This past weekend, SCG Open Seattle took place, won by the toned down but still powerful "birds with swords" strategy. Taking both first and second place, the deck continued to show that it can be a strong contender even without Stoneforge and Jace, the Mind Sculptor. the nice thing about the decks popularity is it will continue to keep the price on Gideon Jura up, since at least two copies were played in each of the lists in the top 8. The biggest news of the week however came from the halls of the San Siego Comic Con, where it was said that they would be moving ahead with the modern format at some point soon.

With that in mind, some of the best blue cards for you to be looking into for modern are included this week, and I'll be keeping an eye out for others as well in the following weeks. The emergence of a new format gives us an excellent opportunity to invest in it before prices get out of hand. As usual, I use TCG player for pricing when buying cards from vendors, since they have an excellent spread of stores you might otherwise overlook. I'll also be including a trade price this week, or the price I would be trying to get them at in trade.

Blue: The color with the highest profit possibilities, just as with Legacy, we'll see the prices on most blue cards be the highest overall, because blue traditionally has the strongest effects. I'm covering it first because I feel that this is the color that will go up in price the fastest, so it's the most important to get moving on.

Remand

Highest price: $1.03 @ Manawerx

Lowest Price: $ $0.95 @ Top Deck Hobbies

Trade Price:$0.50-$0.75

Remand saw tons of play in both standard and extended, and I don't think this format is going to be any different. There is a FNM promo copy of it as well, which you can get for a low of $2.84 from EmpireGamesOnline if you're looking to appeal to the foil market in your area.

Repeal

Highest price: $0.15 @ Manawerx

Lowest Price: $0.10 @ adventuresON

Trade Price: $0.5

While only a common, repeal still finds a lot of demand in a format where there are 1 and 2 drops that are worth bouncing. Don't expect to pull in high profit numbers with this card, but its still easy to trade away a set for $1 or more when people are looking for them.

Rune Snag

Highest price: $0.64 @ Alter Reality Games

Lowest Price: $0.49 @ Anthem Games

Trade Price: $0.25

Another counter that saw a good amount of play, even when it had to compete with mana leak for a spot. Again, not a card that's going to line your pockets, but a set can get you a few dollars, and it will probably see demand as soon as the format is "officially" announced.

Cryptic Command

Highest price: $8.07 @ TJ Collectibles

Lowest Price: $7.19 @ Pastimes

Trade Price: $6.00

Every time this card is able to be played in a format, it sees enough play to warrant a $10 or higher price tag through the entire season. With no word on rotation of sets from Modern, it's looking like this may be one of the "go to" counters for a long time to come. even in the event that sets will rotate, Lorwyn has a long time to go from rotation.$7.19 is an excellent price if you don't already have some.

Trickbind

Highest price: $0.99 @ CCG Unlimited

Lowest Price: $0.80 @ Tabletop Arena

Trade Price: $0.50

Trickbind stops a lot of effects that are going to be very powerful in a format like Modern, and therefore is one of my highest rated "Pick this up now" cards, as I can see its going up in value another 5 times over.

Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir

Highest price: $3.75 @ The end zone

Lowest Price: $2.61 @ Game cafe

Trade Price: $2.00

Teferi saw a decent amount of play, because of his rather powerful abilities. If the format has a large number of control decks, expect this to be one of the cards used in the mirror. I would say they are a safe call to buy a few of if you don't have any on hand, since I doubt very much that they will be going down at any point soon.

Lord of Atlantis (note, these prices are for the Time Spiral Timeshifted copy)

Highest price: $5.65 @ Cape Fear Games

Lowest Price: $2.69 @ TH Collectibles

Trade Price: $4.00

Almost every card used in the current legacy Merfolk deck will be around for modern. I expect them to see some play, and LoA along with them. Another card I would be looking to pick up a few of, you really can't go wrong with them.

Magus of the Bazaar

Highest price: $0.27 @ The Card Nexus

Lowest Price: $0.21 @ Hobby Goblins

Trade Price: $0.10

This is a speculative call, based on the number of cards that already do well in the graveyard, and the bit that the next set has a lot of graveyard mechanics in it as well. The Magus could prove to be a very powerful engine in this format, and I've already bought two sets for my own trade folder.

Nix

Highest price: $0.25 @ Top Deck Hobbies

Lowest Price: $0.18 @ Gamers' Inn

Trade Price: $0.10

In the event that Hypergenesis isn't banned, this could be a very strong answer to the deck, and to cascade strategies in general. At a quarter or less each,  having a few of them can easily net you more profit than that quite quickly.

Venser, Shaper Savant

Highest price: $3.79 @ Untapped Games

Lowest Price: $2.40 @ Gamers Sanctuary

Trade Price: $2.00

Another card that saw play when he was legal in formats, though usually only as a 1 or 2 of. I would expect this to continue, and I would be looking to trade for these rather than buy them. If your area doesn't have any for you to get, it would be worth picking up two or three just to have them on hand.

Mistbind Clique

Highest price: $1.87 @ Gaming Etc.

Lowest Price: $1.59 @ Channel Fireball

Trade Price: $1.00

Faeries will see some play, and Mistbind will see some demand. Keep them and other Faerie staples on hand, because players will find demand for them as soon as the format heats up.

That's about where I'll leave it, since any of the newer cards have fairly stable prices currently. Next week we'll cover Black!

Thanks for reading,

Stephen Moss