MTG Salvation

So Iconic Masters is a thing now (announcement here for those who missed it). It sounds like Timmy: The Set, but even putting extremely high value dragons, angels, and hydras such as Archangel of Thune, Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Kalonian Hydra, and Thundermaw Hellkite isn't going to justify a $10/pack price point. It also mentions iconic spells, so what are our predictions?

Mine:
WHITE: Swords to Plowshares at uncommon, Land Tax, Austere Command, Council's Judgment all at rare
BLUE: Rhystic Study, Fact or Fiction, and Counterspell at uncommon, Mana Drain at mythic.
BLACK: Demonic Tutor at rare, Living Death
RED: Chaos Warp
GREEN: Sylvan Library, Doubling Season
LAND: They cheat and do "Snow Duals" or "Legendary Duals" to skirt the Reserved List.

I don't know, seems like it'll be hard to get the value super high without reprinting Modern staples in a Timmy set or breaking Reserved List once and for all. What do you all think?

We will start immediately with avacyn, angel of hope

Quote from Ryperior74 »

We will start immediately with avacyn, angel of hope

Here's something helpful: Iconics worth $10 or more nonfoil, excluding ABU cards that are only worth money for being the ABU version and cards on the Reserved list:

Angels: Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Archangel of Thune, Linvala, Keeper of Silence.
Sphinx: Consecrated Sphinx
Demons: Error: No cards found (Demonic Hordes is it, and they are reserved)
Dragons: The original Elder Dragons (Nicol Bolas et al), Karthuus, Tyrant of Jund, Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon, Zodiac Dragon, Scourge of the Throne, Dragon Broodmother, Kokusho, the Evening Star
Hydras: Khalni Hydra, Progenitus

I'd imagine many of the above are a lock for the set - I suspect we'll be getting at least 2/3 Angels, the Sphinx, the original Elder Dragons + at least two more, Khalni Hydra, and Prog.

Still leaves a lot of set up in the air though.

EDIT: That means the rare and mythic slots for Black are going to be full of despair, although I'd note that Overseer of the Damned and Dread Cacodemon are worth a little money and getting them in foil for the first time would be possibly nice, value-wise.

Quote from Hawk7915 »

LAND: They cheat and do "Snow Duals" or "Legendary Duals" to skirt the Reserved List.

It seems more likely that this would break the reserved list over having any new cards. Though I put those odds at -8%.

There are no cards left with any value. Rishadan Port, I suppose, but there's no Force of Will, or Mana Crypt left. Even Goyf is down to $90, and Lili is $80.
Unless they reprint Zenfetches, there's no draw to this set at all.

Nostalgia is not enough to drive sales.

Rumor of reserve list cards being printed in this.

Hearing something about the new CEO willing to go nice and deep with better reprints.

Quote from Ryperior74 »

Rumor of reserve list cards being printed in this.

Hearing something about the new CEO willing to go nice and deep with better reprints.

I'll believe it when I see it from word of Blogatog, but that would be a preeettty big deal and cause this stuff to sell like hotcakes. Even just tossing on a few random Reserved creatures (like Radiant, Archangel and Rock Hydra) + the ABU Duals would be a massive game-changer and I'd probably sell a kidney to buy a few boxes of it.

I am EXTREMELY skeptical, however.

Off the top of my head, iconic things that aren't reserve list:

Mana Drain
Counterspell
Lord of Atlantis
Counterbalance
Sol Ring
Sensei's Divining Top
Sunder
Imperial Seal
Riding the Dilu Horse
Imperial recruiter
Mind Twist (hoping this gets a better reprinting than the lowly invocation)
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
Dark Ritual
Ashnod's Altar
Crimson Hellkite
Boomerang
Entomb
Demonic Tutor
Ensnaring Bridge
Medallion cycle

249 different variations of the Jacetus League.

If Vampiric Tutor is Mythic in EMA, I expect Demonic Tutor at Mythic here.

Also, I'd say the first four cards mentioned in the OP, as well as Consecrated Sphinx,
are close to 100% likely (maybe less so for Avacyn, but the others are practically guaranteed, I'd wager).

They pretty much have to reprint Rishadan Port, Imperial Seal and Mana Drain to even approach the same EV as EMA and MM3. And both sets are still avaliable so they have to throw stores a bone to keep investing in these things.

Quote from Cainsson »

They pretty much have to reprint Rishadan Port, Imperial Seal and Mana Drain to even approach the same EV as EMA and MM3. And both sets are still avaliable so they have to throw stores a bone to keep investing in these things.

