Bang for your Buck: Investing in Cards for Eldritch Moon – Multicolor, Land, and Colorless

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 don’t expect this article to be that long, and with the Pro Tour Currently going on as I post this, I’m kind of at an advantage with my guesses because the PT is a good window for anticipating what the metagame will be like in a few weeks time. I felt like I did pretty well with my picks so far in EMN standard, but today’s article will probably be one of the toughest (even if it is short). Let’s take a look at what I went over in my article from SOI.

 

Previous Multicolor, Land, and Colorless Suggestions

 

• Endless One – Miss. I thought this card would see more play in those Eldrazi Mimic type decks, but it completely fell off the map instead. Down half it’s value to $1.
• Reality Smasher – Miss. This is a great card and has shown up in a number of decks, just none that have won or taken down any big tournaments lately. It’s versatile and has held its value well at $4, but that’s not enough. Loss of about $.75.
• Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim – Miss. How this became a bulk rare is beyond me. It saw heavy play in Abzan decks prior to KTK’s rotation, and also was picked up by BW midrange decks that saw a lot of promise. She lost half of her value and is at $1 now.
• Caves of Koilos – Miss. I thought it would be the most popular pain land but with Bant Company’s success that dream was dashed. Didn’t lose much value since last time, but didn’t go up either.
• Lumbering Falls – Miss. Played a lot, especially in Bant Company decks, but for some reason it’s down to $1.50 from $2 since last time. Even if a card is played a lot the price goes down. Guess that happens with the amount of product being printed :(.

 

During these last few article I’ve noticed that strong cards aren’t really gaining value like they have in the past. I would think that even with larger print runs that some cards would inch up little by little but instead good cards have been losing money. This is going to make it a lot harder to gauge the potential value of cards during future standard seasons. While I think I’m correct on a lot of these cards, I also think I’m too early at calling them out. The increase will happen, but it usually glacial and probably isn’t as noticeable until the new rotation schedule hits us. We’ll see . . .

 

Colorless

 

I’m starting out with a long shot today, but it’s a card that I think could be A LOT of fun with the new Emerge Mechanic. Conduit of Ruin begs that you play play a large amount of 7+ mana creatures in a deck with it. Sure you have to put it on top of your library and play it next turn (unless you have a way to draw the card, lets say with Nissa, Vastwood Seer in a green deck),  but being able to cast it for 2 mana less and also sacrificing Conduit to its Emerge cost is sick. I think if there was ever a standard to use this card, it’s now. I’d play this in a UG deck with mana dorks, Elder Deep Fiend, and World Breaker. It’s $1 now and the foils are only $4 so I think they are a good deal. It suddenly got a lot better in this format, but will probably only see fringe play.

 

While I don’t think Kozilek, the Great Distortion ($4.75) will see any play, I do think that it’s current price isn’t bad for a mythic rare that could become a good EDH card in the future. If you can pick a few up at $4 it might not be a bad long term investment.

 

Oblivion Sower is another card that I think won’t see much if any play, but at $1.75 you can’t go wrong with having a playset of these. They might see some play after rotation, and being a mythic rare and Eldrazi helps.

 

I still think that Reality Smasher is a good buy at $4. It has a lot of potential to be a break out card in a post Coco metagame after rotation, especially if midrange decks take over. I think $4 is it’s bottom line and that it will start inching up to $5-6 before Kaladesh come out in September.

I would also think that Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger is a good price right now at $12.50, but with the future of ramp unclear without cards like Nissa’s Pilgrimage and Explosive Vegetation in standard, I’d recommend keeping an eye on it but not buying in just yet. It might hit $11 or $10 during EMN standard.

 

Lands

 

Battle Lands from Battle for Zendikar seem to have bottomed out around $3 and I don’t think they’ll get much lower than that. If you haven’t picked up a playset of all of the lands yet, now’s a good price to do so. These types of cards probably won’t hit more than $6 if they see heavy play in future standard formats, but why waste your money then?

 

The Shadow Lands also seem to have bottomed out at around $2, so I would pick up playsets of all of these as well if you haven’t already. Never hurts to be prepared. If any of them do go up, I don’t see them going any higher than about $4 or so.

 

If the UG Tentacles deck has any legs and does well in EMN standard I could see Lumbering Falls getting a nice boost from $1.50 to around $3. Not a bad price to pick them up at if you need to finish your playset.

 

I kind of like Westvale Abbey at $5.50 now as well. It might drop a little bit lower, but I think its floor is $5. If Kaladesh has a lot of good colorless cards and token makers, this card could definitely see a lot more play. However, with SOI packs still being opened, I think it’s price won’t start to go up until just before rotation or just after. I wouldn’t wait too long at this price though if you need them.

 

Multicolor

 

I’m still unconvinced that Ayli is a bad card. It’s 2 mana, has deathtouch, blocks a heck of a lot of the 2/3 cards from Bant Company, gains you life, and if you have a way to consistently gain life she turns into an impressive weapon. We might have to wait until September to see any movement, but I’m sure she’ll go up eventually. A good investment at $1.

 

The BR Vampire/Madness deck got a lot of useful new cards in EMN, and there are lots of possible interactions with the graveyard that Olivia could help enable so I’m going to be bullish on her for EMN standard. She’ll start out in those fringe decks but she’ll start popping up in BR delirium or Jund decks and then her price will start to jump. She’s definitely a 3-4 of in any deck you’d want to play her in, which means that her current $5.25 price tag could easily hit $8 or $10. Not going to happen soon, but a good investment for rotation. Get some now if you don’t.

Pro Tour Eldritch Moon Update:

After watching Temur Emerge and Delirium decks do really well at the Pro Tour, I have a really good feeling about Kiora, Master of the Depths. She seems like a great fit in a Sultai Delirium deck along side the new Liliana for added inevitability, and could also fit into the Temur Emerge deck as a way to get extra value from a Shaman of Forgotten Ways and cast an Elder Deep Fiend on turn 4 (tap Shaman for 2, untap with Kiora, sacrifice Shaman to Deep Fiend). She seems bonkers in the right deck and I’m going to keep an eye on her at $3. She could start seeing a lot of play before the next set and double in price. Grab at least 3 if possible.

Penny Stocks

While it’s not really a Penny Stock, I think Sigarda, Heron’s Grace at $2 is a steal. The human tribe will continue to get playable cards in coming sets and Sigarda won’t be getting any lower. 3 of these seems like that’d be enough.

 

That’s a Wrap

 

I was thinking I wouldn’t get this done before day 2 of the Pro Tour but it looks as though I lucked out. As you can see from my previous article, I did an absolutely awful job of predicting what cards would see more play in SOI standard so if you have insight on the colorless, multicolor, or land cards and how they’ll do in EMN standard I’d like to hear what you have to say. Please add your comments down below. I feel rather good about this season’s choices and that’s probably because the September rotation is going to shake things up a lot.

I’ll be back sometime next week with talk about the Pro Tour, how the metagame has been shaping up here in Nagoya, Japan, a little bit about Puca Trade, and a few other things. The summer holidays will be in full blast here in Japan next weekend and I plan on getting a lot of stuff done. Be sure to check back then! Thanks for reading.