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By: one million words, Pete Jahn
Feb 27 2015 1:03pm
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State of the Program for February 27th 2015

 

In the News:

MTGO Mentioned in the Hasbro Investors Call: Like all large publicly traded companies, Hasbro gives periodic (quarterly, IIRC) briefings for investors and the media. The most recent call covered the entire company, but highlighted Magic as a strong brand. Assuming I copied this down correctly, Magic as a whole is showing a 6% growth in active player base, 5% growth in player spending, 18% growth in events and 5% growth in stores running Magic events. As for MTGO, Hasbro announced that it is “doubling down” on its MTGO investment. Wizards is hiring a lot more programmers, etc.
 
Worth Wolpert Status Update: Worth published his Magic Online 2014 Executive Summary on Monday. You can read it here. He confirms that Wizards is hiring a lot more staff, and it still dedicated to fixing performance issues and squashing bugs. He said that, other than leagues, there would be no major new offerings or changes this year. To me, it sounded pretty clear that he was not too happy about this state of affairs but it is what it is.  Hopefully throwing a lot more resources at the program will get it back to functional, so Wizards can start adding value. 
 
Tempest Remastered: Wizards has announced a cool new offering: Tempest Remastered. TRM is basically Tempest block tuned to be a quality draft product.   The announcement is here. This appears to be the “Legacy Masters” product I have been hoping for and begging for a long time – or at least the first portion. It is an interesting idea: take a decent set and cut the chaff, then add it to the Flashback queues. It is clearly an experiment, and one I really hope goes well. I dissect the idea in more detail later, in the Opinion Section below. 
 
Fate Reforged Redemption: FRF redemption will begin with the next downtime.  Wizards has clarified that redemption requires complete sets, not including the FRF basic lands. I think this is the rule for small expansions that include copies of the same basic lands as in the large set in their block. Or maybe not – I rarely redeem. Whatever – the point is that you do not need basic lands to redeem sets of Fate Reforged.  
 

The Timeline and Bug Blog:

This is a list of things we have been promised, or just want to see coming back.   Another good source for dates and times is the MTGO calendar. Here’s what we know, want or are tracking. 
 
Item: date and notes
·         Standard PTQ Finals: this Saturday, 9am Pacific, prelims Wednesday through Friday.
·         Sealed PTQ Finals: this Sunday, 7am Pacific, prelims Wednesday through Saturday.
·         MOCS Season 3: Champs 7am Pacific, March 14th. Prelims. March 11th-13th
·         Fate Reforged Limited Champs Qualifiers: Wed. Feb. 25th – March 3rd
·         Fate Reforged Standard Champs Qualifiers: March 4th – March 10th
·         Fate Reforged Limited Championship: 8am Pac, Saturday, March 7th 
·         Fate Reforged Standard Championship: 8am Pac, Sunday, March 15th 
·         Leagues (Q2 2015?) Wizards said leagues will return in 2015.
·         Tempest Remastered: May 6th. Tempest block without the chaff. Code: TMR. Details here.
·         Modern Masters II: May, 29, 2015. Mirrodin through Zendikar. Details here.
·         From the Vault: Angels: October 12, 2015. Details here.
·         Magic Origins: released on MTGO July 27th, prerelease should begin July 23rd or July 24th Code: ORI
 
The Bug Blog Update: The Bug Blog and Known Issues List is a weekly post by Wizards covering the most common known issues in MTGO. The Known Issues list is here. A huge list of bugs were squashed last week.
 

Opinion Section: Tempest Remastered

Wizards has announced Tempest Remastered (announcement here.) What we know is that TRM will be a selected subset of Tempest block cards with original art in new frames. The set will be tuned for draft and limited play, and come in 15 card TMR boosters instead of the Tempest / Stronghold / Exodus boosters. The set is considerably smaller than the full Tempest block. Here are the numbers:
 

Rarity
Tempest
Stronghold
Exodus
Total
In TPR
Mythic
0
0
0
0
15
Rare
110
44
44
198
53
Uncommon
110
44
44
198
80
Common
110
55
55
220
101

 
TMR is basically Tempest block with the bad stuff removed. You may wonder whether there really is that much bad stuff. There is. I could ask you to trust me on this, since I have played a ton of Tempest stretching back in the days when I was opening actual paper boosters, but I’ll demonstrate.   Would cutting these cards out of Tempest limited be a problem in any way?  

