Bang for your Buck: Investing in Cards for Khans of Tarkir – White and Blue

Disclaimer: I can not be held responsible for any poor decisions I make in regards to any cards you might buy in response to my article. I’m going to post my thoughts and plead my case for each card I recommend, and if you agree then by all means head out to your local gaming store or buy cards online and try to snap up some good deals. I’m basing my information off of months of standard gaming experience as well as prices in my area and how they’ve reacted to the ever changing metagame. I can only hope that the decisions I make are good ones and that my gamble pays off after buying the featured cards. Prices I used are based on the iMTG IOS app, using TCG player.com’s mid-level price range.

I’m a little late on posting these articles, and sadly some prices have already started to go up. I apologize, but I’m not working 7-8 pm most days and have no time to write anything after work. I’ll be sneaking in the articles when I can, and I appreciate you guys waiting patiently for them. Today I’ll be starting on White, which gained a few more cards in M15 but not a lot. Let’s take a look at what I recommended last time and how they performed.

Previous White and Blue suggestions

• Elspeth, Sun’s Champion – I thought she was still undervalued at $22 and sure enough she was. At her current price of $25, I was right on in my guess. 
• Brimaz, King of Oreskos – I said he could see some more play after rotation and to keep an eye on him. If you saw him go up from his then value of $19.50, buy them. He’s now $28.50, so if you followed my advice you’d have saved some money.
• Soldier of the Pantheon – another card I saw to keep an eye on. He was at about $2 then, now is about $4.  
• Thassa, God of the Sea and Master of Waves – I said both were at bargain levels ($7.50 and $4.50) and that it was a good time to pick them up. I also mentioned to keep an eye on if any good blue KTK cards were printed. That didn’t happen, so their prices were affected too much. Master of the Waves went up a little to $5.25 though on people bargain buying for their modern merfolk and other decks I think.  

My White Picks for KTK

Lots of the cards that I picked last time were pretty much the only money cards in white. I don’t see their prices changing too much over the next few months. Elspeth should stay between $22-25 until January when Fate Reforged is printed, Brimaz seems to fit well in both Abzan and Mardu colors, and Soldier of the Pantheon will be great as the metagame shifts to more tri-color strategies. They should all hold their value for a while. That’s not to say I won’t speculate though. 

Deicide

We’ve recently seen an uptick in the value of Purphoros, God of the Forge as well as Keranos, god of Storms, and I think that’s just the tip of the iceburg. The gods’ multicolor casting cost makes them a perfect fit for this tri-color meta, and I think we’ll start to see more and more. Nylea is already in some  devotion decks, and at worse this will be an Erase that can still take out a Jeskai Ascendancy, some of the black aggro bestow creatures, or Courser of Kruphix. I think it will be a strictly sideboard card, but could easily become a 2-3 of in the side. It’s only $1.50, so if you can get a play set for around $5, I would recommend it. 

Another deal I see right now is Hushwing Gryff. It’s around $1.50 now and could see more play in modern in the coming months as sort of white Torpor Orb. I’ve also noticed an uptick of enter the battlefield abilities in standard, so its worth keeping an eye on it in case Fate Reforged brings us a lot more we’d want to shut down. If you can find it for $1, pick it up. 

Launch the Fleet

I feel like Launch the Fleet ($2) is on the cusp of being good. RW and Mardu tokens seem like a very good strategy, and if the metagame switches to slower based midrange decks, this could be a great way to swarm your opponent. If you can still find them for under $2, then pick up a playset. If it doesn’t go up much in KTK, I think there’s a good chance it will go up in the next set. Speaking of token strategies, if they do become more popular, I’d expect Spear of Heliod ($1) to go up in price as well. 

My Blue picks for KTK

Mono blue devotion might be out of the picture, but that doesn’t mean blue is dead. There are some cards that were held back in previous metagames that can finally shine. Chasm Stalker ($3.25) isn’t any any tier 1 deck, but it’s been brewed with a lot. In a slow control/midrange deck with card draw coming from Jace’s Ingenuity or Treasure Cruise, this creature can end up becoming a good finisher. If it’s $3 just from casual play, I don’t even want to imagine what it’s price would be if it reaches tier 1 status. Keep your eye on it. Chief Engineer is just waiting to be played in an Affinity/Burn deck, but there are still a few cards missing from it. He’s dropped down to $1.50 after being brewed with a lot, and I think it’s a good time to pick him up. He can only go up from here. 

Master of Waves

Yep, I’m still going to push Master of the Waves. He saw an increase of $.75 since the last set release,  and at $5.25 I think he’s still a great bargain. His time in standard isn’t done yet. He’ll have one more hurrah in a blue/green or blue/red deck and his price will shoot up. That’s when you’ll sell. At the moment, get a playset for $20 if you can. I’m sure you’ll double that investment before they rotate in 2015. 

Polymorphist’s Jest

Polymorphist’s Jest has seen a lot more play in Temur midrange decks as both a tempo spell and pseudo removal. The deck plays huge creatures, so making your Polukranos a 1/1 then blocking it is no problem for it. If you combo it with Circle of Flame, you have a deadly two card kill combo for 5 mana against aggro decks. I don’t think it will go up too much, but at $2.25, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this hit $4 sometime this winter. 

Prognostic Sphinx

Prognostic Sphinx has shown a lot of promise in Sultai control, and to a lesser extent Esper control since rotation. It’s pretty hard to deal with and if you have enough card draw and removal he can win the game for you. Once control decks start coming together, I expect his value to double from $.75 to about $2. I don’t see it going that high, but if you’ve been sitting on some extra ones you might be able to buylist them finally, and the foil price should also go up too. 

The other card that I think will go up in price as blue control decks see more play is Aetherspouts. It’s a good combo alongside Ashiok, and at instant speed it’s a little stronger than End Hostilities. It’s only $0.50, so there’s a lot of room for movement there. It’s also exceptionally strong against token strategies. 

White and Blue Uncommons that will see more play

• Banishing Light – Now that Detention Sphere has rotated, I think we’ll see this a lot more. Currently $2.25. Will probably hold that value, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it hit $3 later on. 
• Devouring Light ($0.25)- exile effects are only going to get stronger in this meta. I think this will see more play 
• Dissolve – it’s current at about $0.75, but that is its price in a control-less environment. Once control is back, I expect this to hit $1.50 again. 
• Jace’s Ingenuity ($0.20) – With no more Sphinx’s Revelation, this card could see more play alongside Dig Through Time and Treasure Cruise. 
• Reprisal ($0.25)- the bigger creatures get, the more you’ll see this in the sideboard. 

Next time on Bang for your Buck

I think we’re off to a good start. For the most part, Khans hasn’t started to push any of these blue or white cards yet, but I think it’s highly possible we’ll see some movement later this month, especially with the rise of Mardu and Jeskai strategies. Next time, I’ll be covering black and red, so stay tuned and come back in a few days to see how the cards I mentioned last time did, as well as what cards from our current standard will get even better. Thanks for reading and see you next time!