Thoughts: Planeswalkers don’t seem to have a middle ground for presales—either they are too high or too low, but almost no planeswalkers end up finishing near their initial offering price by the time the next set comes around. In this case of M13, I think both Ajani and Liliana are going to nearly halve in value—and I think that Liliana has a better chance of recovering value than Ajani. Ajani just doesn’t seem to be very exciting; the first and second abilities are hyper-aggressive, whereas the third is a control-card finisher. He won’t protect himself (by making creatures or killing opposing creatures), so he’s not great to play on an empty board.

Thoughts: Hit $4 for the M10 version before the M13 version was spoiled. Cards like this (lords) tend to recover value over time after being reprinted. For the long term, I’d expect Captain of the Watch to start creeping back up to $3—but in the “until Return to Ravnica” timeline, Captain will still be at $2.

Thoughts: See Boon Reflection and Beacon of Immortality—casual-friendly cards that took a long time to jump in value. There is a market for this effect with casual players, but the supply of the card has to dry up (i.e. goes out of print/competitive players trade all their copies away) before it starts jumping. This is another card I could see hitting $3-$4 when M14 hits (assuming it’s not reprinted), but it’ll get there slowly.

Thoughts: The Urza’s Saga version used to be a $20 card—but that was when there weren’t a ton of great fatties to play with, and the Serra name held a lot more cachet. Serra Avatar is seeing print twice at the same time (in M13 and as a Duels of the Planeswalker Promo card), which will help drive down the value of the Avatar. This is a card that seems like it’d be great to reprint, but the value on Serra Avatar was based more on the scarcity of Urza’s Saga than the playability of this card.

Thoughts: Has seen a decent amount of play in the past and some in Legacy (thanks to being able to cheat it out early with Aether Vial). I think there’s a really good aggressive white-blue flyers deck, and so I expect this to see play in Standard—at least until Mana Leak rotates.

Thoughts: Currently underrated. Works great with most of the white-blue creatures that currently exist (Spirits, Invisible Stalker, Geist of Saint Traft) and hits like a truck on its own. This is one of the cards that will spike because of the lack of M13 singles being opened for the market. I think both this and the Thundermaw Hellkite (which I’ll talk about in Red) are cards I’d recommend picking up now. I don’t believe they have inflated prices due to being mythic; quite the opposite, I think they will be harder to get because they are mythic and will be played.

Thoughts: Didn’t see a ton of play the first time around, so I expect the value of Jace, Memory Adept to continue to drop, as there’s even more of a supply out there.

Thoughts: Lord of Atlantis is a solid $3-$4 because of the dual popularity of Merfolk and the popularity of Merfolk as a Legacy deck. Even though Fish hasn’t been top-tier for the last little while, you have to consider that Lord of Atlantis was printed in Alpha, Beta, Unlimited, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, Time Spiral, and as a Promo card. Even if you only count widely available sets, that’s five times that Lord of Atlantis has been put out there versus one time for Master of the Pearl Trident. That makes me believe that MotPT has a good chance to hold value over the long term.

Thoughts: Yes, this is good with Show and Tell in Legacy. It’s good with Dream Halls in Legacy. However, there are other cards that are also good with Show and Tell and Dream Halls in Legacy, and this isn’t so much better that it deserves the double-digit price tag that it’s getting right now. Almost impossible to cast without cheating it into play, and by the time you’re up to ten mana—can’t you cast everything you’d want to cast anyhow? Get rid of these, while they are still up there in value.

Thoughts: I am not very high on Talrand and the same goes for Odric (which I put in the bulk section of White). Talrand has two strikes running against its value. Number one, the five legendary creatures in M13 are each in one of the Theme Decks for M13. Traditionally, this has led to a much lower value for these cards because a lot of these Theme Decks get opened and brought into the marketplace. Second, Talrand is 2/2 with no way to protect itself for four mana. Compared to other options for control or tempo decks, Talrand just seems overmatched for Constructed play.

Thoughts: Why will Disciple of Bolas succeed where Momentous Fall failed? First, Disciple of Bolas leaves you with a 2/1 creature in the worst-case scenario. Second, Disciple of Bolas is more easily splashable. Third, using power for both the life gain and the card drawing is key—that way you don’t have your deck design torn between needing to have a high power and a high toughness. It doesn’t hurt that Disciple of Bolas works fantastically with the best rare in this set, Thragtusk.

Thoughts: We all know that Return to Ravnica is the fall set. There is an expectation that shocklands will be reprinted sometime in that block. Cards like Liliana of the Realms, Arbor Elf, Farseek, and Ranger’s Path feed into that expectation—all of them are cards which can fetch shocklands (and not just basic lands or basic Swamp). I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again—Wizards of the Coast really, really wants Mono-Black Control to be a viable Standard archetype, but so far it hasn’t happened. Liliana of the Dark Realms is keyed to that deck, but she’ll be a lot more valuable once we confirm shocklands are being reprinted. My money is on yes.

Thoughts: As far as Mono-Black being viable, Wizards has pretty much removed all other four-drop Wrath effects once M12 rotates out, save for this one. I think once people realize there’s no Day of Judgment/Wrath of God in the format, they will flock to Mutilate.

Thoughts: $10 is about where Vampire Nocturnus settled at the first time around, during this time of the set release. It’s also another Duels of the Planeswalker Promo card. I see it settling around $10 but not really dropping below that (and eventually gaining more ground over time).

