Set Review: FTV Realms

Today we awaken to find the entire contents of From the Vault: Realms spoiled. Or, perhaps we stayed up late to see it spoiled last night, before going to bed.  ;)

Either way, we've got a lot to talk about, and I'm excited to get into it, so let's cut the chatter and see some cards! Ladies and Gentlemen, I bring you:

From the Vault: Realms

Ugly packaging. It's what's inside that counts, though, right?

 Kicking things off in a big way, we have a reprint of a fairly obscure classic. Ancient Tomb was a tournament-caliber card back in it's day, and is probably just flat-out too powerful to print by today's standards. It's inclusion here is very appreciated. While it's not a card everyone is going to want to play, there will be enough interest around this one, so that if you find yourself not terribly interested, it should be quite valuable as trade fodder. Either way it's likely to be worth some coin, and it's hard to complain about getting valuable stuff.

This is another fine inclusion. Even if this card doesn't particularly appeal to you, or you just don't have a deck that needs it, it's quite popular in some EDH groups, so the interest in this card will likely make it valueable as trade fodder, if you are looking to offload it for something you can use.

Personally, I am in the camp that doesn't need this - we discourage countermagic in my EDH group (though it does show up in small doses), so I'm not too worried about protecting my spells. That said, I can't complain about the inclusion because I know this is gonna be easy to trade off.

 Meh. This is a card aimed very squarely at Spike players. It was a powerful tournament card when it was in Standard, and later provided Dredge decks with yet another broken-as-hell tool to use. It's a key card in Magic's history and a significant roleplayer in the past. I just don't think it is relevant enough anymore to be particularly valuable as trade fodder, and it's certainly not a card 99.9% of EDH players will want anything to do with. This is a card aimed very squarely at Spike players.

Here we have the unwanted step child of the set. Every FTV set has that one card that is virtually a blank slot. This is it. Desert does have its fans, I will admit. But this is utterly useless in EDH, and it's going to be worthless as trade fodder. Good luck getting value out of this.















And, here's the card that most of use will never have a reason to play with, yet we'll be happy to have it anyway, because it's cool, unique and SEXY AS HELL. Whether this ends up being a $1.00 card or a $20.00 card, I'll never have occasion to complain - if it sits uselessly in my binder forever, at least it'll be sexy while doing so!

Fine. I'd so much rather have had Reflecting Pool or City of Brass in this slot. But this is still an acceptable inclusion. I don't think I'll have much use for it, but it might be okay as trade fodder. The new art is pretty damn great, though. Really good job on that aspect. Zedruu players, at least, will love this!















Ugh. I guess some people will enjoy this. It's a rare, old card that's fairly hard to come by, and it's pretty unique. I can see why the put this in, but I really would rather have had almost any other land in the history of Magic than this. I can only hope that this has some value as trade fodder, but I'd be surprised...

Now we're doing a bit better. This is a highly playable card, and it has DROP DEAD AMAZING new art. Defintely a worthy inclusion.

Words cannot express. If you're and EDH die hard, you cannot have too many High Markets in your arsenal.  This is a five-star, outta-the-park homerun. Easily one of the most universally exciting cards in the box, especially for the EDH crowd.

Remember what I just said about High Market? Well, take that and multiply it by 100. This is just absolutely jaw-dropping. This card only existed in foil as a Judge Promo, which is currently going for around $100. Wow. Just... wow. This is the card that's gonna seriously move some units.

Cool. Can't get too excited about this, but it IS a card I have in my Big Highlander, and it's currently not foiled, so... I can't complain either. It's a cool inclusion, because this is, for now, the only tri-color land for a "Wedge", giving it a unique property that nicely justifies it being in the box.

Another stinker along the lines of Desert, but that's okay because FTV sets always have a few turds. Honesly, though, this CAN be playable in the right situation. I've seen it do good things in casual Multiplayer. Kind of disappointing that it has new art, though, simply because the new art is just as boring and bland as the original art. Oh well.

Yet another jaw-dropping inclusion. This card pretty much defines the term "EDH Staple" along with High Market and Maze of Ith. It is extremely expensive to acquire in foil, so this is sheer value. Another five-star homerun!

Holy freaking crap. Yet another card that is nearly universally played in EDH. And, like Urborg and High Market, has seen it's foils skyrocket in price to absurd heights since the format blew up. Phenomenal.

WASTELA... oh. Nevermind. This isn't horrible - it does see a fair amount of play in EDH and 60-card casual, but it is also fairly narrow in its usefulness, meaning you'll either love this, or have zero use for it. A bit disappointing in and of itself, but with all the ridiculously amazing things in the box, I can't feel too bad about this being here.
















So, there you have it, folks. FTV: Realms in all it's splendor. And let me just state for the record, in no uncertain terms:

THIS IS THE BEST FTV SET TO DATE.

Mark my words, this is going to be worth a fourtune, and many of the cards in here will likely be pure platinum a year or so from now. Okay, not Desert or Shivan Gorge. But yeah, grab one of these if you can. Even better, grab TWO and put one away for a long time. Gold, man. Solid f***ing gold.

Enjoy.