Back in the old days, there were only three channels on TV. If you didn’t like what was on, too bad.

Today, there are thousands of channels. If you want to watch people hunt Bigfoot or chase ghosts all day, you can. You can spend an entire day watching nothing but golf or cooking or rednecks with giant black beards fight over who has the best duck farm. (Full disclosure: I’ve never actually seen an episode of Duck Dynasty so I might have gotten that one wrong.)

The point I’m trying to make is that television has gotten much more compartmentalized. In the past, you likely found most TV bland and inoffensive—it wasn’t really aimed at you per se, but the producers were certainly hoping you’d watch whatever was on. Today, chances are there are a few shows that you absolutely love—narratives perfectly designed for your sensibilities—mixed in with a whole lot of stuff that you hate. These are shows made exclusively for other people. Your opinion of them is irrelevant to their success or failure.

Dragon’s Maze is the most compartmentalized Magic set I’ve ever seen. All ten guilds are established now, and most people know which mechanics they like and which ones they don’t. While the earlier sets were designed to introduce the guilds to everyone, this one is designed to give people a little more of their favorite mechanics. As a result, none of these cards is going to win over new fans. If you didn’t like Dimir in Gatecrash, you’re not going to like it here. If you loved it, well, there are a couple of new goodies in Dragon’s Maze that you’re probably excited about.

This leaves us with a very odd set from a financial perspective. Value-wise, Dragon’s Maze is fat around the middle. There are only two cards worth at least $20—unheard of in modern preorder periods—but a ton of rares in the $4-$5 range. This is because most people are really excited about a couple of cards in the set and are lukewarm about the rest and everyone’s favorite rare is different. There’s something for all players in Dragon’s Maze, but the set probably won’t be anyone’s favorite. It tries to narrowly hit every demographic while sacrificing broad appeal.

Because of that, I really don’t know what is going to happen to values in this set over time. The starting prices across the board are actually quite low, and it’s more reasonable to preorder singles here than it was for either of the last two sets. That said, my evaluation is still quite conservative.

My best advice to you is to approach Dragon’s Maze holistically and trade for the cards that appeal directly to you. Chances are that you’ll be better at evaluating them than most people will be.

If you want to speculate, take a look at Gatecrash singles. Other than cube foils, I preordered zero Dragon’s Maze cards as an investment. Instead, I pulled the trigger on a few sets of Duskmantle Seers for $6 each. Many of these mythics are low and have room to grow.

But you’re here for the new cards, right? Let’s get started!

Mythic Rares

Ral Zarek – $35

Ral Zarek is everything I want in a planeswalker. He can power your turn while gaining loyalty, act as removal, and power up a game-breaking yet attainable ultimate ability. At four mana, he isn’t that hard to cast either.

Ral Zarek is most comparable to Ajani Vengeant, who is arguably the third best planeswalker ever after Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Elspeth, Knight-Errant. Ral’s first ability would be better if it protected him a little better—whatever you tap can untap at your opponents’ upkeep—but it’s great for clearing a blocker away or tapping their blue mana to ensure your next spell resolves. The untap is clutch as well, helping out ramp decks or utility creatures. Ral’s -2 and ultimate aren’t as good as Ajani Vengeant’s either, but at all points on the curve the card does most of what you want it to.

Of course, planeswalkers aren’t what they once were. For years, they were the engines of Standard. Nowadays, they mostly act as support cards to help lock down a game. Ral Zarek is more on par with Sorin, Lord of Innistrad and Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas than with Ajani Vengeant or the outstanding Liliana of the Veil, but that doesn’t mean he won’t see play. He will—and he will likely be quite good.

Financially, though, Ral Zarek is likely to drop in price over the interim. Most planeswalkers tend to do it, and very few cards can sustain $35 price tags in Standard. I wouldn’t be shocked if Ral Zarek stays in demand, but the safe money is on a price drop—at least for a little while. I love him, but sell.

