Removing your opponent's graveyard is a very useful ability and it's made more than a few once cheap cards expensive. Look at Relic of Progenitus, for example. Scavenger Grounds is a land that does that, too, and it's been trending upwards in price for months. It's been on the way up for awhile, and eventually, this land is going to pop in price.

I'm not convinced that $4 is the ceiling. We've seen what Relic of Progenitus has done. If an uncommon with several printings can be $5 or more, a rare land with only one printing most certainly can! It could be $7 or even $10 at some point. Plus, this is a Desert from the Hour of Devastation cycle, so the reprint risk is lower than many other lands – although it could end up in a Commander product at some point.

Beyond the possible Commander deck reprint risk, the other risk here is that it hovers between $3-4 and doesn't really become a really good investment. Still, the demand seems to be there even if it seems that the price is plateauing. There is definitely a lot of Standard demand, since you can sacrifice any Desert and not just itself. But it's pretty good in Modern, too, especially as a colorless land im Eldrazi decks. The Eldrazi demand alone can fuel prices as we have seen I'm high on this card and definitely want to keep a playset on hand.

As with a lot of Magic real estate, lands tend to be good investments if you buy in at the right time. This is a case in which I'm looking for a good deal on eBay or something below market price. While I highly doubt people will dump these due to Modern and Commander utility, it may not break $5. But, being colorless means it fits into any Commander deck,.

Also, with the new 60-card singleton Brawl Commander variant being a thing, Scavenger Grounds will be an important card for awhile. I think this is going to be a card that Brawl will cause to skyrocket while it's Standard-legal and I can't see people firesaling these at Standard rotation time in October 2018. Scavenger Grounds looks like some solid real estate if you can get it at a fair discount.

There was so much hype around this little guy called Ramunap Excavator. He's a 2/3 creature who lets you play land cards from your graveyard. People wanted playsets of him so badly that he hit $12 during preorders, only to collapse to just under $2 within a few months. But as people have actually been playing him in Modern and Legacy, people realized this guy actually is good.

No, the Excavator isn't a big money card and he's more of a role player in the right deck. Still, he's a nice card to have around, even if you only need one or two copies per deck. I really like his long-term potential, though. Could he be a $10-12 card in the future? I'm more thinking $5-7 if a Modern deck really goes to town with him as a major contributor. Already, buylists are paying a wide range for this card from $0.75 all the way up to $1.75. There's real demand for this card, and don't forget that this card is extremely good in Commander!

Right now, Ramunap Excavator is just a cute inclusion in Green/White and Green/Black Collected Company decks to replay fetchlands. He sees play in some Legacy decks, too, but Legacy is not as big a factor in paper Magic anymore. But there's so much potential with this guy. Just being able to replay one fetchland with his ability is pretty nice. Heck, Ramunap Excavator even lets you reuse budget fetchlands like Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse!

While there aren't any straight up combos with Ramunap Excavator, this guy does have good synergy with cards like Exploration and Oracle of Mul Daya that allow you to play an additional land on your turn. Even Dinos have Wayward Swordtooth to let you play an extra land. Too bad Summer Bloom is banned in Modern, because the Excavator would certainly be included in that deck.

I love real estate in Magic, and any card that lets you replay lands is essentially making more real estate out of nothing is valuable. Look at Life From the Loam and especially Crucible of Worlds! Who doesn't want to play their Wastelands over and over again in Legacy, Strip Mines and other land destruction cards in Commander, and fetchlands, Ghost Quarters, and Field of Ruins over and over again in Modern? I love this card, and keeping four of them on hand is a great investment.

Whir of Invention and Inventors' Fair are two Kaladesh block cards that are on my radar for the same reason. They are really competitive Modern cards masquerading as Standard cards. They don't see Standard play in any top decks, if much at all. However, they do see play in a variety of Modern decks, including Lantern Control and various Prison decks, among others. Both are pretty cheap – under $2 each as of this writing - haven't been reprinted in Challenger decks, and they do really useful things.

Inventors' Fair gives artifact-heavy decks free life every turn if you control 3 or more artifacts, and that's not nothing. The Fair also can act as a tutor for any artifact card you want from your deck. While it has to be sacrificed to do so, it's still a strong ability.

Whir of Invention is an artifact tutor that puts the card directly into play, and can even have its casting cost reduced by tapping artifacts with Improvise! Both of these cards are really solid investments as what they do is just really good. I don't really like Whir foils at the moment, as their price is trending in the wrong direction. But I do like Inventors' Fair foils, if you want to go deep on them. I just don't see either of them being reprinted in foil any time soon.

Inventors Fair and Whir of Invention both seem like pretty safe investments, even if you don't plan on building the decks anytime soon. To me, the Fair is the better investment as it's more versatile being colorless. Whir has three required Blue mana in its mana cost which does restrict its flexibility a bit, even though many artifact decks are primarily Blue anyway. But if you're looking to break into investing in Modern Magic the Gathering cards, these are two strong candidates for adding to your Magic collection.

Vampires are an extremely hot tribe in Magic the Gathering right now because they won't stop printing good new Vampires. Legion Lieutenant is a good Vampire "Lord" at uncommon. Giving +1/+1 to all your Vampires is nothing new, such as with Captivating Vampire and Stromkirk Captain. But this is a nice cheap way to do it at two mana.

And here's why this guy is on my radar: anyone who wants to build a Vampire deck. If you want to build White/Black Vampires in Standard, you want four of these. If you're build some janky Vampire Lords Tribal deck in Modern, you want four. If you're just someone who just wants to build a kitchen table Vampire deck, you want four of these. If you're building a White/Black/X Vampire Commander deck, you want one.

Also, this guy was so popular when he was spoiled that during preorders, the Lieutenant's price spiked to $2.50. It eventually settled to about $0.75 and has been ticking upwards ever since. Ordinarily, I wouldn't get that excited about an uncommon, but he's unique in that he's a two-drop Lord for a very popular Tribe. Being $2-3 in a short time isn't impossible.

I'm not super high on the Legion Lieutenant foils right now, though. Most of the demand for those happened during preorders, as they shot up to $15 for a bit. That isn't to say you shouldn't buy one for your Commander deck, but I wouldn't personally invest deeply in foils until I see a trend that says otherwise.

Overall, for the price Legion Lieutenant is a great value at about $1. Vampires are always popular trade binder fodder, at the very least. This is just a solid investment for any Magic player who likes to collect tribal staples or just popular Tribes in general, but it's also a great $1 card for evening out trades or swapping pieces for spare parts needed for decks.

