Hello to everyone, and welcome to the latest edition of “The Financial Value of” series, traditionally brought to you the Friday before a set’s prerelease! Since this Saturday and Sunday will bring the Rise of the Eldrazi prerelease tournament near you — it must be time for me to give my thoughts about the newest set.
Rise of the Eldrazi is a divisive set — either you think that the premise of the set (building around Level Up creatures that soak up a lot of mana, and/or huge Eldrazi creatures that cost up to 15 mana to cast) is sound, or you’re dismissing the majority of this set, and looking for the cards that fit into pre-existing decks. My personal feeling? Not a huge fan of the Level Up creatures — the mechanic is fine, and there are some standouts — but generally the Level Up creatures are lackluster. I have more hope for the Eldrazi and mana-ramp decks, but I have even more hope for decks that cheat out Eldrazi creatures at a low mana cost.
Since the majority theme of Rise of the Eldrazi are these two conceits (huge creatures with ramp, and Level Up creatures that need a large investment of mana), does that mean that Rise of the Eldrazi is a bad set? It does not — there are plenty of jewels in Rise of the Eldrazi, and I firmly believe that the Standard metagame will have a significant shift following the release of this set. However, I do believe that there are not a ton of outright “bombs” in this set, such as a Jace, the Mind Sculptor or a Baneslayer Angel — it’s filled with a lot more of the solid-yet-niche cards like Ranger of Eos, Ajani Vengeant, and Maelstrom Pulse.
Over the past few sets, Wizards of the Coast has ramped up the number of “important” cards in the Common/Uncommon slot — cards that are slot for multiple decks, and that can help make the overall value of packs greater. Rise of the Eldrazi has, proportional to the last few set releases (since M10), the fewest number of “good” (which I understand is subjective, but I’ll use it in the terms of “pulling a premium above bulk price) Commons and Uncommons.
What does this all mean? I believe that overall there will be fewer cards in Rise of the Eldrazi that see a huge price spike, because the set will have more of an even sell across the board — you won’t see people cracking Rise of the Eldrazi for one specific high-dollar card, and then letting the rest of the set go at a discount. As a whole, Rise of the Eldrazi is a decent set (better than Worldwake, worse than Zendikar) for playables, but man — the bulk rares are really bulky this go-around, and Red really got the shaft, overall.
But I digress! Here’s how this article works:
In the first section, I list the Mythic Rares, alphabetically. I give our starting price, whether I think the card will go “UP” in value, “DOWN” in value, or the value will remain “STABLE.” I then give my thoughts about that particular card! In the second section, I discuss the rares. In the third section, I’ll give some brief thoughts about the Uncommons and Commons in this set that I have particularly strong feelings about.
Since this set was fully (visually) spoiled by Wizards of the Coast, we were able to get up the entire set (with card images) this past Wednesday. Please feel free to click on the name of any card in this article to see the full image for that card, including artwork and card text!
MYTHICS
All is Dust
Current Price: $15
Up, Down or Stable? – Down
Thoughts: Next to Akroma’s Vengeance, All is Dust looks like a bad deal — you won’t kill artifacts, which was part of the charm of any major board sweeper (especially with the next block being the artifact block). This is analogous to blowing up an Oblivion Stone (eight mana if you’re going to wipe the board in one turn), but which deck is going to want to ramp up to seven mana to blow up the world? I see this card as very overrated right now — if you want to wipe the board clean, why not just play a color that has a Wrath-like effect, and get it done at four-to-five mana, instead of seven?
Cast Through Time
Current Price: $2
Up, Down or Stable? – Down
Thoughts: This year’s crop of Mythic Rares have been much more playable, as a whole, than the ones from the Shards block. Cast Through Time is not one of these rares — great fun for EDH, but not really a card that will warrant a serious look.
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Current Price: $15
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable
Thoughts: On Saturday, April 17th (and Sunday April 18th), thousands (if not tens of thousands) of people will attend worldwide Rise of the Eldrazi Prereleases. This time around, the prerelease foil is Emrakul, the 15/15 beater that costs 15 mana to cast. If you manage to hard-cast Emrakul, you get to Time Walk and then swing with a Flying, Annihilator: 6, Protection From Colored Spells, largest creature in Magic.
You probably won’t be hard casting Emrakul.
However, Emrakul is significant in one way — it is one of the best creatures ever printed for decks that want to cheat creatures into play through non-reanimation means. I want to make clear: you can reanimate Emrakul from your graveyard, because the “shuffle your graveyard” effect on Emrakul is triggered, meaning you get to respond with instants before the shuffle happens — so any instant-speed recursion will allow you to get Emrakul into play (Goryo’s Vengeance, I’m looking at you!). More reliably, decks that put creatures into play directly from the library or from your hand (Show and Tell, Polymorph, Hypergenesis) will love this guy like no other.
In fact, I predict the biggest shift in Standard will be the prominence of Polymorph/Summoning Trap decks. This set gave it just the right tools to thrive — huge amazing beaters (Annihilator 6 and Flying on a 15/15 is huge compared to Progenitus at a “modest” 10/10 — and making your opponent sacrifice six permanents is as akin to playing offense and defense as you can get, whereas Progenitus can only race in one direction), more reliable token generation (Awakening Zone), cheap countermagic (Deprive, which also doubles as a way to replay Halimar Depths and Khalni Garden), and cheap card draw that also serves to shuffle your monsters back into your deck ahead of a Summoning Trap/Polymorph (See Beyond).
