Back on June 16, 2011, I reviewed Chancellor of the Forge, a rare Red Giant from New Phyrexia. It was one of my first ever card reviews. This is what I had to say about him at the time.

I must say that the Forge Chancellor’s artwork is pretty superb. He’s a cool card… until you realize he’s just a 5/5 for 7 mana. His effect sounds fun. If you have him in your opening hand, you get a free 1/1 red Goblin creature with haste, which is good for you if you’re on the play, and just sort of nifty if you’re on the draw. When you actually do get around to play him, you get as many 1/1 red Goblin tokens with haste as you have creatures on the board at that point. Problem is, many mono-red decks don’t keep a lot of creatures on the field, so you may only get 2 or 3 tokens out of his ability. Enough said, he’s not worth the 7 mana, and certainly not worth the triple red in any competitive red deck.


Let’s keep in mind that back in 2011 I knew nothing about EDH or casual formats. I really only knew what was good in Standard and Extended at that point. This card wasn’t even particularly good in draft or sealed deck from what I recall, either. At the time, of the five Chancellors from that set, it makes sense that I’d be unimpressed with this one.

However, now, Chancellor of the Forge is actually extremely good in Commander, especially in “go-wide” strategies. Recall that Krenko, Mob Boss and many other popular Goblin commanders didn’t exist yet. The commander that utilizes the Chancellor the most, Purphoros, God of the Forge, definitely didn’t exist yet. Also, the three Red mana symbols are extremely important for Devotion purposes, for cards like Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. The fact that this doubles the amount of creatures you have on board is especially important to Purphoros (who deals 2 damage to each opponent for each creature that enters), Krenko (who doubles your Goblins), and Impact Tremors (an Enchantment that is essentially half of Purphoros).

While this Chancellor is still a bulk rare, it’s a heck of a lot better now and actually fits into some powerful strategies in Commander. It’s not really good anywhere else, but if you play Mono-Red or some other deck that wants to make a lot of Goblin tokens, this guy is definitely worth a look.


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Sphinx of the Final Word is a mythic rare from Oath of the Gatewatch. While its been a relatively good success in Commander, only a few decks in Standard have given the seven mana flyer a shot. However, this is a solid creature. So when I saw them available on MTGOTickets bots for 0.25 tix ($0.25) a piece, I had to pick up four copies.

Recently, the Sphinx has seen sideboard play in a Green & Blue Crush of Tentacles deck. When a card is usually relegated to the sideboard, this isn't usually a good thing for its value. But there are several reasons to be optimistic about this Sphinx. Yes, it costs seven mana, but it can't be countered and also has hexproof, meaning your opponent's spells can't touch it. Also, the major draw to this card is that your instant and sorcery spells can't be countered as long as Sphinx of the Final Word is on the battlefield under your control. Seems like a pretty strong control deck finisher, doesn't it?

These haven't been worth much in paper Magic, either, and being a mythic rare from Oath of the Gatewatch, it's hard to say where the future value of this card ends up. In paper Magic, they're worth picking up at least a copy just because of their usefulness in a lot of Commander decks. But card values aren't really driven by Commander nearly as much on Magic Online. So why the pickup?

Mythic rares are usually worth a lot more than 0.25 tix a piece. Sure, some of the truly garbage ones can settle around 0.10 or so. But as this is a set that will continue to be redeemed on Magic Online for some time, due to the number of very strong cards in it, people will need to continue to buy copies of the Sphinx in order to complete their sets. Also, if this card sees any play at all in the future, it could easily reach 1 ticket per copy, or more, considering that this is a mythic rare. People tend to hold onto the mythics that they draft online, so there aren't quite as many copies out there as you might think. Also, Commander players do exist online, so there is going to always be some demand for this card.

I'm only sitting on  a play set of the Sphinx for speculation purposes, but I would definitely recommend picking up a copy or two in case this card does end up seeing some more play. It's hit 0.8 tix or so before, and could well do so again. Really, the worst case scenario on this card is that I only get about half of my event ticket back, being that it's a mythic rare from a currently Standard legal set. I'm happy to sit on these until a price spike happens, and being a playable mythic rare from a set that's only rarely drafted anymore, I'm happy to sit and wait.

 When to Mulligan is a mini-series talking about the problem: When should you you Mulligan? In this part, I'm going to talk about how you and your opponent's particular deck archetypes affect the way you mulligan.

If you haven't yet read part one of When to Mulligan, you can read it  here.

How your Deck affects how you Mulligan

This matters most if you are a combo deck or a very fast deck. If you are a combo deck, you need to know if you will be able to combo off by your target turn. Your probability to draw any one card from a 60 card deck assuming you have four copies of it are as follows:

First Turn: ~6.67%
Second Turn: ~13.33%
Third Turn: ~20%
Fourth Turn: ~26.67%

If you're missing one combo piece you'll only draw it by your fourth turn one quarter of the times you take that risk. That is why combo decks are hard to make work without significant amounts of card draw or tutors. 

