Last week the full list of reprints in Eternal Masters was released and nothing else mattered. There are plenty of phenomenal reprints in this set but also plenty of garbage as well. Today we’re going to take a look at each rare and mythic reprint and how they rank as reprint-material as well as what reprints we hope to see in the future.
Reprint Rankings
For the purposes of this breakdown we’re only going to look at rares and mythic rares. Yes, there are a lot of important common and uncommon reprints in Eternal Masters, including but not limited to Swords to Plowshares, Brainstorm, Daze, and Kird Ape. However, we’re interested in what Wizards is putting in the rare slot in your $9.99 packs of Eternal Masters.
So we’ve developed a five-tier ranking system for reprints based mostly on arbitrary criteria including how powerful the card is, how high the demand for the card is, and how frequently it’s been reprinted in the past. Don’t forget to leave your own comments below letting me know what you thought I got right and wrong!
AAA-Rank: These are the best of the best and are basically the reason the price of sealed product can only go up over time. Examples from past reprint products include Tarmogoyf (Modern Masters) and Dark Confidant (Modern Masters). Eternal Masters has four AAA-Rank reprints.
AA-Rank: Just a step below the cream of the crop we have the cards that are still highly sought-after but are just a little less heavily played or have had a reprint in the past (probably a promo card). Examples from past reprint products include Berserk (From the Vault) and Cryptic Command (Modern Masters 2015). Eternal Masters has six AA-Rank reprints.
A-Rank: These are fantastically powerful cards but either they’re not in high demand or they’ve had a few reprints already. They’re still going to be great cards and make you happy to open them and will slot into constructed, commander, or cube boxes in your permanent collection. Examples from past reprint products include Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite (Modern Masters), and Pernicious Deed (Conspiracy). Eternal Masters has 13 A-Rank reprints.
B-Rank: B isn’t for Bulk Rare but it’s pretty close, especially in the context of a set with such a high price tag. These reprints are almost always intended for Cube or Commander formats but can also include constructed playable cards which have either been reprinted or are only found in fringe Tier 2 or lower decks. You might be happy to get one of these, or you might not. It all depends on whether you need it for your Cube and if you had a chance to get any in the past. Examples from past reprint products include Misdirection (Conspiracy) and Primeval Titan (Modern Masters 2015).
C-Rank: C is for Crap. Almost no one will be happy to open one of these unless your draft payout is pretty good and even then some of these aren’t even that good in limited environments. Maybe you need one for your cube, but they’ve been reprinted so often you probably already have it. Luckily these aren’t completely devoid of value, but before you try to rip-off some little kid by trading them Rorix Bladewing you should think about being a better human being. Examples from past reprint products include Ant Queen (Modern Masters 2015) and Deathrender (Conspiracy).
Eternal Masters AAA-Rank Reprints
Force of Will, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Karakas, Mana Crypt
Sometimes it’s hard to separate the absolute best cards in a set from the rest of the pack but in the case of Eternal Masters I think it was quite easy. Each of these four cards is insanely powerful. One card keeps an entire format in balance. The next is the most powerful planeswalker ever printed. Following that up is an innocuous land that dates all the way back to the Legends expansion and sees play in Vintage, Legacy, and Commander. Last, but certainly not lease, is the original book promo, a card you literally had to write in to collect back in 1994.
Three of these cards have had judge promos issued but none has put a dent in their value or demand. If you open one of these cards in a draft you are 100% entitled to slam it on the table face-up to permanently demoralize your opponents. If it’s foil you get to do a dance as well (but don’t jump up on the table to do it).
Eternal Masters AA-Rank Reprints
Dack Fayden, Mystical Tutor, Natural Order, Sneak Attack, Vampiric Tutor, Wasteland
Other than the Conspiracy ‘walker Dack Fayden, none of these cards has seen a printing press outside of a short-printed promo in a very, very long time. So unless you’ve been collecting high-end foil promos or you actually like the From the Vault foiling process, odds are this is the first time you’re going to see a bunch of these cards in shiny variety.
Also, these are all great cards across multiple formats. The distinction between AAA, AA, and A-Rank is usually very subtle, and what makes these cards special is that they often serve an important role in multiple formats without becoming a dominant part of the format. It also helps that every single one of these cards is a Cube staple.
