Initial Pro Tour - San Diego Card Updates

So we're into the first day of the Standard format Pro Tour - San Diego and we're already seeing breakout cards from Worldwake making a big splash.

First off...

Stoneforge Mystic was a sleeper. Sitting around $1.50 to $2, she's doubled to tripled in the span of one night to $4-$5. Why? In Extended, she's used to search up the Umezawa's Jitte you need to win; Brian David-Marshall was also talking about a G/W deck that used Chord of Calling to search up a Stoneforge Mystic at the end of a turn to get SoFI (Sword of Fire and Ice) so that next turn all the player needs to do is equip SoFI to a creature and attack. She's a two-mana Equipment searcher, and used with the right Equipment she's dangerous. In essence, ignore her 1/2 stats since you don't care about her as a creature but rather as another efficient White tutor. :)

Basilisk Collar is getting a bit of attention too, but so far it seems to have been priced about right since release at $4-$5. Basilisk Collar is the popular Standard format target for the Mystic, effectively making any creature into a Vampire Nighthawk.


Next is talk of the "Donate on legs", Bazaar Trader.

 

 "Seriously? WTF!? I mean, he's a 1/1 for 2 mana. He needs to do something better."

He does. He permanently takes control of opponent's creatures.

"Say WHAT!?"

It's true. Take Mark of Eviciont or Act of Treason.

So let's say your opponent's Baneslayer Angel is getting you down. You played Bazaar Trader last turn. You can deal with it. How? Cast Act of Treason/Mark of Mutiny, targetting Baneslayer Angel. The Angel is now under your control. Now TAP Bazaar Trader, letting "target player", that's you, take control of the Baneslayer Angel you now control. Congraulations! You just gained permanent control of Baneslayer Angel! Bazaar Trader's effect doesn't last until end of turn, so it's now under your control for the rest of the game. :)

This isn't the only interaction going on with Bazaar Trader. The obvious is Abyssal Persecutor. Get your opponent down to 0 or fewer life, then just switch control of Persecutor to your opponent and BAM! You win.

How about going as far back as Shards of Alara? Remember that "crap Rare" Immortal Coil? Yeah, Bazaar Trader's seeing a bit of play with that, too. "Go ahead, take my Immortal Coil. Lightning Bolt for 3...oh no! You don't have enough cards in your graveyard. GG!"

Finally, how about a sleeper? One that's been sleeping since Time Spiral...

And they said Counterspell was the best counterspell around...

Seriously, it is seeing play. Gabriel Nassif's playing a new U/W deck and some of his main decked cards are indeed Cancel, Counterspell's replacement. Some players were going "For 3? No way! I'll use [insert popular counterspell of the time here] instead! That's bull****!"

....

So who actually stepped into that pile of bull****?

That's a quick rundown of some of the bigger cards I've heard are being played pretty heavily at Pro Tour - San Diego. I'll post another update or two before the weekend ends, along with impressions after the Finals Sunday night. Until then, take care and we hope to see you around soon either here or IRL!

EDIT: I'm using card pictures from magiccards.info, which I believe to be 1000 times faster and better than Gatherer. Give them a try and see if you don't agree. They also include a price guide of sorts so if you see a card you like you can get a rough idea of what it's worth thanks to the online stores who stock those cards and are effectively advertising their stores on this search engine.