It’s time for the second portion of my Dark Ascension set review! I was originally going to write an article similar to the first part of this set review; however, I have a better idea! It was brought to my attention that the beloved Tim Aten had an issue with Ben’s financial review of Innistrad. He posted this.
Call me a skeptic if you will, but I disagree with this statement, and I’m more than happy to test it. I present to you, Financial writer vs. Magic 8-Ball: Dark Ascension review. Unfortunately, I don’t own a Magic 8-Ball; however, there is one online, and I can just screen shot the answers.
If you ain’t white, you ain’t in the next section of my article.
Archangel’s Light
No Magic 8-Ball. You’re just wrong.
This card will only appeal to kitchen table casual players. It has no Constructed playability and very little appeal to many Commander players. I don’t feel like this card will ever be worth more than $1-$2.
Increasing Devotion
I’m trying to give you easy questions, Magic 8-Ball, and you’re just making a fool of yourself.
Similar to Archangel’s Light, this card has some casual appeal to it. It’s not going to see very much, if any, Constructed play, and I don’t believe it will ever be worth much more than $1. It’s fine for Commander and could possibly see some Block play, but I don’t feel that’s enough to push it over the $1 mark.
Requiem Angel
FINALLY!! We agree on something!
The only thing this card really has going for it is that it’s an Angel. It can and will see some casual play, but again, nothing to write home about. This card will hover around the $.50-$1 point until WotC bans every card with CMC 5 or less. At which point it might hit $1.50.
Sudden Disappearance and Séance
I don’t want to involve Magic 8-Ball in the discussion about these cards. They’re both extremely lackluster and likely to be bulk rares. Overall I’m disappointed with the white rares and mythics out of this set. I mentioned the only two good ones in my last article, and the ones spoiled since then have just gone downhill.
More importantly, I’m extremely unimpressed with the Magic 8-Ball’s financial opinions. If this were a debate, I feel like I would have won round one. Try to step it up, Magic 8-Ball!
Blue magic cards—the love of my life
Words cannot describe how much I love blue magic cards. However, I’m looking at this spoiler, and I just want to skip the blue section. In the back of my mind I’m hoping WotC will pop out and say, “You got punked—these aren’t the new blue cards in the next set, ‘you didn’t not make day two.’” (Bonus points for anyone who got that reference.)
After looking at the blue cards in this set, Magic 8-Ball, what do you think? Should we skip the blue cards?
Well, since you disagree—I guess I’ll cover some of them.
Beguiler of Wills
:Sigh: …
While my bank account has yet to decline to $10, I still wouldn’t bother buying 4x of this card. It’s a fine card—I just don’t ever see needing four of it. Definitely has a ton of casual appeal but probably a little too vulnerable for Constructed Magic. Its current price is $2.49, and I feel like that’s a really fair price for this card. I could see it floating between $2-$4 for the foreseeable future.
Call to the Kindred
My thoughts exactly!
It’s a cute card that you can do lots of fun things with, but I don’t think it’s going to be a tournament staple of sorts. It has a very neat and unique ability that gives it some appeal, but I don’t ever see this card breaking more than the $1 range.
Counterlash
While writing this article, I thought about the neat things you could do with this card. It dawned on me that you could counter a creature spell and put an Emrakul, the Aeons Torn into play. I ran into my living room (keep in mind, I was four vodka tonics deep at this point) and yelled, “Gerry! That Counterlash card… You can put an Emrakul into play with it!!”
Gerry decided to be a bad news bear and said, “Yeah, that’s not very good…”
To which I replied, “Well, now I have a new life goal!” Let’s get Magic 8-Ball’s opinion.
I need you to stop being such a Negative Nancy, Magic 8-Ball. This card is obviously sweet!
Is this one of my favorite cards in the set? Yes! Is it ever going to be worth more than a few dollars at most? Absolutely not! This card follows the recurring theme of “neat Commander/casual card.” You can do some really fun things with this card, and I’m excited to see where it goes. As for its price—it’s a $1 card and will probably continue to be for a long time to come.
Havengul Runebinder
As I said before, a lot of these cards have a ton of casual appeal, including this card. Another recurring theme with Dark Ascension cards is that they all seem pretty ridiculous in Limited. I know that my column is supposed to be about the financial aspect of Magic, but I wanted to at least mention that most of the cards I’ve read I’m really excited to draft with. Blue Cemetery Reapers that grow your guys seem pretty sweet to me!
With that out of the way, we’ll go back to the financial stuff. Magic 8-Ball, What are your feelings on Havengul Runebinder?
I know I told you to stop being such a Negative Nancy, but you’re just being ridiculous with this one. I mean, it’s a fun card—but Ancestral Recall isn’t even really comparable to this card.
StarCityGames.com is currently selling Havengul Runebinder for $1.25, and that seems like a fine price, in my opinion. It’s a fun card!
Dungeon Geists
Whoa! Uncalled for, Magic 8-Ball!
