Editorial Section:
As I mentioned in the summary, I will be splitting off the tournament discussions into their own articles as they have gone beyond what I expected them to be in this editorial section, so look for the next chapter soon!  

This week there is some obviously huge news, and most of you have probably heard about it by now... that news being the recently announced large changes to Extended.  My first thought was "it's about time", which I'll elaborate on in a moment.  My second thought was "ouch".  Then I had a whole bunch of random thoughts.

It's about time
Seriously.  For a long time Extended has only existed for the sake of existing.  Meaning that as a format it only existed because it had been created long ago and was subsidized by WotC during Extended Pro Tour Qualifier seasons.  The amount of people that just "play Extended" is smaller than almost every other format Online.  It's even more lopsided in paper where if an old format is used it's almost always going to be Legacy since it prohibits really strong things from happening but allows for the most bizarre card interactions from pretty much every old set.  Extended, in its previous incarnation was so minutely played by the MTG playing population that I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did.  In fact, I've ranted about just that topic on the MTGO Message boards before.  Essentially, I noticed that the only time a significant amount of people even dabbled in Extended was when Wizards was essentially bribing them to do so.  That indicated a huge issue to me since if a format is that low on the totem pole it probably needs to have a good long look taken at its viability.  From the decision and announced format, it would appear that they have done just that, and I wholeheartedly agree with that decision.  But has the format been changed for the better?  Personally, I think so.  The original Extended announcement is here, and Randy Buehler's discussion of the change is here. The original extended was created to cut out older, more broken, interactions.  To essentially, as Randy stated it, not let their mistakes "linger".  This was the Extended rotation that cut the dual lands (and therefor Revised et al) out of the format.  Sadly I couldn't track down any forums of newsgroup posts from that era, but I presume that there was probably a similar reaction to the last few changes to the Extended format... which is to say, there was probably a good deal of anger from the people who just bought cards they assumed they'd get to play in the format.  Cards like the aforementioned Dual lands.  Which brings me to my next thought.  And of course I do realize that some people really enjoyed Extended.  And I also realize that it was a fairly well played format for Multiplayer as well.  But by and large, there really wasn't nearly enough demand to support its continued existence as it was being run.

Ouch
Without question I knew that there were going to be people that had purchased cards with the intention of playing in the next Extended season and wanted to beat the rush to it.  And lo and behold, there were many, many, many people in that boat.  To each of you impacted by this you have my sympathy.  You all did what you did on good faith and got blindsided.  There's nothing that I, nor anyone else can say that will make it any better for you.  I realize this doesn't make the impact any less, or make the experience any less frustrating.  

What I like about the new format:
With my first two thoughts out of the way I moved into "Optimistic Erik" mode and tried to figure out what I like the most about the new format.  The biggest one for me is that it really improves the value drop off that we used to see from Standard to Extended.  A great deck in Standard would all but disappear in Extended which would drastically depress the card values of said deck.   Now, a great Standard deck translates into a good Extended deck, and sometimes, probably, even a great Extended deck.  The last time that was true was Affinity and to a lesser extent, Faeries (although they kind of went Faerie/Wizard to abuse Riptide Laboratory's bouncing effects).  And if this change means that decks like Affinity only last for four years in Extended instead of seven then that's a very good thing.  Also, it means that when someone drops a hefty investment into a Standard deck they can have an Extended port of that deck which opens the format up to a LOT more players.  Suddenly a deck that someone has heavily invested (time, money and emotional investment) is just a few cards away from being an Extended viable deck!  And, of course, my internal conspiracy theorist cackled as this is the first obvious move to making the "new" old set format that we've heard rumored about for a few months.  Having 7 year Extended plus 'over-Extended' would be a death sentence for both.  However, if Extended was no longer closely competing with a new format there would be a lot more room to maneuver the new format into.  

What I dislike about the new format:
That's a lot of the good things I've thought about the format but there's always a second side to every change and this is no exception.  If you're sick of Jund and looked forward to not seeing it in Extended Season... that's not a certainty anymore.  Ditto for Faeries of the Lorwyn-era Standard.  They'll be back soon enough.  The gist of it is that if a deck dominates Standard then it's very possible that the same deck will just continue to dominate Extended.  Also one of the benefits to Extended was the depth of the card pool could completely break certain interactions.  Two card combos like Kiki Jiki and Pestermite, Cascade and Hypergenesis, Dark Depths and Vampire Hexmage and Thopter Foundry and Sword of the Meek were available and viable in that format.  Granted, some of those were powerful enough to bring the ban-hammer out to play, but it was more a testament of the unique and powerful interactions one could create in the format.  And a lot of that depth has been siphoned away.  The new format will assuredly be less deep and therefor, less intricate.  

Discussion Items:
New MOPR Rules:
In a nutshell, it's now much easier for the PLAYERS to rack up points by playing in events than it is for people just dropping money in the MTGO store.  All in all, I like this move 

System issues:
I love that this is now a news worthy item, instead of a regularly tracked metric.  That positive aside, we had some pretty terrible system performance the past weekend which caused a great deal of issues with people's plans.  As such, they modified the MOCS for the season, which can be found here.

Card Price Discussions:
The impacts of last week's Extended change have been fast and furious!  Cards have crashed and surged based upon whether or not they'll be Extended or Legacy viable in the next few weeks.  Namely, the Lorwyn block stuff went through the roof as it will be the basis of the next relevant Extended format.  Especially those wily Faeries.  Not a bad call on those speculating that they'll be an Extended powerhouse.  The main losers for the week were, again, old cards that have had a very large amount of new copies enter the system.  Along for the descent are cards that are leaving Standard with Scars, like Open the Vaults.

Card Price Charts:
bitterblossom chart
cryptic command chart
mutavault chart
cryptic command chart
avenger of zendikar chart
vendilion clique chart
reflecting pool chart
figure of destiny chart
thoughtseize chart
reflecting pool chart
master transmuter chart
scion of oona chart
secluded glen chart
murmuring bosk chart
mistbind clique chart
cryptic command chart
reveillark chart
fire_lit thicket chart
bitterblossom chart
mutavault chart
natural order chart
gideon jura chart
force of will chart
vengevine chart
null rod chart
taiga chart
tundra chart
vampiric tutor chart
tropical island chart
wasteland chart
natural order chart
open the vaults chart
sword of the meek chart
consuming vapors chart
blood moon chart
filigree angel chart
hatching plans chart
training grounds chart
herald of leshrac chart
coat of arms chart

Card Price Tables: