Battle for Zendikar is a Magic set with lots of interesting commons and uncommons. A lot of these are often seen on local game store buylists for a nickel or dime, due to their playability outside of competitive Magic. One of these “nickel and dime” cards is Mortuary Mire. It’s a little Black utility land that has an effect that’s more powerful than you may at first realize.

Like many utility taps, Mortuary Mire comes into play tapped. But it has an enter the battlefield ability that interests a lot of people. When you put it in play, you may take a creature card from your graveyard and put it on top of your deck. Imagine you could draw into a creature that you could really use from your graveyard. This is exactly what Mortuary Mire allows you to do.

Now, in Standard, letting your opponent know what your next draw will be isn’t always optimal. However, in Commander, a format in which you’ll be likely very able to draw that creature before your next turn, a card like Mortuary Mire is invaluable. In Commander, you only have one of each creature, so being able to get back a key creature and put it right back into your deck is a big deal.

Mortuary Mire sees a ton of play in Commander according to EDHREC. The top Commanders that use this utility land include Sidisi, Brood Tyrant, Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim, Meren of Clan Nel Toth, and Gisa and Geralf. None of these Commanders are particularly surprising to see, as Mortuary Mire helps get back key creatures in these decks. Plus, getting back a creature on a land that gives you colored mana means that you can get a lot of value out of this one card.

I always look for utility lands with decent effects like this that provide one or more colors of mana. Many utility lands only provide colorless mana. While it would seem to limit their usefulness, utility lands that provide colored mana are usually pretty good, especially in Commander. Whenever you see a copy of Mortuary Mire lying around, make sure you keep it within reach, because you never know when someone might need a copy.

Archetype of Imagination (FOIL)

Like, Archetype of Courage, Archetype of Imagination is a popular Commander card. It’s for a much different reason, however. The regular non-foil printings are about 0.05 - 0.10 USD on buylists, rivalling Courage. But foils buylist for as much as 1.25 USD. It turns out making your creatures gain flying and make all others lose it is a lot better. The Commanders who take advantage of this Archetype most include Aboshan, Cephalid Emperor, Tibor and Lumia, and Tromokratis, among many others.

Oblivion Sower is a pretty good Eldrazi. At one time, the 6-mana creature was well over $8 a copy. Nowadays, you can find copies of  Oblivion Sower for just over $1. He's been long forgotten in Standard, and related to the sideboard of Modern Eldrazi Tron decks.

But in Legacy, he's been seen as a four-of in a tournament winning Eldrazi deck. He also sees a good amount of play in Commander. EDHREC has Oblivion Sower listed in over 2800 decks. Still, with a Duel Deck foil printing, there are a lot of copies out there in the wild.

Legacy demand alone won't drive this card in the way that the format used to, but it's so widely usable in Commander that copies will always be selling. But, if a Modern deck happens to win a major event with multiple copies in the 75, it's likely this card could end up spiking in price.

If a price spike doesn't happen ever again for Oblivion Sower, it's hard to see this card ever being worth less than $1. So if you need your copies, now is as good a time as any to pick up Oblivion Sower.

I don't know about you, but I haven't seen many Magic: the Gathering players tripping over themselves to build Legacy Enchantress decks. The once very popular archetype ran four copies of Enchantress's Presence, a rare from Onslaught, in order to speed up their draws. Well, it's late May 2017, and suddenly the price has jumped from $6 to over $13 on TCGPlayer and the card has all but disappeared entirely from Amazon. What caused this strange and sudden buyout?

 The last time that a deck with four copies of Enchantress's Presence topped a tournament was in March of 2017. This has been a $5-ish card for a very long time, despite how clearly good it is. So this is a price correction of sorts. Did a bunch of Magic financiers suddenly decide, hey we can afford to buy these out? Maybe. It's a good card in Commander, but there's no new Commander that's demanding this card.

So I guess this is a buyout/price correction. If you have any copies of this card laying around that you're not using, I'd happily sell into the spike. There's just no real demand for this card to stay this high.

Crown of Flames is an Enchantment originally printed in Tempest, and later reprinted in Invasion. This one-drop Aura has two abilities, each of which costs one Red mana. One gives the Enchanted creature “firebreathing” or +1/+0 until end of turn. You can activate this ability as many times as you have mana to pay for it. The second ability allows you to pay one Red mana to return Crown of Flames to its owner’s hand. This means if the creature is going to be destroyed or otherwise removed from the field, you can save this Aura in order to use it later.


For a common Aura, especially one that was printed so many years ago, Crown of Flames is a decent card. But does it still see any play anywhere? Actually, some Anax and Cymede EDH decks play a copy. This is mostly because Anax and Cymede decks play a lot of Heroic creatures. Because Auras target the creature they are Enchanting, they trigger Heroic abilities. So it’s a pretty efficient card in that deck, since you can get it back to your hand and then target another creature.


Some Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest EDH decks have been seen to play Crown of Flames, too. Although Auras are certainly useful to Shu Yun, it’s not an optimal card choice for his deck.


Have you ever played with Crown of Flames? It’s a decent little common, even if its playability today is fairly limited to a few EDH decks.

