Pointed Discussion

The love/hate relationship we all share with this piece of cardboard is scary.

This is good reason to buy these new Commander decks.

The Commander card. The only one that literally fits into any deck.

This card is so overpowered. Only and it pays for itself and more not only on the turn it's put down, but every turn after. Being able to tap for 4 on turn 2 in any color deck is just wrong.

Loved the flavour-text when it first appeared on the FTV Relics reprint. I feel it lost something when it was included on the Commander reprint shortly after.

Goddammit.

I am really sick of the fact that this is basically the best Commander one drop ever for any deck in existence.

Oh well. It's obviously a 5/5.

Sometimes I think a lot of Commander games are determined by who got Sol Ring in their opening hand.

I'm really happy they reprint this as many times as they can. A card as necessary as Sol Ring is something you get multiples of, and when it was hard to find and a little expensive, you aren't as encouraged to build more EDH decks. That is, until now, where you can get them starting around $5.

I wouldn't think collectors are happy, though. I remember asking a local card store if they'd buy Yugioh cards. Their answer was no, because they have no faith in Yugioh's reprinting policy. Their example was a card called Gold Sarcophagus. It was essentially their Demonic Tutor: Search your deck for a card, and then put it into your hand in two turns. Do note all spells in Yugioh are free. It's like if Demonic Tutor was -cost and had suspend 2. What a bad card, right?

Anyway, it was printed as a promo, and the prices went to around $2000-$3000. It was supposed to be THE collectors item of Yugioh.
Then they printed TWO of them in a pre-constructed deck. You can now get them for about $4/ea and the promos for about $800.

The point of this is I'm thankful Wizards has a reserved list, but I hope they don't eradicate it so they can print promo Moxens or whatever.

Price keeps going down...

"YOU GET A SOL RING AND YOU GET A SOL RING AND YOU...."
-R&D's drunken Halloween party

Wizards, wot R u doing? Wizards, STAHP!

Maybe Ferlord, but consider how popular Magic is to play, how many players it has, players who need cards because some percent of players will always turn into collector-junkies? (myself happily self-admitted included :) )

I think that a world with $800 Black Lotuses would be a world with an actual local Vintage Metagame anywhere you had regular Pre-Releases. Which, of course, is not what we have right now, by a very long shot.

I think your example of Gold Sarcophagus (I just wanted the name to standout so people interested can Google it) is bad for your conclusion. Some cards shouldn't be printed, and I'm VERY happen for

a) Development
b) Ban Lists
c) Format Rotations (I'm very glad there are both non-rotating and rotating formats. pros and cons to each, we'd be worse off without either)

But when Mistake Cards like 0-cost Demonic Tutor get made, does that mean that only people with $6000 can play and win anymore in the non-rotating format? (a playset In Yu-Gi-Oh is 3 cards)

Supply and Demand is one huge factor on the Market, the Reserved List, (which is essentially similar to any Government Interference in real economies) is another that goes above and beyond Supply- it creates a Rule. Supply is like How many Lands you have in Play, Demand is like Mana Cost, and Reserved List is like a White Spell that says "No" anyway.

There are arguments for and against Sol Ring being banned in Commander. But GIVEN that its current position is that people talk about it might needing to be banned or maybe not, I think WOTC is correct to give them to everyone. Not everyone will use them, it adds THOUSANDS to the EBay Market, so people that want them that don't have them can get them and play with them.

Legally, WoTC can abolish the Reserved List anytime they want. Ethically, should they? I'd say it's a can of worms somewhat similar to Banning Sol Ring in Commander League Play, especially since Casual people playing Commander OR Vintage at home might *either* care A Lot/Very Much or Almost Not At All about any banned lists, so some people additional copies of high-priced Vintage cards, it would affect Hugely, and other people, it wouldn't affect at all. (Playgroups that just shun the Moxen on the moral principle that they're broken.)

