by Richard Rowell, Gaming Successfully Staff
Kaladesh has already been called one of the best Magic the Gathering expansion sets in a long time. To make it even better, Wizards has introduced the Kaladesh Inventions Masterpiece series, a set of 30 mythic rare special foils featuring artifacts throughout Magic’s history. One of these is Aether Vial, one of the more useful artifacts in Modern. It once saw much more competitive play in Legacy, but now it’s basically just the primary engine that accelerates Modern decks such as Merfolk, Death & Taxes (as well as in the Legacy version), Green/White Hatebears, and Eldrazi & Taxes. Typically, it’s used to power out 1-drops, 2-drops, and 3-drops, but in Eldrazi & Taxes it can also power out the four-drop Thought-Knot Seer.
There are actually a number of printings of Aether Vial, three of which are already foil: the original Darksteel printing, the Modern Masters reprint, and the From the Vault: Relics printing. People really aren’t fond of the FTV foiling process, so that is the cheapest version at around $50. The Modern Masters foil hangs around $60, and the Darksteel foil is around $70. The first pre-orders for the Masterpiece Aether Vial have been in the $120 range due to the uniqueness and extreme rarity of this version.
Since this is a card you really need four of at a time, it’s understandable why the pre-order price on this card is so high. It’s probably going to easily be one of the most sought-after Masterpiece cards in the set. Occasionally, the Vial sneaks into some Commander decks, too, so there will be those out there that also want a single copy, particularly Sliver Tribal decks. This is a really good card. Most people will likely want to either keep their copies or trade them down to the cheaper pre-existing foils. While you shouldn’t buy-in super early, and perhaps trade them out because of the hype, Aether Vial foils are just always going to be good to have, no matter what the printing.
There are actually a number of printings of Aether Vial, three of which are already foil: the original Darksteel printing, the Modern Masters reprint, and the From the Vault: Relics printing. People really aren’t fond of the FTV foiling process, so that is the cheapest version at around $50. The Modern Masters foil hangs around $60, and the Darksteel foil is around $70. The first pre-orders for the Masterpiece Aether Vial have been in the $120 range due to the uniqueness and extreme rarity of this version.
Since this is a card you really need four of at a time, it’s understandable why the pre-order price on this card is so high. It’s probably going to easily be one of the most sought-after Masterpiece cards in the set. Occasionally, the Vial sneaks into some Commander decks, too, so there will be those out there that also want a single copy, particularly Sliver Tribal decks. This is a really good card. Most people will likely want to either keep their copies or trade them down to the cheaper pre-existing foils. While you shouldn’t buy-in super early, and perhaps trade them out because of the hype, Aether Vial foils are just always going to be good to have, no matter what the printing.
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