UL's Buy or Sell: Do I Want My FTV: Twenty?

In about 10 long days, From the Vault: Twenty will be released.

Honestly, I'm on the fence about this one. Although it is ALMOST as good as Realms last year (I'm the TINIEST bit biased towards lands), let's do a quick little breakdown of my personal buyer behavior.

Reasons I'd Buy

1. New Art For Cards I'll Play

The new art on Hymn specifically is a selling point for me. I've started to collect copies of alternate art versions of cards I play, like Cultivate, Sakura-Tribe Elder, and Mulldrifter, not only because I like the card, but also because it helps me feel like I'm not always playing the same card over and over.

If I'm going to be redundant, I'm gonna try not to be that redundant. When Wizards wants to be redundant, they'll just make another alternate art for Dark Ritual. Love the card, guys. We just don't need another.

The other art I really like is the new Cruel Ultimatum. Click to see it, if you're not a complete Magic junkie and haven't seen it quite yet. Akroma's Vengeance looks good too.

2. Card Strength

Overall, I felt that the strength of the cards was worthy of being in an FTV set.

Though Jace really does bowl over any chance of this being reasonably priced, and I'm admittedly upset about that, but cards like Swords to Plowshares, Thran Dynamo, and Fact or Fiction are pretty good picks too. They're strong cards that players will now have more access to, if they want it.

Again, I wish we didn't have to be talking about Jace TMS all the time. Still, this is one of those cards that everyone kind of wants, including me. So I get it.

Reasons I'd Sell

1. Cards I Already Have

Many of the cards I've been able to collect over my short time playing Magic.

In fact, most of the people I know that play Commander or value these cards probably wouldn't want another version of Chameleon Colossus, even though it's good and cool and all that.

Would've loved to have seen this and Green Sun's Zenith, maybe even Kessig Wolf Run get a new art. Again, I'm disappointed Dark Ritual has yet ANOTHER art, even if it is ballin'.

2. Char. I'll Be Buying A Char.

Seriously though- I'm not going to hate on this card. It's not terrible.

There are a few cards though that I really just don't want. This is one of them. Even at MSRP, which may be a little more than the previous $34.99 because it's got five more cards, it's hard for me to justify purchasing cards I don't want.

That will obviously sound weird considering that I play a Trading/Collectible Card Game, but I've been doing my best over the past year to alleviate purchasing nonsense.
I mostly buy singles now. Might be more expensive, but I'm not a lucky person. You might say I live life "on the draw."

Purchasing singles has just worked out for me. I don't have any extraneous things I don't want, and I can trade what I end up not using, which is mostly useable cards.

THE VERDICT

So, Mad Money's Jim Kramer, what am I gonna do about FTV:Twenty?

Personally, I'm probably not going to buy the whole thing, even I could get it at MSRP. If you can though, I'd sell it ASAP. The value on this thing is gonna be similar to Commander's Arsenal, and that Jace practically sells itself and nets profit.

From a player perspective, there just isn't enough in this that I want to immediately play. That's ultimately why we buy packs and play Magic. A lot of this stuff feels like "mantlepiece" collector's stuff, where they're more concerned with set and condition and how it looks.

That's cool if it's what you're looking for- but unless you're new to Magic and don't have a lot of these more readily accessible cards like Swords and Chameleon Colossus, I don't think it's that "big of a game," if ya know what I mean.

As always, feel free to comment if you think otherwise.

Till then, I'll be waiting for Theros Spoilers.

OH WAIT. WILD POLUKRANOS APPEARED!

My Abilities Have Been Spoiled! Click The Link Below!

THEROS SPOILER

Do most people read my signoffs?
-UL