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By: one million words, Pete Jahn
Jun 02 2017 12:00pm
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State of the Program for June 2nd 2017
 
In the News
Changes to Online Constructed PTQs: Wizards is changing how constructed Pro Tour qualification works on MTGO. Beginning June 14th, Wizards is eliminating the qualifier round for constructed PTQs. This means that the constructed PTQs will be larger and more rounds, but finish in one day.   Limited PTQs will still require succeeding in a qualifying event. The announcement is here.
 
Redemption Deadline Approaching: Redemption for Kaladesh and Aether Revolt ends next week. 
 
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.
 

Upcoming Events
Timing
No Downtime
June 7th, June 21st
Extended Downtime
June 28th
Current Leagues End
July 10, 2017
Amonkhet Limited Championship (details here)
June 18th
Amonkhet Standard Championship (details here)
June 25th
Hour of Devastation release
July, 2017
Ixalan release
September 25, 2017
Commander 2017 details here.
November 2017 on MTGO
Next B&R Announcement
June 14, 2017
KLD and AER Redemption Ends
June 7, 2017 
DTK, ORI, BFZ & OGW Redemption Ends
November 2, 2017
SOI and EMN Redemption Closes
April 28, 2018

 
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
Early 2000s Standard (details here)
June 1st
June 7th
Mirrodin Era Standard (details here)
June 7th
`June 14th
 
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. 
 
 
 
Cutting Edge Tech
Standard: I decided to look at the SCG Standard Classic from last weekend, instead of League play. The Top 16 decklists are here. The one advantage to the SCG event – it was won by something other than Aetherworks Marvel.
 
Modern: SCG ran a Modern Open last weekend. The Top 32 decklists are here.  It has a really wide selection of archetypes, which says good things about the format.  Alternatively, you could look at the results from GP Copenhagen, which was also Modern and also won by Grixis Death Shadow. Coverage of that GP, including decklists, is here.   Finally, Wizards also ran GP Kobe, which was yet another huge Modern event. Coverage of that GP is here.
 
1V1 Commander: The format is happening, and we have more 5-0 decklists. This week’s development is that some of the partnering Commanders have made appearances. I won’t list the decks, but here are the Commanders, in order:
·       Kraum, Ludevic's Opus  and  Vial Smasher the Fierce
·       Thrasios, Triton Hero and  Vial Smasher the Fierce
·       Azusa, Lost But Seeking (two copies)
·       The Gitrog Monster
·       Baral, Chief of Compliance
·       Titania, Protector of Argoth
·       Tasigur, the Golden Fang (two copies)
·       Ruhan of the Fomori
 
Legacy: Combo decks are making a comeback, since Miracles is no longer tromping them down.  Here’s a creature-based combo deck.
 
Aluren
HITOGOROSHI80, 5-0, Competitive Legacy League - 74 Cards Total
Creature
4 Baleful Strix
4 Cavern Harpy
4 Coiling Oracle
4 Deathrite Shaman
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
2 Parasitic Strix
3 Shardless Agent
23 cards

Instant
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
11 cards
Sorcery
2 Ponder
2 cards

Enchantment
4 Aluren
4 cards
Land
2 Bayou
1 Forest
1 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
3 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
2 Verdant Catacombs
20 cards
 


Sideboard
2 Diabolic Edict
2 Flusterstorm
1 Fourth Bridge Prowler
4 Hymn to Tourach
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Zuran Orb
14 cards
 
Vintage: An interesting build won the most recent Vintage Daily. 
 
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 were down this week, with a couple minor exceptions.  Some of these price hikes must be due to other formats; I don’t think the mana works for Thought-Knot in Standard at the moment.    
 

Standard Cards
Price
Last Week
Change
% Change
$9.29
$10.40
($1.11)
-11%
$10.93
$11.12
($0.19)
-2%
$16.47
$12.81
$3.66
29%
$11.47
$7.26
$4.21
58%
$14.75
$15.53
($0.78)
-5%
$6.26
$6.79
($0.53)
-8%
$15.87
$15.98
($0.11)
-1%
$15.67
$16.94
($1.27)
-7%
$13.80
$14.12
($0.32)
-2%
$8.97
$11.90
($2.93)
-25%
$44.85
$45.86
($1.01)
-2%
$12.25
$11.73
$0.52
4%
$8.25
$8.51
($0.26)
-3%
$7.06
$9.49
($2.43)
-26%
$8.27
$8.53
($0.26)
-3%
$10.93
$9.74
$1.19
12%
$22.89
$28.61
($5.72)
-20%
$26.05
$24.37
$1.68
7%
$7.96
$8.56
($0.60)
-7%
$7.67
$7.14
$0.53
7%

Modern staples:  Modern prices generally rebounded. Most of the cards that fell after being reprinted in MM17 have come back to close to their pre MM17 levels.  
 

