The Financial Value Of Return To Ravnica: Daily Edition

Thoughts: Bumped to $3 based on rate of sales but steady at that price. There are better ways to hose storm decks in Legacy (Flusterstorm) and Modern (Mindbreak Trap), and there isn’t really a control-on-control matchup where this will be the trump card (for now). A solid but unspectacular counterspell in the mold of Absorb or Undermine.

Thoughts: Bulk Rare.

Thoughts: Bulk Mythic. Should be popular with casual players (it’s a Vampire, and it doubles the size of your guys), but with so many good mythics in this set, semi-good, borderline cards without a huge upside are going to be at the top-end of bulk pricing.

Thoughts: Already up to $5, based on being bought out between when I put this card live at 10:30 and when I wrapped up this article at 11:00 today. I think that this card is not very good—Rakdos’s Return is the flip side of this card but is much more powerful just by virtue of being one mana less. For five mana, you draw two cards and gain two life—that’s not too good. For five mana, you can get a life gain spell that gains you a lot more life (Thragtusk) or is better card draw (Amass the Components, Divination, Think Twice). To put it this way—how often did you see Blue Sun’s Zenith get played in Standard?

Thoughts: Bulk rare but one that might have an upside. The ability is one that appeals very, very much to casual players. I wouldn’t discount this in Constructed if Selesnya becomes a thing, as it combos very well with other cards you’d like to play, such as Rancor, equipment, or Giant Growth effects. One of the bulk rares I’d advise picking up 4x copies of because worst case it halves in price, but the upside is much higher than a $.50 swing.

Thoughts: I don’t think we’ve reached the ceiling price of Angel of Serenity during the preorder period—I still think that price is $15, minimum. It’s mythic, it’s an Angel, and it’s playable both in casual and tournament settings.

Thoughts: I’ll state this again—if Modern were a popular format, this card would be much higher in price. This card will likely be broken in Modern because the Blue/Red Storm deck will love this card as the new version of Mind’s Desire. There’s also talk of this being run in High Tide decks in Legacy—but we’ll see if that deck wants to start running Volcanic Islands or not.

Thoughts: The most underrated/underpriced card in the set so far. Already up to $6, but this is going to be a $10-$15 card at the least. Typically, things that “temporarily remove creatures from the game until this dies” (think Oblivion Ring) return the creatures to play if they themselves die. Angel of Serenity returns those creatures to the hand, so you can’t play Angel of Serenity and then get alpha-struck if your opponent kills it at end of turn. Get these now—the price is going to shoot up on this card by a lot.

Thoughts: Maelstrom Pulse and Oblivion Ring put together. Maelstrom Pulse started at $15 when Alara Reborn was released, and Abrupt Decay is already at $15, so I am pretty sure that this will hit $15 within a day.

Thoughts: Genesis Wave for instants/sorceries. I’d compare this to Mind’s Desire—at six mana, you’re flipping four spells (without the need to storm first) and probably getting to cast 2-ish of them on average. If you’re going for pumping your mana up to a ridiculous amount (Dark Ritual/Cabal Ritual/Seething Song-type effect), I can see this being Mind’s Desire version 2.0. I am fairly certain this is good enough to be a deck in Modern, and since Modern season doesn’t start until December, this may take a while to start rising in price. Get them now.

Thoughts:Bulk rare, though good enough to see a bunch of Commander play.

Thoughts: Another White Weenie two-drop that has to compete with other White Weenie two-drops. Seems like a prototypical $2 White Weenie rare—solid, but not overpowered or exciting.

Thoughts: Bulk rare and just not useful in Commander. Please note that you can go infinite with Sphinx of the Chimes and two of the same-named dredge cards, but a double-blue, six-drop creature in a deck like that is pushing it as far as an engine goes.

Thoughts: I really don’t see this going up any higher than $4, but then again I didn’t think it should hit $4 to begin with. There are so many good cards in this set that I think Cyclonic Rift is not enough of a stand-out to maintain this sort of premium pricing.

