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By: one million words, Pete Jahn
Jan 13 2017 1:00pm
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State of the Program for January 13th 2017
 
In the News
Wizard President Outlines New Online Directions: Wizards President Chris Cocks has announced that Wizards will be creating a new Digital Games Studio, which pulls in outside designers and talent. MTGO is going to be housed in that area. The article is short on specifics, but you can expect endless speculation about what it all means. Read the article here.
 
BAN HAMMER FALLS!: The B&R announcement was made a week early, and it is a big one. Emrakul, the Promised End, Smuggler's Copter and Reflector Mage are all BANNED IN STANDARD. That’s huge – it has been a long time since we have had Standard bannings. In Modern, Gitaxian Probe and Golgari Grave-Troll are banned. You can read the explanatory article here. I discuss in the opinion section, below. 
 
Standard and Modern Leagues Reboot Early: The bannings listed above were implemented on MTGO on January 11th, probably because there is no scheduled downtime next week. That also meant that Standard and Modern leagues were closed early, and rebooted with the new rules applied. If players did not finish their matches, their entry fee will be refunded. The new leagues will remain open until the release of Amonkhet, later this spring.
 
Modern MOCS Playoff January 21 to Use New B&R List: The Modern MOCS on the 21st will use the new B&R list. Players ae being emailed reminders, but Wizards will also allow players to defer their invitation to one of the three remaining MOCS Playoffs in the 2017 Series. If you wish to defer, you need to contact Wizards customers service by January 17th.
 
 
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, at 11am Pacific
Legacy Challenge
Second Saturday of the month, at 11am Pacific
No Downtime
January 18th   
Extended Downtime
(none announced, but January 25th likely.)
Current Leagues End
January 25th
 
Upcoming and Ongoing Events
Begins
Ends
Modern MOCS events
January 21st
Details here.
Aether Revolt prerelease
January 27th
January 30th
Amonkhet
Spring, 2017 release
 
Modern Masters 2017 Edition
March 23rd on MTGO
 
Next B&R Announcement
March 13, 2017
 
 
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
January 11th
January 25th
Aether Revolt Prerelease/Release Events
January 25th
February 22nd
Throwback Standard Gauntlet (1994?)
February 22nd
March 1st
Invasion/Planeshift/Apocalypse Draft
March 1st
March 8th
Cube Draft (Cube TBD)
March 8th
March 22nd
Modern Masters 2017 Leagues
March 22nd
April 12th
 
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: Bannings
 
We had another round of bannings. And we have the usual round of screams, grumbles and claims of outrage.
 
Yes, yes, some of our cards are worth a lot less. I feel your pain. I spent $70 at MTGO traders on Sunday, buying cards for RW Vehicles and UW Panharmonicon. But that is not relevant. Really.
 
Standard is a dynamic format. Decks come and go, and the value of cards rises and falls. Saheeli Rai started out well over $20, then fell to under a buck, and is now heading back up. Other cards fall and stay down. When they rotate out of Standard, 480 of the 500 or so cards that will be rotating will lose all value. So, sure, Smuggler’s Copters have fallen in value.   I paid $13 for my last couple the week after the prerelease, and they are worth $0.75 now. Yes, I “lost” money on those cards. However, I may have “made” money on a ton of other cards for archetypes that would never have flourished if Emrakul and Copter and Reflector Mage had remained legal. But that is still not the point.
 
The point was that constructed Magic, itself, was in trouble. A year or two ago, Standard GPS were being capped at 2,500 or 3,000 players, and hitting those caps. Over the last six months, some of the GPs I attended, in areas that used to have huge turn-outs, barely hit 1,700. Modern GPs were also showing low turnout.   I have not seen actual figures worldwide (no one but Wizards employees do), but anecdotal evidence says that attendance at store events like PPTQs and FNM was also down. Again, all I have is anecdotes, but I talk to a lot of judges and TOs.   If your local store was doing better, great – and keep supporting them. If not, go play there.
 
The point is that Wizards had access to all the data on attendance at constructed events at all levels, and they acted. Wizards may justify the bannings as being because a format is stale, or inbred, or certain cards are too dominant, and all those things may be true, but at a lower level Wizards bans cards because people are not coming to events. 
 
During Combo Winter, players stopped coming to events, so Wizards banned Tolarian Academy and a host of other cards.  
 
During Mercadian Masques block constructed PTQ season, attendance at PTQs dropped until Wizards banned Rishadan Port and Lin Sivvi. 
 