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Welcome to our first installment of the MTG Stock Market report, with your host, RGFoxx! Today, we have three Magic the Gathering cards that are of particular interest. Two of these price jumps are easily explained. One of our big winners, on the other hand, is a bit more of a mystery.

Our biggest winner today is a card that's been reprinted several times.

Winds of Change is a card that mostly sees play in just one Commander deck: Nekusar, the Mindrazer. Not only is this a nice way for the Nekusar player to refresh his or her hand. But it also has a nasty way of causing a good deal of damage to the Nekusar player's opponents, especially if Nekusar himself is in town.

The other versions of this card (Fourth Edition and Fifth Edition) haven't really moved, so this is just the original Legends version on the move. It's hit an all-time high price of nearly $14, although the other versions remain around $2.50. I'd invest in those versions first, even if they are white-bordered.

The other major winner today was Mistbind Clique. This is a great card in Faeries for a couple of reasons. First, it has Flash, so it's a 4/4 flyer that can come into play at instant speed. Secondly, even though you have to Champion a Faerie, you get to tap all lands target player controls. (You get the exiled Faerie back when the Clique leaves play, too, so it's not as bad of a drawback as it sounds. Unless of course it's a Bitterblossom token.) By casting this at the beginning of your opponent's turn, you can prevent your opponent from being able to do much of anything at all.

The mystery to me is why this card doubled in price over night. Is it just a random buyout? This is a very good card in Faeries, and often sees play in that deck when it pops up in Modern from time to time. Perhaps the market was thinking that $7 was too low for this card. It did see a slight bump three days ago, after all. Anyway, while I don't expect it to stay at around $14 for long, it's good for you all to know that if you have any laying around, you could cash in.

The other two price jumps today are very easily explained. Chandra, Flamecaller is excellent against what has become the "best deck" in Standard, Mono-Black Zombies. This is due to her -X ability to deal X damage to all creatures on the board.

The other two abilities are pretty good, too. Of course, Chandra isn't relevant if you can't get to cast her before the Zombie onslaught kills you... Still, she's gone from $4 to $6 in just a few days, and that's a big reason why.

The last of our winners today is Iroas, God of Victory from Commander 2016. This is what I'd like to call a "price correction" as $2 for this God was much too cheap. The original Journey into Nyx printing  is still $5, so  this price hike just brings it on par with previous versions.

This seems to happen quite a bit with Commander products in particular, with the newer printings lagging far behind their original printings in price for awhile. Considering how massively popular Iroas is in Commander, especially in the 99, it's a bit surprising to me that it took this long for his Commander 2016 price to stabilize.

Speaking of Commander reprints, Black Sun's Zenith is seeing a rise in price due to all the awesome -1/-1 counter stuff in Amonkhet. The Mirrodin Besieged version has seen a bump, but the Commander 2014 printing (while it's going up) is still only $2 where as the older version is almost $3.

Another card we're watching is Bontu the Glorified. He's still between $4-6 and this is a guy seeing some real Standard play. He's far too good to be in such a low price range.

What cards do you feel are currently under-valued or over-valued? We'd love to discuss them with you on the MTG Stock Report!

Originally from the days of Alara Reborn, Filigree Angel has found herself so useful in Commander that she's been reprinted in Commander decks on two separate occasions. When Filigree Angel enters the battlefield, you gain 3 life for each artifact you control, which includes itself. A 4/4 flyer that gains you, at the very least, 3 life for 8 mana doesn’t sound incredibly cost-effective.

But in Commander, 5WWU isn’t that restrictive of a casting cost. It's especially worth casting by turn 8, as well, since the life-gain that one would get from Filigree’s effect by that point will be substantial. With artifact cards like Sol Ring, Swiftfoot Boots, Lightning Greaves, Darksteel Ingot, and Sensei’s Divining Top a part of many Commander decks, you’re talking about double-digit life gains whenever this card hits the board.

Also, while a 4/4 flyer doesn’t seem impressive on the surface, there are so many pumps for artifact creatures that exist in Commander that this Angel probably will be a good deal beefier when it hits the board. Add to that we have yet another Angel for Angel lovers, and one that’s light on the wallet (they sell for only about 50 cents USD a copy.) Filigree Angel was also reprinted in one of the Commander 2013 and one of the Commander 2016 decks.

While hardly one of the best artifact creatures around, Filigree Angel has its uses, especially in an artifact deck that cares about life-gain. There are quite a few Commander decks out there that revolve around artifacts. What better way to keep yourself in the game than double-digit life gain? In particular, the popular Breya, Etherium Shaper plays Filigree Angel a lot. But if you play any artifact Commander deck in White & Blue, you should definitely consider slotting this artifact angel in somewhere.

Buy Filigree Angel and other Magic: the Gathering cards on TCGPlayer and Amazon today!

Setessan Tactics is a Magic: the Gathering card from the Journey into Nyx set. It features the Strive ability, which allows you to pay additional mana in order to target multiple creatures with its effect. It's one of the better cards with this ability. This  costs 1G to cast,and for each extra Green mana you add, you get to target an additional creature. Each of the target creatures get +1/+1 and gain a tap ability to fight another target creature until the end of turn. By fight, that means each creature deals damage to the other creature equal to its power.
 