Shefet Dunes is an uncommon land from Hour of Devastation, and it's an interesting piece of desert real estate. That's right, folks: real estate in Magic is much like investing in real life real estate. It can be a very solid investment if you buy in at the right time. The Deserts from Hour of Devastation are all pretty good, We saw Ramunap Ruins get banned in Standard because it was so good. These Deserts can sacrifice themselves for a decent effect, and this one gives all creatures you control a boost of +1/+1 until the end of the turn.

Already the Dunes have sneaked into a few Modern decks and it's seeing a fair amount of play in Standard. What's fascinating to me about Shefet Dunes is its price history. This was a $0.25 card that became a $0.75 card very quickly and quickly approached $1. It's still not too late to buy in as major MTG retailers like Channel Fireball and Card Kingdom are charging $1.49. (Shefet Dunes has also all but sold out on Amazon!)  The TCGPlayer market is just a bit behind.
 
Whenever you see retailers charge that much more than TCGPlayer and eBay, it means they keep running out and have to keep buying. So, they have to raise the retail price so they can pay a decent price in cash or store credit to those selling spare copies to their buylists. This is why when you see buylist prices get really close to retail prices, something is definitely going on with that card.

What's the ceiling on Shefet Dunes? That's hard to say. The Ramunap Ruins only got to $1.50, and it's hard for many uncommons to go much higher. But uncommon lands can be funny. More than a few uncommon lands run up to $2 to $3 or even $4 out of nowhere.

Foils of Shefet Dunes aren't even twice as much in price as nonfoils right now. I'm not sure I'd put money into those unless you really want one. Typically low foil multipliers – that is, the foil price divided by the nonfoil price – mean that people aren't super high on a card outside of Standard, but it can also just mean that a card hasn't yet found a permanent home.

Really, Shefet Dunes is one of those incremental investments that become trade binder pieces rather than fodder for buylists or eBay. Whenever you look to add cards to your Magic collection, it's always good to have trade chips. These sorts of lands that can serve a purpose in a lot of different decks can be invaluable to have when you're trying to trade up to bigger chips or are looking to trade into new investments.

Always watch lands that have a steady demand profile like these, because you never know when the supply will dry up. The Shefet Dunes haven't really found many homes in Commander yet, which I find a bit surprising and I'm sure that will change at some point. It has value beyond Standard and is useful in just about any White creature-based deck there is. These Deserts are not really prime reprint material, and this one in particular hasn't ended up in as many places as they could, so invest confidently.

I like Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter a lot. She's very Standard playable and useful in EDH. With probably Magic the Gathering's  best set ever on the horizon, Dominaria, this one-drop gal could be a part of some competitive deck. She's proven herself as a two-of in Green/White Aggro and already sees play in a few Commander decks on a regular basis. 

Now, ElspethFTW already has a solid write-up on Oviya Pashiri and her worthiness of being in your Magic collection. But here, I want to talk a bit about why Oviya suddenly went from a $0.25 bulk rare to a $0.50 card on the rise. Even foils are seeing a healthy interest, and it's not all from EDH players like myself who want her in my Rhys the Redeemed deck.

Oviya Pashiri has become the biggest speculation target leading up to Dominaria's release. That's why she's been a consistent best-seller on TCGPlayer. How did this happen?

Well, first of all, she's cheap. And if she's a best-seller, a lot of other players not quite aware of the fact that she's being speculated on join in thinking, hey, maybe something is up here. And, honestly, as I've already stated, a one-drop Legendary creature in a Standard format that rewards you for playing Legendary spells is going to be pretty good.

But HOW good will she be? Yes, Dominaria has good additions to Green/White Aggro, and perhaps Mono-Green Aggro, as well. But for Oviya to be worth speculating on, she's going to have to be at least a three-of or four-of in some deck that reaches the top tier of a major tournament. A 1/2 one-drop with decent tap abilities playable at instant speed  is certainly Standard playable. Yes, being a  Legendary Creature triggers historic spell abilities from Dominaria.

But is Oviya going to become a $2.50 card (or more) and make lots of people money? Perhaps.

The logic of speculators here is pretty sound. If you buy a playset for between $1.50 and $2 with shipping costs included, your risk is super low. If you buy a foil copy for $1-2 or so, your risk is even lower. That's because Oviya is playable in EDH and those players who want to make her a permanent shiny part of a token-happy EDH deck will pay that price.

If the nonfoil busts, you're out $2 per playset of four copies, minus the 40 cents or so you could recoup from a vendor. You could try and unload your failed spec at eBay or TCGPlayer; but, after shipping and fees, your net loss will be the same. However, the foil won't lose much if the card doesn't become widely adopted in Standard. Worst case, you break even or lose a minimal amount of value as trade fodder.

If you're starting out in Magic the Gathering collection building, this is not a bad card to have. I've always been more keen on foils as investments, as reprints tend to destroy the value of nonfoil printings quite dramatically. While Oviya doesn't look like a prime reprint target, her inclusion in a Commander related product isn't out of the question.

So, if you want to bet on Oviya becoming an awesome sauce can't miss investment during her time in Standard, I'd pick up a foil copy or two and call it a day. While I'm not remiss to pick up a nonfoil copy as an order tack-on or trade throw-in, I just don't see her as much more than she already is.

That being said, I always love foils of EDH playables, especially those that have seen play in standard.  With a foil multiplier of 2.5x already, if Oviya becomes even just a dollar in nonfoil, you're up to probably $3 on the foil. Even selling that one foil copy is going to net you a profit. Also, while the market for nonfoil copies is larger, people who really want foils really, really want them. People will be willing to pay a premium for a foil of a card they need for their deck. And if Oviya does his $2.50 or $3, you'll have a $5 foil at the minimum. But if she doesn't, you hedged your bets and she's still a decent card to hold in your collection.

Whenever you're considering a card to hold onto for pure speculation purposes, you have to consider the card's floor, its potential ceiling, and your costs of unloading it if and when it does go up in price. Personally, I don't do speculation. I just collect good cards. But if and when you see a card selling like there's no tomorrow, it's cheap, playable, and  potentially a top-table player, there's no reason not to grab a copy or two (preferably foil), sit back, and potentially reap some solid rewards.

Don't speculate. Collect intelligently, instead.

