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By: one million words, Pete Jahn
Apr 06 2012 8:17am
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Hammie’s The State of the Program for April 6th

This series is an ongoing tribute to Erik “Hamtastic” Friborg.
 

News and Discussion Items:

Online PTQ Schedule Announced: Wizards has announced the next round of PTQs. The format will be Standard. Hmmm. I have some thoughts about Standard at the moment, but I’ll save that for the editorial section. Note that the PTQs start soon, and about half will be in the current Standard format, with the other half including Avacyn Restored in the card pool.  Here are the dates.
 
Date
Time
Format
Saturday, 4/14/12
7:00 AM PDT (14:00 UTC)
Standard Constructed
Sunday, 4/15/12
10:00 AM PDT (17:00 UTC)
Standard Constructed
Saturday, 4/21/12
7:00 AM PDT (14:00 UTC)
Standard Constructed
Sunday, 4/29/12
7:00 AM PDT (14:00 UTC)
Standard Constructed
Sunday, 5/5/12
11:00 AM PDT (18:00 UTC)
Standard Constructed
Friday, 5/11/12
5:00 PM PDT (Saturday, 00:00 UTC)
Standard Constructed
Saturday, 5/19/12
7:00 AM PDT (14:00 UTC)
Standard Constructed
Sunday, 6/10/12
7:00 AM PDT (14:00 UTC)
Standard Constructed
Saturday, 6/16/12
11:00 AM PDT (18:00 UTC)
Standard Constructed
Sunday, 6/24/12
7:00 AM PDT (14:00 UTC)
Standard Constructed
Saturday, 6/30/12
5:00 AM PDT (12:00 UTC)
Standard Constructed
Sunday, 7/8/12
11:00 AM PDT (18:00 UTC)
Standard Constructed
Sunday, 7/15/12
7:00 AM PDT (14:00 UTC)
Standard Constructed
Saturday, 7/21/12
11:00 AM PDT (18:00 UTC)
Standard Constructed
Saturday, 8/11/12
7:00 AM PDT (14:00 UTC)
Standard Constructed
Sunday, 8/12/12
7:00 AM PDT (14:00 UTC)
Standard Constructed
Cube: If you want to try a different draft experience, check out the cube drafts this weekend. Instead of regular drafts (e.g. M12 or DKA/INN) you will be drafting from a special set of 720 of the best cards in Magic history, arranged in 15 card boosters. Each card will appear only once in the draft, so any given draft will contain 360 unique cards. It’s like a regular draft, but with the power level ratcheted up several steps. The format is balanced, but many of the cards would be bombs in a normal draft. Details are here, an article by Ryan Spain (who once wrote for this site, before he was hired by Wizards) is here, and the card list is here.
 
So what is cube like? Imagine opening this booster:
 
All is DustSword of Fire and IceGifts UngivenHypnotic Specter
TarmogoyfMother of RunesDemonic TutorBaneslayer Angel
FireblastGenesisSol RingPernicious Deed
Swords to PlowsharesInferno TitanIsochron Scepter
 
Welcome to Cube drafting.
 
Weekly Blog: Plenty of news in the blog this week. The big news: as you read this,  Cube Drafts will either be starting tomorrow or ongoing. 
 
Wizards will be hosting Mirrodin / Darksteel / Fifth Dawn draft queues, and hold an MD5 sealed on Sunday. I’d recommend opening a Vedalken Shackles.
 
All the rest of my news this week is paper Magic news. The Avacyn Restored prereleases are in the planning stages, and fast approaching. Personally, I will be at the SCG Des Moines event this weekend. Should be fun.
 

Editorial Section: The State of Standard

Right now, Standard has a problem. It’s Delver of Secrets. Delver was everywhere at the Invitational, and at the standard GP. The problem is that a turn one Delver, flipping on turn two, is really hard to deal with. Not impossible – just hard. Hard enough to warp the format. That’s what matters – and why Wizards may have to take action. That does not necessarily mean bannings – it might just mean that Wizards has included some sweet anti-Delver tech in Avacyn Restored. But they have to do something.
 