During the Theros block, Heroic decks were very popular. The Heroic mechanic depended on spells targeting a creature to activate their Heroic abilities. Spells with Strive were particularly relevant for these decks. Most Heroic creatures already would gain a +1/+1 counter upon being targeted. So gaining an additional boost and being able to tap to fight another creature can be quite handy, as well.
 
It's a pretty simple combat trick, but Setessan Tactics offered a very inexpensive way to trigger Heroic while getting a good deal of value, as well. It's one of those cards that the later in the game that you cast it, the better it will usually be. The printing of this card seemed to make a good deal more Heroic creatures playable. However, Setessan Tactics never worked its way into competitive Heroic decks. It did, however, see a fair amount of Standard play in sideboards alongside a card that wasn't even from the Theros sets.

The Setessan Tactics and Hornet Nest Combo

 It turned out that Setessan Tactics worked very well with a creature called Hornet Nest in a rather clever way. By allowing the Nest to be able to fight a creature, you could get a bunch of flying tokens with deathtouch. For example, say your opponent had a Stormbreath Dragon, an extremely popular creature at the time. You would be able to get 4 hornet tokens by tapping the nest to fight the dragon.

 Another trick people would use involved Aspect of Hydra, a spell popular in mono-Green Devotion decks at the time. You would cast the Aspect of Hydra on the creature you intended to fight. Considering that Aspect of Hydra considers the green mana symbols in permanents you control (which would be a lot in that deck), you could end up making a ton of tokens, while assigning a token to block the creature you were trying to deal with anyway.

 Alternatively, you could have it fight one of your own big creatures, giving you a bunch of tokens to attack with on the next turn. Green decks in Standard at the timehad some big creatures, including Polukranos, World Eater and later Dragonlord Atarka. While the Setessan Tactics & Hornet Nests were usually relegated to the sideboard, it definitely was a solid way for Mono-Green Devotion and Selesyna (Green & White) Aggro decks to steal a game out of nowhere.

 Setessan Tactics is a great little card that probably could have seen a lot more competitive play than it did. It's actually a Modern playable card, and I'm a bit surprised that we haven't seen it more than we have.

The Slivers in the Magic 2014 Core Set were a fairly impressive bunch. While Slivers never became a Tier One deck in Standard, they were a deck to beat for a time at Friday Night Magic events at local game stores. With Cavern of Souls around for another three months after the release of M14 and Mutavault being reprinted, there was a pretty solid deck.

There was a very important difference between these Slivers and those from the past. Unlike older Sliver cards, which affected all Sliver cards on the battlefield (possibly including even your opponent’s), these new cards affect only your Sliver cards. This means that in Sliver mirrors, if you can get the more powerful effects on the board before your opponent can, you likely have the game won. Having double striking Slivers is certainly one way to do that.

Would Bonescythe Sliver be a part of that Sliver puzzle? It was certainly possible. Having a casting cost of 3W seemed fair, especially with Manaweft Sliver from the same set giving all of your Slivers the ability to produce any color of mana. Double strike is quite relevant, as well. With how quickly Slivers can mass an attack, this could help you stage a finishing blow.
 
When I first took a look at this card in July of 2013, I thought that people would find a way to stick at least one copy of this card in a Sliver deck. It seemed clear to me that White wasn’t going to be a big color for Slivers, although Sentinel Sliver and Hive Stirrings were definitely playable cards. So there seemed to be room for this card to work out. Double Strike seemed too good to ignore.

Unfortunately, outside of casual Sliver decks and Commander players running the several very good Sliver Legendary Creatures, Bonescythe Sliver never saw much play. Even when the Magic 2015 Slivers made the archetype even better, Bonescythe was basically forgotten. It just didn't seem worth the deck slot for a deck that could win even without the double strike.

That being said, Bonescythe Sliver is far from worthless, still being worth over $1 and having a promo version that's worth more than twice that. It's due to the fact that Slivers are a very popular tribe in Magic. While it proved to not be an optimal play in competitive 60-card Magic, Bonescythe Sliver has become a staple in Sliver Commander decks everywhere. It's also often played as a four-of at the kitchen table, so this card definitely still has some value.

Main Deck (40 Cards)

Monsters

2x Blackwing - Blizzard the Far North
3x Blackwing - Bora the Spear
3x Blackwing - Gale the Whirlwind
3x Blackwing - Kalut the Moon Shadow
2x Blackwing - Kris the Crack of Dawn
2x Blackwing - Pinaki the Waning Moon
3x Blackwing - Shura the Blue Flame
2x Blackwing - Sirocco the Dawn
1x Blackwing - Zephyros the Elite
2x Ghost Ogre & Snow Rabbit
2x Maxx “C”


Spells

3x Allure of Darkness
3x Black Whirlwind
1x Instant Fusion
1x Mind Control
1x Mystical Space Typhoon
1x Raigeki

Traps

1x Black Sonic
3x Icarus Attack
1x Solemn Warning
1x Vanity’s Emptiness

Extra Deck (15 Cards)

