Hello readers!

So, it’s an exciting time. Magic Origins spoilers are in full swing, and there has been a plethora of interesting and potentially powerful cards revealed in this set. I will be doing the very best that I can to take you all through this set and highlight a select few cards. Take this as my very first impression of the set, as the first wave of spoilers come in.

Fellow QS writer Mike Lanigan touched on some Origins spoilers already, and wrote a great piece on the set thus far. Ryan Overturf evaluated the flip walkers in another Insider article. I’m here to continue the conversation and find value within this set.

I’m going to start by admitting I’ve been hard pressed to find anything worth investing in during this pre-order period. I have looked at various vendors, and have taken my time analyzing each and every card as best I could. I’m just not coming up with many cards that are lucrative at these vendors' initial price tags.

Now, that’s not to say I’m not excited for the set, because I am. At the same time, I just get this overwhelming feeling many vendors are pricing cards extremely conservatively to not have this set end up as Dragons of Tarkir. I can’t say I blame them--we wouldn’t want a $5.99 Dragonlord Ojutai. Well, we would, but I don’t think they’re going to let that happen with this set.

So, right now all I can really do is highlight cards I would like to pick up sometime after the prerelease hype settles down, when prices drop for a brief time before people actually start utilizing the Origins cards in winning decklists. I suspect pre-order prices still have a chance to fluctuate, so maybe there will be some chance for investment during this brief time.

Cards to Watch

Archangel of Tithes

Commanding a $19.99 price tag, I would be extremely hesitant to invest in this card. Most sets don’t have many cards that drastically increase after being released, and I would discern that the EV of this set should be “normal” at this point. Like I mentioned, most vendors are being conservative and slapping on high price tags like we see here. In doing so, they normalize EV calculations (can’t be fully calculated without the entire set) and really make it hard for a majority of the cards to “break out”.

Now, this angel is quite the card indeed. I’m not denying its potency in any way, but I would not be bold enough to invest 19.99 in the hopes that this increased by 50-100% in the future. At the same time, I would suspect that if any card could do it, it would be one of the mythics. Since this is one of the more viable mythics in the set, this increasing over a few months' time wouldn’t be surprising.

I suspect the heavy casting cost of 1WWW will limit its potential inclusion in a wide array of decklists. At the same time, it will be extremely effective in the decks it is included in. Playing an interesting role on both ends of the battlefield, and having a highly coveted five toughness makes me believe that this could be viable in the current Standard. In what is seemingly becoming a format ruled by five toughness, this angel doesn’t come up short of possessing very lucrative stats.

I also have heard some rumblings that this could have an outside shot in Modern. Due to Aether Vial, this could find itself in “Hatebears” and “Death and Taxes” strategies.

Considering Wilt-Leaf Liege having a 4CMC didn’t hold it back, I don't’ suspect that it will be an issue for Archangel of Tithes either. Using Vial to stop a potential blowout against Twin decks could be reason enough to see this crop up in some capacity outside of Standard.

Demonic Pact

Demonic Pact is a really interesting Magic card. I’ve just never seen a Magic card do what this card does all wrapped into one card. There’s a slight draw-back--you lose the game after you sign on the dotted line of this Pact. Will that deter me from trying to play this card effectively? Absolutely not. Just not currently at a $7.99 pre-order price.

I really think a card of this nature is powerful enough to see the light of day in a Constructed setting. The first three abilities are so lucrative, and removing it before it’s time to kick the bucket seems easy enough in Standard.

Cards like Dromoka's Command and Reclamation Sage already have slots in maindecks in Standard. I think utilizing them to remove one’s own Demonic Pact wouldn’t seem like a huge waste to me. These cards are already in the deck, and using them as inadvertent ways to remove Pact, doesn’t seem you’re losing incremental value than say packing copies of Erase into one’s deck. What I’m trying to say is, you’re already playing the cards that could remove it, and not trying to be “cute” and play potentially bad cards just to utilize Demonic Pact.