When Skullclamp Affinity ran rampant, a lot of players stopped playing Standard, so Wizards banned Skullclamp, the artifact lands and a pile of other cards.
 
When Caw-Blade was the best deck in Standard, pros loved the format because the mirror match was so skill intensive. Many of the rest of the player base stopped attending Standard events, so Wizards banned big Jace and Stoneforge Mystic.
 
During Khans block Standard, OTOH, players railed against Siege Rhino – but attendance at events remained high. Wizards banned nothing. I could also say this about a lot of other formats: certain cards were widely reviled, but attendance at Standard events did not drop, and nothing was banned.
 
Attendance was dropping at Standard and Modern events.   Players were unhappy with both Standard and Modern.   On MTGO, fewer players were playing in leagues. (This week’s list of 5-0 decks in the Competitive Standard League featured just two decks.)  Is it any surprise at all that Wizards acted?
 
Yes, the price of a couple cards have fallen, hard, since the bannings. However, if the overall number of players had continued to fall, the value of all Standard cards would also have continued to fall. If interest in Standard revives as a result of the bannings, so will card prices. The same for Modern.
 
Cutting Edge Tech
 
Standard: Standard is still reeling from the blows of the ban hammer, and it is about to be hit again as Aether Revolt cards enter mix. We don’t know what decks will do well, but here’s one that has done passably well, and is unaffected by the bannings. 
 
RG Energy
ALTERDOAK, 5-0, Competitive Standard Constructed League - 75 Cards Total
Creature
4 Bristling Hydra
4 Electrostatic Pummeler
4 Longtusk Cub
4 Servant of the Conduit
4 Voltaic Brawler
20 cards

Instant
4 Blossoming Defense
2 Built to Smash
2 Rush of Adrenaline
4 Uncaged Fury
12 cards
Sorcery
4 Attune with Aether
4 Larger Than Life
8 cards
Land
4 Aether Hub
1 Botanical Sanctum
8 Forest
2 Game Trail
5 Mountain
20 cards


Sideboard
3 Ceremonious Rejection
4 Galvanic Bombardment
1 Island
2 Natural State
3 Negate
2 Tears of Valakut
15 cards

Modern:
 Modern is another format that will see impacts from both the bannings and Aether Revolt. However, Modern has a bazillion viable archetypes. Many of them will be unaffected. Here’s an example:
 
Titan Shift
SMITHENATOR, 5-0, Modern Competitive League - 75 Cards Total
Creature
4 Primeval Titan
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
8 cards

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

Enchantment
3 Khalni Heart Expedition
3 cards
Land
2 Cinder Glade
2 Forest
8 Mountain
4 Stomping Ground
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
3 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
27 cards
 


Sideboard
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
3 Nature's Claim
3 Obstinate Baloth
4 Sudden Shock
2 Thragtusk
15 cards
 

Legacy: We had a Legacy GP this weekend, and the Top 8 was stacked. I wish we had had video coverage, but at least Reid Duke (the winner) is producing videos of his experimentation with Leovold. Written coverage of the GP is here.

 
True-Name BUG
Reid Duke, Winner, GP Louisville - 75 Cards Total
Creature
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Tarmogoyf
4 True-Name Nemesis
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
15 cards

Instant
4 Brainstorm
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
1 Murderous Cut
3 Abrupt Decay
15 cards

Sorcery
2 Ponder
2 Thoughtseize
4 cards
Enchantment
1 Sylvan Library
1 cards

Planeswalker
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 cards
Land
1 Forest
1 Island
2 Tropical Island
1 Bayou
3 Underground Sea
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
2 Verdant Catacombs
3 Wasteland
21 cards
Equipment
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 cards
 

Sideboard
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Thoughtseize
2 Submerge
2 Pithing Needle
2 Flusterstorm
2 Mindbreak Trap
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Dread of Night
1 Painful Truths
1 Nihil Spellbomb
15 cards
 
Vintage: The Vintage Super League Season Six Qualifier Tournament has begun. The metagame is a little skewed (okay, a lot skewed), but it is at least interesting. Here’s my favorite deck of the event so far.
 
 
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 are mixed.   The big losers are the banned cards, and the cards that work only in decks reliant on the banned cards. Other cards are doing okay, while Saheeli Rai is soaring on the wings of an apparent combo engine which may be viable.   Also, next week, Smuggler’s Copter will be off the table. Emrakul, too, if it drops below $5. I will have lots of Aether Revolt cards to replace them with, soon. 
 