Emrakul is going to be the huge creature of choice for any deck that cheats creatures into play from zones other than the graveyard, and could potentially hit over $15. However, I think the sheer number of prerelease versions of Emrakul that exist will keep the value of Emrakul in check.
Gideon Jura
Current Price: $40
Up, Down or Stable? – Down
Thoughts: Planeswalker values can fool you — I know that they have fooled me in the past. There doesn’t seem to be a middle ground in this type of card — either they start way too high and drop significantly (Chandra Ablaze, Nicol Bolas, Sarkhan Vol) or start way too low and double/triple in value quickly after release (Elspeth, Jace the Mind Sculptor). While Gideon is probably the hardest Planeswalker to outright kill (starting at an effective eight loyalty), there’s one line that is important — mana cost. Let’s take a quick look:
Four mana or Less: Ajani Goldmane; Ajani Vengeant; Elspeth, Knight-Errant; Garruk Wildspeaker; Jace Beleren; Jace, the Mind Sculptor; Nissa Revane; Sarkhan Vol
Five mana or More: Chandra Ablaze; Chandra Nalaar; Liliana Vess; Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker; Sorin Markov; Tezzeret the Seeker
Aside from Sarkhan Vol on the 4 or less, and Tezzeret in the 5 or more (and I’d even argue that Tezzeret has not been that successful of a card except for one Extended season, and Vintage), there is a clear delineation between the success of a Planeswalker, and the mana cost of that Planeswalker. While I understand that Gideon is potentially different than the others (designed to play defense, rather than offense), and that Gideon might revitalize Turbofog, I think that the precedent on playability of Planeswalkers is against him. Gideon is not a bad card — but Gideon is by no means the chase card of the set, in my eyes.
Hellcarver Demon
Current Price: $6
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable, with a huge potential upside.
Thoughts: No one would probably contest that at $15, this card started too high. As a policy for the company, we start cards at their lowest (in the preorder cycle) when they are first made available for sale, and only go up from there (based on rate of sales). This was one of the few cards that we dropped significantly in price after its initial offering.
There is a lot of negative sentiment about this card — it wipes your board clean, it doesn’t let you recover with more lands, if it attacks twice, you lose everything it put into play on the first hit. To that I say: who cares? If you hit once with Hellcarver Demon, you’re probably going to get other huge fatties (and this guy plays amazingly well with Abyssal Persecutor), discard spells (to keep your opponent from stopping him after the first hit), or huge Eldrazi monsters. Or let me put it this way:
Do you expect to lose the game after you’ve cast a Mind’s Desire for six? Because that’s what this guy is — you are having a six-card Mind’s Desire. Considering that Mind’s Desire doesn’t exist in Extended anymore, but it was always a tier 1.5 (and often a tier 1) deck in that format — that is a high ceiling of potential. Do you want to play Hellcarver Demon as an enabler in a storm deck? I think there’s a place for this guy in the metagame, because while sacrificing/discarding six to ten cards is a steep price, playing ten to thirty mana worth of cards for free is a huge reward.
Kargan Dragonlord
Current Price: $13
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable
Thoughts: Level Up is a mystery; clues about how good it can be can be found in cards like Kargan Dragonlord — a great creature-on-the-curve for a Mono-Red aggro deck, but not as good in multi-colored decks as Figure of Destiny due to a Red-only activation cost. Would you pay RRRRRRRR for, essentially, Hellkite Overlord without the regeneration clause? The mana cost is on-target, and you get to pay in installments over several turns — so even as soon as turn 6, you’re getting a 4/4 flyer that turns into an 8/8 monster the next attack phase. This card will see a lot of play.
Khalni Hydra
Current Price: $5
Up, Down or Stable? – Down
Thoughts: Ask any Green mage — they all will tell you that the greatest weakness of a creature-based Green deck is vulnerability to mass removal. This card has been a very popular seller so far, but it plays straight into Green’s trouble area — losing to Wrath of God (or in this case, Day of Judgment). I just don’t see this card happening in the long run.
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Current Price: $30
Up, Down or Stable? – Down
Thoughts: Will anyone be casting Eldrazi? They will be, and Kozilek is one of the most attractive of those creatures. The question is — will they be reliably casting Eldrazi, or winning tournaments with decks that cast Eldrazi? That all depends on the type of support given to Green-based Eldrazi Temple decks — and that support is based more on the mana ramp available (Garruk untapping multiple Temples, or using Knight of the Reliquary to search out Eldrazi Temple and Eye of Ugin) than on the creatures themselves. The best thing about Kozilek is that if it is countered, you still get to draw four cards — leaving you in a good position to have drawn another huge beast to drop to the board the next turn. And believe it or not, there is a difference between ten and fifteen mana — so while Emrakul is the gold standard for huge fatties, it is incrementally harder to reliably hard cast any given Eldrazi (or any creature, for that mana) for every mana it costs. So will Kozilek see play? Yes. Will he see enough play to be worth $30 (or even $20)? The answer is “only if Eldrazi Ramp decks become a tier one Standard contender” — and I do not personally thing that will be the case.
Lighthouse Chronologist
Current Price: $6
Up, Down or Stable? – Up
Thoughts: The downsides of Lighthouse Chronologist: at six, you planted a lot of mana into what is essentially a 2/4 creature with no abilities. At seven mana, you’ve got a harder-to-kill body (3/5, which is not huge), but an ability that allows you to take turns at a two-to-one pace against your opponent for the rest of the game, or until Lighthouse Chronologist dies. The effect is extremely powerful, and the cost for that effect (paid with installments of mana over a few turns) seems reasonable — just unlike some other Level Up dudes, the journey to the ultimate level is pretty painful. I think in general Level Up creatures are being undervalued, because A) they pale (some to a small degree, many to a large degree) to people’s expectations based on Figure of Destiny, and B) the bad ones are so bad looking, that people write off the segment as a whole. However, the good Level Up creatures are really good, and I think this one falls into that camp.
