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).
 |
Athreos, God of Passage |
| Starting Price: $20
Current Price: $30 Future Price (Short Term): $30 Future Price (Medium Term): $20 Future Price (Long Term): $15 |
Athreos has such a unique effect that it’s very hard to gauge the value or power level of him without getting a lot of playtesting under our belts. Long story short, Athreos is cheap (three mana), works well with many cards in the existing Standard metagame (Obzedat, Ghost Council; Xathrid Necromancer; Cartel Aristocrat), and might make Whelming Wave a superior metagame choice to Supreme Verdict. I think Athreos is going to be good, but he will probably drop to the $15-$20 range after the hype dies down.
 |
Hydra Broodmaster |
| Starting Price: $2
Current Price: $2 Future Price (Short Term): $1 Future Price (Medium Term): $1 Future Price (Long Term):$1 |
Hydra Broodmaster has an outside shot of seeing Standard play. Six mana for a 7/7 isn’t bad, but the lack of trample really hurts Hydra Broodmaster. This will likely end up as a (higher demand) bulk rare.
 |
King Macar, the Gold-Cursed |
| Starting Price: $1
Current Price: $1 Future Price (Short Term): $0.75 Future Price (Medium Term): $0.50 Future Price (Long Term): $0.50 |
This has been selling very well for us at $1, but I look at King Macar this way—inspired creatures just don’t work in competitive formats (at least not the ones printed so far). In addition, King Macar is a 2/3 for four mana, so he’s not exactly a creature that is going to turn the world aflame. Bulk rare, but the foil version should be popular for Commander play.
 |
Master of the Feast |
| Starting Price: $3
Current Price: $3 Future Price (Short Term): $2 Future Price (Medium Term): $1 Future Price (Long Term): $1 |
This is a huge body on an evasion creature for only five mana, but giving your opponent a personal Howling Mine is one huge drawback. Moreover, there’s already a glut of options at the three slot for black decks in Standard (including Athreos, God of Passage). I think a lot of people are going to try to make Master of the Feast work, but allowing your opponent to draw twice as many cards as you is a very risky gambit when you’re trying to win the game.
 |
Pharika, God of Affliction |
| Starting Price: $10
Current Price: $10 Future Price (Short Term): $8 Future Price (Medium Term): $5 Future Price (Long Term): $6 |
The weakest of the five Gods in this set. Putting a 1/1 deathtouch creature (and an enchantment to boot for people trying Constellation decks) into play is a mediocre ability on a God. That Pharika puts creatures into play under your opponent’s control if you are nuking their graveyard makes her almost hopeless for Standard play.
 |
Pheres-Band Warchief |
| Starting Price: $1
Current Price: $1 Future Price (Short Term): $0.50 Future Price (Medium Term): $0.50 Future Price (Long Term): $0.50 |
Once upon a time, any sort of tribal lord would instantly be a surefire hit that drew a lot of casual attention. Nowadays unless the tribe is incredibly popular (Squirrel) or incredibly powerful (Elves, Merfolk, Goblin), tribal lords are judged by their power level and not just on the fact that they are lords. Centaurs are not a thing, and the bonuses provided by Pheres-Band Warchief do not make them a thing.
 |
Polymorphous Rush |
| 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. The only thing to note about Polymorphous Rush is that the “copy” part of the ability doesn’t target (it reads “choose a creature on the battlefield”), so you can choose things like Progenitus to turn your own creatures into. With that said, Mirrorweave did this effect better.
 |
Prophetic Flamespeaker |
| Starting Price: $5
Current Price: $5 Future Price (Short Term): $5 Future Price (Medium Term): $4 Future Price (Long Term): $4 |
It’s a trap! Shadowmage Infiltrator (which had evasion) has seen little to no play in Modern and saw little to no play in Standard when Time Spiral was legal. Prophetic Flamespeaker looks sexy (double strike, trample, double card advantage!) but the truth is that it’s easily killed (nonblack, three toughness), costs a lot for the stats (three for a 1/3), and really won’t realistically hit an opponent unless it has the help of another card (Madcap Skills; Iroas, God of Victory). On an empty board, Prophetic Flamespeaker is going to be severely outclassed by the majority of the other three-drop creatures in Standard and trumped by the majority of removal in Standard (Lightning Strike, Doom Blade, Bile Blight, Detention Sphere).
 |
Twinflame |
| Starting Price: $1
Current Price: $1 Future Price (Short Term): $0.50 Future Price (Medium Term): $0.50 Future Price (Long Term): $0.50 |
See Heat Shimmer. Advantage Twinflame: Costs one less, can target more than one creature. Advantage Heat Shimmer: Can copy opponent’s creatures. Advantage Neither: Playability.
Changes In Value Since Yesterday
Dawnbringer Charioteers: From $0.75 to $0.50
Dictate of Karametra: From $1.50 to $1
Eidolon of the Great Revel: From $6 to $5 – I still think this card is amazing, but it’s not very flashy.
Hall of Triumph: From $2 to $1 – Dropped into bulk value range.
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).
25 out of the 35 rares have been spoiled. Hall of Triumph fell below the $2 threshold, so it’s off the list. Here are the ones that are $2 and up!
Dictate of Kruphix: $3
Eidolon of Blossoms: $3
Eidolon of the Great Revel: $5
Hydra Broodmaster: $2
Mana Confluence: $20
Master of the Feast: $3
Temple of Epiphany: $6
Temple of Malady: $6
Total Rare Value: $48
All ten mythics have been spoiled. Nine of them are above the $4 bulk mythic threshold.
Ajani, Mentor of Heroes: $30
Athreos, God of Passage: $30
Godsend: $15
Iroas, God of Victory: $20
Keranos, God of Storms: $20
Kruphix, God of Horizons: $12
Pharika, God of Affliction: $10
Prophetic Flamespeaker: $5
Sage of Hours: $6
Total Mythic Value: $148
So plugging this into the formula, we get the following:
(2R ($48) + 1M ($148) = $244
$244/80 = $3.05 value per pack or $109.80 per box
There’s still ten rares left to spoil in this set, and Journey into Nyx is already worth more per box than Born of the Gods ($107.28, as you can see here). Three of these are Eidolon, and two are Dictates, so I’m pretty excited about what’s still left to be revealed!
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
4/10 – Eidolon of the Great Revel; Kruphix, God of Horizons; Setessan Tactics; Silence the Believers
4/11 – Dictate of Karametra, Hypnotic Siren, Launch the Fleet, Mana Confluence, Worst Fears