Safe Bets as CEDH Grows

Welcome to another month of Safe Bets. For those of you familiar with my usual articles, this month will look slightly different. Normally we talk about three of four cards with in-depth reasoning for each. This month, I want to talk to you about a lot of different cards for roughly the same reason, CEDH.

CEDH Events 

Over the past month, we've received some relevant news as it relates to CEDH. First, as you may have noticed, CEDH leagues are now available on Magic Online. While the existence of online leagues does not directly impact paper prices, this will add more visibility and popularity to a strong driver in MTG finance. For those more familiar with the MTGO economy, I would recommend exploring what CEDH staples are underpriced and investing there. 

The other valuable information we received came in the form of a Tweet from CEDHPT. There are two important pieces of information presented to us in this tweet. First, Wizards is interested in supporting CEDH tournaments. Additional prizing and recognition from Wizards will add interest to the already popular format. Second, the announcement communicates that proxies appear to be a non-negotiable for Wizards in supporting the format. Some members of the CEDH community claim that CEDH is not feasible without proxies. However, Star City Games Philadelphia last month had 122 players for their 5k CEDH open. While it is unarguable that proxy-friendly CEDH is more accessible, it's also obvious that Wizards is not interested in supporting the use of proxies. My Safe Bets for this month will be based on CEDH, specifically CEDH without proxies.

CEDH and the Reserved List

The Reserved List (“RL”) is almost always a safe investment. The prices will fluctuate, but more based on the economy as a whole than anything within the game. Wizards support for CEDH would be an exception to drive RL prices. Specifically, CEDH-playable RL cards are a safe investment. Additionally, I believe that RL CEDH staples will have the FOMO effect if Wizards continues to give support to the format as their already high prices could increase to the realm of unattainable. 

$275.90$279.99

$196.00$229.99

Cards on this list include dual lands, Mox Diamond, Gaea's Cradle, Gilded Drake, Grim Monolith, Wheel of Fortune, Survival of the Fittest, and Transmute Artifact.

The second category of safe investments is the non-RL staples in which Wizards already reprints with scarcity. These are the Mana Crypts, Jeweled Lotuses, tutors, and Gemstone Caverns of the world. Even without the additional CEDH support, these cards have created a history of being reprint proof in the current arms race era. Mana Crypt and Jeweled Lotus specifically have been reprinted in the last year and only increased in price. 

CEDH on a Budget

The final category I want to discuss is budget CEDH decks. While some CEDH players believe that proxies create a pure experience in which you’re playing against the player instead of their wallet, the reality is that players will want to play competitively even if they can’t afford to optimize their decks. Picking up key cards in these more affordable entrance points will be affordable safe investments. Budget Brews has a collection of affordable CEDH deck lists. This would be a good resource to identify additional cards for this category. Most decks within this category heavily include stax pieces such as Drannith Magistrate and Rule of Law to help equalize their own strategy with more expensive strategies. These stax pieces are a great low-cost investment for what I anticipate will be a CEDH boom.

Last week, popular Youtube channel Command Zone posted their first CEDH video. In the video DJ pilots a Winota Deck that is relatively budget by CEDH standards to great success. Winota, Joiner of Forces is a CEDH commander that can typically carry itself even within a budget because of its utilization of STAX pieces as an equalizer. As CEDH continues to grow, I anticipate that many of these Stax pieces increase in price as they are an accessible entry point for newer CEDH players.  

$4.55$6.49

$1.70$1.49

Within the category of CEDH budget investments, there is one deck I want to focus on. Most decks on the Budget Brews page are watered down versions of more competitive decks. Yuriko, however, is a genuinely competitive deck that benefits very little from any RL cards. Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow utilizes cards unique to its strategy that have received limited reprints such as Sakashima's Student, Scheming Symmetry, Personal Tutor, and Mox Amber. The other benefit of investing in the Yuriko strategy is that outside of CEDH it is a very popular commander for a popular creature type, meaning even without additional CEDH support the cards are a safe investment. 

When I think of budget CEDH, I’m reminded of when I was first getting into Legacy. Once upon a time, over a decade ago, Lion's Eye Diamond decks were considered budget Legacy decks. I traded a playset of Bonfire of the Damned for a playset of Lion’s Eye Diamonds and started dredging as I built my collection into more expensive strategies. The safest bet with CEDH is to buy what you can afford and build over time. Look for cards that branch out the number of strategies you can play and cards for which “budget alternatives” don’t exist. As the format continues to grow, others coming into the format will be doing the same thing. They’ll be looking for budget strategies and growing as their budget allows. 

Thank you for joining me for another installment of Safe Bets. I have something special and a little different planned for next time, so please remember to bet safe and come back next month. 

Further Reading:

cEDH Staple Prices Are Booming

Predictions for Modern Horizons 3

Speculating on the Commander Banlist