Daily Financial Value Of Born Of The Gods (1/23)

Hello everyone and welcome back to my daily series of financial articles about Born of the Gods! Wizards of the Coast accidentally put up the set FAQ a few days early, so the majority of the missing rares from the set were spoiled all at once. Today’s update will have all but two of the remaining rares spoiled (with the last being the unconfirmed yet likely Fated Retribution).

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 Born of the Gods.
Future Price – Medium Term: The price I believe this card will be at by the time the next set (Journey into Nyx) comes out.
Future Price – Long Term: The price I believe this card will be at a year from now when the next winter set is released (name unknown still).

Astral Cornucopia

Starting Price: $2

Current Price: $2

Future Price (Short Term): $2

Future Price (Medium Term): $1.50

Future Price (Long Term): $2

I’ll debate about where this sits on the continuum of Coalition Relic and Chromatic Lantern. Coalition Relic could accelerate you two mana; Chromatic Lantern and Astral Cornucopia each accelerate you only one. Let’s compare Lantern to Cornucopia:

Advantage Lantern: Turns all of your lands into five-color producers.

Advantage Cornucopia: Scales to produce more than one mana at six (or any multiple of three) mana.

So the question here is this—how often will playing a Cornucopia for six mana matter? My answer is “depends if you’re playing with Urzatron or not.” In short, I view them as a wash in value and expect Astral Cornucopia to be at the $1.50-$2.50 mark over the next year.

Courser of Kruphix

Starting Price: $3

Current Price: $4

Future Price (Short Term): $5

Future Price (Medium Term): $3

Future Price (Long Term): $3

Green often gets 3/3 creatures with an upside for three mana, but 2/4 for three is rarely seen. I bring this up because Courser of Kruphix is made for a ramp strategy and having a creature that can more easily play defense in the early game. Add in the “gain a life when you have a land enter the battlefield” ability and you’ve got a creature that would deserve a look without any other abilities (fringe playable, mind you, but playable).

Then we can add in the “play a land off the top of your library” ability. This is not as strong as it first looks—you don’t get an additional land a turn (like with Oracle of Mul Daya). You just get to Future Sight one land a turn, which somewhere around 40-50% of the time will net you an extra card each turn. Courser is playable, but I’m not sure he’s the $4-$5 playable he’s going for on eBay right now. I expect it to drop down to the $3 range once redemptions go live, with maybe even a dip into $2ville.

Eidolon of Countless Battles

Starting Price: $1

Current Price: $2.50

Future Price (Short Term): $2

Future Price (Medium Term): $1

Future Price (Long Term): $1

Nighthowler. Bonehoarder. I’ve seen these cards get hyped to the $2-$4 range and then plummet down to bulksville shortly after release. To me, Eidolon of Countless Battles is just this type of card—it’s a mechanic pushed very hard in cost, but in the end your opponent casts Wrath of God and you’re left with a 1/1 creature. How playable would Voice of Resurgence be at four mana? Not nearly as good as it is at two mana.

Fated Return

Starting Price: $1

Current Price: $1

Future Price (Short Term): $0.50

Future Price (Medium Term): $0.50

Future Price (Long Term): $0.50

Bulk rare. Single-target reanimation this expensive just doesn’t see play, including in casual.

Gild

Starting Price: $1

Current Price: $1

Future Price (Short Term): $0.75

Future Price (Medium Term): $0.50

Future Price (Long Term): $0.75

Bulk black removal. With Doom Blade and Hero’s Demise in the Standard, there isn’t really a place for Gild. It also hurts that Gild is at sorcery speed. Black wasn’t exactly jonesing for a spell that ramps it from four to six mana on turn 5.

Perplexing Chimera

Starting Price: $0.50

Current Price: $0.75

Future Price (Short Term): $0.50

Future Price (Medium Term): $0.50

Future Price (Long Term): $0.50

When I first read this card, I thought “Goblin Electromancer.” On further reflection, I realized it could also let you gain control of creatures, planeswalkers, and enchantments. On even further reflection, I realized that you then gave the Perplexing Chimera to your opponent so he could gain control of your next spell. On fourth reflection, I also realized that you’re paying five mana for a 3/3 creature that isn’t exactly a “must deal with” threat, nor does it stop things like mass removal. Might end up as a sideboard card and might have a decent upside, but not a barnburner.

Satyr Firedancer

Starting Price: $2

Current Price: $2

Future Price (Short Term): $3

Future Price (Medium Term): $3

Future Price (Long Term): $3

Reverse Jackal Pup for all your opponent’s creatures. I actually see this as a very relevant sideboard card for Mono-Red Burn decks in Modern and Legacy. Generally you don’t want to give up Bolting your opponent in favor of clearing out their creature, and Satyr Firedancer lets all of your burn spells (including things that normally can’t hit creatures, like Lava Spike and Flame Rift) hit your opponent’s creatures.

Again, I don’t think this’ll make the maindeck of Mono-Red Burn, but I do think it’ll be a staple sideboard card for those decks in Eternal formats.

Scourge of Skola Vale

Starting Price: $0.50

Current Price: $0.50

Future Price (Short Term): $0.50

Future Price (Medium Term): $0.50

Future Price (Long Term): $0.50

I’ve seen a lot of green creatures with pseudo-this effect. None of them have ended up being very high value. If Scourge didn’t tap (and instead just had a mana cost to sacrifice), I would think it has a bright future, but taking it out of combat contention to grow it for a turn puts an unnecessary delay on being able to make this creature work for Constructed play.

Whims of the Fates

Starting Price: $0.50

Current Price: $0.50

Future Price (Short Term): $0.50

Future Price (Medium Term): $0.50

Future Price (Long Term): $0.50

Obligatory red "random" card that has no applications to Standard and has a very niche appeal to casual players.

Pack Value

To determine the value of a booster pack, I’m going to start with the following formula:

(2R + 1M) / 80

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).

33 out of the 35 rares have been spoiled. Here are the ones that are $2 and up:

Astral Cornucopia: $2
Courser of Kruphix: $4
Eidolon of Countless Battles: $2
Hero of Iroas: $2
Pain Seer: $12
Satyr Firedancer: $2
Spirit of the Labyrinth: $8
Temple of Enlightenment: $5
Temple of Malice: $5
Temple of Plenty: $5