I like this card. In a format full of blue tempo decks, it might find itself in a few decks. I don’t think this card will spike in price, but it can easily stay in the $1-$2 range. It’s a little expensive, but it’s got evasion and is fairly resilient. Overall a pretty solid card in my book.
I discussed Increasing Confusion in the first section of my Dark Ascension set review. Other than that card, I’m not particularly excited about the other blue rares and mythics in Dark Ascension; they’re all bulk rares in the making.
Once you read this section…
At first glance, black is shaping up to be a much better color for a financial writer to talk about.
Geralf’s Messenger
Really, Magic 8-Ball? I feel like that’s a pretty bold claim.
I feel like Geralf’s Messenger is a pretty decent card. Similar to Gravecrawler, this card’s value depends heavily on the amount of playable Zombies they continue to print. I don’t expect the Zombies from this set to skyrocket in the next few months, but I feel like it could be a competitive deck once Scars block rotates out. This card has a lot of things I look for when evaluating creatures and determining price. It’s a very aggressive card that has a lot of built in damage. The ability to take 20% of your opponent’s life total without ever attacking is pretty awesome. While its casting cost obviously sucks and makes the card really restrictive, it still has a lot going for it. I believe this card will decrease in value over the next few months and then gradually become a $4-$6 card during its time in Standard.
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
I could not disagree more, Magic 8-Ball. This card is fine. It does cost a lot of mana, but it has a very powerful ability and acts as a lord. It’s too expensive to be another lord in an aggressive Zombie deck, but it could get played as a one- or two-of. I feel like this card has the ability to pop up in a few Constructed lists from time to time, but the majority of its appeal comes from the casual crowd. It seems like a great Commander, plus it’s a Zombie! For those of you who don’t know, popular creature types do influence the value of cards. Magic players love their Zombies, Dragons, Angels, Squirrels, and much more.
In order for this card to maintain its $8 price tag, it will need to see some Constructed play, which it is capable of doing. If it doesn’t, I feel like it will sink down to $3-$4 over the next few months. It should never fall below the $3-$4 mark; its casual appeal and the fact that it’s a mythic should prevent that from happening.
Curse of Misfortunes
Thank you for finally being reasonable. This card will only get better as they print more Curses. It does something very neat and unusual and has a reasonable casting cost. I’m not suggesting this card will ever be more than $5, but it’s currently being sold for $1, and I can definitely see it rising up to the $2 range.
Zombie Apocalypse deserves some honorable mention, but I’m not very excited about the rest of the black rares and mythics in this set, so we’ll move on.
Inferno Title
Alright, the joke is off for red. I’m stopping my little 8-Ball thing for this section of the article—this is serious. I don’t really like any of these cards. It’s pretty bad when I’m more financially excited about a common than any of the rares and mythics.
Hellrider
It’s one of the only decent red rares in this set, and I’m using the word “decent” very loosely in this context. It has the ability to threaten a lot of direct damage with a clogged up board, but I’m generally not too excited about Hill Giants these days. It’s currently $1.99, and I can easily see this card dropping under $1 in the coming months.
Increasing Vengeance
Congratulations WotC. You made a strictly worse Reverberate!
Markov Blademaster
The second of two “decent” red rares. I’m trying so hard to find positive things to say about this card, but it’s a three-drop with a cool ability and no evasion. If it connects once, it becomes a serious threat, but it’s really easy to stop that from happening. While I’m not the biggest fan of this card, I do feel like it’s a bulk rare. It’s currently $1.49, and that’s a very good price range for that card.
As for the rest of the red rares and mythics—I don’t really like them. They’re all extremely over costed and underpowered. I’ve only been talking about the rares and mythics, but Faithless Looting deserves a little bit of attention. The card is obviously very good. It’s already being sold for $.49, and that is a lot for a common. I could see it going up a bit more once it finds a deck, but it’s unlikely it will jump over $1.
Time for Broccolis
Alright 8-Ball, you’re back in the game. I had to bench you for a round, but it’s time to close out this article!
Deranged Outcast
You might be right.
This card does look pretty solid. As far as its Constructed playability goes, I’m still uncertain—but it’s an efficient creature with a good ability, and after looking at the rest of this set, that’s pretty good in my book. Again, we’re not going to have to shatter our piggybank to buy this guy, but he’ll stay in the $1-$2 range during his time in Standard.
Predator Ooze
Well, that answers that.
It’s indestructible; it grows; and it has a really awkward casting cost, thus screaming “casual fun Magic!” It’s currently $1.99, and I feel like that’s pretty much its peak price. This card can very easily float between $1-$2 for a few months, but it will decrease to the $.50-$1 range in the long run. Again, it’s not an awful card—it’s fun!
Vorapede
There are a lot of better things I’d want to be doing with my mana in Constructed Magic right now. Vorapede might find a spot post Scars block, but he’s just underwhelming with Primeval Titan and Garruk in the format. It’s by no means a bad card. Casual players will love this card—it’s a big, reasonably costed, hard-to-deal-with creature. It is currently $7.50, and that feels a bit high to me. I feel like this card is a $3-$5 card and has the casual appeal to stay in that price range for a while.
