State of the Program for April 16th, 2021
Early Access Program Ends: Monday night, I was researching decks from some of the builders highlighted in this week's Cutting Edge Tech, when I noticed a thread on Twitter saying that the Early Access Program was ending. I thought it was a goof, so I kept researching, finding decks for the event, and I finally got the email about 2 hours later. We were told in a form email that it was a difficult decision to end it. We got some codes to give out for Arena and that were sent on our way.
MOCS Season 2 Updates: The leaderboard is returning, with that return, the top two on the leaderboard will get at-large invites to the Champions showcase after the last MOCS Open. Also changing is the amount of showcase challenges and times they are held. Going from three per day in a single weekend to one showcase challenge per day over two weekends. The formats will now be Legacy, Modern, Pioneer and Vintage. Super Qualifiers will allow player participation if they have already qualifier, and the invites to the set championship will pass down if won by an already qualified player. You can check out the changes to the schedule here, and the updates on the Premier Play page.
Some changes were made later in the week. Leaderboard points are removed from Challenges so people don't feel the need to play in 12 events every weekend. Legacy and Pioneer format challenge minimums were bumped up to 64 players. Some bug fixes were also shown off the in the Twitter thread.
Treasure Chest Update: Commander 2021 (not the whole set of new cards) and Strixhaven: School of Mages are showing up in the latest treasure chest update. Bonder's Ornament (an 11 ticket card that sees a ton of play in Pauper) and Snuff Out (a 13 ticket card thanks to Pauper) have had their drop rates increased. You can check out the updates here.
Time Spiral Remasted Leagues Extended: They were supposed to end on the 15th, but due to the Sealed Qualifier on the 25th, Wizards of the Coast decided to keep the leagues up for players to practice the format.
Brawl Bans: Channel, Demonic Tutor, Natural Order and Tainted Pact were the four cards from Strixhaven added to the Brawl Ban List.
Strixhaven Prerelease Party: Taking place on Spelltable, the Strixhaven Prerelease Party runs from April 16 to April 18. Players purchase their prerelease kits or Commander Precons from their Local Game Store (Wilmington, NC, check out Cape Fear Games) join the events Discord server, login to Spelltable and select the Launch Party option. There will be side events, and world bosses and MTG Trivia! Check out the info here!
Secret Lairs coming to MTGO?: The Strixhaven update to MTGO gave us the new set but also might have let us see the future. In addition to past Secret Lairs like the Godzilla lands, Throne of Eldraine Snow Lands and others finally having assets added to MTGO, we also got to see potential Mystic Archive cards and Shocklands.
Magic Legends News: I am waiting for this to come to console because my PC is a machine that is barely powerful enough to run Arena, If you are interested in patch notes, you can check them out here.
This is a list of things we have been promised, or we just want to see coming back. Another good source for dates and times is the
calendar and the weekly blog, while the best source for known bugs is the bug blog which appears sporadically on MTGO.com. Not listed, but important: Wizards offers either one or two online MCQs each weekend, with qualifiers for limited MCQs running the days immediately prior to the MCQ.
Upcoming Events
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Dates
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Scheduled Downtimes
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Constructed Leagues End
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Sealed Leagues End
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Next B&R
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Unknown
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Kaldheim Redemption
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Ends June 23, 2021
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Strixhaven Redemption
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2018 Magic Online Championship Series and other events
Complete details, including schedule, rules, and which online events qualify you for which online or paper events is
here. In addition, Wizards will be offering these special formats:
Showcase Qualifiers
April 17 - Standard
April 18 - Pioneer
April 24 - Vintage
April 25 - Limited
May 1 - Modern
May 2 - Legacy
Magic Online Format Challenges
These are high stakes events that happen every weekend. They cost 30 Tix / 300 play points, and last a number of rounds based on participation (assume 5-8), plus a single elimination Top 8. Details, including prize payouts, are
here. Start times are:
The week of the early access event is when I typically just showcase Standard and Historic decks for people who may want to enter challenges on the weekend. It's going to be a bit harder to do that since Wizards of the Coast ended the program, but thankfully there are a lot of great deckbuilders who worked on this and presented a ton of decks that I can share with you all here.
Standard: To be honest one of the biggest reasons I am bummed the program is over is because it was so easy to play a lot of different decks, if even for a day. Yoman5 who you really need to be following on
twitter, does such a great job brewing early versions of decks ranging from super competitive to absolute blasts to play. I played a lot of their decks during the past events.
Historic:
Standard 2: Mason Clark, someone who is sometimes on podcasts on the site is another person you need to be following on
twitter. Always insightful, Mason does a wonderful job breaking down the Standard field and brewing. Check out two brews from him this week!
Historic 2:
Historic 3: John Ramos is a passionate builder in the Historic format. Strongly opinionated, John is willing to do the work to try to match his views. He's made some real bangers and showed them off on
recently.