1x Abyss Dweller
1x Ally of Justice Catastor
1x Assault Blackwing - Chidori the Rain Sprinkling
1x Assault Blackwing - Raikiri the Rain Shower
1x Blackwing - Armor Master
1x Blackwing - Nothung the Starlight
1x Blackwing Tamer - Obsidian Hawk Joe
1x Castel, the Skyblaster Musketeer
1x Clear Wing Synchro Dragon
1x Crimson Blader
1x Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon
1x Elder Entity Norden
1x Goyo Guardian
1x Number 11: Big Eye
1x Number 101: Silent Honor ARK

The Extra Deck is fairly similar to that of many other current Yu-Gi-Oh decks, except for a couple of major differences. Raikiri the Rain Shower is definitely a strong Blackwing monster and one of the more powerful Blackwing Synchro monsters ever created. It can wipe out your opponent's side of the field in a hurry. Once per turn, Raikiri lets you destroy up to as many cards as you control other Blackwing monsters. Being able to become a Tuner is pretty much gravy.


Like Raikiri, Chidori the Rain Sprinkling is a Level 7 Synchro Monster. Also like Raikiri, he can also become a Tuner monster, if a Blackwing monster was used as Synchro Material in his summoning. He also gains 300 ATK points for each Blackwing monster in your graveyard, and he starts with 2600 ATK. Also, when he’s destroyed, you can get a Winged Beast-type Synchro Monster in your graveyard other than Chidori, and special summon it. Sweet stuff.


Taking the spot that Armed Wing once occupied in the Extra Deck, Nothung the Starlight from Premium Gold: Return of the Bling actually does some pretty cool things. Not only does he deal 800 damage to your opponent upon being summoned, but he also causes one of your opponent’s monsters to lose 800 ATK and DEF! Also, when he’s face-up on the field, you get to Normal Summon an additional Blackwing monster each turn! This is another huge addition for Blackwings since 2015, and not sure how other players have overlooked him!


While not technically a Blackwing (he’s a Warrior), Blackwing Tamer - Obsidian Hawk Joe, also from Return of the Bling, is definitely a nice addition to the Blackwing Extra Deck. Interestingly enough, you still need a Blackwing tuner to summon him. Here’s what he does:


You can target 1 Level 5 or higher Winged Beast-Type monster in your Graveyard; Special Summon it. During either player's turn, when your opponent activates a card or effect that targets only this card, or when your opponent targets this card for an attack: You can target 1 other "Blackwing" monster you control that would be an appropriate target; that card/effect/attack now targets the new target. You can only use each effect of "Blackwing Tamer - Obsidian Hawk Joe" once per turn.

That’s a lot of text. Basically, once per turn, you can just get back one of your Winged Beast-type Synchro monsters into play (there aren’t any other Level 5 or higher Winged Beasts in this deck). If that wasn’t good enough, once per turn, you get to change an opponent’s attack target to another Blackwing you control. Wow.

The rest of the Extra Deck should be self-explanatory, as most of them have been played in top-level play for years.


Other Blackwing Monsters to Consider


There are a couple of other Blackwing cards that have been printed more recently that could be worked into your own Blackwing deck. They are Gofu the Vague Shadow and Assault Blackwing - Sohaya the Rain Storm.

While Blackwings didn’t Top 8 any major tournaments in 2016, they have the tools to at least be competitive once again in 2017 and beyond. With this list that finished in the top 4, there is definitely hope for that! Being my favorite archetype from my old playing days, it would be fun to see a Blackwing deck list like this make some waves. Blackwings keep getting more support over the years, too, so there’s definitely a chance that there’s another card that’s printed that puts the archetype back into Top 8 contention.

It may not be the fun "troll" deck that Toon Kingdom allows you to build, but Blackwings have the ability to pull out some very quick wins. It seems that Blackwings may once again have a chance to pull out more upset tournament victories in the future, especially  on the local game store level!

Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy / Jace, Telepath Unbound

Commander of 175+ decks (EDHREC)

In the 99: Seen in about 2400+ decks. Top Commanders include Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Azami, Lady of Scrolls, Atraxa, Praetor's Voice, Mizzix of the Izmagnus, and Teferi, Temporal Archmage

It may seem strange to say, but Vryn’s Prodigy made Jace tribal a thing. That was the approach to building his deck,  at first. It really does seem to make sense to jam any card with his name on it or any card having to do with him in a deck and run with it.

In Commander, the "looter" (draw a card, discard a card) ability on a 0/2 simply isn't that exciting. Even when you do flip him, the flashback ability is not what you'll be trying to do. You'll be looking to tick him up to his ultimate and work to mill everyone to death. There are a lot better ways to do it in Commander. You could obviously use his flashback ability on extra turn spells to help you “get there.” The trick is getting more than one activation out of him and there are plenty of other ways in blue to recycle spells.

I'll go out on a limb and say his flip side, Telepath Unbound, is just a lot better in 60-card Constructed. Being such a hot card in tournament play, though, probably kept most Commander players from acquiring him at first. This Jace could prove useful in more than a few decks that actually like the looting such as Sultai (green/black/blue) and are happy to get the flashback for some big spells.