Modern Cards
Price
Last Week
Change
% Change
$28.25
$32.43
($4.18)
-13%
$31.68
$34.67
($2.99)
-9%
$18.13
$19.02
($0.89)
-5%
$20.89
$22.41
($1.52)
-7%
$33.38
$37.80
($4.42)
-12%
$24.47
$24.85
($0.38)
-2%
$27.85
$26.46
$1.39
5%
$38.13
$37.59
$0.54
1%
$37.04
$36.87
$0.17
0%
$27.06
$25.23
$1.83
7%
$23.35
$23.15
$0.20
1%
$33.42
$35.45
($2.03)
-6%
$27.11
$26.10
$1.01
4%
$68.86
$66.81
$2.05
3%
$45.35
$43.63
$1.72
4%
$26.33
$27.41
($1.08)
-4%
$26.72
$23.92
$2.80
12%
$24.61
$19.75
$4.86
25%
$27.53
$26.56
$0.97
4%
$30.38
$28.73
$1.65
6%
$32.50
$33.01
($0.51)
-2%
$17.73
$17.42
$0.31
2%

Legacy and Vintage: Again this week, Legacy is doing okay, but Vintage prices are crashing. If they don’t recover fast, I may take everything but Lotus off the table. The Power Nine is insanely expensive in the paper world, but not online. 
  

Legacy / Vintage Cards
Price
Last Week
Change
% Change
$14.92
$18.59
($3.67)
-20%
$56.42
$59.54
($3.12)
-5%
$20.62
$23.31
($2.69)
-12%
$25.64
$24.78
$0.86
3%
$58.68
$58.21
$0.47
1%
$40.87
$41.99
($1.12)
-3%
$42.64
$41.11
$1.53
4%
$38.25
$37.68
$0.57
2%
$30.04
$29.30
$0.74
3%
$39.51
$38.96
$0.55
1%
$23.54
$23.03
$0.51
2%
$40.24
$37.24
$3.00
8%
$26.06
$26.88
($0.82)
-3%
$41.47
$37.94
$3.53
9%
$19.73
$24.43
($4.70)
-19%
$147.32
$151.12
($3.80)
-3%
$53.58
$54.43
($0.85)
-2%
$69.27
$69.64
($0.37)
-1%
$37.26
$36.56
$0.70
2%
$21.25
$23.03
($1.78)
-8%
$57.14
$52.28
$4.86
9%

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.   Remember that Kaladesh and Eldritch Moon will go off redemption soon, even before the older sets. I’m not sure if I will keep the on the list once they are off redemption. I might, just because information on how Standard-legal sets are doing is interesting. 
 

Complete Set
Price
Last Week
Change
% Change
Aether Revolt
$70.46
$76.57
($6.11)
-8%
Amonkhet
$68.40
$74.89
($6.49)
-9%
Battle for Zendikar
$64.52
$65.60
($1.08)
-2%
Eldritch Moon
$108.36
$108.36
$0.00
0%
Kaladesh
$107.97
$110.68
($2.71)
-2%
Oath of the Gatewatch
$93.36
$92.37
$0.99
1%
Shadows over Innistrad
$66.22
$70.83
($4.61)
-7%
Treasure Chest
$2.36
$2.42
($0.06)
-2%
Amonkhet Booster
$3.33
$3.42
($0.09)
-3%

 
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. As always, Rishadan Port rules the roost. Black Lotus has fallen even further this week. Lotus now trails cards like Liliana and True-Name Nemesis, and Wasteland. Wasteland is a Tempest UNCOMMON that has been reprinted three times since then. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
 