 
 
Yes, the Circles of Protection are very powerful cards, but they do not make limited formats more fun. 
 
Note that this is just a quick example. It is by no means exhaustive and it includes only Tempest cards. Stronghold and Exodus contain many more cards of dubious value, even in draft. Good riddance. As we have seen in Modern Masters, Vintage Master, and in Cube, getting rid of the “skill testers” and 23rd cards does not harm a draft environment at all. If anything, those formats are far better than most limited formats. Cutting out over half of the commons in the block will do no harm at all, so let’s look at the rares. The cull removes almost two thirds of the rares, and makes some of them Mythic. How will this affect draft? Well, check these cards out.
 
 
The simple fact is that Tempest block also had a ton of bad rares. Caldera Lake is a great example. Back in those days, Wizards was worried about printing dual lands that were too good. The result was that they printed lands that were dreadfully bad. I played Caldera Lake and others of that cycle, back in the day, but not if I had any possible alternative. In Legacy and Vintage, the only formats in which these rare lands are legal, you have alternatives. Moreover, plenty of copies of these cards exist online. There is no realistic chance that demand will ever be great enough to make Fool’s Tome unaffordable. It’s a nickel right now, and MTGOTraders.com has dozens in stock. 
 
What Wizards is doing here is taking a decent draft set and tuning it. They are cutting the bad cards and the strangeness. If they do this well, what they leave should be some money cards and a great draft environment.   They are also doing away with is the three different boosters part of Tempest / Stronghold / Exodus drafts, which could be a good thing.   You really want to open cards like Sliver Queen, Recurring Nightmare or Survival of the Fittest in pack one so you can build around them, not only in pack three. Which brings us to Wasteland.   Most importantly, going to the combined pack format increases the chances of opening Wasteland, which is what this is all about after all.
 
Wasteland
 
As of last week, Wasteland was the third most expensive card on Magic Online and had the potential to pass Black Lotus. And it is an uncommon. That’s ridiculous. The ridiculous price was also interfering with the Legacy and Vintage formats.   Having a deck’s signature card get very expensive is something that happens in Magic, and formats learn to live with it. Having a staple card that is played in many decks get too expensive is more damaging. When staples get too expensive, it warps the format. It is worse when the staple is a key component in what would otherwise be the budget decks. Wizards had to do something. They have tried making Wasteland a MOCS promo, and have tried offering periodic Tempest block flashback events. The problem is that a Tempest block draft let you open just one pack of Tempest. With three uncommons in the pack, that meant a 3 in 110 chance of opening a Wasteland per draft. Even with Wasteland over $100, Tempest block drafts had so many low value cards that the EV just wasn’t there. It was a true lottery. 
 
By going to triple TRM pack drafts and with just 80 uncommons in the set, the chance of opening a Wasteland has increased from about 3% per draft to about 11%. More importantly, almost every draft will now add a Wasteland to the card pool. That’s important – MTGO needs all the Wastelands it can get. 
 
Note: if Wizards makes Wasteland a rare, then the odds of opening one drop to about 5% - still better than Tempest / Stronghold / Exodus, but not by a lot. I really hope that Wizards does not do this. Getting more Wastelands into the system is the whole point of the exercise, and keeping it at uncommon meets this goal. As for making Wasteland a Mythic – if Wizards does that, the product deserves to fail and you all should just stay away. I will.
 
After Wasteland, the main cards with significant value are City of Traitors, Intuition, Grindstone, Humility, Ensnaring Bridge and Scroll Rack. Prior to the announcement, those cards were all worth over $10. Prices have fallen since TRM was announced. We will see where they bottom out.  
 
The one “innovation” Wizards has introduced into Tempest Remastered is Mythic Rarity. Tempest block predates Mythics. For that matter, in paper Tempest predated lands in the pack, gold and silver expansion symbols and Sixth Edition rules. All of those were grafted onto Tempest online, so Mythics should not be a huge issue. Most Tempest block rares are online in reasonable numbers and at low prices already, so converting some of the rares to Mythic will only be an issue to the players that want these cards in new frames or as new frame foils. That said, if I had to choose 15 Mythics, here’s my list, together with my reasoning. YMMV. I also included the current MTGOTraders.com price for the Tempest copies. VMA and other copies are even cheaper.    
 