Eternal Masters A-Rank Reprints
Balance, Chrome Mox, Duplicant, Green Sun’s Zenith, Heritage Druid, Ichorid, Mother of Runes, Necropotence, Sensei’s Divining Top, Shardless Agent, Sinkhole, Vindicate, Wrath of God
I consider each of these to be A-Rank reprints for slightly different reasons. For some cards they’re simply just great Magic cards, no matter how many times they get printed. This includes Wrath of God and Necropotence. Others are not only powerful, but have never been printed in foil outside of a short-print run (e.g. judge promo or From the Vault) including Balance, Shardless Agent, and Sinkhole.
Whatever the reason, these are all cards you are going to be happy to open in a pack. Except maybe Wrath of God if you’re trying to make money I guess. They’re not all home-runs financially, but these rankings aren’t just about getting cash for your cards. It’s about opening exciting cards (just not the best of the best, I suppose).
Thankfully every single one of these cards has a high demand from both competitive and casual Magic players, either for Legacy and Vintage or for Commander and Cube. Also, they’re indisputably better then the next two ranking tiers.
Eternal Masters B-Rank Reprints
Arcanis the Omnipotent, Argothian Enchantress, Baleful Strix, Control Magic, Deathrite Shaman, Eight-and-a-Half-Tails, Enlightened Tutor, Entomb, Future Sight, Gamble, Glare of Subdual, Goblin Charbelcher, Goblin Trenches, Imperious Perfect, Isochron Scepter, Karmic Guide, Maze of Ith, Nevinyrral’s Disk, Pyrokinesis, Sphinx of the Steel Wind, Sulfuric Vortex, Sylvan Library, Toxic Deluge, Winter Orb, Worldgorger Dragon
Sure, some people will be happy to open these rares. They’re not great, and they’re not terribly valuable, but they all have their place. These cards might actually be the most important rare and mythic reprints in Eternal Masters because they allow people to get into formats like Commander and Cube by providing important pieces like Control Magic, Maze of Ith, and Sylvan Library. Some people may be looking to play Worldgorger combo or Enchantress and now they can do that. Maybe someone at your table really wanted to force reanimator so they’re excited to open up Entomb.
Whatever the reason, some people will be happy, but those of you just looking for value will have to look elsewhere (unless you opened Entomb). But those of you looking to win your EMA draft, or build a Cube, or enhance your Commander collection, will be pretty happy. Those of you looking to get into Legacy and Vintage may find some use here but most of these are going right into the trade binder.
Eternal Masters C-Rank Reprints
Brago, King Eternal, Braids, Cabal Minion, Call the Skybreaker, Crater Hellion, Diminishing Returns, Dualcaster Mage, Giant Solifuge, Inkwell Leviathan, Jareth, Leonine Titan, Maelstrom Wanderer, Malicious Affliction, Regal Force, Rorix Bladewing, Serendib Efreet, Siege-Gang Commander, Silvos, Rogue Elemental, Unexpectedly Absent, Visara the Dreadful, Void, Xantid Swarm
A few of these have a place outside of draft, but not many. Most of these are flat-out unplayable except in low-power or specialty cubes. They’re going to go to good homes, I’m sure, because casual players and those just getting into formats like Commander need these cards to round out their decks. But at the end of the day no one is going to feel good about spending $9.99 and opening one of these, and that includes some of the foils. Are these even playable in Tier 1 Commander decks?
I suppose that even though Eternal Masters is one of the most premium reprint products of all time, it still needed to be drafted, which means cards like these (mostly creatures and removal) needed to exist. So we should be glad they’re getting reprinted, and they should help you win limited games, sometimes (sorry Braids), but for the most part these are not good cards and their value is only going to come down thanks to being reprinted.
What We Learned is a weekly feature here at Hipsters of the Coast written by former amateur Magic Player Rich Stein, who came really close to making day two of a Grand Prix on several occasions. Each week we will take a look at the past seven days of major events, big news items, and community happenings so that you can keep up-to-date on all the latest and greatest Magic: the Gathering community news.