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By: one million words, Pete Jahn
Apr 21 2017 12:00pm
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State of the Program for April 21st 2017
 
In the News
Amonkhet on MTGO Next Monday: Wizards will release Amonkhet online even earlier than previously announced. The set will be playable online on the Monday following paper Prereleases. This means online players will be able to get Amonkhet cards four days before the set is on sale in the real world.  Details here.
 
Mini Announcement Day: Wizards gave us a ton of announcements this week. Helene Bergeot gave us the name of the next set – Ixalan – and will release September 29, 2017. That means it should appear on MTGO September 25th. The announcement also covered changes to various paper formats, including Nationals, RPTQs and Pro Point payouts. The article is here.
 
Amonkhet Release and B&R Changes: Amonkhet will be playable in Standard the same day that Wizards will issue the next B&R announcement on the 24th. MTGO will not be spoiling that announcement, so Wizards has a roll-out plan. If there are no B&R changes, no problem. If there are changes, Wizards will have a sudden downtime on Monday, April 24th. Either way, constructed leagues will not begin until after the B&R announcement. 
 
Steamer Showdown April 27thWizards will be hosting two events for streamers next Thursday. I would expect that they will be drafting Amonkhet, but full details, and the list of streamers who will be participating, will be announced next week.
 
Changes to How Split Cards Work: Wizards has changed the rules on you determine the mana cost of Split Cards. In the past, the mana cost of the spell on the stack was the mana cost of the half being cast. At other times, the split cards returned two mana costs; one for each side. Thus Wear // Tear’s mana cost was 2 and 1, but – technically - not 3. Wizards will be modifying this. Starting with Amonkhet, spilt cards will have one mana cost (everywhere but on the stack) equal to the sum of the mana costs. This is relevant for Counterbalance (when the Counterbalance player is putting a split card on top of their library) and the Expertise Beck//Call decks now in Modern. The article explaining the change is here.  
 
The Timeline
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. Most of the major upcoming events we know of are listed.  Not listed, but important: Wizards offers either one or two online PTQs each weekend, with qualifiers running the three days prior to the PTQ.
 
Recurring Events
Timing
Power Nine Challenge
Last Saturday of the month, 11am Pacific
Legacy Challenge
Second Saturday of the month, 11am Pacific
No Downtime
April 26th, May 3rd , May 17th
Extended Downtime
April 19th, May 24th
Current Leagues End
May 2, 2017
Amonkhet MTGO release
April 28th  
Hour of Devastation release
July, 2017
Ixalan release
September 25, 2017
Commander 2017 details here.
November 2017 on MTGO
Next B&R Announcement
April 24, 2017
KLD and AER Redemption Ends
June 7, 2017 (yes, 2 months from now)
KTK and FRF Redemption Ends
May 31, 2017
DTK, ORI, BFZ & OGW Redemption Ends
November 2, 2017
SOI and EMN Redemption Closes
April 28, 2018
 
Flashback, Throwback Standard and CUBE for 2017
Wizards will be offering either a flashback draft league, a flashback Standard gauntlet, a CUBE league or prerelease / Release events each week.   Here’s the schedule so far.
 
Flashback and Such Rotation
Begins
Ends
Legacy Cube
April 12th
April 24th
 
The new Flashback Leagues are still draft, and still you-keep-the-cards. They are 12 TIX / product plus 2 TIX / 120 Play Points. However, they are no longer single elimination. Now you play until you have three wins or two losses. Prizes are 150 play points for three wins and 70 Play points for 2 wins. The leagues run one week.
 
The Throwback Standard Gauntlet events provide a random choice of prebuilt decks from a past standard environment. These will function like the Pro Tour Gauntlets – you won’t need to own the cards. The entry fee is 10 TIX or 100 Play Points. Prizes are in Play Points: 150 for 3-0, 100 for 2-1, 40 for 1-2 and 10 play points as a bad beats award. 
 
Opinion Section:   Prereleases
In October, 1999, Ingrid and I drove the 275 miles to play in the Mercadian Masques prerelease.   Back then, Prereleases were regional affairs, and the next closest event was 500 miles away. The event was one giant sealed deck event with several hundred players and many rounds. If you dropped, a second event began in the afternoon. The product was a tournament pack as a couple boosters.   Neither Ingrid nor I won any prizes, but we both got a pair of foil Overtakers and had a great time.  
 
A year and a half later, prereleases had gotten a lot better.   I remember that the Planeshift event was divided into multiple 32 man flights, and it was possible to play in several at a single prerelease (sequentially, not at the same time.)  I also remember that my deck was great, with a Flametongue Kavu, several ways to bounce and replay him and a bunch of removal. I won that flight. 
 
