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Evaluating M10 – Preliminary Valuations Part 1

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As of writing, MTG Salvation has 208 of the 249 cards revealed. Of those 249, all but a handful of the rares have been spoiled. Now that we have enough information to start making decks around the new cards, it's time to evaluate which cards will be chase rares and which will be junk.

Staring with White:

Ajani Goldmane

2ww
Planeswalker - Ajani Mythic Rare
+1: You gain 2 life.
-1: Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control. Those creatures gain vigilance until end of turn.
-6: Put a white Avatar creature token onto the battlefield with "This creature's power and toughness are each equal to your life total."

Ajani is a key card in Black-White tokens and the only card of significance they lose is Glorious Anthem. Anthem is only somewhat replaced by Honor of the Pure, but Ajani is still an absolute beating in aggro decks, black, white or otherwise. As he is still available in Lorwyn, he should see little change when released in M10.

Baneslayer Angel

3ww
Creature - Angel Mythic Rare
Flying, first strike, lifelink, protection from Demons and from Dragons
Some angels protect the meek and innocent. Others seek out and smite evil wherever it lurks.
Illus. Greg Staples #4/249 5/5

It's a 5/5 for 5. It's an Angel. It has flying, first strike and lifelink. It has quasi-relevant protection, but ignoring that, it's a freaking 5/5 for 5 with 3 amazing abilities. It's Exalted Angel good. It may not find a home in Standard due to the fact that it dies to a LOT of things, but all of the aforementioned factors will put this Mythic into double digit prices. Jenara, Asura of War is a useless card and she still fetches 10 bucks. Use these as trade bait, but they may find their way into decks.

Captain of the Watch

4ww
Creature - Human Soldier Rare
Vigilance
Other Soldier creatures you control get +1/+1 and have vigilance.
When Captain of the Watch enters the battlefield, put three 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens onto the battlefield.
Illus. Greg Staples #6/249 3/3

9 power of soldiers for 6 mana is absolutely great, but preliminary testing has shown that it's a fantastic card with sub-par supporting cast. You can 'live the dream' by hitting this on t4 with Preeminent Captain, but overall Kithkin and Black-White have more staying power, range and consistancy than the Soldier decks do right now. Regardless, many people will be trying to play White Weenie Soldiers for PTQs and such, not to mention at FNM. Thse will be at least $5, since pre-sales are already between 15 and 20 a set. Also great trade bait, but keep an eye open for any cards that might push a solider deck past Kithkin in terms of power. (I know that last post was rather sensationalist, and that calling this card over-rated directly contradicts the prior statements made. The fact is, while my intial excitement for the card was real, testing proved it to simply be...not as good as I thought.)

Guardian Seraph

2ww
Creature - Angel Rare
Flying
If a source an opponent controls would deal damage to you, prevent 1 of that damage.
Illus. Paul Bonner 3/4

Deceptively good - the 4 toughness survives Bolt and most of the mass removal left in the format, his shielding ability makes it harder for decks like Red-Black, RDW, and Black-White to get range on you quickly. It looks un-sexy, but the ability may be much more relevant than players initially realize. Prediciton - they start out cheap, but someone finds a use for them and they become relevant. Get 'em at crap rare rates if you can. Presales are varying wildly but it would be surprising to see this start out as a 'hot' item.

Honor of the Pure

1w
Enchantment Rare
White creatures you control get +1/+1.
Together the soldiers were like a golden blade, cutting down their enemies and scarring the darkness.
Illus. Greg Staples

This card will apparently be given as a promo to players who purchase full boxes. It's a strictly better version of Crusade, and will be an amazing boost to Kithkin decks. Black-White will lose some power since their Bitterblossom no longer vomits out 2/2 or 3/3 tokens with an Anthem on the board, but Honor of the Pure is still quite powerful. How much the full box promo tempers the price of this is unknown, but Crusade and Glorious Anthem never really reached double digits. The White deck is probably going to be over-rated, so this is one to be trading away on pre-release day.

Indestructibility

3w
Enchantment - Aura Rare
Enchant permanent
Enchanted permanent is indestructible.