Name
Set
Rarity
 Price
Rishadan Port
 MM
Rare
 $   147.32
True-Name Nemesis
 C13
Rare
 $     70.88
True-Name Nemesis
 PZ1
Mythic Rare
 $     69.27
Liliana of the Veil
 MM3
Mythic Rare
 $     69.06
Liliana of the Veil
 ISD
Mythic Rare
 $     68.86
Wasteland
 TE
Uncommon
 $     61.27
Wasteland
 EXP
Mythic Rare
 $     60.56
Exploration
 UZ
Rare
 $     58.68
Wasteland
 TPR
Rare
 $     57.75
Wasteland
 EMA
Rare
 $     57.14
Black Lotus
 VMA
Bonus
 $     56.42
Mystic Confluence
 PZ1
Rare
 $     55.69
Show and Tell
 UZ
Rare
 $     53.58
Mox Opal
 MS2
Bonus
 $     49.67
Force of Will
 MED
Rare
 $     48.91
Mox Opal
 SOM
Mythic Rare
 $     46.17
Mox Opal
 MM2
Mythic Rare
 $     45.35
Liliana, the Last Hope
 EMN
Mythic Rare
 $     44.85
Force of Will
 EMA
Mythic Rare
 $     44.21
Force of Will
 MS3
Special
 $     43.20
Force of Will
 VMA
Rare
 $     42.64
Misdirection
 MM
Rare
 $     41.47
Ensnaring Bridge
 MS2
Bonus
 $     40.99
Food Chain
 MM
Rare
 $     40.87
Leovold, Emissary of Trest
 PZ2
Mythic Rare
 $     40.24
Chalice of the Void
 MS2
Bonus
 $     40.11
Infernal Tutor
 DIS
Rare
 $     39.51
Chalice of the Void
 MMA
Rare
 $     39.20
Engineered Explosives
 MS2
Bonus
 $     38.96
Engineered Explosives
 MMA
Rare
 $     38.53
Gaea's Cradle
 UZ
Rare
 $     38.25
Engineered Explosives
 5DN
Rare
 $     38.13
Ensnaring Bridge
 7E
Rare
 $     37.75
Unmask
 V16
Mythic Rare
 $     37.43
Unmask
 MM
Rare
 $     37.26
Horizon Canopy
 EXP
Mythic Rare
 $     37.22
Ensnaring Bridge
 8ED
Rare
 $     37.11
Ensnaring Bridge
 ST
Rare
 $     37.04
Mox Diamond
 ST
Rare
 $     34.73
Tarmogoyf
 MMA
Mythic Rare
 $     34.53
Tarmogoyf
 MM3
Mythic Rare
 $     33.64
Horizon Canopy
 FUT
Rare
 $     33.42
Chalice of the Void
 MRD
Rare
 $     33.38
Tarmogoyf
 MM2
Mythic Rare
 $     33.23
Tarmogoyf
 FUT
Rare
 $     32.50
Batterskull
 NPH
Mythic Rare
 $     31.68
Mox Diamond
 TPR
Mythic Rare
 $     30.97
City of Traitors
 EX
Rare
 $     30.72
City of Traitors
 TPR
Rare
 $     30.68
Surgical Extraction
 MM2
Rare
 $     30.58
Ancestral Vision
 DD2
Rare
 $     30.51
Surgical Extraction
 NPH
Rare
 $     30.38
Grim Monolith
 UL
Rare
 $     30.04
Mox Diamond
 V10
Mythic Rare
 $     29.95
Containment Priest
 PZ1
Rare
 $     28.94
Ancestral Vision
 TSP
Rare
 $     28.25
Eidolon of the Great Revel
 JOU
Rare
 $     27.85
Noble Hierarch
 CON
Rare
 $     27.81
Underground Sea
 ME2
Rare
 $     27.65
Scapeshift
 MOR
Rare
 $     27.53
Scalding Tarn
 EXP
Mythic Rare
 $     27.42
Gorilla Shaman
 ALL
Common
 $     27.19
Karn Liberated
 NPH
Mythic Rare
 $     27.17
Torrential Gearhulk
 MS2
Bonus
 $     27.16
Volcanic Island
 ME3
Rare
 $     27.13
Fulminator Mage
 SHM
Rare
 $     27.12
Karn Liberated
 MM2
Mythic Rare
 $     27.11
Fulminator Mage
 MM2
Rare
 $     27.06
Noble Hierarch
 MM2
Rare
 $     26.72
Containment Priest
 C14
Rare
 $     26.65
Mishra's Bauble
 CSP
Uncommon
 $     26.33
Underground Sea
 ME4
Rare
 $     26.25
Meren of Clan Nel Toth
 PZ1
Rare
 $     26.06
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
 BFZ
Mythic Rare
 $     26.05
Doomsday
 WL
Rare
 $     25.64
Scalding Tarn
 MM3
Rare
 $     25.64
Volcanic Island
 ME4
Rare
 $     25.38
Dark Depths
 CSP
Rare
 $     25.04

 
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 $ 24,870. That’s down $20 from last week – remarkably little change this week or for the whole month.
 