A few years after that, Wizards started allowing more prereleases, giving us the option of another prerelease only a hundred miles away. It was a lot easier to justify getting into one last flight when the drive home was two hours instead of five. 
 
The next major change occurred in February of 2009, with the Conflux prerelease. That was the first year that local stores were allowed to hold prereleases. I ran the first ever prerelease at Pegasus games. We got just ten people, but it was a start. Pegasus held its events on Sunday, both to avoid conflicting with other stores and because Pegasus had other events on Saturday. 
 
The local store prereleases expanded, and it was soon possible to play in a midnight release at one store, a couple more early morning events on Saturday, a Saturday evening event at another store (if you were still awake) and then a couple more prerelease flights at Pegasus on Sunday. Which I did, at least occasionally.  
 
Well-run prereleases are one of my favorite events of all, which is saying something because I have been to everything from FNM to Pro Tours and the World Championships.  The prereleases are filled with players all excited about the new set and the new cards. People are generally playing for fun more than to win, and judges spend more time explaining and helping than anything else. 
 
If you play paper Magic, you should go to a prerelease. If all you play is MTGO, you should consider trying out the paper world and there is no better time than a prerelease. 
 
Cutting Edge Tech
Standard: Amonkhet will appear on April 24th. Until then, nothing happening here. Come back after that date.
 
Modern: Just going to use a simple criterion this week – what would I play if I was joining a league at the moment. Note that this answer would likely be different an hour from now.
 
Omen Scapeshift
GODSOFLAUGHTER, 5-0, Competitive Modern League - 75 Cards Total
Creature
4 Primeval Titan
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
8 cards

Instant
3 Lightning Bolt
3 Summoner's Pact
6 cards
Sorcery
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Explore
4 Farseek
4 Scapeshift
4 Search for Tomorrow
16 cards

Enchantment
2 Prismatic Omen
2 cards
Planeswalker
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
3 cards

Land
2 Arid Mesa
3 Cinder Glade
2 Forest
6 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
3 Stomping Ground
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
3 Wooded Foothills
25 cards
 

Sideboard
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
2 Crumble to Dust
2 Grafdigger's Cage
3 Kitchen Finks
3 Nature's Claim
3 Rest in Peace
15 cards
 
Legacy: I’m always looking for something new and interesting (or, given that this is Legacy, old and interesting?)   This week it is a Show and Tell deck with Eureka. At least that’s kinda different.
Eureka!
JPA93, 5-0, Legacy Constructed League - 75 Cards Total
Creature
2 Elvish Spirit Guide
3 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
3 Griselbrand
8 cards

Instant
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
2 Intuition
3 Spell Pierce
13 cards
Sorcery
3 Eureka
4 Ponder
1 Preordain
4 Show and Tell
12 cards

Artifact
4 Lotus Petal
4 cards
Enchantment
3 Omniscience
3 cards

Land
3 Ancient Tomb
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
2 City of Traitors
1 Flooded Strand
1 Forest
2 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
4 Tropical Island
20 cards
 

Sideboard
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
3 Carpet of Flowers
2 Echoing Truth
2 Flusterstorm
2 Grafdigger's Cage
3 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Pithing Needle
15 cards
 
Vintage: The Vintage Super League has finished. That means we are back to regular Vintage Dailies.
 
 
Card Prices
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 over a decade now, and have never been overcharged or disappointed.
 
Standard staples: Standard prices were fairly stable this week. Amonkhet prices will be added next week. Until then...   
 

Standard Cards
Price
Last Week
Change
% Change
$9.90
$9.52
$0.38
4%
$15.43
$15.11
$0.32
2%
$10.72
$8.90
$1.82
20%
$15.39
$15.18
$0.21
1%
$18.61
$18.68
($0.07)
0%
$13.30
$13.36
($0.06)
0%
$6.93
$6.46
$0.47
7%
$17.59
$15.90
$1.69
11%
$12.85
$11.68
$1.17
10%
$28.10
$32.63
($4.53)
-14%
$15.78
$16.66
($0.88)
-5%
$7.08
$7.26
($0.18)
-2%
$6.39
$6.41
($0.02)
0%
$11.79
$10.68
$1.11
10%
$16.61
$14.65
$1.96
13%
$9.01
$9.56
($0.55)
-6%
$7.25
$6.89
$0.36
5%
$8.20
$8.04
$0.16
2%

Modern staples:  Modern prices are generally up across the board, but steadying. The volatility following MM17 is clearing up. 
 