Linvala, Keeper of Silence
Current Price: $10
Up, Down or Stable? – Down
Thoughts: We started this card at six dollars on Wednesday — in just one day, it had become our third-best selling Mythic Rare of the set release. I don’t get it — a 3/4 flyer for four isn’t terrific, and while this does stop mana creatures and level-up creatures, it doesn’t stop Planeswalkers, artifacts, enchantments, instants, sorceries, or large creatures who just beat face (Jund, ramp, Polymorph decks). I think there is a big WOW factor from the casual base at “this angel shuts down everything!”, but I think in practice, people will find that Cursed Totem for four mana is not a metagame-breaking card in any format, at the time being.
Nirkana Revenant
Current Price: $8
Up, Down or Stable? – Down
Thoughts: Wizards sparingly prints Mana Flare effects, due to combo. In articles past, I’ve been high on this type of card — Gauntlet of Power, Mana Reflection, Heartbeat of Spring — so it may come as a surprise when I say “too much” on this guy — Nirkana Revenant isn’t in a color of mana acceleration (those are Green and Red these days), and is too fragile the turn it enters play. Yes, if you untap you get a ton of Black mana — but Magus of the Cabal didn’t see much play, did he? I see this dropping into the $3-4 range pretty quickly after release.
Sarkhan the Mad
Current Price: $20
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable
Thoughts: I am a little perplexed why Gideon Jura sells for double over Sarkhan the Mad — and the best I can come up with is that people just intuitively do not like a Planeswalker that can only go down in Loyalty. Where I’m looking from, this guy has a ton of upside — he curves very well in Jund (playing well with Sprouting Thrinax both pre-and-post death) — imagine turn 4 Bloodbraid Elf into Thrinax, turn 5 Sarkhan the Mad (turning Thrinax into a 5/5 Dragon and 3x 1/1 tokens), and then a Broodmate Dragon, followed by Sarkhan’s ultimate for thirteen points of pre-combat damage (5/5 token, plus eight damage from Broodmate Dragon). While not every game will curve that well — the worst case scenario is that Sarkhan will act as a temporary Dark Confidant that will kill himself, and not you.
I also have an affinity for the Bazaar Trader/Steal your guy deck, that is a decidedly tier-four prospect in Standard — but isn’t this another card that makes that deck work well? You probably should ignore this paragraph — this is just a pet casual deck of mine (though it has won GP Trials). Point being, Dark Confidant plus possible-include in Jund (at a perfect point in that deck’s curve) deserves more of a glance than Sarkhan has been getting thus far.
Transcendent Master
Current Price: $7
Up, Down or Stable? – Up
Thoughts: One of the most undervalued cards in Rise. Transcendent Master could be the most underrated Mythic in this set, in fact. Three for a 3/3 is right on the curve for White (and honestly, any color except Green at this point), and the Level Up ability is just a colorless mana — making Transcendent Master a perfect fit for U/W Control decks — especially those that run Everflowing Chalice. There’s a very good opportunity to get this straight to level 6 within one turn, and to level 12 the turn afterwards, leaving the U/W player a 9/9 lifelink, indestructible beast that the opponent can’t handle. Who cares what aggro decks are throwing at you if you can race them at nine points a turn, and cast Day of Judgment while leaving your own creature out there? If you plan on playing a ramp deck with White, Transcendent Master is also a good pick — you’ll need someplace to dump your mana, and an early beater that doubles as a scary end-game finisher is in short order. Get these before they go up — I think that this will easily hit the $15 mark once people start playing with Worldwake.
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
Current Price: $10
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable
Thoughts: Kelly Reid compared Ulamog to Darksteel Colossus, whereas I would likely put it next on the fatty list. I find it more powerful than Darksteel Colossus, Kelly found it a little more lacking. I think it is an apt comparison (both are eleven mana indestructible monsters that can’t be reanimated (easily) from the graveyard), I think that Annihilator: 4 and Vindicate are much more powerful abilities than just plain ol’ trample. Again, the final price of Ulamog will be tied to the success of the Eldrazi Temple deck, but this will be a player in that deck.
Vengevine
Current Price: $25
Up, Down or Stable? – Unsure (being honest here, people!)
Thoughts: Is Vengevine a Giant Solifuge, or a Talara’s Battalion? It will not take a year to see the final (high) value of Vengevine — unlike Stoneforge Mystic, which will benefit greatly (I am assuming) from a full year of artifact block from October through May of 2011. Vengevine has had a slow, steady growth over the past two weeks, since it has first been spoiled. Is it the breakout Mythic of the set — the next Baneslayer Angel? While I don’t think it is that good, I do think that it is as good as advertised. 4/3 haste is still a good deal for four mana, and it is not terribly hard to recur Vengevine once it dies — Bloodbraid Elf can cascade into Sprouting Thrinax, or Ranger of Eos can quickly fetch up two one-drops (so the next turn follow-up to a turn 4 Vengevine could easily be Ranger, Wild Nacatl, swing for four with a resurrected Vengevine).
I think that control decks (especially U/W ones) will have a nightmare of a time keeping Vengevine under control, and haste is the key here — even after freeing up from an Oblivion Ring, Vengevine will always be swinging in there for four. I’m not sure that the ceiling for Vengevine is much higher than the $25 range (but I will admit I could be wrong on this), but I think it is more likely to not drop below $20 than it is to be revealed as a bust.