Some blue/black and Sultai decks also don't mind getting the emblem to get some fuel for reanimator spells. Simply put, I’m not sold on him as a Commander, but he's shown up in the 99 of more than a few strong commanders.

Grade: B- (he's not bad), In the 99: B (definitely a useful complementary piece on both sides)

Liliana, Heretical Healer / Liliana, Defiant Necromancer

Commander in 300+ decks

In the 99: Seen in 3200+ decks. Key contributor in Meren of Clan Nel Toth and Alesha, Who Smiles at Death. Notable appearances in Gisa and Geralf Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim, Sidisi, Brood Tyrant, Grimgrin, Corpse-Born and Karador, Ghost Chieftain

Liliana’s popularity shouldn't be too much of a surprise as her flip side embodies Liliana’s two favorite things, discarding and reanimating. The optimal Liliana brew probably hasn't been found yet, but stocking up on value creatures and ways for you to benefit from opponent's discards is a nice place to start. Mono black is so flooded with strong Commander options that it's no surprise that major innovations taking place around the Heretical Healer haven't yet taken place.

That being said she's easy enough to get online in Commander, so you can get some solid value from her. Just being able to build a Commander deck around one of the most popular planeswalkers of all time is pretty sweet.  After her rotation from Standard, she has found consistent homes in the 99 of Commanders who most value her contributions.

Grade: B (Commander), B+ (In the 99). Mono black is flooded with Commander options, but she should prove to be a good one long term.

What Are My Magic Cards Worth?

It is a question that anyone who has ever owned any sizable collection of Magic the Gathering cards has asked: what are the values of my cards? There are many people who bring their old shoeboxes of Magic cards into a hobby store and find out that their collection is little more than bulk rares and long forgotten cards that no one wants any more. Of course, sometimes gold is found in these often long-neglected collections, and a store owner can buy a box of bulk for about $10-20 USD and later find a $50 or even $100 card through later perusal.

The trick is to always know what your cards are worth. But who wants to spend their time on sites like TCGPlayer (which does have a useful price guide, actually) and Star City Games simply price checking every rare card that he or she has? Really, no one, but a lot of people resort to it.

The purpose of this article is to let you know how to value your collection properly, and not simply in terms of straight dollar value, but to inform you what cards will hold their value, or lose their value long-term. As with any collection, present vs. future value is the foundation of any great investment, and this information is what this article aims to provide.

Valuing Your Magic Card Collection

One fantastic resource that I have found for valuing a collection is a website called  MTGPrice. What this website allows you to do is look up the current “fair trade value” of any particular card. It factors in a variety of major online retailer prices, along with EBay and Amazon to formulate a sort of median price at which you can feel comfortable selling or trading a card.

But MTGPrice has a few even more powerful features at its disposal. By simply having a Google account, you can log into the website and actually create a complete list of your collection. This list is very easily sortable, and is constantly updated with current card values, as well as letting you know whether a card’s price has risen or fallen in the past day or in the past week.

The database isn’t perfect and some weird glitchy things can happen with its pricing algorithms. But these minor things aside, the site gives you a very good idea of what each of your cards is worth, with a total collection value. By having this site at your disposal, you can always know what a certain card of yours is worth in an instant!

The other neat aspect of MTGPrice is that you can find out what the site calls the “instant cash value of your collection.” What this actually means is that the site will display cards in your collection on the current buylists of major online retailers. What you may discover is that some buy list prices are actually higher than the median value of certain cards, because of the demand for them. This is incredibly useful information, because this means that the card’s price may actually rise in value!

What’s also useful is that MTGPrice won’t list a card twice on this buy-list page. This means that it chooses the highest buy-list price for each individual card for you, which saves you a lot of time having to check around. Knowing what immediate cash value your cards can have is a really good indication of how “fluid” or movable your cards really are.

As with anything, the laws of supply and demand are extremely important with valuing Magic cards. If retailers, especially major ones, are constantly running out of stock on certain cards, it means that people really want those cards. Cards with high buy-list prices are those that you should look to hold onto and keep in either your personal collection or trade binder. You could also, of course, actually sell them to that vendor, but do keep in mind that the shipping costs of sending the cards out sometimes isn’t worth the return.

Remember, a card is only worth what someone will offer for it, and you can sometimes get a higher value on a card just because it’s really popular at that time. By having all of this information at your disposal, you can easily decide what cards are truly bulk that you should off-load or simply keep around, and what is trade-able and sell-able.

The Magic Card Stock Market?

Another website I highly recommend is  MTGStocks, which is sort of like a Magic the Gathering stock market. Like MTGPrice you can make a free account, add the cards in your collection into its inventory tool and track its value. However, it does have some glitches that prevent you from properly listing some promotional versions of cards.

The cool thing about MTGStocks is that it actually allows you to put it how much you actually paid for a card and how much you have profited or lost from it. It doesn’t offer all the same tools as MTGPrice, though, and it relies purely on TCGPlayer Mid prices. Still, it’s a great website that has a great tool to show you what card prices are trending up and down, as well as a Wall Street-style ticker. Cool stuff.