The more I think about it, the more I think Mana Drain (at Mythic) is a lock for the set. Can't get much more "Iconic" than the "we'd have to be hit by a bus to reprint this legendary counterspell" counterspell. And I think given the lack of high-value Demons (most demons suck), Hydras, and Sphinxes (Hydra and Sphinx haven't been iconic long enough to have desirable mythics), we're more likely to get cool and expensive mythics in UBG than in Red and White.

If we got just a few other big $$$ cards, like the ones you mentioned or Imperial Recruiter or Ravages of War or Temporal Manipulation, we'd be in the ballpark of the EV of other Masters sets. Pepper in some $20-30 cards, and then maybe Doubling Season in green, and we're cooking.

I'm also hoping for a "Snow" subtheme, with the bad snow taplands but also a reprint for Scrying Sheets, Skred, Coldsteel Heart, and other similar cards.

Here's demons for ya

Note definately not $10 range but definately the most useful

grislbrand(not going to happen due to MM3)
Rune-Scarred Demon
Demon of death's gate
harvester of souls
Lord of the void
master of cruelties
Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
Overseer of the Damned
And both rakdos

That's it only good choices for demons.

Storm Crow and Mountain Goat merit inclusion.

Quote from user_938036 »

Quote from Hawk7915 »

LAND: They cheat and do "Snow Duals" or "Legendary Duals" to skirt the Reserved List.

It seems more likely that this would break the reserved list over having any new cards. Though I put those odds at -8%.

Adding a supertype to an existing card and giving it a new name will not break the reserved list, at all. That said, it is a masters set and will contain no new cards.

Back on topic:

White: Swords to Plowshares
Blue: Counterspell (at common)
Black: Dark Ritual, Hymn to Tourach
Red: Lightning Bolt
Green: Regrowth

Mana Drain and Rishadan Port are both long overdue. The former at mythic for sure and the latter would probably be mythic too. Demonic Tutor at mythic seems very likely as well.

Aether Vial is quite iconic and hasn't been reprinted aside from as a Masterpiece in years. Could easily be a chase rare. Flusterstorm at rare. Phyrexian Tower at rare.

Necromancy has never been printed in foil and is a very iconic spell.

One can only hope for Three Visits reprint although it is hardly iconic.

By the way it has already been confirmed that no reserved list cards will be reprinted in this set.

Additionally, Mark Rosewater confirmed that there will be no new cards printed in this set being that it is a Masters set.

Time Warp is very iconic and hasn't been printed in nearly 8 years. There are numerous cards that are worth $15 dollars or more that haven't been printed in the past few years that can make this set very valuable.

Serra Angel at common - also Shivan Dragon.

Sphinx's Revelation
Demonic Tutor
Dragonstorm-combo (i. e. also Bogardan Hellkite)

Maybe some Ravnica-legendaries and rares.

Unlikely: Dehydration.

Baneslayer Angel seems like an auto-include in a set full of demons and dragons.

Sphinx of the Final Word, Griselbrand, Thundermaw Hellkite, and Kalonian Hydra all seem like good choices for mythics.

I would be fairly suprised if there were no dragonstorm.deck cards. Bogardan Hellkite, Scourge of Valkas, Dragonstorm, Dragon Tempest, etc.

Windreader Sphinx at rare would also fit pretty well, considering how many flying creatures there will be in the set.

Is mana crypt iconic enough for this?

I know Shivan Dragon is more "iconic" but I'd much rather have Two-headed Dragon, it hasn't seen a reprint in years and one of the more interesting dragons. So much so that I'm amazed we haven't gotten anything close to that.

Since they've been reprinting Onslaught stuff a bit lately I hope they finally get around to doing Oversold Cemetery. It may not be iconic, but the card is great.

As for more iconic things I expect the usual slew of things like Counterspell, Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Lightning Bolt, and others like them.

Since it will be a drafting set, we have to know that there will be the usual ten drafting themes, representing strategies on which iconics can overlap. That said, not every single creature in the set will be an iconic.

Some Juzam Djinn or Balduvian Horde action would be cool.

*EDIT* Welp, seems Juzam is on the RL, so nyet to that. Gimme Sinkhole then

Scroll Rack and Crucible of Worlds would be nice.

I dont know whats more iconic than the lotus, maybe this set is where they drop the reserved list.