Thoughts: Bulk rare—though probably has a lot more applications in multiplayer games than in Constructed one-on-one Magic.

Thoughts: Already bumped to $2 from $1.50, based on speculators buying 20-40 copies at once after I put it up for sale. With Vapor Snag rotating, this is probably going to be the bounce card of choice in Standard (unless something else comes along) because of the late-game applications of overload—but then again, will new Standard need as much bounce as pre-Return to Ravnica needed? People are comparing Cyclonic Rift to a one-sided Upheaval, but Upheaval hit lands, and that’s what made Upheaval powerful. This is not Upheaval—it’s more like a one-sided Evacuation.

Thoughts: The problem with most of the Selesnya cards so far is that we’ve seen a bunch of rares that have the keyword populate, but we haven’t seen enough of the token generators to see if populate is even worth it! It’s hard to judge how good/bad Growing Ranks (or other populate cards) will be in a vacuum without the common an uncommon Selesnya cards being spoiled, which is usually not the case for a new keyworded ability! I have a feeling that all of the Selesnya cards will start out low, drop lower, and many will start rising in price a year from now because the populate effect is going to be very popular with casual players, but not so much with tournament players.

Thoughts: Could be the card that finally puts Frites over the top—between tutoring for one creature and getting another ready for an Unburial Rites, Jarad’s Orders seems really strong. Also seems very strong for Commander play. I don’t think it’ll shoot super-high in price (since it’s a roleplayer of a card), but I do believe it has some upside beyond bulk rare pricing—maybe $2-$2.50 in the shorter term. Definitely a card that goes up due to play value and not initial hype.

Thoughts: Slight bump in price based on rate of sales—but I don’t see this miraculously shooting up much higher in price.

Thoughts: People are really drawn in to the unique ability on Nivmagus Elemental, so they are buying early in case the card will be broken. Whether you get this card now or wait until later depends on whether you think someone will prove this is overpowered. I think it is not so I would not recommend picking them up until they drop back down in price post-release—but based on our sales, there are many people who disagree with this assessment.

Thoughts: Sold much more slowly than I would have expected, so I dropped the price by $1. I have a feeling this is one of those cards that is a good pick-up because the effect looks underwhelming but is very powerful.

Thoughts: Let’s start today off with a bulk rare. It gets better from here, trust me.

Thoughts: I’ve seen a few people misread this card, so allow me—you counter your own spell that is on the stack to give Nivmagus Elemental the two +1/+1 counters. Quite a few people have found applications for this sort of effect already, including eating storm copies of a spell or going all-in on turn-one with Pacts and aiming to pitch 4-5 Pacts/Gut Shots/Gitaxian Probes on turn one to make Nivmagus Elemental a 9/10 or 11/12 creature.
Now I personally think that most of these are best-case, not reliable-deck scenarios. While I think the design on this card is cool, I think in the end it will drop into the $1-$2 range once the set is returned. This is the kind of card that, if broken, will shoot up to a ridiculous price level, but I’m betting against.

Thoughts: Pretty much at bulk mythic pricing. Angelic Chorus has been a very popular casual effect, but right now populate looks to be a semi-unpopular mechanic. Wizards needs to spoil the token creatures in this set before we can really determine just how good populate is.

Thoughts: The spoiler on this card was in Italian, so there won’t be a picture up on Underworld Connections until tomorrow. Allow me to give the spoiler here: 1BB, Enchant land. Enchanted land gains “Tap, Pay 1 life: Draw a card.”
So yes, this turns your land into a Phyrexian Arena. Yes, it costs one more mana than Phyrexian Arena each turn (since you are losing that land). Yes, Phyrexian Arena hit $8-$10 when it was a focus point of the Orzhov decks the last time Ravnica block hit. Extremely solid in Standard, and this card will see a bunch of play over the next two years.