Standard Cards
Price
Last Week
Change
% Change
$12.93
$13.92
($0.99)
-7%
$12.44
$13.16
($0.72)
-5%
$6.60
$4.54
$2.06
45%
$7.09
$20.21
($13.12)
-65%
$25.46
$32.88
($7.42)
-23%
$6.32
$6.53
($0.21)
-3%
$16.53
$12.85
$3.68
29%
$9.34
$12.76
($3.42)
-27%
$18.74
$18.03
$0.71
4%
$11.67
$13.17
($1.50)
-11%
$30.46
$26.51
$3.95
15%
$10.97
$13.72
($2.75)
-20%
$10.90
$7.46
$3.44
46%
$8.95
$1.91
$7.04
369%
$0.76
$5.19
($4.43)
-85%
$11.07
$10.18
$0.89
9%
$16.91
$9.81
$7.10
72%
$8.29
$6.97
$1.32
19%
$10.62
$7.03
$3.59
51%

Modern staples:  Modern prices are mixed again this week – more so than usual. The banned cards, and the staples in the decks that relied on them, fell. Cards from other decks climbed. As expected.    
 

Modern Cards
Price
Last Week
Change
% Change
$31.18
$31.61
($0.43)
-1%
$21.90
$20.34
$1.56
8%
$37.38
$45.55
($8.17)
-18%
$25.13
$27.24
($2.11)
-8%
$30.55
$30.75
($0.20)
-1%
$42.27
$47.87
($5.60)
-12%
$57.49
$61.87
($4.38)
-7%
$2.94
$18.79
($15.85)
-84%
$38.31
$38.95
($0.64)
-2%
$19.13
$18.02
$1.11
6%
$16.75
$21.42
($4.67)
-22%
$19.08
$19.25
($0.17)
-1%
$97.93
$95.81
$2.12
2%
$29.94
$30.92
($0.98)
-3%
$22.10
$21.78
$0.32
1%
$22.79
$25.99
($3.20)
-12%
$24.96
$18.95
$6.01
32%
$50.61
$49.84
$0.77
2%
$23.50
$21.59
$1.91
9%

Legacy and Vintage: Legacy and Vintage did pretty well this week. I am really regretting not buying Leovold early on.  
 

Legacy / Vintage Cards
Price
Last Week
Change
% Change
$25.46
$27.67
($2.21)
-8%
$40.21
$39.91
$0.30
1%
$91.85
$91.80
$0.05
0%
$34.21
$34.30
($0.09)
0%
$27.65
$27.15
$0.50
2%
$55.46
$49.90
$5.56
11%
$44.02
$43.25
$0.77
2%
$35.14
$33.90
$1.24
4%
$32.12
$31.56
$0.56
2%
$34.88
$34.79
$0.09
0%
$36.13
$43.06
($6.93)
-16%
$53.36
$45.30
$8.06
18%
$28.33
$27.97
$0.36
1%
$35.71
$35.54
$0.17
0%
$25.77
$27.43
($1.66)
-6%
$23.12
$23.11
$0.01
0%
$43.01
$40.07
$2.94
7%
$21.62
$26.51
($4.89)
-18%
$166.59
$165.37
$1.22
1%
$54.73
$60.26
($5.53)
-9%
$34.06
$39.48
($5.42)
-14%
$43.05
$36.58
$6.47
18%
$24.65
$24.20
$0.45
2%
$17.33
$20.04
($2.71)
-14%
$53.38
$53.55
($0.17)
0%

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.   Treasure Chests are up again, and closer to what I calculate as typical EV (at least if you open a ton of them, since the variance is huge.)   
 

Complete Set
Price
Last Week
Change
% Change
Battle for Zendikar
$69.10
$76.00
($6.90)
-9%
Eldritch Moon
$106.20
$113.65
($7.45)
-7%
Kaladesh
$95.37
$82.64
$12.73
15%
Oath of the Gatewatch
$102.88
$95.77
$7.11
7%
Shadows over Innistrad
$67.26
$69.47
($2.21)
-3%
Treasure Chest
$3.06
$2.87
$0.19
7%
Kaladesh Booster
$2.74
$2.47
$0.27
11%

 
 
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.  The list shrank a couple cards this week.  Note that the fifth most valuable (non-premium) card on MTGO is an uncommon.   
 

