A lot of the biggest offenders have been listed here (e.g. Bloom Tender and Vedalken Orrery), but the main thing that they should be doing is improving the mana bases. Some examples include:
Most of these are relatively inexpensive (prior to reprinting and will certainly be post reprinting, are not in standard) and serve as reasonable mana bases in decks (i.e. the first major step a deck would take when upgrading from the precon mana bases).
Iconic lands I'd like to see in addition to these mentioned:
The absolute last thing I want to see is the value of precons eaten up by fetches. They are great if you can afford them, I just don't want them to be the only reason anyone buys a precon pack.
Jesus, Athreos jumped in price. The command cards would be great to see again. Pretty sure Kolaghan's Command sees a bit of modern play alongside Bloodbraid Elf, which could explain the price.
I think the Avatar cycle, especially Avatar of Woe, counts as iconic. Maybe Foil and the legendary Spellshapers.
I have to admit, I do quite like Jolrael, Empress of Beasts. Doesn't mean I wouldn't be bummed to pull it from a masters pack, but nonetheless it's a cool card. And yeah, Avatar of Woe is pretty cool too.
The newest Tolarian Community College podcast had an interview with Gavin Verhey. He confirmed that we are not going to be seeing fetches in any Commander sets anytime soon, but said that a) Wizards has heard the complaints about the low value of reprints in C18 and will be improving the value of the reprints moving forward, and b) with the demise of the Masters sets, we will probably be seeing more in-demand staples for commander, modern and other formats in Commander sets, as well as things like future Battlebond and Conspiracy sets. Here's hoping these changes kick in with C19.
This sounds great. It stands to reason, and I hope they stay true to this and we see some tasty morsels in C19.
Not going to happen. When we go to a new plane eventually, and then probably not a norse inspired one s that is on top of everybody's want list so,it will be a succes anyway, that is business risk for WotC because players might not like the set. All they have to is print fetches or some other very craved land cycle in it and it will sell like hot cupcakes regardless of the rest of the set. They won't give away such an "insurance policy" in a set that they know will sell well anyway.
Agree with this. As nice as it would be, fetches are not getting such an easy course reprint. Here's why:
- They pretty much chew up the entire value of a precon in a single card, so you could more or less guarantee the rest of the box would be dross - there's no way WOTC go above monetary parity unless they can help it in precons. Sure there are outliers like Teferi's Protection, but they KNOW the value of fetches prior to printing, and that value isn't going to drop anytime soon.
- They're chase cards not only for commander but other formats as well - the last thing they want is modern players scooping up precons in lieu of EDH players getting access to them. Sure they want the sales, but they also don't want to deal with the fallout of EDH players complaining they're not getting access to precons for a format that modern players aren't interested in.
I'd suggest that what Ertai has mentioned is likely to be the case; we'll see them return, but not until we're seeing a more financially risky set come up; a new plane, new story arc, mechanics WOTC is uncertain of; something they need an insurance policy for.
Rector and Wheel are reserved list, so unfortunately won't be reprinted. Everything else here is up for grabs though. Personally, I wouldn't want to see any more Purphoros, God of the Forge. But that's just me.
As for extra turn cards, I think that the trend is to make sure that they exile themselves (Karn's Temporal Sundering, Part the Waterveil, Temporal Mastery, Temporal Trespass), shuffle back into the library (Beacon of Tomorrows, Nexus of Fate. Timestream Navigator), or with some sort of significant drawback (Chance for Glory, Savor the Moment) so as to try and prevent recursion shenanigans. I think that the last Sorcery extra turn card that was printed without those safeguards was Walk the Aeons (unless you count Notorious Throng as not having a significant drawback). I would think that with Expropriate self-exiling, it would be fine to reprint in a Commander product.
Personally, I still think Expropriate is gross. Casting it once is often enough to combo out or end the game otherwise. Even if it does exile, you're still getting more than one extra turn out of the spell, possibly up to 4. No matter how you cut it, the value is high, and I don't want to see it reprinted. Walk the Aeons is a little different. Buying back at the cost of manabase is costly unless you have a way to work around it. It's still abusable in the right (wrong?) place, but the drawback is much higher. Just my two cents. If Expropriate were the conspiracy mechanic card they choose to reprint, I'd be pretty disappointed.
I doubt we are gonna see the voting stuff from Conspiracy just printed as a one off effect and they are very skittish about printing extra turn cards again at any kind of speed
Agreed regarding extra turn stuff. It gets painful too easily. Regarding the voting stuff, you never know. There's been mechanics in commander sets that have played around with that design space - things like Join Forces and Tempting Offer have generally been pretty well received. And if there's a format other than conspiracy draft that would be a decent home for the voting cards it's probably commander. I don't think there's a ton of them that really warrant reprinting, but Council's Judgment is decent, and so is Selvala's Stampede.
Maybe not a commander product but something like a Masters set, like Commander Masters or Casual Masters. WotC can put a lot of desirable cards in a set that don't see a lot of competitive play:
A lot of cards with a high casual potential and maybe a few cards with competitive potential so the competitive players buy a lot of boxes and the prices of the cards will fall.
The price tag for Bloom Tenderis just ridiculous… A lot of cards from the Lorwyn block are just sky high in price.
Agree with all of these picks. Unfortunately WotC have stated that UMA was the last masters set to be released into the foreseeable future. So barring reprints in standard sets or additional supplementary sets, we're really only likely to see reprints in the precons. For now, at least.
Rhystic Study - it's stupid how much this costs for a damn uncommon from one of the worst sets in MTG history.