Thoughts: This is the same card with the same price arc as Slumbering Dragon—a huge guy for a discounted cost but with a drawback that keeps it from really being able to attack or block easily. Slumbering Dragon also went from $2 to $4 during the preorder period. I think Desecration Demon will go back down to $2 after release as well.

Thoughts: Golgari decks continue to get strong—and this card gets the love from Underworld Connections as well. Black/Green is going to be a force in the new post-Return to Ravnica Standard.

Thoughts: We started preselling these at $4, when they were eBaying at $5-$6 each. eBay is now at $6-$7 each, and we’re up to $5 each. I think that price will settle down to the $3-4 range post-release. Against most decks, it’s basically a 4/4 for three mana, which is good on the curve but nothing so extraordinary that it would demand a huge price tag. The uncounterable clause seems fine, as does the Obstinate Baloth ability of returning to play if discarded—but in the end, you’re mostly valuing this as a vanilla 4/4 creature for three mana. Wizards is really pushing board control in this set (Abrupt Decay, Dreadbore, Supreme Verdict, Mizzium Mortars), so the four toughness and three mana cost is the most relevant part of this creature. The tipping point will be how Legacy-relevant he is, and that won’t be determined for another three weeks.

Thoughts: We talked about this yesterday, but I’ll bring it up again—Return to Ravnica is likely going to end up being the most popular set ever printed as well as the most powerful set to see print in the modern era of Magic set design (Invasion forward). I raised the price on booster boxes from $99.99 to $109.99 three days ago, and sales increased during that time. I raised the price from $109.99 to $119.99 late yesterday afternoon, and sales have yet to slow down.

This set is going to sell out everywhere before release date, and the EV of opening packs for this set is already far and beyond any set we’ve seen since Future Sight—and that’s with half the set left to be spoiled. I said this yesterday, and I’ll say it again today—buy boxes sooner rather than later, because I can see this set topping MSRP.

Thoughts: Shocklands take four of the five top positions, and Overgrown Tomb is the best selling due to the strength of the Golgari cards spoiled thus far.

Thoughts: The most expensive of the original run of Ravnica/Guildpact/Dissension shocklands. Many people who didn’t pick up shocklands the first time around went straight for Hallowed Fountain, at half to a third of the Dissension version’s price.

Thoughts: When Modern was announced as a format, red-blue combo decks became all the rage. As a result, Steam Vents jumped ahead of the Ravnica/Guildpact shocklands (which exist in higher quantities than the Dissention shocklands) by a wide margin. Steam Vents continues to be very popular, even with this reprinting.

Thoughts: An instant staple for not only Standard, but also Legacy. One of the strongest single-target removal spells ever printed. The only card to upseat a shockland on our best seller’s list, and that’s with one-and-a-half fewer days of presell time than the shocklands had.

Thoughts: Probably would not have sold as well, or been above $10, if it wasn’t one of the three Dissension shocklands. Tip: Breeding Pool is going to be the best selling shockland out of Gatecrash for the same reasons that Hallowed Fountain and Blood Crypt are doing well.

Thoughts: Sales on Dreadbore slowed down after Abrupt Decay was spoiled, but there’s still a lot of this set left to go before we see how powerful Rakdos is/isn’t. I don’t think this will go up much more, and it may drop if Rakdos continues to get upstaged by Golgari cards.

Thoughts: Did I mention that Golgari (B/G) has had the most powerful cards spoiled so far? This is just another of those guys and another Golgari card that will likely see some Legacy play.

Thoughts: Unless Selesnya sees a whole lot of love going forward, this may be the only shockland that both doesn’t increase beyond the $10 original presell price and falls out of our Top 10 pre-sellers list.

Thoughts: I think people initially ignored this card because it compared somewhat poorly to Bonfire of the Damned. Then they realized that it could be compared to Bonfire of the Damned without getting you laughed out of the room, and it doubled in price. Yes, Bonfire is much better—but this is absolutely playable in Standard.

