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Written By - Cody Yeo from Booster HouseNovember 2nd, 2023
Are Exalteds Too Expensive?
Are Exalteds Too Expensive?
I had the pleasure of hosting the first ever Kingston Siege Series 3K recently on October 14th. Twenty three Legions players travelled from far reaches to sling cardboard at The Royal Canadian Legion for over twelve hours. It was Booster House's premier major event, and with generous support from Future Lore Studios, it was a great success. I'd like to thank all of the wonderful people who attended, and I cannot wait to meet and play with you all again.
The meta on tournament day was pleasantly diversified, with each top eight deck being unique. Before rounds began that morning, FLS surprised players by handing out randomized Second Edition copies of The Twilight Gardens and Majik Void Hollow. With only the approximate fifty Ravaged Lands First Editions, and the small run of Kickstarter printings available, these new Second Editions helped drastically level the playing field that day. No one from Kingston had them in their deck lists, and hurried to make last second changes
The tournament has already been broken down in great detail here on Snapshot, but what I want to get into today is a financial look at a first place LRAW deck – a Demon control build by AJ Christiaens. We're going to discuss the big money cards in the deck, if they're worth their price tag, and some budget-friendly alternatives you could use. Check out AJ's Siege Series winning list below, alongside prices from Booster House (boosterhouse.ca).
$987.17??? That can't be right, can it? Is this Modern MTG? How can pieces from such a humble game demand such a high price? None of the sets are sold out, meaning demand isn't outweighing the supply. What I believe the issue is lies with Ravaged Lands, its Exalted Rare drop rates, and the MSRP of the boxes.
44% of the cost of this deck is in three cards: Serenasada, The Secret Soothsayer, Majik Void Hollow, and The Twilight Gardens. FLS giving out Second Edition copies of the latter two will surely affect the First Editions' price, but Serenasada's usefulness in almost every deck keeps her locked at the most expensive playable card in the game. Although Bountiful Harvest's MSRP is a great value for the packs and box topper, the small pool of cards can make searching for the set's only Exalted feel tiresome and unrewarding after drowning in stacks of duplicate “yet-to-be playable” cards.
There were 1600 booster boxes of Ravaged Lands printed. Exalted Rares show up in 1 of 4 boxes, and there are 10 different Exalted Rares. This means there should be only 40 copies of each First Edition Ravaged Lands Exalted Rare in booster boxes. Including the boosters found in the 2 Player Battle Decks, it is estimated that there are only 50 copies of each card in existence. The combination of their rarity, and usefulness in every deck as powerhouse game pieces, actually justifies how expensive they are. The problem is at $200 MSRP plus tax, and a 1 in 4 Exalted drop rate, opening Ravaged Lands boxes to find them isn't really worth it for even the luckiest of people. Once they've all been opened, what happens if this game sees a boom in growth? Would the demand drive FLS to get more of these Second Editions into circulation? We'll have to wait and see.
An important point though, is these cards aren't even the icing on the cake when it comes to how this first place deck performed. They're more like really tasty sprinkles. These Bounty cards are great to have in your arsenal during a match, but the true power of this deck is the high value Demon engine it has, controlling board states, and using its opponent's resources against them. The amount of 1-of's AJ played took full advantage of Demons' tutor effects, being able to search for whatever necessary response to the game state he needed.
I asked AJ, knowing now how the meta of the tournament turned out, how he felt about his sideboard choices that day. He responded saying…
"I'm very happy that I decided to leave out the Stay Awhiles as we didn't see any real Dwarf players. The masks [Magik Mask - Three Eyed Dark] could have easily been other cards but seemed like too much fun at the time. Knowing I would have to play all three Adramelech players, plus Thomas [Castiel], I'd probably bring a third Catacombs, or even main one. Of course, if I knew I wouldn't end up playing Hunter [Angelica], I would have also swapped out the Key Of Chaos for something like another Seasons Of Majik Reflections."
When it comes to swapping these expensive Bounty cards out for more budget-friendly options, your choices are fairly easy for at least one. Serenasada is obviously amazing at filtering your opening hand, but she doesn't actually get you ahead with her after mulligan effect. At 3% of the cost, Galterius, The Wayfaring Knight actually starts you the game with extra cards. The extra AP Serena has is nice, but is hardly needed in most matches. Being a Bounty Guardian that is found in almost everyone's sideboard, I predict the price of Galterius rising until it is hopefully included in the Opus Of The Maji print run next year. Vendetta, the original Demon guardian, could work fine in this build as well, but Galterius is my budget recommendation for Serena.
Majik Void Hollow is a unique card, and budget options for it aren't as obvious. It does 3 separate useful things; combo breaking, removal, and replaces itself with card draw. Deflect and Severed Connections can't compare, so in this case I would just run an extra copy of the many effective 1-of's in the deck. My recommendation would be to play an extra copy of Seal Their Fate.
The Twilight Gardens is strictly the best negate in the game, and one of the best ways to deal with your opponent's most powerful Unified engine pieces. But that's all it is; a negate. Sure, Deflect is miles away from the full potential of a well timed Gardens, but in many situations it can be just as effective at 0.5% of the cost. The argument could be made that in this eradication heavy meta, Twilight Gardens is not as super effective as it once was. If you're more worried about replacing the warrior negation part of Gardens, tracking down a Campaign Promo copy of Final Resting Place will get the job done at $5.
When it comes to an Exalted being a necessary piece of a deck, AJ had a lot to say about Rapture On Mount Bane…
"Rapture is great for many reasons.. It applies pressure on their board, helps remove things I can't easily otherwise, and can give you some gas. It applies pressure simply by being on board. Opponents know what it can do, and generally have to make adjustments to their plan, or at the very least spend resources to remove it. If they pay 6 a few times it adds up, 3 times is 18 damage from simply existing. As for the static, it's great and all, but we do have Set Fire To The World. We can generally steal their warriors, so we're not too worried about them. It's real value is in destroying your own fire puppies and Void Collapse. For gas, if my opponent thinks "I have no board for them to destroy", or they don't want to pay the 6, the Once Per Turn is free value. Even with all that, there's games I don't see it, and still win just fine. It's really good for the deck, but it doesn't "make" the deck. The deck can do its job controlling the game without it."
This was also his view on the other Demon Exalted, End Of Days…
“It doesn't matter. It's not needed for the deck at all. I've said this many times and have even refused to activate the card in the last SS before Kingston to prove this (it was still in my deck). I only have it in my deck as an easy side deck option, and it's shiny. I only actually use it when I want to make sure I have time to finish the match. That's only if I even see it. I don't actively search for it.”
This is what a budget friendly version of his Demon control deck could look like:
As you can see from the list, the majority of what this deck runs on is very affordable cards, as which seems to be the case with most LRAW decks. Commons and uncommons are essential engine pieces, with most playsets running under a dollar. Key Demon cards like Rapture On Mount Bane, and End Of Days aren't as fun to play without, but shedding the Exalted's from this list leaves you with the same synergy and win conditions.
When you're looking for singles for your next deck project, make sure to check out boosterhouse.ca for the best LRAW prices. Our stock grows every day, and we strive to make building top tier decks as affordable for player as possible. Thank you to Snapshot for featuring this article, and to AJ for providing us with this great deck list to go over. Until next time, cheers!
Cody Yeo
Booster House
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