In the past, Wizards has banned cards in similar circumstances. Affinity was not unbeatable: several decks of the time destroyed Affinity. However, those decks had to run a lot of cards that were only powerful against Affinity. The same was true of decks that beat Caw Blade, or Trix, or Survival, or Tinker, or – well, the list is long. Every time a deck warped a format, to the extent that Wizards banned cards, that deck was beatable. The problem was that, in order to create a deck that beat the problem deck, you had to build a deck that lost to most “normal” decks. That’s what Wizards has meant by a warped format, and that’s what they have fixed with bannings, rotations or hoser cards again and again. I have watched and written about almost two dozen rounds of bannings by now. Really – I know what Wizards considers a problem. They will wait to see whether Avacyn Restored restored the format, or if they can fix it in M13, but if Delver stays this dominant, they will act. 
 
One part of the problem is that Delver is a one drop with power greater than it’s casting cost (after flip, and you can easily build a deck that makes the odds of flipping close to 50/50, which means it will flip by turn three most of the time.) In the past, such one drops were problematic. Kird Ape was a 1/1 that became a 2/3 fairly easily, and it was banned for several year back in the 1990s. Wild Nacatl was another problematic creature. With the Nacatl, though, the problem was the toughness: a creature that was easy to kill was less of a danger to the format. For example, Savannah Lions was a 2/1 for W, but it simply traded with any other creature, and it was not banned. 
 
Hypnotic Specter was banned for years similar reasons – it often hit the battlefield on turn one (thanks to Dark Ritual, and it was something that you either killed immediately or lost too.  Goblin Lackey is another one drop that had too big an impact on the game, and it was banned.  
 
In short, Delver is in the same place, and having the same sort of impact on the format, that, in similar circumstances, has force Wizards to act in the past. Consider these facts: 
·        Michael J Flores said, in a recent article, “A week or so ago I was playing in the StarCityGames.com Invitational … every single player we recognized had a Delver of Secrets in play (including each of us).”
·        Numerous pros are talking about the Delver problem.
·        Delver is winning in Modern and Legacy.
·        Many decks are splashing Gut Shot, just to kill Delvers (and mana critters).
·        Also, see the cutting edge tech section, and count the Delver decks.
 
Here’s another part of the problem: Delver is blue. Delver is also a win condition that hits the board turn one. Blue is not supposed to get those. White is the color of weenies, and Delver would not be as much of a problem if it were white. For that matter, Delver could be red and not cause such consternation (although red rarely gets flying without also getting “Dragon” and a massive casting cost in the mix.) The problem is that blue excels in controlling the board and game (using bounce and counters), so blue’s threats are generally made fairly expensive. Higher cost finishers create some tension, because the blue mage has to tap out to drop an expensive finisher, and the opponent can wait for that opportunity to sneak in a threat of their own. Giving blue a finisher that can be dropped on turn one gives blue decks an advantage the color pie usually denies them.
 
The simple fact is that Delver is really good, and it makes blue decks really good. However, I think it is a bit early to talk about banning Delver. We have a new set arriving shortly. It is entirely possible Wizards has included something in that set to help handle Delver decks. The question is, what could it be?   The format already has Gut Shot, a zero mana instant that can kill the unflipped version (or a flipped Delver, if you combine it with Snapcaster Mage.) We have Corrosive Gale. We have Ratchet Bomb. What could Wizards add?
 
Ideally, the new card should be something that can answer Delver quickly, while not being dead in the late game. It should also have some utility when Delver is not around. For example, they could reprint Seal of Fire. True, this would be the third time around for the card, which seems excessive, but it would be a one drop that kills Delver, but is never dead. More importantly, since Seal of Fire is an enchantment, it would not help flip Delvers, which is the problem with so many other answers. 
 
I also toyed with the idea of reprinting Mogg Fanatic – maybe with Undying to make him fit the set.   Yes, I know that’s totally busted. Mogg Fanatic with undying would be, in effect, a 2/2 creature for R with “when this comes into play, deal one damage to target creature or player.” You would have to make some changes. First, make the damage target only creatures – and only other creatures, so the pseudo- Mogg Fanatic could not simply target himself on turn one, or he could make himself a 2/2 too easily. Even so, he might be too good – he might need to start out as a 0/1, or have another restriction like “can’t block.”
 
