To Modern Master or not

With Modern Masters spoilers revealing more and more cards by the hour, it’s clear that Wizards is going to deliver a great set. A set that Wizards has put a lot of time and effort put into creating. The top dog in the set is Tarmorfoys whose prices are still more then players are willing spend and with foil prices that would make you wish you had a time machine. TCGplayer is a bit more competitive when it comes to prices for Tarmogoyf but is still pretty pricey. There is really no difference for the card between TCG and SCG, except for the fact that SCG is not out of the card. 

Will the price come down when Modern Masters come out? Yes and no. I know that’s not really an answer but bear with me. I believe that people are forgetting a couple of facts about Modern Masters. First it’s a 229 card set which is bigger than Dragon Maze and just shy of Gatecrash. Secondly the value of the cards in Modern Master is more than both Gatecrash and Dragon Maze together. This begs the question, what is the down side to Modern Masters? 

Here is the information that you should consider when looking at Modern Masters: 299 cards, 24 packs per box, with a $6.99 MSRP per pack.

Current cost of boxes:

Current price for a Modern Masters box is $299.99 on SCG.

Current price for a Modern Masters box is $249.99 at the lowest on TCG with an average price of $263.50.

Current price for a Modern Masters box on eBay is $240.00 at lowest with the price climbing. 

What does that mean when the set drops? Well a couple of things. Stores have been preselling their boxes of Modern Masters and have slowly been increasing the price. The reason for the climb in price is that stores are only allowed a certain number of boxes. So as the date for the release gets closer the price of the boxes will climb and hit a high of $400 or more.

Now if you think you that you can save some money by gambling on buying singles, you might be losing even more. I have talked to some of the other store owners about what prices they will be selling their packs at. The answer was around $10 a pack; no one will be drafting Modern Masters at those prices. So unless Wizards print more product then needed you will not be drafting Modern Masters unless you’re at a large tournament. 

Here is a current list of cards from Modern Masters in descending price.

High 

Tarmogoyf $115.02- $129.99

Dark Confidant $47.66- $59.99

Vendilion Clique $41.18- $49.99

Cryptic Command  $32.97- $34.99

Sword of Fire and Ice  $30.50- $34.99

Doubling Season $28.82- $34.99

Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker $28.76- $29.99

Elspeth, Knight Errant $27.54- $29.99

Sword of Light and Shadow $25.22- $29.99

Arcbound Ravager $23.74- $24.99

Sarkhan Vol $18.47- $19.99

Kokusho, the Evening Star $18.00- $19.99

Progenitus $17.66- $19.99

Engineered Explosives $16.71- $19.99

Aether Vial $15.99- $14.99

Glimmervoid $14.99- $16.29

Kira, Great Glass-Spinner $14.99- $16.19 
Vedalken Shackles $14.99- $16.07
Academy Ruins $13.63- $14.99

Tooth and Nail $12.99- $14.99

Gifts Ungiven $10.70- $11.99

Woodfall Primus $10.32- $11.99

Mid 
Lotus Bloom $9.99- $10.00 
Blood Moon $9.00- $10.00 
Knight of the Reliquary $8.51- $9.99

Yosei, the Morning Star $8.50- $9.99 
Divinity of Pride $8.25- $9.99
Kataki, War's Wage $7.98- $9.99
Extirpate $6.00- $7.99
Life from the Loam $5.99- $8.41
Stonehewer Giant $5.14- $5.99

Jhoira of the Ghitu $5.99- $6.24
Figure of Destiny $5.22- $5.99

Demigod of Revenge $5.69- $6.99
Keiga, the Tide Star $5.62- $5.99

Low

Scion of Oona $4.89- $3.99
City of Brass $4.00- $4.59
Oona, Queen of the Fae $3.99- $5.10
Squee, Goblin Nabob $3.82- $3.99
Dragonstorm $3.00- $2.99
Angel's Grace $2.99-$3.48
Jugan, The Rising Star $2.73- $3.99
Greater Gargadon $2.00- $2.00
Death Cloud $1.89- $1.99
Meloku the Clouded Mirror $1.68- $2.99
Ryusei, the Falling Star $1.64- $2.99
Verdeloth the Ancient $0.94- $1.49
Worm Harvest $0.89- $1.49
Skeletal Vampire $0.81- $1.99
Rude Awakening $0.52- $0.99
Molten Disaster $0.48- $0.75

Just looking at the list of cards and their current prices, this set is amazing. Some of the prices for some for these cards are just insane! The set will be worthwhile if of course you are able to pull three or four high cost cards and the other cards are all at mid-priced.

Now we still have to wait until all the spoilers are released and then we can truly figure out the sets value. If you haven't pre-ordered your box of Modern Masters by now, and were on the fence, I think seeing the prices of just the rares can change your mind. But if you don't have the money to spend on Modern Masters, and don't play Modern, you most likely don't care much for Modern. 

Overall Modern Masters will be a good set, but if you are looking to invest a large amount of money into something I would avoid this set. The reason being that a good chunk of the cards that you would want to see are still missing from Modern Masters. Fetch lands and other great cards that are seeing play in modern will not be seen in Modern Masters on a simple bases the cards don't fall in the print range. 

