State of the Program for May 4th 2018
Magic Online Conduct Update: Wizards has announced that they will be more aggressive in penalizing “chronically disruptive or toxic players.” The same options – warning, muting, suspension, all for varying lengths of time – but Wizards will be more severe up front. No specifics on why this is happening, but we have seen some instances of toxic behavior on streams, and at least one recent instance of players using fictitious trade requests to try to time out a competitor in the online PTQ. Bad behavior is bad, and I am happy to see that Wizards is taking action. As always – if you interact with a toxic player, report them. Details on Wizards new policy is
here.
Wizards Sends EVERY Local Game Store a Suspension Notice: As screw-ups go, this one is epic. Background: stores can qualify to be members of the Wizards Play Network (WPN). WPN membership is huge – it allows stores to schedule events and get access to special deals. Being removed from the WPN is for stores what a suspension is for players. On Tuesday, Wizards sent every store involved in the WPN a notice that the store was being removed from the network for “delinquent events.” Every store. Imagine if Wizards sent every single Magic player notification that they had a 3 year suspension for bad conduct. And, of course, the Wizards switchboards were jammed, so no one could find out what was going on.
Dominaria Prerelease: Wizards announced that the paper Dominaria Prerelease set the record for largest ever. More players played in more events than ever before, and more players got new DCI numbers at those events. Some were brand new players, and some were old players coming back after a long absence, and all that is great news for Wizards.
Team Play Design Wins Modern Super League: The Modern Super League has concluded. The team of Wizards employees for the Play Design group won the entire event, beating the team for ChannelFireball in the finals. So, if you have any question about whether the folks at play design can play… You can watch the finals are
here.
Foil Legends Missing on MTGO: During at least early release weekend, the coalition for Dominaria packs appeared to be messed up. The foil copies of 38 Legends were nowhere to be found. Apparently, there was a collation error. The best analysis I have found on this issue so far is
here.
Kelly Diggs Leaves Wizards: Kelly Diggs has said that he is no longer working for Wizards. No explanation – just a statement that neither congratulations nor commiserations are necessary. I wish him well. Kelly has done a lot of good stuff in his 11 years at Wizards, including being creative lead for Dominaria.
Reminder - You Must Target Planeswalkers: One of the rule changes coming with Dominaria is that you no longer need to – and, in fact, cannot – redirect damage from your opponent to your opponent’s Planeswalkers. Instead, you can target the Planeswalkers directly. If you bolt your opponent, you will not have an opportunity to change that to Jace, so be careful.
Professor’s Overview of the Arena Beta: If you are interested in MTG Arena, the
video is worth watching.
Wizards Fundraiser for the Seattle LGBTQ Community: Wizards is selling shirts and hoodies to support
Lambert House, a community house for the Seattle area LGBTQ community. The Magic related shirts, hoodies, etc – which feature a rainbow Planeswalker symbol, are available
here. The D&D related shirts, hoodies, etc – which feature a rainbow Dragon Ampersand symbol, are available
here.
Weekly MTG Show on Twitch: Wizards is launching a weekly Twitch.tv show on Thursdays at 2-3pm PT. The show will feature people from inside Wizards.
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 Downtimes
|
May 30th and June 27th (both extended)
|
Constructed Leagues End
|
July 3, 2018
|
Sealed Leagues End
|
July 6, 2018
|
Core Set Magic 2019
|
July 13, 2018
|
Next B&R Announcement
|
July 2, 2018
|
Ixalan Redemption Ends
|
May 23, 2018
|
Rivals of Ixalan Redemption Ends
|
May 23, 2018
|
Dominaria Redemption Ends
|
|
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.
· 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 and other events
Complete details, including schedule, rules, and which online events qualify you for which online or paper events is
here. In addition, Wizards will be offering these special formats:
· April 23rd forward: Dominaria
· May 16-23: Triple Lorwyn
· May 23-30: TBA
· May 30-June 6: CHK / CHK / BOK
· June 6-13: Battle of the Planes
· June 13-July 6: Vintage Cube
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
|
|
Sunday, noon PT
|
Opinion Section: More on the Arena Economy
|
I wanted to write more about the Arena economy this week. I did – but it turned in to a rant. I deleted it. What I wrote was funny, but unnecessarily harsh and pessimistic.
