Magic’s recent punts at competitive promos have not ended well. The previous season’s Laughing Jasper Flint Promo, for example, was a complete flop. Not only was the reprint value of this card abysmal, but the Lizard Outlaw doesn’t see play in any competitive MTG format. Being awarded exclusively to Regional Championship Qualifier top finishers only made things worse, reducing an impressive achievement to a useless cardboard trophy.
Fortunately, things seem to be improving. Between April 4th and August 2nd, a new series of MTG Regional Championship Qualifier promos will be up for grabs. With Modern being featured for the upcoming season, these two new promos have elicited extremely positive early reactions from the community, despite their abysmal reprint value.
MTG Ancient Stirrings
Since its inception, Ancient Stirrings has seen constant play in Modern thanks to the presence of Tron lands. Able to pick out Basking Broodscale combo pieces and Kozilek’s Command on a whim, Ancient Stirrings is the ultimate consistency machine when it hits both lands and nonlands. Thanks to this, Ancient Stirrings continues to see daily play in both Tron and Eldrazi shells in Modern and Pauper.
While this reprint sees a lot of play, its secondary-market value certainly doesn’t reflect it. Thanks to a slew of common reprints, Ancient Stirrings only costs $0.18 at its lowest price, making it an extremely accessible staple. Despite this, the current premium copies of Ancient Stirrings are worth a decent penny.
Both the Time Spiral Remastered and Mystery Booster 2 foils go in the neighborhood of $20. While foil and nonfoil copies of this Ancient Stirrings might not be worth as much, there’s a decent chance that this card will go for a premium. Considering the early reaction to its artwork, this potential premium price point does feel like an inevitability.
If you’re interested in acquiring one of these Ancient Stirrings for yourself, it is being offered as a participation Promo for the upcoming Regional Championship Qualifier season.
MTG Sowing Mycospawn
While players aren’t nearly as fond of this artwork, Sowing Mycospawn as a card is anything but unimpressive. Banned in Legacy thanks to devastating Wasteland synergies, this Eldrazi Fungus is extremely prevalent in every colorless deck that it can legally appear in.
Thanks to colorless strategies often abusing broken lands like Ugin’s Labyrinth and Ancient Tomb, searching for any land on entry is far better than it looks on paper. The land enters untapped, too, allowing Sowing Mycospawn to combo off immediately with Gaea’s Cradle in Commander. All of that said, despite being rather popular at high-bracket EDH tables, Sowing Mycospawn isn’t that expensive.
The card generally only goes for about $1.60, despite its popularity. This is in part thanks to colorless strategies being on the downturn at the moment. That said, the card continues to see extremely heavy cEDH and Duel Commander play. In theory, that could allow this premium print to be worth a bit more than its base price tag, but it’s impossible to know for sure.
Sadly, if you’re interested in acquiring this Sowing Mycospawn for yourself, you’ll need to work for it. This is reserved for top finishers at Regional Championship Qualifiers in the upcoming season.
MTG Emberheart Challenger
Unlike the previous two Regional Championship Promos, Emberheart Challenger is attached to the current Standard season, but is only now being revealed for the first time. Players who successfully qualify for the current round of Regional Championships, starting on May 8th, will receive a nonfoil copy of this card as a participation promo.
While Emberheart Challenger has seen a healthy dose of Standard play recently, it’s not really a part of any core decks at the time of writing. The previously Badgermole Cub-dominated format left little room for other aggressive strategies, pushing red aggro decks out of the format. That said, Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed has just flipped Standard on its head, potentially allowing for the return of the classic Mono Red beatdown deck. If this happens, we can be almost certain that Emberheart Challenger will see play.
Following in the footsteps of many other recent promos, Emberheart Challenger doesn’t have the most impressive reprint value, coming in at just under $2. Despite this, foil copies of Regional Championship promos are consistently expensive. Past precident suggests that top Regional Championship finishers will likely walk away with a $200 promo.
Cards that Actually See Play
While these Regional Championship promos aren’t the most financially interesting reprints, they are genuinely useful to the people who win them. This, alone, is a major step up from many of the past Regional Championship promos, which seemed to be selected almost entirely at random. Even the current RCQ season, while offering Standard legal cards, doesn’t offer any cards that currently see any Standard play.
Initial player reaction, however, has made it clear that Wizards of the Coast is stepping in the right direction with these promos. Being able to play for cards players actually want to use will make Regional Championship Qualifiers much more exciting to participate in, which is good for everyone.
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