

The Bad

MM2015 has two kinds of "bad" in it. The first are the cards that shouldn't be there but are. Comet Storm is the posterchild of this category, but at least the rest of the mythics are so good that we can overlook this one inclusion. Much more offensive are garbage slots like Surrakar Spellblade, Banefire, Ant Queen, Wolfbriar Elemental, and Chimeric Mass. I get that Wizards needs to consider the Limited environment when making the product. But come on. Was Azusa, Lost But Seeking going to break the Sealed environment so much that she couldn't be included in place of that awful Elemental? These kinds of decisions did not have to be made in every single rare slot. Obviously then the set would just be too expensive. But even just a few more swaps would have brought the set's playability in line with that of the original MM, and a lot of players would have been happier.

The second species of "bad" are the cards that should have been in MM2015 but were not. Just like Comet Storm is the posterchild of the first kind of "bad", Serum Visions is the posterchild of this one (although more on SV later...). Some of these cards are probable reprints in upcoming products: Inquisition of Kozilek, Goblin Guide, Zendikar manlands, etc. I had predicted some of these cards would return in MM2015, and was sad to see them gone. Then again, all three of those listed above are definite considerations for Battle For Zendikar in the fall, so we have to wait and see. Much more baffling are exclusions like Gitaxian Probe, Inkmoth Nexus, every Modern merfolk ever, and Blood Moon. These are the kinds of cards that absolutely should have been included, whether for economic reasons, because they fit the set's themes, because they could have made a more interesting subtheme in the set (who DOESN'T want to draft Merfolk??), or to hype up the product. These kinds of missed opportunities are unfortunate, although in some of the more obvious cases (e.g. Inquisition and Guide), they probably suggest a future reprinting elsewhere. Just like how Thoughtseizes absence from the first MM signaled its return in Theros.

The (really, really) Ugly

I like to think of myself as a pretty reasonable dude. I get the different pressures Wizards has in making sets like this, and I understand that mismanaged and mismatched expectations can blow things out of proportion. Overall, MM2015 is a pretty solid set, even if it falls short of its mark (it doesn't even fall that short, all things considered). But there are some things we just can't forgive and can't forget, and those are in the "Ugly" category of MM2015.

The first is the continued decision to put Goyf at mythic and leave it at that. Make that bad boy a GP promo. Put it in the foil slot as a full-card art bonus that isn't allowed in your Limited deck. Put it in a Modern event deck (Abzan vs. Twin). Wizards is full of creative and innovative people and I cannot believe they haven't figured out a way to drop the card's price. We already know that dropping prices is one of their goals: MM2015 wouldn't exist if that wasn't on their radar. Goyf is a big barrier to entry for lots of players, and I'm not so elitist to believe that the format is better off because of it. Yeah, adults with income can afford Goyf just as they can afford any other adult hobby. But I want the format to grow and I want more people to enter in, and Goyf's price is a barrier to this. Banning the card is not an option (it's as fair as they come and it's not even required for green OR midrange decks). But for players who want to play Abzan, Junk, or Zoo, they shouldn't have to spend as much on 4 cards as other players do on their entire deck. I don't view this as a serious problem with Modern, but it's definitely a serious problem with MM products that could be more intentionally addressed.

The second big "ugly" is the lack of new art. Pillory of the Sleepless looks awesome. Great color, cool perspective, sick colors, more flavor than a McRib sandwich, etc. Too bad Pillory sees about as much play as Horde of Notions or some of the other bizarre inclusions in the set. People would have killed for sweet new art on Electrolyze, Mana Leak, and Lightning Bolt. Or even some full-card art basic lands. These kinds of missed opportunities make sad pandas of us all, although given some of the other art that came out of MM2015's context (see the next paragraph), maybe it's better we didn't get what we asked for.

That brings us to the third and final third ugliness: Serum Visions. I don't even remember the last time a common needed a mass-product reprint run so badly. $7+ for a common is completely insane, and this was by far the most frustrating and disappointing exclusion in the set, both for me and for most players I have talked with. Yeah, Wizards made SV the August FNM promo, but that's not the sort of supply increase we wanted to see. If anything, it looks like a profit grab, a way to get players into FNMs when they should have just included it in MM2015 to tank the price. This is the exact kind of card players want to add to their collection when buying a box or pack, and its omission is just disgusting. Wizards could easily have foreseen this when MM2015 cards were being selected, and it's by far the most out-of-touch aspect of the set. As I said, just disgusting.

And speaking of "ugly" and "disgusting", here's the masterpiece you get in August's FNM:

Let's just say I miss the old art...

That's a wrap for MM2015. Strong on mythics, low on playability, pretty average as far as an MM set should be. Hopefully Wizards will learn from some of the mistakes with this set in time for the next MM run, and hopefully some of those omissions bode well for upcoming set releases this year.

