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It would appear that the voting from the previous article has solidified the title for this series. Yup! That’s right, Uncommon and Common Magical Treasures is here to stay for the foreseeable future. I do apologize it has been several weeks since my last article in this series, but as I’m sure you can understand, things have been hectic. Magic is changing on a day-to-day basis, set sizes are getting smaller, Eventide is being spoiled more and more each day and I’m constantly trying to update more than just the articles portion of the site… phew! And that’s just to name a few. Today I plan on delving into the Odyssey block, talking about recent pricing changes for the Shadowmoor set, and I could possibly be discussing a set from before Mirage. And then some…. Interested? If so, I would encourage you to click on…. If you are just reading this child of the Words from the Streetz series for the first time, I would highly encourage you to check out the previous three articles from Uncommon and Common Magical Treasures. Check them out especially if you are more interested in the common and uncommon values from sets before Odyssey. However, note that it is not necessary to read each one before reading today’s article. Below is a quick summary of the previous articles and their content in brief:
Note that prices fluctuate quite a bit from week to week depending on supply, demand, recent banning or unbanning, and on the popularity of a card in one of the many different Magic: the Gathering formats that exist. And thus this series is just meant as a usual guide for traders; some of the common and uncommon cards in your collection deserve to be added to your “Haves” list.
Odyssey block appears to be doing pretty well in the uncommon (and common) department. Especially if you compare it to the Mercadian Masques block…. Here are the All-Star Uncommons ($3.99 and up) from the Odyssey block, which includes Odyssey, Torment and Judgment:
Cabal Therapy is Duress on crack. Cabal Therapy can do what Duress, Ostracize and any other specific discard spell can do with the only prerequisite being you know what is in your opponent's hand. Which is easy considering almost any other discard spell for one Black mana can tell you this. There’s no “lose two life” clause on this one and there’s always the possibility of forcing more than one card to be discarded. All for one Black mana. And thus Cabal Therapy, with its flashy flashback ability, has populated Extended and even Vintage style decks with its discard goodness. This uncommon is going for a whopping $8.99 a piece!!! Now that's an all-star uncommon! (Runs off to check my binders to see if I have any extras… I wish I had bought more Judgment when it came out.) Note that Cabal Therapy was promo’d with the DCI logo. Cabal Coffers ($7.99) is another great All-Star Uncommon card and note that we aren’t done with great All-Star Uncommons yet from the Odyssey Block. There are a lot more to come! I want to make a quick sidetrack to other lands that can generate more than one or two mana. For quick reference you can jump over to the visual land spoiler on MDV. There are only a handful of lands that are capable of adding X mana to your mana pool, and those cards include Gaea’s Cradle, Serra’s Sanctum, Tolarian Academy and, of course, Cabal Coffers. The most powerful* of these is Gaea’s Cradle, based on creatures you have in play, and it is worth $27.49. The second most powerful* is Tolarian Academy, based on artifacts you have in play, and it is worth $24.99. The third most powerful is Serra’s Sanctum, based on enchantments you have in play, and it is worth $7.99.
Cabal Coffers, despite having an activation cost which the others do not, is still as valuable as the least powerful “MORE MANA” land (Serra’s Sanctum). I guess Swamps are easier to have in play than enchantments. Thanks Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth…. Browbeat ($5.99) has been printed twice; once in Judgment and then Timeshifted in Time Spiral. This card is either extremely efficient burn or Red card drawing. What was that? RED CARD DRAWING!? That's right. There are very few spells in Red, not counting cantrips, that can draw you cards. This being one of them makes it a very sought after card. This is just what a Red Deck Wins deck needs. Either you take five damage or I draw three more cards that will kill you. Sounds like a Red mage's dream card. And the pricing shows it. A few articles back I mentioned that I had no idea why Breakthrough was such an expensive card. Since then I’ve figured it out: Ichorid Extended decks. Or is it Dredge Ichorid Extended decks? Whatever the case, this card is great at dumping cards into your graveyard. If you play this card with X at zero, it will dump at least four cards from the top of your library into your graveyard. Note that you can use the draw from Breakthrough to dredge something from your graveyard. In effect, it can create a sort of “dump everything in your library into your graveyard” engine which can then recur all sorts of fun stuff back into play and defeat your opponent. Sounds like a $4.99 card to me. Buried Alive ($3.99)… this one sounds really familiar. Ah! That’s because this is a reprint from Mirage block. I’ve already talked about this card. Apparently dumping cards into your graveyard en masse makes a card expensive. Thank you Zombify and dredge! Circular Logic ($3.99) has been a sought after card since its inception. It potentially is a powerful counterspell for one Blue mana. This assumes you have another card which can force you to discard at instant speed and that you have several cards in your graveyard. Still, U/G Madness decks from Standard and Extended have taken advantage of this card. Personally, I just really like the artwork. Note this card was promo'd at some point with a DCI logo and beautiful foil-y-ness. Squirrel Nest ($3.99) is a rare breed of Enchant Land cards, all of which work well with Earthcraft. There are only two other cards in Magic: the Gathering that are Enchant Lands which give the land the ability to tap and generate a creature. Can you think of them? ... ... … No? Okay. They’re Caribou Range ($0.49) and Leafdrake Roost ($0.15). Leafdrake Roost is just a terrible card that is both over cost and clunky. Caribou Range is equally clunky but has the redeeming factor of an extra ability that can gain you life. That and it generates Caribou tokens; they are so much cooler than Drakes.
