Foil Surrak, keep or sell?
Economics forum
Posted on April 11, 2015, 1:57 p.m. by cklise
I have a foil copy of Surrak, the Hunt Caller that I snagged in a pack. I mostly only play EDH and I currently have it in a Surrak Dragonclaw deck (for giggles). The price of the card seems to be settling.
While I'm not really worried about savvy investment or the like, should I consider holding onto it to see if its price climbs over time, or sell/trade it off now?
it wont raise. As soon as it rotates it'll hold zero value. I'd sell unless its worth it to you in your EDH
April 11, 2015 1:58 p.m.
pleasiodmakerblooloo says... #4
I realise that it isn't the best modern card, but I have seen him as a 2 and 3 of in red green and mono green aggro lists, can he possibly rise due to his inclusion in these decks?
April 11, 2015 3:14 p.m.
Note: This is my opinion.
I think you should honestly wait until Theros Rotation before you sell it, if you should choose to. With the rotation of Polukranos, Surrak might see play in his wake. Again, this is a maybe. But a reasonable maybe.
April 11, 2015 3:20 p.m.
Spootyone makes a good point. Despite the overall distaste for the Theros block by the community, it has made a large impact on standard decks and the meta overall. When rotation comes, there are gonna be some big changes and there will be quite a few cards that come to the forefront that were overshadowed before, just like always. Surrak definitely has potential to be a major player in standard now, so there is plenty of reason to believe in a boost after rotation when the card pool shrinks.
April 11, 2015 3:39 p.m.
Personally, I find Surrak to be surprisingly cheap (monetarily) for his stats and abilities. I think the biggest things standing in his wake currently are Polukranos, World Eater, Boon Satyr, Siege Rhino and Thunderbreak Regent. All of these are creatures that either fit his place on the curve or are close enough while providing similar gravitas to an aggro deck. Remember, also, that rotation makes leave of Stoke the Flames, which is one of the biggest reasons for what I call the "4-toughness curse", along with the aforementioned Siege Rhino of course.
Sylvan Caryatid's rotation could be the beginning of an argument for people to play less non-green 4 drops to ramp into, but I think that Rattleclaw Mystic would probably have something to say about this, though Caryatid's rotation could mean less amounts of Siege Rhino being played since the mana-fixing may not be as potent. It's also worth mentioning that Siege Rhino will in fact rotate before Surrak does due to the change in rotation coming in the future. That's one more thing to keep in mind.
Finally, there are creatures with the stats of 4/6. The ones I'm referring to here are Doomwake Giant and Sidisi, Undead Vizier. Doomwake has had and continues to have reasonable presence in the standard metagame, but it will also be rotating next, so we can add that to the pile. Sidisi, however, will be around for as long as Surrak is. Depending on how much Sidisi sees play (and in my opinion it should see a lot of play), we may see less amounts of Surrak now or in the future. Sidisi being in potentially the same deck as Ultimate Price means that Surrak could easily just be a bad meta call if and when black decks such as the above have a reasonable amount of presence in whatever meta there is.
So, all in all, Surrak is a card that seems like it would have a lot more potential come rotation, but even with the cards we currently see he could wax and wane in play - not unlike Old Pollock for his time that he's been in standard. Being a foil, and seeing as you're a commander player, I would say to hold onto it and ride it out until AT LEAST rotation just to see what people make of it then. And if nothing else, you've got a nice foil legendary cool guy to maybe even build a deck with or around.
April 11, 2015 7:09 p.m.
Thank you for all the various viewpoints. I have ultimately opted to keep Surrak for the time being. It's a fun card in the deck that gives me other haste options, in addition to Temur Ascendancy, Xenagos, God of Revels, Anger, Fires of Yavimaya, and Swiftfoot Boots (guh, I really need to get around to just buying a freaking Lightning Greaves).
In other news, the stuff I traded in today was enough to get me my first original dual land. :D (and a lot of other cards, but I decided I had to have a dual land)
April 12, 2015 12:35 a.m.
cklise: Which Dual was it? :) I remember when I got my first (and still only) dual -- a Savannah. I play a TON of GW in any format I play but especially in EDH, and it's still one of my most prized possessions.
April 12, 2015 12:46 a.m.
I opted for Taiga, though I should have considered Savannah too. I would love to eventually have one of each dual, even if it makes my wallet cry.
My EDH decks are over the place. I sometimes slap together new decks from week to week. In terms of competitive level, I'd say most of my decks are 'tier 3', 'tier 2' tops. Thankfully, no one else ever brings better than 'tier 2' to my local Magic haunt, so games are usually fairly balanced.
April 12, 2015 1:30 a.m.
I say just keep it in your EDH deck, if price climbs (which I doubt) then you can either sell it or you could just keep it in your deck until you dismantle it.
My suggestion just hold onto it in the slight chance the next set makes the card very valuable.
Servo_Token says... #2
Sell it. I dont see it being anything close to a staple. It'll likely only see use in the modern mono green stompy deck sometimes, and other green edh decks. I wouldn't say that that is worth it.
April 11, 2015 1:58 p.m.