Hey gang, welcome back to A Seat at the Table.

This week, I’m doing something a little different. With the release of an all reprint set like Double Masters, I thought it would be a great idea to let you know what cards I think you should buy when they hit their bottom.

Keep an eye on the set at mtgstocks.com and as the cards trend down due to supply, you’ll be able to see the right time to snag copies of these cards. Head to scryfall.com and take a look for yourself. I don’t want to cover super niche cards, but I also think that Mana Vault and Sensei’s Divining Top are both very obviously powerful and popular cards that folks who play at a high skill level should favour.

Not that you shouldn’t get them if you’re not ready. Better to pick them up when they’re cheap, but I realized that unless it’s the perfect deck for it (like Top in Prosper, Tome-Bound), I’m less likely to include it myself unlike a friend of mine who has a top in every deck regardless of  strategy. That said, these are my picks for the set.

Without further ado, here is my list by colour with a brief explanation if needed…

White

Smothering Tithe 

While some might argue that it’s near ubiquity in the format is hurting it, it’s hard to compete with the claim that this is White’s best card for Commander. It absolutely is busted and while I have begun to cut it from some decks, I have a few proxies that need replacing so I’m happy for this one .

Teferi’s Protection

White’s second best card is back. I remember when this hit $90 and I thought it was a mistake. Now it’s hovering at $30-40 and bound to come down to $20, maybe even lower. With a Mystical Archive printing and an extended full art card this set, the regular old version is bound to be lower, and hopefully people who’d been priced out can grab a couple of copies.

Weathered Wayfarer

It’s not ramp, it’s a land tutor for any land. With lands getting better and better, it’s hard to not see this as a way to grab Field of the Dead or Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx.

Monastery Mentor

Monastery Mentor is an amazing card that most likely sees most play in Jeskai decks in Commander, but any deck with a high instant or sorcery density or ways to buy them back will be glad to have this. Every time I’ve seen it, the Mentor has performed!

Path to Exile

These are being reprinted into the ground just like Swords to Plowshares was. Good! I  remember a time where these costed $9. This is premium removal folks!

Blue

Consecrated Sphinx

ConSphinx is one of Blues all-time great creatures. A beefy blocker that fills your hand. A control player’s dream and just a solid include if you’ve got the slot.

Mana Drain

I hate Counterspells but they serve a purpose. They’re not for me but there are people who love this play-style. Grand Arbiter Augustin IV is in the set too, for what it’s worth.

Force of Negation

Get your copies for your cEDH decks folks. Fierce Guardianship is a bonkers card, and while this isn’t as good, it’s a solid second and it exiles the card. It’s a staple to some and a multi-format all-star. They’ll be less expensive for the tiniest window, so get on them fast.

Body Double

I love this card and it’s been downshifted! I don’t know what that means for non-rare formats, but with all the graveyard strategies out there, this is way better than it has any right to be. I play this in my clone deck, my Brash Taunter tribal list, and my mill deck. I love the art, it’ll be a cheap foil pick up. Try it out, I believe it can surprise you.

Wash Out

I love this card in mono or two colour decks and think more people should play it. It’s a board wipe that can keep your stuff around, it bounces even if you do hit yourself so you can plan around redeploying, it can make an ally of someone else at the table. Don’t sleep on Wash Out.

Black

Bitterblossom

Bitterblossom is a beast of a card for aristocrats and token strategies. It’s excellent in the early game and enables some strategies, but by modern Commander standards is a little slow. It’s not the OP card it is elsewhere, but it’s a Tribal Enchantment which means Baba Lysaga has heart eyes for it.

Damnation

Black’s Wrath of God is back and it’s just a good, clean, solid include in any Black deck. If the deck has White and Black, Damn is more favourable, but Damnation is still a house that deserves a home in your decks. It’s going to definitely go down in price for a while.

Gravecrawler

Grabbing a foil Gravecrawler is something I want so much from this set. I love Gravecrawler and it’s always hovering around $10 more or less. Gravecrawler is a combo piece that Zombie tribal lists like Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver or Aristocrats lists like my Lyzolda, the Blood Witch list. It’s a card that always gets included and will drop for a short time, but don’t be surprised to see it cost you a tenner down the line.

