Are you a Quiet Speculation member?
If not, now is a perfect time to join up! Our powerful tools, breaking-news analysis, and exclusive Discord channel will make sure you stay up to date and ahead of the curve.
Hello, everyone and welcome to the second part of this week's special edition of the Daily Stock Watch! The spoiler is complete for Ultimate Masters as of writing time, and there aren't more of those cards that made us go "wow" after yesterday. It seems that WotC's initial attempt to woo us in to buying UMA boxes were successful, as the rest of the set seems underwhelming for me for its price. This is just my opinion from a financial standpoint, and I guess that's where the box topper comes in. Instead of gauging the set in whole, let's check out more cards from the set (outside of the ones included in the box toppers) that will suffer financially from this reprint, but will make a lot of players happier.
This card isn't exactly a pricey one but the supply is somehow limited because it was only available via Commander. It is a favorite in multiplayer EDH games as it stops a lot of shenanigans that could end games in an instant (such as the dreaded Worldgorger Dragon and Animate Dead combo). After peaking last July at $25.92, this card should go back to $10 range. This will be having its first time foil though (outside of the Masterpiece version) so be on the lookout for that one.
The BR Bridgevine deck in Modern didn't have much success that people thought it would amass in Modern. It requires some serious stroke of luck to play with and a lineup of matches against decks that don't pack Leyline of the Void to win consistently. It had its fair share of hype spikes last August, with the FS version reaching a high of $41 when the deck first burst onto the competitive scene with a top eight finish by Jacob Nagro in the Pro Tour 25th Anniversary. It's no surprise that Vengevine was included in this set for some synergy purposes in draft (if you're lucky enough to draft both!) and it's also cool that Faithless Looting is out there. Another one of those cards that will be down to $10 range because of the reprint.
Another card that's seeing some competitive play in Modern is Nourshing Shoal. It's part of the now unpopular GriselShoal deck that is still capable of winning tournaments on its own given the right matchups, but isn't drawing enough attention to keep the deck in respectable tier one territory. I had the feel that this would be included in the set when I saw Through the Breach and Goryo's Vengeance in the spoilers, but there's no Griselbrand in sight. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn wouldn't be alone though as his Eldrazi brothers are also in the set. A $7 card for the past two years, expect this card to go down to $3-$5 range as soon as UMA supplies hit the market. Now would be the best time to get your foils, though.
One of the reprints that I didn't see coming was this of Fauna Shaman. Timetable-wise, this makes sense as this was only printed once way back in Magic 2011. It was barely seeing play in Modern, with Kiki-Chord as the only possible deck where I think this could be used, but is almost a guaranteed staple in Commander for decks that run more creatures than spells along with Survival of the Fittest. This has been above $10 for quite a few years now, and it should go back to $8-$10 range with this reprint. Snag one of those foils if you could as it has a premium because of EDH.
A card that was printed a decade ago with no functional reprints of sorts, Flagstones of Trokair returns to the mainstream audience with very little fanfare in UMA. It sees fringe play in Modern via Martyr Proc, and it is known as a fodder for Boom//Bust or Wildfire types of deck in EDH. It has been a $20 because of scarcity, but should be down to $10 as well with this printing. Again, be on the lookout for foils as there will be good prices for it in the long run.
There are notable reprints in the set that were a bit surprising, but I would be talking about that in tomorrow's segment to end the week.
And that’s it for this edition of the Daily Stock Watch! See you again next time, as I continue to talk about the last set of cards from Ultimate Masters. As always, feel free to share your opinion in the comments section below. And if you want to keep up with all the market movement, be sure to check in with the QS Discord Channel for real time market information, and stay ahead of the hottest specs!