Still, if Wizards did print something this:
 
Mogg Pseudo-Fanatic, R, 1/1 Creature – Goblin Yo-Yo
Sacrifice ~this~: deal one damage to target creature other than ~this~.
Undying.
 
It would be good enough to see play, and it might help hold Delver in check. It might also help mono-red decks re-establish themselves. Maybe. On the other hand, this would have a serious impact on Modern and Legacy, where it would kill a lot of Noble Hierarchs and so forth. 
 
The Mogg is just an example of what Wizards could do to control the problem – and maybe not a good example. (It may just be an example of why I should not design cards.)   However, Avacyn Restored will be here, for paper players at least, in less than a month. It may have a solution. If not, we may see one in M13. If neither of those sets can control Delver, and the PTQ season devolves into Delver decks and anti-Delver decks, then we may see bannings in June. For now, though, all we can do is wait.   
 
For now, though, it is not that bad. I am planning to play in the TNMO Standard event this week (although I will only be able to play in the last event, long after this article will be submitted.) I won’t be playing Delver. We will see how this works out.
 

Investment Project:

I’m testing the idea that it is easy to make TIX online buying and selling cards online. I “spent” 300 TIX buying a mix of recommended cards.  Details here, here and here. I will sell cards when they make a significant profit, or when it is obvious I have backed a loser and need to cut my losses. I have some longer-term investments (meaning they should be good this fall, etc.) some cheap cards bought on spec., (e.g. I spent pennies each on some rares that might reasonably see play someday, as formats evolve), and I also bought one Goyf. The Goyf is to test the theory, advanced by a few people, that you can buy a highly variable card low, then wait and sell high. 
 
So far, Goyf has just continued to fall. The only things that have shown serious increases are the Scars block duals. All of them have climbed at least 18%, while Clifftop Retreat is up 40% and Seachrome Coast is up 56%.   I sold off all but one Coast (keeping one because they could reasonably climb further) and half the Retreats. After the sales, I have about 20 TIX to reinvest. Recommendations?
 

Tournaments:

Cube this weekend! Unfortunately, I will be working the SCG event, so I’m unsure whether I will have time for even one event. Maybe late night Saturday, after the event, or maybe not. I have to drive home – about 5 hours – after the event finishes late on Sunday. Maybe sleep >> drafting.  
 
Sigh.
 
Thursday Night Magic Online (TNMO) for the upcoming week (April 12th):  M12 draft.   The TNMO card for April is an alternative art Dismember.  Sweet!   That’s what makes it worth playing.   
 
Wizards is hosting a Mirrodin block (not Scars of Mirrodin – real, old Mirrodin) sealed tournament on Sunday. This is the oldest block in Modern, and some of the most expensive non-land cards in the format are from this block. Open lucky, and you can make a mint even if you don’t win a match.
 
Let’s look at the Constructed Tournaments breakdown for the week of March 28th          through April 2nd.   120 constructed events fired this week – a quiet week. Modern, Standard, Innistrad Block constructed and Pauper are as popular as always, and Legacy fired three times. The other formats were quiet, again. Classic made a couple runs at firing, and actually fired one. About time. 
 
Format
Fired
Format
Fired
Standard
39
Classic
1
Pauper
27
Legacy
3
Innistrad Block Const.
20
 
 
Modern
25
All others
0
FYI: I got the number fired from the list of results, here.  
 

Cutting Edge Tech:

Standard:   Has the format been “solved?” Here are the Top 8s from some recent events.
 
 
GP Salt Lake City
SCG Open SLC
1
UW Delver
UW Delver
UWB Control
Frites
2
UW Delver
BW Tokens
NAYA Pod
UB Control
3
Esper Delver
UW Delver
UW Humans
UW Delver
4
GR Aggro
UW Delver
UW Humans
UWB Control
5
GR Aggro
UW Delver
BW Tokens
UWB Control
6
UW Humans
UW Delver
UW Humans
UW Delver
7
UW Delver
Naya Pod
UW Delver
UB Zombies
8
UW Delver
Naya Pod
UW Humans
Naya Pod
 
Enough UW aggro variants for you? 
 
Modern: Modern PTQ season is wrapping up, but this weekend had a big European GP in the format. After two days and a lot of rounds, here’s the winning deck.

