Top 5: Cards to Buy, Dominaria United Edition

5. Cheap Uncommons

We have seen tested in Modern Mill as well as Izzet Prowess featuring so far. It's popped up even in Vintage, where it can replay two of the most powerful cards in Magic's history like and . The blue enchantment has a lot of potential, so it experienced a huge spike in price during the preview season, going almost up to €3 per copy, whereas now that people have cracked Dominaria United boosters en masse, it stands at the affordable price of €5 for a whole playset. I have purchased them myself to start brewing.

Moving on to red, I want to talk deep on . I believe it may be the missing piece for Monored Prowess to become a real choice for a competitive budget strategy in Modern. Just look at the recent 5-0 list played by Aspiringspike you can see below. This way you don't need to add blue for . The trample evasion is good enough to become the only two-mana threat in the shell.

However, the most impactful red uncommon in Dominaria United so far seems to be . A removal spell that looks quite underwhelming at first glance, it has shown up in Pioneer Izzet shells with and draw spells like . The best thing about Victory is that for only two mana it's able to deal with small to medium creatures plus able to hit planeswalkers as well, something the common red spot removal was lacking. (See , , or for example.) In the late game you can have a two-for-one by paying the kicker cost. All in all Fires of Victory seems to be a Pioneer staple for Izzet shells moving forward.

The last uncommon I want to mention is , a superb sideboard card, an improved effect that can be kicked to get rid of any nonland permanent. Jund or Golgari shells across Standard and even Five-Color Creativity decks in Modern are interested. The exiling effect becomes really handy when dealing with recurring threats.

4. Cheap Rares

might be the sleeper card of the set. It sees a huge amount of play in every black-based strategy all over Standard and even has some potential in Pioneer. Unless something goes terribly wrong, this Human/Cleric/Phyrexian will enjoy a long life in Standard for the next year, and the fact that it is a great card at any point in the game makes Evolved Sleeper a safe bet. Regarding its price, it went to €4 during the preview season as it smells like an improved version of . But it has come down considerably since, trending at €1.50, so now is the perfect time to buy.

is a personal bet. Only a few lists are trying it out in Standard at the moment, mostly heavy creature shells, where this Dryad Warrior gets out of control quickly. Able to pump other creatures when it dies, it will be akin to a two-for-one most of the time. It currently costs mere cents, so if you plan to play green this season, get your playset.

is mass removal for cheap permanents. Pretty effective in controlling strategies in Standard, it keeps those aforementioned Sleepers and in check, as well as and friends. It has also found some early applications in Pioneer. Within the White-Blue Control shell using , it can come back a second time, clearing the board off cheap threats again while retriggering one's own . The Modern counterpart has tried Lockdown too, mostly in the sideboard against low-to-the-ground builds and decks, destroying all Construct tokens in the process. Moneywise, its trend has been shifting in the last few weeks. Right now it is heading to the low €3 range, so we might wait a bit to see if it goes even lower.

, the latest reincarnation of the legend, has evolved into a variant with the upside of coming back via some sort of escape cost, making it interesting for red decks with rummage effects (meaning discard and then draw). This hasty Noble synergizes well with discard outlets like or and already shows up in Legacy's Monored Prison, alongside other Goblins like . The bulk price of €0.50 should pose no obstacle to getting your copies "asap"—the stained-glass version is even cheaper!

3. Karn's New Sideboard Toy

We make one quick stop at number three for a card that could be the final stepping stone to the throne for in Pioneer. I am talking about this new/old toy he found on Dominaria: , a mix between and with the upside of being an artifact to wish for from the sideboard.

Green Devotion, Tron, and Monored Prison players benefit from this silver bullet that can wipe the entire board clean from any nonland permanent one turn after it comes into play. You can even speed this up with 's minus ability. The card showed up in Vintage decklists too. All things considered, Karn's Sylex is a great addition specifically to Modern since it incidentally hoses , a horrendous matchup for Tron, while also stopping Phyrexian-mana cards and fetch lands from being activated.

Despite being a mythic, it can be found at a very affordable price, as most players will only need one copy, in the €5 to €7 range. If you are not in a hurry, it will likely go down even more as more copies enter the (Card)market.

2. The Most Wanted

: The mythic planeswalker from the first Innistrad block is back in Standard, and in Pioneer as a result. Does the shifty Necromancer meet the expectations for the number one card from the set? Apparently yes. She improves black midrange decks everywhere and in Pioneer in particular Rakdos Midrange and .