Editor's note (5/13): Boy does time fly! Original article incorrectly labeled the first MM as "MM2014", not "MM2013" to reflect its actual release date.

Insider: Standard Price Trends This Week

Posted on May 13, 2015January 17, 2022 by Adam Yurchick

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Hidden Dragonslayer

There was an error retrieving a chart for Hidden Dragonslayer

Hidden Dragonslayer has grown from .3 to .7 tix since last Friday, because it is beginning to gain momentum alongside Deathmist Raptor. It was in the maindeck of two Top 8 finishers at GP Paris, the finals G/W Collected Company deck and an Abzan Megamorph deck. It was also in two of the Top 16 maindecks, in the same two archetypes. The card is great against Abzan Aggro and their Anafenza, the Foremost and Siege Rhino, and with Lifelink it does a lot of great work against red decks.

Stratus Dancer spiked to over 3 tix after its Pro Tour Top 8, so there is still a lot of upside to Hidden Dragonslayer as it grows into a mainstream top-tier staple of the format. The paper price still sits under $1, which is poised to at least double as the card picks up in popularity.

Crackling Doom

There was an error retrieving a chart for Crackling Doom

Keep your eyes on Crackling Doom. This card was a 0.1 tix near-bulk rare until the end of April, when the price began to rise with rumors of how strong it is against Esper Dragons and Dragonlord Ojutai. The card hit 0.4 tix in the matter of a few days, before falling back to 0.3 over the week.

Then, after GP Toronto, hype around Mardu Dragons increased demand and spiked the price to 0.6 tix. It has since fallen back to 0.3, but this past weekend it bumped up again to 0.5. I don’t expect that the price will fall below that 0.3 threshold again while in Standard, and now it will continue to rise towards 1 tix or more. The paper price is at a stagnant all-time low of $1, so now may be a great time to buy in before the summer brings the price upwards.

Rattleclaw Mystic

There was an error retrieving a chart for Rattleclaw Mystic

Rattleclaw Mystic is great with Deathmist Raptor, and it is being increasingly incorporated alongside that card. Rattleclaw Mystic has been receiving extra attention this week for its three-of inclusion in the Four-Color Collected Company deck that went 9-0 on Day 1 of GP Paris before ultimately finishing in 11th place. This deck has received a lot of attention for its innovation, and it will see many copycats, a wave that Rattleclaw Mystic is riding.

0.1 tix at the end of April, the hype around Deathmist Raptor brought the Mystic to 0.5 by the middle of last week. It fell to 0.3 by Friday, but over the weekend it headed back towards 0.5. All of the factors around this card, including the Deathmist Raptor synergy, the new publicized archetype, the fact that KTK is out of the competitive draft environment, and the fact that this card is a solid staple that could be played in a variety of decks until rotation next year means that it’s a great pickup unlikely to plummet in value, and potentially a big winner.

A flat $1.5 from December until April, Rattleclaw Mystic has slowly grown to nearly $2. I expect this price will only continue to grow at this slow and steady pace.

Soulfire Grand Master

There was an error retrieving a chart for Soulfire Grand Master

The player that piloted Mardu Dragons to the GP Toronto final called Soulfire Grand Master his best card and that he would go from two to three copies. The archetype reached the Top 16 of GP Paris sporting four copies.

Soulfire Grand Master was once over 15 tix in the first week of March, but it’s now down to under 6. It was down to under 4 a week ago, but I believe Mardu Dragons is responsible for increasing the price. If Soulfire Grand Master becomes more widespread, the price will continue to grow higher, and all it will take is a big high-profile finish to begin the card spiking back towards 15 tix or even more.

The paper price has been steadily sliding downwards from around $13.5 at the time of the MTGO peak, down to $11. It’s possible the price continues to fall, but it could also be a good time to pick up some copies because Soulfire Grand Master is still relatively underplayed in Standard given its power level. I’m interested to see the card paired with Collected Company.

Anafenza, the Foremost

There was an error retrieving a chart for Anafenza, the Foremost

The cyclical nature of Standard has brought Anafenza, the Foremost to the forefront in the successful Abzan Aggro archetype, which is now back in the Standard spotlight. At the beginning of January, during this archetype’s peak in the metagame, this card was over 10 tix, but it had fallen to an all-time low of 3 tix by mid-March. It was relatively flat until mid-April, by which time it had doubled to 6, and recent metagame movements have brought it up over 7 and approaching 8 tix.

I expect that his card might have a little more juice in it, perhaps towards 10, but I would be wary. Abzan Aggro is great, and in fact my deck of choice du jour, but as the metagame reacts it will eventually become a worse choice and may fall from grace for a period, at which time the price of its headline mythic will fall back downwards.