 

 

 
Innistrad Block Constructed: Well, with two major pillars of the format banned, the metagame will change. Last week’s decks were a lot of token decks, and a lot of decks tuned to beat tokens. This week the bannings are in place. So what has changed? Tokens decks are still on top. This is a pretty good indication that having Lingering Souls and Intangible Virtue in the format would have been too much.
 

 

RW Tokens
Good_Game (4-0), ISD Block Constructed Daily #3642900 on 04/02/2012
Creatures
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Doomed Traveler
3 Fiend Hunter
1 Geist-Honored Monk
4 Hellrider
4 Loyal Cathar
20 cards

Other Spells
4 Brimstone Volley
3 Devil's Play
4 Gather the Townsfolk
1 Increasing Devotion
4 Midnight Haunting
16 cards
Lands
4 Clifftop Retreat
8 Mountain
12 Plains
24 cards

Hellrider
 
Pauper: Hey, look, it’s a Delver. Whouda thunk…
 
Pauper Delver
yclb5671 (4-0), Pauper Daily #3642919 on 04/02/2012
Creatures
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
4 Phantasmal Bear
4 Spellstutter Sprite
1 Spire Golem
2 Stitched Drake
23 cards

Other Spells
3 Brainstorm
4 Counterspell
3 Daze
1 Deprive
2 Gush
4 Preordain
3 Snap
20 cards
Lands
17 Island
17 cards

Ninja of the Deep Hours
 
Legacy and Classic: Classic and Legacy both fired events this week.  Here are the 4-0 lists. I didn’t mix these up – the Dreamhalls combo deck won in Legacy, and Goblins won in Classic. Bizarre.     

 

Dream Halls
slasher187911 (4-0), Legacy Daily #3642889 on 04/01/2012
Creatures
4 Progenitus
4 cards

Other Spells
2 City of Traitors
1 Beacon of Immortality
4 Brainstorm
4 Conflux
3 Daze
4 Dream Halls
1 Echoing Truth
1 False Cure
4 Force of Will
4 Intuition
4 Ponder
3 Preordain
4 Show and Tell
37 cards
Lands
3 Ancient Tomb
3 Flooded Strand
5 Island
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Polluted Delta
17 cards

Dream Halls
 

 

Card Prices:  

Notes: All my prices come from MTGOTraders.com. For cards that are available in multiple sets, I am quoting the most recent set’s price. Thus, the price I’m quoting for Primeval Titan is from M12. If I list a card as out of stock, don’t assume you can’t buy it.  MTGOTraders stocks their Bots first, so the MTGOTradersBot1, MTGOTradersBot2, MTGOTradersBot3, or MTGOTradersBot4 (and now 5 and 6, and MTGOTradersBuyBot1 and 2) often have the cards in stock even when the online store is out. Now, on to prices.
 
Standard prices are trending down this week. I suspect that this is because people are still drafting like mad. The changes are not highly significant.
 
Standard & Block Cards
Price
In Stock?
Last Week
Change
$ 21.26
Y
$ 23.00
- $ 1.74
$ 19.37
Y
$ 20.07
- $ 0.70
$ 23.37
Y
$ 21.30
+ $ 2.07
 $ 18.03
Y
 $ 18.42
- $ 0.39
 $ 23.42
Y
 $ 26.34
- $ 2.92
$ 16.31
Y
$ 15.96
+ $ 0.35
$ 11.46
Y
$ 10.37
+ $ 1.09
(Huntmaster of the Fells)
$ 25.82
Y
$ 24.19
+ $ 1.63
$ 20.57
Y
$ 20.59
- $ 0.02
$ 17.85
Y
$ 18.77
- $ 0.92
$ 10.21
Y
$ 10.22
- $ 0.01
$ 9.62
Y
$ 11.35
- $ 1.73
$ 22.00
Y
$ 22.60
- $ 0.60
$ 16.94
Y
$ 16.61
+ $ 0.33
$ 6.60
Y
$ 6.84
- $ 0.24
$ 16.48
Y
$ 16.97
- $ 0.49
$ 24.63
Y
$ 25.22
- $ 0.59
$ 39.25
Y
$ 41.41
- $ 2.16
$ 8.70
Y
$ 9.51
- $ 0.81
$ 8.69
Y
$ 8.45
+ $ 0.24
$ 15.26
Y
$ 14.43
+ $ 0.83
$ 22.67
Y
$ 22.67
---
Modern prices are down again this week. The PTQ season is over. If you are thinking about buying Modern staples, the next couple weeks are a good time to get them.
 