Voice of Resurgence – $20

Standard this summer is going to be absurd, and this card will be causing havoc for control decks right alongside Thragtusk. If I’m playing U/W, what am I going to do against two of these and a Thragtusk? Wrathing the board is just going to leave the midrange deck in a stronger position. It’s a good thing for the rest of us that you can’t cast this off a Burning-Tree Emissary.

Mythic rares with very low casting costs always scare me from a finance perspective. These cards are more likely to be played, especially in large numbers, and if they turn out to be good, they’ll likely be played in Eternal formats as well. Voice of Resurgence may yet turn out to be a dud, but considering how much potential it has, I can’t recommend you start trading these away yet. If it’s as good as it seems, you’ll want to make sure you have a set for years to come. Hold.

Blood Baron of Vizkopa – $12

Protection from white and black are both pretty good, making this an intriguing sideboard option if nothing else. It’s also worth noting that gaining life has never been easier or more profitable than it is right now. Between Thragtusk and Sphinx’s Revelation, climbing to 30 life isn’t particularly hard. I could certainly see this card coming down as a finisher in a G/B/W shell where it’ll be a 10/10 flying lifelinking protection from white and black creature about 80% of the time. Lifelink is pretty good when you’re behind in the race too.

This card is also straight up more powerful than Divinity of Pride, a card that was desirable and valuable through its entire run of Standard mostly thanks to casual FNM brewers. Divinity is still worth $7 even now. Blood Baron certainly fits the profile of a card that isn’t all that risky to hold on to—he will have a large number of fans willing to pay between $10 and $15 for him for a while. If this set has three breakout mythics instead of two, my money is on Blood Baron for that third spot. Hold.

Legion’s Initiative – $12

I really don’t get this card. Two mana is certainly affordable, but I really don’t know when I’d want to play this. Do Boros decks need or want an anthem that isn’t Intangible Virtue? Wouldn’t they rather play out a threat? The second ability is kind of neat, but I’m not sure it will come up all that much. Wrath protection is nice, but the decks that would run this don’t want to keep two mana up at all times just in case—they’ll be playing out their threats. Ultimately, I just don’t see this card doing much. Sell.

Master of Cruelties – $10

This card is too cute for its own good in competitive play. Casual players will love it—and don’t discount its synergy with Kaalia of the Vast—but it’s fairly easy to chump this guy for days. The era of creatureless control is basically gone, and with it are most of the chances for this card to be good. Sell.

Council of the Absolute – $8

Not every Azorius mythic is insane. Sure, Geist of Saint Traft and Sphinx’s Revelation were two format-defining cards, but what about Isperia, Supreme Judge and Drogskol Reaver? Neither of them made a peep, right?

Honestly, I’ve learned over the past few years not to underestimate cards from this guild. Council of the Absolute looks kind of clunky, but I could certainly see it making a few waves. At its most obvious, it can power up your own Sphinx’s Revelations while stopping your opponent’s cold. It can also shut off countermagic, Blasphemous Act, Unburial Rites, and more—at least for a time. Dead to one specific play and need some time? Drop this on the board and force them to have the one card you fear as well as a removal spell. It’s clearly at its best in the mirror too.

Of course, fine-tuned control decks tend not to run clunky 2/4s for four. I’m still torn on this card, but I’m willing to keep my copies around for a bit and find out. Hold.

Savageborn Hydra – $8

Random Hydras are probably worth more than you think. Primordial Hydra is an $8 card. Apocalypse Hydra is $4. Casual players love cards like this. Conveniently, they also like double strike.

Savageborn Hydra doesn’t need to do all that much to stay in the $6-$10 range. I doubt we’ll see this card anywhere near the top tables of a tournament, but casual love should keep it in reasonably high demand. $8 is probably near its ceiling, though, so if you get a reasonable offer, go ahead and sell.

Progenitor Mimic – $6

Now that we’ve made it down to the $6 range, we can start to look for some sleeper cards that might be worth investing in.

