Welcome to the first official day of spoiler season for Magic Origins! Today’s article will cover all cards officially spoiled up until this point – ones spoiled through the rules primer for Magic Origins by Mark Rosewater two weeks ago, the cards spoiled through the new Duels of the Planeswalkers previewed at E3 over the past week, and spoilers on the Mothership. I won’t be talking about unofficial spoilers or non-English spoilers yet. The first because I don’t condone theft (the SDCC planeswalkers were leaked due to what I can only assume is a theft) and the second because I’ve seen enough cards slightly mistranslated that I don’t want to assume card text until the English text on the card is spoiled the next day. Discussing these cards isn’t a race; it’s more of me trying to be as accurate as possible when giving my thoughts about their financial values!
How I Review:
Starting Price
: The first price we assign to this card as a preorder.
Current Price
: The current price of the card by the time this article goes live.
Future Price – Short Term
: The price I believe this card will be at before Magic Online redemptions go live for Magic Origins.
Future Price – Medium Term
: The price I believe this card will be at by the time the next set (Battle for Zendikar) comes out.
Future Price – Long Term
: The price I believe this card will be at a year from now when the first set of the second block of next year is released! (The one that is the block AFTER Battle for Zendikar block).
 |
Alhammaret, High Arbiter |
|
Rarity: Rare Starting Price: $1 Current Price: $1 Future Price (Short Term): $0.50 Future Price (Medium Term): $0.50 Future Price (Long Term): $0.50 |
Seven mana is a lot for a Meddling Mage. Plus, Alhammarret is one of the rares in the Intro Packs, meaning there will be an extra-large supply out there. I can see this being a one- or two-of finisher in blue decks in Standard (since you get the name the card as it enters the battlefield, stopping their removal spell), often it will be wayyyyy too slow in non-control matchups.
 |
|
|
Rarity: Mythic Starting Price: $10 Current Price: $10 Future Price (Short Term): $12 Future Price (Medium Term): $8 Future Price (Long Term): $6 |
Grafted Skullcap has been an eminently playable card, tending to show up in red decks over the years whenever it sees Standard print. Attaching it to a 4/4 flyer for four is just the kind of card an all-in Red burn deck wants.
The drawback? They unsummon Avaricious Dragon in response to your “Discard your hand” trigger. The advantage? You draw two cards a turn, while also beating with a 4/4 flyer for four. This should be very playable in Standard and possibly good enough to be the top-end of the curve in a Modern build. Plus – it’s a Dragon while Dragons still matter.
| [/card] | |
|
Rarity: Rare Starting Price: $1 Current Price: $1 Future Price (Short Term): $0.50 Future Price (Medium Term): $0.50 Future Price (Long Term): $0.50 |
While this is a complete bomb in Limited, it’s a complete bomb (in the other sense of the word) in Constructed. Five mana plus having to keep “target creature” in play while this spell resolves is just a recipe for an entirely- unreliable board sweeper.
| [/card] | |
|
Rarity: Rare Starting Price: $2 Current Price: $2 Future Price (Short Term): $2 Future Price (Medium Term): $2 Future Price (Long Term): $3 |
This reminds me of Krenko, Mob Boss. Dwynen is one of the Intro Pack rares, so that will keep her value down in the short term. In the long term, she’s an Elf lord who has reasonable stats and gains life. That makes her very appealing to casual players, and she may have a place in Standard if Elves are a supported tribe in Battle for Zendikar.
 |
|
|
Rarity: Rare Starting Price: $1 Current Price: $1 Future Price (Short Term): $0.50 Future Price (Medium Term): $0.75 Future Price (Long Term): $0.75 |
Not quite bulk, but also hindered by being yet another Intro Pack rare. This is actually a respectable combat trick, even if the body isn’t quite big enough for five mana. Should see some play in Standard, for control-on-control matches.
| [/card] | |
|
Rarity: Rare Starting Price: $1 Current Price: $1 Future Price (Short Term): $0.50 Future Price (Medium Term): $0.50 Future Price (Long Term): $0.50 |
Hurt, like many other cards on this list, by being an Intro Pack rare. Korthophed is also probably too slow for Standard, but should be a great favorite for Commander play.
| [/card] | [/card] | |
|
Rarity: Mythic Starting Price: $25 Current Price: $25 Future Price (Short Term): $30 Future Price (Medium Term): $20 Future Price (Long Term): $15 |
So let’s get this out of the way – from a financial perspective, I’m very much not a fan of the flip planeswalkers. I think they have amazing flavor, I think they will be very popular, but I think they will not play very well. People are used to being able to play planeswalkers and then immediately active them. Every one of the new flip planeswalkers can be killed in response to their “flip” trigger, meaning that even if you reach the condition to turn them from creatures into planeswalkers, your opponent has a say in whether that trigger ever goes off.