Weathered Wayfarer is one of those cards that you buy for $5, and three years later, it's $10! As of July 5th, 2017, Weathered Wayfarer had a TCG Player market price of roughly $10. Less than a year later, the Wayfarer was pushing $13-15! The 9th edition printing is slightly higher than the original Onslaught, but the price points are a wash when you factor in shipping costs.

Playability

While Weathered Wayfarer has seen occasional play in the Modern format, this creature's value is most appreciated in EDH. The Wayfarer sees play in over 6000 deck lists on EDHrec, and there isn't one commander that favors Weathered Wayfarer.

The reason for this is probably the simplicity of the Wayfarer ability. For just one White mana, you can tap Weathered Wayfarer to add any land card from your deck to your hand. Plus, Weathered Wayfarer is only a one drop creature to begin with. Basically, as long as decks use white mana and play lands, Weathered Wayfarer will be a great way to get some early card advantage.



Future Value

The supply of both printings of Weathered Wayfarer isn't all that high. Buy list prices weren't extremely high in 2017, and there was an over 40 percent spread between retail and most buy list prices. This was because despite being such a good card, most vendors don't seem concerned about running out quickly. Looking at the rapid growth of EDH, however,  the supply wouldn't last. In 2018, the spread dropped to around 20 percent and prices of the card rose by around that same amount.

There is a real chance that Weathered Wayfarer could be reprinted,  however. The Wayfarer doesn't have any flavor restrictions that would keep it from being in an expansion set down the road. It definitely makes sense in a Commander deck. However, this card would have to be printed on a.major set release to see its value tank in the long-term, however. A lot of players will soak up the supply of it in Commander decks, because most players will just keep their copies.

As far as foil prices are concerned, Weathered Wayfarer is probably a good one to pick up. 9th edition foils push $30 and Onslaught foils about $28. That's not high considering how playable this card is in non-rotating formats and how much rarer foils were with those sets.


Magic Online Cues

With the rising popularity of 1v1 Commander on Magic Online, Weathered Wayfarer nearly doubled in price online. It wasn't really expensive there to begin with, and it had an additional theme deck printing on MTGO. But being around 0.5 tix and jumping to 1 ticket a copy in a few days is obviously a sign of something.

There are Breya, Etherium Shaper decks that play Weathered Wayfarer. She's one of the top commanders in the 1v1 Commander leagues right now. The Wayfarer is good in a lot of 1v1 Commander decks, actually. Obviously, the value is high in multiplayer EDH, as well. But it seems that the 1v1 Commander demand is driving the price online. If Wizards adopts 1v1 Commander as a sanctioned competitive format in paper Magic (who knows, it could happen!) then Weathered Wayfarer’s price would probably spike.


Potential Price Spike and Reprint Risks

Honestly, the multiplayer EDH community in paper Magic is probably enough to make this a $20 card some day, especially if there’s no reprint incoming. But so many people are probably holding their copies right now that if there is a price spike, it could right itself very quickly.

When I think about reprint risk, I’d definitely be investing in a foil copy if I needed one for an EDH deck or if I wanted to try it in Modern Death and Taxes. It’s also a pretty fair deal on Magic Online at anywhere around 1 tix; the supply isn’t great there, either. I really like Weathered Wayfarer going forward, and this is definitely a card that without a reprint will become $18 to $20 very quickly once the current supply runs dry.

If Weathered Wayfarer does get reprinted in the near future, I’d definitely be picking up the new copies. This is just a really, really solid creature that does something that will be good forever.

Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter has been a two-of in Standard Green/White Aggro decks and is a decent card in a number of EDH decks. However, the Human Artificer from Kaladesh has also been a consistent bestseller on TCGPlayer in both the nonfoil and foil varieties. What has made Oviya Pashiri so popular?

When she was first spoiled, I saw her as sort of a "poor man's" Rhys the Redeemed. She's nowhere as good as the popular token Commander, and she's also mono-green whereas Rhys is both green and white. This somewhat limits her as a Commander, although she is certainly a plausible choice if mono-green Tokens is what you're looking to build. Really, though, she's better as a member of the 99 in Trostani, Selesnya's Voice and the aforementioned Rhys the Redeemed.

Oviya's tap abilities are decent for a 1 mana 1/2 creature. Her first tap ability costs 2G and creates a 1/1 colorless Artifact creature token. While this doesn't seem like an awesome ability, with cards that double tokens like Anointed Procession alongside it in Standard, plus Doubling Season or Parallel Lives in EDH, it's perfectly fine. It's comparable to Rhys the Redeemed's ability to create an Elf token.

The seond of Oviya's tap abilities is quite good for 4G. It creates a X/X creature token where X is the number of creatures you control when you resolve the ability. This token is almost always going to be worth the cost and is great to have in an aggro deck. It's especially good when you have Procession or another token doubler on the board.

Really, you can't ask much more from a one-drop creature. For a card that doubled in price from $0.25 to $0.50 in March of 2018, though, it's not like she's blowing people away. She's just very good as a role player. However, as she is good in EDH, it's not a bad idea to invest in foils, as not only are they more reprint proof, but her long-term value will be in EDH. They will provide better return on investment in the long-term. While I don't see Oviya as a long-term staple anywhere, she's a solid Legendary creature worth having in your collection.


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With Relentless Rats being printed at Common in Masters 25, the highly popular Rat swarm is now available in the all-common rarity Pauper format! Previously only printed at uncommon, it's no surprise to see that it's actually been the #1 best-selling card on TCGPlayer in the latter half of March 2018. What makes Relentless Rats so relentless that it's become such a hot Magic card? It's simple. You can play as many as you want in a deck, and for each one you control, each of your Relentless Rats gets +1/+1.




How can you play Relentless Rats in Pauper. Here's one potential Relentless Rats Pauper deck list from Mazzi di Huzen on DeckStats.

Lands (18)

14 Swamp
4 Barren Moor

Creatures (32)

28 Relentless Rats
4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel

Non-Creature Spells (10)

2 Death Denied
4 Geth's Verdict
4 Victim of Night


The deck is very straightforward. The Barren Moors give you the ability to cycle away itself for a single Black mana for another card if you don't need to play any more land. The 4 copies of Geth's Verdict and 4 copies of Victim of Night give you some of the best removal in Pauper. This removal is good for slowing down faster decks because each copy of Rats costs 3 mana to cast. Two copies Death Denied gives you the ability to retrieve dead Relentless Rats from your graveyard in order to continue the Rat onslaught.