First, Progenitor Mimic is very well positioned in the format right now. People are playing Clone in real decks for the first time ever because there are so many great creatures with comes-into-play abilities. The Mimic plays well with blink effects too, and I can certainly see him slotting into Bant decks as a one-of or two-of.

The problem, of course, is that this is a card that costs six mana and does nothing on an empty board. Because of that, this will always be more of a casual card than a competitive one. He should stay around $5-$7 thanks to casual demand, though, so feel free to keep him if you open him. Hold.

Deadbridge Chant – $4

Let’s take a moment and talk about what this card actually does. It mills you, which is pretty good in a color combination that wants stuff in the graveyard. Then it draws you a card per turn (from your graveyard). If that card is a creature, you get it in play for free. Not a bad deal for six mana.

That said, I still think this is fairly valued right now. A six mana card that doesn’t do anything right away isn’t going to get played very often even as a graveyard enabler. This will hold its value for casual play, though. Hold.

Reap Intellect – $3

This card won’t see any play. It costs too much mana and doesn’t do enough. There’s not much more to say. Bulk mythic.

Maze’s End – $2.50

I love that this card exists, but being forced to run the gates in your deck is bad enough without the other drawbacks that this card has. Door to Nothingness and Nephalia Drownyard are much more efficient creatureless kills than this is. Bulk mythic.

Rares

Blood Scrivener – $8

Even if you disregard the LSV-worthy pun in the flavor text, Blood Scrivener is a pretty good card. I am always a fan of two-drops that demand an answer, and this guy is one of them. It isn’t particularly hard to go hellbent, and once you do the Scrivener threatens to take over the game. In the meantime, he can provide some Snapcaster-esque early pressure or chumpability if it comes to it.

Eight dollars seems about right for this guy at the moment, though it’s probably a little on the high side. Blood Scrivener isn’t the second coming of Dark Confidant—and it’s not particularly close—but I’d be shocked if he wasn’t at least a role-player in new Standard. Hold.

Advent of the Wurm – $7

Getting a 5/5 Wurm for four is great. Being able to flash it in as a combat trick is even better. This Wurm is going to eat a ton of opposing creatures in Standard next year—it’s not Restoration Angel, but it’s still going to be a staple. Hold.

Aetherling – $6

Here are the things I like my finishers to do in order of importance:

1) Kill very easily and quickly.

2) Protect themselves.

3) Help me lock down the rest of the board.

4) Look cool.

Aetherling would have been four for four if it had a fifth ability like Morphling did (I’m thinking U: Untap Aetherling), but it’s still a solid three out of four. Morphling nostalgia doesn’t buy much these days, but this creature is the best one that’s ever been printed. Six mana is a ton and you really don’t want to play this until you’re at seven, but I think people are sleeping a little on the power and versatility of this creature. I could see it hitting $10 if it becomes the finisher of choice somewhere. Hold.

Notion Thief – $6

The first question we need to ask ourselves is whether or not this is a maindeckable card. It is, but only if you’re running a combo deck around it and something like Whispering Madness. These sorts of shenanigans seem too awesome to actually be real, though, so I doubt it’ll happen much outside the causal room on Magic Online.

Otherwise, Notion Thief a strong hate card against Sphinx’s Revelation; Garruk, Primal Hunter; and a few other things that draw a ton of cards each turn. It’s also a potential sideboard option in Legacy, where dropping this in response to a Brainstorm is quite brutal. Of course, the number of four-drop creatures that see play in that format is almost zero.

I love Notion Thief and think it will see some play, but it’s narrower than most people realize right now. It will probably drop off $6 before long unless it finds its way into a maindeck somewhere. Sell.