Evaluating Kytheon/Gideon as a creature, he reminds me a lot of Fleecemane Lion. Often what you see is what you get (2/1 for 1 or 3/3 for 2), and every now and then you’re going to hit a trigger that lets you get something bigger (Gideon for the former, a 4/4 indestructible creature for the latter). The saving grace on Kytheon is that A) If you’re playing a deck that wants a 2/1 for W, Kytheon is perfectly fine on its own, and B) The indestructible activated ability on Kytheon is relevant. Of the planeswalkers spoiled so far, this is probably the best in terms of pre-flip creature.
| [/card] | |
|
Rarity: Rare Starting Price: $5 Current Price: $5 Future Price (Short Term): $6 Future Price (Medium Term): $3 Future Price (Long Term): $2 |
Wizards still will not reprint Damnation, but Languish is pretty close. I’d think of Languish as a splashable Mutilate – and Mutilate was very playable in Standard. This is the only printing of this particular Wrath variant (Mutilate has six printings and counting), so I’d look at the price trajectory of things like Crux of Fate. I believe that Languish will be very played in Standard, but there’s very little reason (Indestructible creatures?) to play it in Modern.
| [/card] | [/card] | |
|
Rarity: Mythic Starting Price: $20 Current Price: $20 Future Price (Short Term): $15 Future Price (Medium Term): $10 Future Price (Long Term): $8 |
The only saving grace in my eyes for Liliana is that she will be Standard-legal while there are two mechanics that help trigger her without making you go too far out of your way to build around flipping her: Exploit, and (I’m guessing here, but feel safe guessing it) Eldrazi Spawn. Otherwise, you’re ending up with a 2/3 Lifelink creature for three mana with no other intrinsic abilities. I would not play with a Lifelink Hurloon Minotaur, so every time you draw Liliana on an empty board (or as your first creature) you’re playing a very, very sub-par card.
| [/card] |  |
|
|
Rarity: Mythic Starting Price: $15 Current Price: $15 Future Price (Short Term): $20 Future Price (Medium Term): $15 Future Price (Long Term): $15 |
Let’s compare Nissa, Vastwood Seer to Nissa, Worldwaker. I make this comparison, because it’s very easy (in a green deck) to make sure that on turn five you’re flipping Nissa, Vastwood Seer on the turn you play her.
Nissa, Worldwaker: Cost 3GG. Does nothing when it enters the battlefield. Starts with three Loyalty. Makes 4/4 Creatures (+1), untaps four forests (+1) and ultimates never really matter for practical purposes so let’s ignore this.
Nissa, Vastwood Seer: Costs 2G. Acts as Borderland Ranger (which is Standard-playable) when it enters the battlefield. Opponent has an ability to kill Nissa, Vastwood Seer on the flip trigger – but it can trigger as you play the land it fetches (or by cracking a fetchland while it’s already in play). Starts with three Loyalty. +1: Draw a card or put a land onto the battlefield from your library. -2: Make a 4/4 creature (doesn’t take a land). -7: Doesn’t matter on ultimates, I already said this!
I think that Nissa, Worldwaker is the better card, but the two are not too far off in power level. Worldwaker hit $40-$50 for a month after release, so I don’t think it’s irresponsible to put NIssa, Vastwood Seer at about 40%-50% of that value.
| [/card] | |
|
Rarity: Rare Starting Price: $2 Current Price: $2 Future Price (Short Term): $4 Future Price (Medium Term): $3 Future Price (Long Term): $2 |
This is the closest thing to being a playable Siege-Gang Commander that Wizards has printed in a long time. Siege-Gang had a huge advantage of being a Goblin at a time when being a Goblin was relevant (Goblin Lackey, Goblin Ringleader, Goblin Warchief). Take away the “Goblin” part and Pia and Kiran Nalaar is, in my opinion, the superior card. It comes down a turn earlier, it makes evasive creatures, and they can sacrifice non-creature things (Artifacts) to deal damage. This will be very played in Standard, but their overall value is hurt by being an Intro Pack rare.
Changes Since The Last Article
None! This is the first daily financial article I’m doing for Magic Origins so far. Hold your horses people!
PACK VALUE
To determine the value of a booster pack, I’m going to start with the following formula:
(2R + 1M)/121
That isn’t enough of a picture though. In fairness, $0.50 to $1 bulk rares don’t really amount to “real” value if you’re looking to trade with other players. So I’m omitting the value of any rare that is below $2 (rounded from $1.99) and any Mythic that is below $4 (rounded from $3.99).
7 out of the 53 Rares have been spoiled. Here are the ones that are $2 and up!
Languish: $5
Total Rare Value: $9
4 out of the 15 Mythic Rares have been spoiled!
Avaricious Dragon: $10
Kytheon, Hero of Akroas | Gideon, Battle-Forged: $25
Liliana, Heretical Healer | Liliana, Defiant Necromancer: $20
Nissa, Vastwood Seer | Nissa, Sage Animist: $15
Total Mythic Value: $70
So plugging this into the formula, we get the following:
(2R ($9) + 1M ($70) ) = $88
$88/121 = $0.73 value per pack, or $26.28 per box.
Given that virtually none of the set has been spoiled so far (11 Mythics and 46 rares left to go), I’m not at all concerned about the current pack value. Both Jace and Chandra will command some premium and the equipment-fetching white card that was spoiled today by a non-English site is very spicy.
See you all tomorrow!