Hello everyone and welcome to the latest Daily Financial Value article series! From now until next Friday (4/18), I’ll be reviewing the newly spoiled cards from Journey into Nyx. I’ll discuss the starting price of these cards and my thoughts about the long- and short-term value of the rares and mythics in the newest Magic set.
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: $2 Current Price: $2 Future Price (Short Term): $1 Future Price (Medium Term): $1 Future Price (Long Term): $1 |
Three-mana Enchantress cards almost never get played (see: Mesa and Verduran), so it’s a tough sell to say that plus two power and adding a cantrip to Verduran Enchantress will make it playable for an additional mana. In addition, this is competing with Polukranos, World Eater; Deadbridge Goliath; Advent of the Wurm; Polis Crusher; Reaper of the Wilds; and Ghor-Clan Rampager at the four-drop slot in Standard for green. Eidolon of Blossoms just seems too fragile for competitive play, though it will have adherents in casual style Enchantress decks.
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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 |
It’s a sad day when I look at a Wrath of God effect and almost immediately dismiss it as a bulk rare, but we’re at that point now in Standard. Planar Cleansing and Merciless Eviction are not exactly tearing up the metagame, and this I would argue is a worse version of Merciless Eviction.
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Starting Price: $2 Current Price: $2 Future Price (Short Term): $3 Future Price (Medium Term): $2 Future Price (Long Term): $3 |
Long-long term (think two or three years down the road) this is going to be one of those Caged Sun / Adaptive Automaton cards that has a lot of value to casual players. It’s very cost efficient for Standard play but is limited in scope since it’s a legendary artifact. A deck that wants Glorious Anthem wants to be able to play multiple Anthems (Spear of Heliod has suffered from the same drawback). This does give an effect to colors that normally don’t get this effect (particularly red and blue), so that will drive value in the short term. One other drawback—it’s the Buy-a-Box Promo so there will be an initial rush of supply on it, but that hasn’t mattered if the card has been good in the past (Sylvan Caryatid, Gravecrawler).
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Starting Price: $1 Current Price: $1 Future Price (Short Term): $1 Future Price (Medium Term): $1 Future Price (Long Term): $1 |
Worse than Kalonian Hydra (costs mana to activate, no trample, doesn’t boost other creatures), but all Hydras in green have held at least a slightly higher end of bulk value due to casual interest.
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Starting Price: $10 Current Price: $15 Future Price (Short Term): $20 Future Price (Medium Term): $15 Future Price (Long Term): $10 |
And we come to the first mythic rare spoiled for Journey into Nyx. To understand the value of Iroas, I’d like to look at the five gold Gods from Born of the Gods:
- Ephara, God of the Polis – Started at $10, peaked at $12, now at $8
- Karametra, God of Harvests – Started at $12, peaked at $12, now at $5
- Mogis, God of Slaughter – Started at $10, peaked at $20, now at $8
- Phenax, God of Deception – Started at $10, peaked at $12, now at $8
- Xenagos, God of Revels – Started at $15, peaked at $25, now at $12
All five of the BNG Gods underperformed significantly, and none has made a real dent in the metagame. So when I look at Iroas, I’d like to remember how the Gods from the past set did.
Pros:
- Costs four mana
- Combos well with Hammer of Purphoros
- Affects itself (if it’s a creature)
Cons:
- Is Goblin War Drums combined with Dolmen Gate
I happen to think pretty poorly of both Goblin War Drums and Dolmen Gate as Constructed cards. The value of Iroas is directly correlated to how often you’ll be attacking with it as a 7/4 (hard to block) creature. A lot of people are very bullish on Iroas right now, but I think he’ll end up more like the Gods from Born of the Gods than the ones in Theros (which are more Constructed playable).
See you all tomorrow with more value, including one mythic going up on our site at midnight tonight!