If you’ll recall, during spoiler season, many folks were very up about all of the hits the set seemed to have. People were really bullish on the set, and heading back to Innistrad helped buoy expectations of the cards.

We’ve also seen interesting price fluctuations. By now, cards have had enough time to settle. It’s not uncommon for cards to hit their highest price during the pre-release and the first couple of weeks, and then drop. On the other end, sleepers rise and break out. And then there are cards like Thing in the Ice, which was hitting very highly as a rare. Everyone was raving about it, and expecting it to be gangbusters all over. When it didn’t see the amount of play in every format folks were expecting, its price plummeted to single digits, but it’s still a pricey card which sees play. Cards like Olivia, Mobilized for War dropped when they didn’t find an obvious home in Standard.

Meanwhile, take banner card Archangel Avacyn. She’s gone through quite a range of prices in roughly two months (plus the spoiler season as well). Our good Archangel is bumping up and down the play tables. She’s also a casual night winner as well.

So based on all of that, where are we right now? Roughly two months post-release, what cards have impressed? Have there been some casual cards you might have steered clear of at first due to cost of entry, but have now dropped?

Take a card like Westvale Abbey. It broke out, it’s a major player, and it’s very pricey as a result. Its double digit price aren’t dropping any time soon. But I think we can grab Abbeys later for cheaper costs.

Jace, Unraveler of Secrets is the cheapest of the ‘walkers from SOI, but he’s a solid, mono-colored option capable of fitting into a lot of decks. The card drawing he does is better than Jace, Memory Adept since you Scry first. The bounce is better than the milling of the Adept as well. I think he’s the third best Jace printed, and arguably the second best at the multiplayer table (Where Jace, The Mind Sculptor isn’t as good and is overplayed because of how much of a reputation he has). Jace, the Living Guildpact isn’t as good; neither is Memory Adept or the Jace Beleren, and Jace, Vryn's Prodigy is hard to compare to the others. So, I’ve had good results with new Jace.

Want to build a Commander deck around The Gitrog Monster? I think there were always some fears it would break out in a constructed format, but that hasn’t happened, and it’s still a cheap acquisition. You can grab some extras and sit on them from here on out. Now, I would point out Sigarda, Heron's Grace is pretty cheap for your Commander, but she’s always been pretty budget minded. I’m sure most casual folks out there who wanted to build with her already did so, but she has some obvious build-around-me options for you to consider. So, including her just in case!

What about Startled Awake? Do you think it’ll head down in price? I’m hoping it does, but unlike other milling cards, it hasn’t dropped in value yet. That might be because it’s so flavorful, interesting, and different. I hope it’ll soon drop to mythic bulk, and then I can grab some, but it has a long way to drop before that happens. It’s currently at $5.

Prices aside, let’s divide up my early thoughts into three categories — cards that have done well, those I’m unsure about, and then those which have disappointed thus far. The Yeah, the Meh, and the Nah.

Yeah!

Dissension in the Ranks — I don’t know about you, but I’ve found Dissension in the Ranks has worked very nicely in my games since SOI hit the shelves. I came into SOI with a high regard for Dissension. Shoot, in my Top Ten Article about the best cards from the set, I named this the 5th best card from the set. If those aren’t high expectations, I don’t know what is! I tossed it into decks, into Cubes, into Commander decks, and more to give it a whirl. Want to know something? I called it. This is a very useful spell for decks that like to attack. Attack someone, and then either kill two blockers outright, or set yourself up with damaged blockers that you’ll finish off with combat damage. I just used Dissension to get someone’s Typhoid Rats to kill their biggest blocker, and vice versa. (You can use it on any blockers, not just during your turn, so I’ve played it on folks that are blocking another player who attacks them). This card has been a major player at the kitchen table from the first day.