RARES
Angelheart Vial
Current Price: $1.25
Up, Down or Stable? – Down
Thought: Will probably drop to the $0.60 bulk rare price, but might have some long term potential for EDH players, much like Mind’s Eye. It did take Mind’s Eye around five years to really take off, and the payoff isn’t great — so basically I’m saying that you should avoid Angelheart Vial for the time being, unless you want to play it casually.
Awakening Zone
Current Price: $5
Up, Down or Stable? – Up
Thoughts: I have a tendency to underestimate the upward value of consistent token generators — cards like Bitterblossom (which I missed horribly) or Goblin Assault (which, while not a tournament staple, has held value better than most other Shards rares). Awakening Zone plays well in three types of decks: Combo (Polymorph, to give you token creatures at a reliable rate), Ramp (each turn gets you +1 mana) and control (get a free 0/1 creature each turn that can be later used to fuel a massive game-ending Eldrazi or Mind Spring or somesuch). While I’m not the biggest fan of this card personally, I also recognize my shortcomings in valuing this type of card — so though my instincts tell me this is more Goblin Assault than Bitterblossom, I also recognize that Awakening Zone is extremely versatile, and will appeal to a great number of deck builders — both casual and competitive.
Baneful Omen
Current Price: $0.60
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable
Thoughts: Bulk Rare
Bear Umbra
Current Price: $2
Up, Down or Stable? – Up
Thoughts: This is the first Totem armor enchantment I’m reviewing, and generally Umbra cards half-address the two-for-one problem with Enchant Creature cards — if you creature dies while being targeted by the Umbra card, you’re still losing card advantage. However, the Totem armor effect is huge — especially since it doesn’t remove an attacking/blocking creature from combat like Regeneration (Thrull Retainer) would. Bear Umbra is one of the better Totem armors — one that has an effect you’d have to look at even without the Totem armor ability. Is this the card that will finally make Omnath Ramp a reality?
Turn 1: Some sort of Elf (between Birds of Paradise, Noble Hierarch, Arbor Elf, and Llanowar Elves, you can assume this will happen if you want to build your deck to drop a three-drop on turn 2).
Turn 2: Omnath
Turn 3: Bear Umbra on Omnath, attack (1/1 + 2/2 for the armor), tap three mana into your pool (Omnath is now a 6/6).
Turn 4: Tap four into your pool (10/10 Omnath, seven mana floating), attack, tap four into your pool (11/11 Omnath, eleven mana floating), cast an Eldrazi/huge monster/something that just outright kills your opponent/whatever you would do with eleven mana on turn 4.
Yes, I realize this is a dream scenario — but even without Omnath in this equation, Bear Umbra allows you to double your mana every turn — during your main phases! This is important, because previous cards of this nature generally worked during your upkeep (Awakening) or on your opponent’s turn (Seedborn Muse). Getting four mana back on the turn you cast Bear Umbra (or three if you use an elf) is huge.
Long story short, I think Bear Umbra has the potential to be a player.
Conquering Manticore
Current Price: $1
Up, Down or Stable? – Down
Thoughts: Bulk Rare
Consume the Meek
Current Price: $6
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable
Thoughts: Mono-Black Control got a lot of tools recently, which is good as far as I’m concerned — as a deck, it hasn’t been healthy in a good, long time. The closest comparison I could find to Consume the Meek is Culling Sun. Consume the Meek is much better — it is mono-colored (BB3 is a lot less awkward to cast than WWB2), it is instant speed (Culling Sun was Sorcery speed), and it prevents regeneration (not as important, but good to note just in case you’re facing a horde of River Boa). Is it good against Jund? Not really — it kills man lands, but gets the wrong end of Sprouting Thrinax, only deals with half of Broodmate Dragon, and probably is too slow to be of effect against Putrid Leech. Is it good against other agro decks, or token-based decks? This card owns Boss Naya pretty hard, and can stop hasty Red guys (Ball Lightning/Hell’s Thunder). This will see play, and while it is no Damnation, it is probably in the same range as Mutilate.
Consuming Vapors
Current Price: $5
Up, Down or Stable? – Up
Thoughts: I really, really like Consuming Vapors. B3, target player sacrifices a creature is not a great deal (Cruel Edict did that for two mana). B3, sacrifice + gain life equal to the sacrificed creature’s toughness is better — bad against decks with small guys, ideal against Polymorph decks, great against ramp decks. Throw in Rebound? Man, this card got good! If your opponent’s plan is to overwhelm you with small creatures, you’ll probably take out two guys and gain 2-4 life. If your opponent’s plan is to play larger guys, you’ll two-for-one and gain 5-10 life. If your opponent is U/W Control or Polymorph, you’ll gain 5-10 life and potentially Time Walk your opponent (if you kill your opponent’s only creature, are they going to drop a single creature the following turn, knowing that Consuming Vapors will give you another free kill spell?). Rebound is what makes this card, and I think that people are wowed by the instant Wrath-of-Smother right above this card, without taking into account that Consuming Vapors does a lot more of what you want out of Black control card — take out two creatures, and gain you life, and buy you time in the early game to take control in the late game.
Coralhelm Commander
Current Price: $1.25
Up, Down or Stable? – Up ($2ish)
Thoughts: This is a pretty reasonable drop for Merfolk decks, and while it does pale in comparison to Lord of Atlantis, it complements the tribe nicely for casual play. This should be fairly popular with non-tournament players, and may sneak into some competitive decks as a Lord of Atlantis that transforms into a Phantom Monster/Air Elemental — with the problem being that it’s not a Lord of Atlantis until it hits level 4.
