Locations
With the upcoming Pro Tour but a week away, I think it is time to take a hard look at what Modern is probably going to do to some of the format staples’ prices. By time you read this, the Pro Tour will be in full swing, starting just hours after this will go live, which doesn’t give you much time to act. The plus side is that most people will not be completely up to date with what is going on yet, so you will still have Friday night to scavenge for those staples before any new tech becomes mainstream. Of course, I do not have a ticket to the Pro Tour, meaning I cannot tell you for sure what cards I can see going up or down based on Pros’ choices of decks. I can, however, tell you what the research I have been doing has shown, both for paper and online Magic.
Modern-Age Zoo
So, what does this information allow us to speculate on in terms of price increases? Truthfully, I am not sure this deck runs a single card that is not already outrageously priced, but I do believe it is important to know that Messenger is seeing play outside of Standard, meaning they may be in demand when the next Pro Tour Qualifier season hits, allowing the card’s price to hold or possibly even rise some in the spring.
There is another variation of Zoo that is running many of the same cards but has forgone green in favor of white for Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Steppe Lynx. This deck seems to be a quicker approach, but it still uses many of the same tools to carve its way to victory. With the recent spike in Thalia, I doubt we will see her go much higher, but there is a chance over time that she will join the ranks of some of the other 2-drop staples in this format and keep climbing. Grim Lavamancer also has cropped up in a few lists as of late, and I would look at picking up copies as throw-ins if you can—although this card is nearly bulk now, it will rise again over time if it does not see another reprint.
Other Aggro Variants
One of the decks that has been almost directly ported over from Legacy is Merfolk. These little sea creatures have been showing up in Top 8s of various formats for years now, and with the added bonus of Master of the Pearl Trident, I don’t expect that to change any time soon. Unlike its Legacy counterpart, the Modern Merfolk deck gives up the free counters and uses discard to keep control of the game while still keeping the pressure on with a constant stream of lords. This is a deck I can see gaining some value in the coming months, but I would not be looking to invest for this weekend. With the reemergence of Simic in Gatecrash it has been confirmed that Merfolk will be the tribe for the guild, meaning the power level, especially in Modern, may gain a significant boost if Wizards of the Coast prints any value fish at a reasonably low cost. For now, the only card I can see speculating on from Merfolk would be Phantasmal Image since it has been cropping up in a number of decks and still has a relatively low price tag considering how important this card was just a month ago.
Combo Corner
Melira Pod is a deck that has been in the format since the beginning and is still putting up results on Magic Online Dailies. The deck consists of a number of one-of cards that prevent most of them from gaining much value, but looking at the lists as a whole, there are some underpriced cards that may come back in value once the season hits. I could see Chord of Calling gaining even more value if this deck has a good showing, considering the card is played in this deck and also in the Elf variants and Legacy versions of the same deck. Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker took a huge leap a few months ago after the deck morphed into a Splinter Twin deck variant, creating even more demand for this legendary Goblin. I could see the same spike occurring again if this and the Splinter Twin decks do well enough, creating a huge demand for this guy—even with the reprint.
I hope everyone enjoys the Pro Tour coverage this weekend. I know I will be locked in front of the computer enjoying every moment of what is quickly becoming my favorite format for versatility and variation. There is so much left to explore in this relatively new Eternal domain that for now, we can only speculate on what is known, but I imagine this year will show us many new innovations and archetypes that have not existed up until this point. If you have any new deck ideas or innovations you feel should be shared, leave a comment—I am always looking for new and interesting twists on Modern. If anyone has any new Ravnica cards they believe will shape the metagame, please post those as well. Unfortunately, I have not had enough time to test with the new set, so I am curious what new players have been cropping up.
Ryan Bushard