1.      Humility: A hugely powerful effect, but one that is hard to build around in limited. Humility is the source of endless judge questions, in the paper world, but it sees very little legacy play. It would be a fine Mythic. Currently $12.66.
2.      Time Warp: It has been Mythic in the core set, it will be here, too. Currently $6.84.
3.      Earthcraft: A combo enabler with cards like Squirrel Nest and in interesting effect, but very little combos with it in block. Currently $4.43.
4.      Aluren: like Earthcraft, the core of a combo deck back in the day. That day was over a decade ago, but it is still an iconic effect. Easy Mythic IMHO. Currently $4.48.
5.      Intruder Alarm: See above. Also a combo enabler, but not one that works on MTGO. A decade ago, I finished second in a seven round plus Top 8 Vintage event with an Intruder Alarm deck. The tournament report is over on SCG. Current price of Intruder Alarm: $1.20
6.      (Volrath’s Stronghold): I have been back and forth about including this one. It is limited playable, so keeping it a rare might help limited play. It is also a Legendary Land, and does the sort of thing Mythics do.   I could see Wizards going either way. Currently $3.03.
7.      Corpse Dance: Corpse Dance and Bottle Gnomes was once a Tier One deck. It is tricky to get going, but it can create infinite blockers, etc. Kinda stupid with tAltar of Dementia . Currently $ 0.88.
8.      Survival of the Fittest: One of Green’s best spells ever and such an amazing engine that it has been banned in several formats. It’s not in short supply, so give it its due: make it Mythic. Currently $ 0.82. 
9.      Oath of Druids:  see Survival, etc. It is still the core of a major archetype in Vintage, and has been since the format was called Type I. For that matter, Oath won PT Chicago in an Extended deck fifteen years ago. Currently $ 2.35.
10. Mind over Matter: This was a critical part of some of the most insane combo decks back in Combo winter. I played it in this episode of my PTSD series.  Currently $ 0.78.
11. (Silver Queen): She’s iconic, and a complete bomb in the format if you can get the mana to work. $ 0.55.
12. Manabond: a significant effect that gets played in Legacy, but not something we need to clutter up too many packs with. Maybe Mythic, or could just be culled from the set, but it sees play. Currently $0.28.
13.  Pandemonium: Cool effect to try to play around with in limited, but we don’t want to see it often. Currently $0.05.
14. Apocalypse: Sometimes, when absolutely nothing else will do, you have to start the game over. It has a huge impact, but it is something you don’t want to see too often. It would make a fine Mythic. Currently $0.19.
15. Grindstone: It is actually a pretty good win condition in limited, and is a critical part of Legacy and occasional Vintage decks. It needs to be reprinted, but I don’t want to see it very often, especially not in a format that rewards mono-colored decks. Currently $ 12.91.
 
Honorable Mentions that I would just cut out of TRM:
1.      Cursed Scroll: It is a bit too good in a format that was full of cheap shadow creatures; so good it was banned in block. Wizards could beef up the format, cut Cursed Scroll entirely (it has been reprinted in VMA after all) or make it Mythic. I’d cut it. Currently $ 0.41.
2.      Sphere of Resistance: Why bother? It’s either useless or unpleasant to play against in limited, sees play almost exclusively in constructed and has already been reprinted in VMA.  It’s a fine card, but new frame versions already exist. Currently $0.85.
3.      Hatred: Tapping out on turn two only to lose to land, Dark Ritual, Hatred on a Shadow creature was a depressing reality back in the day. That was my introduction to Extended in round one, game one of my first Extended PTQ ever. Hatred is either a combo kill or useless, so just leave it out of the set. It’s already cheap and available. Currently $ 0.08.
4.      Limited Resources: I played this, back in the day. Wizards does not like mana denial anymore, so just skip it. It is an unnecessary reprint. Currently: $0.05.
5.      Dominating Licid & friends: The licids are great fodder for judge questions and can be super annoying unkillable blockers, but I could see leaving them out of the set. Tempest had a number of iconic creature types – Slivers, Spikes, Flowstone dudes, etc. – and there is not enough room for all of them. Leave the Licids behind. Yes, that would cost me some wins, since I know how the timing works with Licids, but that’s not a justification for leaving them in.
6.      Equilibrium: When playing against this, you always need to always keep some mana up, which is annoying and really slows you down. Yes, it is kinda skill testing, but in the most annoying way. It is almost as bad as a surprise Fade Away. I hope Wizards keeps them both out of the format, or at least makes Fade Away an uncommon. 
 
