I recently got back into magic a while back, I spend most of my time thinking about type 1 since I don't like to buy many new cards but I decided to look at some extended decks since thats sort of a middle ground between type 2 and type 1... I noticed the 3 duece deck and nearly all of the lists I saw had 4 Call of the Herd in it. When I looked up what it did (2G sorcery to put a 3/3 elephant token into play that has 3G flashback)I thought ok... not bad... then I looked it up at a particular site on the web that sells cards and I was floored to see it selling for $19 EACH!
Why in the world is this card worth $19?!!!! Was that a misprint? Is the site just wrong? Or is this normal?
Iryoolan
Hot type 2 cards often sell for a bundle when they first come out. After a few months, the price settles down a bit as more of the cards find their way into circulation. Finally, when the card rotates out of t2, the price for a solid extended rare like call should end up around $5. If you absolutely have to play call right now, you'll pay heavily for it, and your card's value is sure to deteriorate. If you don't mind waiting a bit, though, you will get it for a more reasonable price.
When the card rotates out of T2, we will be a lot older :-)
Don't bet on it going down too much - its a "four of" rare, and it sees as much use as Morphling.
It packs two solid creatures into one card. If you have 20 slots for creature spells, this gives you 24 creatures in those slots which is a big difference.
The uses of the card have to be counterspelled separately which catches up the green deck to the card drawing power of blue decks. The same thing goes for discard decks, the opponent has to use more than one card to nullify it.
The card is good in both type 2 and in extended so there's a much larger pool of players wanting the card than a regular type 2 rare. The more demand for the card, the higher the price.
this is true. i play call of the herd in both t2 and extended. call of the herd is one of if not the best card in type two because in the t2metagame, a 3/3 creature can dominate. this also evens the score out with blue decks, which are a solid foe in t2. though most cards that rotate lose value, i dont think call of the herd will lose much. it is a viable card in almost any green deck. cards like shadowmage infiltrator will lose much more value.
I got my four Call of the Herds for less than 5 dollars a piece. Check local card shops when the set first comes out, I also got 4 shadowmage Infiltrators from local card shops for 5 dollars each. Just be the first and thou shall recieve.
the early bird gets the worm
same with Orims chant
Yeah but Orim's Chant is not a $5 card even now, because it SUCKS!
yea...and you know what you're talkin about.
I have to agree that Chant is pretty bad
Chant has allmost no uses. Call is great. It can and will win you games because they may have to trade 2 kill cards for the 1 spell. CHEAP, EASY CARD ADVANTAGE!
I must have more intelligent store owners in my area, because Call was $12 right out of the gate.
Wall of Blossoms, anyone?
Wow, some people really don't know what they're talking about. Saying that Chant has almost no uses is like saying Abeyance is a bad card. Abeyance has been used in multiple forums for many years, so why do people suddenly think Chant sucks? Chant is infinately better against aggro, and even against control, the one less mana can be huge. Don't think to say that Chant has almost no uses, I can't even count the number of games Chant has won.
Tracer-
Can you give us some examples of how a Chant has won games? I'm not being sarcastic; I'm just genuinely curious because I just don't see it being that great.
Or, perhaps I should say, "How has Chant won games in which Abeyance wouldn't have won the game as well?", since I acknowledge Chant can be used to sneak a spell past counters, but believe that Abeyance would almost always be better because it's a cantrip.
Here's my $.02, it's not enough to say that chant or abeyance 'suck'. Rather, I think that they're suboptimal, but not in every format.
Chant and Abeyance are as similar as they are alike. Both have strengths and weaknesses against different deck types and similar effect, so therefore an argument that "Chant sux, Abeyance rulez" is mostly inaccurate.
Remember that when Planeshift came out, Turbo-Chant was on everybody's mind. Sadly due to some quirks in the metagame; Fires' speed, the prevelance of 'free' counter-magic, the return of Duress in 7th, and the dramatic metagame shift to control before Oddysey came out, Turbo-Chant never became the correct solution to the Type 2 environment. People quickly realized that Chant is suboptimal for the format. Why is that? Simply put, Abeyance and Chant are only as good as the threats you're trying to force into play. Because of Type 2's lack of combo engines, the decks that ARE trying to force threats into play, like Pyschatog, Upfestation etc, opt to use Duress, and sometimes Mana Short in place of chant/abeyance. Ironically Balancing Tings, which consider a combo deck, still uses chant. Does it suck there?
In 1.x the lack of combo decks running white (except pebbles, which is seldom played due to banned consultation), may be a reason why why abeyance/chant have fallen out of favor. And in strange similarity with Type 2, since so few decks in current 1.x can win in with that "one big turn" reminiscent with prosbloom or academy, free counter magic and duress have become the ad hoc replacements. Look at mono-U Trix and Raisin Bran are examples of this.
In type 1 however, chant/abeyance become more valuable because the threats are more powerful and game-winning. T1 Academy, Bargain-Necro-Trix, and control decks like Parfait all utilize Abeyance, Chant or often a combination of the two. Chant is used more in parfait as it dies to agressive decks more often and therfore has a vested interest in shutting down the attack phase so it can stabilize. Against control, it will chant so it can force through balance, Jester's Cap or Sacred Mesa, both of which can be game enders. On the other hand, Academy tends to beat most aggresive decks anyway, due to it's sheer ability to win in turns 1-3. Here abeyance becomes stronger than chant because due to its ability to shut off wasteland or strip mine, so it can drop Academy and go off. The fact that it's a cantrip and is just as good against control as chant is makes Abeyance the better card, in this particular deck.
