Why you should be excited for M13:

- The fall of Titans: This is the biggie. While Titans have largely been the face of standard for the last two years, I will be sad to see them go. It's refreshing to know that no matter what color you choose, there would always be a solid option for a 6 drop. The titans themselves were always unbalanced. There are two camps for the Titans:

Combo:

Prime Time (by far the largest offender)

Sun Titan

Value:

Grave Titan

Inferno Titan

Frost Titan

The problem with these guys is that they are largely unbalanced. For example, I built a Blue/Green ramp deck, and was picking out my options. Frost titan was a shoe in, but if I wanted Prime Time, I would have to build an engine with him. For example, I would have to consider splashing red for Kessig Wolf Run. The same is true for Sun Titan, sure, a 6/6 vigilance for 6 is 'fine', but compared to the other titans or, say, Elesh Norn, he is quite underwhelming. You have to build a deck to take advantage of his 'real' ability.

Overall, I will miss the 'value' camp of Titans, but say good riddance to the 'Combo' Titans. I do hope they return, but perhaps only part of the cycle at a time.

- Awesome reprints!: This is a big one as well, since depending on the returning cards you might see some returning players. For example, one friend I know hasn’t played since Nocturnus was in Standard, since he was upset he ended up losing $30 each (and he has a playset). Now, with his return (not to mention Nighthawk), he can just resleeve those guys and get back into the game relatively simply.

Some of the awesome reprints coming back are:

- Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker

- Vampire Nocturnus

- Vampire Nighthawk

- Battle of Wits (seriously, I love cards like these)

- Door to Nothingness, along with:

- Guilded Lotus

- Mutilate

- Serra Avenger

- Rancor

- Tormod's Crypt

- Duress

- Rewind

- Planar Cleansing

- Ground Seal

So we have a pretty sweet lineup for our older players out there. You have Rancor for the aggro guys, Rewind and Mutilate for control players, Door and Battle of Wits for combo dudes, Tormod's Crypt and Ground Seal doing some work for graveyard hate. But I'm very ecstatic about Guilded Lotus, that card will fuel some combo and control decks, like hitting that Bolas early, or making Door to Nothingness way easier to achieve.

Money - This is a great money set. Here, I'll let the numbers do the talking:

Average Mythic Value - $12.65 (*Fun fact - the two new walkers are fetching the top prices here)
Average Rare Value - $2.21 (*Fun fact - This is a very high number, considering there is no $10 plus rare, [i.e. no Snapcaster or Cavern slot])
Average Rare Slot Value - $3.5 (This is generally your average pack value. This does not include commons/uncommons, but generally they are of nominal value.)

So basically, if you bought 100 packs at $3 a pack, you would likely make $50 bucks profit. This does not include foils, so you are also buying a chance at hitting a foil walker, which is usually worth it anyways. You can read my article about this is you want to know more.

Exalted Returns: One of the better but not broken mechanics, Exalted makes us rethink how we normally attack with creatures. This is a fun yet somewhat challenging mechanic to master.

Nicol Bolas: Yes, he gets his own spot. He is lightyears better than Karn, and he has been getting play too. Easy to cast now with Guilded lotus, I foresee many a Grixis control deck featuring this end game boss.