State of the Program for January 26th 2018
Redemption Updates: Starting at the end of this month, redemption requests will be processed early Tuesday mornings, instead of Thursdays. Amonkhet redemption will be available late February or early March. Ixalan reprints have been ordered, but no date yet.
Basics of Tournament Standings: Reid Duke wrote an article about standings called tournament basics Part I. Presumably he will cover calculating your chance of make Top 8 in Part II. Part I is
here. This sort of thing is critically important if you play in large paper events, but useful to know for things like the MOCS and online PTQs.
New Bug Blog: If you need to know what doesn’t work, go
here. Or, if that link is bugged,
here.
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. Not listed, but important: Wizards offers either one or two online PTQs each weekend, with qualifiers running the three days prior to the PTQ.
Upcoming Events
|
Dates
|
Scheduled Extended Downtimes
|
January 31st and February 28th
|
Constructed Leagues End
|
April 18, 2018
|
Sealed Leagues End
|
April 23, 2018
|
Core Set Magic 2019
|
July 13, 2018
|
25th Anniversary Edition Masters
|
March 16, 2018
|
Next B&R Announcement
|
February 12, 2018
|
SOI and EMN Redemption Ends
|
April 28, 2018
|
Ixalan Redemption Ends
|
May 23, 2018
|
Rivals of Ixalan Redemption Ends
|
May 23, 2018
|
WotC Covered Events
Wizards will be streaming a number of events next year, including all four Pro Tours, the Magic Championship and World Magic Cup, along with 35 Grand Prix. Since Wizards does not schedule premier events on prerelease weekends and certain holidays, that means they will be streaming an event nearly every weekend. Here’s the schedule we have so far.
· Jan. 27–28: Grand Prix London
· Feb. 3–5: Pro Tour Rivals of Ixalan in Bilbao, Spain
· Feb. 10–11: Grand Prix Toronto
· Feb. 17–18: Grand Prix Lyon
· Feb. 24–25: Grand Prix Memphis
· March 2–4: Magic Online Championship in Renton, Washington
· March 10–11: Grand Prix Madrid
· April 6–8: Grand Prix Seattle (double-GP weekend)
· April 14–15: Grand Prix Memphis
· April 28–29: Grand Prix Bologna
· May 5–6: Grand Prix Dallas
· May 11–13: Grand Prix Birmingham (double-GP weekend)
· May 26–27: Grand Prix Washington, DC
· June 1–3: Pro Tour Dominaria in Richmond, Virginia
· June 9–10: Grand Prix Copenhagen
· June 15–17: Grand Prix Las Vegas (double-GP weekend)
· June 23–24: Grand Prix Pittsburgh
· July 7–8: Grand Prix São Paulo
· July 21–22: Grand Prix Sacramento
· July 28–29: Grand Prix Minneapolis
· Aug. 3–5: Pro Tour 25th Anniversary in Minneapolis, Minnesota
· Aug. 11–12: Grand Prix Brussels
· Aug. 18–19: Grand Prix Los Angeles
· Aug. 25–26: Grand Prix Prague
· Aug. 31–Sept. 2: Grand Prix Richmond (double-GP weekend)
· Sept. 8–9: Grand Prix Detroit
· Sept. 15–16: Grand Prix Stockholm
· Weekend of Sept. 23–24: 2018 Magic World Championship and Team Series Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada (exact event dates TBD)
· Oct. 6–7: Grand Prix Montreal
· Oct. 13–14: Grand Prix Denver
· Oct. 27–28: Grand Prix Lille
· Nov. 3–4: Grand Prix Atlanta
· Nov. 9–11: Pro Tour "Spaghetti" in Atlanta
· Nov. 17–18: Grand Prix Milwaukee
· Dec. 8–9: Grand Prix Liverpool
· Dec. 14–16: World Magic Cup in Barcelona, Spain
2018 Magic Online Championship Series
Complete details, including schedule, rules, and which online events qualify you for which online or paper events is
here. Here are the main dates for the next quarter:
Event Date
|
Event Type
|
Event Format
|
Invites
|
Saturday, January 27
|
Monthly
|
Standard
|
February 10 MOCS Playoff
|
Sunday, January 28
|
Monthly
|
Ixalan-Rivals of Ixalan Sealed
|
February 10 MOCS Playoff
|
Saturday, February 10
|
Playoff
|
Standard
|
Magic Online Championship, Pro Tour Dominaria, PT Challenge at Pro Tour Dominaria
|
Magic Online Format Challenges
These are high stakes events that happen every weekend. They cost 25 Tix / 250 play points, and last a number of rounds based on participation (assume 5-8), plus a single elimination Top 8. Details, including prize payouts, are here. Start times are:
Event Type
|
Start Time
|
|
Saturday, 8:00 am PT
|
|
Saturday, 10:00 am PT
|
|
Saturday, 12:00 pm PT
|
|
Sunday, 8:00 am PT
|
|
Sunday, 10:00 am PT
|
Standard: SCG ran a team trios – meaning that each team had a Standard, Modern and Legacy player. Here’s what the winning team’s Standard player drove.
