When trading up to FoW's, you should be losing some value. The value in this trade is slanted toward the person getting the Forces, and by a significant margin. The Shocks are basically $9-10 cards and the Decays are $6ish. The Forces, even played, will sell for $50 all day. How is this close to fair?
R_E, I agree that it is only Standard demand that is forcing up the price of Sphinx's Revelation. I was just saying that, for the current Standard, the lifegain is actually more relevant than the casting cost and the lack of ability to target combined. My post was not meant to flame or anything like that and I apologize if it was taken that way. I fully agree that this is not a card with value post-rotation.
First off, the whole "target player" thing isn't really relevant. Yes, you can't use the card as a way to mill someone out for the win. Since this is not what people are trying to do in Standard, it has no impact on the discussion.
Second, the mana cost is really a non-issue. Most of the time, you are going to be casting this card for 6+ mana. The decks who want this card, Control decks who play on the opponent's turn, are most likely to be UW anyway. The mana cost is completely non-restrictive. By the time you have the 6 or 7 mana you want to use, you almost certainly have UUW for the casting cost. If this was a card where you wanted to cast it turn three and you were comparing 2U to UUW, obviously that is a completely different story.
The life gain is not irrelevant, and it basically comes free in comparison to Stroke of Genius.
I am not going to say that Jund would be unplayable without BBE, but it would certainly hurt the deck badly. It would no longer be the de facto best deck IMO. It would return a sense of balance to the metagame.
IMO I would take Pile A. Everyone wants Snapcasters and Fetches. People are trading for Crawlers are almost $10 each. People are selliing Mana Crypts for under $50 right on these forums.
By Format Defining Card I mean a card which every deckbuilder must take into account at the very ground level of deck building. Your deck either plays Thragtusk or it needs a definitive answer to Thragtusk or it is a bad deck.
Not many other cards fit this mold for a particular Standard metagame.
My understanding of supply and demand is just fine. I have also made quite a bit of money in the magic card market and I have been playing since Revised, so I also understand the game to a decent degree. I wasn't trying to disparage your viewpoint. I was simply trying to explain why I believe the card to be so valuable.
I think the biggest problem is this: The deck wants to be an aggro deck and it really seems like a bad version of RDW or Rakdos Aggro. Stromkirk Noble is legitimately only good on turn one, and really only great on the play. You only have 7 untapped red sources for turn one. I agree with the above poster that you are not getting enough value out of white for the negative of stretching your mana base.
Man R_E I think you are completely missing the reasoning behind Thragtusk. It is a Format Defining Card. That is why it is worth so much. He completely invalidates aggro strategies, because the resources necessary to remove a 5/3, a 3/3, and 5 life are just too much to overcome. If aggro can't consistently beat Midrange or Control by the time he comes down, the game is basically over. So, the whole format is kind of warping itself around Thragtusk. In addition, he is also easily splashable in any deck in a format with amazing mana fixing. I find it funny that you say you don't play Standard, but you call it 'unremarkable in terms of power level' when its price and playability are completely driven by Standard and the metagame in which it is the lynchpin card.
I knew that they couldn't do to Lori what they did in the comic version
If you haven't read the comics, they killed her and her newborn in a hail of gunfire. It is truly epic and wasn't ever going to happen on AMC. As an aside, I actually do not think that Carl shot her. Keep in mind all you get on the show is an off-camera gunshot. I expect one of two things to happen: Either she is not actually dead, or she comes back as a walker.
Bazaar goes in the most decks. I would personally get that of the three choices. Given the option of spending money on MTG, I would choose none of these and put my money in something with a little more potential for growth like Scars Duals or some such.
I don't believe you have enough land to be playing with so many high casting-cost cards. I would think 26 would be more appropriate. Sun Titan is kind of meh here, as his recursion targets are underwhelming. My .02
First off, the whole "target player" thing isn't really relevant. Yes, you can't use the card as a way to mill someone out for the win. Since this is not what people are trying to do in Standard, it has no impact on the discussion.
Second, the mana cost is really a non-issue. Most of the time, you are going to be casting this card for 6+ mana. The decks who want this card, Control decks who play on the opponent's turn, are most likely to be UW anyway. The mana cost is completely non-restrictive. By the time you have the 6 or 7 mana you want to use, you almost certainly have UUW for the casting cost. If this was a card where you wanted to cast it turn three and you were comparing 2U to UUW, obviously that is a completely different story.
The life gain is not irrelevant, and it basically comes free in comparison to Stroke of Genius.
Seems pretty good actually! Also, Energy Field!
Not many other cards fit this mold for a particular Standard metagame.
My understanding of supply and demand is just fine. I have also made quite a bit of money in the magic card market and I have been playing since Revised, so I also understand the game to a decent degree. I wasn't trying to disparage your viewpoint. I was simply trying to explain why I believe the card to be so valuable.