I am a once-aspiring Pro Tour player who used Magic finance as a way to supplement his hobby when he was too young to have a job. Over the course of the past twelve to thirteen years, I have bought and sold countless cards and attended more events than I can count. My opinion comes from past experience and from my ability to gather information from those around me. What this community needs to understand is how to inform themselves on what cards fit in to a metagame and how to analyze cards not only on playability but also on a financial level. I am not here to just provide a spreadsheet of what to buy and sell; these articles are meant to be tools to learn.

I am more than willing to admit that I intended to dissect the set last week, and as I began to do so, one thing was clear: Many cards could be good if there was a home for them. That is where the hang-up lies; with the coming meta, it was very unclear to me what would actually be playable. So often in recent history, the rotation brings a clear idea of what to expect in the first few weeks, with obvious decks such as Sphinx's Revelation control or Zombies last year. After exploring the options and talking with others, it was very unclear what could be good without testing, and with that knowledge, I decided to forgo the mythics in my set review.

With all this in mind, I am going to mix it up a bit this time and talk about my observations over the course of the past week and how that has reflected upon my idea of what these cards could be worth going forward. If, for some reason, I do not mention a particular mythic, that does not mean I believe it will be bulk, but rather, it means I feel that it may not have a home in what I view the new Standard to be and is best to be left alone so the price can settle before any action is to be made.

On the topic of planeswalkers, one card that surprised me from this set was Elspeth, Sun's Champion. I liked the idea of what this card could do; after all, anything that makes tokens as a +1 seems worth looking at, but after testing, this card is even better than I originally anticipated. The current price tag is holding between $35 and $40, and that could spike slightly higher if we start seeing multiple decks adopt her. The only thing that makes me hesitate to say she will remain at the current price is the fact that she is unlikely to be more than a three-of, and most of the time, she’ll only be a one- or two-of. This can be offset if more than one control deck finds a way to use her, but I would not be afraid to trade for her at the current price. I would not go deep on them, but you should be able to move them very quickly, as they are in high demand, and that alone may demand a premium locally.

While testing against Rakdos, I found the advantage Underworld Cerberus could bring to the table was huge, many times allowing you to reload after a Wrath—or else start pushing nearly-unblockable damage through. If Rakdos can find its rhythm, this card will probably be $10 or more after the Pro Tour, if not before. Grab all of these you can in the coming weeks; this card isn’t just for the casual crowd. The only thing I see holding this card back is the playability of Rakdos overall, which currently seems weaker than a number of other aggro strategies. Even outside of aggro, this could be a player in Jund midrange, which is sure to rear its ugly head as always.

Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver deserves more testing before I can really give an opinion on her in terms of the current format, but if Esper or Grixis pans out, she will probably be a contender for the mirror. I have been happy with the way she plays even against aggro, as she can easily produce blockers from your opponent’s arsenal to protect herself better and earlier than Jace, Memory Adept. I am not fond of her beyond a two-of in most decks, but a few more could be fit into a number of sideboards, which leads me to believe she will hold at least $15, if not spiking slightly if either deck has a solid showing at the Pro Tour. Trading for these seems absolutely fine while you dump more hyped cards such as Purphoros, God of the Forge.

Back to the beginning, we have the red mythics, both of which I expected to be overhyped and one of which I was correct about—the other not so much. Purphoros is a fine card—don’t get me wrong; the ability is very relevant if placed in the right deck, and the devotion is there to turn this guy on. The problem is the deck you want to run him in just cannot compete with the control variants that currently exist, and most of the time, I see people deal 4 to 6 damage with of him while he stays an enchantment most of the game. Playing cards such as Boros Reckoner and Ash Zealot seem great right now, but from what I have seen, the deck just does not pan out the way you want, which leads me to believe this guy is going to be hard-pressed to remain anywhere near the $30 mark going forward. Dump now.

On the topic of the Titans—err, Gods—we have a very powerful group of cards that will all probably see their fair share of play and each will probably all have their days in the sun, but for now, I see the most potential in the forms of white and blue. Heliod, God of the Sun is a very versatile player that has been moving a ton and still seems underpriced at around $10. I expect a few adaptions of control to play around with this guy—in addition to mono-white aggro. With a number of decks able to take advantage of different parts of this guy, it seems logical that he has the most room for growth of the cycle and would be a smart pickup before any major events, wherein he will probably make an appearance at the top tables. I could see Heliod surpassing the others by the end of next month and perhaps even quicker if the community picks up on him before then.

The last honorable mention in the set is Master of Waves, whom I had, at first, completely dismissed as playable. I am still on the fence about this guy, and I don’t believe I will be going in at the current price, but given the ability to produce a blocker with protection from red that also supplies a few guys to help is relevant in certain matchups and may be a metagame player down the road. If these fall lower than $3, I would snag a few copies just to sit on, as they will probably end up back above $5 at some point during the coming Standard hurricane.

As always, thank you for reading, and please keep the comments coming. I find other people’s opinions on new cards to be very enlightening, and others may have different testing experiences than I or my group has. Thank you for bearing with me through the past week, as this set seems to continue to throw curve balls at the incoming Standard environment, and keep touch on Twitter, as I plan to be far more active on social media now that the summer and my busy months have come to a close.

Ryan Bushard

@CryppleCommand