A set shouldn't be designed to work in limited. It should be first designed to be great in standard and modern. MaRo stated that they do not playtest modern or standard in design. If I am wrong then why did Theros feel as weak as Coldsnap?
Design does not set power levels. Development does that. It would be virtually impossible for Design to test for Standard and Modern, since they do not know where Development will set the power levels (i.e. mana costs) of most of the cards.
I've been working on an Ephara build of my own, and one card that's tested well for me so far is Sacred Mesa. It's probably not as powerful as Saltskitter, but it's still pretty strong in this deck. It's also much easier to tutor for. You could probably drop some more of your cheap bounce guys for it and replace the other spots with more utility.
Long-Term Plans to cast during an opponent's end step, and grab any one card from your deck to cascade into next turn. Brainstorm provides a backup Scroll Rack effect.
$500 was a hard estimate, realistically 200-300
Maybe less than 200 but thats being very generous.
The point is, anyone EXPECTING to get one of the best cards in the game for 1/10 its value is only setting themselves up for dissapointment.
I don't know about anyone else, but my disappointment has nothing whatsoever to do with feeling entitled to get an expensive card on the cheap. It has everything to do with such a card being included in the first place. I'll just buy the singles I want this time around, since people will probably be dumping them off after buying the box for Jace.
I run it in my Maelstrom Wanderer deck; it's pretty nice to be able to pick out the duds from my top 10 and help my chances of getting strong cascades. I'd generally rather have Scroll Rack, Brainstorm, or Long-Term Plans, but a little bit of redundancy never hurts.
Artificer's Hex might be my favorite card in this set. I'm really going to enjoy slapping this thing onto the various pieces of hexproof/shroud equipment.
I paid MSRP for my box, and definitely feel like I got my money's worth. Not quite so much as my friend who pulled Tarmogoyf and foil Doubling Season, but I did pretty well. Also got an Elspeth emblem token, which made me happy. I've already traded the Doubling Season and Progenitus for a Jitte, Cabal Coffers, Yosei, and a few other random cards.
Mythics
Dark Confidant
Sword of Light and Shadow
Progenitus
Keiga, the Tide Star
Jugan, the Rising Star
Rares:
Gifts Ungiven (foil and nonfoil, both in the same pack oddly enough.)
Cold-Eyed Selkie (foil)
Doubling Season
Aether Vial
Blinkmoth Nexus
Woodfall Primus
Kataki, War's Wage
Ethersworn Canonist
Reveillark
Chalice of the Void
Tombstalker
Angel's Grace
Auriok Salvagers
Rude Awakening
Countryside Crusher
Demigod of Revenge
Skeletal Vampire
Notable/Cool Foils
Cold-Eyed Selkie and Gifts, from above
Eternal Witness
Spellstutter Sprite
Murderous Redcap
Lava Spike
Glacial Ray
Grapeshot
Stinkweed Imp (not worth anything really, but this art has never been in foil before)
If you only have room for one, Mana Reflection all the way, particularly with Gaea's Cradle in the deck. The anthem effect on Wake is cute, but (since I'm guessing you probably aren't running a token deck with Sisay at the helm) it's nowhere near as powerful as being able to double your mana from all sources.
I have no problem with the new look for these Slivers. The entire point of the Slivers is that they constantly evolve and adapt. Did you really think they'd stay in the form of weird little bug things forever?
Design does not set power levels. Development does that. It would be virtually impossible for Design to test for Standard and Modern, since they do not know where Development will set the power levels (i.e. mana costs) of most of the cards.
Brainstorm provides a backup Scroll Rack effect.
I don't know about anyone else, but my disappointment has nothing whatsoever to do with feeling entitled to get an expensive card on the cheap. It has everything to do with such a card being included in the first place. I'll just buy the singles I want this time around, since people will probably be dumping them off after buying the box for Jace.
Mythics
Dark Confidant
Sword of Light and Shadow
Progenitus
Keiga, the Tide Star
Jugan, the Rising Star
Rares:
Gifts Ungiven (foil and nonfoil, both in the same pack oddly enough.)
Cold-Eyed Selkie (foil)
Doubling Season
Aether Vial
Blinkmoth Nexus
Woodfall Primus
Kataki, War's Wage
Ethersworn Canonist
Reveillark
Chalice of the Void
Tombstalker
Angel's Grace
Auriok Salvagers
Rude Awakening
Countryside Crusher
Demigod of Revenge
Skeletal Vampire
Notable/Cool Foils
Cold-Eyed Selkie and Gifts, from above
Eternal Witness
Spellstutter Sprite
Murderous Redcap
Lava Spike
Glacial Ray
Grapeshot
Stinkweed Imp (not worth anything really, but this art has never been in foil before)
Notable Commons/Uncommons
3 Lava Spike
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Mind Funeral
Manamorphose
Paradise Mantle
Lightning Helix
Yep, that'll do it.