It’s hard to throw a rock at a Magic opinion website these days and not hit an article talking about how expensive various cards and formats have become. (A figurative rock. Please don’t actually throw rocks at websites.) The biggest news on Twitter during the opening hours of Grand Prix: Washington DC was not some innovative new deck or unforeseen piece of tech, but how Vengevine had suddenly leaped from $35 to $50 among the vendors at the site. (It’s currently sitting at $45 at this here site here.) The mythic rarity has ushered in a new era of top-dollar cards:
1. Jace, the Mind Sculptor $80
2. Gideon Jura $60
3=. Elspeth, Knight-Errant $50
3=. Baneslayer Angel $50
5. Vengevine $45
6. Maelstrom Pulse $22.50
7=. Sarkhan the Mad $20
7=. Noble Hierarch $20
9=. Knight of the Reliquary $18
9=. Vampire Nocturnus $18
Everything in the Top 5 of Standard’s top-dollar cards is mythic, and seven out of the Top 10. (Number 11 is All is Dust, which is also mythic.)
You know what I think? I think all this discussion about “high price of Standard” this and “mythic shouldn’t be a format staple” that is giving the mythic rarity a bad name. We’re spending so much time focusing on the ones that are ridiculously expensive that no one spends any time enjoying the mythics that fit the vision that Wizards originally put forward: “Planeswalkers, most legends, and epic-feeling creatures and spells.” Let’s focus on those! Let’s take a look at the mythics that are EPIC-feeling!
Okay, not the Planeswalkers. Seriously, those guys are expensive.
Zendikar: Eternity Vessel
Eternity Vessel ($1.49) IS epic-feeling. An artifact that essentially locks in your current life total, so long as you keep making land drops. EPIC! The only caveat is that the Eternity Vessel is only ever going to get you back to the life you have when you play it — which is fine, so long as you can protect your life total long enough to drop it. So, in my mind, there’s two ways to do that: either with insane amounts of lifegain (which would let you play a Vessel with more than 20 counters, potentially), or by building a wall around yourself that won’t let any early damage through.
The bad thing about the lifegain plan is that, once you get an Eternity Vessel online with a reasonable number of counters, any further lifegain cards actually decreases the usefulness of the Eternity Vessel. The bad thing about the wall plan is… well, you need a win condition, and those Walls are pretty useless at doing damage to your opponent. And the right answer might be… some of both?
Creatures (19)
Lands (24)
Spells (20)
Rare Cost Summary:
Eternity Vessel ($1.49 x 3 = $4.47)
Felidar Sovereign ($2.49 x 3 = $7.47)
I went with Felidar Sovereign as my win condition – I like that he doubles as a potential source of damage and an alternate win condition. And it doubles up on the EPIC mythic cards in the deck! It doesn’t hurt that he stays home and plays defense, either. I tried really hard to keep only the walls under 4cc (so that Captured Sunlight always would cascade into a wall) but the deck desperately needs Oblivion Ring, and Rampant Growth is extra Eternity Vessel activations. Ruin Ghost gives you unlimited Vessel activations, so he was deemed okay, and I took a page from all the decks who found a way to use that blue Spreading Seas mana with the maindeck Vapor Snares.
Rares You Could Add, If You Had ‘Em: You could replace the Terramorphic Expanses with Misty Rainforests; you should have a good shot at getting the White you need from the remaining fetchlands and Plains, but you definitely want to be able to find Blue and Green mana when you need it. I’d swap the Expanses over the Panoramas because at least the Panorami give you mana the turn they enter the battlefield – if you need that last mana to cast Vapor Snare, or to get an Eternity Vessel down prior to taking a huge amount of damage.
And one last note: How nuts would Endless Horizons be in this deck? You essentially could ensure that you always have the ability to activate the Eternity Vessel. Sure, the fetchlands lose some value, but maybe in that instance you run with a bunch of Plains and Emeria, the Sky Ruin? Seems like fun.
Worldwake: Wrexial, the Risen Deep
I was initially drawn to Wrexial, the Risen Deep ($1.99) because… well, I’m a pirate at heart, and what good pirate doesn’t love a giant sea monster?
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve built a pirate deck. Pirate Ship coming back in Time Spiral was a load of fun, even though the card is horrible. The Rishadans in Mercadian Masques! Clearly I need to build a Ramirez DiPietro EDH deck, for, like Ramirez, I too am a most flamboyant pirate. (Obviously.) Uh. Moving on …
Wrexial is exactly what mythics should be: A gigantic legendary creature with an amazing amount of flavor. It makes sense that he would have islandwalk and swampwalk, being a kraken at home in the murky depths of the sea. And I like that, when he connects, he uses your opponent’s armaments against them. EPIC!
So, looking at Wrexial, two things come to mind. First, the best-case scenario is that they have a useful instant or sorcery in their graveyard so that you can get a little extra something other than just smacking them for five. (Note that even Lightning Bolt is pretty good to cast with Wrexial!) I’m thinking a little discard might be in order, which will let you have some say over what ends in the graveyard for your reuse. Second, you want your opponent to have Swamps or Islands so that you can just waltz in and smack them around. You’d think Wizards was printing cards specifically for Wrexial with all these enchantments that turn lands into those basic land types! Wrexial is probably pretty peeved about all these Blue-White-based control decks stealing his cards.
Creatures (6)
Lands (24)
Spells (30)
Rare Cost Summary:
Wrexial, the Risen Deep ($1.99 x 3 = $5.97)
I asked Resident Griefer and regular deckstorming accomplice Rick Ashby if I could dedicate this deck to him – with 10 mana denial spells and a fair amount of discard, it seemed like his type of deck. He said, “Sure.” I suspect when he sees this deck, he will say, “Not griefy enough.” But I think it does what it means to do: Put spells into the graveyard, and then make sure that Wrexial has a clear path to use them. The ten mana-denial cards will help strand your opponent with uncastable cards. Duress, the Ritualist, and Mind Shatter will help pick off anything that they might hold onto in the hopes of being able to cast it later. And then Wrexial will help himself to the castaways. The only issue I could foresee is that there may be a dearth of instants or sorceries you want to cast immediately.
Rares You Could Add, If You Had ‘Em: At one early draft of this deck, I had Sphinx of Lost Truths in the deck, and you could also add Sphinx of Jwar Isle as another win condition. I really like Jwar Isle right now; there’s not much that deals with him beyond Day of Judgment and All Is Dust, and you do have some limited countermagic. Also in the way of victory condition, Creeping Tar Pit would make a great one, as well as a nice way to smooth out the mana.
A Couple Quick Notes
Today, Wizards announced Duel Decks: Elspeth v. Tezzeret. For all you people irritated by Elspeth’s $50 price tag, be prepared for it to take a nasty drop, as now everyone and my grandmother will be able to snag a foil Elspeth from their local Target for the MSRP. (My grandmother is probably already camped out outside Target, even though the product doesn’t release until September.) I really like the fact that Wizards is putting the Planeswalkers front and center, and the Duel Decks series has become a good way to get old (or expensive) cards into more people’s hands. I applaud Wizards for this move. What I’m curious about is this: Since Elspeth v. Tezzeret comes out about a month before they both rotate out of Standard, does this mean that they’ll likely be included in M11?
And secondly, good luck to Sir Regularly-Appearing-In-This-Column, Doran aficionado and perennial shotgun rider for PTQs, Randy Tempelaar, who won our local WPN Championships Qualifier and has headed down to San Juan to try and win the whole shebang. Good luck! Bring it home for the good guys.
Until next week…
Dave
dave dot massive at gmail and davemassive at twitter and facebook