While Wizards has caught a lot of flak for its choice of promos in recent years, it does seem to be turning things around now. The last few sets of MTG Store Championship promos were excellent, with a great mix of playable and valuable cards. Thankfully, judging by the latest set of newly revealed MTG promos, it seems the hot streak is intact.
Store Championship Participation Promo
The next round of MTG Store Championship events will run from May 8th until May 31st, at participating local game stores. As always, there’s a trio of promos associated with this event: one for participating, one for making top eight, and one for winning.
This time around, the participation promo is Unearth, one of the best reanimation spells Magic has ever seen. While it’s less flexible than straight-up Reanimate, it actually works better in low-to-the-ground decks since it doesn’t cost you life. Throw in Cycling, and it’s no wonder that this card sees extensive multi-format play.
Unearth is a regular fixture in Modern, where it serves as a key card in Grixis Reanimator and Dimir Frog decks. It also shows up more sparingly in Legacy Doomsday, Pauper Mono-Black Sacrifice, and even Premodern Full English Breakfast. That said, while Unearth is a very playable card, it’s not a particularly valuable one.
Copies of Unearth can be had for just $0.49 right now, and even the Urza’s Legacy original printing is only $1.68. That said, the recent Iron Maiden Secret Lair version is selling for around $12 currently. With artwork from MTG icon Ron Spencer, this new printing has the potential to reach similar heights.
Store Championship Top 8 Promo
Unearth is great and all, but if you make top eight in a Store Championship event you’ll get something even better: Psychic Frog. Modern Horizons 3 was full of busted, boundary-pushing cards, and Psychic Frog has a serious claim to the title of best card from that set. It’s a textbook self-contained value engine, providing a scaling threat, discard outlet, and card draw all in one.
Psychic Frog is probably most notable for its role in Legacy Dimir Reanimator, where it was so good it actually ended up banned in the format. It still sees plenty of play in other formats, however, with Modern in particular loving the card. Both Modern Dimir Frog and Grixis Reanimator get a ton of use out of the card. It also sees extensive play in Lurrus decks in Vintage, as one of the best creatures to recast with the titular legend.
Price-wise, Psychic Frog is a bit of a mixed bag. Base copies can be had for a reasonable $4.40, but things ramp up quickly as you get more premium. The Retro Frame printing goes for $7.75 right now, for example, while the Borderless version is a whopping $16.33. It’s impossible to predict the price on this new version, of course, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it closer to the Borderless printing due to scarcity.
Store Championship Winner’s Promo
If you manage to go all the way and finish first at your Store Championship, a serious banger awaits. The Winner’s promo this time around is Abhorrent Oculus, one of the scariest three-drops we’ve ever seen. Though it’s only been around for a couple of years, the card has quickly established itself as a serious multi-format threat.
Abhorrent Oculus sees most of its play in Modern, where it’s a staple in Simic Ritual and Neoform decks. It also sees scattered play in both Standard and Legacy, in Esper Oculus and Stiflenought lists, respectively. The card really shines in decks that can get around its casting condition by cheating it out, as all of these lists can. It’s also the rare low-cost threat that scales well in Commander, since it makes a 2/2 on each player’s upkeep.
While it’s not as expensive as it once was, Abhorrent Oculus is still a great value promo here. Copies will run you about $12.50 on the low end, or closer to $16 for the Borderless version. This new textless printing should, by virtue of its style and scarcity, be worth a lot more than that. While it’s unlikely that it hits the $220+ heights of the last Textless promo, Ocelot Pride, this one still has a ton of potential.
Keepin’ It Old School
In addition to the Store Championship offerings, we also got to see a couple more MTG promos today, both of which are rocking Retro Frames. The first of these is Into the Flood Maw, which is the reward for players who win their store’s Standard Showdown event.
Into the Flood Maw is one of the most widely-played Standard uncommons in recent times, seeing use in pretty much every competitive format. Between Izzet Prowess in Standard, Tameshi Belcher in Modern, or Izzet Phoenix in Pioneer, this card gets around. Consequently, Into the Flood Maw is fairly expensive for an uncommon, at around $2.30 a copy.
Sadly, despite all this competitive appeal, this new promo might not end up being that expensive. Since it’s available exclusively in foil, there’s a good chance that competitive players won’t want it. Thankfully, Into the Floor Maw does see strong Commander play, but Retro Frame cards don’t tend to be too popular regardless.
Last, and unfortunately least, Retro Frame Access Tunnel is the participation promo for the upcoming Two-Headed Giant Commander Night events. While this is very accessible, as you’ll receive it just for attending, Access Tunnel isn’t a very good card. It sees no play outside of Commander, and even there, it’s used sparingly. For that reason, this new version is unlikely to do much to the card’s current $0.40 price tag.
If you want to grab either of these promos, both Standard Showdown and Two-Headed Giant Commander Night will be running at LGS’s from April 24th to June 18th. Be sure to contact your local store for specific times and dates!
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