Necrotic Ooze

Speaking of combo potential, Necrotic Ooze is always begging to be broken. A $4 card isn’t the flashiest, but it’s only a matter of time before this becomes an all-star in combo lists. There are so many activated abilities on creatures and this guys gets all of them from creatures in the graveyard.

Shadowborn Apostle

A $4 common? Bring that price down baby. It’s one of those “you can have any number of these in your deck” cards and Athreos, God of Passage was heralded as the de facto Shadowborn Apostle leader when JLK played them on Game Knights years ago. Get these while they’re cheap!

Blood Artist

A card that is a staple of some archetypes should be about $4 when it hasn’t been reprinted  often… but it’s been reprinted and it’s an uncommon? Plus, give me that beautiful new art! I’m looking forward to not spending $25 on a foil copy of Blood Artist!

Red

Dockside Extortionist

Let’s be honest, Dockside Extortionist should have been printed in Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate. Dockside is absolutely everywhere, but the price tag it commands is because it was only in a Commander deck precon. Now that boosters will have this little pirate in them, we’ll see a steep drop before it goes way up again. But… I don’t think I’d be surprised to see Dockside get banned someday.

Twinflame

Did you know Twinflame was about $6? I didn’t. I was happy to see it because creating token copies of creatures you control is a fun thing to do, but when you’ve got stuff like Dockside Extortionist, you can really go off. When you can use a little extra mana to double up a few creatures on your board? That’s dope. I really like it.

Chaos Warp

One of the format’s staple removal cards for Red can target any permanent and adds a fun tension to the table. Will they flip something better? Will they flip something worse? What if someone tries to exile one of your creatures and you target it with Chaos Warp? Spin that slot machine, baby! Let’s get something new! I love hitting a Treasure token with Chaos Warp in my  Prosper, Tome-Bound deck when I’m ahead because it’s mostly permanents and I’m bound to hit something better than a token Lotus Petal!

Green

Bloom Tender

Bloom Tender is one of my all-time favourite mana dorks. I’m not much of a Green player, but whenever I have a three or more colour deck and Green is involved, I reach for Bloom Tender right after I grab my Sol Ring. I’ve got a Mike, The Dungeon Master and Will the Wise deck brewing, and when I playtest it, Bloom Tender and Faeburrow Elder are huge boons.

Oracle of Mul Daya

Landfall decks were in vogue again around Zendikar Rising, and everybody and their mothers had their fingers crossed for an Oracle of Mul Daya reprint. Finally seeing one (Jumpstart doesn’t count – it barely got into players’ hands) in Double Masters means that this Land deck staple will make its way into maybe more strategies like top of library matters decks! If this is more affordable, it’s only a good thing.

Food Chain

Combo machine that has only seen a meaningful reprint on The List which again I think doesn’t really count. I have a lot of thoughts on The List, mainly that it’s poorly executed, so I will not consider that printing as a meaningful reprint of Food Chain.

Got a stack of tokens? Wrong: you have lots of mana to power out your creatures. Got a Dargo, the Shipwrecker in the command  zone after sacrificing a ton of stuff? Wrong: you’ve got infinite mana for creatures. It’s not going to drop in price a ton because for a lot of people this is a holy grail type of card that was out of reach for their wallets especially when it hit just over $80 in Canada last year.

Allosaurus Shepherd

Jumpstart exclusive card and jaw dropper one drop Allosaurus Shepherd gets its first meaningful reprint since the underprinted Jumpstart product. Making sure your Green spells can’t be messed with until they’re on the field is great. It’s an Elf and an Elf finisher for tribal decks, so pick one up if you’re into decks filled with Elves. Otherwise, I’d say, you don’t really need this one.

Devoted Druid

Despite having three printings in a year, Devoted Druid is still a busted card. Especially with Myrkul, Lord of Bones and Swift Reconfiguration. Before the reveal that it was in a precon for New Capenna, Devoted Druid shot up to $10 and will likely not hit that number in a while, but I can see this commanding a $5 or $6 tag. A lot like…

Eternal Witness

Format staple of yore Eternal Witness, aka EWit, is back in the (in my opinion superior) Chris Rahn art. Eternal Witness is a beautiful card with a ton of printings, and yet it always sits at $5 after a little while. They’ll be low for a bit, but with Timeless Witness out, it’s got to get used to sharing the spotlight.

Thanks for checking in, everybody. Come on by next time for part two to dive into some of the best options for your next deck, including artifacts and lands!

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