Deathless Angel
Current Price: $3
Up, Down or Stable? – Down
Thoughts: Angels used to have a huge currency as a creature type, as did Dragons — it didn’t matter if the card was good or bad, the supply of cards being opened against the demand from casual players was in favor of demand. Now, the favor is towards supply — tournaments players, while still in a minority against casual players for purchasing power, have taken back a large share of the “disposable income” pie for Magic, as a whole. As a result, cards like Deathless Angel (comparable to Adarkar Valkyrie) do not generally hit the $5 mark like they (automatically) used to — they are valued more in accord to the play they see. In other words, see where Battlegrace Angel and Stoic Angel languish right now — in the $1 to $2 bins. I don’t think Deathless Angel is a bulk rare, but I think it’ll fall in that $1 to $2 range where interesting, casually-playable Angels/Dragons end up landing.
Devastating Summons
Current Price: $0.75
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable, but has upside.
Thoughts: This is a card like Final Fortune — after you cast it, you either win or you lose, but there’s not really a middle ground. Unlike Hellcarver Demon, you’re not cheating a ton of cards into play at once — what you are doing is getting two very large creatures at a small mana cost (R) but at a high development cost (most, if not all, of your lands). The one key to this card is how it curves. Having this at the end of your curve (one Red mana, no matter how many lands you sacrifice) means you can unload your hand/creatures/burn, and use this as your finisher. That is important to remember before writing this card off — you can Earthquake for five (R5), and then drop two 7/7 creatures (R) if you so wish. Assuming you did any damage earlier in the game, you’ve likely wiped the board, and put your opponent on a one-turn clock.
Disaster Radius
Current Price: $0.60
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable
Thoughts: Bulk Rare. Sorry I don’t have more to say about Bulk Rares, but this article is already going to run super-long.
Dormant Gomazoa
Current Price: $0.60
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable, for now
Thoughts: I looked up all of the beneficial cards that target yourself in Standard right now, and the list of even remotely playable cards was four — Kiss of the Amesha, Sign in Blood, Time Warp, and Sunspring Expedition). Cards like Ponder and Mind Spring don’t target — so while if they did this might make Dormant Gomazoa a dark horse candidate, until there are more beneficial “target player” effects you’d want to hit yourself with, this guy isn’t a Standard contender.
Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
Current Price: $2
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable
Thoughts: Should stay in the $1.50-$2 range. An acceptable five-drop for the Vampire deck, and one that lets it battle Baneslayer Angels directly, instead of indirectly (Malakir Bloodwitch).
Echo Mage
Current Price: $1
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable
Thoughts: Casual fodder, as I don’t see this supplanting Twincast for decks that wanted to competitively run Twincast.
Eldrazi Conscription
Current Price: $2.50
Up, Down or Stable? – Down
Thoughts: Won’t become a bulk rare (it’s too HUGE to do that), but I do think it’ll go down to the $1 range. I also think it’s better than a $1 rare — in many cases (especially for ramp decks) this is better than dropping an actual Eldrazi, because effectively you can make your creature have haste (Llanowar Elf plus Eldrazi Conscription = 11/11 trampler with Annihilator: 2). This is two-to-three turns earlier than dropping some of the 10 to 11 mana cost Eldrazi, and doesn’t give your opponent as much time to deal. Yes, you can get two-for-oned — but you can also completely wreck someone (read: Mono-Black Control, Jund) that relies more on Sorceries than Instants for board removal.
Eldrazi Temple
Current Price: $8
Up, Down or Stable? – Up
Thoughts: This will be the key to making Eldrazi Ramp decks work, and therefore will be the only four-of from this set that is completely necessary for that deck in the Rare or Mythic slot. Accordingly, these will probably hit the $10 if the deck is vaguely playable (which I think it is) and the $12-$15 mark if it is tier 1 (which I do not think it is). I wouldn’t expect these to drop in price at all.
Gelatinous Genesis
Current Price: $1
Up, Down or Stable? – Down
Thoughts: Probably will end up in bulk rare range, but may appear as a one-to-two of in ramp decks. I will say that I love the design of this card — kudos to whoever was responsible!
Gigantomancer
Current Price: $1
Up, Down or Stable? – Down
Thoughts: Probably will end up in the bulk rare range. Seems like it’s a lot of fun to play with, if not very expensive to play “fair” (non-reanimation).
Gravitational Shift
Current Price: $0.60
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable
Thoughts: Bulk rare, though it would have been a consideration if it gave only YOUR flying creatures the +2/+0 and only your OPPONENT’s non-flyers the -2/-0. I don’t think that would have been unfair at five mana.
Guul Draz Assassin
Current Price: $2.50
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable
Thoughts: This guy plays an amazing board control, especially in the Vampires on Vampires mirror match. With that said, it’s also the buy-a-box foil, so there will be plenty of these around. I can also see certain decks (Mono-Green Elves) completely folding to this card once it goes active on turn 3.
Hedron Matrix
Current Price: $1
Up, Down or Stable? – Down
Thoughts: Bulk Rare
Hedron-Field Purists
Current Price: $0.60
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable
Thoughts: Bulk Rare
Hellion Eruption
Current Price: $0.60
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable
Thoughts: Bulk Rare. That’s three in a row folks! The letter “H” was not kind to Rise of the Eldrazi Rares.
