Last week I talked about the Guild Kits and how they are a pretty reasonable balance of reprints and new cards that make them pretty solid value if you want the cards inside. This time I want to take a look at some cards I hope are included in the next set of Guild Kits. It's gonna be like a little mini-"Don't Forget Me". I'm going to focus on the cards with the guild colors, guild mechanics, and guild symbol watermarks over everything else. This article got pretty long as I was writing it so this week I'm going to go through Azorius, Rakdos, and Orzhov and next time I'll do Gruul and Simic.
Azorius
Azorius was first in the Dissension set, which was the third in the original Ravnica block. It was in the first set of the 2ndRavnica block, Return to Ravnica. While guilds that have been later in a block have generally had more expensive (and rarer) cards, Azorius has had good mix thus far. From Dissension the standout card to me is Grand Arbiter Augustin IV. It's one of the most taxing (pun intended) Azorius colored Commanders and has only been reprinted once in Modern Masters. At about $9 it is the most expensive Azorius card they could reprint. Given that pretty much every other deck included every guild specific legendary creature, I would say this is a pretty easy include in the Azorius Guild Kit. The pickings in Dissension after that are pretty slim. The Azorius guild keyword was Forecast and it's not particularly good. The best card with it is probably Proclamation of Rebirth and that isn't a terribly exciting card. Each deck thus far has had at least one card with each keyword and my guess is the forecast card will be Proclamation of Rebirth, Pride of the Clouds, or Sky Hussar. None of these are very exciting but the first two are worth a few dollars based on rarity alone. The last card they could include is Dovescape. It's another weird Azorius lock piece enchantment but makes for some bad gameplay. It's never been reprinted and a guild kit would be the most reasonable place to put it. That being said, I wouldn't get my hopes up. Return to Ravnica also doesn't have a large number of exciting Azorius cards. Sphinx's Revelation and Supreme Verdict are the most iconic from this set but were recently reprinted in Modern Masters 2017 and Iconic Masters. They're great cards and will be exciting to see reprinted but they don't add much value to the box. The rest of the legendary creatures are also not terribly exciting. Neither Isperia nor Lavinia are expensive or interesting but will probably be included. Without any other really valuable commons or uncommons to round out the deck, I expect this to be one of the least desirable Guild Kits.
Rakdos
Rakdos mimics Azorius pretty closely. It was also first in Dissension and then reappeared in Return to Ravnica. The major difference is that its cards are much more desirable. Rakdos's first guild mechanic was hellbent. This guild kit would be a perfect opportunity to reprint the most iconic hellbent card, Infernal Tutor. It's the most expensive non-land card in Dissenssion and would add a similar amount to the deck as Privileged Position. At $18 it will be one of the most expensive reprints and a welcome one. Rain of Gore is probably the only other interesting card to mention from Dissension. It's a pretty unique effect and has a retail price of about $4 which makes it a nice complement to the deck without causing it to become bought out. In Return to Ravnica there are a few less hits. Dreadbore is the most expensive and most impactful Rakdos card in the set. Nothing comes close. It's also $4 so it would be go a long way to help round out a deck that will likely be filled with a lot of bulk rares at this point. I expect Rakdos's Return to be included but it's only $1. Rakdos, Lord of Riots should be included (over Rakdos the Defiler) because it is just a more playable card. I'm not sure any Unleash card will be included other than Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch. The last card I expect to see is from Dragon's Maze. This will probably be only one of two times I mention cards from that set because it is pretty bad. Master of Cruelties has a very unique effect and hasn't been reprinted meaning it costs about $8 now. The combination of Master of Cruelties and Infernal Tutor could keep the Guild Kit out of the bargain bin.
Orzhov
Orzhov is a little different than the past two guilds. Here is a guild that was in the 2nd of 3 sets and 2nd of two sets. Generally being later has an adverse effect on the card prices. Let's start with some Guildpact standouts. Debtors' Knell is the first card that comes to mind when a lot of people think of Orzhov. It's a casual $9 right now and is the kind of card that could actually get more expensive when people see it. The effect is slow and expensive but it is exactly what a lot of non-competitive players crave. I think not including Debtors' Knell would be a huge mistake. Since every deck needs to include some cards with every keyword, this would also be a great place to get the Orzhov Pontiff reprint out of the way. Haunt is a mechanic that confuses a lot of people so it hasn't been seen since it's appearance in Guildpact. Orzhov Pontiff is a $6 card that is played in small numbers in Modern because has the tremendous upside of costing three mana and being a human. At some point in time its price will get out of control, so now is a good time to put in some preventative measures. Teysa, Orzhov Scion is a little more expensive at $3 than the newer Teysa, so I expect it to get the nod. The last impactful card they could include from Guildpact is Angel of Despair. It's simple and effective and worth $3. When we move on to Gatecrash we actually have a lot of good roleplayer cards. Crypt Ghast is the most premier inclusion they can make. At $4 its not terribly expensive but if you look at Nirkana Revenant you can see it can get out of hand if you leave it alone for too long. Most of the best Orzhov cards from Gatecrash have already been reprinted, but there will be some demand for them. Obzedat, Ghost Council, Merciless Eviction, Blind Obedience, and Deathpact Angel would be reasonable $1-2 cards to round out the deck. While Orzhov doesn't have a single standout card like Rakdos to carry most of the deck, there is a pretty good pool of reprints to pull from that players will want.
While this isn't the most exciting bunch of guilds, it will be interesting to see if Wizards decides to reprint Infernal Tutor or exclude it like they did with Cyclonic Rift and Golgari Grave-Troll. What do you think about the reprints I've highlighted? Anything you think I missed? I hope you join me next time as I comb through Gruul and Simic cards to reprint!
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