But it seems that Squirrel Nest is king of the token generating Enchant Land cards. It doesn’t have an activation cost and it generates a crowd favorite creature type: Squirrels. What’s not to love? While I’m surprised this card is so expensive, I am not surprised that I was checking my binders to see if I had any extras for trading purposes just now. After all, this is an article geared for traders. Phew! I hope I wasn’t too longwinded for the All-Star Uncommons. There were some really juicy cards in there. What do you say we move on to the next category of uncommons: Star Uncommons ($1.99 to $3.75)? It appears that Star Uncommons are just as plentiful as the All-Star Uncommons. Below is a thumbnail list of the Star Uncommons from the Odyssey Block:
Standstill ($3.49) is an efficient card drawing enchantment that is unique in execution. But it’s the efficient card draw that gives this card the higher price. Three cards for two mana is nothing to scoff at. The fact that it sets up both a clock for your opponent and some political power in multiplayer games is just icing on this $3.49 cake. Plus, it has fantastic flavor text. Arrogant Wurm ($2.99) boils down to a 4/4 trampling beatdown stick for three mana. Last time I checked (before the Lorwyn block), that's extremely cost effective. Much like Circular Logic from above, you need to discard it to madness it into existence, but U/G Madness decks do this with ease. Note that this card was also promo'd at some point. Cephalid Coliseum ($2.99) is one of those well valued (and cost) cards that baffles me. I think the Coliseum has some Johnny goodness (as it did appear on a recent Combo of the Day feature), but I don't know why it's such an expensive card. Let me know what I am missing about this card in the forum, please. Is it just because it’s been seated in some Extended decks over the last two years? With Psychatog ($2.99), there is no surprise that it is a valuable card. In fact, I'm surprised this card isn't more valuable. It has single-handedly swept formats for a undisclosed amount of time with U/B Madness and other variants of Tog decks. If not for anything else, it's the most powerful Atog ever printed! Zombie Infestation ($2.99) is a great way to fill your graveyard, empty your hand and create 2/2 Zombie token creatures all at the same time. It appears two cards for a 2/2 Zombie token makes for an expensive uncommon. Who would have thought? I find Barbarian Ring ($2.49) as perplexing as Cephalid Coliseum, especially since I find the damage this card deals more valuable than the card sifting the Coliseum provides. Chainer's Edict ($2.49) is a more powerful and less powerful version of Diabolic Edict ($1.99). If pricing alone was an indicator of a card's power, then Chainer's Edict is the more powerful card. Chainer's Edict has one thing over Diabolic Edict has and that is the fact that you can play it twice. What does Diabolic have over Chainer's? Diabolic Edict is an instant; the other is a sorcery. Note that both Edicts were promo'd at some point, one in Arena and the other for FNM.
Wonder ($2.49) is another card from the U/G Madness archetype. Interestingly, this card was ALSO promo'd at some point. I'm seeing a pattern here.… Diabolic Tutor ($1.99), despite being printed four times (in Odyssey, 8th Edition, 9th Edition and 10th Edition), is still fetching a good price for an uncommon. I can only assume that this card is the poor man's tutor, i.e. not everyone can afford a Demonic or Vampiric Tutor. In turn, that drives the demand for this card up and with it the price too. Overrun ($1.99) was already discussed during the Tempest block. But in case I didn't mention it before, this is an amazing card. Giving a field of creatures +3/+3 and trample until end of turn is worth every mana symbol on this card. It's a game winner in most instances. Tainted Isle ($1.99)... notice that none of the other Tainted lands are Star Uncommons. Remember what I said about the Island being more expensive than the other Basic lands? Need I go on? Since I appear to be talking too much today and the article is getting closer and closer to a close, I need to hurry up with some of these descriptions. And thus, below is a grid for the Solid Uncommons ($0.99 to $1.75).
If I were to add any of these cards to my “Haves” list, I would add all three of the Tainted lands, Zombify and Anger. The Tainted lands are like the poor man’s dual lands, Anger is like Wonder except with haste-giving powers, and Zombify is just a great recursion spell. With that all said, let’s move on to the commons of Odyssey Block. We still need to find time for Shadowmoor and possibly an older set.
There are, unfortunately, no All-Star Commons ($1.49 and up) from the Odyssey Block. We do, however, have six Star Commons ($0.75 to $1.25). Below is a thumbnail list of these cards:
Cabal Ritual ($1.25) is either an overpriced Dark Ritual (3 for 2) or an amp’d Dark Ritual if you have threshold (5 for 2). If you consider just the efficient mana deal of this card it is deserving of a good price. However, combine that with this card being played in a variety of decks in Vintage and Legacy and suddenly you have a sought after card. Careful Study ($0.99) has to give thanks to Ichorid decks running around in the Eternal formats for its increase in price beyond that of a normal common card. I would anticipate this card to go up in price considering some of the recent restrictions of powerful instant card drawing like Brainstorm. While Careful Study is a sorcery, it’s still drawing two cards further into your library for one Blue mana. Fiery Temper ($0.99) has seen three different printings. After its original printing in Torment, it was then promo’d and finally it was Timeshifted in Time Spiral. So despite this card being widely printed twice and being a three damage for three mana spell, why is this card a dollar common? The answer is madness. As long as you can discard this and play it with madness, you are basically getting a Lightning Bolt ($2.99). It all makes sense now. Basking Rootwalla ($0.79) is where it is because of one deck archetype: U/G Madness. There are a few others but it’s because of these decks in Extended and the Eternal formats that Basking Rootwalla is higher than your average common. Reasonably higher. Moment's Peace ($0.79)… two words: U/G Madness. Wild Mongrel ($0.79)… two words: Madness enabler. There are several cards in the Noteworthy Commons ($0.49 to $0.75) category, but in all honesty most of them are components of some U/G or U/B Madness deck type. And thus, I will spare you long talks about each of them. Instead I will just give you the card names: Putrid Imp, Werebear, Book Burning, Deep Analysis, Firebolt and Innocent Blood.
Remember to check your collection for any of the above cards, and if you have extras add them to your “Haves” list. Someone somewhere will want them, and in return you might get a few cards you have been trying to get for a long time.
So I mentioned in the introduction that I was going to do a set before Mirage block. However, I've run into a problem. The problem is I chose Chronicles as that set and Chronicles had a very awkward rarity breakdown. There were few uncommons, a few more commons and lots of rares. That makes only two cards for my lists: Feldon's Cane ($0.79 common) and Tormod's Crypt ($2.99 common). No other commons or uncommons made the cut.
Thus I am going to switch things up a bit. If you have any extra cards from Chronicles, here are the cards I would recommend to put on your “Haves” list:
Believe it or not these are some of the highest valued cards in the set (less the Elder Dragons and a few others, each under $2.00). Feldon's Cane ($0.79) was a common in Chronicles and interestingly it is more expensive than many of the rares in the set. It’s unfortunate that the majority of the cards in Chronicles are sub par and unwanted. This is one I comfortably know is popular amongst the casual crowd Dakkon Blackblade’s ($0.99) art, ability and flavor make it a crowd favorite. I’m not saying it’s a powerful card, I am saying it’s a fun card. Anyone wanting to play with this card is going to acquire the cheaper version of it from Chronicles. Funny fact: the original from Legends goes for $11.49. Blood Moon ($2.99) has been printed a number of times (8th Edition, 9th Edition, Chronicles and The Dark) and continues to be a popular card, especially considering all of the non-Basic lands floating around in casual and tournament play. Note that The Dark version of this card goes for about $7.99. Hell's Caretaker ($2.99) is a recursion player's staple card. While the new artwork from 9th Edition is far better than the old art from Chronicles and, of course, Legends, only the Legends version of the card fetches a higher price ($11.49). Tormod's Crypt ($2.99) has been nuking graveyards since August 1994 (its original print date in The Dark). Thanks to Ichorid and dredge shenanigans, this card’s value is on the high side. Note that this card was promo’d with a DCI logo and new art. Concordant Crossroads ($4.49)… there’s something about a great one mana Enchant World that gives haste to everyone’s creatures… not sure why that makes it almost a five dollar card, though. Hmmm. City of Brass ($5.99) is a card I doubt you have extras of… I’m sure every copy of this card is in a deck somewhere substituting for a non-Painland dual. Note that this card is the most expensive card in all of Chronicles. That's kind of depressing. Before I wrap this up I need to do a quick overview of the Shadowmoor commons and uncommons. Unfortunately, there are still no commons that have broken the $0.49 wall with only one at $0.49: Shield of the Oversoul. With regard to the uncommons, all of my previous predictions have not come true, and aside from a few shifts this list isn’t too much different than the one I provided a month ago.
As usual, I hope I have provided you with something that you didn’t have before reading this article. If you are a trader, you should have already started looking through some of your binders in the hope to find some more cards to add to your “Haves” list. If you are not a trader, you hopefully are going to start trading in MDV’s Trading Bazaar since I’m sure you found a few cards you can trade with. Look forward to the next article where I finally tackle one of my favorite blocks of all time: Onslaught. Will it be a disappointment? You can always research it for yourself, or you could wait another week or two for another article in this series from me. It won’t be four weeks like this one was. Happy trading, John Streetz
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Firespout, jumping up from $0.69 to $1.49, is the biggest
change to the list. Murderous Redcap was bound to go up in price thanks to the
Ranger-Redcap combo, and Repel Intruders was bound to decrease in price since no
Standard deck has picked it up as a staple and done well.