Hello! I’m Mike, resident Commander guy for The Bag of Loot, and with the brief preview of Phyrexia: All Will Be One and the full slate for Dominaria Remastered, I have a lot to be excited about.

Let’s talk about cards that will be less expensive and therefore perfect to pick up from Three Kings Loot in a few weeks/a month after Dominaria Remastered releases.

The high end of this set vs the absolute bulk hitting the rare slot sometimes (Urza’s Blueprints? The hell are you doing here? And at rare???) means that cracking boxes will either be a huge boon or disappointment. I would recommend making sure you can draft the box with pals or go big with collector boosters because you’ll likely open some big ticket stuff.

But first, that big ticket stuff will find a floor and you will be very pleased to pick some of this stuff up for cheaper. Of course, there are some obvious hits like Force of Will, Urza, Lord High Artificer, Sylvan Library, Sneak Attack, or Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, but I want to focus on some non-mythics that might see a real dip in price, making you to feel like a genius when you pick them up for less than you thought.

Let’s go with my top picks.

1. The Tutor cycle

Yes, my first pick is five cards, deal with it. Commander Legends was two years ago and Vampiric Tutor was a chase card there. It has bounced back to $50 and will continue to do so. Tutoring is one of the most powerful things you can do in Magic and in Commander, you’re effectively circumventing the singleton rule in my opinion.

That said, they’re all one mana tutors that fetch a card from your deck with the drawback of either two life, a random discard, or requiring the card to be of a specific type. Aside from Gamble, they put the card on top of your library, but at instant speed, who cares?

These will come down significantly at first before climbing again. We saw this with Eternal Masters. We’ll see it here, too.

(Also, Vampiric Tutor is the only one in the cycle that’s mythic, so the rest make up for it.)

2. Mystic Remora

cEDH decks talk about “the fish” and they mean this card because of its original art. Remora is like Rhystic Study in that if your opponents cast noncreature spells, you get to draw a card unless they pay. It’s one mana and if it comes down in the early turns while players are setting up with your mana rocks, congratulations, you’ve got a card potentially better than Ancestral Recall.

3. Enemy Check Lands

Clifftop Retreat (Red/White), Hinterland Harbor (Blue/Green), Isolated Chapel (White/Black), Sulfur Falls (Blue/Red), and Woodland Cemetery (Black/Green) haven’t been reprinted since Dominaria and are a welcome sight. These lands always usually hit $5-10, and this new set is getting a new batch of foils, even old bordered. This is the time to get them for your decks. These cards are great for your two/three coloured decks in need of a mana base boost. Three colour decks, one triome turns the rest of the check lands into untapped duals. I’m happy to see these here.

4. Sevinne’s Reclamation

Sevinne’s Reclamation is one of white’s best cards. Period. This is the first time it will be in foil and a lot of players will want that. If you open one, hang onto it for a sec, but ultimately, I think this card has been slept on and this might be its awakening. It’s not an expensive card. Pick some up, you won’t regret it.

5. Birds of Paradise

Birds of Paradise is iconic and for a reason. An absolute home run of a card right out the gate designed in Alpha, BoP has been a staple for 30 years (Happy birthday!) and will continue to be one.

If you have a green deck, Birds of Paradise is often the first card I assume goes in unless there’s a theme I don’t know about. Five colour decks want the chromatic mana dork, mono green decks want the acceleration. A flying blocker is also still very solid when people threaten little pokes in the early stages. Birds is a great pickup from this set.

6. Maze of Ith

Maze of Ith is another card that, despite reprints, climbs its way back over $15. It’s one of the most frustrating utility lands to play against and it is very sneaky. I would recommend it in decks that need a little more protection or that run a little more control. If an opponent makes a deal with another opponent for them to trigger something like Bladegriff Prototype, as long as they target something of yours, don’t remind them of the Maze of Ith until it’s time to send that Prototype away from combat.

7. Mindslicer

Mindslicer is a pain in the butt, but for sacrifice decks and reanimation decks, especially decks that like to cherry pick out of everyone’s graveyards, it is a necessity. Mindslicer had not seen any meaningful reprint since Ninth Edition. Most recently, it’s on The List, but with Dominaria Remastered, you can pick up one of these for a couple of bucks instead of the $20 it used to cost.

8. Entomb

Speaking of graveyard strategies, any black deck that likes tutors and the yard are pumping their fists at the Entomb reprints. Historically, Entomb goes down to about $15 USD and stays there very briefly before climbing back up to over $30 USD. This set will bring that down thanks to the multiple different kinds and styles of printings it’s getting.

9. Chainer, Dementia Master

Chainer was $15, will now likely be under $5 at some point thanks to Dominaria Remastered. An incredible commander, an incredible role player, overall beast in many decks. When he comes down, I recommend trying him out anywhere – at the helm of a deck, in the 99 – whatever you want.

10. Exploration

Lands decks are everywhere. They all need this. Hands down. Exploration and Burgeoning are two important building blocks of most lands decks. Getting to play more and more lands is extremely powerful in Commander and Exploration is one mana for “go on, play another”. It’s always close to $25-30 and you deserve a little treat. Get yourself a $15 Exploration for that Omnath (which one?) deck you’ve been brewing. Or prepare for the final iteration of Omnath I suspect they’re building toward.

Honorable Mentions: Nature’s Lore / Peregrine Drake / Mesa Enchantress

These cards are a couple of bucks each, are always solid, and when Dominaria Remastered releases, you’ll probably pick some up for less thank a Loony or even a couple of quarters. I think Mesa Enchantress has a chance of hitting a low of a single gumball.

That does it for my non-mythic picks for Dominaria Remastered. Make sure you pick up some cards you need and I’ll see you at a draft over at Three Kings Loot!

Happy Holidays!

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