And yet, in Masters 25, where they promised an iconic card from each set in Magic's history, the "iconic" card from Prophecy was not Rhystic Study(the most iconic, most valuable, and most-needing-a-reprint card from the set) or even Spore Frog, a perfectly serviceable common that's never seen a reprint. Instead, they chose Plague Wind, a (very nearly) strictly worse In Garruk's Wake (barring regeneration effects).
I would argue that Rhystic Study is very likely the only 'iconic' card in Prophecy. The only people who care about Plague Wind are Lazav, Dimir Mastermind players. Honestly, Iconic was such a bad set in general. Completely overshadowed by Battlebond. The duals from that set would be a good addition, too.
That's probably plenty to go on with. Obviously it's not feasible to see all of them in a single edition, but almost all of these are staples that are used widely, and a)priced higher than they ought to be due to lack of reprints and b)useful in a variety of settings within the format. I'm definitely in the boat of struggling to get a reasonable range of staples due to time away from the game, and it's enticing to see solid value reprints come through, when they do. Also, without masters sets coming through in the foreseeable future any of these would be a welcome addition in precons. It remains to be seen how WotC will continue to make reprints available, and I think adding value to precons is a long overdue easy option.
Iconic lands I'd like to see in addition to these mentioned:
Minamo, School at Water's Edge
Hall of the Bandit Lord
Shizo, Death's Storehouse
Maze of Ith
Strip Mine
Dust Bowl
Tolaria West
Kor Haven
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
The absolute last thing I want to see is the value of precons eaten up by fetches. They are great if you can afford them, I just don't want them to be the only reason anyone buys a precon pack.
I have to admit, I do quite like Jolrael, Empress of Beasts. Doesn't mean I wouldn't be bummed to pull it from a masters pack, but nonetheless it's a cool card. And yeah, Avatar of Woe is pretty cool too.
This sounds great. It stands to reason, and I hope they stay true to this and we see some tasty morsels in C19.
Agree with this. As nice as it would be, fetches are not getting such an easy course reprint. Here's why:
- They pretty much chew up the entire value of a precon in a single card, so you could more or less guarantee the rest of the box would be dross - there's no way WOTC go above monetary parity unless they can help it in precons. Sure there are outliers like Teferi's Protection, but they KNOW the value of fetches prior to printing, and that value isn't going to drop anytime soon.
- They're chase cards not only for commander but other formats as well - the last thing they want is modern players scooping up precons in lieu of EDH players getting access to them. Sure they want the sales, but they also don't want to deal with the fallout of EDH players complaining they're not getting access to precons for a format that modern players aren't interested in.
I'd suggest that what Ertai has mentioned is likely to be the case; we'll see them return, but not until we're seeing a more financially risky set come up; a new plane, new story arc, mechanics WOTC is uncertain of; something they need an insurance policy for.
Rector and Wheel are reserved list, so unfortunately won't be reprinted. Everything else here is up for grabs though. Personally, I wouldn't want to see any more Purphoros, God of the Forge. But that's just me.
Personally, I still think Expropriate is gross. Casting it once is often enough to combo out or end the game otherwise. Even if it does exile, you're still getting more than one extra turn out of the spell, possibly up to 4. No matter how you cut it, the value is high, and I don't want to see it reprinted. Walk the Aeons is a little different. Buying back at the cost of manabase is costly unless you have a way to work around it. It's still abusable in the right (wrong?) place, but the drawback is much higher. Just my two cents. If Expropriate were the conspiracy mechanic card they choose to reprint, I'd be pretty disappointed.
Agreed regarding extra turn stuff. It gets painful too easily. Regarding the voting stuff, you never know. There's been mechanics in commander sets that have played around with that design space - things like Join Forces and Tempting Offer have generally been pretty well received. And if there's a format other than conspiracy draft that would be a decent home for the voting cards it's probably commander. I don't think there's a ton of them that really warrant reprinting, but Council's Judgment is decent, and so is Selvala's Stampede.
Agree with all of these picks. Unfortunately WotC have stated that UMA was the last masters set to be released into the foreseeable future. So barring reprints in standard sets or additional supplementary sets, we're really only likely to see reprints in the precons. For now, at least.
I would argue that Rhystic Study is very likely the only 'iconic' card in Prophecy. The only people who care about Plague Wind are Lazav, Dimir Mastermind players. Honestly, Iconic was such a bad set in general. Completely overshadowed by Battlebond. The duals from that set would be a good addition, too.
Ew, that's even grosser.
Last time I looked at LGS prices the non-arsenal version was like $20 NZD. Obscene.
Edit - the arsenal version is even more obscene at ~$60 NZD.
Baneslayer Angel
Archangel of Thune
Massacre Wurm
Leyline of Anticipation
Glacial Chasm
Strip Mine
And in general:
Oracle of Mul daya
Land Tax
Exploration
Sneak Attack
Asceticism
Phyrexian Altar
Ancient Tomb - I want more of a price drop on this and...
Phyrexian Tower
Cyclonic Rift
Greater Good - it may not be pricey, and it's just had a reprint, but it's that good.
Rhystic Study - it's stupid how much this costs for a damn uncommon from one of the worst sets in MTG history.
Toxic Deluge
Maze of Ith
Boseiju, who Shelters All
Phyrexian Metamorph
That's probably plenty to go on with. Obviously it's not feasible to see all of them in a single edition, but almost all of these are staples that are used widely, and a)priced higher than they ought to be due to lack of reprints and b)useful in a variety of settings within the format. I'm definitely in the boat of struggling to get a reasonable range of staples due to time away from the game, and it's enticing to see solid value reprints come through, when they do. Also, without masters sets coming through in the foreseeable future any of these would be a welcome addition in precons. It remains to be seen how WotC will continue to make reprints available, and I think adding value to precons is a long overdue easy option.