Something very interesting happened this weekend. A mono-red deck made it to the top 8 of the StarCityGames Standard Invitational. That’s not the interesting part. The noticeable part is that this mono-red deck only ran 1 Goblin Rabblemaster and zero Monastery Swiftspears. On it’s own that drops the price of the deck by about $40. What did it run in its place? A playset of Lightning Bezerker and more interestingly, a playset of Zurgo Bellstriker.
The fact that 4 Bellstrikers are being run in a super aggro deck isn’t the crux of this. It’s the fact that Bellstriker could start seeing play, replacing the $10 Rabblemaster and it’s currently below $3 each. You could potentially pick up a playset of these for $10. It probably wont hit the heights of Rabblemaster which was from a low volume core set, thus being scarce, but DTK already has a reputation of not being a very valuable set and therefore will result in less boosters getting cracked and we could see this card approach the $7 mark if it becomes a staple in budget decks.
Price movement on the card is already rising from $2.18 to around $2.60 and I would take any price below $3.50. There is always a place in standard for cheap mono-red decks and those usually run between $80-$120. It’ll take another strong showing or two to really jetset the price, but this is a spec that can easily jump up, and it still has a spot in very budget decks meaning it probably wont drop below $2 even if it’s not super competitive.
Bellstriker is also moving A LOT on Pucatrade, at #5 for this week. Move fast.
Verdict: Pick up multiple playsets of this immediately. As I’m writing this I’m already seeing it selling out on ChannelFireball and SCG. Troll and Toad has them for $3 and on a restock SCG will have it at $4.
Quick Hits
– I firmly believe that Monestary Seige will see play in some sort of deck. With Mono-Blue devotion still being hyped, at this point either the deck will find it’s niche or be relegated to jank. If it finds it’s spot, we could see this Siege jump in price. Maybe pick up a personal playset and watch what the brewers are doing.
– In the same vein, if mono –blue tanks badly, if you see Master of Waves drop back to around $3, pick up a playset or two. This is already being included in most modern merfolk decks and being a mythic post-rotation will definitely keep the price elevated, not to mention it’s also being played in almost all blue commander decks.
– My personal baby, Crucible of Fire is still doing well, but I’m having the age old problem of finding buyers. Regardless, I’ve already made profit on them and this is the kind of card that will stay high unless there is a massive reprint.
– It might be time to start hoarding KTK sealed product.
– Thoughtsieze is stabilizing at $20. Now the question is, do most people sell it at rotation, dipping the price before it ricochets back up due to modern? Or does everyone hoard their playsets because they see the previous incarnation was $70 at some point? I’m afraid it’s the latter, so lock in your playsets now.
The Outlaw's Den 