Kaladesh changes the relative competitive value of cards, and accordingly impacts demand and price. There have already been some observable movements that indicate things to come. There are also some apparent metagame shifts that will impact the demand of cards, and preparing for these shifts now could reap rewards in the near future. Today I’ll share the cards that I am bullish about with the impending release of Kaladesh.

Red is great in Kaladesh, from its aggressive artifact theme with Inventor's Apprentice up to Chandra, Torch of Defiance, and it’s going to become a player in Standard. Incendiary Flow will be a key role player in nearly every red deck, and its price is going to rise accordingly because it’s currently seeing very minimal play and demand. The price has now moved beyond $0.75 from a low of $0.50. It will unquestionably move towards and past $1, and I expect it to sell for at least a couple dollars at Standard Grand Prix next year.

Bant Company decks of all forms currently comprise 45% of the MTGO Standard metagame, and when rotation happens all of those players will have to replace their Collected Company. Tamiyo, Field Researcher is already played in the deck in small numbers, and it’s an obvious card for people to slot into their decks. It also saw success in a Bant Angels deck at the SCG last weekend as a four-of, so all signs point to this being poised for massive growth.

Gisela, the Broken Blade is another great four-mana option, and its recent success in Bant Angels and previous success in B/W Angels make me believe it’s a winner.

Bant Humans may opt to replace Collected Company with Heron's Grace Champion, another instant-speed threat that adds to human synergy.

On the same logic as everyone needing to replace cards, Dromoka's Command leaving and making way for Declaration in Stone to fill in as Standard’s best removal spell means its demand and price must rise.

In some ways Collective Effort could be the spiritual successor to Dromoka’s Command, a removal spell that includes incidental enchantment and the ability to put +1/+1 counters on creatures. The card works well with servo tokens from Fabricate creatures, and it’s removal against Gearhulks, so it looks to be well positioned and a big player in the future in Standard.

With Dromoka’s Command leaving Standard, Cryptolith Rite feels a lot less pressure and will now be comfortable to ramp into game-enders like the Eldrazi Displacer - Brood Monitor combo, Emrakul, the Promised End, or new threats like Verdurous Gearhulk, which also would be quite effective with Eldrazi Displacer.

Fevered Visions and the U/R Thermo Alchemist deck in general were held down by Dromoka’s Command, so it’s a great pickup right now alongside other staples of the deck like Thing in the Ice, which has nowhere to go but up.

With Collected Company gone, Eldrazi Displacer is the best way to get extra mileage from Reflector Mage, and it’s great for getting extra value from Gearhulks, especially Cataclysmic Gearhulk, which it combines with to create a battlefield-wiping engine. I can also imagine a resurgence of Eldrazi decks with the decline in Reflector Mage. The loss of pain lands mean multi-color Eldrazi decks will be difficult, but last season the most successful Eldrazi deck was mono-white, and Eldrazi Displacer would be a great tool there.

The price of Reality Smasher has bottomed out. I don’t believe the price is driven much by Standard as it sees almost no play, and given the fact that it’s part of the fastest growing Modern deck, Bant Eldrazi, is an Eternal staple, and has plenty of casual appeal, I absolutely love this spec.

Tireless Tracker remains one of the best creatures in Standard, and its price has been stable for a long time. Now that players will stop drafting it and adding to supply, the price will begin to grow, exacerbated by the ever-growing Standard player base.

“Tapped artifact” means vehicles that have attacked, which makes Nahiri, the Harbinger particularly excellent for removing vehicles, and could give it added value in the new metagame.

Stone Haven Outfitter works particularly well with the new equipment Inventor's Goggles - which can attach for free - and players like Craig Wescoe are already brewing with the card and sharing decklists, so the price is set to rise.

Eldritch Evolution is only as good as the creatures it can find, and the cast it can find just got a lot better with the printing of the Gearhulk cycle. These creatures are fantastic to find because they generate value when they enter play, and they can even be sacrificed to find a bigger threat up the curve.

Mindwrack Demon now feels much less pressure from Reflector Mage since there's no more Collected Company to find it, and the Demon gains a great new toy to dig for in Scrapheap Scrounger.

I’m a fan of Westvale Abbey, which is at a very low price. It works very well with anything that makes Servo tokens, including Servo Exhibition and Fabricate creatures like Weaponcraft Enthusiast.

Lupine Prototype has been the #1 seller on Tcgplayer for a couple weeks in a row, and it’s starting to see price growth. There’s a lot of hype around the card because of Kaladesh, partially because it’s an artifact but more specifically because it’s great to crew vehicles with its high power. It could also be strong in a hyper-aggressive artifact deck, and could be very powerful when combined with Bomat Courier as a way to empty the hand. It’s still cheap, and it might not go much higher, but if it’s played in a tier-one deck it certainly will.

The online price of Genesis Chamber doubled overnight earlierthis week, and my research shows that it’s due to its interaction with the new Panharmonicon, which doubles the amount of tokens you receive. This is so powerful because this doubles up each trigger of cards like Impact Tremors and Purphoros, God of the Forge, which combined with Panharmonicon means that the damage is effectively being quadrupled. Combined with something like Norin the Wary, another card on the rise, it will quickly kill the opponent. It adds some more weight to the fringe Modern deck attempting to use these cards, and it certainly has a ton of EDH and casual appeal.

-Adam