Name
Set
Rarity
 Price
Rishadan Port
 MM
Rare
 $ 166.59
Liliana of the Veil
 ISD
Mythic Rare
 $ 97.93
Black Lotus
 VMA
Bonus
 $ 91.85
Ensnaring Bridge
 7E
Rare
 $ 63.95
Ensnaring Bridge
 8ED
Rare
 $ 61.19
Wasteland
 TE
Uncommon
 $ 57.99
Ensnaring Bridge
 ST
Rare
 $ 57.49
Wasteland
 TPR
Rare
 $ 57.35
Exploration
 UZ
Rare
 $ 55.46
Show and Tell
 UZ
Rare
 $ 54.73
Wasteland
 EMA
Rare
 $ 53.56
Wasteland
 EXP
Mythic Rare
 $ 53.38
Leovold, Emissary of Trest
 PZ2
Mythic Rare
 $ 53.36
Tarmogoyf
 MMA
Mythic Rare
 $ 50.91
Tarmogoyf
 MM2
Mythic Rare
 $ 50.82
Tarmogoyf
 FUT
Rare
 $ 50.61
Engineered Explosives
 5DN
Rare
 $ 48.46
Food Chain
 MM
Rare
 $ 44.02
True-Name Nemesis
 C13
Rare
 $ 43.47
True-Name Nemesis
 PZ1
Mythic Rare
 $ 43.05
Mox Sapphire
 VMA
Bonus
 $ 43.01
Blood Moon
 8ED
Rare
 $ 42.98
Engineered Explosives
 MMA
Rare
 $ 42.27
Unmask
 MM
Rare
 $ 42.06
Blood Moon
 9ED
Rare
 $ 41.01
Back to Basics
 UZ
Rare
 $ 40.21
Force of Will
 MED
Rare
 $ 39.53
Griselbrand
 AVR
Mythic Rare
 $ 38.31
Blood Moon
 MMA
Rare
 $ 37.38
Infernal Tutor
 DIS
Rare
 $ 36.13
Force of Will
 EMA
Mythic Rare
 $ 35.97
Misdirection
 MM
Rare
 $ 35.71
Force of Will
 VMA
Rare
 $ 35.14
Gaea's Cradle
 UZ
Rare
 $ 34.88
Containment Priest
 PZ1
Rare
 $ 34.54
Containment Priest
 C14
Rare
 $ 34.21
Tangle Wire
 NE
Rare
 $ 34.06
Scalding Tarn
 EXP
Mythic Rare
 $ 32.83
Mox Opal
 MS2
Bonus
 $ 32.57
Ancestral Vision
 DD2
Rare
 $ 32.44
From the Ashes
 C13
Rare
 $ 32.12
Chalice of the Void
 MRD
Rare
 $ 31.24
Ancestral Vision
 TSP
Rare
 $ 31.18
Chalice of the Void
 MMA
Rare
 $ 30.55
Liliana, the Last Hope
 EMN
Mythic Rare
 $ 30.46
Mox Opal
 SOM
Mythic Rare
 $ 30.07
Mox Opal
 MM2
Mythic Rare
 $ 29.94
Karn Liberated
 NPH
Mythic Rare
 $ 29.57
Karn Liberated
 MM2
Mythic Rare
 $ 29.22
Meren of Clan Nel Toth
 PZ1
Rare
 $ 28.33
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
 ORI
Mythic Rare
 $ 28.31
Doomsday
 WL
Rare
 $ 27.65
Horizon Canopy
 EXP
Mythic Rare
 $ 26.10
Eidolon of the Great Revel
 JOU
Rare
 $ 25.97
Moat
 MED
Rare
 $ 25.77
Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
 BFZ
Mythic Rare
 $ 25.46
Ancestral Recall
 VMA
Bonus
 $ 25.42
Mox Ruby
 VMA
Bonus
 $ 25.38
Cavern of Souls
 AVR
Rare
 $ 25.13

 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 $ 25,280. That is up about a grand from two weeks ago.
 
Weekly Highlights
 
Paper Prerelease this weekend. Go play.
 
PRJ
 
“One Million Words” and “3MWords” 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.  
 
 

8 Comments

Also: Worth was fired last by Claw at Sat, 01/14/2017 - 16:33
Claw's picture

Also: Worth was fired last week, good riddance and he won't be missed. Also: stop promoting paper play, I'd be happy if every "LGS" burns to the ground. This site is called "pure" MTGO for a reason.

