Continuing on from last time, here’s the rest of Rise of the Eldrazi!
I hear the trumpeting of war elephants, but Call of the Herd this is not. It is likely to be a junk rare for the duration of its time in Constructed, but it’s a hell of a card in Draft. I can’t see not first-picking it.
Keening Stone
Make it stop! Make it stop! I’ve seen a fair share of drafts won with this bulk rare, but I’m not convinced it’s a high pick. Feel free to grab it if it’s going mid to late, as it usually only takes 1 or 2 activations to kill someone with this. It has some casual appeal, but not much.
I really want to like this card in Constructed, but I have no idea what deck other than perhaps Eldrazi Green would run it. An 8/8 trampler is nothing to sneeze at, but then again, almost every piece of removal in the format kills it easily. Perhaps it will have more value when there isn’t quite so much efficient removal around, but for now, it’s correctly priced at $2.
If you can snag her mid to late in a draft, she’s ridiculous. You could theoretically firstpick her and build around her, and cantripping Guard Duty, Narcolepsy, and the Umbras will surely win you a game. She’s a dollar rare, since she has some casual appeal. Luckily for me, I audibled out of UW Enchantress for GP DC this weekend!
He pre-sold for $30 and now he’s a $4 Mythic on MTGO. He’s heinously cheap right now online, and as such, I’d like to score a few cheapo copies. As far as legitimately casting Eldrazi, he’s the one for Constructed. He won’t be too good in ALA/ZEN Standard, but he’ll probably see a bit of play in ZEN/Scars Standard. I’m buying, but not too aggressively.
Lighthouse Chronologist
$2 is fine for a casual-appeal Mythic. He’s a good body in Limited, and his ability will win the game outright.
I think this one’s a double stinker. I never play it in Draft, but some decks might like it in the ‘board. I’d be happy to take a late pick Field, but I’m not too happy with it on the whole. It’s pretty awful in Constructed.
This card has been the breakout of Grand Prix: DC. Naya and Mythic are both running it as anti-Sparkmage tech, and it has been seen shutting off other assorted good creatures, too. At $4 or thereabouts, it still has a lot of room to grow. Buy.
Lord of Shatterskull Pass
If you draw one in Limited, you’re probably not losing. If you draw one in Constructed, you’re probably not winning.
See Lord of Shatterskull Pass. Arc Slogger, he is not. I passed one in Draft once and then died to it. Never doing that again.
At $1 or less, This card is surely underpriced. It hasn’t got a home yet, but it will find one. It’s too good not to. I’m happy to buy them at whatever pittance the dealers want for them right now, since once Scars pushes Cascade decks out of the format, this card has time to get a lot better. In Limited, I have not played it enough to know, but it has been good for me. Others do not care for it, so play with it and decidef or yourself.
I hear the card may see play in Block, which can sometimes be a good predictor of Standard. They’re at bulk rare rates, and not high draft picks, so you could do worse with $2 than to snag a stack of this disgusting little bug.
Another underpriced bomb, Channelers are great in Limited. Once again, they are precluded from play in Standard and other formats by the ubiquity of simply better cards. Another one to keep an eye on for post-rotation, this card is a total powerhouse.
Near-Death Experience
I think LSV’s pun about an “actual death experience” said more than I ever could about why this card sucks. It’s pretty bad in everything but Casual decks.
I had the pleasure and honor of previewing this card on Quiet Speculation, and I love it. It’s not found a home in Constructed yet, but I feel like its a matter of time until it does. At $1, it is not exactly cheap, but a $4 playset of a Mythic that could have tremendous utility is a bargain in my book. It’s totally bonkers in Limited, obviously.
This is a card I wanted to like in Constructed, but everything’s wrong with it. It’s a real house in the right Draft deck, but some decks just cannot run it profitably. Sadly, those decks are often not White. If you can make it work, do so, but don’t mess up your deck too badly.
Pestilence Demon
Great flavor on this Limited bomb, but he’s seeing zero non-Limited play. Sorry, Demon Fans.
Life is not so good on this cloud. It has a knack for making people declare awful attacks, which in turn makes this card some kind of removal. Unless someone goes nuts and builds a Wall Deck in Standard, bulk is about right for the wall.
Realms Uncharted
I can’t believe this card is so cheap, so I’m going to tell you to buy it at the bulk rate. The odds are good that SOMEONE will find a use for it, and you’ll be happy you did. It’s godawful in 95% of draft decks. If you have the 5% where it’s even remotely playable, you’ll know immediately.