I have to keep telling myself that this is still in beta. Wizards is trying things out – including this approach to an economic model.
The main reason not to write this piece at this time – I really want to rant and kick stuff. I have spent three full days trying to resolve a few messes at work. Just one example: after negotiating, cajoling and leading dragging several attorneys through a statutory maze to a place we could all live with, the resolution was almost derailed because one of the attorneys could not file the consensus document. The server was throwing cryptic (to the attorney, at least) error messages. A couple hours later, after looking through guts of the application with some of our IT folks, I found the problem: the server was finding potentially malicious code in one of the fields. It was finding a non-ASCII character (other than @) in an email address. I had to contact the attorney, privately, and explain that email addresses have the @. Addresses with hashtags are something else. Once the attorney entered an email address in the box for email address, it worked.
This is beginning to be amusing, now, but it was just the topping on the sundae at work today. A couple hours from now I’ll probably be recovered, but a couple hours from now this article will be really, really late and Joshua will be as happy with me as I was with that attorney.
It was a great rant. Super caustic – but not something I should publish.
But I saved the draft. If next week is like this one, I may decide to rant away.
Standard: We have results from Dominaria Standard! You can find decklists from an SCG Classic
here, and the Standard Challenge
here. The SCG event decklists are a bit suspect since it is a lot harder to get paper cards the weekend the set releases, but the Challenge should reflect the new format. At least, for now.
Modern: Another week, another new archetype for Modern. This one uses the trick of casting Gifts Ungiven and finding just two cards – typically Elesh Norn and Unburial Rites. Both of those cards end up in the graveyard. End step Gifts means you can unbury Elesh Norn on your turn, which is often game over against a lot of decks.
1v1 Brawl: This format is officially stupid. The two playable commanders are Baral, Chief of Compliance and Ghalta, Primal Hunger. Last weekend’s
Brawl Challenge Top 16, featured 2 Ghalta’s – including the winning deck, and 14 copies of Baral. I’m not going to bother following the format until Wizards bans something. Will they? Well Wizards published an article on Tuesday where Michael Majors talked about how he finds 1v1 Brawl to be a great format for brewing. Right. Maybe the article was written a couple weeks ago. Speaking for experience, I can say it take a while for articles to get to get edited and posted on the mothership.
Legacy: SCG ran a teams format event, meaning one player playing Standard, the second playing Modern and the third playing a Legacy deck. This can create some strange results: a player could conceivably be carried through the event if his opponents win all their matches, but this is unlikely. The winning team fielded a Death and Taxes build in the Legacy slot. I haven’t featured Death and Taxes for a while, so here goes.
Vintage: The
Team Vintage Super Team is back, with team Vintage play. But this week I’m featuring a Vintage Challenge deck. It is driven by Paradoxical Outcome, but does not rely on a storm kill.
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 this week. As the new format shakes out, I expect a lot more changes.
