Super Saver Sunday: Where is my stapler?

Now that the buzz from the initial Commander sets have worn off, it is a good time to pick up some of the marquis cards of the format. With a new Commander product scheduled for release later this year you can expect another Commander boom like we saw in 2011-2012. I would suggest picking up copies of these cards now before prices rise again. All of the price data in this post was snagged from Blacklotusproject.com an excellent MtG financial resource. Here are some cards that are going through a bit of a price slump; making it the perfect time to pick up a copy or two for your decks:

Solemn Simulacrum (Mirrodin)
2011: High: $9 Low: $3
2013: High: $5.50 Low: $1

High quality colorless values cards are a must in Commander. Their playability and price are elevated because they can fit nicely in every deck and maintain a competitive power level. The M12 printing initially hurt the price of Solemn, but its' Standard playability kept prices up for long time. It now looks like prices are stabilizing again, but I wouldn't expect that to last if another large influx of Commander players occurs within the next year. 



Consecrated Sphinx
2011: High: $12 Low: $3
2013: High: $7 Low: $3

To understand my recommendations about this card it will just be easier to show you the graph.  http://blacklotusproject.com/cards/Mirrodin+Besieged/Consecrated+Sphinx/
At the height of this cards popularity and playability in Blue/Black Control decks at Worlds 2011, this card was pretty expensive for what I would consider a casual only card. Standard will do that to you. This card saw a precipitous drop off even pre-rotation, but continued through a steady decline. Prices have begun to pick up slightly and more movement can be seen in the price point. There are currently copies readily available in the 5-6 dollar range. This is a very reasonable price in my opinion and I would recommend buying in before prices rise any further.


Grave Titan (M11)
2011: High: $18 Low: $8
2013: High: $6 Low: $2

Without any playability to speak of in the last year this card has dropped hard and fast. If you were waiting for a good time to buy in, there hasn't been a better one yet. Grave Titan is a solid playable in Commander. It doesn't always make it in to my Black decks, but it always up for consideration. The popularity of this cycle should help them keep value for a while into the future.




Koth of the Hammer (Scars of Mirrodin)
2011: High: $30 Low: $11
2013: High: $5 Low: $4

This was never all that popular and its price has sunk steadily ever since it was printed. The Venser v. Koth duel deck didn't help much either. The card isn't that great, but it something that should be seeing play in the general mono red deck. If they come out with a few more threatening 3-5cmc Red threats then we may never hear from Koth again, until then though I think it will continue to see moderate play. This isn't what I would call a staple or really even a strong playable, but there are very few Red cards that fit those criteria in my opinion and I struggled hard to find a card that had seen any relevant financial decline in the period I was looking at, oh well.


Green Sun's Zenith
2011: High: $9 Low: $4.50
2013: High: $5.50 Low: $3

Regardless of your thoughts on Modern as a competitive format it has had dramatic and consistent effects on the price of cards post-rotation. As a general rule, if it is at all playable in Modern it is going to hold tremendous value, but if it isn't seeing play in the format you can pretty much guarantee an immediate price drop. This card is very playable in Commander and should really be getting used more than it is. It gets a wrap as a mono green card, but that is just absurd. I think 4 or 5 good targets is enough to run such a powerful tutor effect. As long as Chord of Calling is in the Modern Melira decks GSZ can serve as a reasonable and reasonably cheap substitute.





Stoneforge Mystic
2011: High: $18 Low: $7
2013: High: $8 Low: $7

Everything I said above about Modern playability and price retention is true in triplicate for Stoneforge.  At the height of its popularity this card commanded an impressive price tag. It tore up Standard for more than a year and continues to be a strong control threat in Legacy, but all of the cash has been sucked out of this card. I feel for the people who shelled out 20's on this card just to play it in CawBlade. Receiving a pre-ban in the initial announcements for Modern was a death sentence for this cards value. If you were one of the lucky ones like me and just had fat stacks of copies lying around from Worldwake then good for you. If you are silly like me and didn't sell them when you had the chance that kind of sucks, but I absolutely guarantee that every time I sleeve up a Plains I will be including one of these. I'd stake my rep on it. 

That's all for today Zoner's. This is a little outside the realm of my usual diatribes, but this is the time of year when I typically make purchases on rotating cards or cards that have rotated in the past couple years; a solid strategy if you are trying to save money on top quality cards. Let me know what you think in the comments. I'll be back next week with a real S^3 with some stuff even I haven't heard of yet...the future is exciting!

GG