Quote from Squirtle_Squad »Do you think the print sizes are affecting the price? The BFZ and SOI blocks are/were being printed into oblivion. I dont know about KTK block however.
KTK had a fairly large print run because it was drafted as 3x for 3 months and then as 2x for another 3 months. Additionally, tons of people cracked it for the Fetchlands.
Dragons of Tarkir only had 3 months as a 2x set and was never drafted as a 3x set. It's also the only large set ever printed where this is the case - Avacyn Restored, Gatecrash, and Rise of the Eldrazi (the other non-Fall Large sets) were all drafted by themselves as 3x for at least three months. It has only a few staple Eternal cards, so its draw from the Eternal crowd was much smaller as well.
On top of this, Collected Company has been the cornerstone of one of the most dominant strategies in Standard, and has made a splash in Modern. So it's one of the most expensive non-Land, non-Mythic Rare cards in recent memory.
All that said, the set is one of the few standalone sets in standard, so there's lower intra-block synergy than with BFZ and SOI cards, and it has only three months left in Standard, which is why everything is starting to creep downwards.
But back on topic. I suppose Crackshot may not be necessary SB, but it certainly can be useful as something that says "I have a big target on my head. But even taking me out via rend flesh/hideous laughter/horobi's whisper will cost you some life" against spirit/arcane decks. I'm not saying they have to be entirely spirit/arcane, but there are several (possible) decks out there worth playing using spirit/arcanes: Green Spirit Beatdown, Black Aggro-Control Spirit/Arcane, blue spirit skies, etc.
Something that could warrant inclusion however is the "Akki Blizzard-Herder":
1R, 1/1
When it leaves play, each player sacs a land.
Turn 2 Akki raider, turn three blizzard herder, crack the earth. They sac 2 lands, you sac a God's eye. Your Akki raider gets +3/+0 until end of turn and you get a 1/1 token in the process. Sick.
Genju of the Spires 2RR
Sorcery
An opponent chooses one: You sacrifice a mountain and that player sacrifices a creature, or that player takes 6 damage.
Return Genju of the Spires to your hand. If your opponent chose the second option, Genju of the spires only costs 2R to play durring your next turn.
I'd run it.
I also want to pick it up for my casual ball lightning deck, featuring Ball Lightning, Blistering Firecat, Spark elemental, Skizzix, Firecat Blitz, Lightning Coils, etc.
SB:
3 Sideswipe (spirit/arcane)
3 Ishi-Ishi (spirit/arcane)
3 Aura Barbs (Shrines)
3 Torrent of Stone (samurai/snakes/other heavy creature decks)
3 Frostling (samurai/snakes/other creature heavy decks)
Turn one Birds (2mana)
Turn two kodama's reach (4 mana, at least 1 in hand)
Turn three Explosive vegetation (7 mana)
Turn four Vedalken Orrery. Endphase their turn play heartbeat of spring (13 mana)
Turn five stack shrapnel blast (saccing an artifact land) and shock, and play sway of the stars. Everything gets shuffled in, each player's life gets set to 7, and then your opponent dies.
Sheer genius if I do say so myself. Then again, it pretty much depends on you having all those exact cards and no disruption against you. And its just a janky casual deck anyways. But still funny.
Genju of the Realm WUBRG
Legendary Enchant Land
6: Enchanted land becomes a 17/14 flying spirit creature with "whenever this creature deals damage, gain that much life" and "B: this creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn" until end of turn.
Whenever enchanted land is put into a graveyard from play, return Genju of the realm to its owner's hand.
Also you can't use this with pingers, as it says combat damage. Aw... othewise this would be eight kinds of sick with sharpshooter. (Turn three sharpshoots, turn 4 this, equip, ping something, get two counters, use 0-2 counters to finish something off, untap, repeat until board is clear, sac some of your own creatures while pinging opponent to get a few more counters, swing with giant guy for the win.)