The paper price has fallen towards $4, nearly half the all-time high of $7.5 near the end of February, and approaching the all-time low of $3.3 around Christmas. With KTK out of draft, this price is likely to increase. I also like the card’s potential in Modern, casual formats, and as a Commander, so over the long-term this is a solid holding.

Collected Company

There was an error retrieving a chart for Collected Company

Over the weekend Collected Company spiked from under 4 tix to over 7 tix. Like I predicted last week, this card still had a lot of legs to it, and it has just begun its dominance in Standard. This massive price spike is certainly due to hype from last weekend’s Grand Prix, and the general increase in the card on MTGO last week.

This card is here to stay, and while I think the price has now peaked for this week, it is unlikely to fall below 6 tix, and is just as likely to head towards 10 tix on the back of another big finish or dominance on MTGO.

The paper price has spiked from $5 last Friday to nearly $10 today. Don't expect to get them much cheaper this weekend, and expect to pay more from dealers.

-Adam

Insider: MTGO Market Report for May 13th, 2015

Posted on May 13, 2015January 17, 2022 by MTGO MarketWatch

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Welcome to the MTGO Market Report as compiled by Sylvain Lehoux and Matthew Lewis. The report is loosely broken down into two perspectives. A broader perspective will be written by Matthew and will focus on recent trends in set prices, taking into account how paper prices and MTGO prices interact. Sylvain will take a closer look at particular opportunities based on various factors such as (but not limited to) set releases, flashback drafts and banned/restricted announcements.

There will be some overlap between the two sections. As always, speculators should take into account their own budget, risk tolerance and current portfolio before taking on any recommended positions.

Redemption

Below are the total set prices for all redeemable sets on MTGO. All prices are current as of May 11^th, 2015. The TCG Low and TCG Mid prices are the sum of each set’s individual card prices on TCG Player, either the low price or the mid-price respectively.

All MTGO set prices this week are taken from Goatbot’s website, and all weekly changes are now calculated relative to Goatbot’s ‘Full Set’ prices from last week. All monthly changes are also relative to Goatbot’s prices, except for DTK which is relative to the mid-April set price.

Return to Ravnica Block & M14

Prices for these sets in the MTGO economy were flat in the past week while TCG Low prices for these sets were flat to negative. On the other hand, TCG Mid prices for these sets in the past week were all flat to positive. Overall, the trend in paper should be considered flat to positive, and the more volatile TCG Low prices should be discounted in light of the rising TCG mid prices over the past month. With the upcoming release of MM2, it will be interesting to see if the price gains keep extending themselves.

MTGO speculators have the benefit of the just announced Modern Festival to drive demand for Modern-playable cards. Voice of Resurgence, a past recommendation from DGM, has been heading higher from its recent low of around 16 tix. This card, and all other cards from these sets, should be considered a good hold over the coming months.

Theros Block & M15

Although there is room for individual cards and set prices to move up, paper prices continue to move down in a relentless fashion. Each of these sets in paper has basically been declining in price, week over week, for nine straight weeks. Only short-term speculations should be considered, and signs of price weakness should not be ignored. The time to speculate on THS block and M15 is largely over, and only mythic rares at a discount to their long-term value should be considered for purchase.

An interesting example from M15 would be Jace, the Living Guildpact. This card has shown essentially zero potential in Standard, and its price has steadily declined since the Fall. It’s unlikely that that will change at this point as usually any card that will be played in Standard has at least shown some small uptake at some point by deck builders. This means that this card should be on our radar as a bulk mythic rare target, with value due to redemption.

Being a planeswalker means that there is a small price premium on this card relative to a true junk mythic rare. Gideon, Champion of Justice from GTC has the honour of being the cheapest redeemable planeswalker ever when it reached a price of around 0.8 tix last year. If Jace, the Living Guildpact gets down a similar level, it should be considered a strong buy at that price.

Tarkir Block

DTK is still trying to find its equilibrium price level in both paper and on MTGO and prices are up across the board in the past week. Redeemers are probably working at full tilt to get sets out of the digital economy right now, so lower prices on MTGO are not expected until prices come down further in paper.

This process might not complete in time for the Magic Origins, the next redeemable release, so it will be worth monitoring in the meantime for a price bottom. As a third set with a high power level and an apparent low level of supply, DTK is setting up to have some of the most expensive cards after rotation in the Fall.

There is probably enough supply of FRF out there at the moment, and it appears that around 45 tix is the equilibrium price level on MTGO. Prices on individual cards should vary though, as value accrues to mythic rares at the expense of regular rares. Like DTK, keep an eye on this set, and pick up playable mythic rares that are priced at a discount when possible.

KTK continues to show price strength, although it’s uneven and generally favors the mythic rares. As an example, Sorin, Solemn Visitor has crept back over the 10 tix mark while the fetch lands are now generally available at under 5 tix. The time to blindly be buying this set is over, and only select cards should be considered for speculative purposes.