Thoughts: Not flashly, splashy, or as outright powerful as many of the other cards spoiled but super-solid and currently underrated. It does what it does very well, and it has appeal to virtually every Commander player on the planet. Will continue to sell solidly but just be overshadowed by more ‘wow!’-type cards.

Thoughts: Abrupt Decay has already gone from $10 to $12 within the first two hours of being put up for sale, based on a) how quickly it’s sold and b) the fact that many eBay buy-it-now auctions have been ending at $52-$60 for sets of four. The Source is the foremost forum for discussion of the Legacy format, and the people there think Abrupt Decay will make a major impact on their format. I like this much better than Dreadbore—so I expect Abrupt Decay to hold a much better long-term value than Dreadbore (which I think will drop to the $4-$5 range post-release, at this point).

Thoughts: I dropped Collective Blessing from $1.50 to $1 (which triggered a couple of Price Protection Guarantees) because this is the type of card that will stay at the $1 level for the short term but will begin to rise a year from now—see Caged Sun and Celestial Mantle for cards that stayed at $1 forever and then slowly started creeping up and selling well as new casual players get into the game.

Thoughts: Bumped slightly from $4 to $5, so at $20 a playset now. Without any Day of Judgment / Wrath of God in Standard, how important will a four-mana unconditional Wrath be? Day of Judgment started seeing increased play towards the beginning of this year, but the value of that effect was way down compared to Wrath of God. Wrath was a solid $8-$10 card when it was in Standard—Day of Judgment has been hovering at $2-$3 the past year. On the other hand, Terminus has been seeing some play in Legacy, and this gives decks a way to clear the board against Force of Will (I’m looking at you, Merfolk), and this will be a fantastic casual card. I don’t think Supreme Verdict will jump above $5 during the preorder period, but I think this is one of those cards that will have a quick jump in value if it starts getting played after Return to Ravnica has been released, since there is still room for it to go up in value.

Thoughts: Bulk Rare

Thoughts: It’s no secret that the allocations for Magic product has been getting tighter during the presale period—we sold out of Avacyn Restored three weeks before the set was even released! We weren’t the only ones—it was very difficult to find a box of Avacyn Restored online leading up to the set release, and the ones that were available kept going up in price.

Return to Ravnica is going to be the most popular Magic set ever, and so far the cards spoiled are living up to the hype of the set. This isn’t the case of Scars of Mirrodin block, where people were hyped, but the cards underwhelmed (until New Phyrexia, at least). The cards in Return to Ravnica are very powerful, and the EV of opening a pack is very high—and we’ve still got half the set left to be spoiled!

Almost every Magic product at this point is selling at (or sometimes above) MSRP, due to the huge demand on the game. The only product which consistently is selling under MSRP are booster boxes; they have an MSRP of $143.64(!) but generally presell at $90-$100 a box. For the past three (non-M13) sets, the booster box price has gone above $100 before the presale period is over, and we (and most other major online retailers) have had no problems selling out.
In addition, we had no fewer than three people call up yesterday asking if they could buy all ten booster cases we had in stock. The last time we started getting calls like that? Zendikar, right after hidden treasures were spoiled. Boxes of Zendikar spiked to (and sold out at) $129.99 a box.

Return to Ravnica is better than Zendikar.
Buy boxes now—based on how quickly they are selling now, I expect the price to be up by the time the Monday update of this article rolls around. There are still EIGHT mythic rares yet to be spoiled, and I can’t ever think of a time where there were this many $5+ rares (much less $10+ rares) in one set.

Thoughts: Selling a lot better than Jace, and so up to $40. Sales have been steady at $40, but not fast enough that I think Vraska will take another jump. However, the caveat here is that Golgari keeps getting the goods in this set (Lotleth Troll, Abrupt Decay), so if B/G ends up being a powerhouse in Standard, Vraska will surely be a part of that deck.

Thoughts: Speaking of Lotleth Troll—jumped from $6 to $7 to $8 to $10 over the course of yesterday. Our biggest seller of the day and still going very strong at $10. Slitherhead only makes Lotleth Troll that much better, and it’s looking like B/G (and maybe even B/G Zombies in particular) is going to be a force in Standard.

Thoughts: Overgrown Tomb saw a bump in sales over the past 24 hours because the Golgari cards spoiled have been so great. Blood Crypt has sold very well. Blood Crypt is also one of the Dissension Shocklands, which were in much less supply than the ones printed in Ravnica or Guildpact and therefore came into this block starting at a higher price. The only shockland which hasn’t risen from $9.99 so far is Temple Garden, and not surprisingly the Selesnya cards spoiled so far have really lagged in excitement behind the ones from the other guilds.

Thoughts: There are just so many good cards in this set so far, and we’re not even half spoiled. Lotleth Troll is selling at a solid $8-$10 on eBay already, and I’m starting us at $6; it’s lower than the “market value,” but as I mentioned yesterday, I think overall a lot of the rares in this set will have somewhat lower values than they might have had otherwise because so so many packs are going to be opened. Return to Ravnica will be the best-selling Magic set of all time—and likely one of the most, if not the most popular.

As far as Lotleth Troll goes, keep an eye on Unburial Rites. Lotleth Troll is a very strong creature on its own (reminiscent of Spectral Lynx), but it combines the best feature of Putrid Imp. I don’t think there have been any great scavenge cards printed yet—but if some of those get spoiled, they just make Lotleth Troll that much more powerful.

Thoughts: Jester’s Cap / Cranial Extraction-type cards used to pull a $4-$5 premium at release. As time has gone on, this has become more of a niche ability, and other versions (Thought Hemorrhage anyone?) have continued to go down in value.
I’m starting Slaughter Games at $1, which is bulk pricing. If Rakdos Control becomes a thing, Slaughter Games will become an important trump card in the mirror match—a race to see who can land (or remove) their Rakdos’s Return first. It’s also good to note that this card wrecks control in a way that other versions of capping effects have not—no fear of tapping out and having your spell countered means you can remove their win conditions with impunity. Problem is—most of Standard is not keyed towards control or one-to-two win conditions right now, and Return to Ravnica looks to continue the trend of varied, powerful threats.

Thoughts: One of two planeswalkers in Return to Ravnica, and stronger than Jace. Traditionally five-mana planeswalkers are hard to swallow for Constructed play, but Vraska has three advantages—a high starting loyalty, a plus ability that really discourages getting Vraska off the board, and one of the strongest middle abilities ever printed on a planeswalker. Vraska just DEALS with whatever the opponent has on the board in a way that few other cards can do—and that’s without even making Vraska go down too far in loyalty. $30 is middle-ground for the starting price on a planeswalker, and while there’s a wide variance on where the value of planeswalkers land after release, I believe Vraska will be one that stays closer to $30 than bottoming out at half-value.

Thoughts: Hallowed Fountain and Steam Vents started yesterday at $10, climbed to $12, and then ended the day at $15. Both have continued to sell strongly at the $15 mark. Overgrown Tomb, Temple Garden, and Blood Crypt are very solidly selling at $10 and will likely hit the $12 mark before long.

Thoughts: Selling solidly on eBay at $32-$40 a playset. I raised our price to meet the eBay low.

Thoughts: I thought that this card had a lot of upside, and based on orders, many players agreed with me. I don’t think Mortars will rise too much more during the preorder period, but it may have one more jump in it right after release if it comes out of the gate swinging in top Standard decks.

Thoughts: Very popular seller at $20. Bumped to $25 after we sold a ton on the first day and still selling solidly at $25. If the price goes any higher, I’d hold off buying until after release—I think Jace won’t be going up in price once the Return to Ravnica street date hits.