Pricewise she has established herself in the €30 to €40 range. But older copies from Masters sets and from original Innistrad were already in the market, meaning there are enough offers for everyone. In case you don't need your copies straight away, wait until the price bottoms out shortly before the next set. Expect to increase gradually after that.

: The next mythic seems to be Liliana's new BFF as they are both a key part of black midrange decks across formats. While the Phyrexian Praetor looked quite strong during the preview season, it has proven to be the real deal due to its passive abilities and the combination with , another powerful tool in Standard's black shell. Indeed, the fact that it can generate massive amounts of damage combined with effects make it an instant Commander staple.

Everything we just mentioned reflects on the price, which has shot up since prerelease week to the second most expensive card in Dominaria United, going for around €30 as I am writing these lines. Things might calm down a little, once the hype subsides, but the minimum won't ever leave the €20 range since Sheolred is truly one of the must-have mythics from the set.

: Another surprise that spiked after the prerelease, it only took a couple of days of playtesting till players realized how good this white spot removal is. First, it's easy to shrink the cost down to one white mana with the help of the tricycle and shock lands available in all bigger format. This puts Binding in competition with other white spot removal such as and , which interestingly enough, cannot deal with a Binding itself.

I have bad news regarding its price though. While single copies were going for around €7 on prerelease weekend, right now the cheapest Leyline Binding on Cardmarket is available at €11. A playset should cost you around €60, which is what I paid last week, following my own rule of thumb: Buy soon if you are positive about playing the cards. In this case, prices won't go down much even after a few months since Binding is here to stay for a very long time.

1. New Tribal Lords

This month, gold medals go to the two-mana lords, a great effort from Wizards to revive tribal strategies in 2022. They deserve the boost, especially in Modern where wipes an entire board and then sticks around thanks to . Standard is still missing more cards to complete a tribal theme, so it's a work in progress at least in that format as well as in Pioneer. In any case, here are my three favorites from the cycle. They may well end up the cards from Dominaria United that see the most play overall, not just in competitive formats but also on kitchen tables.

doesn't have a home yet in Standard or Pioneer, but Modern and Legacy welcome it as the perfect addition at the two-mana slot, replacing once and for all. Having flash can make for unexpected deadly attacks even without in play, and the fact it transforms every Merolk into a is another great upside when facing control and combo decks. In Legacy there is another kid on the block, , from Dominaria United Commander, improving the strategy to the next level.

is the first ever two-mana lord of its tribe, something new after almost thirty years of Magic: The Gathering. Hordemaster also grants a very interesting ability that synergizes pretty well with the rest of the deck. You can sacrifice cards like or for value and exile the top card of the library and play it if it's a Goblin. This helps enable the - combo. Rundvelt Hordemaster has landed in Modern and Pioneer, and was already seen in Legacy too.

comes from another very popular tribe. It boosts every other Elf on the battlefield, which is something they already had with cards like . But its other ability allows you to draw a card every time you play an Elf, making Visionary some kind of effect that combined with enough mana producers such as or can draw half of the library pretty easily. There even are enough members to assemble a Pioneer Elves shell, powered up with while generates insane amounts of mana. The deck might not be at Monogreen Devotion's level of power, but give it some time and we'll see.

Financially speaking, Hexmage stands at about €6, more or less what Hordemaster was going for in the last week as well. Visionary ranks higher, hovering around the €8 barrier. All these three lords are going to see a huge amount of play so it's very likely that their price tag will stabilize until The Brothers War releases and then slowly go up from there.

Legendary Ache

Before we go, I have a quick rant. Recently I had the pleasure to compete in a value race on makuto86's YouTube channel opening Dominaria United Collector Boosters. It was an amazing experience overall, but one that felt a bit underwhelming mainly because of the amount of Dominaria United Commander cards showing up.

This is not just about their value, which is pretty low compared with cards from the regular set. The thing that bothers me the most is getting Commander-specific cards in a product not aimed at the format. I'd say, please, Wizards, leave them aside for Commander-focused products. But I honestly would love to hear what you think on this topic!

If you reached this point, thank you so much for reading. I sincerely hope you enjoyed the content. As usual, let us know in the comment section below your thoughts on the set in general and which cards you are getting from Dominaria United.

Until next month, Rodrigo Martin

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Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, not of Cardmarket.