The prices of cards in this set are far less likely to hold their value than cards from other sets. The cards' value is high only because of the incredibly low supply of the cards in question. Of the rare and mythics worth more than the MSRP of a pack, how many have seen a reprint? Only 10%-20%, and all were only printed in sets before Magic's boom during the RTR period.
Furthermore, very, very few of the high value cards see competitive play, a marker of the ability of a card's value to withstand a reprint in the long term.
Does anyone honestly believe that filter lands see more play than shocks? The price of shocks is so much lower than filters because shocks were reprinted in massive numbers in RTR block, whereas the filters were only printed (outside of the Expeditions) in the original Shadowmoor block 10 years ago, when the player base was far smaller.
I'd be curious to see where prices are for this set in two months, because I'd be shocked if the EV of a booster box is anywhere close to where these calculations peg it before release.
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- orlouge82
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Wasn't it for Zendikar vs. Eldrazi?
He said that they were designed to be weak, which was the point to which I was replying by pointing out how strong the Rakshasa is.
They will definitely use these cards again at some point in the future, though, since Wizards isn't one to pay money for quality art that is only used once in a relatively low-profile manner.
There is absolutely no way that the Rakshasa would see zero play in Standard if it were printed in paper. It's a freakin' Lava Axe stapled on a 5/5 body. Opponents don't even get the option to sac a creature to avoid it like with Demanding Dragon. The card would be blinked and reanimated endlessly in Standard.
EDIT:
Oh, and it's a cat, so the ETB damage it deals would actually gain you life with the Caracal out.
You could run a bunch of 1-of value creatures in a UB or WUB deck that maybe also ran Scarab God. I mean, that's the nice thing about Liliana's Contract is that it draws 4 for 5 mana. Blue players have been begging for a Tidings reprint in Standard for a decade.
Can this be competitive?
Did you skip the tutorial after the update? They are in the decks that you play against during the tutorial
The Buy-a-Box promo is actually an even bigger mess. I've been testing Nexus of Fate in a Bant ramp/control build, and if the game goes on long enough, you will inevitably start chaining extra turns, perhaps indefinitely. I'm sure that there will be others who come up with their own ways to do this, but the point is that it's potentially one of the most powerful cards in Standard, and there is a very, very limited supply of it, which will cause prices to skyrocket once the card shows up in a winning decklist.
Ugin and Chromium proposed a very rational solution to the problem of the dragon-killers - a surgical strike that only removed those humans with the knowledge/skill of the dragon-killing tradition, while sparing the rest.
Bolas, on the other hand, wanted to cause pain and misery to those who he believe threatened his existence. He could have just ended things quickly, but he wanted to cause as much suffering as possible.
And let's not delude ourselves into thinking that Bolas was considering the welfare of his siblings and cousins when he took the actions that he did. He did so because he saw the humans as a threat to himself. And he relished the misery he caused because he is a petty little **** who uses his power to control and oppress others to compensate for his own deep insecurities.
Everything he did was due to his fear of death. Ugin, on the other hand, accepted his relative insignificance early on in the story arc:
Not really. Ugin understands that all life has its purpose and place. When the dragons were discussing how to deal with the dragonkillers, Ugin only wanted to get rid of those within the village who would continue the dragon-killing practices. He wanted to spare those who had no part in the practices and thus were unable to continue the tradition once the leaders were gone; those who were only trying to exist and life their lives without actively destroying other life.
Ugin respects all life, while Bolas only respects his own. How is Bolas more understandable than Ugin?
I'm hoping that they're using this as a setup for the plot of the eventual return to Tarkir: Revolt against the Dragons and some return to the old ways. Wizards repeatedly said that the world of Khans of Tarkir was more popular than the world of Dragons of Tarkir.
My first thought when I figured out what Bolas was doing was that this was the start of the Empire of Madara.
In general, the story has been pretty good. Apparently we're not going to get details of the Elder Dragon War, though?
What I'm wondering is whether the last ability of Brightling can be activated as a -1/+1 when its power is at or less than zero (and thus, potentially raise its toughness beyond 6 without any additional outside buffs). My gut tells me "yes" based on other related rules interactions, but I wanted to get some input from others to make sure.
From the official Magic: The Gathering Comprehensive Rules: