Origins Financial Review

After wracking my brain around the spoilers and playing a few limited events I have come up with what I believe to be the top movers of origins, that is, the cards that I think are currently undervalued or have room to grow. At the end of the day this isn’t a science and is just my educated guess after years of trading as to what I think will happen.

As always foils are my favourites!

Overall I like the look of this set, it is definitely better than your average core set. Hit me up in the comments section with your picks for top gainers and sleepers for Origins and as always keep having fun trading and playing cardboard!

Mythics

Archangel of Tithes

archangeloftithes

I opened this one at a PPTQ and I can safely say I like it. Archangel of Tithes has a unique effect and is a cool angel. The mana cost means not many decks will play it but it does survive a lot of the removal in standard. I see this one as either a strong sideboard card vs the aggressive red decks with lots of tokens, or a part of an aggro deck preventing blocking. During my rounds of the PPTQ this angel wrecked cardboard havoc all over my opponents mana and blockers, even if it came down much later than turn 4. I can see a white aggro deck in standard with this, Gideon and Relic Seekers (if there is  good equipment in the next set). The pro tour could spike this one quite high if it turns out to be good and could easily double in price. Definitely one to watch.

Gideon – Flip Walker

kytheonheroofakros

This one goes with Archangel of Tithes, if there is a good white aggressive deck then this will be in it and could double in price. It passes both the creature test (of being a decent creature by itself with inbuilt protection) and the Planeswalker test of providing relevant abilities. Gideon also isn’t too difficult to flip, especially in the right deck, paired with red token making effects in a rw aggro shell or mono white as I was saying above. The main drawback is being legendary, meaning it may get clunky drawing 2 or 3 of him but at least if you flip 1 then you can still play the second as a creature.

Days Undoing

Days-Undoing

This is a very tricky one to judge, at first it seems bad, then good, then bad, then my brain stops working. I can definitely see Day’s Undoing in some sort of modern combo deck or a build like burn or affinity that can unload their hand and use this to refuel before the opponent can unload theirs (meaning only minor value on their side of the table). The whole end your turn clause is a real price to pay… unless you can build a deck that doesn’t care about that. This one is really hard to judge as it is so unique but if it turns out to be the real deal then the card will command a strong price and jump quickly due to its mythic rarity.

Starfield of Nyx

starfieldofnyx

There is an enchantment prison deck in modern, it will probably play this. If it improves the deck a lot then it could potentially become an £8-10 card, I doubt it will make huge moves quickly but its still worth keeping an eye on because modern staples even in fringe decks can steadily chug up in price. The value this card can potentially generate makes me want to brew with it and im not much of a brewer so if someone does find a home for this expect it to move out of the bulk mythic box very quickly. Hows about returning a self milled Omniscience to cast a free Emrakul? The beauty is there will only be more and more enchantments as wizards print more cards so this can only get better, 5 mana makes it a costly spell to cast but the potential is there, so I know I’ll be getting my playset.

Rares

Despoiler of souls

despoilerofsouls (1)

Now this is a spicy one, my gut reaction is that Despoiler of Souls price will settle at a few pounds just above bulk, however it does have the potential to spike quite high as it has a fairly uncommon effect. I would recommend picking these up as throw in’s on trades or trading other bulk for them as its not unreasonable to imagine them settling at £2-3 which at worst, is a small profit. The real money comes if the pro’s find a use for them at the pro tour which will cause a price spike and big profits.

Evolutionary Leap

Leap

One that has promise but is a bit too slow and cumbersome for legacy yet possibly not for standard or modern. If there is a combo with 0 cost creatures or tokens and it gets nuts or it sees a lot of play on the pro tour then the price tag will at least double, maybe triple netting a nice cardboard profit. Cards with unique or unusual effects definitely grab my attention because they often go under the radar and end up commanding strong value, Spellskite for example. With this in mind I will be keeping an eye on Evolutionary Leap especially after standard rotation if there are a lot of value or toolbox creatures.

Goblin Piledriver

goblinpiledriver

I’d recommend picking Goblin Piledriver up after the initial goblin hype dies down, at the moment everyone wants to live the dream with mountains and goblins, after the initial rush the price will dip a bit but then start to climb again as the card is legacy playable (although not all goblin lists run it). Its hard to lose too much value when your in a fan favourite legacy deck, plus there are a lot of already playable goblins in modern already (Goblin Guide, Goblin Rabblemaster, Goblin King and main deck Blood Moon anyone?). If history has taught us anything, its that as long as cool goblins exist people will try to find ways to win tournaments with them. While Piledriver isn’t as good out of goblin decks like say Goblin Guide is, I think it will always maintain a respectable price once everything stabilises.

 

Hallowed Moonlight

hallowedmoonlight

Now, Hallowed Moonlight is one I can get behind, it stops a lot of interactions in modern while replacing its self (Think: Collected Company, Chord of Calling, Splinter Twin, ReanimateLiving End) this card will almost certainly show up in modern sideboards. There is also some standard playability against all the token generators or Whip of Erebos. I would expect this one to drop a little at first and then steadily climb in a similar way that Rest in Peace or Stony Silence did.

 

Harbinger of the Tides

harbingerofthetides

A lot of people have been talking about Harbinger of the Tides for modern or comparing it to a poor mans Venser. While Venser sees no lay in modern and relatively little in legacy, it is not a Merfolk and does not have the option to be cast for 2 mana. I think comparing this guy with Venser is an obvious comparison but not one we should make. The cards have different roles in the decks they will go into, the card this guy should be compared to is Tidebinder Mage. The creature bounced does have to be tapped which is quite a drawback but vs a lot of decks Tidebinder Mage is just a 2/2 for 2 so this is an upgrade on that.

I can see merfolk playing this as a good combat trick to bounce your attacking guy, block your other or as a strong tempo play. It also provides another answer to Splinter Twin with a bounce in response to the tokens untap. Without a deck in standard I can see this one gradually ticking up in price as it gets harder to find, with one, it will probably shoot up quite quickly and level out. I will be picking these up cheap while i can.

 

Relic seeker

relicseeker

I like Relic Seeker if good equipments are in the next set. If there is a white aggro deck then this will definitely be a part of it assuming there is at least one decent equipment. Like I mentioned earlier It looks like white aggressive cards are lining up for a comeback so for this guy I would expect him to jump a few pounds in value.

 

By Jon Alexander

 

Share

Comment