Westvale Abbey — I was on sort of a “Wait and See” plan with this card. Cards doing well in Standard, Modern, or Legacy get played early and often in casual-land as well. People like to test them out, to see what they are made of, so I‘ve encountered a bunch of Abbeys. It’s been strong. Now I’ve not seen a lot of Ormendahl, Profane Prince — he doesn’t get summoned very often. Sad. And since he’s Black, you can’t run Abbey in non-Black Commander builds either. Double sad. But the Abbey has certainly done some strong things to folks from where I’m sitting, and has earned a good reputation.

Forgotten Creation — I was hoping the ability to discard/replace your hand for free during your upkeep would be nice. It’s been a good addition to the team. I’ve discarded a few hands here and there, and fueled some chicanery from the graveyard as well. From Madness enablers to reanimation prospects to control decks looking for the right control stuff, there’ve been a lot of decks that like it. Now, I’ve found the 3 power to be a bit too high for Skulk — it’s hard to find someone that can’t block your Zombie Horror. You really do need 0, 1, or 2 power for Skulk to be reliable. But as a card-quality engine, it’s very strong indeed.

Tireless Tracker — I have loved this card. It didn’t make my Top 10 or Top 20 list, but you know what? It’s been an awesome card for me in casual-land anyways. I missed on this one. This is my penance. It’s too bad it costs way too much money right now. I’m hoping that’ll change soon enough. It’s basically a Seer's Sundial on legs, on curve. It can swing for 3 damage (or sometimes 4, 5, 6, or more damage). And you don’t have to pay the 2 mana to draw a card now if you don’t want to. And it’s great by itself with the normal Green land-based stuff — you don’t need to run it with all of the Clue making madness.

Duskwatch Recruiter — Another major hit. Now this one was on my Top 20, but not higher. After playing with this uncommon, perhaps I was hasty to exclude it from the Top 10. Casual Magic doesn’t have a lot great early drops capable of competing with the later cards. Drop this 2/2 on turn 2 and then you get a presence. Invest 3 mana any time you want, and you can look at the top three cards of your library, reveal a creature, and put it into your hand — pure card drawing fun. Now the reason it didn’t make my Top 10 was because about half the time, it’s flipped over into Krallenhorde Howler. So you can’t draw creatures from it when it’s flipped. But after playing with it, let me tell you, you will draw a lot of creatures early and you get a 3/3 beater when it invariably flips. It’ll grab you a couple more cards if it ever flips back over, but while it’s flipped, it reduces the casting cost of your other creatures by one while swinging for damage. It’s just been a great card for Green decks that play creatures. Know of any?

Ulvenwald Hydra — We all knew it’d be a hit in casual-land. It has been. Nothing to see here. (Another card that hit as expected is Eerie Interlude)

Sin Prodder — It has played very well in multiplayer, as I expected (Although maybe not #1, maybe more like #4 or so), but it’s not done much elsewhere and it’s dropped in price. I could not recommend this card more. I went into SOI having huge expectations for it, and it’s played like it I thought it would. The combination of Menace and the roughly 40% chance you’ll have of getting a free card is worth the 3-mana investment so much. It’s one of my favorite 3-drops right now.

Haunted Cloak — Always watch out for quality, Haste-enabling equipment. It can do a lot for haste-light colors and builds. That’s why stuff like Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots have been so good. Shoot, I think Strider Harness is downright awesome too. And this has been very strong as well — you only need 1 mana to equip your recently played creature. Give it Haste to swing right now, Vigilance to keep it untapped to block later, and Trample to guarantee damage gets through. This combination of abilities is very strong. You can play a beater and smash face out of nowhere, without leaving yourself defenseless. You can give your dope-iest non-trample body a serious power conversion. So it’s good.

Geistblast — Love it. It’s basically a Flashback card which Shocks up front, and then Forks later. You get the Shock up front, earlier on when a Shock has some value. Then later you can Fork something big you played. I’ve already used it early on to slay some solid early drops, and then later to Fork something huge (in my case it was Recurring Insight which drew me 5 and 5 cards — 10 total on just the front end). It fits perfectly into U/R shells emphasizing sorceries and instants, as well as decks trying to drop cards into the graveyard from their library which can drop the Geistblast for flashing back later. It’s been a great tool thus far.

