What a difference a Day makes, huh?

Today I’ll be highlighting a very intriguing card that will be printed in the upcoming set Magic Origins. I wanted to highlight Day's Undoing, because of all the cards in the Magic Origins spoiler coverage, thus far, it seemed to generate the most buzz on the various social media outlets.

Rather than explain why drawing seven cards is good, I wanted to take the time to demonstrate some very early price movement in direct reaction to this card. This card is obviously powerful in it’s own right, and when cards resemble “Power 9” predecessors, they should always draw one’s attention. In this case, since presale prices are approaching $30, let's look at some other cards that have been moving as a result of this spoiler.

These were the first of what could be many cards that will be affected by Day’s Undoing in an attempt to try and maximize the card’s power. Now, is there any validity to these? Possibly. The coming days will only tell. The only positive here to this kind of hysteria-induced investment is that the initial cost of these cards was fairly inexpensive.

Now, we have seen these types of investments before, and we have seen these types of cards spoiled before--remember Time Reversal? Yeah, those were the days, right? Pre-ordering for obscene amounts to only fade into obscurity.

Investment of this type is extremely bold, but the upside is a great ROI should this card end up being completely overpowered. Card evaluation has to be swift and as accurate as possible to reap the rewards of investments of this nature during pre-order time, considering none of the player base has actually played with this card before. So, opportunity cost comes into play more so than it does on most “regular” investing and speculation.

Risking $30 on a card that hasn't hit players' hands seems rough, so if you're long on Day's Undoing but don't want to play pre-order roulette, these other cards (and cards like them) represent alternatives.

So, are Quicken and Leyline of Anticipation the first of many? Or could we see this trend continue in the quest to utilize a potentially powerful card? My vote is the trend could continue. If there's one thing I’ve learned in this market, it's that just about anything is possible, but I try to heed caution at every turn. It doesn’t take too much to nudge the market in the right direction, so investors have to pick and choose what’s really worth their time and money.

Like I said earlier, the initial investment in these secondary cards isn’t that high, which covers some of the risk involved, but just keep in mind that it may not always be the case. If you were one of the few people who were bold and pulled the trigger already, then hopefully this pans out for you. Usually it’s an ill-advised type of spending, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t work out for the better.

These specific cards may just end up being “cute” and not end up maximizing the card's potential.  End-step casting of Timetwister is surely brutal, for sure, but is it as brutal as this Affinity opener, as presented by well-known Pro Tour competitor Craig Wescoe:

I asked my fellow QS team what they thought of the card, and was met with Kelly’s response.

Kelly’s Pick:

"When Chaz told me about the price spikes from Quicken and Leyline of Anticipation, a thought immediately sprang to mind. I've been trolling MTGO for good long-term, bulk rare specs, and I had come upon the Innistrad block utility lands. I was a big fan of Nephalia Drownyard, but Alchemist's Refuge caught my eye after seeing Day's Undoing printed. I think I'd rather have the land in my deck than the Leyline; Leyline is a dead draw after turn zero and the land doesn't even occupy a true slot in your deck. It's also uncounterable (but regrettably takes some collateral damage from Blood Moon). I figured it was worth the gamble, and burned a bunch of MTGO Bot Credit to add a significant quantity of the land to my bulk rare portfolio."

Another extremely good card to pair with this potentially powerful card. This will be the talk of Origins for sure, as people clamor to use and break this “fair” Power 9 card.

 Just another Day in the finance world! Have a great Day, don’t let it get Undone!