I’m bored today, so I thought I’d do a follow-up on the post I did a couple weeks back about the value of certain Gatecrash cards. The financial landscape of Gatecrash has shifted in a few surprising ways (and several unsurprising ways as well).
Like the last article, I’ll start off talking about the Mythics.
Mythic
Only one Mythic has seen an increase in the last couple of weeks, and it’s a pretty surprising one: Master Biomancer. The Biomancer is a pretty damn good card, though so it might not be as surprising if it weren’t for the fact that Zegana, the Simic’s other Mythic, fell 3 bucks, from $15 to $12. Meanwhile, Biomancer rose by 3 bucks, going from $10 to $13. That seems a bit odd to me, but if either card was likely to see Standard play it’d probably be the Biomancer, simply because it’s a 4-mana bomb rather than a 6 drop.
What does this mean for EDH players? Probably not a whole lot. If you wanted one of these cards, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll want both. If that’s the case, the total price of both cards is unchanged. All in all, it’s not a very big impact for us. Zegana’s slight drop, though, indicates she might not be quite as popular in the EDH crowd as expected, but $12 is still a formidable price to command, so she’s obviously getting some attention.
The biggest drops in Mythic-land are a bit more eyebrow-raising. Aurelia’s Fury droped by 33% to settle at $20.00. I’d be surprised to see this drop much more. It seems like it has far too much potential to be written off at this point.
Duskmantle Seer and Gideon both saw their value cut in half. Seer went from $20 to $10, Gideon fell to $15 from the lofty $30 he commanded two weeks ago. I’m hardly surprised at either development, but I think the Seer is a big X-factor. No one really knows what to do with him yet. He might take time to catch on, like Sphinx’s Revelation did in the last set, or he might never make a dent in any competitive format. Neither Gideon nor the Seer are likely to be big hits with the EDH crowd either, so I still suggest trading these as soon as you open them, but if you wanted to hang onto them just to see if maybe they take off later, I wouldn’t fault you for it.
Most of the minor EDH-able Mythics have stayed put or dropped a little. Borborygmos went from $6 to $3, which is a big fat “Duh” because he’s not even that good in EDH. He’s an interesting General, but very niche. He's playable in a few decks, but not widely appealing.
Domri and Obzedat have stayed put at $25 each, which is a good sign. I still rank these as “keep one if you have a deck for it, trade the rest”. I dislike speculating on Planeswalkers, but Domri seems to have potential to climb higher, or at least hold onto his value.
Rare
Kicking off the Rare discussion, it’s impossible not to start with Boros Reckoner. What is it with this guy? He’s now $25.00 on starcitygames.com and most other places he’s sold out. That’s a $15.00 jump from two weeks ago – a 150% increase. (By the way, I have 2x of these guys for trade…) 25 bucks seems like the upper limit on this guy, folks. I can’t see him going higher, and holding this price can only last so long. It might take time for his heat to cool, but in the end, there’s only one way to go from here: down. If you aren’t a Standard player, trade these ASAP!
Other, more reasonable increases include Blind Obedience and Legion Loyalist. Both gained $2, with Blind Obedience weighing in at $7 and the goblin pulling a respectable $6. I think there’s more room for growth for both cards, but not a lot of room. Either could potentiall hit $10 at some point, but I don’t think it’s worth speculating on. The goblin is pretty worthless in EDH so he’s definitely a “trade” but the Obedience does have some potential in the format. I think I’ve managed to slot it into three of my EDH decks already. I’d hang onto one or two at the very least, but they may bring you more value as trade fodder.
Other rares have just had minor ups and downs, but a couple worth mentioning are Thespian’s Stage and Firemane Avenger. Firemane dropped from 6.00 to 4.00 which is exactly what I expected, given that she’s a precon rare. The slight increase two weeks ago struck me as odd, so this decline now makes a lot more sense. You also have to factor in that Boros Reckoner is basically hogging the entire Boros spotlight right now, so pretty much every Boros card that isn’t Reckoner is dropping.
Thespian’s Stage continues to slowly drop, and is now a $3.00 card, with the foil dropping to $12. This is prime real estate for EDH and this thing could still pull a Vesuva on us down the road. If you’re an avid EDH player, snatch these up now while they’re dirt cheap.
One last thing to note: Sylvan Primordial dropped from $3 to $2, but the foil version has remained unchanged at $10 – which lends credence to my assertion two weeks ago that you should be snatching up Primordials, especially the foils. They aren’t likely to ever appreciate in value while in-print, but in a couple years when Gatecrash is just a memory to most players, foil Primordials will likely still be in much demand with the EDH crowd. And obviously the green one is the surest bet. I wouldn’t shell out cash for these but I’d definetly trade for them pretty aggressively, and if I crack any I’ll be hanging onto them for a while.
Uncommon
At uncommon, Boros Charm still leads the pack by a mile, hanging in there at $13.00 for a foil. Foil Skullcrack comes in at #2 with a $6 price tag. Guildmages and Charms all clock in at $3 to $4 each. Other notables are: Burning Tree Emissary, Experiment One, Ghor-Clan Rampager, and Rapid Hybridization all at $4.00.
Recommendations
My Trade/Keep recommendations from two weeks ago remain largely unchanged, which makes me feel good about my picks. There are a few changes, though.
High Priest of Penance, Glaring Spotlight, and Spark Trooper all lost enough value that they’re not quite definite “Trades” anymore, so if you took my advice two weeks ago and offloaded them then, great call! If you still have any at this point, you might be stuck with them for a while. I do think I made the right call at the time, but at this point, I might just hang onto these.
As for the “keeps”, only Blind Obedience I’m not so sure about now. It was the right call then to keep, as the card has appreciated somewhat, but I’m not sure if it’s reached its ceiling yet or not. It’s also pretty playable in EDH, so that complicates matters. Basically, I have to hedge on this one. I wouldn’t be in any hurry to trade these off, but I also wouldn’t turn down a good trade offer either.
Enjoy!