Wild-Field Scarecrow — In some decks, the Scarecrow is better than Burnished Hart, they want the harder-to-kill defender. In others, it’s the swing-able Hart they prefer. But having the redundancy is nice, no question, especially for Commander which thrives on redundancy. Another Hart is great, and this is a tool for lots of folks. Get your lands!

Fork in the Road — Speaking of lands, Fork in the Road is a very interesting variant on your typical Lay of the Land card. There are a lot more Green-centric ways to interact with lands in the graveyard than it may at first seem. Obvious cards include stuff like Titania, Protector of Argoth or Life from the Loam. Groundskeeper gets another run in the sun since it was newly reprinted in SOI as well. You can make your Terravore bigger. But what about Harvest Wurm? Due to its instant nature, Sudden Reclamation is a card I’ve seen work well, netting you two cards, one of which can be the land you Forked into the graveyard. Did you draw Fork in the Road later in the game? No worries! Just cast it, and then when you put that land into your graveyard, you can trigger Centaur Vinecrasher and bring it back to your hand for two Green mana.

Skeleton Key — I’ve used this quite a lot actually. I like how it only costs one to cast, so you can play it early, and then equip it on any old dork for just 2 mana. It’s so cheap, that the Skulk and Looter effect both work really well and you are often grabbing some quality card drawing while getting in the hits. It’s like an equipment of both halves of Looter il-Kor as long as you put in on something small.

Meh?

Confirm Suspicions — I went into SOI having a very high opinion of Confirm Suspicions. I named it the 7th best card in the set. So far? I haven’t seen it used much. I cast it once as a normal Counterspell and the game ended next turn. And that’s it. So the jury’s still out for me on this one.

Drownyard Temple — I’m surprised by how few Drownyard Temples I’ve actually seen in play so far, not even in decklists that would really benefit from them. So grab some, and put them into your decks forthwith!

Prized Amalgam — I’ve always had a soft spot for cards like Prized Amalgam and Marang River Prowler. I just haven’t found the right home yet. But it’ll happen!

To the Slaughter — I know a lot of folks were very high on this card. It wasn’t high on my list, (it was in a “Show Me” mode) but I’ve run it. I haven’t seen To the Slaughter have any value yet as Planeswalker removal. I’m hoping to! But not yet, so far it’s just been a 3 mana Diabolic Edict.

Open the Armory — There’s nothing wrong with Open the Armory, but have you found it to be a bit . . . overplayed right now? I have. People are running it over cards like Demonic Tutor in Orzhov or Esper equipment builds and over Fabricate in equipment heavy builds that have no auras. Folks, it’s a good tutor in the right deck, and good redundancy for some Commander builds, but it’s not that good. Come on now.

Avacyn's Judgment — “Meh,” perfectly sums up my views on this card so far. I put it into my Commander Cube, and I’m still hoping for something special. I wish Geistblast were just Red! I’d toss it in instead. (Red does have the duplicate-a-spell ability just like Blue does, it could have been just Red). Anyways, it’s been adequate at best, never great. I want it to pick up the pace, but who knows where we’ll be in a few weeks or months.

Pore Over the Pages — It’s been better than I expected, but not amazing. The whole, draw three and discard one ability is typically 3 mana (like Compulsive Research or Thirst for Knowledge). But this card doesn’t require any clunky discards in order to just be a three for one deal. But it costs two more mana, so that sucks, right? But then you untap two lands, so it’s really a 3-mana spell after it’s said and done, and you get the untap hijinks you can use for lands like Azorius Chancery or Temple of the False God. So it’s been fine as a tool thus far. Unspectacular, but fine.