Modern Cards
Price
In Stock?
Last Week
Change
$ 14.86
Y
$ 14.86
---
$ 6.51
Y
$ 6.96
- $ 0.45
$ 19.37
Y
$ 20.89
- $ 1.62
$ 23.41
Y
$ 27.18
- $ 3.77
(Scalding Tarn)
$ 4.43
Y
$ 4.94
- $ 0.51
$ 7.39
Y
$ 8.42
- $ 1.03
$ 6.99
Y
$ 7.54
- $ 0.55
$ 19.86
Y
$ 19.86
---
$ 65.57
Y
$ 68.55
- $ 2.98
$ 14.97
Y
$ 15.67
- $ 0.70
$ 7.84
Y
$ 9.36
- $ 1.52
$ 14.12
Y
$ 14.73
- $ 0.61
$ 14.48
Y
$ 22.14
- $ 7.66
$ 8.70
Y
$ 9.07
- $ 0.37
$ 14.96
Y
$ 15.23
- $ 0.27
Legacy / Classic prices are pretty much static, with some cards slipping slightly. The formats are quiet, and the players who are interested have their decks.
 
Legacy / Classic Cards
Price
In Stock?
Last Week
Change
$ 102.09
Y
$ 104.46
- $ 2.47
$ 27.28
Y
$ 27.28
---
$ 32.86
Y
$ 32.93
- $ 0.07
$ 31.98
Y
$ 31.98
---
$ 64.94
Y
$ 64.94
---
$ 22.60
Y
$ 23.17
- $ 0.57
$ 26.94
Y
$ 30.98
- $ 4.04
$ 19.30
Y
$ 19.30
---
$ 10.12
Y
$ 10.12
---
$ 34.29
Y
$ 34.29
---
$ 39.39
Y
$ 39.39
---
$ 20.87
Y
$ 20.87
---
$ 98.35
Y
$ 98.35
---
$ 6.36
Y
$ 6.64
- $ 0.28
$ 8.68
Y
$ 8.68
---
$ 5.94
Y
$ 5.94
---
$ 12.68
Y
$ 13.23
- $ 0.55
$ 17.66
Y
$ 17.66
---
$ 9.85
Y
$ 9.90
- $ 0.05
$ 4.69
Y
$ 4.69
---
$ 39.97
Y
$ 39.97
---
$ 39.16
Y
$ 40.22
- $ 1.06
$ 23.54
Y
$ 22.30
+ $ 0.24
$ 19.82
Y
$ 23.81
- $ 3.99
$ 18.66
Y
$ 18.66
---
(RishadanPort)
$ 31.00
Y
$ 29.55
+ $ 1.45
$ 9.92
Y
$ 9.92
---
Pauper prices are all over the map.
 
Pauper Cards
Price
In Stock?
Last Week
Change
$ 3.04
Y
$ 2.95
+ $ 0.09
$ 1.22
Y
$ 1.23
- $ 0.01
$ 1.61
Y
$ 1.61
---
$ 3.77
Y
$ 4.11
- $ 0.34
$ 3.55
Y
$ 3.55
---
$ 0.78
Y
$ 0.77
+ $ 0.01
$ 3.80
Y
$ 3.43
+ $ 0.37
$ 8.88
Y
$ 7.87
+ $ 1.01
$ 0.68
Y
$ 0.88
- $ 0.20
$ 2.92
Y
$ 2.57
+ $ 0.35
$ 0.84
Y
$ 0.65
+ $ 0.19
$ 4.79
Y
$ 5.29
- $ 0.50
$ 1.73
Y
$ 2.00
- $ 0.27
(Accumulated Knowledge)
$ 2.18
Y
$ 2.92
- $ 0.74
$ 6.48
Y
$ 6.48
---
$ 2.35
Y
$ 2.44
- $ 0.09
$ 2.18
Y
$ 2.18
---
$ 0.98
Y
$ 1.18
- $ 0.20
Fireblast [Visions]
$ 3.89
Y
$ 3.89
---
$ 4.21
Y
$ 4.17
+ $ 0.04
$ 3.32
Y
$ 3.32
---
$ 1.44
Y
$ 1.44
---
$ 1.00
Y
$ 0.83
+ $ 0.17
$ 4.07
Y
$ 3.62
+ $ 0.45
$ 0.81
Y
$ 1.16
- $ 0.35
 

