Since the inception of the Old School MTG format among long-time Magic the Gathering players, many older cards have become highly sought after. The Old School format only uses cards from Fallen Empires and before, cards from early sets such as Legends and Arabian Nights have seen a lot of interesting price fluctuations. Being a casual format, cards you would never have thought of playing suddenly look quite interesting in that format.

Since most of these cards are on the Reserved List, which are cards that Wizards of the Coast promised to never reprint, these old rare cards can make some very good investments.

Of particular interest is an 8 mana white enchantment (6WW) called Divine Intervention. What's particularly interesting about this card is its rather unique effect. There are several cards in Magic that serve as alternate win conditions. But Divine Intervention, after it has two intervention counters removed from it, actually ends the game in a draw.

From a competitive standpoint, this doesn't seem like a very fun card. It has seen some fringe play in Phelddagrif "group hug" EDH decks as a way to simply let no one win. It's not really a fun card, but it has its uses.

It doesn't seem like you'll be seeing Divine Intervention becoming a format staple anytime soon. But, seeing what a mediocre enchantment like Field of Dreams has done in price in the past, it can't hurt to find a good condition copy or two of this as an investment. All you need is for the supply to dry up all of a sudden which with these very old cards can happen quite easily.

If anything, this is just a cool gem from early Magic. It's a cool one to have. In EDH, it's a great way to end a Commander game no one really wants to play anymore.

by Phoenix A. Desertsong, Staff Writer, Healer & Advocate

Khabal Ghoul is an interesting Zombie card from Arabian Nights called. This creature is an uncommon, but it's on the Reserve List, like many of the best Arabian Nights cards are. For 3 mana, 2 Colorless mana and 1 Black mana, you get a 1/1 Zombie. While that's not exciting, his ability is quite good. The Ghoul gets a +1/+1 counter at each end step for every creature that died that turn and wasn't regenerated. Potentially, this guy could get pretty darn big in a hurry.

Khabal Ghoul used to be a nice little card to put in your Zombie-based Commander deck or crazy rogue Legacy deck. He's also not bad in Old School Magic, a format where you can only play cards from 1993 or 1994. He's a fun turn one play if you cast Dark Ritual, which gives you three Black Mana. 

by Phoenix A. Desertsong, Staff Writer, Healer & Advocate

Elephant Graveyard is one of the more interesting land cards ever printed. Not only can you tap it for a colorless mana, but you can also tap it to regenerate an Elephant or Mammoth. It's funny to think about a deck now being built that revolves around Elephants and Mammoths. Yet, this card actually would make that combination a really fun deck.

An Elephant/Mammoth hybrid beat-down deck wouldn't be particularly competitive, but it would be fun. I wouldn't recommend investing in Elephant Graveyards for the purpose of building a casual deck around them, though. You're looking at over  $100 USD a piece for a decent condition copy. But, if you happen to stumble across a copy or two of these for a reasonably cheap price, it's not a bad idea to pick them up. After all, it's on the Reserve List, meaning it's not going to be reprinted in any future Magic release.

by Phoenix A. Desertsong, Staff Writer, Healer & Advocate

Ali from Cairo has a pretty silly ability. It's obvious why this card has stayed on Magic the Gathering's Reserve List - one of the cards that Wizards of the Coast has promised to never reprint. Basically, you can never lose the game as long as Ali is on the board (unless you lose by poison counters, of course.) Any damage that would reduce your life to 0 will still leave you with 1 life.

One important note: Any loss of life you would take outside of damage, such as the effect of the Extort mechanic, would still reduce your life to 0. So, it's still possible to lose with Ali on the board; it's just considerably more difficult.