Behind the Scenes — Because of its double color identity, Behind the Scenes hasn’t gotten the play I’m hoping for. But I’m still hoping for it!

Tooth Collector — I’m still waiting to see how it plays out before I decide if I’m moving one to my Vhati il-Dal Commander deck. I’m uncertain. (Play it, give a creature -1/-1, and then tap Vhati to kill that creature. Then get the upkeep plus Vhati engine going as well later on — that’s the dream).

Altered Ego – Too expensive. This Clone plus counter effect is just too pricey. Outside of a U/G shell that emphasizes +1/+1 counters with cards like Cytoplast Root-Kin or Doubling Season, it’s not that hot. Even in a ramp shell, I’ve found the numerous Hydras Green has to be better, cheaper, and stronger. Don’t forget you can just use this as a bare, but uncounterable, Clone for 4 mana, but there are still better choices that aren’t limited by the two colors here. It’s just been adequate so far, nothing special.

Nah

Tamiyo's Journal – I was really excited about the good Journal. You get a free Clue every upkeep to spend 2 mana to convert to a card, so it’s a cheaper version of Treasure Trove or Jayemdae Tome effects. If you collect a bunch, you can sacrifice them for a Demonic Tutor effect like Planar Portal. It’s a nice synergy. But after playing with and against it, it has been pretty weak. Outside of shells where the Clue tokens trigger various Artifact effects, the card is pretty light. For 5 mana, you can get some of the best card drawing in artifacts, and you can get Staff of Nin for one more. The card is limited to just one clue a turn, and the extra mana to use it is pretty egregious. And the Tutor effect is unlikely to make a major impact — it happens on your fourth turn after you play the Journal. Nah.

Angel of Deliverance – Angel of Deliverance looked like a potential winner. You get a flyer that can win the game as a 6/6 swinger. That’s good. Everyone wants to win the game. Plus, if you have Delirium, you can exile an opposing creature when you smash with the Angel, which is great hit-trigger. The Angel looks good on paper. But in play, I’ve been disappointed. The Delirium trigger is unreliable — sure, you might think late game when you play your 6/6 flyer that you have it, but there’s no guarantee, and I’ve seen Bojuka Bog clear out a graveyard to neuter this thing. Plus, the hit-trigger on the Angel can work well in decks with lots of little guys that smash for damage and include cards like Whispersilk Cloak or Rogue's Passage. But those decks don’t want to wait this long to have a normal attacker when they can get better bodies and more reliable triggers more cheaply. The Angel it outclassed at the 8-drop spot by a bunch of better, stronger, and more reliable White creature. It’s been a total disappointment thus far.

Clip Wings – I’m pretty much done with the Clip Wings experiment. With all of the flying creatures in multiplayer, especially in Commander, I thought that Clip Wings might be something. I’m regularly espousing and using cards like Return to the Earth to good effect. Targeted flying removal is great. But the likelihood that multiple people have enough flyers to make this a mass edict version of flying removal isn’t realistic. I’d rather target and kill something like Consecrated Sphinx or Akroma, Angel of Wrath than edict away their Vampire Nighthawk. There’s just not enough to make this worth the effort.

Avacynian Missionaries – When I saw this card spoiled, I was so impressed I made changes to my Commander Cube to get ready for its addition. I was looking to extend my equipment adoration, and I was smitten with the card. Then I got to play it and wow. It sucks. (Well, I mean hey, no Magic card truly sucks, but it’s a lightweight.) You have to set up the equipment to get it to flip, and then if you steal something good your Lunarch Inquisitors will die in a flash. If not, it didn’t have any major impact on the board. Frankly, I think we could have removed the “until…leaves the battlefield” clause, and it’d be good in multiplayer, but not amazing. As is? Too many hoops, not enough fire.

And there you have it! Hits, misses, and cards that are in between. So where are you with your Shadows experiences? What are your success stories? What has let you down?

Get your Innistrad on!