The Good Stuff:

This is this week’s list of the non-foil, non-premium cards on MTGO that cost more than $25 each. That’s over $100 per playset. (okay, a playset of Vampiric Tutors is one copy in any sanctioned format, but I don’t care.) Another interesting note: Heath kindly shares the official MTGOTraders.com price list with me. That list includes over 100 products worth $25 each, but many of them are precons, Duel Decks and specials. The list also includes several promo cards. Cutting those out leaves this week’s list of MTGO gold:
 
Most Expensive Cards
Rarity
Set
Price
Force of Will
R
MED
102.09
Lion's Eye Diamond
R
MI
98.35
Tarmogoyf
R
FUT
65.57
Vindicate
R
AP
64.94
Vampiric Tutor
R
VI
39.97
Pernicious Deed
R
AP
39.39
Sword of War and Peace
M
NPH
39.25
Null Rod
R
WL
39.16
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
M
WWK
32.86
Wasteland
U
TE
31.98
Rishadan Port
R
MM
31
Underground Sea
R
ME4
29.53
Underground Sea
R
ME2
27.28
Scavenging Ooze
R
CMD
26.94
Vendilion Clique
R
PRM
26.12
Huntmaster of the Fells
M
DKA
25.82
Vedalken Shackles
R
5DN
25.64
 
And the big number: $7,021.57. That is down about $550 from last week.
 
That is what it would cost to buy one copy of every non-foil card worth $0.05 or more on MTGO, at retail, from MTGOtraders.com as of last Wednesday.   This does not exclude duplicates. The big number includes the prices of half a dozen different Jace Berelens, for example. Still interesting.
 

Weekly Highlights:

I’m off to Des Moines on Friday. Getting caught up and ready at work has meant I haven’t been online for a week or so. I did play in a Legacy event at the store over the weekend, but that was only because I had to meet up with a judge trainee at the event.  And I went 1-3.
 
/me suffering Magic withdrawal. 
  
PRJ
 
“one million words” on MTGO, when and if I can get there. 

 

 

26 Comments

Hey pete, I was your first by char49d at Fri, 04/06/2012 - 09:37
char49d's picture

Hey pete,

I was your first match opponent for this TNMO. I ended up running reasonably well and crushed a delver deck in the finals, so I've got a foil dismember promo with your name on it. I'm actually considering doing an article on the deck, because I already managed 4-0 and 3-1 in two dailies, and its quite obvious from our exchange a complete moron can pilot it effectively.

I also share your concerns with delver, although I think the problem is worse. I'm reasonably sure Delver is the best 1 drop ever printed, he's great in limited, pauper, standard, modern, legacy, and if he started making waves in vintage I wouldn't be surprised.

Delver has won me plenty of packs online, but I stopped playing it entirely because it wasn't fun for me, and I think it's bad for magic. In particular, putting together a 1-drop that requires interaction, and 4-8 cards that punish you for having said disruption and you have a lot of very quick, punishing uninteractive games.

People hated Jace because of his price tag, he was a boogeyman and not half the problem he was made out to be. Delver, on the other hand, is an incredibly cheap deck as long as it isn't running Sword of War and Peace, and everyone who wants delvers can have them, but that's not such a good thing. The deck is not appealing to new players and is quite unforgiving, often requiring very tight lines of play and aggressive mulligans.

It is possible a Volcanic Fallout type hate card comes out, but I'm not holding my breath.

the Delver problem I think by JustSin at Fri, 04/06/2012 - 09:48
JustSin's picture
5

the Delver problem I think stretches beyond Std

Seems to me in Legacy, by Raddman at Fri, 04/06/2012 - 12:28
Raddman's picture

Seems to me in Legacy, Maverick would disagree with you.

Didn't Caleb Durward roll by walkerdog at Fri, 04/06/2012 - 13:31
walkerdog's picture

Didn't Caleb Durward roll some Maverick with URG Thresh a couple weeks ago?