Then, of course, we have 28 copies of Relentless Rats, which ensures that we always have copies of Relentless Rats to play at all times. We finish off the deck with 4 copies of Gray Merchant of Asphodel. The lynchpin in Mono-Black Devotion decks, each copy of Rats gives you 2 devotion to Black. The Gray Merchant himself gives you an additional 2 devotion. His ability drains your opponent for an amount of life equal to your devotion to Black. With just a few Rats on the board, you can end the game very quickly

Because of how long this deck can take to get going, you are going to be using your removal early and often. However, once you start getting a lot of Rats on the board, it's very difficult for your opponent to even attack you anymore. If the board becomes stalled and your army of Relentless Rats can't get through for damage, you always have the Gray Merchants to finish off the game with the drain ability. It's a pretty cool Mono-Black Devotion/Control deck.

We also found another Pauper deck list on TappedOut that uses Dark Ritual for mana acceleration, Disfigure for removal and Dusk Legion Zealot for card draw. But we prefer the Mono-Black Devotion/Control deck list better ourselves.

What do you think of Relentless Rats in Pauper? Have you ever build a Rats deck using the Relentless Rats?

Theros is full of great artifacts and enchantments. While Burnished Hart and Whip of Erebos are more popular, Bident of Thassa is definitely a good card. It is the weapon of Thassa, one of the best Gods featured in the set. The Bident does something similar to a card from way back in Mercadian Masques called Coastal Piracy. As long as the Bident is on the field, every time a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, you have a chance to draw a card.

The additional effect of the Bident costs one colorless and one blue mana and requires you to tap it. This tap effect makes it so that all creatures that your opponents control must attack during that turn if able. This can be a fantastic way to really mess up an opponent's strategy. At 4 mana, the Bident is towards the top of the mana curve in Constructed decks. But that didn't stop it from having 2 to 3 copies in a number of highly competitive Mono Blue Devotion decklists.

While Bident of Thassa isn't really playable in Modern or other 60-card Constructed format, it's an extremely good EDH/Commander card. That tap ability can badly screw up your other opponents' attack phases. Also, the card advantage that the Bident provides you is extremely important with 99-card decks. While it's not played as much as some of the other artifacts from Theros, it actually sees more play than the more expensive Bow of Nylea and popular Spear of Heliod.

The price of Bident of Thassa is actually quite low considering its playability in EDH. However, this is because of two reprints in a Commander 2015 pre-constructed deck and in Masters 25. Even foils from Theros and Masters 25 are about $1 as of March 2018, and that's just too low for a card that's this useful in so many decks. If you're looking to pick up this card, grabbing a foil copy from either of its foil printings is probably your best bet for the best long-term value. Bident of Thassa is a great card that can give you value in a couple of ways and is worth considering in a wide variety of decks.


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Once one of the better rares in all of Magic 2014, Fiendslayer Paladin is a 2/2 Human Knight with first strike and lifelink for only 1WW. He would later be reprinted in the Archenemy: Nicol Bolas product. The Paladin's best feature is that he also cannot be the target of red or black spells your opponents control. In Standard, this made him invulnerable to Doom Blade, Dreadbore, and pretty much any other removal you could throw at him. While it's not protection from black and red, and he can still be blocked by red or black creatures, he's a solid creature.

Being rather tricky to remove outside of combat made Fiendslayer Paladin rather valuable in Standard. He was a great piece for White Weenie decks and his lifelink made him a great ally with the best mythic rare in Magic 2014, Archangel of Thune. He was an easy pick in Limited that also saw Standard play. However, he doesn't stack up to his competition once you get into the Eternal formats such as Modern. Then again, there have been Legacy Death and Taxes lists that have played him, so there is that.

However, like many playable Standard cards, Fiendslayer Paladin has found a few homes in the EDH format. Odric, Lunarch Marshal has been especially kind to him. With the Lunarch Marshal on the board, Fiendslayer Paladin allows all of your creatures to gain first strike and lifelink. Fiendslayer Paladin also is at home in Human Tribal Sigardia, Heron's Grace decks.

Fiendslayer Paladin may never be much more than a $1 rare card when it comes to price, at least in non-foil. However, Fiendslayer Paladin foils  have been a consistent $4 for years. While this is a card that's unlikely to be a big investment long-term, he's a solid card to hold onto if you want to stick him in a Death and Taxes deck or in an EDH deck. Fiendslayer Paladin is a card worth holding onto.

Necroskitter was one of the first cards I ever drafted when I began playing Magic the Gathering. Even at the time, I realized how good it was. A 1/4 for three mana (1BB) seemed solidly defensive and the effect was pretty powerful, especially as I quickly figured out how the Wither mechanic worked.

Here is the effect that makes Necroskitter really good:

Whenever a creature an opponent controls with a -1/-1 counter on it is put into a graveyard, you may return that card to play under your control.

The great thing about Wither was that it was a mechanic that was easy to build around in Limited, and one as a novice Magic player could easily pick up on. At the time, the price of Necroskitter was high enough that I sold it back to the store after the draft. I don't remember the exact number, but it was significant enough to bother doing so.

Wither itself is a great mechanic, and there have been Standard decks, and many casual decks over the years have been built around it. Necroskitter has been at the heart of every deck built around the Wither mechanic. Creatures like Kulrath Knight and the Enchantments Blowfly Infestation and Crumbling Ashes figure prominently in those decks.

Unfortunately, Necroskitter decks have never been hugely successful in tournament play. Nevertheless, Necroskitter and other Wither creatures tend to still be popular among the casual crowd. Here are some commonly asked questions about Necroskitter.



Necroskitter's Combo with Black Sun's Zenith

One awesome combo that Necroskitter has is with the popular board-wipe Black Sun's Zenith. Even if you cast Black Sun's Zenith for enough mana to put three or more -1/-1 counters on all creatures, Necroskitter will still "see" them leave play even as it dies itself. This means when the dust settles, you get ALL of the creatures that died. It's a pretty mean combo, especially in a multiplayer game!



Necroskitter and Commander / EDH

Unsurprisingly, Necroskitter sees a good amount of play in EDH. There are a number of Commander decks which utilize a -1/-1 counter strategies. Chief among these decks is Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons. Necroskitter features promintently in Hapatra decks, which is where a good chunk of Necroskitter's more recent demand came from. The combo between Necroskitter and Black Sun's Zenith is obviously quite good in this deck.