The Fluidity of Cardboard

The most important thing to understand with Magic cards is understanding how many formats in which a certain card is most useful. The formats to consider are Legacy, Modern, Standard, and Casual.

Legacy and Modern are known as Eternal formats. With Legacy, any cards are playable in a deck, except for those on the Legacy Ban List. Modern allows any cards that have been printed in any “modern” set, that is, since 8th Edition, as well as any cards that have been re-printed in older sets with modern borders in newer sets (even the old-bordered versions.) Modern also as its own banned list.

The major difference between these Eternal formats and Standard is that with Standard, there is a rotating card-pool. Standard is made up of the three most recent “blocks” of two sets (for example, as of October 2017, the Standard legal sets will be Kaladesh, Aether Revolt, Amonkhet, Hour of Devastation, and the newest set release). Also, any older printings of cards that have been reprinted in any of the current Standard sets may also be played (including old-bordered and promotional versions.)

Because Standard is the most widely supported and played competitive format, the cards that are currently widely played in the top decks of the format tend to fluctuate widely in price. Depending on the current meta-game (meaning what people are playing most often and how that affects every other card that’s played), some cards can be $20 one day, and $5 the next. It all depends on how in favor a card is with the more competitive players. Of course, when a card leaves the Standard card-pool, its value almost always immediately plummets.

Often played Standard cards are usually the most fluid card you can have during the Standard season in which they are playable. Usually, the best thing to do with these cards if you’re not currently playing with them is to either cash in on them at the peak of their popularity, or “trade up” in Eternal staples.

Eternal staples are cards that are played in a wide variety of decks in Legacy and Modern. Because it’s a non-rotating format, the meta-game relatively stays much more consistent with only the release of new cards or the emergence of a new deck archetype really making much of a difference.

One of the best examples of an Eternal staple is Liliana of the Veil, who was a very good planeswalker in Standard, but even better in formats like Modern and Legacy, where the creatures that Liliana will often force opponents to sacrifice will be a lot stronger (Tarmogoyf, for example.) Speaking of Tarmogoyf, it was at one time  a nearly $200 card). It’s definitely of the greatest eternal staples that there are, essentially seeing play in any deck that runs Green in those formats.

Commander (EDH) and the Casual Magic Addiction


The last format we will discuss, and the format that is driving many card prices, is a little Casual format called Commander, better known as EDH.

Commander is the 100-card singleton format that has taken the world by storm. All you need is some Legendary Creature and 99 other cards that share colors with the casting cost (and any other mana symbols that appear on) that Legendary Creature, and you have an EDH, or Commander, deck of your own.

Commander itself, therefore, is an Eternal format that has a ban list, but because you can only run one copy of each card (excluding basic lands), the power level of certain cards changes dramatically. Because Commander games allow for more mana to be played and the games are far-more drawn out, cards with high casting costs that would never see play in a competitive Constructed deck often find themselves being a crucial win condition in many Commander decks. A great example of a card like this would be Rise of the Dark Realms, a mythic rare from Magic 2014. For the longest time it was $2-3. In EDH, it’s an absolute bomb. Being able to bring creatures back from ALL graveyards can essentially win you the game. So over time, it grew in price to almost $10, just from EDH play!

This means that mythic rares that may not be incredibly valuable, even ones that sell for about $1-3 USD, are still movable on the basis that someone may need a copy for their Commander deck, or know someone who needs one. So any bulk rare or mythic rare that you get may actually be wanted by someone for that very reason. But these kind of cards aren’t the only ones that you’re looking for: there are some cards that are very valuable, $10 or more, simply because they’ve become Commander staples!

One of the most important parts of Commander is top-deck manipulation. This is why cards like Sensei’s Divining Top (which was so good in Legacy that it was banned), Sylvan Library, and Scroll Rack are so expensive. Sylvan Library is the cheapest because it’s been reprinted in a core set. Sensei’s Divining Top has had three set printings and a From the Vault Reprint, but even the fair supply is low when compared to the high demand. The same is true for Scroll Rack, which has one regular printing, plus a very low supply reprint in Commanders' Arsenal. There are also some cards like Baneslayer Angel that used to be among the best cards in Standard, but today are only really played in EDH, which is why they are still about $10.

I could go into much further detail about the financial aspects of Commander, and I will at some point in the future. But for now, I’ll finish this article with what is likely the most important thing to invest in when it comes to Magic cards… FOILS!

The Allure of Foil Magic Cards

Yes, there are many Magic players that could care less about foils. But it is true that many players like them, and to be fair, the set foils are quite a bit rarer than regular cards. I say set foils, because believe it or not, some promo foils and collectible foils are actually fairly worthless due to a massive print run. But for the most part, there are a lot of set foils worth many times the price of a regular version of that same card.

