Editorial Section:
Much love to Biggie Smalls, who I'm sure would have heartily approved of the "Big Pauper" format. Last time I tried to write a PDC themed State of the Program puremtgo got nailed by repeated SQL Injections and the PDC week was canceled, more or less. However, with the upcoming Pauper Premier event coming up shortly, and a large amount of the real 'MTGO News' lately being tied to Pauper in one way or another... I figured it was time to revisit a Pauper based article this week.
My first subsection of the editorial section will be some buying tips for new Pauper players. I've been in touch with a lot of new players lately. A LOT of new players. Dozens and dozens in fact. One thing they've mentioned to me is that when they order from sites it takes a while to get their cards, and when they want other cards they have to go through the entire process again. And again. Many of them weren't aware of Bot Credits*, or if they were aware of them, they weren't sure how the credit system worked. This is especially helpful for getting a hold of medium priced commons.
Caveat Emptor:
First and foremost, be careful of whom you trust, this is your hard earned money after all. There are many people who are missing credit thanks to leaving it in Supernova or Yatbot accounts. For those who weren't around to know about either of those names they were bot chains in V2 that never made it to V3, and have essentially hosed their users. *sad panda* Also, a recent scam involving CardBoosterShop has made others skittish of entrusting their money with a bot chain. If you're going to trust a bot to hold your money, stick with the large dealers that have a reputation. Ask around to other, older players if the bot chain you're looking at leaving Credits with is trustworthy. There are a few dealers and bot chains that I trust with my credits.
The Upside:
So, with all those risks, why take the chance? Speed, availability and cost. Have you ever been kept awake until all hours working on a deck and just need that one specific card? If not, wait, it'll happen eventually. If the only way you get cards is to put in an order on a website, you may have to wait until morning... and good luck sleeping with a nearly completed deck rattling around in your brain. With credit in a bot you can hop in, hop out, and finish that deck idea. Another thing I mentioned is the speed of acquisition. Instead of submitting a form, waiting in line, and then getting your cards you have them instantaneously. Lastly, I mentioned cost. Depending on how your paying/etc, you can actually get cards a bit cheaper if you purchase bot credits and then go and get the cards.
The Downside:
Usually right when a set is released card prices are inflated and selection is scarce. During this time, if your only way to grab those cards is on Bot Credit you'll be looking at paying a premium price for them. This often means waiting for a week or two for the prices to drop from release event inundation to trickle through the system and into the bots. Generally though, for buying lots of small priced cards, I would recommend using bot credits of your favorite dealers. I've done this myself as I was building up my playsets of commons over time. It made things a lot faster and a lot less hassle for me to do this.
General Pauper buying hints:
- Buy your cards around the end of the release events. Prices will be the most depressed at this point.
- Keep an eye out for Classic set releases. These commons seem to be the most wildly fluctuating cards.
*Notice how I didn't mention any specific site/bot chain/etc... That was on purpose. Of course I'd love for you to shop at mtgotraders as it helps to pay for this site, but it's not the only big dealer that offers this. I do try to be balanced and fair with what I suggest. Another caveat: I'm not telling anyone to buy extra cards or buy something they wouldn't normally buy. I'm merely suggesting a more efficient way to approach the need.
Discussion Items:
Beta Sign-ups! -
Sign up for the Conflux Beta. Many will enter, few will win!
Textless Fireball Promo -
Textless. Fireball. What else needs to be said? Winners get foil ones too!
Tournament/Format Brainstorming -
Some really good thoughts on other formats for MTGO. A good read for things to think about.
Prices:
NEW!!! The following are the top 5 sellers per format for the past week. Not top cost, but the most sold this week (as per MTGOTraders).
Standard:
1) Rootwalla
2) Terror
3) Wickerbough Elder
4) Mulldrifter
5) Naturalize
Extended:
1) Quick Sliver
2) Rite of Flame
3) Magma Spray
4) Echoing Truth
5) Frogmite
Classic:
1) Counterspell
2) Lotus Petal
3) Lightning Bolt
4) Diabolic Edict
5) (Sensei`s Divining Top)
I remember two weeks ago, it was a huge deal to see a common in both of the top lists... it happened again! Keep on rockin' paupers! The rest seem pretty straight forward, really.
Ham Jones: aka the price of 1x all cards on MTGO. A collection of 1x of all the cards would have gained 81 tickets this week. WOW!
And some custom requests this week from the fine folks at www.pdcmagic.com:
Conclusion:
Whew! That's a metric ton of information gathering for the week... and I'm spent. See you in seven!
~hamcrest out!
14 Comments
I like these weekly breakdowns, and I love pauper..
For a fun factoid, I found the top 18 most expensive commons, according to mtgo traders. Note: I took the lowest-priced version of the card, available. So, while dark ritual is 3.00 in some sets, it didn't make the lest b/c it is available for only $1. Let me know if y'all spot any mistakes:
1. Armadillo Cloak:
3.92
2. Fireblast:
3.00
2. Thunderbolt
3.00
4. Terminate:
2.94
5. Lightning bolt:
2.50
5. Crypt Rats:
2.50
7. Exclude:
2.43
8. Lotus Petal 2.00
9. River boa
1.75
10. Rite of Flame:
1.50
10. Phyrexian Walker:
1.50
10. Muscle Sliver
1.50
13. Sulfur Vent:
1.46
14. Cabal ritual:
1.25
14. Cranial plating:
1.25
14. Deadly insect(promo)
1.25
14. Impulse
1.25
18. Obsidian acolyte:
1.21
Thats pretty funny how Wickerbough Elder is among the top sold. Ive been looking at the SPDC forums, and that card is in like every GW deck. Just thought that was cool. Keep up the good articles Hammy.
When I first started pauper, I looked at the most expensive commons. Made me kinda mad that a poor mans format would have cards that expensive for a four of. But thats life, and I like pauper again.
Gush is 6.50 and Daze 8.50
Those are not so common commons. :)
Has anyone looked at the meteoric rise the price of natural order? I reckon it's doubled its price over the last month
is it part of some new deck? always loved that card and try to abuse it constantly.
I have a feeling the price went up after the conflux spoilers went out and progenitus was spoiled.. Natural order out a progenitus and it's pretty much gg.
As of Wed last week, Natural Order was a 3.25 ticket card. Checking today it's at 12. Either it's in a Competitive deck that's about to put up some good numbers or it's speculation for the big beefy 5Color creatures we're about to get.
I imagine it will be in the Movers and Shakers next week. :)
Ah yes, add gush and daze to the top of the "most expensive commons" list.
Nice added value. A three-column table for the format-movers could improve the visuals maybe. And how about an overlay of the actual Ham Jones curve into the diagram, so that one could see the total ups and downs in one graph? Does not have to match the scale, but if you aren't mentioning by how much the whole index moved one would not really know. Oh and Magma Spray aint no Extended card yet. :)
Good comments Blade, I'll see what I can do for the next article. :)
I've been following your series for a while now. In the beginning, they were messy and difficult to read. I kept coming back to check the economy, and little else (side note: when world economy falters, MTGO gets healthy?). Now, I look forward to them. You've made great strides with the layout and how you present information.
That said, I noticed the past 2 weeks or so, you've been showing off a few cards that have gained dramatically in price over a long period of time, like Lightning Bolt and Rite of Flame. This is interesting and useful information.
But, I'm thinking, what about the opposite? What about cards that been knocked from their pedestal? Old standard threats? Cards that used to be expensive but have fallen off the radar? I'm always looking to score good cards on the cheap, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
This is a great idea, and I think I'll start tracking something like that in the future! :)