How your Opponent's Deck affects how you Mulligan

This matters most in games two and three. After you know what your opponent's deck is, you have to take it into consideration when you mulligan. If your opponent is playing an aggressive deck, can you stop them? If you can't, you probably should mulligan. Is your opponent playing combo, if so, can you stop them? If not, that can be another sign that you should mulligan. 

If your opponent plays a deck with a lot of either targeted discard or targeted removal, can you survive a Thoughtseize taking one of your cards or a Path killing one of your creatures? If not, then a mulligan might also be in order. 

A good way to sum it up is: If you can't stop what your opponent's doing, or your opponent can easily stop what you're doing, you should mulligan.

If you liked this post, you can check out more of my content  at my website here.

Rattlechains is a very strong Spirit creature from Shadows Over Innistrad. With Mausoleum Wanderer, Selfless Spirit, and Spell Queller from Eldritch Moon forming a strong core for a Blue/White Spirits deck in Standard, it only stands to reason that Rattlechains is going to be a strong card for the next year or so. Yet, currently its price stands at around $2. However, there is very strong demand for this 2-mana Spirit, so buylists are paying about the current market price - roughly $2 - in order to restock.

Because of this super close spread between buylist and retail price - in some cases the buylist is actually higher than some retailer's sell prices - Rattlechains could very easily surpass its previous high of $5.50. Some retailers are already asking north of $3 for Rattlechains, so now is the time to buy your copies if you need them!

This is a complex topic. There are many riders and variables that affect when you should (or should not) mulligan. When to or when not to mulligan seems like a small thing, but learning to do this effectively can have a big effect on the way your games go. This post is going to cover when to mulligan using the "two turn gameplan" rule (I totally made that name up). 

Two Turn Gameplan Rule

It differs from deck to deck, but the gist of the rule is: Do you have a plan about what you're going to do in the first two turns? This usually means that you have two lands and a couple plays. You should also imagine the position you will be in on turn three and see if it's acceptable. 

Of course, this varies from format to format. Some formats allow you to do less in the early turns, whereas others promote lots of plays in the early turns.

Let's run some numbers real quick. In a 24 land deck, you should draw an average of 2.8 lands per seven card hand.
 
2.4 land average for six card hand. 
2.0 land average for five card hand.
1.6 land average for four card hand.
1.2 land average for three card hand.
0.8 land average for two card hand.
0.4 land average for one card hand.
0 land average for zero card hand.

If you have two lands in your opening seven, and you may want to mulligan, keep in mind that you are more likely to have two lands than three lands in a six card hand.

If you follow the two turn gameplan rule, and keep this hand (considering that the rest of the hand fits the rule), then this is what should happen. 

Turn One: 40% Chance of drawing at least one land
Turn Two: 80% Chance of drawing at least one land
Turn Three: 120% Chance of drawing at least one land

If you're on the draw, you are almost guaranteed to draw a land on turn three.
On the play, it's sometimes safer to mulligan a two land hand, depending on how good the rest of the hand is. By turn three on the play, you'll only have had an 80% chance to draw your third land.

Some decks need less or more lands to function. That will be the topic for the next When to Mulligan. I hope you enjoyed it!

Here's Part Two of When to Mulligan.

by Richard Rowell, Gaming Successfully Staff

Gilt-Leaf Archdruid has been a part of Elf decks in Commander for quite sometime. He's even popped up in competitive formats once in awhile as part of a combo deck built around his second ability: the one to gain control of all lands a target player controls.

But for the most part, the Archdruid is a role player in Elf decks like Ezuri, Renegade Leader, Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury, and Rhys the Redeemed. They run enough Druids that the draw a card ability on the Archdruid is enough reason to run him. The Archdruid is also part of the win condition for the ultimate Druid Tribal Commander, Seton, Krosan Protector. The ability to steal all those lands is just a bonus in an Elf deck. With a dedicated Druid build, this creature becomes very un-fun to play against very quickly.

The interesting thing about this card is that its sell price seems to hover between $3 and $4 depending on who you ask. It's a card with only one printing, Morningtide, but since most people are only picking up a copy at a time, the price has never really taken off. But recently, buylists have jumped from $2 to $2.50 and even $3.50. It's really just a case of supply finally running low on this card.

This card is definitely a strong pick-up right now. It's hard to say where this card's price goes. But as it hasn't been above $4 for years, Gilt-Leaf Archdruid is definitely due for some price growth. Definitely watch the buylist prices on this card, as soon there may be some chances to buy these at arbitrage prices (as in buy them from one vendor and sell them to another for a profit).

Twilight Shepherd is a useful Angel originally printed in Shadowmoor. She has seen three other printings including the Duel Decks: Divine vs Demonic and the subsequent reprint in the Duel Decks Anthology, plus in Commander 2014 and the Forged in Stone Commander deck featuring Nahiri, the Lithomancer. Considering that this is pretty much a card you can get for under $0.50 due to the Commander 2014 printing, you'd be surprised to discover that the Shadowmoor printing has been on buylists recently for as much as $1!