And some cards it really does not make sense anymore that they are on the Reserved List. In Theory "they can only go up, right?" but really, anything on the Reserved List that isn't in a massively underprinted set (Limited: Alpha, Beta; Unlimited; Revised; Arabian Nights; Legends; Antiquities; The Dark)

That is, from one of the first two years of Magic, really--

Most other Reserved Cards are not going to be able to keep their value unless they remain Competitive in Legacy and Vintage-- Urza Block happens to be broken, but Homelands, Ice Age, Mirage, Tempest and Masques Blocks haven't been able to get much of a rise anyway, and the most notables from them, Wasteland and Force of Will, are uncommon and therefore not Reserved. The Reserved List isn't doing it's job anyway, Wasteland and Force of Will being stupid powerful are keeping their prices up just fine. Wasteland I believe has TWO different Judge Foils! and is still what it is, which is above an average price for a "Best Card In Standard", but not something you would rather try to save for college than buy. Scroll Rack, Oath of Druids, Sliver Queen, Wasteland, Force of Will, and Rishadan Port all need Judicious continual Reprinting in Promo Releases and Boxes like Commander and FTV

There was definitely time for a while that Black Lotus itself was $100 and the number of Magic cards that have come close to passing that without being Reserved is I think enough proof that we don't need a Reserved List.

It's not really an argument that the Reserved List is bad for the game. The Head Execs and Game Designers almost all agree that they sort of regret digging their heels in on it, but they follow it because they feel backed into a corner and want to keep a promise that, in hindsight, they would not have made If they could go back in time.

FINALLY-- Look at some of the stupid Rare Collectible stuff like the SDCC Black Promos, the textless Mutavaults and Doran, the Siege Towers, and the Helvault Commander cards. Wizards NOW knows, (and they didn't back then), that they can make a LOT of money and bolster the Secondary Market a LOT in many ways besides just politely not reprinting the most valuable card ever--

they could make MORE money if they were more free to print Foil, Alternate Art, Stupid Rarity Level 1 per box or couple boxes, if they were willing to Reprint some of their Reserved List cards.

I know why they don't do it, but I wish they would, and so do they

Imagine anAlternate Art Textless SDCC Black Foil Modern Card Frame SLIVER QUEEN that was signed by the artist as part of the production (not as nice as a personal signature, but still a cool idea that Magic has yet to use) with a Mythic Rare Red set symbol. Now imagine that card was Legal in Vintage, Legacy, and Commander. Now imagine that it came in something whose "MSRP" was $50 and had some number of other cool neato things in it, (but probably just the one BLACK Foil, regardless of other normal-faced Promo Reprints.)

Now think how much money WOTC would make on it.

The Reserved List is even worse for them than it is for us, because it prevents them from making gigantronic piles of huge, heaping, steaming fresh hot cash for doing stuff like that. :P

I'm actually annoyed that they including Sol Ring in these decks, because this and Mana Crypt have no right being legal in commander, and the fact that they reprinted this means that isn't likely to change soon.

In a mono red burn deck running spells with mana costs like , , etc, these are great for ramping up that colorless mana... and these with Temple of the False God can be good too later game if running a deck where you get 4 lands out quickly through other cards/spells/effects.

The one ring...
(One, 'cause yo deck cahn only got one in EDH)

More worthy of Power 9 status than Timetwister, I think. What all the other 8 have in common are that they are universally good 99.9% of decks by their own, color restriction aside. Timetwister is broken, but only really good in decks that can dump out its hand faster than its opponent. Sol Ring is pretty much good in every deck that has cards that cost colorless mana, since it has such a high return for such a low cost.

Also, Sol Ring's easily the single best card in any Cube draft. Black Lotus is better in vintage, but in a slower format like cube, untapping with Rol Ring will get you that much further ahead.

Turn 1: Island : Sol Ring : Lotus Petal : Tinker -> Blightsteel Colossus
Turn 2: Win

Perhaps some day they will go for 25¢ a piece.

combos with land

Combos with me.

This is very close to a colorless Mox. While a Sol Ring doesn't let you cast Mana Drain turn one like a Mox Sapphire could (or even a Dark Confidant like any Mox could), it makes up for it by giving you one more mana than any of the moxen every turn after you play it. After the Power Nine, Sol Ring is one of the best cards in Magic. (Although Mana Crypt and Mana Vault are of comparable power - they really didn't know how to balance these things back then.)

Love this card, but it is definitely broken and always has been. As far back as Alpha, this was pumping out turn two Juggernauts, which is beyond insane. 95% of decks are better with a Sol Ring, which is a sure test of brokenness. Might even be more powerful than the moxen; if I get a Sol Ring in my opening hand, I usually win.

Sol RIng is EDH's Sol Mate! (Get it? I am sure you do)