Modern

The full spoiler list of Modern Masters 2015 was released last Friday, which was no small news for speculators. We have posted two special reports last week on potential great targets for mythics, rares, uncommons and commons not reprinted in MM2. The market has reacted quickly and several dozens of cards have already seen significant prices increases.

These initial big jumps are certainly very satisfactory but this is not the conclusion of this price activity. For many cards, additional price increases are expected. As we are heading toward the release of MM2 at the end of this month, a Modern MOCS in June, the Magic Online Modern Festival in July (see below) and finally a Modern PPTQ season in August, Modern prices have plenty of room to grow from here.

Several cards have also already re-reached levels close to or above their previous record high. Inkmoth Nexus, for instance, has spiked to over 15 Tix, an all-time high. After almost tripling in less than two weeks, selling now would be a good move as frantic purchases by players and speculators may have overpriced this one.

Serum Visions is seeing a similar pattern at almost 8 Tix, also a record high. If these prices are sustainable in the long run, they may deflate a little bit in the short term as speculators cash in.

On other hand, other cards still have room to grow even after a spectacular rise this weekend. Scapeshift doubled over the weekend. Nonetheless, at 17 Tix the green sorcery is still quite far off of its record high of 39 Tix. Although Threads of Disloyalty has not been intensively played this past year, this card is currently priced at about 10 Tix, one third of its highest price.

These two cards and others such as Lotus Cobra, Ajani, Vengeant, Linvala, Keeper of Silence and Thrun, the Last Troll are still significantly discounted compared to their top prices. They are not currently favored by the Modern metagame but appear to be safe from reprint for the next two years. With low reprint risk at this point, they are patiently waiting to jump up in price when their time comes again in the Modern metagame.

Now that the uncertainty of being reprinted or not has disappeared, several cards are entering uncharted territory in terms of price. Boosted by the recent success of Collected Company, Nettle Sentinel and Heritage Druid have surged to an unprecedented 4 Tix and 6 Tix, respectively. Azusa, Lost but Seeking might cross the 20 Tix bar soon and a bunch of Modern lands, including Horizon Canopy, Grove of the Burnwillows, the cycle of WWK man lands and the filter lands, may soon beat their previous all-time highs.

Another unexpected big news for Modern specs was the announcement on Monday of the Magic Online Modern Festival. This special Modern event on MTGO is likely to attract a good share of the player base during the last week of June and the first week of July. More Modern to play equals more Modern demand equals expected higher prices across the board. The prelims for the Festival finals will be Modern Constructed, and this is already stoking demand for Modern cards on MTGO.

The overall recommendation now is to diversify your Modern portfolio by holding as many positions that are safe from MM2 reprint as possible. The bull market in Modern is just getting started, so hold your positions until cards start spiking during one of the many major events held between May and August. At minimum though, the Modern Festival and its preliminary events should be the earliest to consider selling any current positions.

Vintage & Legacy

Tempest Remastered is here and Tempest block prices have significantly declined. However the price drop for Wasteland was short and quick. From the mid 20s on Friday, Wasteland was up on Monday and is now above 40 Tix. As probably one of the most wanted cards from both speculators and players, this card’s short-term price was barely affected by weekend drafts, although it is much lower than it was prior to the announcement of TPR. With a general lack of valuable cards, TPR events has not yet attracted enough players to seriously dent the price of Wasteland.

Given how things are unfolding after a week of TPR drafts, Wasteland is likely to reach 50 Tix or more, much sooner than people had thought. For speculative or play purposes, acquiring Wasteland now is the best option.

Nevertheless, other Tempest block most wanted and most expensive cards such as City of Traitors, Mox Diamond and Intuition have maintained their lower prices seen on the first weekend of TPR drafting. As the demand is not as strong for these cards as compared to Wasteland, prices are more likely to sustain or to slowly decrease further as TPR drafts keep firing.

Wanted commons and uncommons such as Lotus Petal, Rolling Thunder and Diabolic Edict have lost a big chunk of value. The last two being pretty much at their absolute bottom in the 0.01-0.02 Tix range. They might even lose more as packs keep being opened and supply floods the market. Lotus Petal is unlikely to reach such bulk prices due to it being an uncommon and a Legacy staple, but its price may come down further before the end of Tempest Remastered events.

From a relatively flat trend since February, the Power 9 are clearly losing ground since the release of Dragons of Tarkir. Black Lotus is now only few Tix away from the symbolic level of 100 Tix, its all-time low. On the other hand, the vast majority of the other VMA cards including the dual lands, Jace, Force of Will, Dack Fayden, Flusterstorm, Lion's Eye Diamond and Mana Drain remain mostly flat.

Pauper

After the general price decline observed for Pauper staples over the past two to three weeks, and following the DTK release events, several cards have finally regained some strength. Mental Note, Moment's Peace, Sunscape Familiar, Cuombajj Witches, Standard Bearer, Prismatic Strands and Innocent Blood have clearly rebounded and are now on an upward trend.