Weekly Highlights
Another week of the Team Draft Super League is online. It's been fun to watch.   I have also been enjoying the Enter the Battlefields videos, which I can often watch during lunch.  As for playing Magic, though - not this week.  It's Public TV Auction this week, so I get to spend all my free hours in the studio.  No actual Magic... 
 
PRJ
 
“One Million Words” 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.  
 
 

 

28 Comments

Price Chart by Sensei at Fri, 06/02/2017 - 14:16
Sensei's picture

Commander (multi and 1v1) is indisputably played more than vintage online. You should name the third chart True Dual Formats or Wasteland/FoW Formats and then include Fiery+Mystic Confluence.

I'd really love to hear from by Paul Leicht at Fri, 06/02/2017 - 19:53
Paul Leicht's picture

I'd really love to hear from Pete what he thinks the causes of the decline in vintage prices are. I mean this has been happening almost from the beginning, with a few spikes here and there. There was a brief 2-3mo period around the end of last year/beginning of this one where the prices rose a bit back towards their old positions but then they dramatically fell again. So much so that I felt no qualms about trading off my Black Lotus on Pucatrade. (at the time it was around $80 and now it's under $60.) Any thoughts Pete?

Recently the P9 got 6x as by Cheater Hater at Sat, 06/03/2017 - 02:25
Cheater Hater's picture

Recently the P9 got 6x as likely to show up in chests (frequency 1 to 6), so that's probably part of it. I wonder if the visibility of Vintage has something to do with it as well (VSL and/or Eternal Champs).

Even with the increase in by Rerepete at Sat, 06/03/2017 - 12:05
Rerepete's picture

Even with the increase in frequency, I have yet to crack a P9 from a chest :(

But with the prices falling, I can soon afford them outright. :)

Of course, you still aren't by Cheater Hater at Sun, 06/04/2017 - 04:26
Cheater Hater's picture

Of course, you still aren't likely to open a piece of power--the size of the pool is 7854 cards, so a little over 1 per 150 curated slots/600 chests--even I didn't open that many :)

I've opened a Sapphire and a by JXClaytor at Mon, 06/05/2017 - 03:14
JXClaytor's picture

I've opened a Sapphire and a Timetwister, but I also have an incredible amount of ten play points two garbage commons from standard chests as well :/

re by Hearts at Sat, 06/03/2017 - 14:17
Hearts's picture

P9 rising frequency from 1 to 6 is another way that wotc is doing fraud to those who collected P9 earlier under different circumstances.

Not to be baited, but it is, by Rerepete at Sun, 06/04/2017 - 13:01
Rerepete's picture

Not to be baited, but it is, IMO, not fraud in any sense of the word.

WoTC's Reprint policy means that any card MAY be reprinted (barring, of course, the reserved list in paper). The frequency change is just an extension of that.

At least they are wiser in the fact they are not doing another Chronicles (which, BTW, as a new player at the time, I loved).

And I doubt that anyone collects these days, it is more in line with "get ~ because I want to use it"; so those that acquired P9 at release prices likely got their "investment" back at the time. Similar in vein to buying standard "Hot Cards" during their time in standard.

Chronicles was great! I by JXClaytor at Sun, 06/04/2017 - 18:22
JXClaytor's picture

Chronicles was great! I loved that set so much.

My only gripe was the quality by Paul Leicht at Sun, 06/04/2017 - 18:57
Paul Leicht's picture

My only gripe was the quality of the card material (very very poor compared to other old sets.) Oh and White Borders for Pete's sake!?? Yuckity Yuck yuck. But at least now White borders are hot and so :)

"And I doubt that anyone by Lawnmower Elf at Mon, 06/05/2017 - 03:01
Lawnmower Elf's picture

"And I doubt that anyone collects these days"

Your doubts are unfounded. I collect. I have a huge collection of cards.

I like to brew all formats, including the weird ones and need access to more cards than your "standard" player.

I bought these P9 cards at top price and expected the "special rarity" value of these was something that wotc would preserve. That was their blurb at the time.

