Going into 2024, Wizards of the Coast made some big adjustments to try and save Standard. Perhaps the most notable change was switching all future Store Championships to the Standard format. Store Championships offer players a great chance to break out their sweet brews, and maybe win some prizes and sick promos along the way.
Speaking of promos, just recently, the Store Championship promos for Duskmourn were revealed. Store Championships will be taking place from October 12-January 5. This time around, while the theme is quite clear, the promo choices individually are a bit perplexing.
Participation Promo
Kicking things off, we have the participation promo. Anyone who plays in a Store Championship will receive an full-art variant of Chromatic Sphere as a bonus. Ultimately, from both a playability and value perspective, Chromatic Sphere isn’t too exciting.
It’s to be expected that the participation promo wouldn’t be worth a whole lot. However, Chromatic Sphere has the additional downside of not seeing much in the way of competitive play these days. Chromatic Sphere used to be a staple of Modern Tron decks, as well as various “Eggs” strategies. Unfortunately, since the release of MH3, Tron decks tend to be more Eldrazi-centric and less focused on casting Sylvan Scrying.
As such, Chromatic Sphere is a bit outdated when it comes to competitive context. Compare that to the Bloomburrow Store Championship participation promo, Monastery Swiftspear, and there’s a big drop-off. According to TCGPlayer market price, Chromatic Sphere is worth about 50 cents.
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Top 8 Promo
For players that make it to the top 8 of their Store Championship, you’ll find yourself walking away with a full-art copy of Reality Smasher. Reality Smasher is a really cool card and keeps the trend of colorless promos going. That being said, Reality Smasher is in a similar situation as Chromatic Sphere.
Reality Smasher used to be a staple of Eldrazi Tron decks in Modern. Alongside the all-powerful Eldrazi Temple, Reality Smasher did a good job coming down early and closing games in short order. With the release of Ugin’s Labyrinth to join the party, many players initially thought Reality Smasher might be on the upswing.
Instead, the card has been outshined by some potent four-drops, such as Sowing Mycospawn and The One Ring. Despite Reality Smasher’s lack of major reprints, it sits just over $2 in its cheapest form. The Store Championship version will almost certainly go for more, but the reprint value could certainly be better.
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Champion’s Promo
Last but not least, we have the winner’s promo. If you manage to emerge victorious at your Store Championship event, the sweet textless Void Winnower promo will be yours. Void Winnower is certainly a cool card. From a competitive standpoint, it doesn’t see too much play. Occasionally, it’ll show up in Indomitable Creativity decks out of the sideboard depending on the metagame at hand. Most of the time, though, there are better fatties to cheat into play.
Where Void Winnower gets most of its mileage is in Commander. Making it so your opponent’s “can’t even” is incredibly annoying. EDH demand has helped drive up Void Winnower’s price, as it currently sits at about $24. These textless promos tend to go for a lot more money, too, considering their scarcity.
For reference, Dauthi Voidwalker promos from Murders at Karlov Manor Store Championships are valued at over $100. Void Winnower is worth a decent amount more than Dauthi Voidwalker naturally, so expect the Store Championship promos to go for a lot.
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Player Reaction
Overall, player reaction on these promos is rather mixed. Despite the fact that Chromatic Sphere isn’t as prevalent as it used to be, some players believe it is a solid choice for the participation promo, nonetheless. On the flip side, some players were rather baffled by the Reality Smasher choice. Additionally, people once again questioned the promo choices across the board that have absolutely nothing to do with the Standard format.
Where the biggest level of disappointment within the community seemed to lie, though, is with the downgrade in the champion’s promo from Bloomburrow to Duskmourn. Following some very questionable textless promos, such as Outlaws of Thunder Junctions’ Vengevine, Wizards of the Coast finally hit it out of the park with Bloomburrow’s Urza’s Saga. So, even though Void Winnower is a decently pricy card, it still falls short compared to Urza’s Saga in value and impact.
With this in mind, it’ll be interesting to see how overall Store Championship attendance for Duskmourn compares to Bloomburrow. There are players that feel like these events won’t draw the same crowds thanks to the promos rewarded. If you’re a fan of Eldrazi and want to get your hands on a unique textless Void Winnower, this is your chance. Only time will tell if future Store Championship promos will be on par with Bloomburrow’s, but we expect not.
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