If the Pauper format keeps attracting a certain critical mass of players, it is anticipated to show cyclical variations of prices. If this is any proof of this concept, the metagame was dominated by U/x decks for the past several months. According to the Mtggoldfish Pauper Metagame stats, Mono-Black Devotion is the most represented deck at the moment, and by a good margin with 17.5% of the field.

In addition to Delver decks and Familiar decks, Stompy, Affinity, White Tokens and Goblins are among the top eight most represented archetypes. Keeping a close eye on these metagame changes are certainly a great help for speculators eager to anticipate prices changes and maximize their profit.

Targeted Speculative Buying Opportunities

Modern

Linvala, Keeper of Silence

Linvala was severely devalued with the ban of Birthing Pod. From 30 Tix this angel has fallen to 6 Tix and seems to have stabilized recently. This card is clearly not a hot pick but the upside is huge now that Linvala is, most likely, cleared for not being reprinted in the next two years.

In addition, its 30 Tix price tag was reached while only being a one- or two-of in decklists, suggesting that not much would be needed to raise its price again. This is a long-term pick.

Targeted Speculative Selling Opportunities

None

Insider: Modern Masters II – Commons and Uncommons to Spec On

Posted on May 13, 2015January 17, 2022 by Brian DeMars

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Wizards of the Coast deciding to reprint popular Modern staples via the Modern Masters printings is a pretty significant game changer for collectors and speculators. The most important precedent set is that Wizards is not going to allow the prices for Modern staples to get completely out of hand in the same manner that the reserve list has affected the prices of Legacy staples like dual lands.

Instead, we know that Modern will be a format where if the price of any card or group of cards gets too outrageous that we as players and collectors can actually expect that card to see a reprinting in order to get it into the hands of players.

This makes investing in Modern cards a really tricky situation because we know that if we ever invest 'too wisely,' reprints will eventually knock our profits back down to Earth. So, the trick with Modern is to always buy low but then to sell sooner rather than later since once a card gets 'too high' it is likely to be reprinted and thus go back down in price.

One last little factoid that I'd like to throw out before focusing on the cards I'm investing in now is that the full Modern Masters spoiler is up.

I know that the print run for Modern Masters 2015 is believed to be significantly higher than the first printing, which we might assume will affect the prices of reprinted cards more drastically than the first Modern Masters. However, I am taking this claim with a grain of salt, mostly due to my belief that a much lower percentage of the product of the second printing will be opened than the first printing.

It seems pretty clear to me that the absolute best thing one could have done with their first printing of Modern Masters was simply to hold onto it as sealed product. The going price for MMA booster packs is around $25.00 per, which if you bought sealed boxes at MSRP is a tremendous profit. It was way better value to buy sealed product and hold onto it. I think that many savvy investors are going to see how well that plan worked out the first time around and aim to repeat it.

So, while the print run may be larger, the fact that a lesser percentage of the product is likely to be opened should keep the effects and trends of price changes very similar to the first go-round.

With that being said I'm going to focus on some of the most glaring cards that were not included in MMII and explain how I anticipate it will affect card prices in the short term. Keep in mind that I stress "short term" because there will always be more Modern-related reprints so nothing is ever going to be a 'safe hold forever' kind of investment.

Uncommonly Good Commons and Uncommons

There was an error retrieving a chart for Serum Visions

Editor's note: since this article went to print, Serum Visions has been announced as an FNM promo, which explains its absence from MMA2015. This does not, of course preclude another possible printing as suggested below.

The absolute most glaring card that ought to have been reprinted in MMII but wasn't is (in my opinion) Serum Visions. The card is already one of the most important and most played cards in the format and is essentially a $10 common. Modern Masters II seemed like the perfect opportunity to reprint this card as an uncommon and get more copies into the hands of players and cap the price a little bit.

However, for whatever reason it wasn't and I expect the price of this card to increase by 50-100% in the short term. People are basically just waiting to see what is or isn't in the set and then for the cards that didn't get put in to see a brisk increase.

However, I'm going to be selling all of my extra copies of Serum Visions as soon as the price spikes in the next few weeks and here is why: it is simply too fishy not to reprint the card for Modern in a Modern Masters release. The only thing that makes sense to me is that we are going to see a reprinting of Serum Vision as an easy way to push a Modern Event Deck, possibly U/R Delver, at some point in the next six months.

A U/R Delver deck seems very similar in terms of the type of good commons and uncommons to the B/W Tokens deck. Think about it: Delver of Secrets, Young Pyromancer, Lightning Bolt, and of course Serum Visions all in one deck.