Ruric Thar, the Unbowed – $5

Let’s talk about the bad first. He costs six mana and has to attack each turn. He’s also an Intro Pack rare. These are all significant drawbacks. On the other hand, Ruric Thar really does slam the door on certain control decks, demanding that they have an immediate wrath (and even sometimes killing them if they do). I think Ruric Thar will get a little bit of love, but it’ll be in the $2-$3 range. Sell.

Varolz, the Scar-Striped – $5

Varolz is a really interesting enabler that turns a bunch of near-useless cards in your graveyard into more gas. He seems like he’d work pretty well with Lotleth Troll as well—maybe that former top prospect will get called back up to the major leagues at some point soon? He’s likely to be a popular casual rare too, so his floor is probably in the $2-$3 range. Due to that, I’m going to call him a hold.

Beck // Call – $4

At $4, you’re betting that someone is going to break this in Standard or Modern and turn it into a combo piece. Then you’re betting that the other crucial parts of the combo (Heritage Druid? Cloudstone Curio?) won’t be super expensive. Don’t forget that Valakut was a tier 1 deck in multiple formats and its namesake card never broke $4.

I actually like Beck // Call over the long term. It’s the kind of card that will always be at least on the verge of Eternal playability, and it’s from a spring set. Over the next few months, though, people won’t even be playing all that much Modern. Pass on this for now and snag it for $1 at some point over the next year. Sell.

Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch – $4

Exava’s big problem is that she pales in comparison to Falkenrath Aristocrat, Hellrider, Olivia, and the other cards she’s in direct competition with. Otherwise, she’s fairly strong, and I wouldn’t be shocked if she breaks into Standard at some point next year. She’s also in an Intro Pack, which will keep the cost down. For now, she’s a sell.

Gaze of Granite – $4

Too many people are looking at this card and seeing Pernicious Deed. Gaze of Granite isn’t all that close in power level really. Not only can Deed go off at any time, but it effectively costs three mana less to play unless you need it to happen right away.  

Beyond that, is Gaze of Granite any good? Yeah, it kind of is. Not many wraths take out nonland permanents, and this one has some nice versatility to it. It’s only really competing with Mutilate right now, and this card is likely a little better even though it’s much more expensive. I could see it climbing to $5-$6 if it sees Standard play. Hold.

Obzedat’s Aid – $4

Yes please! This card is simple, powerful, and brutal all at once. Five mana is a lot, but this is the sort of undeniable card that casual and competitive players alike should latch on to. I see this staying in the $5 range for a while. Hold.

Plasm Capture – $4 (Now $5)

A Standard-legal Mana Drain? Are you kidding me? This card is undeniably sweet, but I think people are underestimating how hard it is to cast. Unless your deck has perfect mana, you aren’t countering a spell with this on turn 4—it’ll be more like turn 5 or 6. At that point, is it much better than Draining Whelk? Or the currently $0.50 Mystic Genesis?

A little, yeah. First, the mana in the format is great right now. A lot of decks just want to counter stuff and Farseek a bunch, and this is quite a tempo swing. I can certainly see this seeing a bunch of play in a Bant shell, and casual players will love it. Hold.

Render Silent – $4

This will likely replace Dissipate in many control builds, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it show up in Modern. Removing a spell from the game is quite good, but shutting down an entire turn seems much better. The mana cost isn’t awful either. Most oddly costed counterspells end up disappointing, but I expect this will be an exception. Hold.

Skylasher – $4

How many abilities does a Grizzly Bear need to have before it becomes playable? I’m not certain what this card was designed to beat in Constructed—Delver of Secrets maybe? Instead, I suspect it will mostly come down and taunt my skies decks in draft. Most blue decks right now don’t really care about this—they’ll wrath it away or play something bigger or gain some life and ignore it. I like the versatility of the creature, but 2/2 just isn’t that big. Sell.

Tajic, Blade of the Legion – $3

Boros decks don’t have time to wait around and play four-drop 2/2s—even indestructible ones. Of course, if you operate under the assumption that this is going to be a 7/7 every time, which might end up being the case, this card is actually pretty good. With enough enablers, I could see this card doing quite well. I’m going to call this a hold, but if you asked me to pick a $4-or-less rare that had the best chance at seeing $10, this would be my call.