Hey may have done that, I by grapplingfarang at Fri, 04/06/2012 - 13:52
grapplingfarang's picture

Hey may have done that, I have been playing a lot of RUG in legacy so see this matchup a lot. RUG is not out of the matchup by any means, but it is in Mavericks favor for sure.

The matchup isn't unwinnable, by Raddman at Fri, 04/06/2012 - 17:33
Raddman's picture

The matchup isn't unwinnable, but it is def favored for Maverick. I've been playing RUG forever. Played NO RUG at Gencon last year and Delver RUG at Grand Prix Indy.

The only way to really win that matchup is with Delver. Maverick simply punishes blue based decks like Stoneblade and RUG. Last SCG Open had 6 Maverick decks in the TOP 8.

I think the Legacy Metagame is well balanced and banning Delver from it would be not only be silly, but a huge mistake.

I could be wrong about this by Misterpid at Fri, 04/06/2012 - 11:56
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I think the MD5 sealed is on Saturday, not on Sunday.

If I could invest 20 tix in by KaraZorEl at Fri, 04/06/2012 - 15:04
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If I could invest 20 tix in anything, I would just get the Innistrad dual lands. I believe with the printing of Avacyn Restored, B/W with Unburial Rites will become a stronger deck. Isolated Chapel is already the most expensive land I've seen there.

Delver of Secrets was a design mistake. I like that Wizards wants to push the envelope and make stronger creatures, but I hope by now they've learned that the last two decks to have warped standard had blue in them. They also came right around April of each year. Last year, it was CAW Blade. This year, it's Delver. I think the most appropriate reprint they could make here would be Ensnaring Bridge.

I dont feel like delver is by this isnt the n... at Fri, 04/06/2012 - 16:17
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I dont feel like delver is the issue. I feel like mana leak is the real problem. Since the day mana leak came out there has not been a deck with blue in a top 8 unless it has mana leaks. The same cannot be said of delver, since there is multiple blue decks that dont run delver. Having someone play delver turn one and flip it means nothing, unless they have the mana leak too.
Ban mana leak, and watch blue go down the tubes. Plus magic would be a lot more fun without it for the vast majority of players.

Control decks have been by KaraZorEl at Fri, 04/06/2012 - 16:49
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Control decks have been strong for a while. I think the solution should be to have no core set counterspell below 3 CMC. Let them Cancel and Dissipate if they want.

Soft permission like Mana by char49d at Fri, 04/06/2012 - 21:41
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Soft permission like Mana Leak is actually crucial in keeping a format balanced and is not the reason blue decks have performed well. Preordain was the critical card that pushed blue over the top of other decks last season, and Delver is quite clearly the card keeping blue on top for the moment.

With so many creatures with powerful ETB triggers, you need ways to keep them off the battlefield that are still fair. The new flagship mechanic, Hexproof, makes it so a whole host of creatures can only be interacted with on the stack. Undying adds another group of creatures that can't be dealt with effectively by 1-for-1 removal, or even sweepers.

It is generally better that answers be slightly too strong (Mana Leak, Dismember, Go for the Throat, Oblivion Ring) than threats (Delver). Answers don't end games.

20 tix to invest? I would go by Lepongemagique at Fri, 04/06/2012 - 17:05
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20 tix to invest? I would go for Lingering souls if you can get them about 0.5-0.6 tix each. Very likely to jump to 1.00-1.50 in a short amount of time.
Also Moonveil Dragon or Beguiler of wills, buy them under 1.00 is probably not to bad. Two "almost playable" mythics about 1 tix is pretty safe and if any deck uses them in a near future it's a 200 % profit minimum.

In a more mid-long term run, I can't stop thinking about Snapcaster Mage. 6-7 Tix is very nice for a card that is played in any single format and should easely have a 15 tix value in one year, and why not 20-25 tix value in 2 years.

I've covered this before, but by walkerdog at Fri, 04/06/2012 - 18:03
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I've covered this before, but in the next year or so snappy is just not a good purchase.

Large set.

rare, not mythic.

Not required for every deck, and not always a 4x in the decks he's in.

