Hello everyone, and welcome back to my daily series of financial articles about Theros! There were only a handful of new cards spoiled overnight, so the first section should be pretty short. Many previously spoiled cards had significant movement in value, so I’ll have a lot to discuss in the recap of older cards section.
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 Theros.
Future Price—Medium Term: The price I believe this card will be at by the time the next set (Born of the Gods) comes out.
Future Price—Long Term: The price I believe this card will be at a year from now when the next fall set is released (name unknown).
And now for the new rares and mythics!
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Master of Waves |
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Starting Price: $5 Current Price: $10 Future Price (Short Term): $8 Future Price (Medium Term): $4 Future Price (Long Term): $4 |
Two notes I have about this card. One—it feels more like a rare than a mythic rare. I had to look twice to make sure this was spoiled as a mythic rare! Second—this might be powerful in ideal circumstances (multiple 2/1 creatures for four mana in blue), but they are 2/1 creatures. All of the waves will die to direct damage (even if Master of Waves won’t). Overrated, and I expect this to drop in value long term.
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Nighthowler |
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Starting Price: $2 Current Price: $2 Future Price (Short Term): $1.50 Future Price (Medium Term): $1 Future Price (Long Term): $2 |
This is a bestow creature worth playing! Mortivore was a playable creature in Standard when mono-black was relevant. The extra mana on Mortivore for regeneration makes Mortivore a better creature carte blanche, but the ability to bestow Nighthowler at a reasonable mana cost (four) makes Nighthowler a great creature for a post-wrath world. Does your opponent wrath away your Nighthowler enchanted creature and get hit in the face with Nighthowler the next turn or just get hit by the original creature? Since this counts all graveyards, it is also a Commander all-star.
So if I’m so up on this card, why the low value?
1) I think a ton of this set will be opened, so rares will have to be multi-format all-stars to stand out in value.
2) It’s hard to put this card in a deck that isn’t black-heavy and creature-heavy.
3) This is comparable to Bonehoard, which didn’t end up seeing a lot of play. The advantage that Nighthowler has is pseudo-haste; if you play it as an Aura on an active creature, it immediately gets to attack with the +X/+X bonus. If your opponent kills the creature enchanted by Nighthowler on their turn, Nighthowler will be able to attack the following turn (as if it had haste).
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Forge[/author]“]Purphoros, God of the [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author] |
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Starting Price: $15 Current Price: $20 Future Price (Short Term): $30 Future Price (Medium Term): $30 Future Price (Long Term): $30 |
The best mythic spoiled in the set so far. Works beautifully with many preexisting red strategies, most notably Young Pyromancer decks. Has applications in Modern and potentially in Legacy as well. Unless the black God is really good, I expect this to be the hottest card in the set post-release.
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Pyxis of Pandemonium |
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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 |
Bulk rare.
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Sylvan Caryatid |
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Starting Price: $4 Current Price: $4 Future Price (Short Term): $4 Future Price (Medium Term): $4 Future Price (Long Term): $4 |
The Buy a Box promo for Theros. People love their hexproof creatures, and this is Utopia Tree with two more upsides (hexproof, one more point of toughness) and one minor downside (defender—but doesn’t matter as much on a zero-power creature). A solid mana producer, and one that your opponent can’t mess with easily. Should be a staple in Standard for the next year or two.
Cards With New Values
Curse of the Swine: From $2 to $3 – Continues to sell very well. I still think long term this card will be a $1ish bulk rare, but the going rate on EBay is $12 a playset right now.
Nylea, God of the Hunt: From $10 to $15 – The Gods are all being hit by the planeswalker effect. I based our presales on an expected amount of product we’ll open. I expect to sell out of all five Gods long before release day.
Polis Crusher: From $1 to $2 – I recommended keeping an eye on Polis Crusher, as it’s fine as a 4/4 trample creature with protection from enchantments for four even if you discount monstrous. Our customers and the community agree with this assessment.
Polukranos, World Eater: From $10 to $8 – Dropping in value quickly. People are going to grab the Duel Deck version starting this Friday, which will continue to affect the value of the Theros version of Polukranos.
Thassa, God of the Sea: From $17.50 to $20 – See Nylea, God of the Hunt.
Thoughtseize: From $25 to $30 – Our best-selling card in Theros so far. At current rate of sales, we’ll be sold out of Thoughtseize long before release in three weeks.
Thank you all for reading, and I’ll see you all tomorrow for the next round of preview cards!
- Ben Bleiweiss
- General Manager, StarCityGames.com