Standard Corner #2: Follow the Money

So I'm going to do something very different tonight, and that's talk about standard. Most of you who know me, know I strongly Despise the format. I'm not a fan of playing only certain sets and I'm definitely not a fan of being forced to buy new cards every time a new set is released (even though I buy them anyways, I don't like being told what to do, call me rebellious). But, something struck me today pretty heavily, by following the money, you can follow how the standard format is evolving. Let's face it, most of the expensive cards in magic are the standard ones, because it's the most played format (obviously Legacy is more expensive, but it's more expensive to play standard in the long run). The strange thing about standard, is that the prices fluctuate so rapidly, it's sometimes difficult to get the right tech against a new deck that was built yesterday. Recently, I've been unemployed, so I've been trying to make money off selling cards, and that means following the buy prices very closely for updates. This means I can report some of my findings here! Research notes assemble!

Blade Splicer, Sword of Feast and Famine, and Elspeth Tirel: There's been a high demand for the former 3 cards because of a new U/W deck that's been the premier build for people licking their wounds after the Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic bannings. The deck is affordable, a little over 150+ bucks and has the luxury of using a bunch of planeswalkers, including Jace Beleren, Gideon Jura, Karn Liberated, and Venser, the Sojourner. Synergy with Venser and Blade Splicer gives you extra dudes, while Elspeth Tirel gains you life and adds to your army as you climb closer and closer to victory with this new U/W tempo heavy control deck. From a financial standpoint, Blade Splicer has not replenished inventory at my local card shop (which is a big name store) for a while and their buy price sits around 1.5, most people in trades will value the card highly because of it's difficulty to find (for some reason). Sword of Feast and Famine had a buy price of 8 bucks about 2 weeks ago and now has climbed to 15, with the value of the sword ranging from 19-25. As for Elspeth Tirel, the value hasn't changed, but demand has increased, so her buy price moved to 6-7, while she sells around 10 (which is good that the store offers you almost 60% value of the card in cash).

Consecrated Sphinx, Grave Titan, Dismember, and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite: As for U/B, Consecrated Sphinx is a house and draws tons of cards. What makes it better, it does not die to Dismember, making it a huge asset to the control powerhouse. Did I forget to mention Dismember is now a 4-6 dollar uncommon with a buy price around 2.5 and a foil going for around 20 bucks? Yeah.

Grave Titan shines still, as it gives you two dudes to join in the army and help beat your opponent to a pulp. The titan started to drop in value after M12 release, but quickly climbed back up the ranks and now sits at a value of 10 with a buy price around 6. Not bad. Hopefully, you haven't forgotten Grave Titan's foe, Elesh Norn. She completely destroys Grave Titan's upside and sits nicely as a hoser for all the heavy creature decks in the format right now. Elesh Norn has been sold out at 7 and has a steadily increasing buy price at 3.5

Tempered Steel: The deck is good. The tempered steel aggro deck saw tons of play in block constructed at Pro Tour Nagoya and it's no surprise that this deck makes it extremely potent after Zendikar rotates out of Standard. The deck is fast enough to outrace most decks who aren't even playing Day of Judgement (and even then, most of them just have it in the sideboard). Since it pumps everybody, including your lifelinking Vault Skirge, Signal Pest, and free Memnite's, it is a sick sick finisher. Tempered steel sits at a buy price of 3, while slowly climbing, and has a value around 6.

Jace, Memory Adept; Garruk, Primal Hunter; and Chandra, the Firebrand (And Solemn Simulacrum!): So, M12 has had an interesting financial impact on the community. The pre-order price on all three of the new planeswalkers has jumped by a few dollars these past few weeks, but no significant changes. How come? Although the price hasn't moved much, demand is still high. And that means, the buy price is high. The buy price for any of the planeswalkers was around 5-10 dollars from their release and has jumped to around 20 each. All 3 of them sit around 35 and some estimate they will hit 40. What do I think? I think that the hype is high now, because people are trying to see if the planeswalkers are strong enough to warp the format. Although Jace's milling may be good with the future Inistrad, and Garruk's token/drawing power will play a big role against control decks, and finally Chandra's -2 ability and synergy with Chandra's Phoenix are very powerful, most of these upsides are just speculation. Unfortunately, we won't know whether these planeswalkers will really pack a punch until after the release of Innistrad and the rotation of Zendikar block and M11. I think the planeswalkers are very powerful and definitely justifies their high demand. So, Solemn Simulacrum. This guy, started at 5 and is now climbing to 10-12. Why? Demand. The buy price around this guy started at 2 and now has jumped to 6 as stores are selling out. It has excellent synergy with Birthing Pod, but what else can it do? It ramps, it fixes mana (for all those decks losing fetch lands and man lands), and it draws a card when it dies. It's also a dude that can hold a piece of equipment, and he can hold down the fort against an onslaught and give you one more top deck after he dies. He's an every man's Golem (synergy with Blade Splicer!) and there's no surprise why people want him for EDH and Standard (especially in foil!).

These are just a compilation of notes and observations I've made while selling cards recently and I hope it helps anyone who's interested in becoming competitive in Standard. Who knows, maybe the money leads to a Top 8?

-David J.