Rolling Stones, Sacred Ground and even cards like Awakening have effects that could all be called Mythic, if you squint hard enough. I would give them all a pass. They already exist and are readily available. Most have been reprinted. Cards like Boil, Perish and Choke are more debatable. Choke sees play in Modern, and only Tempest has black borders. TMR would be the only black bordered new frame alternatives. They are useful cards, but may not belong in limited, especially when fighting for slots with better uncommons. Wizards might be better off reprinted them in a From the Vault: Pure Hatred. Time will tell.
 
The spoiler lists for the set should arrive in a few months, after Dragons of Trakir. We will know then.
 

Random MTGO Suggestion of the Week: 

MTGO should have a filter to show only limited queues for which I have the appropriate product (excluding TIX) in my collection. I would love to see just those formats in which I can use my existing packs, without the effort of reviewing my collection first, then setting a bunch of filters. Such a filter would also automatically hide employee-only and new player queues, which would make me very happy.     
 
I submitted this suggestion to magiconlinefeedback@wizards.com. If you have recommendations or advice, send them to that email address. Wizards does read them.     
 

Cutting Edge Tech:

Standard: We had a Standard GP last weekend. Like last week, a base UB control deck won, but this time it splashed green for Garruk and Satyr Wayfinder. Coverage of the GP and Top 8 decklists are here.
 
 
Modern: Wizards also held a Modern GP last weekend, this time in Vancouver. Like the Pro Tour, this event was won by Splinter Twin. It is solid, but a version that splashes black for Tasigur was more interesting, albeit a bit more inconsistent. Coverage and decklists are here.
 
 
Pauper: I almost skipped Pauper this week. I get tired of scrolling down through endless lists featuring Islands, Delvers, Ponder and Treasure Cruise. I finally found something a bit different. It does run Cruise, but at least it has a little variation.
 
 
Legacy: SCG ran the biggest Legacy event that happened last weekend. The Top 16 decks included a mix of the usual suspects, including both red and green Stoneblade, a couple Sultai Delvers, Grixis Delver, two Infects, two ANTs, Dredge, Sneak and Show, an actual Bant Maverick deck and Jund. The most interesting archetype this week, though, was a Metalworker / Forgemaster brew. 
 
 
Vintage: The Vintage Super League is in week four, but since they moved the decklists over to the Wizards webpage, they don’t update quickly any more. Instead, I’ll look at last Sunday’s Vintage event. Montolio won, playing his signature deck. Abstrakt66 went 3-1 with a Tasigur build, but that should be discussed over on Yawgmoth’s soap Opera, so I will leave it to them. 
 
 

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 almost a decade now, and have never been overcharged or disappointed.
 
Standard staples: Standard prices oscillated this week, with no real trend.   As always, stuff that gets played goes up.
   

Standard & Block Cards
Price
Last Week
Change
% Change
$6.54
$7.04
($0.50)
-7%
$6.64
$6.69
($0.05)
-1%
$17.43
$14.68
$2.75
19%
$7.11
$7.56
($0.45)
-6%
$12.99
$11.19
$1.80
16%
$13.17
$13.22
($0.05)
0%
$14.91
$12.73
$2.18
17%
$17.00
$17.50
($0.50)
-3%
$11.64
$11.10
$0.54
5%
$8.14
$9.11
($0.97)
-11%
$13.91
$13.84
$0.07
1%
$13.84
$15.05
($1.21)
-8%
$25.23
$24.91
$0.32
1%
$15.31
$15.43
($0.12)
-1%
$8.67
$9.06
($0.39)
-4%
$8.01
$8.28
($0.27)
-3%
$5.86
$7.74
($1.88)
-24%
$10.14
$10.64
($0.50)
-5%
$11.09
$8.15
$2.94
36%
$16.72
$15.18
$1.54
10%
$8.41
$7.99
$0.42
5%
$19.47
$18.39
$1.08
6%
$19.34
$20.02
($0.68)
-3%
$6.55
$7.74
($1.19)
-15%
$13.75
$11.30
$2.45
22%

Modern staples:  Modern prices are showing the effect of the new metagame defined by the recent Pro Tour. 
 