Modern Cards
Price
Last Week
Change
% Change
$41.02
$38.85
$2.17
6%
$32.16
$32.16
$0.00
0%
$17.08
$13.80
$3.28
24%
$22.25
$20.13
$2.12
11%
$43.81
$41.31
$2.50
6%
$27.38
$33.12
($5.74)
-17%
$56.57
$58.12
($1.55)
-3%
$42.46
$43.07
($0.61)
-1%
$26.67
$27.91
($1.24)
-4%
$32.09
$30.94
$1.15
4%
$35.51
$33.62
$1.89
6%
$18.30
$16.30
$2.00
12%
$69.52
$66.70
$2.82
4%
$44.37
$43.98
$0.39
1%
$27.79
$30.76
($2.97)
-10%
$22.86
$18.40
$4.46
24%
$25.44
$23.06
$2.38
10%
$29.67
$33.80
($4.13)
-12%
$40.97
$39.37
$1.60
4%
$27.08
$26.04
$1.04
4%

Legacy and Vintage: Legacy and Vintage were fairly stable. I pulled Mox Jet off the table. Power prices are not what they are in paper. Having Lotus, Ancestral and Mox Sapphire is sufficient to track their progress (or lack thereof.)  
 

Legacy / Vintage Cards
Price
Last Week
Change
% Change
$20.93
$21.22
($0.29)
-1%
$16.20
$18.21
($2.01)
-11%
$76.30
$71.32
$4.98
7%
$25.03
$25.35
($0.32)
-1%
$25.35
$24.94
$0.41
2%
$46.84
$45.61
$1.23
3%
$49.58
$51.16
($1.58)
-3%
$33.03
$32.53
$0.50
2%
$33.72
$34.74
($1.02)
-3%
$31.48
$30.67
$0.81
3%
$37.84
$36.95
$0.89
2%
$25.30
$23.12
$2.18
9%
$39.87
$46.04
($6.17)
-13%
$31.80
$31.66
$0.14
0%
$35.66
$35.24
$0.42
1%
$26.97
$24.42
$2.55
10%
$152.23
$158.13
($5.90)
-4%
$51.27
$48.60
$2.67
5%
$50.26
$52.25
($1.99)
-4%
$37.23
$35.51
$1.72
5%
$16.79
$15.99
$0.80
5%
$47.17
$48.27
($1.10)
-2%

Set Redemption: You can redeem complete sets on MTGO. You need to purchase a redemption voucher from the store for $25. During the next downtime, Wizards removes a complete set from your account and sends you the same set in paper.  Treasure Chests and the current booster packs are here because they don’t really fit anywhere else.   Remember that Kaladesh and Eldritch Moon will go off redemption soon, even before the older sets.
 

Complete Set
Price
Last Week
Change
% Change
Aether Revolt
$59.75
$59.94
($0.19)
0%
Battle for Zendikar
$49.81
$49.57
$0.24
0%
Eldritch Moon
$96.71
$97.35
($0.64)
-1%
Kaladesh
$99.11
$95.20
$3.91
4%
Oath of the Gatewatch
$88.35
$81.14
$7.21
9%
Shadows over Innistrad
$64.96
$63.26
$1.70
3%
Treasure Chest
$2.58
$2.39
$0.19
8%
Aether Revolt Booster
$3.27
$3.71
($0.44)
-12%
Kaladesh Booster
$1.78
$1.92
($0.14)
-7%

 
The Good Stuff
The following is a list of all the non-promo, non-foil cards on MTGO that retail for more than $25 per card. These are the big ticket items in the world of MTGO. Still a shade over sixty cards on the list, but a few cards have moved off the list, while others have replaced them. 
 