Since treasure chests were introduced I have watched the dollar value of my collection crash.

Wotc are partly funding their prize payouts by sacrificing the value of my collection. And I am not happy about it :(

It's not fraud, it's legal. It is also behaviour unlikely to encourage people to collect cards. What does the first C in CCG stand for again ?

Your collection value is by JXClaytor at Mon, 06/05/2017 - 03:13
JXClaytor's picture

Your collection value is dropping due to a whole host of factors though, it's not just one thing that wotc did in regards to treasure chests. Since chests were introduced, players have left the client, there is a lot of unease about what Magic Digital Next means, not only for the game but MTGO as well. Everyone's collection is dropping.

The power nine tanking is not just due to treasure chests. Power Nine challenges, a saturation of the cards and a player base that does not have the chance to play leagues (having to do Daily events still is not great for the vintage community I think, and the 1v1 leagues may be a test to support vintage in league form, but then the prize issue has to be dealt with there as well, because Vintage players will want top prizes for their investment), and a general malaise about the format has hurt the format online.

WotC punted the power nine. They punted Vintage.

According to Wikipedia though, the first c could mean collectible, or customizable, but according to WotC the first T means trading. Even wotcs old patents refer to it as a trading card game.

I really hope I'm not coming off as a jerk here, and I am empathetic towards collections losing value, because I've watched mine sink like a stone as well. It sucks and I am sorry.

Have you both actually by stsung at Mon, 06/05/2017 - 07:22
stsung's picture

Have you both actually checked the price of your collection pre-Treasure Chests and now? I haven't really done it wholly because I didn't include commons and uncommons and I regret not doing it at the time...but I never expected that I would need the data for comparison later, I just wanted a rough idea of what was on my account and what I could sell (I know there are expensive cards like Wasteland, Force of Will, Daze and even cards like Slippery Bogle, Nettle Sentinel, Moxmonkey etc).

While the price of many cards indeed did crash (power nine, liliana of the veil, rishadan port, blood moon, wasteland etc) the whole collection (rares/mythics) doesn't cost that much less than I would have thought.

The day before the announcement which was when the prices already starting to go down it showed 4977USD (note that these same cards cost about 3.8k USD the first time I bothered to check this part of collection price), the day after it showed 3921USD and was on a decline for quite a while. It even reached 3k USD which felt pretty bad for me and I was starting to regret that I didn't sell my collection for 5k. When I checked again though the total prize of some of the rares and mythics that I checked the price of earlier was 4861USD. How about your collections? Maybe you'd find that your collection didn't drop that much in value actually. Or I'm just lucky to own cards that spiked? I don't think so.

Power Nine is getting cheaper and cheaper and while I don't really like that much it means that there might be more Vintage players in the future. Vintage is becoming less and less expensive to enter. From decks costing about 700-900tix we have decks in 500-700 range. The issue with the format is that we don't have Leagues yet and Power Nine Challenges were a joke prize-wise which meant people weren't too much enthusiastic about them. I won a second power that I sold immediately and that did not even cover my entry! (ignore the PP) while Legacy challenge at least provided players with a set of Duals and whatnot...In many cases I went 4-2 and didn't really win anything. :-/ and I could have been anywhere between top8 and 17-20th. But it's getting better I see 'new' players. Mostly it is grinders but well we also need those. Any player that joins Vintage events is a good one.

2-mans are bad ... since they changed it to 30/5 prize and not so many people play them. But we are all very enthusiast about EDH Leagues. Still it would be cool if we could play Vintage when we want. I entered 3 DEs this weekend 1 fired. EDH League with 150 people in it worked, then why Vintage couldn't work as well?

just my two cents...
take it easy.

Same. I bought in at by Paul Leicht at Mon, 06/05/2017 - 11:22
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Same. I bought in at double-triple the prices they are now. It hurts my brain to think how much loss my account has taken due to the MTGO economy collapse.

:Wotc are partly funding by longtimegone at Mon, 06/05/2017 - 18:56
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duplicate post

:Wotc are partly funding by longtimegone at Mon, 06/05/2017 - 18:55
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:Wotc are partly funding their prize payouts by sacrificing the value of my collection. And I am not happy about it :(

WotC is paying 100% of all constructed prizes directly out of the pockets of people holding constructed cards, this has been the case ever since the switch over to treasure chests.