The Scorpion God from Hour of Devastation also has good synergy with Necroskitter with his repeatable 3-mana ability to put a -1/-1 counter on a target creature. Not only do you get to draw a card when a creature with a -1/-1 counter dies, but with Necroskitter on board, you get that creature onto your field, too. Some Atraxa, Praetor's Voice decks that play around with the -1/-1 counter theme use Necroskitter, too. As popular as Atraxa is, this isn't one of the more popular ways to play the deck, however.



Necroskitter and Infect

Some people have tried to use Necroskitter within Infect decks in casual and fringe Modern decks. In some ways, Wither and Infect are compatible, since they both cause damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters. So, you can have a copy of Necroskitter in play in order to steal creatures that have had Infect damage dealt to them. However, this is not really the most cohesive strategy.



Necroskitter vs. Undying

When it comes to Necroskitter and the undying mechanic, there's an interesting interaction. When a creature with undying dies, it comes back into play under its owner's control with a +1/+1 counter on it. Popular creatures with this ability include Geralf's Messenger and Strangleroot Geist. The ruling is that when a creature with Undying dies with Necroskitter on the field, the non-active player is the one who gets the creature.

This means that if the Undying creature dies on your turn, it still returns to that player with the +1/+1 counter. However, if you kill the creature on their turn, you get the Undying creature, but without the +1/+1 counter. This is because you get the creature back as a newly summoned creature, ignoring the conditions of Undying.



Necroskitter's Price

Despite not achieving top-level tournament play, Necroskitter has been a well-liked card by deck builders over the years. In fact, for years, Necroskitter was a $6 card, due to being from Eventide and relatively rare. A reprint in Modern Masters 2 tanked the value all the way down to about $1.75 at one point. MM2 copies of Necroskitter were available for as low as $0.60 at one point.

More -1/-1 counter support was printed in Amonkhet and Hour of Devastation, breathing new life into old Wither decks. Hapatra gaining huge traction in Commander certainly helped demand for a number of Wither-related cards. Somewhat interestingly, Crumbling Ashes and Blowfly Infestation both broke $5, even being mere uncommons. Ashes would even hit $12.50 in price before leveling out to around $6. Blowfly Infestation would settle around the $3 to $4 range. Even Kulrath Knight would hit $4 and never drop by much.

What would hurt Necroskitter's price ceiling was its reprint in Modern Masters 2. It became a $4 card for a bit before settling in the $3-4 range. Without a reprint, it could one day be a $5+ card. The demand is there, but the supply is much larger than the other Wither cards that spiked.

The foil price of Necroskitter has been steady over the years, although its growth has been greatly hampered by the Modern Masters foil. In 2018, Eventide foils were about $9 whule MM2 foils were around about $5.

Necroskitter is a fun card that can get you a lot of free creatures in the right deck. It's a great roleplayer in a Wither deck or any other deck that plays heavily into the -1/-1 counter theme. While it's not a "money" card, it has some real value to Commander players and deck builders who love to brew with this unique three-mana creature.

Dragon's Maze was not a particularly valuable set when it was first released. But, over time, many Dragon's Maze cards have risen in value due to playability in Modern and Commander. One card that is still fairly valuable from the set is the planeswalker Ral Zarek. The four-mana red and blue planeswalker saw a good amount of Standard play at one time. Today, he sees a strong amount of play in EDH / Commander and fringe play in Modern. So, what is a copy of Ral Zarek worth? Here's a quick price guide for this powerful planeswalker Magic card.


Ral Zarek is a solid planeswalker with three abilities. His first ability adds one loyalty counter to Ral and both taps a permanent and untaps another permanent. The second ability costs 2 loyalty counters and deals 3 damage to a target creature or player. These are both solid abilities. The last ability costs 7 loyalty counters and allows you to flip 5 coins. For each of those 5 coins that lands on heads, you take an extra turn. It's a very powerful ability that can win you the game in the right deck.


Because of his powerful ultimate ability, Ral Zarek sees some Modern play in rogue Doubling Planeswalker decks, due to his strong interaction with the enchantment Doubling Season. That Enchantment allows Ral Zarek to come into play with eight loyalty counters, meaning that he can use his ultimate ability to take extra turns right away. In Commander, however, the deck he sees the most play in is the massively popular Narset, Enlightened Master.


In February 2018, you can find copies of Ral Zarek listed between $6 and $8 USD on major websites such as TCGPlayer, eBay, Amazon, and Channel Fireball. Various Magic card vendors will buy copies of Ral Zarek between $2.75 and $3.50 in cash on their buylists, which is a fair price for a mythic rare card that only sees play in Commander. Also, the true market price of Ral Zarek is closer to $5.50, according to TCGPlayer.


Ral Zarek is a solid planeswalker who is a solid addition to any Magic the Gathering card collection. He is a card with solid value and a price that has been relatively steady. Barring a reprint, Ral Zarek should be a solid investment for your deck building toolbox or trade binder.


Buy Ral Zarek on Amazon | Buy Ral Zarek on TCGPlayer

On February 12th, 2018, Wizards of the Coast announced that the cards Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Bloodbraid Elf are no longed banned from Modern decks in Magic the Gathering. The infamous Jace planeswalker has neer before been legal in the Modern format. However, Bloodbraid Elf was part of some powerful and dominant Jund decks in the Modern format's early days.



Unsurprisingly, it seems that most Magic players are happy about these unbannings. They are powerful cards, and some players have waited for years to play with them again. The sentiment among those that aren't as excited is that it was unnecessary to unban them. I disagree. Modern needed fresh blood. The format is OK, yes, but with Modern back on the Pro Tour and a huge Modern Masters set on the way, why not shake things up now?



After all, it has long been my opinion that neither of these cards should ever have been banned in the format. Keep in mind that Modern has become a format in which four-drops must do something awesome to see play. This point will be revisited several times later. Both of these cards are exceptionally powerful, in very different ways. I'm happy to see them enter play to add some new diversity to the format.

Why Unban Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Bloodbraid Elf?


Here's Wizards' official statement about the unbannings:


"Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Bloodbraid Elf are each individually powerful cards that were originally banned because they were simply too good.


As the rest of the format has caught up in power level, these two cards have been on R&D's short list of cards to reexamine for unbanning. We've been closely monitoring the evolution of the format over the last several years and chosen this as the best time to make a change."


Note that bit about power level. Modern has grown a lot since 2013, when Bloodbraif Elf was banned. Magic is a game whose power creep has been undeniable. Cards that were once "too good" simply are now just "very good."


