Welcome to the penultimate chapter of my Financial Value of Battle for Zendikar! There were a handful of cards spoiled overnight, so let’s look at
those. Tomorrow, I’ll be tackling the last cards spoiled, along with the foil values of cards that I think will have extraordinary values due to demand.
I’ll also have my final thoughts about the set’s value and cards that I might have had a change of heart about!
WotC is really trying to get away from one-drop creatures that universally accelerate mana. Ramp now goes from two mana on turn 2 to four mana on turn 3.
Beastcaller Savant is relatively sub-par in that slot for Standard given that we’re used to Sylvan Caryatid. The loss of toughness, hexproof, and most
importantly, the ability to cast non-creature spells with the mana (or use activated abilities) are all downside.
The upside is that Beastcaller Savant has haste and is an Elf, making it a card that might slot into the Elves combo deck in Modern, ahead of play in
Standard. Yes, Beastcaller Savant will see Standard play (it’s an efficient-enough mana accelerant and it’s also an Ally), and it can get you out of a
color-screw. The haste ability is only really relevant if you can cast something immediately using the Savant, which is where the Elf deck comes in.
Starting this at $2, which is where I’d put a solid but unspectacular rare mana accelerator.
Total bulk rare. Probably a total bomb in Limited, but having to spend six mana and tap down all your creatures to Wrath your opponent (and only if you have said creatures to begin with, and only if they are Eldrazi/Devoid/Artifacts) is not where you want to be in Constructed.
Six-mana Time Walk effects don’t generally end up seeing tournament play but end up being popular with casual players. This one is a little different, in
that you can ramp it up to nine and end up taking another turn along with pounding with a 6/6 creature. That makes this a better option than previous
six-mana Time Walk cards that were Standard-legal (Walk the Aeons, Medomai the Ageless, and Wanderwine Prophets). The closest comparison is Walk the Aeons,
and making a 6/6 creature and taking an extra turn is better in Constructed than losing three of your lands for the possibility of casting the spell a
second time. Might be a sleeper card in the set, starting it at $5.
So this is a huge spoiler in Commander play, and will be very popular (to play with) and very hated (to play against) at the same time. This scales
extremely well with multiple players in the game.
The reason I’m spending so much time talking about it for Commander play is that this type of card is very easy to play around in Constructed. If you’re
playing an aggressive deck, chances are you can just stop playing lands until either you kill your opponent or remove Sire of Stagnation. If you’re playing
control, it shouldn’t be too difficult to deal with a six-drop 5/7 that has no other type of protection or evasion (either with chump blocking with tokens,
or just outright killing it).
I’m always wary of punisher cards (cards where your opponent gets to choose the better of two bad effects), and in this case it’s “stop playing lands at
turn 5-6” versus “let your opponent draw two cards.”
I’ll also note that the draw is not optional, so it is possible (but unlikely) that you can use an opponent’s Sire of Stagnation to deck them. I
said unlikely, but then again, a New Frontiers in a multiplayer game could just outright kill whoever has the Sire if the other players go full-out for as
many lands as possible.
Starting it at $5, expecting it to drop.
See you all tomorrow for the final entry of my Financial Values article! I’ll talk about the last two rares, commons/uncommons of note, foil cards of note,
and the full set value per pack!