New Horizons: All Will Be One Jumpstart

Welcome back to New Horizons. This week's article will cover Phyrexia: All Will Be One Jumpstart. We’ll emphasize the availability, presence in the current metagame, and foil variations.

ONE Jumpstart

The principle behind Jumpstart is to offer an accessible and enjoyable experience for all, in particular new players. The focus is on the deck-building mechanic of the format, followed by the pickup of new playables in the secondary market. With the set-specific Jumpstart product, the cards are legal in a majority of the formats ranging from Vintage to Commander, the latter of which benefits the most from the new cards due to their low cost and attainability.

All of the rare cards listed below are currently priced under the $1 mark. This is due to a few factors, the biggest being the vast amount of copies available. Each of the five themes can come in two variations, changing the decklist. However, the rares are always guaranteed to be the same.

On the other hand, the foil multiplier for these cards is quite formidable due to the limited slots where they can be obtained. Suffering from the same issue as Urtet, Remnant of Memnarch, mentioned in the previous article, the Jumpstart rare foils can only be obtained through the collector boosters.

 

Mite Overseer

Mite Overseer is arguably the most balanced out of the five rares we’ll cover today. While the card is comparable to Phantom General and Mirrex, Overseer offers players greater potential. This card's difference in anthem effect adds the benefit of first strike for all of the tokens rather than the extra point of toughness. Secondly, the mana sink ability to create tokens does not cause the Mite Overseer to tap. Along with that, the cost of the ability can also be substituted with Phyrexian mana. The combination of the above, and the fact that the tokens have Toxic, creates a cheap and affordable threat that is likely to break through stalemates. Outside of the Toxic/Infect game plan, Mite Overseer is shaping up to be a good pickup in a large variety of token strategies.

Mirrex	CardKingdom $1.29	TCGPlayer $0.99
Mite Overseer	CardKingdom $1.29	TCGPlayer $1.25
Mite Overseer (Extended Art)	CardKingdom $1.79	TCGPlayer $1.30
Phantom General	CardKingdom $0.35	TCGPlayer $0.25

 

Serum Sovereign

Serum Sovereign is a terrific callback to Serum Visions. Considering the popularity of the spellslinger theme and the growth of Proliferate decks (in the lower power settings), Serum Sovereign could potentially generate a vast amount of card advantage while also adding value. Commander decks like Elminster and Eligeth, Crossroads Augur should have this as an auto-include. On the other hand, the high mana cost is a limiting factor to the playability of this blue rare.

Serum Sovereign	CardKingdom $0.35	TCGPlayer $0.50
Elminster	CardKingdom $1.49	TCGPlayer $1.33
Serum Sovereign (Extended Art)	CardKingdom $0.35	TCGPlayer $0.50
Eligeth, Crossroads Augur	CardKingdom $0.35	TCGPlayer $0.35

 

Kinzu of the Bleak Coven

Kinzu of the Bleak Coven is not a personal favorite. While the stat line for the 5/4 creature with flying is commendable, the main attraction is the recursion effect for our dying creatures. The near same effect is seen on Nightmare Shepherd with the tokens created being non-Toxic and also not costing two life to create. The price points are also similar, with neither of the cards breaking the $1 barrier despite Nightmare Shepherd being printed only once in Theros: Beyond Death. Due to this pattern, don't expect Kinzu of the Bleak Coven to surge in price anytime soon.

Nightmare Shepherd	CardKingdom $0.99	TCGPlayer $0.81
Kinzu of the Bleak Coven	CardKingdom $0.69	TCGPlayer $0.50
Kinzu of the Bleak Coven (Extended Art)	CardKingdom $0.99	TCGPlayer $0.76

 

Rhuk, Hexgold Nabber

This card strikes a different balance between the Kazuul's Toll Collector and Armory Automaton. Rhuk, Hexgold Nabber encourages aggressive trading of equipped creatures to circumvent the usually expensive Equip cost. This ability benefits the player both mid-game and late-game while synergizing extremely well with the new For Mirrodin! mechanic. In conjunction with having haste and trample, it creates its own twist to the equipment theme. Being a unique build-around card and a backup plan for a Voltron-style commander, the power of this card remains to be seen in the larger metagame.

Rhuk, Hexgold Nabber	CardKingdom $0.35	TCGPlayer $0.50
Rhuk, Hexgold Nabber (Extended Art)	CardKingdom $0.35	TCGPlayer $0.48
Armory Automaton	CardKingdom $4.99	TCGPlayer $3.70
Kazuul's Toll Collector	CardKingdom $0.35	TCGPlayer $0.25

 

Goliath Hatchery

Goliath Hatchery is the weakest card in the Jumpstart. The enter-the-battlefield trigger, reminiscent of Viral Spawning, is tempting, but for green is simply not enough. The biggest shortcoming falls within the second part of the card. The conditional card draw associated with each upkeep is not something that can be relied on. While green does have the largest Toxic creatures, such as Paladin of Predation, when one considers cheaper alternatives (e.g. Glorious Sunrise ) there is a large array of options independent of whether or not we have Toxic creatures in play.

Viral Spawning	CardKingdom $0.25	TCGPlayer $0.20
Goliath Hatchery	CardKingdom $0.35	TCGPlayer $0.47
Goliath Hatchery (Extended Art)	CardKingdom $0.35	TCGPlayer $0.46
Glorious Sunrise	CardKingdom $1.29	TCGPlayer $0.80

 

Conclusion

Jumpstart offers a reasonably priced product that serves as a great entry point to attract new players and keep the deck builders entertained with newly printed cards. As these cards will mainly see Commander play, their demand may increase over time once the product goes out of printing.

While these cards are not currently breaking the bank, keep these marked in our ‘Premium Price Alerts’ as they become exposed to a wider audience.

Join me again in two weeks, where we’ll cover the recent Secret Lairs.