Modern Times - A Dynamic Format
Hello everyone! Today on Modern Times we’ll discuss some exciting price movements from some newer cards, and one classic. Modern is more dynamic now than ever, so let’s jump in!
Lorien Revealed
The reason for this card’s inclusion is that it’s one of the very few commons in Modern to break the dollar threshold. Just a few months ago it was 50 cents, and not on anyone’s list for becoming a near-staple in the format. Today it’s sitting at $3.50, which represents a five-fold increase over an incredibly short time window. The question, naturally, then becomes “Where did this come from?”
As far as blue cards that see Modern play go (which are already few and far between), this one offers a surprising amount of utility. Islandcycling enables multicolored decks, in particular Temur Rhinos, to dig for mana fixers like
Beyond Temur Rhinos, Blue Tron and Dimir Midrange builds also enjoy playing Lorien Revealed. Looking outside the bounds of Modern, it also sees extensive play in pretty much every other format from Pauper to Vintage. In terms of speculation, I see this card being a potential reprint target for Modern Horizons 3. But that’s some ways out, and could even be complicated by the LOTR IP in its namesake (more on that later). In the short-term, as Temur Rhinos grows in popularity to the number two spot in the Modern meta, it’s not hard to see this card going up to maybe $4 or $4.50, so pick up your playset while they are still low… Or grab a few draft booster packs where you’ll likely pull one, given its rarity.
Flame of Anor
Flame of Anor at face value may seem like an off-brand
So what makes Flame of Anor different, and more preferable than Prismari? A couple things. Firstly, in Temur Rhinos (where this card sees most of its play), Flame of Anor’s “draw two cards” mode is a strict improvement of Prismari, which forces you to discard two after you draw two. Like most Cascade engines, it's imperative to hit one of your eight Cascade cards (usually
These aren’t unrealistic problems the average Temur Rhinos player faces. With these kinds of decks, keeping a borderline hand can be the difference between winning by a slim margin and losing by a large margin. Keeping a hand without a Cascade effect risks the odds of you drawing into one too late. Keeping a hand with a Cascade effect, but too few lands, risks falling behind.
Cards like Flame of Anor act as cheap card draw with no drawback, which adds a much-needed consistency boost to decks that face a mana value floor in order to operationalize their win conditions (Crashing Footfalls more times than not). Furthermore, the “deal 5 damage to target creature” mode is a massive improvement to Prismari Command’s “deal 2 damage” analogue. Five damage deals with pretty much all the most threatening creatures in the meta except
How much more do people want Flame of Anor you may ask? Well, currently Flame of Anor is hitting a nice market price of $8.25, while Prismari Command is chilling at $3 on a good day. Furthermore, in terms of reprint-ability, Flame of Anor is a tougher line to walk given its direct tie-in to Lord of the Rings - at least when compared to cards like Orcish Bowmasters, which are more generically named. This isn’t to say there won’t be a functional reprint of Flame of Anor at some point in the future, but the degree to which WOTC can reprint IPs they have limited rights to is still murky at best, and creeps into somewhat untreaded waters.
Aside from Universes Within reprints, cards from outside IPs (like LOTR) haven’t seen reprints in sets legal for Standard and Modern. This leads me to believe that Flame of Anor has ample opportunity to continue to grow in price. By how much, though? Maybe a couple bucks more. It’s likely close to its price ceiling, which feels like $10. Outside of Temur Rhinos, and the occasional off-beat Izzet Murktide build, no other Modern deck capitalizes on this card. So if you play Rhinos, or are thinking of playing Rhinos, then it’s probably better sooner-than-later to pick up a playset.
Up the Beanstalk
This is a terrific sleeper hit from Wilds of Eldraine that, upon being previewed, was overshadowed by
Where did this quaint little uncommon find a home? Four-Color Omnath - a deck that was thought to be falling by the wayside as Rakdos Scam and Golgari Yawgmoth have risen to the top of the meta. Up the Beanstalk has given Omnath decks the much-needed card advantage engine they lacked with plenty of cards like
Stacking up cheap, accessible card draw in a more-than-three-colors deck is enormous for boosting consistency and ensuring access to key removal pieces, and win conditions once games drag beyond turns four or five. Moreover, Beanstalk’s effect stacks with other copies of Beanstalk. Turn two Beanstalk, turn three Beanstalk, and an Evoked Fury guarantees you two draws, and a minimum of four damage from the Fury with a maximum of eight damage in the same turn if its
Where does this leave us pricewise? Around $3.50 a copy. If we rewind the clock back a couple weeks, it was a dollar. The interesting part, however, is that there’s still a ton of upside potential beyond just Omnath builds. I believe $3.50 is just the ground floor with this card given its overall utility and low mana cost. Beyond Modern, it slots in nicely to Commander, Standard, and Pioneer builds too, further cementing its financial upside. It's worth picking up your copies now.
Chalice of the Void
By some accounts, Chalice of the Void is the most played card in Modern. Slotting into pretty much every sideboard in the meta, Chalice is an artifact as old as the format itself… No, literally.
Chalice is a surprisingly straightforward card. Pay , and counter all cards with a mana value of X. If XX is zero, Chalice is a zero mana artifact that stops
Chalice on one or two is also a potent option, which shuts down everything from Ragavan to Orcish Bowmasters - along with most other top-tier cards in the format. Aside from other artifact removal, which would usually be sideboarded in as well (such as
Can it go higher? Honestly, yeah. With only a couple “larger-scale” reprints in out-of-print Masters sets, scrambling for Chalices can be an expensive proposition. With Modern Horizons 3 looming, it’s tough to gauge whether it will be a prime reprint target, or grow in popularity from power-crept cards inevitably making their way into MH3, or both.
| Lorien Revealed | ||
| Flame of Anor | ||
| Up the Beanstalk | ||
| Chalice of the Void |
Some Final Thoughts
Modern has really gone from a fairly static state to incredibly dynamic over a very short window. Turns out, the market is still absorbing some latent hits from Tales of Middle Earth, particularly niche cards like Flame of Anor and incredibly versatile pieces like Lorien Revealed. Wilds of Eldraine has produced arguably the most impactful card in Modern from a Standard-legal set since Dominaria United released Sheoldred. These movements have created sort of a shuffle between three or four decks vying for the top spot in the meta. With all these changing tides, anti-meta staples like Chalice of the Void become more in-demand, too. Speculate safely!
Check out these other articles:
New Horizons - Wilds of Eldraine Commander by Matt Grzechnik
History, Restapled - True Value by Steve Heisler
Over and Under - Crackling Season by Harvey McGuinness
Corey Williams is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Shippensburg University in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. He considers himself a macroeconometrician with his research body reflecting work in applied macroeconomics and econometrics. Corey is an L1 Judge who started playing Magic around Eighth Edition. He enjoys Modern, Commander, cEDH, and cube drafting. Outside of Magic, he loves running, teaching, and the occasional cult movie.
