Welcome back to the fourth day of the Financial Value Of Journey Into Nyx! Today features a few new rares and mythics and the largest amount of movement on the prices of previously spoiled cards yet for this set release. Buckle up and let’s get rolling!
Side Note: My Building On My Budget (or BOMB, if you will) column will be going on hiatus the next two weeks while I concentrate on the Daily Financial Value column. Don’t worry—I have a humdinger (yes, I said humdinger) of a column planned for the return of BOMB!
How I review:
Starting Price: The first price we assign to the 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 the card will be at before Magic Online redemptions go live for Born of the Gods.
Future Price (Medium Term): The price I believe the card will be at by the time the next set (M15) comes out.
Future Price (Long Term): The price I believe the card will be at a year from now when the next spring set is released (name unknown still, but probably [Something] of Khanar).
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Starting Price: $8 Current Price: $6 Future Price (Short Term): $6 Future Price (Medium Term): $8 Future Price (Long Term): $6 |
Last set release Spirit of the Labyrinth got hyped to here and back and ended up being more or less a bust. Eidolon of the Great Revel is not going to be a bust. Pyrostatic Pillar is an effect that has been relevant every time it has been legal in a format, mainly as a way to fight Storm decks. This is an effect that Modern sorely needed, and it’s attached to a body this time around. Whether you think that makes it stronger or weaker (there are arguments for both), this card is going to be an auto include in red maindecks and sideboards all Modern season, which hits right around M15 time. Eidolon of the Great Revel also has reach to be played in Legacy and will be a great supplemental two-drop with Ash Zealot for decks that want to achieve devotion. I see Eidolon of the Great Revel as being a multi-format staple, though its value will be held in check because it’s a workhorse and not a glamour pony.
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Starting Price: $8 Current Price: $8 Future Price (Short Term): $6 Future Price (Medium Term): $4 Future Price (Long Term):$5 |
Upwelling has never really broken out of the bulk rare mold, and it took Venser’s Journal and Reliquary Tower a couple of years each to start achieving a premium value. Kruphix is great for Commander play but is of the same mold of card that takes a while to get to a premium value. I expect Kruphix to have a good value two or three years down the road, but it will likely be the least valued of the Gods in this ten-card cycle barring one of the last two Gods being a total disaster. That’s not to say Kruphix is worthless or bad—it’s to say that for the short to long term (one year out) I don’t see high prospects for an upside of Kruphix.
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Starting Price: $1 Current Price: $1 Future Price (Short Term): $0.50 Future Price (Medium Term): $0.50 Future Price (Long Term): $0.50 |
This card may (and it’s a very strong may) have a place as a sideboard option in just the right metagame. Unfortunately, it needed to either untap the creatures it targets and give them +1/+1 (so they could attack and fight) or make the fight ability not require the creatures to tap. There aren’t many decks that are going to want to give up their attack step to kill a couple of blockers versus, say, attacking and killing those blockers anyhow.
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Starting Price: $1.50 Current Price: $1.50 Future Price (Short Term): $1 Future Price (Medium Term): $0.50 Future Price (Long Term): $0.50 |
Let’s get this out there—there are better options than Silence the Believers in Standard right now. Mono-Black Devotion has a cornucopia of efficient single-target removal spells currently—Doom Blade, Hero’s Downfall, Ultimate Price, Bile Blight, Devour Flesh and Pharika’s Cure are all seeing play right now. The advantages that Silence the Believers has over the rest of these is it exiles, hits Auras (for bestow) and can scale to multiple targets at (realistically) seven and ten mana.
The problem with exiling is that the main creatures you want to exile are Gods, and black is already running Thoughtseize and Devour Flesh, both of which trump Gods. I don’t think bestow creatures are going to be a big part of Standard (or any other format), and while seven mana is doable to hit multiple targets, you’re giving up efficiency (which most of the other black removal spells in the format have) for flexibility. Right now the decks that want to run Silence the Believers aren’t really looking for flexibility, so I just don’t think this will see play.
Updates From Yesterday
Ajani, Mentor of Heroes: From $25 to $30 – People continue to find new things to do with Ajani in Standard. Did you know that if you put three +1/+1 counters on Fathom Mage with Ajani, you draw three cards? It’s true!
Sage of Hours: From $5 to $6 – Expected hype on this card, but I don’t expect it to last past release.
Temple of Epiphany and Temple of Malady: From $5 to $6 – Traditionally, these are two land color combinations that are more in demand rather than less in demand. I expect Temple of Malady in particular to end up in the $7-$8 range by release.
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-$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).
Fifteen out of the 35 rares have been spoiled. Here are the ones that are $2 and up!
Dictate of Kruphix: $3
Dictate of the Twin Gods: $2
Eidolon of Blossoms: $3
Eidolon of the Great Revel: $6
Hall of Triumph: $2
Temple of Epiphany: $6
Temple of Malady: $6
Total Rare Value: $28
Six mythics have been spoiled. All six are over the $4 mythic threshold!
Ajani, Mentor of Heroes: $30
Godsend: $15
Iroas, God of Victory: $20
Keranos, God of Storms: $20
Kruphix, God of Horizons: $8
Sage of Hours: $6
Total Mythic Value: $99
So plugging this into the formula, we get the following:
(2R ($28) + 1M ($99) = $155
$155/80 = $1.9375 value per pack or $69.75 per box
Journey into Nyx continues to outpace the value of Born of the Gods (BNG was at $1.89 value per pack on the first Friday of set release, so we’re one day ahead and already up in value!) so I have high hopes for the rest of the set. I have especially high hopes for the rest of the Eidolon cycle. Each one seems to be a take on a classic popular enchantment (see: the Magus cycle from Time Spiral block). The red one is Pyrostatic Pillar, and the green one is Enchantress’s Presence. I can’t wait to see the white one (my guess is Ghostly Prison or Rule of Law), the blue one (Soothsaying or Standstill), and the black one (a ton of options here, but Engineered Plague and Planar Void are my top two choices).
See you all tomorrow for the last article of the week!
Previous Daily Financial Value Of Journey Into Nyx Articles
4/7 – Eidolon of Blossoms; Extinguish All Hope; Hall of Triumph; Heroes’ Bane; Iroas, God of Victory
4/9 – Ajani, Mentor of Heroes; Sage of Hours; Temple of Epiphany; Temple of Malady