The Aether Revolt (AER) Pro Tour for Magic the Gathering has just happened and it is the pinnacle of competitive tournaments in the game. With it comes new deck brews, new changes and new prices for cards.
Now, I can do an article about the top Aether Revolt (AER) cards to look out for and why it is good but other writers have done that already. Furthermore, the top cards that appeared during the competition are glaring and more often than not, are in almost all the top decks that everyone knows about them.
Instead, I’m letting you know the top 5 cards that went unnoticed in the tournament. However, these cards are good and powerful enough for you to pick up. At the same time, the cards are cheap enough that whoever is just starting out (hopefully from reading the last introduction article) could pick them up from the nearest card shop. Most of the cards are competitive enough and do appear in some of the deck lists that have at least a 7-0 win rate at the AER Pro Tour.
Well then, let’s get started.
First up is “Release the Gremlins”, which is going for around RM4. I find this to be a great sideboard card with the advent of artifacts in most decks, the most powerful artifact being the card “Heart of Kiran”. The card is one of the best red artifact destruction sideboard card option for both the aggro and control decks alike. Simply put, it provides you with a plus one card advantage, and card advantage is always good. This card is a cheap one to pick up now and great against the current meta of artifacts.
The next card on the list is another red card which has proven to be a great card in most decks, as it appears in both Mardu vehicle decks and Jund decks, “Pia Nalaar”. The card gives you two bodies in the form of herself and a flying thopter, which could prove to be a beat down for your opponent. Furthermore, she has two abilities that comes in handy depending on the situation. To either give a power boost to an attacking creature or by rendering an opponent’s creature unable to block. At the price of around RM7, I believe she is a great addition to any deck that plays red.
The next card is a mythic green card that fits into a lot of decks, “Nissa, Vital Force”. She can return you a permanent card from your graveyard to provide card advantage or provide you with a 5/5 each turn which overcomes a lot of creatures in a beat down match up. Not only that, her emblem ability is only a turn away from being triggered, and that ability is a stream of card advantage whenever a land is drawn. Right now, she is priced at RM25 which is a steal for a mythic, since these days mythic cards can be very expensive.
The following card is a cheap card at the price of RM5, “Confirm Suspicions”. This card has been proven not only in the Pro Tour, but also in previous tournaments to be a great tech in control match ups and in the Improvise decks. The card on paper provides a plus four card advantage by countering your opponent’s spell and providing three cards in the form of clues. The downside is that it is expensive having a whopping five mana cost counter spell in your deck. Still, in the right deck like the Improvise deck, the card could cost as low as two blue mana for a whole lot of card advantage.
The last bunch of cards that are quite cheap and should be picked up as essentials are the lands from both Battle for Zendikar (BFZ) and Shadows Over Innistrad (SOI) sets. Since both sets are playable for another year, these cards can prove to be useful to deck building as they are essential in most decks. The price ranges from RM10 – RM18 each, which can be a bit expensive to buy a playset of, but it is one of the best investments since it will be around for another whole year.
That is it for my top 5 cards to pick up that are both cheap and can prove to be competitive in your weekly Friday Night Magic (FNM) tournamnets or even in casual deck testing between friends as you boast your winnings with these cards. Enjoy the weekend!
