Post-rotation Scry Lands
Economics forum
Posted on May 8, 2014, 8:47 p.m. by Named_Tawyny
I was filling out a deck earlier today, and noticed that the Scry lands have gone down a lot since the start of the block - from about $10 when they first came out, to 4-6 now.
I'm wondering what people think will happen once RTR rotates out - big price jump, or will whatever comes next pretty much cancel that out?
Is there a place for Scrys in Modern?
Epochalyptik says... #3
Scry lands are slow, so they probably won't see play in Modern. If they do, it'll be as one-ofs for utility in decks that can afford to be a turn late with mana production.
As for what happens in a few months, we can't say for certain right now. It depends largely on what M15 and Huey bring. If the duals in those sets are good, then the scry lands will stay low.
May 8, 2014 8:52 p.m.
Scry lands have absolutely NO place in Modern.
That being said, their value post rotation will depend on what dual lands Wizards gives us in Huey. My bet is something like the fast lands or filter lands, as they continue with the trend of reprinting modern staples. If the new land cycle is something like that, the value of the scry lands will probably drop considerably. The only way scry lands increase in value is if the new block's land cycle is totally horrible, and I don't really see that happening.
May 8, 2014 8:52 p.m.
ryuzaki32667 says... #5
In standard its dependent on if there are any/better dual lands in the core set or next block. Modern don't see much of a chance with all the better options. Although myself may try a singleton to test the waters.
May 8, 2014 8:54 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #6
@kmcree: I don't foresee fast lands being reprinted in a block. The names are Mirrodin-specific, so the only real hope would be a core set or a Modern Masters-like release.
May 8, 2014 8:54 p.m.
Named_Tawyny says... #7
Thanks all.
I was curious about Modern because, at least in my local (standard) meta, I see players using Scry lands even if they don't have the second colour in their deck - the slowness is superceded by the ability to scry.
I guess I just don't realise how fast Modern is. =)
May 8, 2014 8:56 p.m.
@Epochalyptik: That's actually an interesting point that I hadn't put a lot of thought into.
May 8, 2014 9 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #9
The fast lands are pretty inexpensive anyway. It seems likelier that Wizards would want to get more filter lands into the secondary market because they're harder for players to get.
May 8, 2014 9:07 p.m.
I agree that filter lands are probably more likely, and the fact that they are more expensive and harder to find definitely lends to them being reprinted. Fast lands probably aren't a good bet anyway since Wizards seems to be trying to slow down the Standard meta.
May 8, 2014 9:11 p.m.
Servo_Token says... #11
Weren't fast lands only printed for the first time like 2-3 years ago anyway? Why would they see a reprint so soon?
May 8, 2014 9:25 p.m.
kmcree That's not 100% correct. While it's true for roughly like 99.5% of the format, Ad Nauseam, including the two Pro Tour Born of the Gods lists, has adopted a few temples to the 75. So they are seeing some play, it's just extremely circumstantial.
May 8, 2014 10:07 p.m.
CrazyLittleGuy says... #13
@kmcree I love that statement that Wizards made. "We're trying to slow down Standard."
Then they print Soldier of the Pantheon , Thassa, God of the Sea , Athreos, God of Passage , Mana Confluence , Master of the Feast , etc. Lol.
May 8, 2014 10:26 p.m.
@CrazyLittleGuy: So what are you saying? I agree some of those cards speed up the game, but if you look at the overall state of standard, games have slowed down significantly. You see a lot more midrange decks in today's standard than you did a year ago.
May 8, 2014 10:32 p.m.
JakeHarlow says... #15
@ kmcree: I believe he's just pointing out that Standard can be quite quick right now, especially when built with speed as a goal. I have a deck that has a reasonable chance at winning on T3, and usually fields lethal on T4 (this is of course assuming the opponent does nothing or cannot disrupt me). Hell, in a ludicrously improbable (but not impossible) circumstance, a properly-built Gruul monsters deck can win on T2!
In particular, quick aggro will be a probable (I'm not saying central, though) fixture for the FNM scene in the near future what with Mana Confluence . And I could see a removal-heavy mono-black aggro build featuring Tormented Hero , Master of the Feast , and Herald of Torment becoming viable too.
I'd say standard is certainly slower now than it was last year. To be honest, Wizards doesn't always stick to their initial vision when it comes to interplay between formats and new sets. Maybe they will slow the format down once the next rotation hits. But I'd say I agree with CrazyLittleGuy's observation that some seemingly-fast and/or speed-friendly cards are being introduced. However, a format is not necessarily "fast" simply because it contains a lot of powerful, low CMC creatures and/or color-fixing lands. It's more a matter of interactions between matchups, I'd say. If control remains viable, for instance, it could significantly slow the average competitive game down. As would any archetype containing viable removal or disruption.
So, I guess we'll see.
May 8, 2014 11:58 p.m.
CrazyLittleGuy says... #16
@kmcree and JakeHarlow
I agree with plenty of the points being made here, but I'd like to offer my own opinion on the current meta. First off, I'm not sure why the general consensus is that there are more Midrange decks now then there were in INN-RTR Standard. My personal observations show that there are roughly the same, if not less Midrange decks currently. Thragtusk was the ultimate Midrange card. The top archetypes were predominately Midrange. Jund Midrange led the meta for several months. And it's not like control has gotten any better lately either. They're still riding their Sphinx's Revelation s, Detention Sphere s and Supreme Verdict s into the sunset. Really they just swapped their Dissipate s for Dissolve s and crammed Elspeth into the mainboard.
While it's true to say that Hellrider RDW and Aristocrats were some of the fastest decks out there, faster than most of today's aggro plans, there really weren't that many other competitive aggro lists. Selesnya got some lovin for a little while, I guess. But today, there are a good 5-6ish competitive aggro lists, all with surprising speed and early win potential.
I should note as well that this is almost entirely based on my local meta, which is St. Louis. So this analysis could be totally wrong, but I'm just calling it like I see it. Removal is at a ridiculous high, sure, but that doesn't seem to be deterring decks like Monoblue from beating face.
May 9, 2014 12:40 a.m.
@CrazyLittleGuy: That's actually really interesting, because I'm seeing the exact opposite in my meta. I don't see hardly any aggro outside of RDW. I see white weenies occasionally, but it really isn't very strong right now. And MBD aggro is also around, but it definitely seems to have died down the last month or 2. I see a lot of Bant midrange, MBD midrange, Azorius control and Esper control, along with some Izzet/American midrange/control. I would say my meta is about 70-30 control/midrange versus aggro. I would expect MBD aggro will make a comeback with some of the new cards, but I haven't seen it yet.
May 9, 2014 1:26 a.m.
ChiefWannaHacka says... #18
Just throwing this out there, the Scrylands could have a place in Modern. I run 3 in my courser Jund deck, and after 2 weeks and about 11 games at my LGS I think they are phenomenal, when played correctly. It also depends on what you're facing, like I wouldn't want them against Affinity, but against Twin they performed great.
GoldGhost012 says... #2
It really depends on the duals we get in M15 and the next Huey block. At worst, they'll probably hover around $4-5. At best, I can't see them being over $10.
Scry lands are majorly outclassed in Modern with fetches, shocks, checks, and to a lesser extent, fast lands (Darkslick Shores , etc.).
May 8, 2014 8:50 p.m.