It That Betrays
Current Price: $4
Up, Down or Stable? – Down
Thoughts: If you’re at twelve mana, and you’re dropping 11/11 creatures on the board, I think the least of your concerns is making your opponent sacrifice permanents so you can steal them. I understand how this works with Annihilator: 2, but honestly — there are better Eldrazi guys you’re going to be dropping at this mana range, and I don’t see It That Betrays making the cut — other than you can reanimate it from your graveyard.
Kazandu Tuskcaller
Current Price: $1
Up, Down or Stable? – Down
Thoughts: GGG3 to make a guy who is still 1/1 is problematic, considering Garruk does the same thing at a much more reasonable cost. I don’t see Tuskcaller happening, and it will likely end up in the bulk rare bin.
Keening Stone
Current Price: $1.25
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable, maybe up a touch
Thoughts: Fits into the category of Memory Erosion/Traumatize/Forced Fruition — certain players just love to mill, and this guy is pretty much a combo with Traumatize (and curves well in that deck). Should have a very strong casual play appeal.
Kor Spiritdancer
Current Price: $1.50
Up, Down or Stable? – Up
Thoughts: I think people will find that Totem armor is more playable than they are used to for creature enchantments, and Kor Spiritdancer plus a Totem armor is hard to deal with. This has the right mana cost to be part of a build-me combo engine, especially in an environment that boasts Mesa Enchantress and Open the Vaults. I’d probably pick up a playset just in case — I’m reluctant to write off two-mana Enchantress creatures, even if they only key off Auras.
Lightmine Field
Current Price: $2
Up, Down or Stable: Down
Thoughts: While this does stop a horde of small creatures from attacking, it doesn’t really deal with most of the stuff you need it to (Bant, Mythic deck, Jund, Vampires late-game). People will try this, and find it largely irrelevant.
Lord of Shatterkull
Current Price: $1
Up, Down or Stable? – Down
Thoughts: Bulk rare. You’re not going to hit sixteen mana to make this guy level six in any deck that wants to play it to begin with. Six for a vanilla 6/6 isn’t quite where Red wants to be, either.
Magmaw
Current Price: $0.60
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable
Thoughts: I try to keep an open mind about the potential uses for cards, but really? Would this have been so bad if it could sacrifice lands?
Momentous Fall
Current Price: $7
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable, or up a little.
Thoughts: The best card drawing spell for Green since Harmonize. A lot of people are excited about answering a creature-kill spell with Momentous Fall, and I can’t say I blame them — making this card instant speed was a huge boon to Green mages everywhere. Will this sometimes sit in your hand while you sit watching a Llanowar Elf (or something equally puny) in play as your only creature? Maybe. Will this give you incentive to sacrifice Vengevine (Draw 4, gain 3) and then be able to replay two creatures the next turn (with impunity) because you’ll still be ahead on card advantage even if they Wrath of God? You betcha! If you are a dedicated Green mage and don’t love this card, then you need to turn in your membership card to Bennie Smith or Jamie Wakefield, depending on your continent.
Mortician Beetle
Current Price: $0.60
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable, with sleeper potential
Thoughts: Could be part of a potential combo deck, much like Carrion Feeder was for Flash. Carrion Feeder was a lot more proactive to the combo — but I can see decks that infinitely sacrifice stuff and make Mortician Beetle arbitrarily large (for instance, Spawnsire of Ulamog plus Training Grounds) — and it also keys off of your opponent’s creature sacrifices as well. I’d keep an eye on the Beetle, because there definitely could exist a deck that would love him as the opening play.
Mul Daya Channelers
Current Price: $7
Up, Down or Stable? – Down
Thoughts: The most overrated card in the set. Generally you either want acceleration or a large creature, and this isn’t reliably either. Trade these off to anyone valuing them high at the prerelease, and get yourself some Momentous Falls instead.
Near-Death Experience
Current Price: $1
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable
Thoughts: Cute with Soulgorger Orgg and Angel’s Grace and Worship. Not a for-serious deck (that I think), but one that casual players will tinker around with.
Nomads’ Assembly
Current Price: $1
Up, Down or Stable? – Down
Thoughts: Although it seems like a bulk rare, Elvish Promenade, Doubling Season, Saproling Symbiosis (yes, for real), and Parallel Evolution have all held a premium value to the casual player. While I don’t think this has applications in Constructed (unless Conqueror’s Pledge/Ajani Goldmane decks become insanely popular), I think this is a card that casual players will want. While it may settle in bulk rare range, it’ll be one that sells. (As opposed to Magmaw, which I will offer up a large quantity of at a discount rate to any takers who want to make it their personal mission in life to collect Magmaw). (E-mail Ben@StarCityGames.com if you want a tremendous collection of Magmaws for cheap. Serious!)
Pestilence Demon
Current Price: $0.60
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable
Thoughts: Bulk Rare
Rage Nimbus
Current Price: $0.60
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable
Thoughts: Would have seen some play as a 3/5. Won’t likely see play as a 5/3. Bulk.
Realms Uncharted
Current Price: $7
Up, Down or Stable? – Stablish ($6-$8 range)
Thoughts: Gifts Ungiven for lands, right down to the homage artwork. I see a place for this in multiple formats, and might be just the card that Urzatron needed to get back into the game in Extended. Is this better than Intuition in Legacy for Lands? Probably not, because it can’t get Life from the Loam. Is it still a consideration? You bet your sweet butt it is. Plays very well with Knight of the Reliquary too. This is a versatile card that will work out in multiple formats.
Recurring Insight
Current Price: $0.60
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable
Thoughts: This is probably an utterly insane card in EDH. I don’t think it’ll pass the “playable in Standard” test, but my god — that’s a lot of cards you can draw in multi-player games, where someone is sure to have a full grip still when you cast this monster.
