Hello everyone, and welcome back to my daily series of financial articles about Theros! Two powerful mythics were spoiled overnight—but not much else. Today’s update is short but sweet.
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).
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Stormbreath Dragon |
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Starting Price: $15 Current Price: $15 Future Price (Short Term): $20 Future Price (Medium Term): $10 Future Price (Long Term): $10 |
I want to compare Stormbreath Dragon to two recent creatures: Thundermaw Hellkite and Malakir Bloodwitch.
Thundermaw Hellkite: +1/+1 larger (immune to Mizzium Mortars), can swing in for a turn through opposing flying creatures. Hit a high of $39.99, but mostly was around $19.99-$24.99 for the majority of the year it was Standard-legal.
Malakir Bloodwitch: Same size and protection as Stormbreath Dragon. Worked well as part of a Vampire tribal deck, but otherwise wasn’t played by itself. Hit a high of $5.99 when it was in Standard, but was an average of $2.99 when Vampires were a Standard deck.
I believe Stormbreath Dragon is more Malakir Bloodwitch than Thundermaw Hellkite. Extrapolating that data, let’s see the value of Stormbreath Dragon:
Malakir Bloodwitch: $3 average, $6 high
Was a Zendikar Intro Pack rare: probably took a dollar of value away from Malakir Bloodwitch. Adjusted: $4 average, $7 high
Mythic adjustment – 2x value: $8 average, $14 high
Ability adjustment: haste + conditional Storm Seeker > conditional drain life (for 1?) – +$2
I’d say that based on these criterion, Stormbreath Dragon will sell for an average price of $10 while it is Standard-legal but will hit a high of $20 in the short term as people are scrambling for a supply shortly after set release.
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Xenagos, the Reveler |
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Starting Price: $40 Current Price: $40 Future Price (Short Term): $30 Future Price (Medium Term): $20 Future Price (Long Term): $20 |
This was one of the most debated cards internally—where do we start the price? Those who liked the card thought it was really, really good. Those who didn’t like the card thought it was really, really bad. I fall into the latter camp—I don’t like having to spend four mana for a conditionally good effect (Gaea’s Cradle), and the three loyalty was troubling with activating the 2/2 haste creature ability. However, I do think Xenagos will see Standard play and will not plummet drastically like other planeswalkers. I think the truth is that red/green decks would rather have Domri than Xenagos.
Obligatory LSV Section: It’s fitting that with this card, you can create a Satyr RG.
Cards With New Values
Forge[/author]“]Purphoros, God of the [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author]: From $20 to $25 – Burning-Tree Emissary makes this card a Standard contender. I can see Purphoros hitting $30-$40 easily during preorders based on rate of sales and chatter around the Internet.
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