Why exactly is this? First of all, foils do not come in every pack of Magic, except in rare instances like the Masters sets (Modern Masters, Eternal Masters, etc) in which every pack does in fact include a foil. Every set since Urza’s Destiny has had the chance of a premium foil in a pack. However, since any card in a given set has a foil counterpart, many foils that are pulled are either basic lands (which aren’t worthless, but not much outside of Zendikar, Battle for Zendikar, or Unhinged full art versions) or cards that no one will ever want to play, outside of perhaps Limited.

Enter Commander. With many people wanting to “pimp” out their decks with foils, the demand on foil versions of even common and uncommon cards has risen greatly over the past couple of years. While cards that see a lot of competitive play obviously have high foil values, cards popular in Commander (especially Legendary Creatures, since many of them are viable Commanders) can be incredibly expensive.

Set foils are among the rarest cards in Magic, which is why mythic rare cards like Jace, The Mind Sculptor (whose Worldwake foil printing was worth $800 at one time) and Liliana of the Veil ($60 non-foil vs $180 foil) see such ridiculous price differences between their premium versions. Even a more casually-oriented card like Rise of the Dark Realms has a foil version that sells for about $20! Mythic rare foils are usually pretty solid investments, simply because even the cheaper non-foil mythics have decently valuable foil versions.

Of course, Standard staples tend to have pretty high foil values, as well. But like their non-foil counterparts, their value is incredibly variable, and foil prices fluctuate even more wildly. What drives up a foil price is usually the majority of players’ unwillingness to part with a certain card, especially if that card will be playable in Modern or Legacy, as well (Liliana of the Veil is a perfect example).

As a general rule, foils of cards that see considerable play in any format are valuable. However, many widely played commons and uncommons can be purchased from online retailers for very near the price of a regular version, so be aware. (Again, MTG Price or MTG Goldfish is a great way to check on the differences since it indexes both.)

Buy, Sell, or Trade?

Now that you have this information about your collection, you may wonder what’s the best time to buy, sell, or trade Magic cards. The first thing to keep in mind is the Standard rotation.

Every October, there is a standard rotation that occurs, meaning that the oldest two sets in Standard are no longer playable in Standard with the release of the first set in the new block. (For example, in October 2017, cards from Battle for Zendikar, Oath of the Gatewatch, Shadows Over Innistrad, and Eldritch Moon are no longer  playable.) Just months before, many prices of Standard cards will have dropped, but many will still retain some value if they are still seeing competitive play (especially when there are Standard Pro Tour Qualifiers going on.)

It is important to unload any cards in the Standard sets that you aren't using that will be rotating out of Standard in October during the summer before. This is because after rotation, those cards’ prices drop precipitously as everyone is simultaneously unloading them.

Even cards that will see Modern and Legacy play, as well as Commander play, will drop in value, as well. This is because many Standard players will not play Modern, and look to move their extra copies for the newer cards or for cash. For Commander and Eternal players, after rotation is the best time to buy cards that have just left Standard. This is because the supply will be there, since most Modern players that want them already have them. Therefore, most demand won’t be there until the next Modern Pro Tour Qualifer (PTQ) season.

Trading Up

Anytime is always a good time to trade, however, as long as you are trading up. This means trading a bunch of Eternal staples for highly popular Standard cards that you can immediately move for either other Standard cards or more valuable Modern/Legacy/Commander staples. Watching the top deck lists and monitoring price gains and losses on MTGPrice or MTG Goldfish is a great way to know what cards are seeing more play.

MTG Goldfish  is a particularly interesting website because of the fact that it’s primarily a website that tracks the card prices on Magic Online (MTGO or MODO). However, it also tracks paper card prices. The most useful aspect of this website, however, besides showing the ridiculous disparity in prices of paper vs online Magic, is that Goldfish tracks the top decks in every format in Magic Online (Standard, Modern, Legacy, etc.) and will let you know if particular cards are seeing a lot of play in top decks.

You’re probably asking why it matters if a card is played a lot of online. Well, since many competitive players play-test on Magic Online, and some of the best players in the world now actually began on MTGO, the lists Online are going to be very, very similar to those used in Paper Magic. If something does well online, it very likely will be played in paper at one point or another.

Knowing what cards are being played in winning decks lets you know what people will be looking for, and what buy lists will be pricing more highly. You want to adjust your trade binder accordingly. Sometimes, this information will give you a jump on acquiring cards at a low price before they suddenly become chase cards and you can turn an easy profit.

The bottom line is that you don’t want to sit on cards with a limited shelf-life. Yes, a lot of Standard cards will still be played in Commander. But remember, since you only need one copy, there will be play-sets galore being shipped off to buy-lists, traded in at local game stores, and filling bulk binders everywhere. Many cards once they leave Standard fall from grace extremely quickly, so if you’re looking to buy or trade for Standard cards to play in Commander, you’re better off waiting for the rotation if at all possible. Any time is fine to pick up good Eternal cards. Again, you can use MTG Goldfish’s Metagame and Format Staples sections to see what cards are most popular in each format and what are always good trade targets.