I’ve never wanted to pick this over removal, and it never seems to come back to me. I cannot see playing it outside EDH, so it’s a bulk rare until someone can convince me otherwise.
Too much has to go right to draft this moron. Yes, someone you know will copy an Emrakul and blow you out, but that never actually happens in real games. Total junk.
I literally proxied on two of these last night. They were from someone else’s draft. That should tell you about what you need to know.
He’s insane. Not like crazy, but the card itself is absurdly powerful. Playing 3 in Jund this weekend, I get to really abuse the huge variety of options he gives me. I think he’s worth a fair sight more than $8, and I expect to see a lot of him in Day 2 of this Grand Prix. Buy, and obviously a 1st pick slam in Limited.
I have nothing creative to say about this card. It is just awful. For 10 mana, you should do a lot more than make a bunch of guys who only exist to make you more mana. The only deck this will work in is the R/G/B decks that have Broodwardens and tons of mana ramp. There, it can be scary, but don’t be first picking it and hoping to get the Broodwarden deck.
Limited Bomb, Constructed mediocrity. Bulk.
I’ve seen this card go totally bonkers in R/U Kiln Fiend type decks, but most decks cannot pull it off. Like most cards in that archetype, it will come to you very late, so try to table it whenever possible. I cannot see it in Constructed competitive play, but EDHers might enjoy it. It’s still a bulk rare.
For some reason, people like this card. It’s not too exciting, but it might have some legs. Probably still just a bulk bin rare.
Mono-White is about the only deck that will be using this, since it seems a touch slow for Bushwhacker. It’s only $2 or less on MTGO, which could represent a good value if and only if it has a home. Otherwise, it’ll remain around $2.
See Sphinx-Bone Wand. I’ve seen this combo with Distortion Strike to absolutely wreck people. I may or may not have been one of the people getting wrecked. It will see absolutely no constructed play whatsoever and remain a crap rare.
I can’t see this ever being used anywhere except EDH. Blech.
I wanted to try this guy in Limited but the prospect of discarding my hand scares me. I ended up cutting him the time i drafted him, but he might be good. I don’t know what Standard decks would use him, but it seems like a powerful effect. It’s most likely still a bulk rare.
This is one of those cards that has a ton of uses across the board, but none that seem to apply to Tier 1 Tournament play. In the UW or UB Levellers deck in Limited, the card is totally unfair, so if you don’t take it highly, someone else will and they will force your out of your archetype eventually. I’ll give it a hair above bulk rates, but not by much.
I bet Patrick Chapin a beer that this card would be very expensive on paper. Looks like I’m going to owe the Innovator a beer. No decks that could consider playing this bomb exist in the current metagame, so he’s going to hang out around $3-5 until a deck decides it has room for such a card. Obviously a Limited bomb, no discussion required.
I thought this guy was good, but he’s not really on the same level as some of the other cards that Red decks have access to. He’s priced at bulk right now, and his potential use in the future means that 2 cheap play sets are a good value play. In Limited he can be very scary, but I haven’t played him enough to form an opinion. A 5/5 is pretty big, but if they’re not attacking he’s an utter waste of a card. Good thing they’ll probably be attacking.
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
He’s only 4 bucks because he’s an Eldrazi. He’s probably not playable in most decks, so at $4 he shall stay. Seems good, and possibly castable in Limited, but not quite as devastating as Kozilek.
The only auras you really want to play have Totem Armor anyway. Why does this card exist, and why can’t she be a 1W or WW 2/2? Bulk.
These shot up to $26 already, and they’re probably going to go higher. Most decks that can run this card probably should. It’s quite, quite good. You don’t even need to rebuy him to make him good. A 1st pick slam, if only for the value, he’s pretty solid in Draft too. He’s got more room to grow – $30+ isn’t out of the question.
Relentless Assault effects are tough to gauge in Limited, but a rebounding one can cause a lot of bad beats. I can’t see Standard decks running this, but stranger things have happened. Regardless, it’s probably not a great 1st pick rare, and has almost no chance to see more than bulk price.
Wrap Up
Overall, Rise of the Eldrazi is a wonderful set for Limited, but its value is pretty low on the whole. Outside of Gideon and Vengevine, the majority of the cards in the set are dirt cheap. That’s great for Standard players (if you’ve got your Vines or Gideons…), and awful for drafters. Luckily, the format is tons of fun to play, and besides, if you’re drafting on MTGO purely for EV, you’re in the wrong game.
Have fun!
