Until I realized that its a deck that really wants for 3-4 reflecting pools, the 5-color elemental deck is suprisingly cheap considering the amount of rares in it.
If youre willing to risk occasional mana problems, however, by all means.
Really, though, id just save up. 150 or so would put you in a much better position than a straight Benjamin.
As someone who first got into magic by cracking random urza's saga boosters in high school, I can see exactly where theyre aiming with this product.
However, if thats the way the gravity feeds look, I am afraid that these things are going to be notorious shoplifting targets. It's easy to steal a pack of gum, but there's no real drive to do it unless you're something of a thief or klepto anyway, because you can't randomly open a 20 dollar piece of gum with an orange symbol on it. This isn't a magic player thing, either--thieves will see how easy they are to snatch, think "oh arent there like cards that nerds will pay hundreds of dollars for" in their heads, and pocket some when the cashier isn't looking.
You guys keep underrating Thornling, i'll take your copies for 5, and sell them for 10 now, and 20 when Chameleon Colossus rotates.
And you're right, green isn't good now. Jund Ramp will be terrible post-rotation. *sarcasm*
While he might be good after Lorwyn block rotates, I also have to agree that there are better options. Oversoul of Dusk is an excellent example of a creature that is, for alot of decks, much harder to deal with than thornling, much less mana intensive, and more likely to win you the game--and it hardly sees play these days now anyway. He is mythic though, he is kind of flexible, and alot of the creatures id run over him are, in fact, rotating once Live block comes around.
I would say 5 now, 10 or so if a decklist emerges that uses him well (like Rafiq, for example), and if they don't print anymore mono-green "I am a pain to deal with" cards between now and Live, I could see the price going up to 12-20 depending on what a threat he proves to be coupled with what the format looks like (because if he ends up needed noone is going to want to go back and open conflux packs looking for him)
As an aside, Knight of the Reliquary is the new best rare in the set. Thing is nuts.
Soul's Majesty is great, the only trick is finding a creature that won't be promptly obliterated when I target it but still yields enough cards to be a punch in the face to my opponent.
Still, you have to admit that the initial investment of one red mana for a potential 5/5 by turn 4 is super awesome.
Playing tower above on a Manaplasm and beating for 11 seemed really awesome too.
But it never happened.
The card is not atrocious but I don't think its much for constructed. Its very easily dealt with, and youve got anywhere between one and several turns before it even becomes a threat.
Sudden Spoiling is also an incredible black card that would not also fit the theme of the set but provide a foil to akroma.
But I have no idea who the black demon would be. All the suggestions ive seen in the thread seem somewhat lackluster in comparison to Akroma, even the super wrathy demon.
I'm bringing a homebrew deck to states that has an okay matchup against toast and faeries but absolutely scoops to tokens/torrent game 1. I really hope it doesn't catch on but that didnt stop me from devoting sideboard slots to it.
How does your mana-base not support it? Your deck runs 4 sunken ruins AND 4 Mystic gate. The only land that does not tap for W or B is the conclave and that is negated even if you have a single filter in play. Trust me, if you look at this particular mana-base once you hit 5 lands, 95% of the time you will be able to produce the mana to play it.
I'm just saying that you guys shouldn't brush it off until you've tried it.
Finks probably wouldn't be a bad idea. My advice would just be to play more defensively until you can draw into warhammer and use the life you gain to out-tempo them. Snakeform in that matchup helps a ton and with hammer, form, and finks SB you probably wouldn't be in that bad of shape unless they got a god draw.
I'd cut the oona and overbeing for more collussus--since it seems like alot of your men can't be targetted, they're just going to get immediately ruined by all your opponents unused hate the moment you play it and you won't get the advantage out of them like you would selkie or drifter.
I'm not sure if you've tried it already (I think I suggested it in your last thread about this deck) but this deck looks like it was made to house Divinity of Pride as a win condition. I know you love the angel (I do too, admittedly) but I feel like its a strictly better win-con over it. Since you seem to be gaining alot of life, the potential of an 8-power lifelink flier that doesn't have to attack alone is tremendous, not to mention it can't be terrored or shriekmawed.
EDIT: Actually, maybe you're not gaining TONS of life, per se, but I think its worth looking into. From personal experience I can tell you that the DoP is a wonderful creature.
Actually, by that time, they'll have the Christmas oreo's with the blood-red frosting. Those are even better.
I'm not going to give you a warning for spam (because this was partially my fault), but it'd be swell if you could add something about the thread in question to this post so we both feel better.
My plan is to go with my 60 card battle of wits deck, and stall out each game by counting the cards in my library very, very slowly each turn. Then, on every upkeep, when I finally finish counting and come to the conclusion that my deck still does not have over 200 cards in it, I will drop a very large F-bomb, every time, especially if there are judges nearby.
EDIT: Battle of Wits wasn't reprinted in 10th? Man, I hate this game.
If youre willing to risk occasional mana problems, however, by all means.
Really, though, id just save up. 150 or so would put you in a much better position than a straight Benjamin.
However, if thats the way the gravity feeds look, I am afraid that these things are going to be notorious shoplifting targets. It's easy to steal a pack of gum, but there's no real drive to do it unless you're something of a thief or klepto anyway, because you can't randomly open a 20 dollar piece of gum with an orange symbol on it. This isn't a magic player thing, either--thieves will see how easy they are to snatch, think "oh arent there like cards that nerds will pay hundreds of dollars for" in their heads, and pocket some when the cashier isn't looking.
Maybe I'm overthinking it.
While he might be good after Lorwyn block rotates, I also have to agree that there are better options. Oversoul of Dusk is an excellent example of a creature that is, for alot of decks, much harder to deal with than thornling, much less mana intensive, and more likely to win you the game--and it hardly sees play these days now anyway. He is mythic though, he is kind of flexible, and alot of the creatures id run over him are, in fact, rotating once Live block comes around.
I would say 5 now, 10 or so if a decklist emerges that uses him well (like Rafiq, for example), and if they don't print anymore mono-green "I am a pain to deal with" cards between now and Live, I could see the price going up to 12-20 depending on what a threat he proves to be coupled with what the format looks like (because if he ends up needed noone is going to want to go back and open conflux packs looking for him)
As an aside, Knight of the Reliquary is the new best rare in the set. Thing is nuts.
Oversoul of Dusk maybe?
Playing tower above on a Manaplasm and beating for 11 seemed really awesome too.
But it never happened.
The card is not atrocious but I don't think its much for constructed. Its very easily dealt with, and youve got anywhere between one and several turns before it even becomes a threat.
I know hoping for an equipment card that references the card directly and wins the game when attached is probably a tall order, though
But I have no idea who the black demon would be. All the suggestions ive seen in the thread seem somewhat lackluster in comparison to Akroma, even the super wrathy demon.
I'm just saying that you guys shouldn't brush it off until you've tried it.
EDIT: Actually, maybe you're not gaining TONS of life, per se, but I think its worth looking into. From personal experience I can tell you that the DoP is a wonderful creature.
I'm not going to give you a warning for spam (because this was partially my fault), but it'd be swell if you could add something about the thread in question to this post so we both feel better.
And yes, the red-filled ones are awesome too.
-Shin
EDIT: Battle of Wits wasn't reprinted in 10th? Man, I hate this game.