Modern Masters 2: The Wager – Mythic Rare battle

Today’s guest article is by S.B. Jackel, a member of the cardboard samurai on The Japan Hobbyist’s website who resides near Tokyo. We decided to have a battle to see who can guess the most correct cards being reprinted in Modern Masters 2. 

This weekend and the World Magic Cup Wizards of the Coast announced the release of Modern Masters 2015. Along with this announcement it was also revealed that the 3 Grand Prix listed as TBA will be Modern Masters 2015 sealed and one of those events will happen in Chiba, Japan giving everyone on this side of the Pacific a chance to take part in Part 2 of the event we all missed in Vegas 2 years ago.

Yesterday our friend and host Ryan posted a list of Mythic Rares he expects to be printed in the new Modern Masters set. I humbly disagree with him on a number of his choices, so to help set things straight I propose a friendly wager to predict what reprints we should expect. In the end we will sit down, tally it up and see who came closest and predicting Wizard’s madness.

So without further ado I give you my 10 mythic picks for Modern Masters 2015:

Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

With this card being the flagship card of the set we know without a doubt to see the most powerful creature ever printed will be joining us for some Annihilation this spring.

Mox Opal

Mox Opal has been needing a reprint since modern affinity became one of the cheapest decks to build in the early days of the format. With the low price came a high demand as players swooped in and picked up the low priced deck pushing the prices way up.  Regardless of the need for a reprint, the second flagship card of the set is Etched Champion which tells us that there will be an artifact and metalcraft archetype which tells me a new wave of Mox Opals are coming in and hopefully pushing the price down.

Noble Hierarch

Exalted is another archetype I expect to see return. Along with Exalted, I expect to see the one exclusion from the first time around. I am not certain this will be printed as Mythic but I fully expect it to make a reappearance. There are a few other Exalted cards I expect to see along with Hierarch but those are for another time.

Karn Liberated

Having a second printing of Karn is never a bad thing. One of the larger hindrances to play modern Urza Tron is the price of Karn. Additionally he is incredibly powerful and is the epitome of what a Mythic Rare is supposed to be. If we see Karn printed I don’t expect to see a second Eldrazi spell at mythic rarity.

Iona, Shield of Emeria

Despite my better judgement I feel like Iona will the white mythic slot over Linvala, Keeper of Silence. I make this decision based on the fact that Iona has a much more epic feel then Livala and will be strong in closing games, but with the printing of Eldrazi isn’t unbeatable.

Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon

With MM2015 including the Scars of Mirrodin Block I expect to see a reprint of Inkmoth Nexus and with that a subtheme of infect within the set. I know it isn’t a card commanding much of a premium but Wizards has shown time and time again that it is more interested in creating a fun and interesting format instead of just printing a supplemental product that only contains high value cards.

Thrun, The Last Troll

A green staple that I can see being brought back for another run. The card is a solid card that is difficult to answer and has a limited supply on the market. I fully expect to Thrun coming back and do what he does best.

Tezzeret the Seeker

To go along with the artifact theme I suspect they will give us the original Tezzeret over the new one. It seems to be overall more powerful and is a build-around-me card that can function with a very limited supply of artifacts. Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas on the other hand has a much stricter requirement to find artifacts making him much weaker in limited play.

Tarmogoyf

The last printing of Modern Masters was a nightmare for the price of Tarmogoyf. The limited print run meant that people who were able to get 1 or 2 had to finish their sets which pushed demand. Once supply dried up the price of Tarmogoyf skyrocketed. With this new set Wizards has a chance to correct the imbalance with a larger print run which should add more to the overall market and hopefully push the price down a little.

Akroma, Angel of Fury

Red seems to be the hardest color to find a dominate mythic. I think Akroma is the card to beat in red. With players being reintroduced to Morph I suspect it will see the light of day again. It is a sold body that pushes Red into competition with other colors. It has the ability to end games and is a difficult to beat but isn’t unbeatable.

Head to Head

So this sums up what I expect to see in the Modern Masters 2015. Hopefully I can beat out Ryan in the prediction battle. Do you think you can do better? Feel free to reply with your list of potential mythic rares.