Kelly Reid
I agree with just about all your predictions and speculations. Especially Sarkhan the Mad as I’ve said before on the Creepcast. I think your completely right about Momentous Fall and Mul Daya Channelers becoming more relevant post rotation – but i could see Vengevine becoming less, as it will lose BBE and Ranger (then again Skyfisher and Seagate Oracle help).
Interesting stuff – love your opinions as always and CONGRATS on making day 2!!!
Rather than keep repeating yourself and struggling to find clever things to say, you should just make a list of the obvious bulk rares and say “here are bulk rares, I don’t need to explain why”.
While I’m at it, you REALLY shoudn’t use the “$” symbol when talking about tickets. It’s horribly confusing. I spent half the article thinking, “Where is this lunatic getting his prices from?” until I realized you mean Nirkana Revenant was 1 ticket and not 1 dollar.
Incidentally, I don’t think I’ve ever lost a draft in which I had Magmaw. The card is unreal.
Thought Gorger was really good when I played with him (3-0′d that draft), but narcolepsy is really awkward. The thing is in a tempo-based B/x deck you will often draw a ton of extra lands and you can just pitch those to get a large creature with evasion. What’s more is B also has cadaver imp so you’re going to get extra value out of the card. It can also turn on Surreal Memoir or Mnemonic wall on splashes, although those cards usually don’t need help.
Splinter Twin + Mnemonic Wall is almost unbeatable. I can see it being pretty good with Emrakul’s hatcher too, if your deck has something to do with the tokens .
Recurring insight is probably better than you’re giving it credit for. U/G I think can make good use of it, slam one down on T4 with some sick acceleration and overwhelm your opponents. It’s not easy to use but that’s why it’s not a common.
Side note on Renegade doppelganger: maybe copy an opponent’s Emrakul to kill it. It’s Legendary…
Afaik the best copy target is Dormant Gomazoa, but that means you’re playing Dormant Gomazoa…
MH seems a little unnecessarily anal. Sure, valid criticism, but not the most polite way of delivering it.
I really appreciate your write-ups and insight. Thank you!
I snagged a playset of Linvala on mtgo before her price went up.
The price didn’t go up that high, at least not yet. It seems to have leveled off after the initial rush to buy them.
All the people who overhyped Momentous Fall are certainly eating their words now I bet. Yes, it is a fine card, but people were hyping to hilarious heights.
I have been playing Tutuk the Explorer in my red/black vampire deck and it is load’s of fun, combo this with Pawn of Ulamog and you have all kinds of fun.
Zoness keep in mind that doppleganger only copies creautrs that come into play on your side so what you suggest doesnt works else that’d be a neat idea
A few things. First off, could you provide a link to part one? I can’t find it and was wanting to reread it alongside part 2.
Secondly, I have a slightly higher opinion of Tajuru Preserver. Sure, Vampires is an underdog at the moment so Gatekeeper isn’t such a constant worry, but at my local FNM there are tons of Vampires decks still, and a turn 2 Preserver sometimes throws all their plans out of joint. Now they have to burn a Smother on it, taking a tempo hit on the 1 mana they can’t find a way to spend, and by the time their Gatekeeper comes down my Treespeaker has cranked out 2-3 more guys and it’s too late for Gatekeeper to stall me out the way it likes to.
It’s also rather a sick card to stick against creatures with Annihilator. Depending on the presence of “make Eldrazi and smash” decks and Vampires in your meta, I can see boarding some Preservers when running Elves.
I also strongly agree with you about Momentous Fall. This is a card that screams “combo engine” to me. It’s a bit expensive mana-wise but this is the sort of thing that you would expect to see in some sort of “dig through your own library for a certain card and then win” combo deck. Cards like this kickstart the combo engine when it has sputtered out. It all depends on what returns in Scars. If we see a return of Modular this card could skyrocket.
(but all the same, I’m praying to all that’s holy that Modular is never reprinted.)
As for Realms Uncharted: I am grabbing every copy I can find, along with stockpiling Tectonic Edges (I’m up to about 30). Why? It came to me in a dream: I think Crucible is coming back in Scars. It fits the theme and concept, and it breaks the HELL out of Landfall. It would be a perfect fit, probably as a Mythic in Scars. Who agrees / disagrees with my guess?
The first part can be found here:
http://www.mtgoacademy.com/quiet-speculation-rise-of-the-eldrazi-prerelease-pricing-pt-1/
Btw, Virulent swipe + magmaw is not pleasant to face.