Theoretical Value

Economics forum

Posted on April 2, 2016, 2:06 p.m. by DarkMagician

If it weren't for the fact that it's illegal in every single format known to man (besides table top) what kind of price do you think Contract from Below would command? Ancestral Recall is considered to be far and away the best draw spell with any sort of competitive legality and it boasts a pretty hefty price tag but it's far and away outclassed by contract. So what do you guys think?

lemmingllama says... #2

It would be worth the same amount as every other ante card. If you aren't playing for ante, you remove them from your deck before play begins. So you can start the game with a deck below 60 cards if they were part of your deck.

April 2, 2016 2:19 p.m.

Servo_Token says... #3

So are we assuming that this card says:

: Discard your hand, Draw 8 cards?

I'd probably pay like $50 for that knowing how many copies there are out there. Though of course this would be prime for the reserve list speculators to buy out, so it'd probably be like $150.

Actually, on second thought, I'd pay like $175 for this to play it in dredge.

April 2, 2016 2:20 p.m. Edited.

DarkMagician says... #4

Obviously for the card to be legal then antes would have to be legal but for the sake of argument let's say it read "Discard your hand, exile the top card of your library then draw 7 cards".

April 2, 2016 2:28 p.m.

Murpy says... #5

I think the price would probably skyrocket to something in the 1000s. It would be the most powerful card ever printed and a lot of people who play legacy or vintage won't have the card because it's useless right now. Suddenly, everyone needs a playset of a fairly low-printed card. And I mean NEEDS. Any deck not playing this card can't even begin to compete. I mean, it's 3 ancestrals in 1. Now, people start playing some weird cards. Spirit of the labyrinth is now a staple. Entire decks are devoted to ramping into notion thief and protecting it. Maybe even disrupting shoal is played as another way to stop your opponent from resolving a contract after you resolve yours. Cabal therapy is also an automatic 4-of just to get rid of contracts. Both formats devolve into horrible deformities. The end.

April 2, 2016 3:27 p.m.

smackjack says... #6

discard your hand draw 8? That would be the most powerfull card ever printed, more powerfull than Black Lotus..

April 2, 2016 4:20 p.m.

MSU_Iced_Z says... #7

It would be banned in every format but vintage, and restricted there. It's not Blue and it's not an instant, so it's harder to play in Vintage than Recall, but it's more powerful. I'd say look at Imperial Seal for a starting comparison.

April 2, 2016 4:25 p.m.

Murpy says... #8

The card is infinitely better than lotus and recall. It's not even a comparison. I would agree, however, that card, if only playable in vintage and restricted, would probably command a less than 2k price tag.

April 2, 2016 4:40 p.m.

EmblemMan says... #9

MSU_Iced_Z that is not at all a fair comparison imperial seal isnt even close to as broken and the price is almost soley based on the set it was released in.

April 2, 2016 7:02 p.m.

This discussion has been closed