Great to see Indesctructilbe as a keyword that has its own card. Now it can join the other ass-tastic cards like Regeneration, Lance, Web, and everything else that gives a keyworded ability and nothing else! Bulk rare, but likely a great card in your sealed pool. Would it have been too much to make this an uncommon?

Lightwielder Paladin

3ww
Creature - Human Knight Rare
First strike (This creature deals combat damage before creatures without first strike.)
Whenever Lightwielder Paladin deals combat damage to a player, you may exile target black or red permanent that player controls.
Illus. D. Alexander Gregory 4/4

4/4 First Strike for 5 seems good, but when you realize that 3WW gets you a 5/5 flying first strike life linked Angel, getting a Celestial Purge when he's not blocked looks weak. Seems like a pretty mediocre rare.

Mesa Enchantress

1ww
Creature - Human Druid Rare
Whenever you cast an enchantment spell, you may draw a card.
0/2

Auras suck, Enchantress is only good when there are more than 4 in a deck, and the card wasn't really all to great when it was in standard last time. It's awful without a dedicated deck and there's no real support for dedicated Enchantress. Bulk rare.

Open the Vaults

4ww
Sorcery Rare
Return all artifact and enchantment cards from all graveyards to the battlefield under their owners' control.
#21/249

Replenish that brings back artifacts. Things that come to mind: Tideholoow Sculler, Courier's Capsule, Executioner's Capsule, Scourglass, Glaze Fiend, Armillary Sphere, Time Sieve...these are only a few of the options. The card may not be good now, and it may NEVER be good, but since most people will not value it highly, it's not a bad idea to grab a playset and shove it in the back of your binder. Someone will eventually break it and you'll be glad you had your set.

Planar Cleansing

3www
Sorcery Rare
Destroy all nonland permanents.
A new beginning requires a clean slate.
Illus. Michael Komarck #24/249

Akroma's Vengeance would be strictly better if Planeswalkers had been around in Onslaught Block. Vengeance never saw prices beyond 10 bucks, so this shouldn't either. Decks that want Wrath will use Hallowed Burial. Other decks can use Austere Command. There won't be a huge demand for the card, but it might not be bad to have. If they're cheap, grab 'em. If you can get value from them on release day, go for it.

Silence

w
Instant Rare
Your opponents can't cast spells this turn. (Spells cast before this resolves are unaffected.)
"All the wizardry in the world has to pass through one small and easily sealed door." -Ajani Goldmane
Illus. Wayne Reynolds #31/249

Most have already seen this card. It's similar to Abeyance. It stops creatures but allows activated abilities. The main issue is that it's strictly tempo, and doesn't replace itself as Abeyance did. Regardless, the hype is high enough that it will probably end up in the 10-12 range no matter its real use. This is a Banefire kind of card - useful in the utmost, but may struggle to find a deck where it is considered a staple. The uses are abundant, but there may simply be better things to do with one's time and mana.

Top Mythics in White: Ajani and Baneslayer Angel
Top Rares in White: Silence and Honor of the Pure
Sleepers in White: Open the Vault and Guardian Seraph
Over-Rated in White: Captain of the Watch, Silence
(Yes, silence is an over-rated top rare. While it will be worth 10+ dollars, it really oughtn't be.)

Those are the White Rares and Mythics. Remember, these are all per MTG Salvation's spoiler. Quiet Speculation will not be held responsible for inaccurate, false, fabricated or otherwise useless information provided by the spoilers.

Kelly Reid

Founder & Product Manager

View More By Kelly Reid

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2 thoughts on “Evaluating M10 – Preliminary Valuations Part 1

  1. "Would it have been too much to make this an uncommon?"Well, yes, because it would screw up limited a lot. Sometimes, we get rares that are unexciting because putting them there keeps draft from being broken.Does make me glad I don't crack packs to buy cards, of course, but there you go. 🙂

  2. Shield of the Oversoul, while conditional in granting its indestructibility, cost a mana less, was easier to cast, also granted a p/t bonus and flying. Given that it was a COMMON, I think that the overall cost of the card (4 mana, a card, and the chance to get 2-for-1'ed when casting it) would make it a perfectly reasonable uncommon.

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