Historic 4: So far in Historic I see people doing a lot of stuff with
Time Warp. When I saw someone combine Mutate and
Stone Rain though? I stopped paying attention to Time Warp!
The Winner's Circle is where I will recognize winners of the past events on MTGO.
Challenge Winners
Saturday Legacy - wara - Lands? (I honestly don't know if this is lands, or NicFit, or Maverick, please someone help)
Saturday Pauper - Beicodegeia - Dimir Control
Saturday Pioneer - wkmidori - Lotus Field Combo
Sunday Modern - kefka27 - Mono Red Prowess
Sunday Pauper - MandrillMan - Elves
Sunday Standard - JoshicallsmeFabo - Temur Lukka
Sunday Vintage - Diem4x
Other Event Winners
Pioneer Showcase - LaCriaturaBB - Izzet Phoenix
Legacy Showcase - silviawataru - Izzet Delver
Vintage Showcase - slow_brz
Standard Showcase - otakkun - Gruul Adventures
Modern Showcase - wefoldforfood - AmuLIT
Note: all my prices come from the fine folks at
MTGOTraders.com. These are retail prices, and generally the price of the lowest priced, actively traded version. (Prices for some rare promo versions are not updated when not in stock, so I skip those.) You can get these cards at
MTGOTraders.com web store, or from their bots: MTGOTradersBot(#) (they have bots 1-10), CardCaddy and CardWareHouse, or sell cards to MTGOTradersBuyBot(#) (they have buybots 1-4). I have bought cards from MTGOTraders for a decade and a half now, and have never been overcharged or disappointed.
Standard Staples: Strixhaven cards aren't going to show up on here this week because I am making prices on Thursday, and the set came out hours ago!
Heliod, Sun-Crowned has dropped off the list.
Modern Staples: Nothing new this week!
Eternal Staples: After adding
Snuff Out last week, nothing new was added this week.
Pioneer Staples:
Arclight Phoenix is kinda hanging out on the list this week.
Mana Confluence fell off the list again, probably taking a couple week break.
Rest in Peace is off the list this week.
Standard Legal Sets: This table tracks the cost of a single copy of every card in each Standard legal set, plus Treasure Chests and the current booster pack. I’ll keep tracking these because they are interesting (at least to me). This is being kept as a small tribute to Pete!
This will be the last week of Kaldheim Booster tracking as well. I thought about tracking the Mystical Archive, but I don't think it is going to be worth it in the long run. The cards in the set came up to 55.44 when I did prices.
Complete Set |
Price |
Last Week |
Change |
% Change |
Core Set 2021 |
$71.94 |
$73.05 |
($1.11) |
-2% |
Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths |
$56.00 |
$58.84 |
($2.84) |
-5% |
Kaldheim |
$160.27 |
$155.43 |
$4.84 |
3% |
Kaldheim Booster |
$2.59 |
$3.06 |
($0.47) |
-15% |
Strixhaven: School of Mages |
$154.44 |
|
|
|
Strixhaven: School of Mages Booster |
$3.43 |
|
|
|
Theros Beyond Death |
$99.17 |
$105.03 |
($5.86) |
-6% |
Throne of Eldraine |
$148.83 |
$158.51 |
($9.68) |
-6% |
Treasure Chest |
$2.46 |
$2.38 |
$0.08 |
3% |
Zendikar Rising |
$158.91 |
$169.90 |
($10.99) |
-6% |
The following is a list of all the non-foil, non-promo cards on MTGO that retail for more than $25 per card. These are the big ticket items in the world of MTGO. The list is interesting, at the least. This is interesting to me because a lot of these cards have been reprinted more than once, and they are still commanding a high price.
