This week in Magic - Week 36

Congrats to Brian Braun-Duin piloting his Standard Bant Humans and Modern Bant Eldrazi decks to claim the title of Magic World Champion! We also have new spoilers for Kaladesh, which means lots of speculation, so let’s get started!

 

I would be remiss if I didn’t start with the giant, flaming Planeswalker in the corner. Chandra, Torch of Defiance was spoiled and she looks incredible. While the art is beautiful, her abilities are what make her really burn bright. A 4 mana, 4 ability walker and, by my assertion, each ability is relevant. Straight away her pre-order prices skyrocketed near $60. Typically Planeswalker pre-order on the higher side of where they settle, but this one is tough to nail down. I wouldn’t be surprised if this found a solid home in multiple formats. Keep your eye on her price!

 

Kaladesh is a fantastic place filled with glorious artifact creations. It’s no wonder then that Copy Artifact was one of the first cards targeted in a speculative buyout. It’s legal in Vintage, Legacy and Commander, so it’s hard to tell if there is a brew in progress, as Copy Artifact is currently not seeing any competitive play. Copy Artifact can be a fun card to cast in Commander, and with an influx of artifacts, I’m sure the artifact lovers are already building around the set. As far as competitive goes, I’m not sure where it will find a home, but I’ve heard some rumors involving the spoiled card Paradoxical Outcome. 

 

Although Standard format is the flagship for Magic, there were also many Modern matches to watch. It would seem that Grim Flayer has found a somewhat permanent home in both Jund and Abzan decks, and it performed very well on camera. While it seems to come down to player preference, Grim Flayer has, in some cases, taken the spot that Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet held. Will Grim Flayer be a powerhouse in the future? Only time will tell, but for being a brand new card, it certainly has gained steam. 

 

On the same topic of Grim Flayer, Mishra's Bauble has been steadily rising each and every day. It’s usually found in modern paired with Grim Flayer and/or Tarmogoyf, and Death's Shadow decks, as mentioned last week. For an uncommon, Baubles sure are hard to track down and you definitely have to shell out a ton of money for them. Printed only once in Coldsnap, we have to wonder if it will see a reprint in an upcoming Modern Masters set, because this card is reaching astronomical price levels. I built a Death's Shadow Zoo deck awhile back and the baubles, to me, weren’t massively impactful. Short of an extra point or two of damage from Monastery Swiftspear or cracking a fetch after looking at the top, they were just an extra cantrip to power out Become Immense. That was when they were $8, but I think they found a much better home next to Grim Flayer and Tarmogoyf. 

 

Through the Breach saw an insane climb in both popularity and price due to its heavy use in various Valukut/Primeval Titan (example) Modern decks. The card has been used to cheat powerful creatures into play in the past, and it seems that Primeval Titan is the "newest" creature to add its name to the trophy for most efficient creature when cheated in. If you’re a Commander player who has been playing awhile, then Prime time being good is no surprise to you as it was banned in Commander nearly 4 years ago to date. Modern has been devoid of a huge control presence since Splinter Twin was banned, but maybe we’ll get some good control cards in the upcoming sets.

If you’re like me, you love spoiler season. You get to mentally and maybe even physically brew new decks, speculate on what cards will play nice with new cards and even what cards are just good on their own. We get new mechanics, beautiful art and basically a full artifact set. It looks like Masterpiece Series: Kaladesh Inventions is checking all the boxes of a truly game changing set, and if you’re unsure of how true that statement is, just look into any of the new cards that produce Energy, a new resource. Everyone wants to be the first to crack the code on what to play next, so it should be fun watching what people and pro teams decide over the next few weeks.