Grand Prix Houston was a blast and I learned a lot about Standard after battling through 15 rounds of it.

One of the lessons was one everybody has been learning over and over again during the course of the past month and a half: Eldrazi are insanely good. There are a ton of them and they do all sorts of unique, synergistic and interesting stuff---and they are not going anywhere.

Well, they may need to have their Eyes and Temples banned in Modern or Legacy at some point down the road but they are certainly here to stay in Standard.

Eldrazi in Standard Too???

With that being said I am strongly on board with investing in many of the cheap Eldrazi cards. I actually did quite a bit of trading at the GP on Friday and picked up a ton of these "bulk rares" to hold for post-Standard rotation.

Before I get to the specific cards I'm interested in I'd like you to consider the following:

1. When Khans and Fate Reforged rotate they take with them the fetches, all of the insane three-color cards, and all of the delve cards...
2. Origins will stick around and continue to supply the Apocalypse pain lands...

My estimation is that some variation(s) of Eldrazi aggro will ultimately end up being one of the best decks in Standard when Khans leaves the format. With that being said I think there is a ton of opportunity for some of these cheaper cards to really explode in value when the demand bubble for them starts to balloon.

Some of these cards and decks might not be able to hack it against these four-color good stuff decks. But when decks are forced to have "real manabases" post-rotation I think it will drastically level the playing field.

That's my opinion, but I think there is at least some degree of "fact" at work here. It is very probable there are competitive Eldrazi decks in the new Standard.

My investing strategy for Standard has always been to buy in on cards while they are at their bottom baseline price and hold them until the demand increases (typically post-rotation). It works out great because you can acquire a lot of copies of a single card for a very low investment and then the individual cards typically go up by a large percentage.

Undervalued "Junk" Eldrazis

Let's talk about some of the Eldrazis that I'm looking to invest in right now.

Dimensional Infiltrator

I straight up got crushed by this card at the Standard GP and there was nothing I could even do about it. It has flash, flying and the ability to kind of protect itself by conditionally returning to your hand. It is also really insane that the card only costs a single {U} when you have a Herald of Kozilek in play.

Flying creatures are always sweet and the Eldrazi are not traditionally known for their ability to take to the skies. Well, Emrakul I guess... And, Skyspawner... But for the most part the Eldrazi are known to be flightless birds of prey like the mighty turkey.

It is also worth noting that in matchups where the board completely stalls out and nobody can attack, the infiltrator can provide you an alternate win condition by decking your opponent! The card does a lot of good stuff and I think it will certainly have a place in Standard moving forward.

Bearer of Silence

A two-drop, flying Eldrazi that also has a kicker to force an opponent to sacrifice a creature? This card seems really awesome as far as playable Eldrazi go. The downside is that the card is not in a color with a ton of great Eldrazi cards. I think it's worth the risk to pick the card up at less that $1 each in trades. The card is basically Snapcaster Mage that casts Chainer's Edict and has flying!

I really like these two-drop Eldrazi cards because they do something that the Eldrazi are typically not great at doing: costing less than three mana. The fact of the matter is that there are very few good Eldrazi cards that are cheap, and as we all know cheap cards are important in all decks.

So, if people are going to play Eldrazi cards chances are they will need sets of these cheap, aggressive, powerful creatures.

So, black isn't the best color to play Eldrazi? No problem...

Corrupted Crossroads

I really feel like Crossroads is likely a slam dunk speculation card. It's like getting Adarkar Wastes for our Standard Eldrazi decks! It is a comes-into-play-untapped land that produces <> mana as well as mana of any color for our color-specific Eldrazi requirements. Most of the Eldrazi decks already play this card and I think it will be a staple moving forward.

It also allows us to splash powerful off-color Eldrazi at a reasonable price. For instance, you can maybe fit a third color (not including Wastes mana) into decks just by including an extra cycle of Apocalypse lands and Corrupted Crossroads. It could easily be the difference between getting another one or two great spells into a narrow deck that really wants them!

I mean, when are Constructed-playable lands ever less than $1? The answer is right before they surge up in value because $1 for playable rare lands is not a real thing! Look at cards like Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx as an example of an awesome narrow land from recent memory.

There are going to be Eldrazi devoid decks of various flavors and all of the ones that want to play two or more colors in addition to <> mana will use this card post-rotation. Heck, these decks already exist, are quite good, and play this card!

Endbringer

Endbringer may not be a "baby Eldrazi" or even much of a Standard card but it is starting to see pretty serious Legacy and Modern play in the Eldrazi decks.

The card is super solid as a board advantage creature that can rip through board stalls by drawing extra cards and/or killing opposing creatures. I can't imagine many things better on a stalled board than just having an Endbringer in play! In fact, I can tell you from experience it is a pretty great feeling.

It is especially effective in grindy Eldrazi mirror matches where it can repeatedly ping down scion tokens or straight up draw you tons of extra cards!

I see Endbringer as a card that will be good forever and it also has appeal in casual formats like Commander where untapping on each opponent's upkeep is a really busted mechanic! Being that the card is seeing Legacy and Commander play, I also really like foil copies as an investment right now.

Dust Stalker

Who says black isn't a good color for Eldrazi? Once the format rotates there could actually be a pretty sweet B/R Eldrazi aggro deck that sprouts up. Red is certainly one of the deepest colors for Eldrazi cards (Vile Aggregate and Eldrazi Obligator) and getting very aggressive could be a pretty sweet deck. I feel like at $0.50, it's probably worth the risk to buy into at least a couple play sets of cards like this.

I mean, a four-mana 5/3 haste is no joke... Especially with some of the beefier creatures like Siege Rhino, Mantis Rider, and Tasigur, the Golden Fang all rotating out of Standard.

Whether or not Dust Stalker ends up being great or mediocre will have a lot to do with what creatures it's attacking into in Standard. If there are a ton of two- and three-mana creatures with 3 power or 5 toughness the card gets worse. But if it lines up well with what other people are playing it could be a really nice piece in an aggressive Eldrazi deck.

Foundry of the Consuls

Another obscure Magic Origins uncommon that was seeing a ton of play in the various devoid Eldrazi decks. The card is actually very hard for a lot of different decks to deal with. It just generates a lot of instant-speed, evasive-creature value! The tokens are also great at pumping up Vile Aggregate.

The card was difficult to find at GP Houston and people were willing to pay $3 per copy in some cases. If the card becomes more coveted in Standard I could see it easily doubling or tripling in value when the demand hits.

The Takeaway

I've learned that the Eldrazi archetype is inherently good, synergistic, and powerful across basically every format where it is legal. The cards are good in their own rite. Most of the cards would be good enough for other decks just based on what they do and what they cost to cast.

The real advantage is that many of these cards have a lot of synergy with one another. They get even better when you put a bunch of them into the same deck because they help each other out and reduce the "cost" of needing <> mana in your deck by virtue of having a lot of things that need <>.

The key to Magic finance has always been to find something other people are undervaluing, pick it up, and hold onto it until the rest of the world catches up.

In my eyes, the Eldrazi are an amazing tribe of creatures that are going to be good for a long, long time and are closing in on having their moment in Standard as well. The key is to get in on the Eldrazi train before they begin to creep up. In my assessment most of these cards are at their absolute basement bottom prices which makes them prime candidates to pick up right now.