Renegade Doppelganger
Current Price: $1
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable
Thoughts: While these types of cards (Unstable Shapeshifter, Volrath’s Shapeshifter) generally are not big money cards, they do occasionally see play. Renegade Doppelganger is low enough on the curve that it will act as an effective haste creature for anything you drop later in the curve — and while I’m not saying that a one-turn haste Baneslayer Angel is a reason to play an otherwise insignificant two-drop creature, I will say it is amusing (in a casual game) to throw level-up counters on him by copying something like Transcendent Master, and then playing something that can easily take advantage of having a lot of Level Up counters (Brimstone Mage), since the counters do not come off when it reverts back to a Renegade Doppelganger.
Repay in Kind
Current Price: $0.60
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable
Thoughts: Bulk Rare
Spawnsire of Ulamog
Current Price: $2
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable
Thoughts: While it is a flight of fancy to think you’ll activate the 20 mana ability (cast every Eldrazi you own — or for tournament play, all of the ones in your sideboard), consider this with Training Grounds. If you can cast Spawnsire of Ulamog, you can then drop enough Eldrazi tokens (with Training Grounds) to be able to activate the 20-mana ability within two turns. I keep having a nagging feeling that this creature has some place in an Eldrazi deck for Standard, but I’m not putting my finger on why I feel that way. Either way, should have casual appeal as a big monster that can get every other big monster you own.
Sphinx of Magosi
Current Price: $0.75
Up, Down or Stable? – Down
Thoughts: Seems like a bulk rare to me — isn’t Djinn of Wishes better right now, considering it can cheat (actually counts as casting) Eldrazi into play? Is this better than Sphinx of Jwar Isle? I don’t feel as if it is.
Sphinx-Bone Wand
Current Price: $0.60
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable
Thoughts: Bulk rare, though one that looks fun in EDH.
Splinter Twin
Current Price: $0.60
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable, maybe up a little.
Thoughts: Splinter Twin plus Pesterminte = infinite Pestermite. Let me know if there’s more to that deck than just this combo!
Student of Warfare
Current Price: $8
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable
Thoughts: Would probably be hovering at the double-digits if it wasn’t one of the theme deck rares. This is the strongest levelers, as far as raw ability goes (attack as a 3/3 first-striker on turn 2). Fantastic with Ranger of Eos, great in White Weenie, potentially good enough for older formats as well. These are as good as has been advertised.
Surrakar Spellblade
Current Price: $1
Up, Down or Stable? – Down
Thoughts: Bulk rare. This is one of the worst Shadowmage Infiltrators ever printed.
Tajuru Preserver
Current Price: $2
Up, Down or Stable? – Down
Thoughts: Won’t be a bulk rare, but will likely be in the $1ish range that cards like this end up in, when they are playable sideboard options in the right metagame (see Loaming Shaman).
Thought Gorger
Current Price: $0.60
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable
Thoughts: Bulk Rare
Training Grounds
Current Price: $3
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable
Thoughts: People are really buying this card a lot more than I thought they were going to — we sold through over a hundred of them within a couple of hours of putting Training Grounds live at $2 (and then $2.50). I recognize this card has a ton of combo potential — much like Helm of Awakening, or Power Artifact (but for creatures, cheaper, and reusable if your source dies). It also plays well with Level Up creatures. I’m not sure this will get there, but I think it will be extremely popular with casual players, and will be a Johnny favorite.
Tuktuk the Explorer
Current Price: $2
Up, Down or Stable? – Down
Thoughts: I just don’t see this guy happening. You can make the effort to turn your 1/1 Haste (?) creature into a 5/5, but why not just cast a guy that big to begin with in Green? Why not smash someone with Ball Lightning? I think Tuktuk will fall into the bulk range — especially since the token he makes is Legendary (so you can’t have recursion shenanigans).
Umbra Mystic
Current Price: $1
Up, Down or Stable? – Down
Thoughts: Cute, but not really useful like a guy who gets +2/+2 and draws you cards for playing Auras.
World at War
Current Price: $0.60
Up, Down or Stable? – Stable
Thoughts: One day, there will be a Relentless Assault variant that gets there, I swear. Finest Hour came close. World at War moves further away.
UNCOMMONS
Artisan of Kozilek: I think this guy will have a place in Eldrazi decks, and ramp decks in general. Heck, it’s even a good reanimator target for decks that like using Buried Alive. Might be undervalued by a little right now.
Dreamstone Hedron: While it’s not Thran Dynamo, I do think it is worth testing out for, again, Eldrazi or Ramp decks. The effect is powerful, if expensive.
Enclave Cryptologist: There are decks that definitely want this effect — basically, a hasty Merfolk Looter on turn 2. I would not dismiss this card, because the decks that want to run it (to intentionally fill the graveyard) want it at level 1, not at level 3.
Inquisition of Kozilek: Possibly the most important card for Legacy in this set — while it doesn’t nail Force of Will, the Inquisition lets you hit Tarmogoyf and Reanimate alike (or any other spell three or less), which is huge — the troubles with Duress were a potential swing-and-miss against creature-based decks. This will potentially see a lot of play, in a lot of formats. Foils of Inquisition should trade in the $6-$10 range.
Joraga Treespeaker: See Enclave Cryptologist. You’re not really losing tempo if you drop Joraga Treespeaker on turn 1, and level it on turn 2. All you care about is making it Level 1, at which point you still have two mana on turn 2 (beyond your two land drops) and you ramp up to five on turn 3. Powerful, and should see play (even outside of Elf decks).
