Aetherdrift spoilers are making their way out of the woodworks, and there’s a lot to look forward to. Powerful Gearhulks, elite vehicles, an equippable Planeswalker, and we’re just getting started!
In addition to the typical previews we get from the main set and Commander Precons, the Store Championship promos have also been revealed. Unfortunately, these ones are not quite as interesting as the promos we’ve seen for other recent sets.
The good news is that Wizards of the Coast finally chose three Standard-legal promos to feature. Considering that Store Championships are Standard in the first place, this is a good move. The downside, though, is that some of these choices aren’t the priciest or the most impactful in the format. Let’s take a closer look.
Participation Promo
Kicking things off, we have the participation promo. Earning this promo is very simple: play in a Store Championship, and you’ll get a Deep-Cavern Bat for your troubles.
Deep-Cavern Bat used to be a staple for black midrange decks in Standard. Whether you were following it up with Raffine, Scheming Seer or Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor, there were plenty of ways to generate extra value from your evasive beater.
Over the past few months, however, the card has largely become obsolete. Dimir decks are more tempo-oriented, utilizing flash creatures like Floodpits Drowner in Bat’s place. Meanwhile, Golgari decks eschew Bat in favor of extra three-drops to further maximize Llanowar Elves.
With so much cheap removal in the format, these decisions make sense and make it all the more awkward that Deep-Cavern Bat is arriving as the promo now. It would have been an excellent participation promo a year ago.
As an uncommon, traditional non-foil copies of Deep-Cavern Bat currently sit at under $1. This is pretty much in line with other participation promos we’ve seen in the past.
Top 8 Promo
Moving on, we have the promo given to all players who make top eight of a Store Championship. When compared to previous top eight promos, Preacher of the Schism is actually a really nice selection.
First of all, Preacher does see consistent Standard play. As a four-toughness creature with Deathtouch, Preacher does a good job brick walling attacks from red aggro decks. It conveniently dodges Cut Down and Nowhere to Run, which makes it even better.
From there, you’re guaranteed to generate some value whenever you get the chance to attack. It’s a tough card to block down in combat, which makes it a decent card to pair with Enduring Curiosity.
On top of all of that, traditional non-foil copies of Preacher are valued at over $4. This makes the reprint value here higher than other recent top eight promos, like Shark Typhoon or Reality Smasher. All in all, Preacher is a nice choice for the top eight promo.
Winner’s Promo
Finally, we have the winner’s promo. If you manage to emerge victorious from your Store Championship, this unique copy of Virtue of Persistence awaits.
Virtue is an intriguing choice for a couple reasons. Right off the bat, you may notice that this promo breaks the recent trend of textless winner’s promos. We have to go all the way back to Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth to see the last winner’s promo with text.
Based on the card selection, this is probably for the best. As an Adventure card, there’s a lot to remember between the two different casting costs and rules text boxes.
The other reason this choice is a bit peculiar is that, from a reprint value perspective, this is a pretty big drop off compared to Void Winnower or Urza’s Saga (Store Championship promos for Duskmourn and Bloomburrow, respectively). Virtue is worth about $12 in its traditional non-foil form. This isn’t necessarily bad, but Void Winnower is $23, and Urza’s Saga is $40.
Plus, Virtue doesn’t see a ton of Constructed play. Sometimes it pops up as a one or two-of in a deck’s removal suite, but even then it’s usually overshadowed by cards like Go for the Throat.
There’s a good chance the promo is still worth a decent chunk of money due to overall lack of supply (Store Championship versions of Void Winnower are worth roughly $100, for reference). Regardless, Virtue isn’t exactly an amazing promo choice for the victor.
Player Reaction
All that being said, most players seem pretty excited this time around for one main reason: the cards are all Standard legal. This is a big difference between this round of promos and previous groups, so it’s no wonder players appreciate this.
As expected, there are some players that still think the specific choices aren’t great. Others pointed out that these decisions were likely stronger when the cards were being designed, since Deep-Cavern Bat and Virtue of Persistence to a smaller degree used to see more Standard play earlier in 2024.
Yet, the easy switch to giving Store Championship participants (who are playing Standard by default) Standard-legal promos is clearly the focal point of this announcement. It awaits to be seen if this idea will continue with the next set release. For now, though, make sure you check in with your local game store to have your chance at claiming these prizes from March 8-30.