Lavinia of the Tenth – $3

After looking at this card again while writing this review, I realized that I hadn’t yet taken a look at what the Intro Pack rares were going to be. That said, I was certain Lavinia would be in one of them—she just has that Intro Pack look, you know?

I actually love Lavinia—she’s making it into my cube even though I’m pretty sure I’m alone in doing that—but I don’t think she’s going to do much in Standard. Supply outstrips demand so much for these Intro Pack cards, especially gold five-drops that will only see play as a two-of or three-of in one deck as a best case scenario. I’m pegging her as a future bulk rare. Sell.

Sire of Insanity – $2.50

This card has the appearance of a big, dumb, unplayable Demon—the sort of card that is overhyped and never sees play. He isn’t. Imagine slamming this against a control deck as the top of your curve and then ending your turn. If they don’t have instant speed removal, they’ll be discarding six or seven cards to it. That’s absurd. Is Sire of Insanity better than the more flexible Rakdos’s Return? I don’t know. But I think both will see play. $2.50 seems a little low for this. Buy.

Vorel of the Hull Clade – $2.50

What do the Simic have against helping planeswalkers? In all seriousness, these kinds of token/counter enablers are fun and tend to play well in casual crowds. This is an Intro Pack rare, though, so her price will likely dip. Sell.

Pyrewild Shaman – $2

Without the recursion ability, this card is a dud. With it…I don’t know. You have to pay three mana AND successfully attack. Those aren’t high bars to clear, but they aren’t nothing either. I honestly don’t know if this card is going to have any success in a G/R, Naya, or Jund package, but those decks are certainly all real and this is absolutely going to be worth trying in them. Hold.

Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts – $2

Teysa might see some play, but that doesn’t change the fact that she’s a narrow seven-drop that’s featured in an Intro Pack. That spells bulk rare to me. Sell.

Breaking // Entering – $2

This is one of my favorite casual cards in the set. Glimpse the Unthinkable, remember, is not that far off from the Breaking half—it mills ten instead of eight. For the privilege of owning one of those, you’d have to pay $20. Don’t sleep on Entering either—the creature you reanimate only gains haste until end of turn, but you actually get to keep the creature permanently. If I’m playing a casual mill deck, a card that mills eight while giving me back my best utility creature or nabbing a threat/blocker out of my opponent’s yard is going to be one of my best possible draws.

This card may drop over the short term, but it’s one of the best long-term casual rares in Dragon’s Maze. I’ll be picking up a set or two to speculate on. It might even see some Standard play in the G/B/W Reanimator decks running around. Buy.

Melek, Izzet Paragon – $1.50

The people who love this card—and trust me, they’re out there—will have no problem getting their hands on one. This is a very cool creature, but its applications are very narrow. Future bulk rare. Sell.

Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker – $1.50

Every time this hits, you get to cast Mind Funeral, a three mana spell. Otherwise, it does nothing. Unlike Breaking // Entering, not every mill deck will want to run this. Because of that, it’s going to end up in the bulk bins. Sell.

Ready // Willing – $1.50

Any deck that can run both sides of this along with a critical mass of creatures is going to want it. Both sides of this card are quite powerful, and together they ensure a laughably successful combat step. Don’t underestimate the love of these keywords to casual players either. I think this spell has some room to grow. Buy.

Renounce the Guilds – $1.50

Cool spell, but I don’t think there will be enough multicolored permanents running around for this edict to even been a popular sideboard choice. Future bulk rare. Sell.

[Editor’s Note: While I agree with Chas on the price of Renounce the Guilds, the fact that this handles Geist of Saint Traft alone will make it valuable. I’m not a financial expert, but I think this card does see a lot more play than it is being given credit for.]