Oust: Personally I’m not a fan of this card, but I’ve heard enough people I respect say it’s worth playing, that I’ll put it up here under the Uncommons of note. I’d unquestionably support this card if it were instant speed (which it is not).
Pelakka Wurm: I think this card is more playable than people are giving it credit for. The life swing, body, and ability to gain card advantage against removal is huge — and seven mana is definitely in-range for ramp decks (especially considering we are realistically talking about people getting to ten-to-eleven mana for Eldrazi decks).
Suffer the Past: If Mono-Black Control ends up breaking out (I think it will be at least a tier 2 deck post-Eldrazi), this guy will be at the least a sideboard consideration.
Wall of Omens: Wall of Blossoms, but in White. Amazingly important for the metagame, and it will be played a ton (in both Standard and Extended). Huge, gamebreaking, and what U/W needed to entrench as a tier-1 deck. I cannot express accurately how format-altering this card is, but trust me — everything has changed.
COMMONS
Ancient Stirrings: Since this can nab lands, I’m a fan. Probably even better in some sort of Eldrazi Ramp deck, allowing you to dig five cards to find an Eldrazi Temple (and you are sure to not swing and miss with at least a Forest).
Bloodthrone Vampire: Somewhere between Phyrexian Ghoul and Carrion Feeder. This type of card is always a combo enabler at worst, so keep an eye out!
Deprive: We’re almost back to Counterspell — and while I recognize that often you will not want to cast this early (even if you can) due to loss of tempo, you will just as often be happy to replay a Halimar Depths, or to stop a threat outright, which is not an ability Blue currently has below three mana.
Lone Missionary: A great tool against agro decks — though there are a lot of these right now in White (Wall of Omens, Student of Warfare, Kor Firewalker). I’d still keep in mind that Lone Missionary exists — sometimes he’s going to be the right choice.
Overgrown Battlement: How quickly people forget that Vine Trellis wasn’t all bad. Then again, I did mention earlier that you can realistically play sixteen one-drop mana producers in Green these days, if you so wish.
Sea Gate Oracle: I think that this guy compares favorably to Court Hussar — it’s obviously worse (you see one less card, it doesn’t have vigilance), but Court Hussar was a mainstay in Standard. Is this so far behind that it’s not worth a try?
See Beyond: See Beyond is amazing. I can’t say enough good things about it, other than it will see play in every Constructed format that exists. This is the exact card that Reanimator/Polymorph wants to run, so you can draw cards, and then intentionally shuffle your fatties back into your deck. I’m not saying that this is a reason to run Blue — but I am saying that if you’re running Blue in Standard, you better have a good reason for not running See Beyond.
Staggershock: There is a shocking amount of Red burn in this set, and most of it doesn’t compare favorably to existing Red burn (sorcery speed, can only hit creatures, etc). Staggershock is the one that stands out for me — you basically get a split-up Char, without the drawback of taking two damage. Sometimes this is better (if you’re killing utility creatures), and sometimes it’s worse (being able to kill four-toughness creatures was key). Either way, for a burn deck this is a spell that is four damage for three mana, so it will likely see play.
Vendetta: A very good card, that is very, very bad against Eldrazi. Luckily, you’ll be seeing a lot fewer of those in Constructed than you will in Sealed.
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the forums, or on our Facebook account! If you have not seen, we are giving away two completely free complete sets of Rise of the Eldrazi as part of our Prize of the Eldrazi Contest — all you need to do is follow StarCityGames.com on Twitter or friend us on Facebook, and one lucky winning on each will be shipped a complete set of Rise of the Eldrazi (yes, including Mythics!) on the day of release!
I’d like to take one last moment to discuss our recent interest in Food Chain. Ken Adams (one of our buyers) sent me the following decklist:
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Deranged Hermit
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Llanowar Elves
1 Magus of the Future
4 Mulldrifter
1 Myojin of Cleansing Fire
1 Myojin of Infinite Rage
1 Myojin of Night’s Reach
2 Myojin of Seeing Winds
3 Raven Familiar
4 Wall of Blossoms
4 Food Chain
3 Opposition
9 Forest
2 Gaea’s Cradle
6 Island
3 Tropical Island
Sideboard:
2 Drowned Rusalka
1 Woodfall Primus
2 Krosan Grip
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Tormod’s Crypt
3 Trinisphere
This looks like a very rudimentary build of a U/G Food Chain combo deck, but the premise is extremely sound:
1) Drop a Food Chain
2) Evoke Mulldrifter (+2 cards, +6 mana)
3) Continue to play cantrip creatures (+mana, +1 cards)
4) Eventually drop a huge fatty that wrecks your opponent/lock them down with Opposition.
This was a deck straight out of Japan, and I will always pay attention to when the Japanese start playing around with a pre-proven combo engine. Moreover, I’m no expert Legacy deck builder, but I can imagine that this deck becomes even more consistent if you add in Imperial Recruiter (+4 mana, lets you search out Mulldrifter or Deranged Hermit), Court Hussar (another Raven Familiar), Force of Will, and bigger better fatties to end with (Iona, or honestly Eldrazi — remember, Deranged Hermit is a Creature Ritual for 10 with Food Chain in play!).
While I can’t say for sure that Food Chain Combo (U/G) is a good deck (more community testing is needed), I’m very excited about the thoughts of this deck being further developed — it seems like it has legs to me.
Have a great prerelease, and the next time you’ll see an article from me, I’ll be a dad! Take care everyone!
Ben Bleiweiss
General Manager of Acquisitions, StarCityGames.com