Why not 20-25 in 2 years? What rares from the mythic era have a 20 tix value AFTER they're out of rotation. I'm getting to the point that I want to start a betting service with every person who makes an idiotic unlikely prediction.

You mean other than Pulse on by Paul Leicht at Fri, 04/06/2012 - 19:07
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You mean other than Pulse on and off? (It certainly hasn't stayed up there long so I agree but technically it was after rotation for awhile.)

I don't have the price by walkerdog at Fri, 04/06/2012 - 20:38
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I don't have the price history to show it, but I distincly remember it being under 20 even towards the end of that standard season.

Yes it did drop and then went by Paul Leicht at Fri, 04/06/2012 - 23:07
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Yes it did drop and then went back up again. And then dropped and went back up. This happened a few times after it was out of standard.

There is a flaw with MP: it by walkerdog at Sat, 04/07/2012 - 18:29
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There is a flaw with MP: it was small-set (last set of three in fact), so being a rare in a small-set CAN be profitable. It's much harder in large-set rares, although the Mirrodin duals have held up nicely (supporting whoever was going to buy them for later, although I'm not sure they will do as well).

I was just pointing out the by Paul Leicht at Sat, 04/07/2012 - 22:59
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I was just pointing out the inconsistency in what you said. I wont pretend to be an expert on this but I do think pricing of rares vs mythics is not always predictable. Even with cards we know should be worthless the price can stay high for a long time because buyers don't care (some people will pay without asking) and sellers are aware of this.

And I should point out that if Snappy ever goes over $10 again I will be very very surprised.

I mean that pulse is by walkerdog at Sun, 04/08/2012 - 11:12
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I mean that pulse is disqualified from the "large set rare" qualifier I put earlier in the post.

Bannings by apaulogy at Fri, 04/06/2012 - 18:17
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5

BAN LIL KIM!!!

I suggest buying some by thewoof2 at Fri, 04/06/2012 - 23:18
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I suggest buying some Wurmcoil Engines :)

Solving Delver by Rerepete at Sat, 04/07/2012 - 07:12
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A reverse Moonmist could be an answer that fits the flavour of Restored.
Breaking Dawn
W
Instant

Transform target creature to its Human form.

That seems far worse than the by grapplingfarang at Sun, 04/08/2012 - 13:05
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That seems far worse than the numerous one mana spells that actually kill the Delver now.

It's simple as to what to by MBeasley at Mon, 04/09/2012 - 10:29
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5

It's simple as to what to buy.

Snapcaster Mages, Champion of the Parish, and Thalia.

Have you seen the C**P they are releasing in Avacyn? Restoration Angel is BROKEN. So anything to do with White and Green is just plain nasty.

And at the NY PTQ, 92.0787% of the decks were "mage blade". It's funny though. Nobody was undefeated going into the top 16. Mage blade lost to my deck (RG aggro, RG Aggro lost to UB Control, UB Control lost to Mage Blade.

I think it's less a card dominating the format and just too many decks that cancel each other out. If you looked at the Modo DE's a few weeks ago, you would be surprised to see even a single Delver deck go 4-0 or 3-1. Then it came back.

The card that is doing it is not delver, it's sword of W&P. When people forgot about the whole stupid Runechanters Pike thing and switched to Swords, Delver came back.

I forgot to mention. I spent by MBeasley at Mon, 04/09/2012 - 10:38
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5

I forgot to mention.

I spent most of the PTQ trading my Lilly's and Sorin's for Snappy, Primeval Titan, and Razorverge. A few more cards will be released from Avacyn and then people will go... Hmmm.. Primeval Titan gets lands into play, I want to play Elesh Norn and not sac it to Pod to play Avacyn, Avaycn is 8 mana.... EUREKA!!!!!!! (Btw, trading the foil Sorins and Seachrome Coasts when you don't have the playset is damn near impossible)

There will be a 2-3 month window where G/W mthics will dominate the trading market and Primeval Titan is at it's low before it cycles out.

Sadly for black, not only is it terrible, but Lilly's second ability is now useless. (Read new Gold G/W Angel).

Buy ISD packs since it is by Sebastian Gua at Wed, 04/11/2012 - 04:03
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Buy ISD packs since it is dirt cheap right now due to cube draft prize payout. Once the new set is out, prize payout will change and ISD packs will be in demand later.