Modern: SCG ran a team trios – meaning that each team had a Standard, Modern and Legacy player. Here’s what the winning team’s Modern player played.
Pauper: Pauper is becoming a thing in the paper world. ChannelFireball is offering Pauper events at GPs now, and the events are popular. The event last weekend had 215 players, but I don’t have decklists. Here’s what I would have played.
Legacy: No big events during the prerelease weekend, so I looked to smaller events.
Vintage: No large Vintage events over the holidays, so I’m looking through the Leagues. This deck included a Conspiracy card I haven’t seen before:
Subterranean Tremors.
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 up again this week. Rivals cards are dropping form their opening week peak, but that’s totally expected.
Standard Cards
|
Price
|
Last Week
|
Change
|
% Change
|
|
$6.97
|
$11.16
|
($4.19)
|
-38%
|
|
$5.35
|
$6.11
|
($0.76)
|
-12%
|
|
$10.83
|
$10.35
|
$0.48
|
5%
|
|
$34.71
|
$28.41
|
$6.30
|
22%
|
|
$7.61
|
$6.90
|
$0.71
|
10%
|
|
$6.95
|
$6.36
|
$0.59
|
9%
|
|
$14.67
|
$9.51
|
$5.16
|
54%
|
|
$10.78
|
$8.50
|
$2.28
|
27%
|
|
$6.01
|
$11.08
|
($5.07)
|
-46%
|
|
$15.80
|
$21.22
|
($5.42)
|
-26%
|
|
$16.85
|
$11.65
|
$5.20
|
45%
|
|
$6.28
|
$8.39
|
($2.11)
|
-25%
|
|
$33.96
|
$33.95
|
$0.01
|
0%
|
|
$17.62
|
$17.34
|
$0.28
|
2%
|
|
$9.50
|
$10.04
|
($0.54)
|
-5%
|
|
$11.38
|
$10.26
|
$1.12
|
11%
|
Modern staples: Modern dropped for the third week in a row, but the changes are small.
Modern Cards
|
Price
|
Last Week
|
Change
|
% Change
|
|
$13.31
|
$13.38
|
($0.07)
|
-1%
|
|
$25.23
|
$25.74
|
($0.51)
|
-2%
|
|
$32.62
|
$32.76
|
($0.14)
|
0%
|
|
$29.57
|
$30.87
|
($1.30)
|
-4%
|
|
$13.55
|
$13.80
|
($0.25)
|
-2%
|
|
$18.31
|
$20.09
|
($1.78)
|
-9%
|
|
$20.40
|
$20.41
|
($0.01)
|
0%
|
|
$37.81
|
$36.99
|
$0.82
|
2%
|
|
$30.83
|
$33.57
|
($2.74)
|
-8%
|
|
$27.18
|
$28.30
|
($1.12)
|
-4%
|
|
$35.06
|
$34.84
|
$0.22
|
1%
|
|
$53.17
|
$57.69
|
($4.52)
|
-8%
|
|
$27.52
|
$29.31
|
($1.79)
|
-6%
|
|
$52.10
|
$59.10
|
($7.00)
|
-12%
|
|
$18.95
|
$18.99
|
($0.04)
|
0%
|
|
$29.72
|
$29.79
|
($0.07)
|
0%
|
|
$21.08
|
$22.02
|
($0.94)
|
-4%
|
|
$26.36
|
$28.98
|
($2.62)
|
-9%
|
|
$23.07
|
$22.74
|
$0.33
|
1%
|
Legacy and Vintage: A fair amount of churn this week, generally downwards.