Those who play modern will not be picking up this set for the simple reason that the cards they want they can go out and buy for the same amount as the cost of the box. Those who want to get into modern will also most likely not purchase large amount of Modern Masters simply based on the price. 

I predict that some of the value of the cards in Modern Masters will not live up to the value of the original printing. I would wait until the prices come down to get the singles you want, otherwise don't expect to see a box of Modern Masters going for less them $300 in the near future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reanimator Remix

Look at any of the last tournaments and you’ll see two words come up again and again, Reanimator and Jund. Both of these decks run similar colors, where the only difference is red and white, but why stop there? Why not make a deck that combines their colors into one beautiful concoction of a deck? The deck I’m speaking of is 4C Reanimator. I understand that Junk Reanimator is a solid deck and that it doesn’t need to be revamped, as it is doing well on its own, but that’s not what this article is about. It’s about making a deck that combines the power house of Reanimator with the scary cards that Jund colors can provide.

The Value of Dragon Maze Mythic Pt 2

Hello!

As I promised we are finishing our evaluation of Dragon Maze Mythics. 

Maze's End

Current Prices:

Starcity: $2.99
TCGPlayer: $1.75
Ebay: $1.58

Nothing to see here, truly nothing to see here. Expect this card to stay at the current value, maybe rising a little if it sees play in the Block format. We don't really expect anything amazing out of this card. 

Suggestion: Trade or sell.

GP Portland

One week ago I was preparing to play in my first ever Grand Prix in Portland, Oregon. Two days into the Grand Prix I had made it to the day two. Truth be told, Goblin Guide has always been good to me.

Going into the tournament I wasn't sure of what the format would look like, but I knew I wanted my deck to be aggressive. I had never played modern before, so I asked some friends to help point me in the right direction.

Here's the list I played for 15 rounds:

Surprise! Turbo Fog!

So, for my first article I thought that I would write about my upcoming deck. For the last few sets I’ve been playing Jund Midrange with very successful results, but at heart I’m a control player that loves to take every round to time just to make my opponent upset. At first I was interested in Esper Control, because I’m a huge fan of UB, to the point that I played UB Control for a few tournaments back in Scars block. The only downside to Esper is that it loses hard to the super aggro decks that are rampant in standard. I discovered this after playing my friend’s Esper deck for a couple months, and for the first time in my life of playing control, I went negative the other week going 2-3. How was this possible? Three rounds of turn 1 Champion of the Parish, turn 2 BTE BTE Lightning Mauler swing for 7, turn 3 Flinthoof Boar, kill you. It’s a major headache for any control player Esper or Bant, simply because you can’t board wipe in time to survive and if by some miracle you top deck terminus (get it?) you’re still at such a low life level that they can burn you alive before you can stabilize.

"Control in the meta, the durdle life is the thug life"

As a control player there is nothing I like more then a long grind game. Control is all about  saying no to everything my opponent tries to do. While playing passive magic and proceeding to do almost nothing on my turn besides playing lands and passing the turn. There is something about watching the life and fun drained out of my opponents face because they believe this game is supposed to be fun and exciting. Spoiler alert; there is nothing fun when your playing against a control player. Well, its fun and exciting for the control player. Now, just because I like to win with Drownyard or Jace doesn't mean I'm not a fan of Obzedat and Sorin, maybe even a Duskmantle Seer. Pounding you in the grill and making that mid-range player hate his life.

The Value of Dragon Maze

Hello

As a shop owner its my responsibility to see magic cards as a game of risk vs reward:

Lets take a look at the Mythics of the most recent set Dragon Maze.  Everyone talks about how this is bad set and majority of the cards are not going to see play. This has effected the value of most of the cards so before you run out and start selling cards for less then you think they are worth, lets take a look at the cards.


Blood Baron of Vizkopa:

The Current Value of the Card
TCG player  10.25
StarCityGames 14.99
Ebay lowest 8.29

Clearly the pricing on the card is not the greatest, with the highest being 15 and lowest 8 its a 7 dollar difference. While this card does remind everyone of Divinity of Pride which is holding steady at 10 dollars and sold out.
This card should average out around ten to 12 dollars right around M14. While this card is no Divinity of Pride due to no evasion, the protection is great and non legendary status of the card will make for some weird games states. The price of this card will jump in the next month with the block pro tour.

If you have a playtest keep it don't sell or trade.

“End of your turn I activate alchemist refuge and cast farseek”

“End of your turn I activate alchemist refuge and cast farseek”

Endless flicking of your cards as your control opponent desperately looks for a way to kill you. This feeling of the game being completely lost at this moment in time. Now as many people tell you play to your outs, never give an early concession the list goes on and on...

Now here's the truth, if your opponent has just cast a revelation for 6+, or their farseeking at the end of your turn with mana left over to counter something the writing is on the wall. Or if we switch formats, your opponent has a Jace at 11 counters and all your getting is useless Force of Wills, would you try to get that one draw or take an early lose and get some lunch before the next round. If your playing magic for the money, I'm going to quote a local shop owner here “your making less than minimum wage”.

If your playing magic for enjoying a tournament why not take the early loss and get a bite to eat and further enjoy the tournament environment instead of slowly grinding yourself into the ground playing to your outs, that might not even get you out...