Modern Cards
Price
Last Week
Change
% Change
$42.46
$42.46
$0.00
0%
$31.25
$30.69
$0.56
2%
$16.77
$15.99
$0.78
5%
$9.93
$9.93
$0.00
0%
$6.29
$7.04
($0.75)
-11%
$19.27
$18.18
$1.09
6%
$16.64
$16.61
$0.03
0%
$14.88
$15.67
($0.79)
-5%
$33.86
$33.94
($0.08)
0%
$50.18
$58.82
($8.64)
-15%
$48.04
$45.00
$3.04
7%
$82.24
$83.26
($1.02)
-1%
$16.63
$18.64
($2.01)
-11%
$55.12
$57.08
($1.96)
-3%
$39.08
$34.27
$4.81
14%
$35.07
$34.48
$0.59
2%
$34.05
$32.81
$1.24
4%
$18.11
$21.13
($3.02)
-14%
$31.71
$27.93
$3.78
14%
$80.88
$82.67
($1.79)
-2%
$28.37
$26.91
$1.46
5%
$43.65
$40.24
$3.41
8%
$16.00
$19.08
($3.08)
-16%

Legacy / Vintage staples: Legacy and Vintage prices were mixed this week, but Vintage staples from VMA regained some ground.  Tempest block rares and Wasteland dropped, as hoarders dumped their stocks. This may continue a bit, but remember that TRM does not arrive until May.
 

Legacy / Vintage Cards
Price
Last Week
Change
% Change
$43.91
$42.32
$1.59
4%
$132.46
$123.00
$9.46
8%
$27.82
$32.96
($5.14)
-16%
$40.32
$40.32
$0.00
0%
$30.39
$28.83
$1.56
5%
$26.13
$28.54
($2.41)
-8%
$29.23
$27.30
$1.93
7%
$27.28
$27.28
$0.00
0%
$30.80
$30.80
$0.00
0%
$22.87
$28.23
($5.36)
-19%
$15.27
$15.64
($0.37)
-2%
$10.16
$10.94
($0.78)
-7%
$109.57
$109.57
$0.00
0%
$36.09
$37.11
($1.02)
-3%
$65.83
$64.97
$0.86
1%
$156.29
$156.29
$0.00
0%
$41.33
$41.33
$0.00
0%
$24.75
$27.40
($2.65)
-10%
$42.23
$39.08
$3.15
8%
$31.38
$26.57
$4.81
18%
$15.78
$14.84
$0.94
6%
$26.94
$30.06
($3.12)
-10%
$62.99
$113.35
($50.36)
-44%

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.   For those of you who redeem, here are the retail prices of one of everything set currently available in the store, excluding sets that are not currently draftable or not redeemable.    
 

Complete Set
Price
Last Week
Change
% Change
Born of the Gods
$63.84
$60.20
$3.64
6%
Fate Reforged
$99.35
$100.56
($1.21)
-1%
Journey into Nix
$105.76
$102.75
$3.01
3%
Khans of Trakir
$74.80
$80.90
($6.10)
-8%
M15
$144.07
$144.52
($0.45)
0%
Theros
$100.17
$99.50
$0.67
1%

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. Port is still on top, but Lotus closed the gap. Wasteland dropped.
 