I could also see Serum Visions as the type of card they could reprint in Standard in a release like Magic Origins over the summer. So, while I think the hype for the card will initially cause it to balloon up in the short term I think that holding the card will be risky business.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Young Pyromancer

I was also surprised that Young Pyromancer didn't find its way into this set. The card is widely played in both Modern and Legacy and really has the ability to break out as a truly expensive uncommon. It only saw print in one core set and core sets tend to get opened far less than block expansions.

A U/R Delver event deck could help this problem but in the short term I think we'll see a rise in price on this powerful two-drop creature. I've been stocking up on the card since it was in Standard and I'm looking forward to getting paid off in the next couple of months.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Gitaxian Probe

I was really surprised not to see Gitaxian Probe included in MMII as it is one of the most broken cards in the format. It may not be the "most powerful" but what it does is uniquely unfair (drawing a card and playing a spell for no mana) and it is a card that because of its uniqueness is only going to get better as people find better ways to abuse it.

I would not be surprised to see this card hit a $10 price tag at some point in the future so long as it doesn't get reprinted. I also think that this is very specifically not the kind of card that would be put into a core set like MTG Origins nor is it a particularly interesting Commander reprint, and so it being reprinted at any point in the next two years would hinge directly upon a U/R Delver Modern event deck.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Mishra's Bauble

Speaking of drawing cards and playing spells for no mana... Mishra's Bauble is also kind of an interesting no-reprint in this set as this Coldsnap uncommon has already spiked up close to $10. I feel like this one is a little bit more forgivable because they might not have considered how big of an impact the delve creatures like Tasigur, the Golden Fang and Gurmag Angler would affect the Modern metagame.

I really like Mishra's Bauble as a potential card to pick up because first of all it is from an under-opened set and second of all it is much less likely to be reprinted than some of the more staple cantrips.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Rancor

Rancor is an absolutely fantastic Magic card. From the perspective of somebody who manages inventory for a card shop, I can assure you that you'd be shocked by the pure volume of Rancors that a game store sells.

Not only do the casual guys and girls put this card into like every deck they make but it is also featured in two of the best decks in Modern: Infect and Bogles. Interestingly enough the card also didn't make it into MMII which I think is very good for people who speculated on it.

Another thing worth noting is that Noble Hierarch and Daybreak Coronet both did get reprinted in Modern Masters 2015, which are the most prohibitive expensive cards in the two respective decks where Rancor gets played. If the price of Hierarch and Coronet comes down it stands to reason that more people will be looking to pick up Rancor in the future.

Give Me Lots of Land Destruction

While Modern Masters 2015 may have given us a very notable land destruction spell in Fulminator Mage many of the most potent land kill is stunningly absent from the set.

One of the big things that makes Modern unique from Standard is the fact that "old style," messed up land destruction spells are legal. For instance, think about a card like Blood Moon which is also absent from MMII (and a great prospective target right now) and how different that card feels than spells that have been printed in the past six or seven years.

The completely-wreck-you hateful land destruction is an important aspect of how Modern works and I'm surprised to see these cards not reprinted this time around as they are already quite expensive. It actually makes me wonder if there is some sort of a "ban-watch" going on for the abusive Mana-hosers at the DCI. That is purely speculative, but it is very strange to me that the land destruction spells didn't see a reprint. I guess it is also theoretically possible that Boil is not the most fun card for Modern Masters Limited...

Nonetheless, whatever the reason that these spells didn't make it into the set makes them fantastic speculative candidates.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Choke

Choke is basically one of the hottest Modern cards right now and has been picking up a lot of steam in terms of value. I think the fact that it is not in MMII likely shoots this card over the $10 mark in a hurry. It has been over a year since the last time I didn't pull out a Choke from somebody's trade binder and I expect that the card is really primed to gain value.

The biggest thing working against Choke is that blue control decks are not really at their best at the moment. However, if something changes and they become a little bit better the space for growth on this single also increases greatly.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Tectonic Edge

Tectonic Edge has seen some reprints but it is also a really important card in Modern. It is incidental land destruction that can go into a wide variety of control and midrange decks and also double as hard removal against decks with manlands.

In my opinion, Edge is easily one of the best utility lands in the format and I'd expect that the fact that it didn't make it into MMII can only cause it to gain some value in the future.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Rolling Spoil

Here is a card that most people don't know too much about but it is a really unique and quite powerful spell. I like it as a way to deal with Lingering Souls and Young Pyromancer, and it's a pretty decent sideboard spell against both Tron and Affinity.

The card has very little value right now but is old and from Ravnica, and if it sees some play somewhere down the line the price has a lot of room to grow.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Sowing Salt

Karn Liberated, Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, and Eye of Ugin all saw a reprint in Modern Masters II and the upcoming set is heavily implied to have an Eldrazi theme going on...

