Whether you love them or hate them, the spoilers just don’t stop coming. The spoiler season for Assassin’s Creed has barely been over for two days and already more cards are being revealed. Thankfully, as a region-locked pair of reprints, these new spoilers are hardly the most taxing, but still… c’mon Wizards.
In case you weren’t tipped off by our earlier hint, the new MTG spoilers are a pair of promos from Japan. While these cards can technically be ignored if you’re outside this region, doing so may be a mistake. If these new cards are anything like their predecessors, they may end up being surprisingly expensive!
A Pair of New Promos
On their own, the new reprints that players can acquire are far from exciting. Both hailing from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, neither Saheeli, the Sun’s Brilliance nor Glimpse the Core are compelling reprints. Both these cards are worth under $1 and fall firmly into the category of Draft chaff.
While Glimpse the Core is barely Commander tech, Saheeli, the Sun’s Brilliance is at least playable. Sure, this mythic may not be the most popular or exciting Commander, but they work well in the right deck. By allowing you to copy a creature you control for a turn, Saheeli can facilitate shenanigans, but they’re hardly unique.
Despite perhaps not being the most interesting cards in MTG, they’ll nonetheless be a lot more desirable soon. This is thanks to them being the new Planeswalker Friendly Match promos available to MTG players throughout July. Featuring new art from artists Susumu Kuroi and Zaiyuko, both these cards look utterly gorgeous and are bound to be valuable.
Neat, but How Do You Get Them?
Sadly, for anyone outside of Japan, you can’t acquire these promos in the way that Wizards intended. This is a shame as these promos are distributed in a rather unorthodox and incredibly unique way.
At their core, Planeswalker Friendly Match tournaments are Standard events held at WPN stores. Given that Standard needs all the help it can get to return to its former glory, this is already a major positive. On top of this, the Planeswalker Friendly Match events aren’t just for die-hard Standard players looking to get their fix.
As the name suggests, Planeswalker Friendly Match events are friendly by nature. While you can still win prizes and top the event, it’s more about enticing new and existing players to the format. This can clearly be seen in the reward structure for the new promos that are on offer in July.
Unlike many promos that are awarded to a tournament’s winner, Planeswalker Friendly Match cards are much more accessible. The new promo for Glimpse of the Core, for example, is a participation promo, so everyone should get a copy. Alongside this, the Saheeli, the Sun’s Brilliance is a Rock-Paper-Scissors Tournament Promo.
In the article announcing these new promos, Wizards doesn’t exactly explain what a Rock-Paper-Scissors Tournament is. If we put on our thinking caps, however, we can presume it’s a tournament where people play rock-paper-scissors. While this game technically is strategy-based, it nonetheless takes the focus away from MTG, turning it more toward random fun.
Hopefully, through this non-MTG-related tournament, more casual players will be able to get their hands on these promos. While these may not be the most playable cards, this in turn could increase their enjoyment and interest in MTG. All in all, this seems like a great promo distribution method for friendly MTG matches.
Neat, but What Are They Worth?
Right now, since these promos haven’t been released yet, there’s no telling how much they will be worth. As we mentioned earlier, both cards are technically worth under a dollar, but these promos should sell for a lot more. If past precedent is anything to go by, and it usually is, these promos may be surprisingly expensive!
Looking back at the promos from Wilds of Eldraine, both cards are impressively pricey. This is impressive considering Ruby, Daring Tracker and Realm-Scorcher Hellkite are hardly the most exciting cards. Thanks to their promo treatment, however, these cards are worth almost $20 and $30 respectively!
For better or worse, there’s no telling if the new promos will match these most recent prices. That being said, they’re bound to be expensive simply because they’re hard to get ahold of. While Japanese MTG players can acquire these cards fairly easily, those elsewhere rely on the recipients selling their cards.
Thanks to this difficult pipeline of acquisition, supply for these promos can often be rather scarce. Ultimately, this causes the price of available copies to be significantly higher than standard variants. If you want to get the gorgeous newfound on these promos, you’ll likely have to pay out the nose for it.
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