$1 and Less Rares

Boros Battleshaper – This card would be amazing at five mana. At seven, he’s useless.

Catch // Release – I’m sure the Release side will be used, but that isn’t why people would play this card. The real question is whether 1UR is worth it to steal a planeswalker or something for a turn. Honestly, I doubt it will ever be more than an interesting one-of or two-of in someone’s sideboard. It’s one of the better spells in this tier though.

Dragonshift – Isn’t 4/4 kind of on the small side for a Dragon? I feel like they’re usually at least 5/5. Regardless, if you have enough creatures and mana to want this you’ll likely have the game well in hand already.

Emmara Tandris – Enough digital ink has already been spilled reviling poor Emmara. I will spare her here.

Flesh // Blood – This card simply costs too much. Neither half is good on its own, and together they’re just okay.

Pontiff of Blight – 2/7 are awesome stats for an extort creature, and I love that it’s a lord I didn’t even know I wanted. Can’t wait to play in Commander and Draft. Still a bulk rare though.

Possibility Storm[/author]“][author name="Possibility Storm"]Possibility Storm[/author] – This is one bulk rare I’d like to have a few copies of stocked away just in case. It kind of has a Dream Halls thing going on, and I have no doubt Travis Woo is already hard at work breaking this in half with Omniscience or something. Even still, this card only goes in one deck, and it’s a deck that probably won’t be all that great. It might rise to $2 at some point, but its upside is very limited.

Renegade Krasis – In an earlier era (think Call of the Herd), this would have been a chase rare. Today, it’s a bulk rare. Renegade Krasis might turn out to be a $5 casual card someday, but you’ll have ample time to pick them up for $0.50 each before then.

Scion of Vitu-Ghazi – It’s not quite Cloudgoat Ranger [Editor’s Note: Trust me, nothing is!], but getting three creatures for five mana isn’t bad. If you can populate something better than the Bird—say, a giant Wurm—this card can become quite a beating. I think $1 is a little low, and I could see this card rising into the $2-$3 range quite easily.

Trait Doctoring – This card would be a powerhouse in the Sleight of Mind / Northern Paladin deck I built when I first started playing Magic. [Editor’s Note: I’d love to see a primer on that decklist.] In today’s game, I don’t think it has a place.

Zhur-Taa Ancient – This thing is flipping huge, and it slots perfectly in the kinds of Commander decks that already run Heartbeat of Spring and the like. It may actually see a little fringe Constructed play in ramp builds, though most decks right now can take advantage of a ton of mana. Maybe in the sideboard of some wacky Door to Nothingness deck?

Uncommons of Note: Warleader’s Helix and Putrefy are currently selling for $2. Far // Away, Turn // Burn, and Unflinching Courage are selling for $1.

This Week’s Trends

– Staff of Domination has been unbanned in Commander. I expect the card to settle in at $10 or so—roughly double the pre-ban price.

– As I said at the beginning, I really like Duskmantle Seer. At some point over the next year, this card will be expensive and desirable. Someone just needs to build the right deck. [Editor’s Note: Gerard Fabiano may have done it in his article last week that you can view here.] He’s started to show up here and there in Standard events, and I think that number will increase.

– There have been major price increases in recent days on Underground Sea, Lion’s Eye Diamond, and The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale. Watch these old staples carefully—the sky is the limit with some of them.

Until next time –

– Chas Andres

I am Simic. When it comes to playing Magic, the blue/green color combination appeals to my desire to have both the best creatures and the most versatile spells. I always feel like I’m somehow handicapped when I don’t have access to Islands, but I still like ending games by throwing giant monsters at my opponents. From a philosophical standpoint, I feel as if the Simic represent humanity’s best possible future. Our species has been in conflict with nature for far too long, and that divide threatens to become our ultimate downfall. By combining the best of advanced science with a respect and understanding of nature, we humans can transcend our evolutionary limitations and become truly wondrous creatures.