Seems like Tron in Modern really benefits from this chain of events and Sowing Salt is easily the most devastating sideboard card against that deck. Yet another example of a screwed up sideboard card from an era where R&D still believed that spells that made it so your opponents couldn't cast spells were fun and fair.

The far reaching effects of Modern Masters II are going to be large, sweeping, and impossible to predict completely. However, this kind of volatile environment is exactly where speculators and prospectors like us are able to really thrive and make bank by trading for cards that are likely to grow. I love commons and uncommons as cards to invest in because they typically start very low and thus have tons of room to grow.

Commons and uncommons also typically are cards with a ton of utility that see a ton of play. If you look at the cards I propose as potential investments in this article, they are all cards that see a lot of play in a variety of different archetypes.

I'm really looking forward to Modern Masters II and getting a chance to draft it at my local game shop. I'm also looking forward to making some solid trades and attacking the market from the bottom right on up!

Serum Visions to be August’s FNM Promo

Posted on May 13, 2015May 12, 2015 by Ryan Overturf

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When Modern Masters 2015 was fully spoiled, several cards were sited as glaring omissions. Chief among these omissions was $10 common Serum Visions.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Serum Visions

There is some reprieve here though, as Serum Visions has officially been announced as August's FNM promo. This clearly doesn't bring as many copies into the market as a reprint at common would, but four copies showing up at your LGS every week is a pretty solid supply. With a new art on the promo it's hard to say how this will impact the price of Fifth Dawn copies, but minimally this is great news for people looking to play blue in Modern but unwilling to shell out a Hamilton for one of the worst cantrips to ever be widely played.

Splashing White in Elves

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Sean Ridgeley

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Elves is now a pretty strong deck when it's just plain old monogreen, and offers certain advantages in staying so (namely less damage from lands, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, Cavern of Souls, and Pendelhaven are more consistent, and we're not really hurt by Blood Moon), but exploring a splash is always important to see if we can create an even better version of the deck.

What to splash?

Blue's main draw (pun unintentional) is counterspells, which don't fit in a proactive mostly aggro deck like ours. Coiling Oracle would make for a nice upgrade over Elvish Visionary, Hurkyl's Recall is great (although not a creature), Bribery and Alchemist's Refuge are intriguing, and blue helps with Spellskite, but overall I don't think it's quite enough.

Black offers disruption which poses a similar issue -- it could be useful mainly against wrath or to slow down our opponent enough for us to win before them, but generally, I think we'd rather just race. There's also Prowess of the Fair (note it counts as an elf for Heritage), which might be good, or just inferior to creatures.

Red really just gives us Magus of the Moon, which would probably be a great idea in greedy metas that also have a lot of Amulet, but otherwise, it doesn't offer enough.

So, we're left with white, which happens to offer a ton of things we want: hate for Burn, Affinity, Amulet, and much more. Even better, most of the cards we want are creatures (good for our Collected Companytoolbox, and because we're an aggressive deck). Let's take a look at what white brings us.

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What White Does

Kataki, War's Wage: This man-creature-lady-god-whatever thing almost always annihilates Affinity, strapping their resources so hard they can do little but swing for small amount of damage and hope it's enough. Often they won't even be able to do that. Affinity is a hard match for us if we don't draw hate cards, and this is the best one of all for us, made easier to find courtesy of Company and tutors.

Thalia, Guardian of Thraben: What do you do when disruption is ruining your day? Disrupt the disruption, of course. This young lady can be a real nightmare for most of the top decks in the format right now by doing a lot of work against opposing disruption and Burn (which can be tough), among other things. This makes her relevant enough I have to consider maindecking her. The big problem with her is she hurts Company, which can be annoying sometimes at 4cmc, let alone 5. Given Company is the whole reason the deck is now viable, this is troublesome.

Aven Mindcensor: An elegant way to hurt Amulet, Scapeshift, and Tron, all of which are difficult matchups. As ever, we love the instant speed. (Scapeshift? Mindcensor in response. No Scapeshift? Company end of turn.)

Burrenton Forge-Tender: Nice for decks running Pyroclasm or Electrolyze, and can do a little work versus Burn, too.

Kor Firewalker: A nasty, near unbeatable card for Burn, which can otherwise be a tough deck to beat if you're running Elves. We do need it turn 2 for it to be good most of the time -- this could prove difficult to achieve with our manabase.

Those are the toolbox creatures. Now let's take a look at a couple of non-creatures.

Worship: We'll rarely have trouble keeping this turned on, and many decks have few or no answers for it (take that, BGx!). More, since we run little or no artifacts or enchantments mainboard, our opponent is likely not going to board in any hate for it. And even when they do, we're just going to run it as a 1-of, so we're likely gaining more than they are from that exchange. I could see this being a monster versus most of the top decks right now. Thalia makes it maybe more expensive than it's worth, so that's another reason to not run her.