Before the C14 reprint, Twilight Shepherd actually was a $2.50-$3 card due to her usefulness in Commander. In particular, she's seen a lot of play in Kaalia of the Vast and Avacyn, Angel of Hope Commander decks. Her ability to return cards to your hand that died that turn is very useful, especially for only six mana. Having Persist means that she can do it once again, as well. Plus a 5/5 vigilant flying body is definitely nothing to laugh at. This is a solid Angel, albeit best at home in Commander.

But being reprinted in a popular Commander deck, plus the second (albeit limited) reprint in the Duel Decks Anthology really hurt her value. However, the Shadowmoor version is still sought after due to being the rarest version. Still, unless you really want the original printing, sending your Shadowmoor copies off for $1 and rebuying the C14 ones at $0.50 seems like a solid plan. If you're going to invest in Twilight Shepherd, the cheaper Duel Deck Anthology and Commander 2014 versions seem to be the way to go.

Typically, cards like this that do have real demand, but only a limited audience, tend to see all of their printings eventually find some sort of price equilibrium. So if the Shadowmoor copies eventually crawl back up towards $3, then expect the cheaper copies to steadily follow suit.

by Richard Rowell, Gaming Successfully Staff

Dictate of Erebos has been a hit among Commander players in Magic the Gathering since its release in Journey into Nyx. It hit an all-time low price of about $0.50 in January 2015 and has been on the rise ever since. In late July 2016, it reached $3. Meanwhile, store buylists have remained around $1 cash for the card. For a card with the casual demand of a functionally better version of Grave Pact, this seems like an awfully large spread.

Recently, one buylist posted a buy price of $2.25 for Dictate of Erebos. This is quite a jump, but it should not be surprising. Unless this card gets reprinted, this card could easily be selling for $5 or more in the near future. The card that this is most similar to, Grave Pact,  has 4 different printings and is $12!

While Grave Pact only costs 4 mana to cast, 3 of that has to be Black. Dictate of Erebos costs 5 mana, but only 2 needs to be Black. Plus, Dictate of Erebos and the other Dictate enchantments from Journey into Nyx have Flash. This means you can actually cast it on your opponent's turn at a time that would be advantageous to you. Perhaps your opponent plays In Garruk's Wake, which only destroys opponent's creatures. If you cast this in response, that player will have to sacrifice as many creatures as yours were destroyed. It's also just fun to cast this if you had mana open anyway.

Dictate of Erebos has never been, and probably never will be, a Constructed staple. However, this enchantment is so good in Commander that pretty much every deck that has some sort of sacrifice theme - and plays Black - in it will include it. Our recommendation is to hold this Enchantment as long as possible, as the buylist price should only rise with time. If you're looking to buy, you're probably never going to get this cheaper. It's not a card with an obvious place to reprint. Even if it gets reprinted in some supplemental product, as we've seen with Grave Pact, the limited new supply won't hold down its price for long.

Unmask

Never heard of Unmask? It’s actually a pretty good card. It’s actually been a staple in Legacy Reanimator as a way to empty your opponent’s hand of any big threats to your reanimation spells. It’s actually a pitch card, which means you can cast it for free by removing a black card from your hand from the game. It’s a $4 rare from Mercadian Masques, but foils are $38! The FTV foil is pre-ordering for about $10, which is a lot more reasonable.


On Magic Online, this card was so rare that it was almost $40 a copy for the non-foil version! The release of this FTV will actually help lower that price. Was the high price on Magic Online the reason for including this? While that would seem to make sense, Wizards doesn’t put cards in FTV sets for that purpose.


There is in fact a story behind Unmask from the Mercadian Masques storyline. It had to do with the shapeshifter Volrath transforming back into himself after murdering the father of one of his prisoners. I’m not sure that many players care about that particular story now, just the actual playability of the card. In any case, it’s a fairly valuable card that is a solid inclusion in this set.


(2017 update: The From the Vault printing of this card actually greatly increased the awareness of this card. While the FTV printing remains $8, the original non-foil printing is over $12 and the foils pushing $80! It really only sees competitive play now in Vintage on Magic Online, so I’m not sure where all the copies have gone!)


Overall Value

Overall, there are two cards in the set north of $20, Dark Depths and Umezawa’s Jitte. There are a few card that pre-ordered for over $10 and many over $5. At the set release, the TCG Player market value of the individual cards (including the Marit Lage token) was about $140. Granted, the values of the cards won’t remain that high, but it gives you an idea of how good the cards themselves in this set are on their own. Considering the quality of most of the cards, a fair value for this set will probably end up around $75. You may be able to find a copy of the set for around $50-60, however, so it could be a strong value if you really need the top cards in the set.

While it’s a strange selection of cards, From the Vault: Lore is a good set to buy. Outside of Helvault and Near-Death Experience, these are all cards that see a fair amount of Commander or Legacy play. Because of this set, many will now be more affordable. True, many players don’t like the alternative foiling process of FTV cards that sometimes causes them to be curled right out of the box. Also, some card sleeves will stick to the foiling, badly damaging the cards. These issues aside, FTV: Lore is one of the better From the Vault products that has been released.



Order your copy of the FTV: Lore box set from Amazon

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