Random, worthless rare analysis for fun, not accounting for any new art demand! I used the lowest price range I could get a full playset of NM/LP at. Some cards are already being re-listed by vendors at a significant discount off their 'original' value- mostly cards that were only valuable for their age/scarcity (gamble, tutors, regal force)
Pretty even split. Shame about the bulk- personally I don't find any of those cards that compelling but I understand that balance has always been a 'powered' classic and that sphinx is "the" reanimation card of the set. (Not sure why they put the worldgorger combo in- it forces draws, right?)
-Cardname: it's borderline the next step down
+Cardname: it's borderline the next step up
Exact # right now (corrected # with borderline cards that will lose the last fifty cents or so after release)
So 7 of 53 rares will net value over the pack's MSRP, 11 of the remaining 46 will get you there with a valuable uncommon or two, and the rest are pretty much a 'loss.' I'm interested in seeing how much this actually promotes legacy play, or if it will just tank hard-to-get cards' prices? Either way, foils of a lot of these cards are going to be infinite!
Favorite new arts for me:
Draft archetypes look real strange... it sorta looks like a weird cube with "also these random legacy cards" thrown in there.
A good analysis! I think its hard pressed for me to want to open this set just for opening it. They tried hard enough to make it a worthwhile set to draft, drafting it definitely seems the best way to open EMA and generate value. Largely also because the 10 dollar MSRP already isn't holding up well, so that tanks that curve even more.....
Worldgorger combo isn't infinite if you have another creature in your GY.
If it does promote Legacy, reserved list cards will self-regulate the market somewhat. Looking at you Dual Lands....
I've been following this set from a Pauper standpoint, as these sorts of products generally make a dint in it somehow.
The best part was how many cards they reprinted that had high prices.
The following were all way more than they should have been:
And they have all since come crashing down (I offloaded my own Ancestral Masks a week prior, phew). Daze especially was needed as it was 20tix! online and is now sitting at 6tix. The only problem with this is the fact that Delver may become even more of a menace. At least they gave us Pyroblast to combat it.
That isn't all though, as they have downshifted some random cards for us to experiment with:
But the biggest card that is now a common:
This card singlehandedly resurrects familiar combo back from the depths of hell to rain pain against us all over again.
I personally look forward to this wild west of pauper for the next month or so. Until all I see is familiar combo then I might give it a break for a while
There's also been a ton of neat rarity downshifts to common on some cards. Peregrine drake could be used in a deck similar to the old cloud of fairies combo.
I did have it in my pauper cube for a while, it was pretty meh in that environment. It was slightly annoying, but not enough to make it a decent pick. I believe I cut it before I changed the cube to peasant. It is hard when it is competing with cards in the 4-drop slot like:
Grillo and Safra nailed on the head that Standard Bearer is the pauper equivalent of choice just due to coming down earlier. I throw them in nearly every white decks Sideboard (along with Prismatic Strands as it makes your stompy matchup improve 30% with a single card). I mean there are some niches where the Honor Guard is better (when you are playing against red and they aren't going to be playing Flame Slash or Galvanic Blast) but they are few and far between. They really should have reprinted Standard Bearer instead due to it being 3+ tix online for a common :\
I've been practicing a few (*cough* lot *cough*) of games against our artificial overlords, and I'm surprised that some of the cards I thought were chaff are in reality much better than I thought. I've had so much fun with this build for example!
Hey guys, I went to a midnight EMA release with a couple of friends b/c it was only $30 for the draft, ended up drafting a pretty sweet RG Aggro deck:
RG Aggro
So incredibly aggro, I came out blazing in so many games and Keldon Champion just gave the extra reach to close it out a handful of times. The sweetest game I had was in round 1 where my opponent spent a few turns gumming up the board and then swinging with the whole team at me with that mini overrun centaur trying to hit me for like 22 trample damage. I blocked in such a way to live at one live and was looking for 2 more damage off the top to crackback for lethal. Ended up drawing my Sylvan Might and I was able to hit him back with an Elephant Guide'd Kird Ape, Wirewood Symbiote, hasty Flinthoof Boar from my hand, and the two Sylvan Might for pumping through exactly lethal at 13 damage.
I had two games where I literally just kept buying back Bloodbraid Elf with the Wirewood Symbiote, it was actually just disgusting. Another game I ended up having the nut elf draw with Llanowar Elves --> Timberwatch Elf --> Bloodbraid --> Guide + Rancor on Bloodbraid to just wreck my opponent. This deck honestly felt more like playing cube than your typical draft format, had a blast. Ended up going 2-0 with a split in the last round for an EMA pack, pulled a Baleful Strix so I guess it wasn't totally a lost evening.
I also managed to get a draft in. I didn't get anything valuable (my luck is terrible), unless a foil Daze is worth anything...
Anyway, my draft was a trainwreck, I was too busy value hunting and not sticking to a cohesive gameplan. I had a pile of esper cards but wasn't game enough to run three colours, and this is what I ended up with:
Feed the Wonder
Deck didn't do as badly as I thought it would. It would keep on the pressure early and have the 5-drop enchantments help me grind out in the end. Wonder + Carrion Feeder was nuts and was pretty much the only way I won games. Well, that and Blood Artist. Card is nuts.
Best match was against the second opponent where I ran out of gas as he had used 3 mass removal spells (Nevi's Disk, Toxic Deluge, Siege-Gang Commander) and he was at only one life. I keep hitting lands until I hit the Blood Artist and he just sits and stares and goes, yeah, I can't beat that.
Ended up going 2-0, which was surprising.
I'm very keen to give this a couple of phantom drafts on MTGO, where I can play some real matches and not have to lose a kidney to have the privilege to do so.
Pre-EMA it was about 100-120 USD, no idea about this one but you can get 65 bucks for it on Pucatrade super easy, and probably more trading in person. Sleeve it ASAP or a douchebag will try to nickel and dime you on wear.
Pre-EMA it was about 100-120 USD, no idea about this one but you can get 65 bucks for it on Pucatrade super easy, and probably more trading in person. Sleeve it ASAP or a douchebag will try to nickel and dime you on wear.
Yeah, I only noticed this about 5 hours before your post on Pucatrade. Although the only person who wants one is in Brazil and it will cost me ~$25 to send it with tracking (my postal service is trash) so it really isn't worth the shift on there. Unless there is someone who doesn't want tracking (just registered) which only costs about ~$10.
I don't think it left the spare sleeve I had it in for draft.
It is nice to know that I actually got some value after all
My buddy drafted me a Force of will and chrome mox to get my entry back. He got 3rd, won me a Foil Dack Fayden, and for some reason assumes he gets to keep if. WTF?