The Amonkhet Pre-release is this weekend and I’m sure you’re all excited to play; but, you always have that lingering question: What do I do with what I open? I’m going to take you through some of the cards I think are easy sells or trades, which ones you should hold, and which ones are great to trade for this weekend!

Sell sell sell!

Almost every set these days has a few overpriced cards that can’t possibly maintain the value that they’re at now. Sometimes they do go up a little bit more but the chance that they do is so low that 99 times out of 100 you’re better off getting rid of them.

While I know how exciting it is to open a Planeswalker at the Pre-release you should probably look to ship it to any impatient soul you can. Almost every Planeswalker these days comes with a “tax” which affects it’s pre-order pricing. Gideon, Liliana, and Nissa are unlikely to ever be higher than their starting price tag. Don’t believe me? Let’s look at the last block’s Planeswalkers. Tezzeret the Schemer pre-ordered for $15 and is now $5. Ajani Unyielding pre-ordered for $19 and is now $4. Chandra, Torch of Defiance pre-ordered for $60 and is now only $20. Saheeli Rai pre-ordered for $30, fell to $5, before spiking to $25 (with the release of Felidar Guardian), and is back to $9. Dovin Baan pre-ordered for $23 and is now $3. Finally, Nissa, Vital Force started at $27 before plummeting to $4. These Planeswalkers aren’t even that old! They’re all 3 or 6 months after their release date. I am fairly confident that Gideon won’t be $35, Nissa won’t be $25, and Liliana won’t be $20 a few weeks after their release.

These three cards I also think are pretty over hyped and won’t perform well enough out of the gates to maintain their price tags. Harsh Mentor is a great card but it’s analogous to Eidolon of the Great Revel, which, despite being printed a few years ago, is only $12. There is no proof yet that Harsh Mentor will even perform as well as Eidolon and even if it does, it’s unlikely to spawn a huge amount of new demand. This card isn’t going to make waves in Standard yet and that’s where most of the demand for singles comes from. I’m going to guess you’ll likely to get it for $3-4 in a month if it doesn’t see extensive Standard play. Rhonas has a bit higher of a price tag compared to the other gods, probably due to it being the most likely to be played in Standard. At the moment, I don’t think there is enough reason and there won’t be enough demand to keep him over $10. Saheeli isn’t even $10 despite being a 4-of in a very popular deck in Standard. As Foretold has a lot of people excited about cheating out suspend cards faster but unless a deck materializes for it in Standard it will likely be relegated to near bulk mythic status soon.

Hold

I think a lot of people are really underestimating how good the aftermath cards are due to their confusing looking design. I think Dusk will be a lot closer to Wrath of God than people are expecting, and Dawn will be able to re-buy a ton of little value guys for a lot of decks. Cut // Ribbons is a role-player card that will likely see a bit of play even if you can’t cast Ribbons. Four damage to a creature for 2 mana is a pretty reasonable rate even if it is sorcery. I think vehicles won’t be nearly as ubiquitous as they are now due to the new artifact removal spells in the set which helps Cut’s case. Never // Return can be compared a lot to Ruinous Path but the fact that you can mill the card and it still has value as well as being able to split the cost over 2 turns means I think it will see a lot more play than Ruinous Path did. It may never get above $1-$2 but you will be happy to own them and save yourself a few bucks.

Buy!

Channeler Initiate is a great card that I’m really surprised is only $2 at the moment. It does a great Servant of the Conduit impression until you’re not able to use it for mana anymore and then it has a beastly body! It is also sweet because it combos with Rishkar, Peema Renegade despite not having +1/+1 counters. You can save some -1/-1 counters if you only need Green mana with Rishkar.

Glorybringer might not be on the same power level as Stormbreath Dragon or Thundermaw Hellkite but it may not need to be. It’s capable of easily killing most of the creatures and Planeswalkers in Standard with ease. It’s an especially potent answer to Gideon, Ally of Zendikar which has held back a lot of decks in Standard. You might also see this guy paired with Arlinn Kord to give him vigilance and be able to exert every turn! At only $2.00 right now I could he could see a big spike over the weekend once we know if there are any bans in Standard.

Final Thoughts

Maybe not as many cards will make a splash in this set since it was designed when Battle for Zendikar and Oath of the Gatewatch would be leaving Standard but I think it will still freshen it up and there are plenty of great games ahead of us! Have fun at your Pre-release this weekend and I hope you open some great cards!