The downside I see to Demonic Pact is, does it actually make any existing deck better? It’s hard to tell currently, and I don’t want to invest into a card just for the “Summer Meta” where the landscape changes drastically within a few months. I’m sure Abzan strategies may just be content casting a herd of Siege Rhinos and the recently spoiled Languish.

Until then, I may just wait for these to fall to (or below) the $3 mark, where I would be more inclined to pick them up “just in case”. It is a potentially powerful card, and while a Dissolve countering a Dromoka’s Command trying to remove Demonic Pact would be simply a horrible feeling, it might just be worth taking the risk.

Relic Seeker

Buy-a-Box promos have been very good as of late. Each of them always fins a home in Standard and becomes a key role-player. I think that’s what we have in Relic Seeker, and I think this card telegraphs that there may be some extremely viable equipment coming down the pipeline.

As it is right now, I talked about this card on the podcast I host. Just simply grabbing a Hero's Blade might actually be enough right now. It was in jest at first, but then I realized that it actually could work.

Here’s the making of one such deck:

*decklist numbers not final*

That’s just the tip of the iceberg with Relic Seeker, and without knowing what’s coming I would be inclined to have some money waiting to invest into this card. Like I said, Wizards has been pretty good about making Buy-a-Box promos viable cards. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if this card’s price drops come release time and is suddenly spiking somewhere down the line.

The same thing happened with Goblin Rabblemaster, but I think Magic Origins may end up being opened just a bit more than its core set predecessors. So, temper expectations.

As it is, I’m going to hold off until after release date on these, and/or trade for them aggressively at pre-releases at my target price of 2$. I think that’s a good enough entry point to have them if they spike, and not lose a great amount if this card doesn’t pan out. Which I think is unlikely.

Dollar Bin Rares

On the off-chance any of these end up in the “dollar bin” or less category (which I’m confident in) I think they may be decent “buy and stash” for sometime in the future.

Mizzium Meddler

Of all of these I think Mizzium Meddler has the best shot of making a name for itself. It could potentially be included in decklists outside of Standard if only as a way to steal opposing Splinter Twin at instant speed. Do note that this card is the Game Day promo, and that could keep its price depressed.

I understand I’m scraping at the bottom with these dollar bin rares, and opportunity cost to me speaks volumes. Just something to think about with the Meddler.

Honored Hierarch

I know Honored Hierarch has been getting some flack over on the Insider forums, and rightly so. I don’t think this is a good card after analyzing and re-analyzing it. It’s really a do-nothing card until at least turn three, and even then it would have had to attack past a plethora of cards that easily could have killed it. Zurgo Bellstriker, Satyr Wayfinder and Sylvan Caryatid to name a few.

That being said, this is Wizards' new “normal” for 1CMC mana creatures. It’s really disheartening, I know, but whether one likes the card or not, we’re stuck with it. Between this and Rattleclaw Mystic and whatever is revealed in Battle for Zendikar (BFZ) (I really hope something better) we just may need this card in ramp strategies. So, demand could be there for the card just for the simple fact that there may not be any other options. Let’s wait and see though.

Evaluating cards has to be an art form during pre-order periods, and financiers have to be swift and effective at evaluation. Knowing which cards are underpriced before they quickly increase on the back of hype is invaluable information. It takes a lot of snap decisions and having intimate knowledge of the game.

As is, the only card I’m invested in now is Nissa, Vastwood Seer. Since then the Top Level Podcast has deemed it a “Top 10 card in Standard,” so I think things are looking good for my investment.

Current Pre-sale Purchases

12x Nissa, Vastwood Seer @ 11.25 per card

That’s all for today everyone! I’ll be back with part 2 and 3, and I think by then we’ll have the complete spoiler. Expect a more in-depth review of the set with Mythics/Rares.

If anyone wants to talk about anything I covered in the article feel free to find me on Twitter, or comment below!

-Chaz