Thoughts: As with Jace, Memory Adept, this version of Chandra didn’t really make the cut last time around, and a second large supply of Chandra entering the market will only serve to drive her price down further.

Thoughts: I think Krenko is an excellent choice to pick up for the long-term (1+ years down the road) because his ability is one that has a tremendous casual appeal to a tribe (Goblins) where casual appeal matters. Marrow-Gnawer is the closest comparable to Krenko, except Krenko is larger, cheaper, and can get going if he’s the only Goblin in play. The only thing Krekno loses out to is granting creatures a keyword ability (fear). If Krenko weren’t a theme deck rare, I’d be more bullish about him hitting $3-$4 by the end of the year, instead of 12 months from now.

Thoughts: I think you really want your red X spells to damage players to have the most chance of maintaining value, but instant speed really pushes this card to playable. I don’t think Magmaquake will make huge metagame waves (there are better ways to either sweep creatures or planeswalkers), but it’s appealing enough to both casual and competitive players. The problem is that Bonfire of the Damned has really pushed the power level of this effect past what Magmaquake offers.

Thoughts: Just like with Sublime Archangel, Thundermaw Hellkite is going to jump in value. It’s a good win condition, deals well with Spirits, and is a Dragon. I’d compare Thundermaw Hellkite favorably to the Titan cycle in that it’s the top-end creature that you want to ramp to in many decks and should be a Standard staple for years to come.

Thoughts: Should maintain value because of casual appeal—never underestimate a Worship effect built onto a creature! If Elderscale Wurm gets adopted by Ramp decks (admittedly a longshot—but a possibility), it will jump in value to the $5-$6 range.

Thoughts: The most played of the three new planeswalkers introduced in M12. Garruk dropped by about one-third in value once it was spoiled for M13, but I think Garruk will continue to be played—so it will hold value (and eventually rise) whereas Jace and Chandra are heading in the downwards direction.

Thoughts: Hit $5-$6 when it was only in M12, but that was almost entirely due to casual demand. Now that it’s around in M13 PLUS is a Duels of the Planeswalker promo, I think Primordial Hydra has passed the point of saturation and will come very close to bulk pricing.

Thoughts: The best rare in M13 and a staple creature for the Standard (and possibly Modern) formats. Fantastic abilities, should see a ton of play. This is another card where “the rich get richer” in that it will be in high demand and will go up as the supply of M13 being opened doesn’t keep up with demand.

Thoughts: Would be higher, but once people start opening Intro Packs, the market will be hit with an inundation of foil Yeva. Would likely be in the $8-$10 range if it weren’t the Intro Pack rare because the body and ability make it both casual and competitive desirable.

Thoughts: Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker has always been about casual value and not competitive value. This would have maintained value a lot better if Nicol Bolas hadn’t just been reprinted as part of a Duel Deck in the recent past. Because it was, we’re going to see the value of Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker dip to the $5-$6 mark. Eventually I think we’ll see Nicol Bolas hit the $10 mark again, but that’ll be a year down the road.

Thoughts: Future Sight is one of the best pack-to-value opening sets in Magic’s history. Akroma’s Memorial hit a high of $15 before it was announced for reprinting. Before that, there was a big price jump on Modern-legal singles (whether they were tournament playable or not) because the price on Modern-legal Sealed Product shot through the roof. $8-$10 was the value of Akroma’s Memorial before Modern was announced, so with a second supply of Memorials in the market (and it being a mythic this time, versus a rare last time), that’s where I see it settling the second time around.

Thoughts: Gilded Lotus went as high as $8 when it was Mirrodin-printing only. It saw play in Ramp decks back in the day and will likely see play in any post-Ravnica Ramp Decks that could make use of three mana of any color. I think it’s a safe bet to pick up at $4, and it’ll likely creep towards the $5-$6 range by next year.

Thoughts: Was $3-$4 forever and then just hit $5-$6 in the past year. Stuffy Doll took a while to rise in price, so I see it dipping in the short term because of supply—but it is a good bet to go back up to the $3-$4 range by the time M14 comes out next year (assuming it’s not reprinted there, as well).

Thoughts: Both Contested War Zone and Kessig Wolf Run have been playable in Standard (Wolf Run more so than War Zone), and both have fallen into the $0.49-$1.99 range. Cathedral of War is in the same category as both of those cards, and so I see it settling in at the $2 range. Might go a little higher, but given that we’re about to head into a major multicolor block, I’m not too bullish on colorless-producing lands right now.

Thoughts: Was as low as $1 and as high as $4 between the release of M12 and now. Should settle in the $2 range for the short term.

Thoughts: Was as low as $2 and as high as $7 between the release of M12 and now. Was printed in Event decks in between that time as well. Should remain in the $3 range because it’s a blue land. This cycle of land, it should be pointed out, works extremely well with shocklands.

Thoughts: Was as low as $2 and as high as $6 between the release of M12 and now. Has the same drawbacks as Drowned Catacomb—it was reprinted in Event Decks over the past year. Solid at $3, with a top-out level by next year of $5 at most.

Thoughts: See Dragonskull Summit—there are a lot of these lands out there right now, and so while they will still be played in Standard and will still be played in large numbers, there are a significant number of Rootbound Crags in circulation right now between M10, M11, M12—and, of course, Premium Deck: Slivers.

Thoughts: At the risk of repeating myself, I won’t. See Dragonskull Summit and Rootbound Crag for an explanation of why this will be a solid $2 card.