Legacy / Vintage Cards
|
Price
|
Last Week
|
Change
|
% Change
|
|
$39.88
|
$46.76
|
($6.88)
|
-15%
|
|
$21.42
|
$21.04
|
$0.38
|
2%
|
|
$62.30
|
$71.25
|
($8.95)
|
-13%
|
|
$38.69
|
$39.07
|
($0.38)
|
-1%
|
|
$19.43
|
$20.37
|
($0.94)
|
-5%
|
|
$33.86
|
$34.37
|
($0.51)
|
-1%
|
|
$40.99
|
$40.99
|
$0.00
|
0%
|
|
$15.43
|
$20.16
|
($4.73)
|
-23%
|
|
$21.45
|
$19.48
|
$1.97
|
10%
|
|
$30.75
|
$31.89
|
($1.14)
|
-4%
|
|
$24.35
|
$24.27
|
$0.08
|
0%
|
|
$67.81
|
$70.70
|
($2.89)
|
-4%
|
|
$18.67
|
$19.86
|
($1.19)
|
-6%
|
|
$13.03
|
$14.53
|
($1.50)
|
-10%
|
|
$41.78
|
$42.98
|
($1.20)
|
-3%
|
Standard Legal Sets: This table tracks the cost of a single copy of every card in each Standard legal set, plus Treasure Chests and the current booster pack. I’ll keep tracking these because they are interesting (at least to me).
Complete Set
|
Price
|
Last Week
|
Change
|
% Change
|
Aether Revolt
|
$84.11
|
$76.66
|
$7.45
|
10%
|
Amonkhet
|
$80.36
|
$69.68
|
$10.68
|
15%
|
Ixalan
|
$76.85
|
$79.58
|
($2.73)
|
-3%
|
Hour of Devastation
|
$67.82
|
$65.92
|
$1.90
|
3%
|
Kaladesh
|
$113.70
|
$112.69
|
$1.01
|
1%
|
Rivals of Ixalan
|
$81.33
|
$122.45
|
($41.12)
|
-34%
|
Treasure Chest
|
$2.50
|
$2.51
|
($0.01)
|
0%
|
Ixalan Booster
|
$3.27
|
$3.41
|
($0.14)
|
-4%
|
Rivals of Ixalan Booster
|
$3.44
|
$3.41
|
$0.03
|
1%
|
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. Nothing is above a hundred bucks. The number of cards on the list continues to shrink.