The Ever-Changing Landscape of Magic Finance

The prices of Magic cards are always changing due to the rising popularity of the game and the easy access to cards due to online availability. Using tools like MTGPrice, MTGStocks, and MTG Goldfish, as well as checking TCGPlayer  market prices can give you a good idea at all times when to pick up certain cards at their lowest price or drop them before their value plummets. Of course, Magic is not all about making money; it should be about having fun. But to maximize your fun, it’s important to use a little bit of economics in your card-buying routines, because you may find your collection grow a lot more quickly and your budget less strained if you keep yourself informed.

All photos courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. under Creative Commons license v2.0.

As a Magic: the Gathering player who loves instant win conditions built into cards, it shouldn’t be surprising that I’m a big fan of Approach of the Second Sun. It’s a deceptively simple win condition that this Amonkhet sorcery offers, too.

It costs 7 mana to cast (6W) and gains you 7 life. That doesn’t sound worth it, except if you haven’t cast a copy of Approach of the Second Sun during that game, you get to shuffle your deck and place it 7 cards from the top. If you already cast Approach of the Second Sun, however, you simply win the game.

Yes, it sounds simple enough. But 7 mana is a lot to pay for a card that really just gains you 7 life the first time you cast it. Fortunately, the Amonkhet set offers not only ways to ramp your mana, but also draw a whole bunch of cards thanks to the Cycling mechanic. There’s a neat little trick to make a whole bunch of mana in this deck, which will hopefully get you enough mana to cast Approach of the Second Sun twice in a single turn! Part of it has to do with a 6-mana Enchantment called New Perspectives, which is why some people have come to call this build New Perspectives Combo.

While there have been many builds of Approach of the Second Suns built in the early going, the most consistent and successful so far is this 4-color Approach of the Second Suns deck piloted by ksk0601 in a Magic Online Competitive Standard League to a 5-0 finish!


Creatures (9)

4 Vizier of Tumbling Sands
4 Shefet Monitor
1 Sphinx of the Final Word

Spells (17)

4 Traverse the Ulvenwald
4 Haze of Pollen
4 Shadow of the Grave
4 Renewed Faith
1 Approach of the Second Sun

Enchantments (12)

4 Weirding Wood
4 Cast Out
4 New Perspectives

Lands (22)

1 Fetid Pools
5 Forest
2 Fortified Village
4 Irrigated Farmland
1 Island
1 Plains
4 Scattered Groves
4 Sheltered Thicket


Sideboard

2 Dispel
3 Negate     
4 Drake Haven
2 Kefnet the Mindful     
4 Angel of Sanctions


Essentially, this deck focuses on Cycling a bunch of cards, gaining life, and preventing combat damage long enough to cast your win condition card twice. Let’s break it down, starting with the creatures.

Liliana's Mastery is a neat little Enchantment from Magic: the Gathering's Expansion set. It costs 5 mana to cast (3BB) and gives all of your Zombies +1/+1. The Enchantment also brings two 2/2 Zombie creature tokens into play. This means that these tokens are nominally 3/3 creatures with Liliana's Mastery in play. With how successfully Mono-Black Zombies played in Amonkhet Standard right from the get-go, it's not surprising that Liliana's Mastery has been seen as a two-of in some lists.

With the mass of new Zombie cards featured in Amonkhet, many players are seeking out any other cards that might synergize well with the powerful new Zombies. One card that has come to mind is a Zombie-themed sorcery card from Shadows Over Innistrad, From Under the Floorboards.

With the same mana cost as Liliana's Mastery, it would seem that this sorcery and the Enchantment would be competing for the same space in the deck. So does this Zombie token creator with Madness seem worthy of Standard play?

From a raw power standpoint, these two cards are extremely similar. From Under the Floorboards puts three 2/2 Zombie tokens into play. This is the same 6 power that Liliana's Mastery offers, but spread among three creatures instead of two. However, those tokens come into play tapped, which is a drawback. To make up for that drawback, you get to gain 3 life. For 5 mana, that's a good amount of value.

What really stands out about this card is its Madness cost. It has an X cost in it, meaning that if you discard this card, you can choose how much mana to pump into it. Heck, it's probably worth it to pay 1BB for the token and 1 life, especially since it can be played at Instant speed when Madness is being used.

Here's the thing, though. Cards that cost 5 mana or more that don't have an immediate impact on the board tend not to do well in Standard. Granted, this card does have a nice interaction with Wayward Wanderer, which would usually gain you 3 life and make your opponent lose 3 life. But with Liliana's Mastery, you're getting an immediate power boost for your other existing Zombies, plus two 3/3 bodies that can block right away. Then, you can get an immediate 4 point life swing from the Wanderer (or more if you have multiple Wanderers on board).  The immediate effect on the board is more obvious.

Both of these cards are good, but I see why competitive players have shunned From Under the Floorboards. With another Zombie lord, Lord of the Accursed, also in Amonkhet, the boost from Liliana's Mastery is likely enough for the Zombie player to make a lethal push. The Mastery definitely wins here, although I really like From Under the Floorboards in a White/Black Zombie deck that favors tokens and Anointed Procession, which doubles said tokens.

Which do you prefer: From Under the Floorboards, Liliana's Mastery, or would you just play both?

If you need some copies of Liliana's Mastery, you can buy them from your favorite Local Game Store, Amazon or  TCGPlayer.