Name
Rarity
Set
 Price
Rishadan Port
R
MM
 $ 156.29
Black Lotus
B
VMA
 $ 132.46
Misdirection
R
MM
 $ 109.57
Tarmogoyf
R
FUT
 $   83.69
Liliana of the Veil
M
ISD
 $   82.24
Tarmogoyf
M
MMA
 $   80.88
Mox Sapphire
B
VMA
 $   65.83
Wasteland
U
TE
 $   62.99
Mox Opal
M
SOM
 $   55.12
Griselbrand
M
AVR
 $   50.18
Force of Will
R
MED
 $   50.17
Karn Liberated
M
NPH
 $   48.04
Show and Tell
R
UZ
 $   47.23
Vendilion Clique
R
MOR
 $   44.41
Ancestral Recall
B
VMA
 $   43.91
Vendilion Clique
M
MMA
 $   43.65
Batterskull
M
NPH
 $   42.46
Time Walk
 B
VMA
 $   42.23
Infernal Tutor
 R
DIS
 $   41.70
Containment Priest
 R
C14
 $   40.32
Noble Hierarch
 R
CON
 $   39.08
Primeval Titan
 M
M11
 $   36.42
Tangle Wire
 R
NE
 $   36.17
Mox Jet
 B
VMA
 $   36.09
Primeval Titan
 M
M12
 $   35.07
Mox Ruby
 B
VMA
 $   34.11
Scalding Tarn
 R
ZEN
 $   34.05
Fulminator Mage
 R
SHM
 $   33.86
Spellskite
 R
NPH
 $   31.71
True-Name Nemesis
 R
C13
 $   31.38
Bitterblossom
 R
MOR
 $   31.25
Toxic Deluge
 R
C13
 $   31.08
Hurkyl's Recall
 R
10E
 $   30.80
Dark Depths
 R
CSP
 $   30.39
Force of Will
 R
VMA
 $   29.23
Daze
 C
DD2
 $   28.53
Auriok Champion
 R
5DN
 $   28.46
Twilight Mire
 R
EVE
 $   28.37
City of Traitors
 R
EX
 $   27.82
Volcanic Island
 R
ME4
 $   27.59
Gaea's Cradle
 R
UZ
 $   27.28
Undiscovered Paradise
 R
VI
 $   26.94
Mox Emerald
 B
VMA
 $   26.80
Mox Pearl
 B
VMA
 $   26.70
Stifle
 R
SCG
 $   26.29
Daze
 C
NE
 $   26.13
Nissa, Worldwaker
 M
M15
 $   25.23

The big number is the retail price of a playset (4 copies) of every card available on MTGO. Assuming you bought the least expensive version available, the cost of owning a playset of every card on MTGO you can own is $ 24,940. That’s down about $150 from where we were last week, and almost all of that appears to be in Tempest block.  
 

Weekly Highlights:

Not much. I think I am finally getting the hang of Khans limited, and I am slowly accumulating cards for Standard.   About the only deck I have complete is the Chromanticore build, which is erratic but amusing.   I have been playing that.
 
PRJ
 
“One Million Words” and “3MWords” on MTGO
 
 
This series is an ongoing tribute to Erik “Hamtastic” Friborg.
 
HammyBot Still Running: 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 10% below retail price. Erik died three years ago, so HammyBot does not include any standard legal cards, but it includes a ton of Masters Edition and Vintage cards, and some nice Modern bargains. 
 

16 Comments

I dont get why there is a by Lagrange at Fri, 02/27/2015 - 13:12
Lagrange's picture

I dont get why there is a basic land in each TR pack. VMA had no basic lands. There is no need for basic lands in an online only format.

Are they so pretty these basic lands that they are needed in the system?

I would be shocked if by Sensei at Fri, 02/27/2015 - 14:24
Sensei's picture

I would be shocked if Wasteland is uncommon. Even at rare, the value is likely to drop by two-thirds. VMA duals and Force of Will dropped by a similar percentage (at rare) and those packs were $7 not $4. WotC has to at least give a token nod to the collectors. Sure a ME FoW is worth more than a VMA FoW but the underlying value still cratered.

Not quite the same by one million words at Fri, 02/27/2015 - 14:58
one million words's picture

VMA card dropped a lot because VMA was sold far past the point at which they wanted it to end. TRM will be around for three weeks, not six months.

Wizards also needs the staples for a format - the lands and the cards that are played in many different decks, to be affordable. Wasteland, Force of Will and the duals are all cards Wizards needs to keep cheap. Also, no one collects on MTGO. Speculates, yes, but collects - no. Have you looked and the "collection screen?"

I agree that if Wizards by Lagrange at Fri, 02/27/2015 - 17:36
Lagrange's picture

I agree that if Wizards thinks that there are too few Wastelands circulating they have no second thoughts about flooding the market and crashing the price like they did it for FoW.

I do not agree that no one collects on MTGO. As long as there is a price difference between various versions of the same non-redeemable card then some people value a collectable aspect over and above card functionality. In other words when someone pays more for a foil Wasteland than for a regular Wasteland then I would call them collectors (even when they actively use the foil Wastelands in a deck). It is certainly not speculation. But the slight difference in interpretation of a 'collector' does not really invalidate your point.

that's true. I basically sell by Joe Fiorini at Fri, 02/27/2015 - 17:24
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that's true. I basically sell any card I don't use, just because it clutters up the collection screen so much.

Two thoughts by one million words at Fri, 02/27/2015 - 14:59
one million words's picture

re: lands in TRM

This would be the first chance to get the old art in new frames, but that's probably not the reason.