While some are happy that by JXClaytor at Sun, 01/15/2017 - 23:38
JXClaytor's picture

While some are happy that Worth is gone, and I guess it's understandable, I would like to remind you that Worth losing his job not only affects his family, so let's uh, keep the joyous celebration out of it.

Having met Worth and PTQ'd with him in the long long ago, I found him to be a good person, and having empathy for him is fine during this life change.

The problem with not promoting paper play is that MTGO is the digital version of MTG. Paper play and digital play are linked, because they are the same game.

re by Hearts at Mon, 01/16/2017 - 03:03
Hearts's picture

Agree.

Do you think there would even by stsung at Mon, 01/16/2017 - 05:40
stsung's picture

Do you think there would even be modo without the paper version of Magic: The Gathering?

I don't understand your problem. I read the whole article to understand your problem to find a single sentence 'promoting' LGS play. It's under Opinion Section: Bannings for a reason. It gives information or opinion about why cards were banned in Standard. Paper Magic and online play use the same rules and B&R lists. The paper players are the driving force. There's way more of them and keep the game alive. If players won't be coming to LGSs to buy product and participate in organized play what is going to happen to Magic? What do you think? Some LGSs seriously need support. I've run a store for few years and it's not easy, especially during certain periods (pre-rotation) and when some are 'artificially' created and last long everyone suffers from it. WotC, players, stores and it also affects Magic Online. Even though I don't play much paper anymore even I could see the attendance waning. From 25 players Standard events to events that do not even fire. Lowest attendance PPTQs in the history of all stores in our country (our city -> 28 players in one store, 8 in another, 10 in the last one? Seriously? 54 player RPTQ!).
It's actually the same as the case with Worth. Yes, some people will be glad about him being let go. But it is something that will affect Worth's life and family. The LGS owners struggle now as well. While prerelease events are one of the most lucrative events they can't even make up for Standard and Modern events that struggled to fire for quite a long time. This means that some stores struggle to even stay open.

I didn't play Standard much on modo, only played because of PPTQs and such but lately I started to play and when normally I don't play against the same person twice in a month or even a year, and now I got to play against 3 same people in three Leagues, 3 times! I've played matches against others twice. This may not be objective way to see how many players play, but certainly is not something that should be happening in a format that is the most played one. I practically know Vintage players and Legacy players are the same as well. But in Standard??

As for promoting paper play. Wizards of the Coast actually promoted play in stores at several occasions on Magic Online. That does not bother you?

Shouldn't we all strive to keep the game alive? And if we want our digital version, we need to keep the paper version alive.

++100% this comment. by Paul Leicht at Tue, 01/17/2017 - 04:06
Paul Leicht's picture

++100% this comment.

re by Hearts at Mon, 01/16/2017 - 08:59
Hearts's picture

Worth could be the biggest jerk or the best person imaginable.

We dont know, no lgs owner knows, and no random profile commenter on puremtgo knows.

All the bad stuff wotc has done they have done as a team. Paper/digital side is the same. The board decides.

Wotc are idiots and will probably continue to be idiots...

I only interacted with Worth by Paul Leicht at Mon, 01/16/2017 - 16:24
Paul Leicht's picture

I only interacted with Worth very slightly (an abandoned game years ago and a commander game in the commander product beta that was a blast for all) so I can't really attest to his likability at a personal level but the man has been in the trenches with us for a long long time.

"Hamtastic" had only good things to say about him (ofc Erik was kind to all but he didn't talk about everyone.) The forums post where WOTC was constantly barraged with complaint after complaint (many not only justified but not even loud enough in retrospect, imho) he posted and responded and stuck in there where others fled.

He was responsible (at the urging of many of the forum members) for pushing Power online. Maybe he didn't do it exactly how I would have, and maybe there were some aspects of his job I felt he could have done better/differently, and maybe he alienated a good portion of the community with certain policies and the tightlipped responses to the outcry from those policies but I think he was a good captain of the MTGO ship.

I say he will be missed. I am also gravely concerned about what his firing means for us. Will MTGO remain a staltwart program (such as it is) in this era of slash and burn everything? Or will it go the way of Appr32 to be replaced by MTGOjr? Only time will tell but this kind of worry makes me wish for stability not change.

re by Hearts at Mon, 01/16/2017 - 09:27
Hearts's picture

Best or worst worker possible it should be, writing "best or worst person" is being ludicrous i agree.