The article also mentioned that Jace's presence in Masters 25 will make new copies of the powerful planeswalker more readily available. This is definitely true. Bloodbraid Elf is already plentiful, being an uncommon reprinted numerous times. So, it seems that Masters 25 was a major reason for these unbannings.




Is Jace, the Mind Sculptor As Powerful As He Once Was?


The official take:


"The most iconic and powerful planeswalker card of all time, Jace, the Mind Sculptor has been on the Modern banned list since the format's inception. At the time, Jace was not far removed from being banned in Standard. Jace was also strong enough that it was being played in the incredibly powerful Legacy format.
Over time, competitive Modern has evolved to be a format of fast, proactive threats. The bar for tapping four lands during one's main phase to cast a single spell is quite high, often restricted to cards that threaten to win the game immediately. For example, if you look at the Top 8 from Pro Tour Rivals of Ixalan, cards that cost four mana that aren't instants are far and few between. In watching the format evolve, we've observed that decks seeking to control the game have struggled against the speed and variety of threats present in the format. Often these decks have been forced to adopt an explosive win condition of their own. Our hope is that Jace, the Mind Sculptor will provide yet another option in an already diverse format, giving controlling decks an alternative way to close out prolonged games."




I get why some people are annoyed about the return of Jace the Mind Sculptor. I particularly like Matt Sperling of Channel Fireball's commentary on the matter. The guy dominated Standard and Legacy for a long time. And yeah, the timing seems too convikenent, TMS should help sell th e set. But the official reasoning is sound.


As I already said, four-drops are sort of the top of the mana curve when it comes to Modern. Jace gives you a lot of options for four mana. The Brainstorming for 0 loyalty is obviously good and in a format where Opt and Serum Visions are usually your best cantrips, it's more than welcome. But you know what, Jace can also bounce creatures – a mode used quite liberally by Standard players. Suddenly that big looming threat doesn't look so bad.


Jace's other abilities: the +1 "fateseal" ability and ultimate ability are probably not going to come into play much in Modern except in stalled boardstates. That's a real thing that's already been mentioned, and the data supports that this is a good role for Jace to fill. And yes, that ultimate wins games, and entire tournamrnts. That's really why people hate Jace. He can take over a game. And in Modern, that can be OK if it's the only way for some decks to compete, like control.


I'd argue that Magic's power level has risen to the point that Jace is still very powerful, but he's more of a role player now who can still turn the tide in your favor if given the chance.






Bloodbraid Elf is Awesome!


The official explanation of why Bloodbraid Elf was unbanned in Modern covers a lot of the points I was already going to cover, so here it is:


"Bloodbraid Elf was banned in January 2013 at a time when Jund was the best midrange deck and perhaps the best overall deck in the format. In addition to weakening Jund's overall win rate, a large part of the goal in banning Bloodbraid Elf was to create more diversity among midrange decks.


Since that era, Modern has seen black-green-based midrange decks evolve to use a variety of other colors and threat packages. There is now a healthy choice between, for example, adding red for Lightning Bolt and Ancient Grudge versus adding white for Lingering Souls and Stony Silence. With the unbanning of Jace, we may even see some of these decks shifting toward blue. On top of that, other midrange decks like Mardu Pyromancer have emerged. There are now sufficient options available to have confidence that Bloodbraid Elf will no longer be as detrimental to deck diversity as it once was.

As a four-mana card that doesn't necessarily win the game on the spot, Bloodbraid Elf is at its best when games are longer and resources are being exchanged. Although an aggressive card on its face, Bloodbraid Elf should provide further incentive for deck builders to move up the mana curve and play interactive games."



This is a great thing for Modern: INTERACTION! I love aggressive mid-range decks. My own early decks were built around Shards of Alara and they often played Bloodbraid Elf. Yes, the Elf being back means Jund players get their free Liliana of the Veils and Tarmogoyfs. But while Cascade is a dirty good mechanic, there are a lot of other things you can do with this four drop.


The thing that immediately vomes to mind is all of the three drops that are on the fringes of Modern that Bloodbraid Elf suddenly makes viable. These include planeswalkers such as Domri Rade and creatures like Loxodon Smiter – cards that are technically playable in Modern but far more playable when you can occassionally cast them for free. Also, when you play with Cascade, you have to really think about your deck construction.


Bloodbraid Elf welcomes you to play games of attrition in which every move you made must be calculated. Yes, getting free planeswalkers and Goyfs is great, but you won't always hit those things - you'll hit a lot of Lightning Bolts, too. Cascade is inherently random and fun. Fun is good.




Are Bloodbraid Elf and Jace, the Mind Sculptor Meant to Balance the Modern Metagame?




Ironically, Bloodbraid Elf is a natural enemy of control and Jace, the Mind Sculptor. After all, the Elf is a 3/2 creature with haste herself so she can throw some punches as well as some extra spells at you. But no, they came inro Modern together because they are good four-drops and Modern needs more of those. Eldrazi and Tron are the only other decks who consistently cast four-drops, after all.


Yes, these are powerful cards, and Jace sells sets. But the data that Wizards is looking at told them that they were able to be used in the format again, and I believe they were completely correct. I'm more excited about Bloodbraid Elf and the havoc she'll wreak with the new toys Jund has picked up over the past few years. But Jace will be a solid addition to some fringe control strategies and give already decent Bant, Jeskai, and Sultai Midrange decks a powerful new ally.


How do you feel about Bloodbraid Elf and Jace, the Mind Sculptor being legal in the Modern format?

Solemn Judgment and Monster Reborn were staples in almost every Yu-Gi-Oh for many years. But there came a time when Konami decided that these cards were too powerful and too much of an auto-include to remain legal in tournament play. For years, these two cards weren't allowed in tournament play.


But in Feburary 2018, Solemn Judgment and Monster Reborn were removed from the Yu-Gi-Oh Forbidden List and moved to the Limited list. This means that you may now play one copy of each of these cards in any deck in tournament play – effective February 5th, 2018.


So should everyone go out and grab some copies of Solemn Judgment and Monster Reborn to slot into their decks?


Absolutely!

Solemn Judgment is an awesome counter trap card originally printed in Metal Raiders, but has been reprinted many times over the years. It allows you stop a summon or the activation a spell or trap card. The cost is half of your Life Points. While this seems like a hefty cost, later in the game when your life points are already low, this isn't a huge cost.

It's amazing that you could once play three copies of this card. One copy is perfectly fine to have as a catch-all counter. It's a great card for just about any Yu-Gi-Oh deck and a classic Yu-Gi-Oh card.