Name
|
Set
|
Rarity
|
Price
|
Black Lotus
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 105.60
|
True-Name Nemesis
|
PZ1
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 71.72
|
True-Name Nemesis
|
C13
|
Rare
|
$ 67.81
|
Force of Will
|
MED
|
Rare
|
$ 63.43
|
Exploration
|
UZ
|
Rare
|
$ 62.30
|
Mox Sapphire
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 62.01
|
Mox Opal
|
SOM
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 58.74
|
Mox Opal
|
MM2
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 58.47
|
Liliana of the Veil
|
MM3
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 56.84
|
Ancestral Recall
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 56.17
|
Liliana of the Veil
|
ISD
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 53.17
|
Mox Opal
|
MS2
|
Bonus
|
$ 52.10
|
Mox Ruby
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 49.87
|
Mox Diamond
|
TPR
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 49.81
|
Mox Emerald
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 48.11
|
Wasteland
|
TE
|
Uncommon
|
$ 47.70
|
Mox Jet
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 44.47
|
Force of Will
|
EMA
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 44.45
|
Wasteland
|
TPR
|
Rare
|
$ 44.20
|
Wasteland
|
EXP
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 42.75
|
Wasteland
|
EMA
|
Rare
|
$ 41.78
|
Misdirection
|
MM
|
Rare
|
$ 40.99
|
Force of Will
|
VMA
|
Rare
|
$ 40.68
|
Mox Pearl
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 40.52
|
Black Lotus
|
VMA
|
Bonus
|
$ 39.88
|
Engineered Explosives
|
MMA
|
Rare
|
$ 39.45
|
Force of Will
|
MS3
|
Special
|
$ 38.69
|
Engineered Explosives
|
MS2
|
Bonus
|
$ 38.24
|
Engineered Explosives
|
5DN
|
Rare
|
$ 37.81
|
Time Walk
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 37.80
|
Ensnaring Bridge
|
7E
|
Rare
|
$ 37.53
|
The Scarab God
|
MS3
|
Special
|
$ 37.16
|
Karn Liberated
|
NPH
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 35.67
|
Unmask
|
V16
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 35.54
|
Scalding Tarn
|
EXP
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 35.10
|
Karn Liberated
|
MM2
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 35.06
|
Dark Depths
|
V16
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 34.76
|
Chandra, Torch of Defiance
|
KLD
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 34.71
|
Ensnaring Bridge
|
8ED
|
Rare
|
$ 34.09
|
Underground Sea
|
ME2
|
Rare
|
$ 34.07
|
The Scarab God
|
HOU
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 33.96
|
Leovold, Emissary of Trest
|
PZ2
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 33.86
|
Ensnaring Bridge
|
MS2
|
Bonus
|
$ 32.78
|
Celestial Colonnade
|
WWK
|
Rare
|
$ 32.62
|
Chalice of the Void
|
MS2
|
Bonus
|
$ 32.56
|
Ensnaring Bridge
|
ST
|
Rare
|
$ 30.83
|
Rishadan Port
|
MM
|
Rare
|
$ 30.75
|
Underground Sea
|
ME4
|
Rare
|
$ 30.69
|
Chalice of the Void
|
MMA
|
Rare
|
$ 30.42
|
Scalding Tarn
|
MM3
|
Rare
|
$ 30.24
|
Scalding Tarn
|
ZEN
|
Rare
|
$ 29.72
|
Chalice of the Void
|
MRD
|
Rare
|
$ 29.57
|
Horizon Canopy
|
FUT
|
Rare
|
$ 28.88
|
Horizon Canopy
|
IMA
|
Rare
|
$ 28.73
|
Blood Moon
|
8ED
|
Rare
|
$ 28.70
|
Cavern of Souls
|
MM3
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 28.36
|
Containment Priest
|
PZ1
|
Rare
|
$ 27.74
|
Containment Priest
|
C14
|
Rare
|
$ 27.60
|
Liliana, the Last Hope
|
EMN
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 27.52
|
Blood Moon
|
9ED
|
Rare
|
$ 27.29
|
Horizon Canopy
|
EXP
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 27.18
|
Gorilla Shaman
|
ALL
|
Common
|
$ 26.99
|
Surgical Extraction
|
MM2
|
Rare
|
$ 26.92
|
Surgical Extraction
|
NPH
|
Rare
|
$ 26.36
|
Cavern of Souls
|
AVR
|
Rare
|
$ 25.23
|
Tarmogoyf
|
MMA
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 25.17
|
Blood Moon
|
MMA
|
Rare
|
$ 25.11
|
Blood Moon
|
MS3
|
Special
|
$ 25.09
|
The big number is the retail price of a playset (4 copies) of every card available on MTGO. Assuming you bought the least expensive versions available, the cost of owning a playset of every card on MTGO is approximately $ 20,040. That’s down $680 from last week. A lot of that is due to the drop in Rivals cards from their week one highs.
Long and chaotic work week, with minimal Magic. I had to survive on a diet of podcasts (Limited Resources, Monday Night Magic, etc.) during my commute and a couple Reid Duke videos while multitasking. Reid Duke has been playing a lot of Jund variants, and I love Jund.
PRJ
“One Million Words” on MTGO
This series is an ongoing tribute to Erik “Hamtastic” Friborg.