Outside of paying tickets by Cheater Hater at Tue, 06/06/2017 - 14:36
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Outside of paying tickets (which WotC can't legally do), how else can WotC do payouts? Paying boosters took money out of the pockets of people playing Limited (by making their prizes worth less), and more people playing Limited means that Constructed product (at least for current sets) is worth less. (and honestly, part of that is probably the draft leagues--I wish the confluence of draft leagues, treasure chests, and awful Standard hadn't all happened at the same time so we could isolate the effects of each one on the economy).

I don't think it's a punt by by MichelleWong at Mon, 06/05/2017 - 08:32
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5

I don't think it's a punt by WotC. WotC's prime goal is to make Standard the "go-to" format. Keeps the shareholders happy after each annual report. Makes the executive team look good that they bring in all this extra $ each year, more bonuses for them etc. Making Vintage unappealing is a step towards achieving their goal.

In short, they care about the shareholders not losing money, not you losing money. Shareholders open champaigne bottles whilst the end-users see their Vintage collection value sink like stones. And who can blame them, they are a business.

I have a question regarding the annual Eric Friborg Hamtastic Vintage Community Cup event. Did WotC not sponsor it last year because we did not approach them, or because they refused? Anyone have any information on this? Did Blippy or someone else approach them last year? How about this year?

I've poked them on Twitter, by AJ_Impy at Mon, 06/05/2017 - 09:32
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I've poked them on Twitter, no response yet.

I believe the Community Cup by JXClaytor at Mon, 06/05/2017 - 13:58
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I believe the Community Cup is no longer a thing, and that is ok, and it's not.

I'd like to see WotC say that they are better off spending their marketing/event budget on stuff like the preprereleases, the streamer showdowns, because I honestly feel that they get more exposure from those events than they do from the community cup, plus they have to be much more cost effective and better at capturing the attention of the target audience than the cup is/was. I think that moving away from it is the best idea. It stopped being about MTGO and became a streamer fest anyways, and there are just better ways to do it.

It's not ok because hammy was a friend, and it honored him. He was such an incredible person and while I panic attacked my way out of my own participation just being a part of it was an honor.

I don't think it is OK. I by Paul Leicht at Mon, 06/05/2017 - 14:13
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I don't think it is OK. I think it is a terrible let down and cop out and a further signal that the players don't matter. Erik aside, as much as he matters to us personally, we're a small group of players. The community cup brought us ALL together (a much larger group) and gave us something fun to look forward to and at some points to be involved with and taking it away because it isn't efficient marketing is a bad tasting, toxic pill.

The community cup was my by SteveJeltz at Mon, 06/05/2017 - 17:29
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The community cup was my favorite event of the year. Followed maybe by the Community Super League, which looks like it will go down as a 1-time occurrence. While I find it encouraging that WOTC is hiring a number of content creators to do everything from promotional videos to pro tour coverage, I do miss the more just for fun events.

Hi Steve,Are you referring by MichelleWong at Tue, 06/06/2017 - 03:32
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Hi Steve,

Are you referring to the Community Cup (the one with streamers and prominent community players being flown to the Headquarters for a weekend of various formats), or the Erik Friborg Memorial Vintage Event? I think I caused confusion by referring to the latter as a Community Cup.

The first one costs WotC a lot of money and time due to the flights and accommodation and staff time to organise it, the second one costs them peanuts (a few hundred tix). It doesn't bother me that the former one didn't take place last year, but it does matter to me that the Hamtastic Memorial Event was declined to be supported. I agree with Paul.

Ham on Wry organized by by Paul Leicht at Tue, 06/06/2017 - 12:09
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Ham on Wry organized by BlippyTheSlug was canceled due to it being too hard for Blippy to get going last year. The CCC is not related to that in anyway. I feel both are losses to the community.

Hi Michelle, I was referring by SteveJeltz at Wed, 06/07/2017 - 18:03
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Hi Michelle,

I was referring to the Community Cup that Wizards hosts in Renton with streamers and content creators.

re by Hearts at Tue, 06/06/2017 - 04:53
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How much has mtgo traffic fallen - since treasure chests were introduced ?
- since 2010 ?

re by Hearts at Thu, 06/08/2017 - 12:11
Hearts's picture

MtgO traffic has been reduced more than 80 percent since 2010. That is a lot and has its' reasons.

Source? by JXClaytor at Thu, 06/08/2017 - 15:18
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Source?