While Solemn Judgment was always a good card in competitive play, Monster Reborn is easily the more iconic Yu-Gi-Oh card of the two. Monster Reborn saw tons of play in the anime and what it does is extremely straightforward: special summon a monster from either player's graveyard. Yes, that's extremely powerful. But Konami decided that it was time to bring back this classic card to competitive play to see how it fares.

Both of these cards will be showing up all over the places. It will be interesting to see how these two cards fit into today's top Yu-Gi-Oh decks.

Best known for being a major part of the Modern Krark-Clan Combo deck (also known as "eggs"), Open the Vaults does see a fair amount of Commander (EDH) play, as well. Because of how well Open the Vaults can bring back so many things at once, it has been reprinted in the Call the Spirits deck for Commander 2015. Not only does it return all Enchantments to the battlefield under their original owners' control, but it also returns all artifacts. Notice that this effect affects all players, so timing this card correctly is critical.


Typically in Commander, Open the Vaults has been used to bring back artifacts more than Enchantments. Sydri, Galvanic Genius and Sharuum the Hegemon have made a place for Open the Vaults for quite some time. Hanna, Ship's Navigator has made the best use of Open the Vaults in the format, as she can bring back either an artifact or enchantment to your hand. Additionally, Kemba, Kha Regent likes the artifact reanimation, too, since Kemba revolves around Equipment, which happen to be artifacts. This puts them all into play, which for only 6 mana can be a devastating late-game play. .


To a lesser extent, Open the Vaults has seen play in some Aura-based decks for Commanders that need a way to get back their Enchantments quickly. Replenish from Urza's Destiny actually does that particular job better. Replenish only brings back Enchantment cards from your graveyard. But despite costing only 3W, it is a fairly rare card to get at this point and holds a high price tag.


Open the Vaults brings back more cards (albeit your opponents' as well) for 4WW, but it costs a fraction of the price. Commanders that don't mind having both this and Replenish in their decks include Uril the Miststalker, Bruna Light of Alabaster, and Zur the Enchanter. Other popular Commanders that use Open the Vaults include Breya, Etherium Shaper and Daxos the Returned.


While the Commander deck reprint depressed the price of the original Magic 2010 printing, the reprint did get copies of this very useful card into more hands. Also, Magic 2010 foils were unaffected by this printing. Interest in this card also increased, as is the case with many cards that are reprinted in a pre-constructed Commander deck. This is a great reprint and fits quite well into the deck which contains it.

Praetor’s Grasp is one of a few niche rares from the powerful New Phyrexia set that have found some permanent homes in Commander decks. During its Standard days, the Grasp was pretty much a sideboard card in mono-Black decks. For 3 mana (1BB), it allows you to steal one of your opponent’s cards right out of their deck. Not only do you exile it and keep them from playing it, but if you have the right mana, you can even play it yourself. Also, no one but you can even look at it or even know what that card is until it’s played.


With this sorcery, you also get a ton of information about that player’s deck, too. With that level of sneakiness available, Praetor’s Grasp even for a time was tried out by Legacy and Vintage players. It never stuck around in those formats, though. After it rotated from Standard, Commander players became the card’s only audience.


Praetor’s Grasp offers a great deal of utility in Commander, especially in stealing someone’s key combo card from their deck. The best part about this effect is that it can be any card: artifact, creature, enchantment, instant, sorcery, or even land. If played correctly, this effect can both hurt your opponent and help you simultaneously.


The typical card you would target in Commander with Praetor's Grasp would be an artifact, since the vast majority of artifacts are colorless. You don’t even have to know what you’re looking for when you target an opponent; you just choose based on who you think the biggest threat at the table might be.


Commanders that have made a regular home for this spell include Gonti, Lord of Luxury, Mishra, Articifer Prodigy, Sen Triplets, and many others. You don’t even have to be a mono-Black deck to take full advantage of this card’s effect. Still, mono-Black tends to be happiest when it’s stealing key cards from opponents. Praetor’s Grasp is one of those rares you can find for $1 or less and it’s a great tool to have for any Commander player dabbling in Black Magic.

For the most part, Oath of the Gatewatch was a pretty good set for Commander players. Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim, General Tazri, and Mina and Denn, Wildborn are decent Commanders. Zendikar Resurgent has proven to be a pretty good Enchantment. But of all seven legendary creatures in the set, only one has found herself on the outside looking in. That’s Linvala, the Preserver, an Angel that simply will never live up to her first incredibly powerful incarnation, Linvala, Keeper of Silence.


Linvala 2.0 is far from being a bad creature, however. For 6 mana, a 5/5 flyer with two abilities is okay. She’s sort of Timely Reinforcements on a stick. When she enters the battlefield, if an opponent has more life than you, you gain 5 life. Also, if she enters and an opponent controls more creatures than you, put a 3/3 white Angel creature token with flying onto the battlefield. If both are true, you get both effects.


In a vacuum, Linvala, the Preserver offers good value. But is that worth a slot in a Commander deck, even at 6 mana? Life totals are twice that of regular Constructed and a single 3/3 Angel token doesn’t do all that much. Sure, you can abuse her abilities a bit with cards like Conjurer’s Closet, Deadeye Navigator, Eldrazi Displacer, and the like. She’s just a bit underwhelming.


You could try and run an Angel tribal deck with her at the head of it, but there are just so many better options. She’s definitely playable, but outside of those who just really want to play her, the second Linvala is having a hard time finding her way in Commander.

Synthetic Destiny is an Instant-speed version of a card released in the Magic 2011 Core Set called Mass Polymorph. Despite the crazy potential of a card that can dump a whole bunch of creatures on the board in a hurry, at Sorcery speed, it just never really caught on. So will being at Instant speed, make Synthetic Destiny a card to watch in Commander?


Mass Polymorph only ever saw much play in Jalira, Master Polymorphist decks. She's a fun Commander who can flip utility creatures into huge creatures with big effects for crazy big value. But unfortunately, her ability doesn't allow you to hit Legendary creatures and the critical mass of good targets for Jalira to hit hasn't happened yet.


The other deck that Mass Polymorph saw play in were some builds of Talrand, Sky Summoner. Talrand typically plays very few creatures in exchange for a bunch of cheap instant and sorcery spells in order to create a whole bunch of 2/2 flying Drake Tokens. If you were to have a Talrand build which actually ran a fair number of big bomb blue creatures, the payoff could be decent.


