Dark Ascension Notes

Just random notes about Dark Ascension.

From a financial aspect, I’m not so impressed with DKA. I consider a money card to be a mythic that runs $15+, a rare that runs $8+ or an uncommon that runs $2+. For the sake of this blurb, let’s leave out uncommons as I find them a bit more difficult to predict (outside of Lingering Souls, maybe).

Here are DKA’s current prospective money cards (using presale prices on tcgplayer.com as a reference) and my thoughts on them:

• Sorin, Lord of Innistrad - Powerful, indeed. Could fulfill a similar role to Elspeth, Knight-Errant, but with terrible colors. Likely the only card in the set to hold any long-term value (see: Elspeth, Knight-Errant…).
• Havengul Lich - Seems too weak to hold value once it rotates out of standard, assuming it has any value while it’s in it. More likely to live by its combo applications than straight power as a recursion engine as it fails the Titan test, which high costing creatures (5+) must pass nowadays. I see this one dropping to $10 and lower soon.
• Huntmaster of the Fells - See: Havengul Lich, except more likely to keep a ~$15 tag during its standard run. This is no Geist of Saint Traft, or even Thrun, but it should rival them in pricing, especially since you can safely run this as a 4-of.
• Grafdigger’s Cage - I don’t see this one holding its current price for long, but likely one of the few non-EDH cards in the set to increase in value the longer it is out of print.

I don’t see anything outside of those cards; it’d be easier to like Gravecrawler if it wasn’t the buy-a-box promo and its hard to like Vault of the Archangel when mana fixing is so bad and even Moorland Haunt can’t top $5. We can assume that DKA being drafted less—due to Avacyn Restored being standalone—and thus opened less will boost prices, but even with that I don’t have a lot of faith. That being said, I look forward to seeing how things play out and possibly being able to say “how did I miss THAT.”

Now, time for Commander comments:

• Increasing Ambition - This one could eventually be a $5 rare since it should become a black EDH staple. At the very least, it can only go up from its current sub-$1 tag to a Phyrexian Arena level (~$2-3).
• Grim Backwoods - Already looking forward to putting this in my Ghave, Guru of Spores deck. If you’re in the colors, I don’t see how you run Miren, the Moaning Well over this. However, due to those colors I don’t see it coming close to the price tag of the other sac-a-creature lands (Diamond Valley (lulz), Phyrexian Tower, High Market, Miren). ~$1.50 long-term seems about right. I’m just sad that we have to wait 3+ months for the rest of the cycle.
• Requiem Angel - Might work in the Teysa, Orzhov Scion deck I’ve been considering. Probably too cute.
• Alpha Brawl - I think I’d rather just cast Insurrection or even Warp World, but maybe you want need another game-changing, expensive as fuck red sorcery.
• Mikaeus, the Unhallowed - The only real general in this set, as I don’t see a good reason to run Thalia over Grand Arbiter Augustin IV. From this perspective, DKA is a huge failure. Hopefully the next set gives us some better generals.
• Havengul Lich - Could have been a sweet commander. Regardless, if this card has any long-term value it will be thanks to EDH.