Thoughts: By far the breakaway card of the set so far. Hit $5, $6, $8, $10, and finally $15 in the past 24 hours. eBay is supporting these prices as well. The upside of a top-tier tournament mythic is around $50 (not counting Jace, the Mind Scuptor—think Primeval Titan, Baneslayer Angel, and Bonfire of the Damned), so even at $15 Rakdos’s Return isn’t at the top price that a top-tier Standard rare would demand. I’m not saying it will hit $50 (it won’t), but I could still see Rakdos’s Return getting up a little higher if it playtests well over the next few weeks.

Thoughts: I think there’s a good chance Dryad Militant ends the preorder period at $2—it’s just strong, splashable, and potentially playable in Legacy and Modern. Buy them now, if you intend on playing with them.

Thoughts: Probably should top off at $1 for the rest of the preorder cycle, unlike Dryad Militant.

Thoughts: All of the guild leaders will have a boost in popularity because they are guild leaders. Isperia seems unexciting to me, and in a set where there are a lot of large creatures already spoiled, I see this going down to $3.

Thoughts: Jace, Architect of Thought may be the first planeswalker designed primarily for multiplayer games. Both the first and third abilities scale with extra players in the game. This is reflected in the starting price of Jace—at only $20, this is a lot lower a price point to start at than most planeswalkers have presold for in the past. Maybe this is also a signal that planeswalkers are no longer going to presell for a price that is a multiple times what they settle at just a few weeks out from the set release.

Thoughts: This card would probably be a little higher except it’s also being pumped into the market as part of the Izzet vs. Golgari Duel Deck. It also doesn’t play great with the Golgari mechanic, so I don’t see a big upside for Jarad right now.

Thoughts: A great finisher—Niv-Mizzet’s five toughness is a huge upgrade over Isperia’s four given that Mizzium Mortars will see a bunch of Standard play. In addition, Niv-Mizzet is an aggressive creature—he can get through even if he can’t swing in—and he provides card advantage all the while. It should be much desired given the popularity of the first Niv-Mizzet.

Thoughts: This is the first card on the list that has risen in price on our website since singles went live last night. People are comparing this to a "bad Mind Shatter" or saying "it’s more inefficient than Blightning"—but Blightning isn’t in Standard, and this is a Fireball + a Mind Shatter for only one more mana. The problem is that it can’t target creatures, which has always been the "upside in a pinch" of playable Standard X burn spells. It will be popular, but it should drop a little off the current price tag.

Thoughts: Eleven mana is a lot for a creature that you can’t easily cheat into play in Standard. Isn’t this guy really good in Legacy though? It combos great with Sneak Attack, and I hear people are playing that deck right now. It should remain in the $3-$4 range, but Legacy players are going to be hunting down the foil versions to finish out their decks.

Thoughts: I’ll lump together all five shocklands—they have an established value of twice the starting price (at least) of the Return to Ravnica reprints. I think the truth will be a little more in the middle—the ones that get played (Hallowed Fountain, Steam Vents) will go up, while the others will stay the same. I don’t see these dropping below $10 for any length of time; they may go slightly down when the initial rush of cards hits the market right at release, but they will rebound immediately because they are that good.

Thoughts: My pick for the best card spoiled so far in regards to long-term value. It’s Constructed playable mana acceleration and mana fixing and a near auto-include for 2+ color Commander decks. It appeals to all varieties of players and has no real downside.

Thoughts:  A casualty of the pack-opening menace. Normally Doubling Season / Parallel Lives effects start out at a higher price, but there are going to be a lot of solid-to-good cards printed in this set. I think this set will operate very similarly to Eventide—there are a lot of $2-$4 solid rares under long-term values, but a lot of them will take a year to get there. This is one of those rares.

