Hello everyone and welcome to your daily installment of The Financial Value of Return to Ravnica! For previous financial reviews I'd waited for the entire set to be spoiled. However card values are rapidly in flux the first few days (and weeks) after spoilers go live—so for this set I am going to talk about each set of new cards as they are spoiled and give updates for previously spoiled cards as movement happens! This will allow me to give you the most up-to-the-moment financial information so you can make informed choices regarding Return to Ravnica.
We'll be handling the reviews slightly differently. I'll be giving the starting price of the card and my thoughts about the card—whether it'll go up down or stay about the same. The entire set should be fully spoiled on Monday September 24th so that day I will revisit every card in the set see how the card performed since the beginning of the spoiler season and give my predictions for the longer-term value of these cards!
A Quick Note about Return to Ravnica: This set is going to be chock-full of good commons and uncommons due to the guild structure. There are also five proven high-dollar rares to start with (the shocklands). Therefore the overall value of many rares/mythics that might otherwise be higher will be suppressed due to the high number of boxes that will be cracked for singles. I think short-term a lot of the cards will be lower in price than they would have been in another set but long-term that makes them really good buys for once the supply dries up a year down the road.
Tuesday September 18th
New Cards
![]() | Palisade Giant |
Starting Price: $1 | |
Thoughts: Bulk rare. |
![]() | Rakdos Lord of Riots |
Starting Price: $10 | |
Thoughts: Seems absolutely insane for Commander play but less so in Constructed. I was not a fan of Abyssal Persecutor and this is a similar “large flying creature with a drawback” which in this case is “cannot be cast.” Should drop in price from $10. |
![]() | Rest in Peace |
Starting Price: $4 | |
Thoughts: One of the strongest graveyard hosers ever printed. Combos with Helm of Obedience giving that deck a weapon it can easily hard-cast and find (Enlightened Tutor) for Legacy. When Leyline of the Void was big in Extended (before reprinting in M11) it was a solid $7-$10 card depending on the Constructed season. This is going to be heavily played in Legacy and has a place in Modern and Standard. |
![]() | Righteous Authority |
Starting Price: $1.25 | |
Thoughts: Reminds me of Celestial Mantle—very popular stayed at around $1 forever and then after it rotated it started slowly rising in price. Righteous Authority appeals to the same player that Celestial Mantle appeals to; and there's the built-in self-Howling Mine effect that might make this Standard playable as well. Worth picking up now can only go up. |
![]() | Search the City |
Starting Price: $1.25 | |
Thoughts: I believe this card will end up being a bulk rare. With that said—it's a card advantage card (albeit very conditional for any type of card outside of basic lands) and a Time Walk effect so I compare this to Jester's Scepter. Extremely powerful when you get it going but extremely conditional to get going in the first place. |
![]() | Utvara Hellkite |
Starting Price: $4 | |
Thoughts: Utvara Hellkite is a Dragon that costs 6RR and is a 6/6. It reads "Flying; Whenever a Dragon you control attacks put a 6/6 red Dragon creature token onto the battlefield." Casual bulk mythic. Should drop to the $2-3 range—by the time you drop it you should have already won the game with Dragons you have in play (unless you're running some weird Changeling/Dragon concoction). |
Friday September 14th
New Cards
![]() | Pithing Needle |
Starting Price: $2 | |
Thoughts: Pithing Needle is one of the ultimate strategies to shut down planeswalkers—but how many planeswalkers are going to see play in a post-Scars world? When it first was printed (Saviors of Kamigawa) Pithing Needle hit $20-$25. When it was reprinted in 10th Edition it dropped to $10-$15. When it saw a third printing in M10 it dropped to the $2-$3 range. Is there a reason Pithing Needle will on a fourth printing suddenly spike in price? On one hand there's a precedent for it being a higher-dollar card than $2. On the other hand—there's a stronger precedent that the market is flooded with Pithing Needle so while I would recommend picking up a set to have for Standard (it won't drop below $2) don't expect it to suddenly shoot up a lot in price even if it's seeing moderate play. |
![]() | Ultimate Price |
Starting Price: $1 | |
Thoughts: Comparable to Terror Go for the Throat and Doom Blade. All of these have commanded a premium when they are Standard legal (yes even as commons) so $1 seems like a solid price on Ultimate Price. It would be higher ($2+) if there weren't going to be so many gold creatures played in Standard post-Ravnica—but it will also be a fantastic removal spell for Commander players where it will hit a lot more targets. |
10 Best Sellers for the Past Week
Last week I presented the list of the 10 best selling Return to Ravnica cards. This week I'm going to give you a list of the 10 Return to Ravnica cards that sold the most copies between Friday the 7th and today!
![]() | 1) Desecration Demon |
Starting Price: $2 | |
Thoughts: Desecration Demon was our best-selling card this week partly in thanks to being spoiled during our coverage for SCG Open Series: Portland. Half the people I've spoken to think it is junk and the other half think it is Abyssal Persecutor 2.0. I'm of the former school of thought but not enough so that I discount this card entirely. |
![]() | 2) Nivmagus Elemental |
Starting Price: $3 | |
Thoughts: Many are banking that this will be strong in both Modern and Legacy—but not so much in Standard or casual play. Missing out on the two most popular formats is what is keeping the price of Nivmagus Elemental in check. |
![]() | 3) Loxodon Smiter |
Starting Price: $4 | |
Thoughts: Solid but unspectacular creature. One of the stronger Selesnya cards spoiled so far in a guild that has still been lagging behind the other guilds two weeks into spoiler season. |
![]() | 4) Abrupt Decay |
Starting Price: $10 | |
Thoughts: There were three cards that were in the top 10 list last week and are also in the top 10 list this week. Abrupt Decay has overtaken Overgrown Tomb as our best-selling rare in the set and we are going to sell out of it before the end of next week. |
![]() | 5) Lotleth Troll |
Starting Price: $6 | |
Thoughts: The second card to make the Top 10 list both weeks so far. Golgari is the strongest guild (overall) spoiled so far and Lotleth Troll is good enough to be considered for Legacy play. Extremely solid creature and we are likely to sell out of it before the Return to Ravnica Prerelease. |
![]() | 6) Cyclonic Rift |
Starting Price: $2 | |
Thoughts: With all of the amazing outright-removal spells in this set I just don't feel that a bounce spell that needs seven mana to “go large” will command a $4 price tag once the set is released. Still you can't argue with sales and they continue to be strong even after the initial price of Cyclonic Rift doubled. |
![]() | 7) Overgrown Tomb |
Starting Price: $10 | |
Thoughts: The only shockland that makes the Top Seller list this week. Overgrown Tomb was the best-selling Return to Ravnica card on the Top 10 seller list last week and continues to move well thanks to black and green getting the goods in this set. (For reference—Temple Garden was #17 Hallowed Fountain was #21 Blood Crypt was #26 and Steam Vents was #27). |
![]() | 8) Slitherhead |
Starting Price: $0.25 | |
Thoughts: Nothing to see here please move along. |
![]() | 9) Trostani Selesnya's Voice |
Starting Price: $3 | |
Thoughts: A great casual ability but not looking great for Constructed play. Will likely be a popular Commander general but we really need to see the token creatures that are in Return to Ravnica. |
![]() | 10) Angel of Serenity |
Starting Price: $5 | |
Thoughts: I still tink Angel of Serenity is being undervalued—precedents for popular mythic Angels are more in the $15-$20 range and Angel of Serenity is quite playable—more so than Avacyn Angel of Hope (which is still a solid $12 card half a year after release). |












































