Ghoultree
OHH! A scary Zombie…
It’s a cute card that isn’t amazing, but it will be tons of fun for people to play with. It’s currently $1.49, and it will stay in that range for a long time. It’s not breaking any Constructed formats, and while it is a fun casual card, it isn’t a must have for anyone playing green.
Wolfbitten Captive / Krallenhorde Killer
I’m speechless, 8-Ball…
I’m not too excited about this card. I felt it was necessary to mention due to the fact that it’s one of the few green rares in Dark Ascension that StarCityGames.com sells for over $1. I don’t really see this card going up or even staying at $2. This card will probably sink down below $1 over the next few months.
Gold, Silver, and Brown
In my previous review I discussed Sorin, Lord of Innistrad, Falkenrath Aristocrat, and Drogskol Reaver, so in an effort to prevent future hissy fits, I’m not going to cover them again. However, I did make you a picture. It’s Falkenrath Aristocat!
I’m really easy to amuse. I laughed for like five minutes after seeing that picture. Alright, now we can get back to the article.
Havengul Lich
I’m going to have to disagree with you again Magic 8-Ball. Sorry, I just don’t think it will make it into the Legacy decks.
I feel like this is a really good card with a really awesome ability. I do not think it’s worth $15. I’m sure it can be part of some five-card combo in some format, but I feel like that’s very unlikely to blossom into a tier 1 deck. It’s awesome for casual/Commander, but I don’t think it’s going to change any Constructed format. I’m estimating this will be $6-$8 at most in the next few months.
Huntmaster of the Fells | Ravager of the Fells
I originally asked it, “Is $15 a good price for Huntmaster of the Fells?” and it said, “Yes.” So I had to change it—my career is too young for me to actually get proven wrong by a Magic 8-Ball.
I have similar feelings about this card as I do about Havengul Lich. It’s a fine card, still not worth $15. This card has a slightly better chance to see Constructed play and has similar casual/Commander appeal. There was a lot of hype attached to this card, and I feel like that was one of the things keeping it at $15. Just like Havengul Lich, I feel like this will be a $6-$8 card over the next few months.
It’s worth noting that these estimates only apply to paper Magic. Mythics are ridiculous on Magic Online; their prices make no sense sometimes. These cards could be $400, and it wouldn’t surprise me.
Grafdigger’s Cage
Damn, the Magic 8-Ball wins again. I finally start asking it reasonable questions, and it really hurts my argument that I’m more intelligent than a Magic 8-Ball!
A good sideboard card! Just what I always wanted!! If you haven’t read any of my previous articles, I’ll let you in on a little secret. I don’t like cards that are designed to sit in sideboards. It looks like such a great card on paper, but I feel like it will fall from favor rather quickly. It’s currently a $10 card, and I feel like that’s probably double what it will end up being.
Vault of the Archangel
I’m out of jokes. Here’s a picture of a lolcat. Side note: Every article I write, I spend a minimum of one hour distracted by lolcats. THEY’RE SO CUTE!
Of all the cards in Dark Ascension, this is one of the ones I like the most. A land that continuously gives your crappy creatures the ability to trade with your opponent’s guys seems very good. Had you asked me a similar question before seeing Gavony Township was being played, I might have answered differently, but I feel like Vault of the Archangel is a strict upgrade in terms of utility lands. As far as price goes, I’d rank it slightly lower than Moorland Haunt, so it will probably stay in the $3-$4 range.
To Recap
I feel like Tim Aten couldn’t have been more wrong about the Magic 8-Ball. It clearly has no idea what it’s talking about when it comes to Magic finance. You’ll get ’em next time, slugger.
Seriously though, I’m looking over this article, and I can’t help but notice I don’t like very many of the cards in this set. That’s pretty disappointing; I really liked a lot of the cards they spoiled early on, and it kind of just went downhill. As I said before, I’m only really disappointed from a financial stance. This set looks pretty awesome to draft with, and I like a lot of the commons and uncommons as well. I didn’t really cover those, since I wanted to focus on the financial value. While some of the commons and uncommons from Dark Ascension will soon be more valuable than some of the rares I’ve talked about, it still didn’t seem appropriate to talk about them.
It’s always awkward writing and reading set reviews. I feel like I could write a blind set review and say, “95% of the cards in a new set are terrible and won’t be worth more than $1,” and it would be fairly accurate. So that leaves me with two options. I can write a set review and try to be positive and optimistic about new cards and end up looking like a giant idiot, or I could write a review similar to this one and just go down the list and tell you my honest opinion of these cards. Being honest has worked out so far, so I’ll just stick to that one for now. I’m sure a lot of people will disagree with me on some of these cards, and I’d love to hear your opinion! I’m not always right, but friendly debates are fun, and they help everyone! We’re all here to learn, so let’s do that!
Thanks for reading!
-Wesley David Wise
@wdwise on Twitter