Happy Holidays!

With the banning announcements recently behind us, everyone is trying to crack the format before PTQ season begins. Modern has been talked about at length since the PTQ format was announced, but there’s still some cards out there I think could be sleepers. It’s way too late to get in on your manabase cheaply, but if you plan to play PTQ’s they won’t be coming back down anytime soon.

Glittering Wish

Certainly the most cost effective tutor, can dig up some great answer cards out of your sideboard. It could go in a Mythic Bant deck fetching a Sovreigns of Lost Alara, Geist of St Traft, or even a Rafiq. It tutors up other key cards like Maelstorm Pulse, Knight of the Reliquary, and many more. Glittering Wish is under $1, and certainly has some room to grow.

Plow Under

Making a splash early on in Modern speculation, I think its time for it to shine again. In its Extended and Standard PTQ tenure, it saw peaks as high as $20, and the format has been forced to slow down quite a bit. At $4-5 I like this card as a strong buy.

Threads of Disloyalty

Got a Tarmogoyf problem? What about Dark Confidant? Just take ‘em. If Merfolk does exist, this will also be a great mirror-breaker. Currently sits around $2, and I could see it creeping up to as high as $5.

Life from the Loam

The best legal card with the keyword Dredge, and a great combo piece with Gifts Ungiven, this card has some serious potential. It’s ceiling is around $10, and I don’t know if it will get that high, but these can be sniped on ebay as low as $3 and I’d be willing to pay as much as $4.50.

Coalition Relic

This card enables some awesome ramp, and with the format slowed down a shade, I think people will be using it to power out big sorceries, creatures and planeswalkers. As its already an EDH staple, these could spike severely if it has any Modern demand at all.

Doran, the Siege Tower

When Nacatl leaves, the Doran deck has access to the only “Nacatl” left in the format, which is Treefolk Harbinger. This deck will see a resurgance, but I don’t know to what degree. The fact that you can find Doran under $2 seems spicy to me, and is a gamble I’m willing to take. Which leads me into...

Maelstrom Pulse
If Jund or Doran turns out to be a real deck, Maelstrom Pulse could hit heights of $12, which is just about double its current value. A catch all removal is something an aggro deck needs to cleanly solve problems that stop them from getting damage in.

Volcanic Fallout

With Punishing Fire gone, control decks will need a sweeper to deal with many creatures. Wrath of God and Damnation are already a bit too high to be worth investing in, but Fallout is cheap, and would be a great answer card if Merfolk (or any Fish strategy) deck arises. They can be found for $1/playset, and I could see them hitting as high as $4/set.

As modern takes shape, keep your eyes on MTGO events to see what hot decks are appearing. After the new year I’m going to write about Modern cards on MTGO and what decks are easiest to buy right now.

Unrelated to Modern, there’s one other tidbit I want to discuss. With the announcement of Avacyn Restored, I plan to preorder some booster boxes of Dark Ascension. This set will only see limited play for 3 months, none of which are a PTQ season. Mythics that are playable in this set will be hard to find the following year, and boosters will likely shoot up in value quickly after the next set is released.

I hope everyone has a great holiday season, and a very happy new year!
Until 2012,
Chad Havas
@torerotutor on Twitter