Black Lotus |
1E |
Rare |
163.08 |
Snapcaster Mage |
UBT |
Mythic |
114.61 |
Cavern of Souls |
UBT |
Mythic |
93.94 |
Karakas |
UBT |
Mythic |
92.45 |
Liliana of the Veil |
UBT |
Mythic |
91.59 |
Hullbreacher |
CMR |
Rare |
86.9 |
Force of Negation |
MH1 |
Rare |
84.57 |
Mox Jet |
1E |
Rare |
75.5 |
Wrenn and Six |
MH1 |
Mythic |
70.58 |
Ancestral Recall |
1E |
Rare |
68.96 |
Time Walk |
1E |
Rare |
66.75 |
Force of Will |
MED |
Rare |
66.46 |
Mox Sapphire |
1E |
Rare |
65.6 |
Mox Emerald |
1E |
Rare |
62.38 |
Wasteland |
ZNE |
Mythic |
62.06 |
Wasteland |
TE |
Uncommon |
60.7 |
Wasteland |
EXP |
Mythic |
59.03 |
Wasteland |
EMA |
Rare |
58.37 |
Wasteland |
TPR |
Rare |
55.54 |
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth |
UBT |
Mythic |
55.23 |
Dark Depths |
UBT |
Mythic |
54.09 |
Force of Will |
MS3 |
Mythic |
53.91 |
Force of Will |
EMA |
Mythic |
51.01 |
Force of Will |
2XM |
Mythic |
51 |
The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale |
ME3 |
Rare |
49.79 |
Scourge of the Skyclaves |
ZNR |
Mythic |
49.76 |
Force of Will |
VMA |
Rare |
48.65 |
Verdant Catacombs |
ZNE |
Mythic |
48.11 |
Jace, the Mind Sculptor |
MS4 |
Mythic |
47.33 |
Demonic Tutor |
UBT |
Mythic |
46.51 |
Noble Hierarch |
UBT |
Mythic |
45.49 |
Carpet of Flowers |
UZ |
Uncommon |
45.48 |
Auriok Champion |
IMA |
Rare |
44.14 |
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow |
PZ2 |
Rare |
43.87 |
Mox Ruby |
1E |
Rare |
43.52 |
Valki, God of Lies |
KHM |
Mythic |
42.77 |
Allosaurus Shepherd |
JMP |
Mythic |
42.07 |
Mox Pearl |
1E |
Rare |
41.67 |
Karn Liberated |
UBT |
Mythic |
41.43 |
Purple-Crystal Crab |
PZ2 |
Common |
39.84 |
Ethereal Forager |
C20 |
Rare |
39.74 |
Wooded Foothills |
ZNE |
Mythic |
37.88 |
Cavern of Souls |
ZNE |
Mythic |
37.7 |
Teferi, Time Raveler |
WAR |
Rare |
37.04 |
Underground Sea |
ME2 |
Rare |
36.61 |
City of Traitors |
EX |
Rare |
35.94 |
Celestial Colonnade |
UBT |
Mythic |
35.6 |
Liliana, the Last Hope |
MS4 |
Mythic |
35.47 |
Platinum Emperion |
UBT |
Mythic |
35.36 |
City of Traitors |
TPR |
Rare |
34.62 |
Timetwister |
1E |
Rare |
34.52 |
Opposition Agent |
CMR |
Rare |
34.34 |
Verdant Catacombs |
EXP |
Mythic |
34.05 |
Scalding Tarn |
ZNE |
Mythic |
33.26 |
Ancient Tomb |
ZNE |
Mythic |
33.17 |
Seasoned Pyromancer |
MH1 |
Mythic |
32.96 |
Underground Sea |
ME4 |
Rare |
32.8 |
Mox Diamond |
ST |
Rare |
32.59 |
Brazen Borrower |
ELD |
Mythic |
32.52 |
Mox Diamond |
V10 |
Mythic |
32.45 |
Mox Diamond |
TPR |
Mythic |
32.36 |
Karn, the Great Creator |
WAR |
Rare |
32.24 |
Heavenly Qilin |
PZ2 |
Common |
32.18 |
Skyclave Apparition |
ZNR |
Rare |
32.14 |
Polluted Delta |
ONS |
Rare |
31.47 |
Misty Rainforest |
ZNE |
Mythic |
31.12 |
Scalding Tarn |
EXP |
Mythic |
29.39 |
Verdant Catacombs |
MM3 |
Rare |
28.57 |
Cavern of Souls |
UMA |
Mythic |
28.5 |
Auriok Champion |
5DN |
Rare |
28.33 |
Hexdrinker |
MH1 |
Mythic |
27.89 |
Cavern of Souls |
MM3 |
Mythic |
27.71 |
Polluted Delta |
ZNE |
Mythic |
27.27 |
Creeping Tar Pit |
UBT |
Mythic |
26.92 |
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria |
MS4 |
Mythic |
26.41 |
Ancient Tomb |
EXP |
Mythic |
26.08 |
Bitterblossom |
UBT |
Mythic |
25.57 |
Doomsday |
WL |
Rare |
25.46 |
Ancient Tomb |
TE |
Uncommon |
25.39 |
Fulminator Mage |
UBT |
Mythic |
25.37 |
Lotus Petal |
MS2 |
Bonus |
25.33 |
Life from the Loam |
UBT |
Mythic |
25.29 |
Earthshaking Si |
PZ2 |
Common |
25.23 |
Lotus Petal |
TE |
Common |
25 |
The big number is the retail price of a playset (4 copies) of every card available on MTGO. Assuming you bought the least expensive versions available, the cost of owning a playset of every card on MTGO is approximately a number that I cannot figure out still. I have actually asked Pete to do this for me, because Open Office is weird, and I have no idea what I am doing, and I am pretty close to just being a dog in a labcoat.
Nevermind, ignore all of that, Pete got it done for me, because he is just the dang best. The big number this week is $29,570. Last week it was $29,677. A small loss of $107 is still a loss.
I spent a lot of time learning to play new Standard in Pokemon this week. It's basically the Pocket Monsters version of Big E's dream match. Big meaty mons slapping meat. Vs and VMaxes are just so big.
This series is an ongoing tribute to Erik “Hamtastic” Friborg.