Horizon Canopy: Mana fixing that doubles as a cantrip -- yes, please. I like this card more because splashing white likely means we have to cut back on non-basics that don't tap for two colours, but we still want some kind of land-based advantages.

Gavony Township: Speaking of land-based advantages, this is a great one, furthering our backup beatdown plan. Yeah, it taps for colourless only, but squeezing in one should help a lot more than it will hurt (as is the case with Nykthos in monogreen).

The List

With all that in mind, here's where I would start with for an Elves list splashing white:

G/W Elves by Sean Ridgeley

Creatures

4 Llanowar Elves

4 Elvish Mystic

4 Heritage Druid

4 Nettle Sentinel

4 Devoted Druid

4 Fauna Shaman

4 Elvish Visionary

4 Elvish Archdruid

4 Ezuri, Renegade Leader

1 Scavenging Ooze

1 Spellskite

Spells

4 Collected Company

Lands

4 Windswept Heath

4 Razorverge Thicket

2 Horizon Canopy

1 Gavony Township

2 Temple Garden

5 Forest

Sideboard

1 Burrenton Forge-Tender

4 Essence Warden

1 Setessan Tactics

1 Choke

3 Kataki, War's Wage

2 Scavenging Ooze

1 Aven Mindcensor

1 Reclamation Sage

1 Worship

Tweaking G/W Elves

Whether or not to use Thalia is still a debate in my mind and is something I will likely test in the future, but for now my instinct tells me this is right. Possibly I will put her sideboard, if only for Burn.

I was testing 3-4 Ooze in the monogreen build, and while it was great against all the Delver, Abzan, and other decks about, it was usually terrible versus Burn and Affinity, so I feel like 1 main, 2 side is an okay balance. It will be relevant more often against Burn and Affinity this way, and still seen fairly often in the matchups it's great in.

The landbase should maybe be tweaked to not be hurt so badly by Blood Moon. Another downside of it is our Burn matchup is now worse, and it was already less than desirable.

All that said, I'm pretty happy with this list as a first iteration. In future articles, I'll have testing and daily footage and impressions to determine whether Elves is really better off for white or not. Until then!

Tiny Tuesday- Lin Sivvi Life

Posted on May 12, 2015May 12, 2015 by Ryan Overturf

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It's that time of the week again! For today's Tiny Tuesday I want to talk about one of the most oppressive cards in Magic history that, by today's standards might be considered kind of weak. If you're into the history of the game, then you might have guessed the card that I'm talking about in this context.

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While Lin Sivvi isn't what she used to be, a Commander that can tutor up value is worth exploring. The reason that I like Lin Sivvi is that she provides an easy way to set up life combo. This is another one from the history books, which revolves around creating an infinite toughness creature. There are a couple cards that can make this happen, but the easiest access for a Lin Sivvi deck are in the form of Outrider en-Kor and Task Force. The Outrider and use its ability to target the Task Force any number of times, building an arbitrarily large toughness. The most commonly played way to make use of this was replacing the Task Force with Daru Spiritualist and sacrificing it to Starlit Sanctum. Seeing as Lin Sivvi's color identity won't let us play that land and we'd rather have the rebel than the cleric anyway, we'll be using Miren, the Moaning Well.

Diamond Valley would also fit this role, but not tapping for mana and costing a billion dollars keeps it out of my build.

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The combo is just one element of the deck though. The rest of the deck is filled with white's best interactive spells, a bunch of rebels to tutor up, and a couple land tutors to find either Miren to combo or Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx to generate mana and get a ton of rebels into play.

Tiny Lin Sivvi

creatures

1 Weathered Wayfarer

1 Amrou Scout

1 Aven Riftwatcher

1 Defiant Falcon

1 Defiant Vanguard

1 Errant Doomsayers

1 Knight of the Holy Nimbus

1 Outrider en-Kor

1 Ramosian Sergeant

1 Riftmarked Knight

1 Task Force

1 Whipcorder

1 Mirror Entity

1 Stoneforge Mystic

1 Mother of Runes

1 Mentor of the Meek

1 Children of Korlis

1 Brimaz, King of Oreskos

1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

spells

1 Expedition Map

1 Bound in Silence

1 Banishing Light

1 Oblivion Ring

1 Path to Exile

1 Swords to Plowshares

1 Nevermore

1 Silkwrap

1 Lightning Greaves

1 Sword of Fire and Ice

1 Sword of Feast and Famine

1 Council's Judgment

lands

1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

1 Mutavault

1 Mishra's Factory

1 Mistveil Plains

1 Wasteland

1 Arid Mesa

1 Marsh Flats

1 Flooded Strand

1 Windswept Heath

6 Plains

1 Cavern of Souls

1 Eiganjo Castle

1 Miren, the Moaning Well

I'm not sure that this deck is as competitive as other lists that I've posted here, but it has a lot of cool elements that I'm sure some of you will appreciate.