Thankfully, Call of the Herd isn't that good in Type 1 because of creature hosers like Abyss and Moat. Notice that just because CotH is 'sucks' in T1, doesn't mean it 'sucks' in other formats.
Will Call of the Herd remain expensive? Sadly, yes. Just like Rage, Port, and Infiltrator, because everyone else is using it, you have to use it too, or at least have a way to deal with it. Will it remain that way when Odyssey rotates out of Type 2. Hell no. In 1.x as more and more decks are forced run deed and keg to combat the Gro decks, and the fact that graveyard destruction will only become more necessary, CotH will lose value in face of more durable beatdown or utility creatures, like River Boa or Soltari Priest.
niether port nor rage will be expensive for much longer. They are at best niche cards in 1.x--t1 doesn't drive card prices anyway (except for the old power). Call will keep some value (and probably finkel, too), because it's a solid 1.x card, but it'll come way down from where it is now.
ermm chant is not bad i think. everytime when i play iridescent, i will chant my opponent at his upkeep usin my last W.i dun have enuff to counter, n opponent can't cast =D
Argghh!
Back to the chant. Tracer - Chant against aggro kinda just buys time. I dont want time, I want a solution. Against Aggro Id rather 4 keg because keg is a solution. Chant buys me a 'turn'. In t2 you can sneak an angel in but so can counterspell.
I dont play t1 so ill skip that. Chant agiainst control is great, they can disk, counter the chant and counter the creature youre trying to cast, or just play a creature of there own.
Abeyance may have been used when Mirage?? was around but in extended now Coh, Forbid, Donate,
finkel and many other cards have changed that perspective. Craw Wurms were good in alpha back when Mtg started so should I use them Now!?? NO!
Because a card was bad\great in the past doesnt matter, the format now does.
I cant remember the last time I saw a Chant in a 1.x deck or a 1.5 deck. I remind everyone again.
WHEN I SAY THINGS ABOUT A CARD IT IS A COMENT FOR THAT PARTICULAR FORMAT! Bloody hell, the last time a saw a chant was in a crappy desolation angel deck, which finished last in every tournament we had.
Chant was a hot card for a few weeks after it was released. Then people realized that while it doesn't necessarily suck, it is a very specialized card. In order to use it to its potential, your deck has to
(1) Have key spells that MUST be pushed through countermagic. This reason alone may be enough for decks to play it in sb.
(2) Have some kind of a drawing machine (think turbochant or enchantress) that makes it not a bad deal to give up a card to stall your opponent for a turn.
So obviously chant isn't good for very many decks. Therefore, demand stays pretty low. Without looking at price guides or anything, I'd be surprised if it were worth more than $5 retail ($2-$3 real value). When it first came out, it might have gone for at least 50% more amid the initial "It's Timewalk!" nonsense.
Surely the whole point in using cahnt is that normaly for one mana your opponant will have to expend 2 (yes I know theres 1cc counters) at least one precious blue to be able to cast anything in their turn.
Sure it's not a solution to a creature rush but the kicker is exactly that - a bonus. Chants best use is surely to shut down an opponent for a turn? - OK the card isn't gonna win you a game - but versus controll it's a cheap alternative to mana short or abeyance .
But the flexibility is what makes it useful. I play 3 maindeck in Enchantress due to the fact that I have a few bombs against control and am in need of that 1 extra turn vs. most aggro decks. I most likely would not play Abeyance maindeck due to the fact that against most aggro decks (currently a great deal of the field) it's near dead. Chant eliminates these problems.
I don't see chant as being THE winning factor in very many games, but its a solid card, ESP in white weenie. It definatly has its place as a key card in decks. Think of what it can do to stompy, or blue. Its one of those cards that are great because of how handy it is, consider that card something that would assist the cards you use to win, and stall for time, which can mean the game!
chant is key in the Balancing Act deck.
much like abeyance in older combo decks, any deck that has a critical turn needs a way to force that turn.
Chant fulfills that function in Tings. Also in many Desolation Angel builds which also run Duress.
The main reason Abeyance was good was because before it was errata'ed, it could prevent players from tapping lands because that was an activated ability. Also under 5th ed rules it could be used as a white counterspell on noncreature spells. Thats why it went from a 14$ card to like a 5$ card when 6th came out. Chant and Abeyance are only really good if you're playing a combo deck that doesn't run counters.
I played a W/g LIFE deck at PTQ: Tokyo, and in that particular deck, I sideboarded Abeyance over Chant because LIFE mauls creature decks anyway, so it doesn't need that help. The extra card is more useful against control than the no attacking is against anyone. Both are good, though... I'm playing in the last round, with a T8 spot on the line, against a Trix deck (note: Trix vs LIFE is a mismatch - Trix gets pasted). I tutored for an Animal Boneyard, and then cast Abeyance during my turn. He didn't counter (only had one in hand, I believe), and the extra card drew me a land which allowed me to cast and use the Animal Boneyard on the same turn.
I won that game easily... I went 3-0 against Trix decks, which was handy.
abyence could never counter spells.but it could prevent land from tapping