Name
Set
Rarity
 Price
Rishadan Port
 MM
Rare
 $ 152.23
Black Lotus
 VMA
Bonus
 $ 76.30
Liliana of the Veil
 ISD
Mythic Rare
 $ 71.69
Liliana of the Veil
 MM3
Mythic Rare
 $ 69.52
Engineered Explosives
 MMA
Rare
 $ 58.43
Engineered Explosives
 MS2
Bonus
 $ 56.96
Engineered Explosives
 5DN
Rare
 $ 56.57
Wasteland
 EXP
Mythic Rare
 $ 52.49
Wasteland
 TE
Uncommon
 $ 52.21
Wasteland
 TPR
Rare
 $ 52.05
Show and Tell
 UZ
Rare
 $ 51.27
True-Name Nemesis
 PZ1
Mythic Rare
 $ 50.86
True-Name Nemesis
 C13
Rare
 $ 50.26
Food Chain
 MM
Rare
 $ 49.58
Mox Opal
 MS2
Bonus
 $ 48.04
Wasteland
 EMA
Rare
 $ 47.17
Exploration
 UZ
Rare
 $ 46.84
Chalice of the Void
 MS2
Bonus
 $ 46.26
Mox Opal
 MM2
Mythic Rare
 $ 46.14
Ensnaring Bridge
 MS2
Bonus
 $ 44.54
Tarmogoyf
 MMA
Mythic Rare
 $ 44.50
Mox Opal
 SOM
Mythic Rare
 $ 44.37
Chalice of the Void
 MRD
Rare
 $ 43.81
Chalice of the Void
 MMA
Rare
 $ 43.81
Ensnaring Bridge
 8ED
Rare
 $ 42.96
Ensnaring Bridge
 7E
Rare
 $ 42.75
Ensnaring Bridge
 ST
Rare
 $ 42.46
Tarmogoyf
 MM2
Mythic Rare
 $ 42.09
Ancestral Vision
 DD2
Rare
 $ 41.86
Tarmogoyf
 FUT
Rare
 $ 41.39
Ancestral Vision
 TSP
Rare
 $ 41.02
Tarmogoyf
 MM3
Mythic Rare
 $ 40.97
Leovold, Emissary of Trest
 PZ2
Mythic Rare
 $ 39.87
Unmask
 MM
Rare
 $ 39.01
Infernal Tutor
 DIS
Rare
 $ 37.84
Force of Will
 MED
Rare
 $ 37.35
Unmask
 V16
Mythic Rare
 $ 37.23
Karn Liberated
 NPH
Mythic Rare
 $ 35.88
Misdirection
 MM
Rare
 $ 35.66
Karn Liberated
 MM2
Mythic Rare
 $ 35.51
Force of Will
 EMA
Mythic Rare
 $ 35.38
Horizon Canopy
 FUT
Rare
 $ 34.78
From the Ashes
 C13
Rare
 $ 33.72
Force of Will
 VMA
Rare
 $ 33.03
Batterskull
 NPH
Mythic Rare
 $ 32.87
Horizon Canopy
 EXP
Mythic Rare
 $ 32.09
Fulminator Mage
 SHM
Rare
 $ 32.06
Meren of Clan Nel Toth
 PZ1
Rare
 $ 31.80
Surgical Extraction
 NPH
Rare
 $ 31.75
Gaea's Cradle
 UZ
Rare
 $ 31.48
Scalding Tarn
 EXP
Mythic Rare
 $ 30.49
Fulminator Mage
 MM2
Rare
 $ 30.21
Surgical Extraction
 MM2
Rare
 $ 29.67
Grove of the Burnwillows
 FUT
Rare
 $ 28.66
Liliana, the Last Hope
 EMN
Mythic Rare
 $ 28.10
Noble Hierarch
 MM2
Rare
 $ 27.80
Noble Hierarch
 CON
Rare
 $ 27.79
Vendilion Clique
 MOR
Rare
 $ 27.39
Eidolon of the Great Revel
 JOU
Rare
 $ 27.38
Vendilion Clique
 MMA
Mythic Rare
 $ 27.33
Vendilion Clique
 MM2
Mythic Rare
 $ 27.08
Mox Sapphire
 VMA
Bonus
 $ 26.97
Grove of the Burnwillows
 V12
Mythic Rare
 $ 26.67
Containment Priest
 PZ1
Rare
 $ 26.28
Gorilla Shaman
 ALL
Common
 $ 25.70
Scapeshift
 MOR
Rare
 $ 25.44
Doomsday
 WL
Rare
 $ 25.35
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
 ORI
Mythic Rare
 $ 25.30
Containment Priest
 C14
Rare
 $ 25.03

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 $ 25,270. That is up about $350 from last week.
 
Weekly Highlights
I will be running Prereleases at Pegasus Games on Sunday, and probably playing Friday night. It’s Prerelease weekend – go play.  Then, when you start playing Amonkhet on Monday, you will have a leg up on the format.
 
PRJ
 
“One Million Words” on MTGO
 
 
This series is an ongoing tribute to Erik “Hamtastic” Friborg.
 
HammyBot Super Sale: HammyBot was set up to sell off Erik Friborg’s collection, with all proceeds going to his wife and son. So far, HammyBot has raised over $8,000, but there are a lot of cards left in the collection. Those cards are being sold at MTGOTrader’s Buy Price.  
 
 

3 Comments

GS by Sensei at Fri, 04/21/2017 - 12:25
Sensei's picture

Haven't see a common in the Good Stuff list since the Old Daze

Gorilla shaman on the good by JXClaytor at Sat, 04/22/2017 - 05:08
JXClaytor's picture

Gorilla shaman on the good stuff list is unreasonable.

You can get it for under 20 by Cauchy at Sat, 04/22/2017 - 05:55
Cauchy's picture

You can get it for under 20 tix in other versions. However, it is still a lot.