I suspect that one reason is that it reduces the number of cards in the draft. By including the lands, we don't get 24 more commons per draft. Having more commons in the draft just makes it more repetitive.

Modern Masters had just 10 commons per pack, by including a foil as the 15th card. Admittedly, a foil would be better, but I'll settle for a land.

Nicely done, as always! I by Joe Fiorini at Fri, 02/27/2015 - 17:25
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5

Nicely done, as always! I managed to scrape together four wastelands already, so TMR isn't something I'm into. I don't plan on trying to sell my wastelands now either. I like having them.

My take on TRM by Cheater Hater at Fri, 02/27/2015 - 20:21
Cheater Hater's picture

I took the announcement of a challenge, and made my own full version of TRM, and am even trying to get some drafts of it to see how the limited environment works. (I did/am doing a similar thing with MMA2, even before it was officially confirmed). I'd post my full list, but I don't think the comment form accepts links, so instead, some quick hits:
1. Things I cut: All the color hate, Licids, anything having to do with graveyard order, all non-Sliver gold cards
2. Shadow on creatures, en-Kors, and almost all Spikes are now only at uncommon or higher (in an attempt to at least try to adhere to NWO principles)
3. Mythics:
White:
Orim, Samite Healer
Cataclysm
Blue:
Ertai, Wizard Adept
Time Warp
Black:
Commander Greven il-Vec
Recurring Nightmare
Red:
Starke of Rath
Eladamri, Lord of Leaves
Survival of the Fittest
Gold:
Sliver Queen
Artifact:
Mox Diamond
Ensnaring Bridge
Sphere of Resistance
Land:
Wasteland (If you think Wizards is nice, swap this with City of Traitors)
Volrath's Stronghold

I haven't gotten into any format-crafting yet (other than hopefully making Slivers playable by printing all of them and having all 10 duals at uncommon), mainly since there isn't much to work with. For instance, I have half the commons you mentioned as cuttable in the set, since you need creatures that aren't horrible and spells that did something (Gaseous Form works well in the set with limited removal, Frog Tongue's a decent cantrip, Manta Riders is a curve filler for an blue fliers deck, and Blood Pet is good for the black aggro deck based around Scare Tactics). I want to write more about this process (for both this, and my MMA2 set), but I just don't have an outlet :/

You can definitely post links by Paul Leicht at Sat, 02/28/2015 - 04:10
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You can definitely post links here.

Links to my TMR setlist by Cheater Hater at Sat, 02/28/2015 - 21:54
Cheater Hater's picture

Are you sure? I keep getting the error message "Your submission has triggered the spam filter and will not be accepted." when I try to post a link. They're just links to my Google Drive--maybe it's just that I'm a new poster?

Lets give it a by Paul Leicht at Sun, 03/01/2015 - 05:45
Paul Leicht's picture

Lets give it a shot.

http://puremtgo.com/comment/reply/18376/50807

Works for me.

I recommend you fill out your profile and put up an avatar in case those things matter. (No clue but I don't remember ever being stopped by linking.)

@Cheater Hater - Since TRM is by Procrastination at Sun, 03/01/2015 - 12:56
Procrastination's picture

@Cheater Hater - Since TRM is an Online only set, why not send an email to Josh at (puremtgoeditor@gmail.com) to see if he'd be interested in an article like that?

Or just write the article, press Submit and cross your fingers he likes it?

Good luck!

Well, I wrote an article and by Cheater Hater at Mon, 03/02/2015 - 01:16
Cheater Hater's picture

Well, I wrote an article and submitted it--hopefully it's good :)

I will take a look at it, and by JXClaytor at Mon, 03/02/2015 - 10:44
JXClaytor's picture

I will take a look at it, and you can check the workflow for any notes that may spring up. You can also email me at Puremtgoeditor@gmail.com if you want to open up a dialogue there.

Ask me how to make 100k from by Joe Fiorini at Sun, 03/01/2015 - 13:41
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that's never happened to me. odd.

SPAM by Dwarven_Pony at Sun, 03/01/2015 - 12:40
Dwarven_Pony's picture
5

The SPAM sometimes is very aggressive. It doesn't have anything to do with links.

Last week my messages triggered the SPAM filter for no reason. I simply changed the ending of my message from "Thank you" to "Thanks" and this resolved the problem (strangely!)