Magic 2015: The New Frontier

Posted on July 4, 2014

With a new core set comes an interesting time for competitive Magic each year. When Magic 2015 finally hits the shelves and becomes legal for competitive play, we will have the largest card pool available in Standard for a few brief months. That being said, what truly makes the format interesting is the open availability for R&D to test the waters for interesting interactions while not completely ruining the experience since the time these cards will be in Standard together is short. A great example of that is the attempt this year to allow for a playable Slivers deck. It is interesting to me that they waited a year to print this small cycle of extra Slivers, but it makes sense when you really think about it. Not only do you increase demand by contributing to already-existing archetypes, even if just casually, but you also don’t have to worry about a whole year of agonizing results if one of these decks does prove too powerful. I am not saying Slivers will be the next tier-one deck by any means, but we are now at the critical mass at which point even some competitive players are taking a second look at these old staples to Magic lore.

The plan, of course, is well thought out I am sure, but what does that mean for you at home when looking for financial opportunities within the set. Next week, I will finally have access to the full spoiler and will, as usual, be writing my primer breakdown of the set and financial repercussions. This week, I want to focus on some of the cards already available to us that may seem to be some added value both within this short, Extended format and after rotation. Over the past few weeks, I have been mostly concentrating on cards to dump before they hit the floor, but as most cards have finally settled, it is time to put some of that extra money or trade stock you made from moving old cards to use.

Since I started on the topic of Slivers it only makes sense to highlight some of the cards that may have financial opportunity before rotation. These types of cards are usually best traded for; rarely is it a good idea to buy out the market. Unless a deck just dominates this short season, it is unlikely a rotating card will skyrocket for more than a minute. The advantage is that any of these cards that are likely to see play are almost certainly at their floors by now since the usual drop we see has already occurred. Unless a card has Eternal playability, the length of time you have to move what you gather is relatively short, so if you do not have the chance to trade often, or if you rarely check prices, it may be best to stray away from picks like this.

Of the Slivers and supporting cards we’ve already seen, I only spotted a few that would be worth moving in on, and of those, Galerider Sliver seems to be the optimal target. At just a little over $1, these are easy to trade for and are relatively common to find in binders. I do not have an exact decklist yet, but I will try to include something next week to give an idea of how this deck may operate. One of the main reasons I have selected Galerider Sliver is to mitigate the potential for loss after rotation if things do not pan out for our scythed friends. Winged Sliver has always been a pick, and before the arrival of Galerider Sliver, it was topping $1 on buy lists. This card, though easier to find, is a great upgrade or addition to any already-existing deck that may have used Winged Sliver, and that means the price is likely solidified where it is now and will see almost no movement during rotation. It is also cheap enough that you can move in on a number of copies and have to make much smaller margins on each to profit down the road.

There are certainly other Slivers that are worth keeping an eye on, and most will see almost no impact from rotation, but the ones that have a chance in Standard are the ones worth moving in on. Even if this deck never cracks a Top 8, I would not be surprised to see some of these cards double in the coming months.

Another card from M15 that intrigues me is Preeminent Captain. Again, I could not be sure that a deck containing this card could ever be considered truly competitive, but I have already heard people talking about cute cards they can flash in, such as Foundry Champion. Though I certainly don’t believe that will become the new tech, we do have some other cards available to us that are much more playable on their own while being Soldiers. The first two that came to mind were Brimaz, King of Oreskos and Loxodon Smiter, both of which could play well with the strategy. Even cards such as Precinct Captain and Soldier of the Pantheon never feel bad when they cost nothing and have haste. Of course, it is probably not the greatest time to move in on the Cat king, but I can see arguments for why the other cards could rise. Soldier of the Pantheon is probably the best bet here, as it also has another year to pick back up, and for all we know, this next set may have more multicolored cards than Theros.

One more prerotation strategy I have been looking at, though I am sure there are many more, is a reanimator strategy using the current B/G shell. I was not able to find anything with updates from Journey into Nyx, as I am sure there may at least be a few cards, but a few months ago, we saw people working with decks like this:

B/G Reanimator ? Born of the Gods Standard | Ryan Bushard

Lands (19)
6 Swamp
9 Forest
4 Overgrown Tomb

While I am not sure how optimal this list is, it certainly had a few showings over the past six months, and from this new set, it gains at least one potential tool in the form of Endless Obedience—and perhaps even the Soul of Innistrad—to suddenly keep you from running out of large guys to force your opponents to deal with. This deck may survive rotation in some capacity, as we do not lose everything, but there is certainly more of a chance while we have Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord and Lotleth Troll, to push the game, and cards like Deathrite Shaman and Grisly Salvage, to keep the deck running smoothly. Endless Obedience may not make the cut here, but I am curious to see what the Soul can do at least. If this deck can begin to outlast control decks, we may see some of the staples within rise. Deathrite Shaman is, of course, also the safe pick now given the Eternal playability, but I would also not be surprised to see Lotleth Troll pop up more in Modern over the next few years, thus lending to its potential future out of the bulk bin.

I was hoping to cover a few deck ideas that may be ones to watch for after rotation, but as much as I want to dream, it is hard to really envision anything without any idea what the fall set holds for us. I am sure that, over the next few weeks, you will see me speculating as usual—after all, I am still hoping for some Eldrazi action—but until we begin to see the set, all it is now is guess work. That does not mean there are not some very safe pickups that are probably going to be back on the rise, such as Hero's Downfall, but it just means that picking particular archetypes may be difficult. I have always been a fan of B/G board-control decks, and with Nissa, Worldwaker and Garruk, Apex Predator, I would be lying to say that I am not at least a bit hopeful for that strategy’s reemergence. What are you all hoping to see come back into favor or emerge over the next few months? Are there any cards you could see being players before rotation? How about after? I am curious, not only for competitive play, but for just Standard in general.

As usual, it is time to wrap things up for the week. Next time you hear from me, I am sure I will be in brewer’s paradise, and as such, I will probably be very opinionated about this coming set. As with most people, it seems I am overall a very large fan, and it may be more difficult this time to spot the gems, as there seem to be so many playable cards. If you have anything you would like me to concentrate on—particularly in M15—please let me know this week, and I will attempt to donate more of my time to those cards that seem most popular or controversial. As always, thank you for reading, and if you have any questions or comments, leave them below or send me an e-mail. Hope you guys and girls are as excited about this set as I am because I will have a lot to write about next week.

Ryan Bushard

@CryppleCommand