Does the Instant speed version of Mass Polymorph actually make that sort of Talrand build possible? Can a functionally better redundancy of the Mass Polymorph for the same 6 mana give Jalira some extra fuel to be a better Commander? The answer to both questions is yes.


Is Synthetic Destiny a relevant card in the Commander format? Beyond the right builds of Jalira or Talrand, not really. However, some builds of Ezuri, Claw of Progress have given this card a shot, and he is a highly popular Commander. This card is definitely a consideration for Commander decks that pump out a bunch of tokens and can provide some surprise value for a relatively modest investment of resources.

Hell’s Caretaker has been a pretty useful creature in Magic: the Gathering over the years. Way back during the Ice Age set, there was a useful combo with Ice Age’s Enduring Renewal and Antiquities Ornithopter. Enduring Renewal was an easy way to put creatures in the graveyard. Ornithopter is free to cast. So, with the Caretaker, you could easily sacrifice the Thopter and resurrect a pretty big creature from the graveyard. With Renewal, every time Ornithopter would die, it would return to your hand. Then, you could cast it again for free.

While none of the creatures were given haste by this method, it was an easy way to put a huge creature into play that couldn’t be easily answered. The Caretaker could also always just sacrifice itself to get back something, too. There was another combo with Enduring Renewal and Ornithopter with Fallen Angel to make her infinitely big. The combo deck was fun and playable.

Later, Hell’s Caretaker was reintroduced in 9th Edition. This made it legal in the Extended format at the time and in Modern. There was a potential combo playable for a time in Extended (and technically be played in Modern, too) using Intruder Alarm and Highway Robber, plus one other creature. Every time you sacrificed a creature to use Hell’s Caretaker’s ability, and a new creature enters the battlefield, all creatures untap. You would alternate between sacrificing and reviving the Robber and another creature to drain your opponent for 2 life each time. Unfortunately, the combo wasn’t consistent enough to see regular success.

In Commander, Hell’s Caretaker has been used in a number of combinations. One includes equipping it with Thornbite Staff in a Zombie-centric deck. Every time a Zombie dies, you’ll be able to untap the Caretaker. With a creature like Vengeful Dead, which deals 1 point of damage to each opponent every time a Zombie is put in a graveyard, you have a potential infinite combo serving as a win condition. While this all has to happen during your upkeep, there’s no limit to the number of times Caretaker’s ability can be activated in the upkeep. Also with the Staff, in a Reanimator deck, you can consistently sacrifice lesser creatures to bring back bigger ones as many times as you wish.


Hell's Caretaker's Sudden 2016 Price Spike


In late January 2016, there was a sudden run on Hell’s Caretakers from 9th edition. Its market price went from $4 to $6 on average over a couple of days. While that's not the biggest price spike in the world, it was somewhat unusual. There were a few more Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder decks being built in EDH due to the Legendary Creature’s reprinting in Commander 2015. Hell’s Caretaker is known as a key contributor to that Commander deck. But otherwise, there wasn’t really any obvious reason that Hell’s Caretaker would suddenly become popular.


So was the popularly surging “Old School Magic” format that uses cards only from 1993 and 1994 sets to blame? Not likely. The original Legends printing barely budged from its $10 price tag. The Chronicles version also barely moved. Additionally, it’s unlikely that Old School Magic had anything to do with it. Deck construction rules specifically state that cards used in Old School (93/94) Magic decks have to share the original card frame and artwork. The 9th edition version wouldn’t even be legal (in most cases).


Another possibility is that another Old School format that includes sets from 1995 (and Ice Age) may be responsible for the renewed interest in Hell’s Caretaker. The aforementioned combo with Enduring Renewal is definitely a possibility. But Enduring Renewal didn't budge, either.


The most likely possibility is that there was an Enduring Renewal & Hell’s Caretaker deck being brewed in Modern. Enduring Renewal was introduced into Modern as a Timeshifted card in Time Spiral - despite not having the Modern card border, a quirk of Modern. Ornithopter is also very much legal in Modern - printed several times after Mirrodin. While there has never been any real talk about such a deck being built, the pieces do exist.


Nowadays, you could bring back Griselbrand, for example, with this combo. Angel of Despair from Guildpact could be used to machine gun away all of your opponent’s permanents. How good that would prove to be in any sort of competitive environment, though, is beyond me.


It’s also very possible that the sudden 50 percent jump in price was nothing more than a few dealers and speculators stocking up on Modern-legal cards that could be good. But it’s interesting to note that the old school combo does exist. If you want to be funny, Fallen Angel is legal in Modern, too, being printed in 8th edition. It probably wouldn't be a deck that would win too much, as it could prove to be a bit too slow.


It’s always fun to speculate why certain cards are run on at certain points in time. In this case, it reminds us of a combo that may still work today – albeit one that's probably too slow to be garnering any top finishes at any tournaments any time soon.

The Theros Block was the reign of Mono-Blue Devotion and Mono-Black Devotion. It seemed with each set each deck kept getting better. So why not give an already top-tier deck like Mono-Blue Devotion even more love with an instant speed Clone effect? That card is Fated Infatuation.


For 3 Blue mana, you get a token of a target creature you control. Also, like all five cards of the Fated cycle, if you cast it on your turn, you scry 2. Mono-Blue Devotion had a fair share of things it would like to copy, including  Tidebinder Mage  and especially  Master of Waves.

A Triple-Blue casting cost is obviously no problem in a mono-Blue deck. Still, it does limit its play-ability to mono-Blue decks for the most part. This definitely seems like a card you wouldn’t cast during your opponent's Main Phase. It always seemed to me to be something good to play at the end of your opponent’s turn.

I've always really liked this card, especially because it’s instant speed. Then, because the token is a copy, you get even more devotion out of it if it's a Blue card. To me, it seemed a solid addition to an already powerful deck... but did anyone actually play it in Standard?

Unfortunately for Fated Infatuation, it never really became a staple in Mono-Blue Devotion. However, some lists did adopt it, like this top Devotion to Blue list at a Last Chance Qualifier for GP Phoenix in 2014. It seems that it was a solid one-of, although it doesn't seem that any other top lists played it.

However, the card does still see some play. Fated Infatuation has also found a few homes in Commander, but most especially in Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun decks. It's a token-happy deck already, which seems odd in White and Blue, but it's a playable deck. Fated Infutation doesn't care if the creature you're copying is a token, either, so it's a solid addition to that deck. Really, any Commander deck that likes to copy things, such as Sakashima the Impostor or Riku of Two Reflections, can make sure of this handy Instant.