Thoughts:  I’m not as high on this card as other people seem to be because I think sorcery speed spot removal spells that primarily kill creatures are not great for Constructed, but Dreadbore is very mana efficient for what it does. It probably would be a higher-dollar card in another set, but it probably will drop down to the $3ish range in the short term because of the number of cards being opened.

Thoughts:  Is this better than Thundermaw Hellkite? Thundermaw Hellkite is larger and clears the path of blockers, but it doesn’t play as well with Snapcaster Mage. Hypersonic Dragon is another tool that makes Snapcaster a little bit more powerful in Standard. It’s interesting that the power creep in Magic has gotten to the point where I’m marginally excited about a 4/4 flying haste creature with an upside ability for five mana.

Thoughts:  Currently underrated. Unlike Dreadbore, Mizzium Mortars scales as the game goes on—so late game you’re one-sided Wrathing your opponent instead of just one-for-one-ing his best guy. I’d pick these up now, because I don’t see them going down in price.

Thoughts:  High upside (in terms of value) tribal creature with major casual appeal—Rats are a very popular tribe! This is another card I’d expect to see hitting $2-$2.50 a year from now but that will probably languish in the bulk rare bins while Return to Ravnica block is still being drafted.

Click to see text.

Thoughts: All of the Charms are going to see Constructed play, and Azorius Charm is the narrowest. Basically you’re looking for the third ability (Time Ebb), and generally you’re looking for it on an attacking creature. Still, it’s two-mana removal that can cycle if needed, so it can’t all be bad.

Thoughts: Stops Snapcaster Mage and is on the Savannah Lions curve. This card is so ahead of the curve on the mana cost to power/toughness ratio that it’s silly—and while 2/1 for one with an upside is still good, we’ll have to see how good a 2/1 creature is in Standard these days.

Thoughts: Keep an eye out to see if this causes Storm combo to become the dominant deck in Modern.

Thoughts:  The best of the Charms spoiled so far, but also a victim of being in the Izzet vs. Golgari Duel Deck. Spell Pierce, Careful Study, or (creature) Shock are all very useful abilities, and adding only one mana to the cost of any of these to have the versatility of casting all of them makes this one of the most versatile spells ever printed.

Thoughts: Already up to $0.75. Flying Cursecatcher—and while it’s in the wrong tribe (being a Merfolk MATTERS), we must respect that Cursecatcher is hitting $4 these days, so people may want a cheaper alternative for Legacy play.

Thoughts: Did I mention that all of the Charms are great so far? Kill a fatty, or Giant Growth, or make a 2/2 token creature (which matters, thanks to populate). It’s interesting, but so far the Return to Ravnica Charms (at two colors and two mana) seem more powerful than the Shards of Alara Charms, which were three mana and three colors.

Thoughts: Normally sets will have 5-10 commons that hit the $0.25+ range, and only a handful of the most powerful ones hit over that $0.50 mark—we’re talking cards like Ponder or Preordain or Lightning Bolt. Original Ravnica had a lot of solid commons (bouncelands, Signets, and various spells and creatures), and Return to Ravnica is going to have even more of these—cards like Wee Dragonauts, Stinkweed Imp, and Coiling Oracle amongst others. Goblin Electromancer belongs in that class and will eventually hit the $0.50-$1 mark, just like Etherium Sculptor did for Shards of Alara.

Thoughts: All of the Guildgates will follow the same pattern as the original Ravnica block bouncelands—solid $0.50 cards that see a ton of casual play and some degree of Standard play. Note that there are not many enemy-color dual lands that have this type of drawback (comes onto the battlefield tapped)—most of these cycles have been allied-color only (Coastal Tower and friends), so the enemy-color ones might be more popular than the allied-color ones.

Thoughts: Impulse that works well with the Golgari mechanic and/or super Mulch. Another victim of how many cards are going to be opened in this block, but Grisly Salvage has a lot of upside, so I expect the foil version to be at a premium.