Standard Cards
|
Price
|
Last Week
|
Change
|
% Change
|
Aethersphere Harvester
|
$10.14
|
$9.27
|
$0.87
|
9%
|
Carnage Tyrant)
|
$16.68
|
$17.42
|
($0.74)
|
-4%
|
Chandra, Torch of Defiance
|
$18.08
|
$20.05
|
($1.97)
|
-10%
|
Disallow
|
$6.14
|
$2.91
|
$3.23
|
111%
|
Gideon of the Trials
|
$8.49
|
$6.66
|
$1.83
|
27%
|
Hazoret the Fervent
|
$12.66
|
$10.29
|
$2.37
|
23%
|
Heart of Kiran
|
$13.88
|
$9.27
|
$4.61
|
50%
|
History of Benalia
|
$8.63
|
$15.80
|
($7.17)
|
-45%
|
Karn, Scion of Urza
|
$31.64
|
$27.87
|
$3.77
|
14%
|
Lyra Dawnbringer
|
$21.57
|
$12.58
|
$8.99
|
71%
|
Rekindling Phoenix
|
$23.43
|
$25.85
|
($2.42)
|
-9%
|
Rhonas the Indomitable
|
$6.45
|
$7.33
|
($0.88)
|
-12%
|
Scavenger Grounds
|
$6.92
|
$8.14
|
($1.22)
|
-15%
|
Settle the Wreckage
|
$9.46
|
$5.29
|
$4.17
|
79%
|
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
|
$17.83
|
$12.00
|
$5.83
|
49%
|
The Immortal Sun
|
$7.91
|
$6.26
|
$1.65
|
26%
|
The Scarab God
|
$13.67
|
$22.28
|
($8.61)
|
-39%
|
Torrential Gearhulk
|
$17.38
|
$12.10
|
$5.28
|
44%
|
Walking Ballista
|
$30.94
|
$23.72
|
$7.22
|
30%
|
Modern staples: Modern prices fell hard again this week. This might mean that people are beginning to abandon MTGO for Arena – but probably not. Arena can’t even manage match play. Or B&R lists. Or – pretty much everything.
Modern Cards
|
Price
|
Last Week
|
Change
|
% Change
|
|
$16.94
|
$17.46
|
($0.52)
|
-3%
|
|
$27.80
|
$29.78
|
($1.98)
|
-7%
|
|
$16.29
|
$18.84
|
($2.55)
|
-14%
|
|
$23.15
|
$26.73
|
($3.58)
|
-13%
|
|
$19.49
|
$22.64
|
($3.15)
|
-14%
|
|
$12.58
|
$13.44
|
($0.86)
|
-6%
|
|
$51.59
|
$56.08
|
($4.49)
|
-8%
|
|
$25.90
|
$27.60
|
($1.70)
|
-6%
|
|
$12.94
|
$15.72
|
($2.78)
|
-18%
|
|
$21.15
|
$23.78
|
($2.63)
|
-11%
|
|
$47.68
|
$65.26
|
($17.58)
|
-27%
|
|
$28.55
|
$32.88
|
($4.33)
|
-13%
|
|
$15.24
|
$22.33
|
($7.09)
|
-32%
|
|
$42.68
|
$52.29
|
($9.61)
|
-18%
|
|
$47.49
|
$49.44
|
($1.95)
|
-4%
|
|
$39.27
|
$45.13
|
($5.86)
|
-13%
|
|
$61.96
|
$68.33
|
($6.37)
|
-9%
|
|
$20.96
|
$29.28
|
($8.32)
|
-28%
|
|
$20.66
|
$23.86
|
($3.20)
|
-13%
|
|
$27.70
|
$38.37
|
($10.67)
|
-28%
|
|
$24.43
|
$29.03
|
($4.60)
|
-16%
|
Legacy and Vintage: Legacy and Vintage fall down go boom.
Legacy / Vintage Cards
|
Price
|
Last Week
|
Change
|
% Change
|
|
$31.50
|
$36.45
|
($4.95)
|
-14%
|
|
$25.83
|
$26.61
|
($0.78)
|
-3%
|
|
$15.29
|
$21.18
|
($5.89)
|
-28%
|
|
$19.91
|
$28.02
|
($8.11)
|
-29%
|
|
$16.28
|
$18.25
|
($1.97)
|
-11%
|
|
$32.69
|
$32.30
|
$0.39
|
1%
|
|
$38.91
|
$40.49
|
($1.58)
|
-4%
|
|
$12.99
|
$18.04
|
($5.05)
|
-28%
|
|
$37.52
|
$38.84
|
($1.32)
|
-3%
|
|
$29.55
|
$29.02
|
$0.53
|
2%
|
|
$14.08
|
$19.96
|
($5.88)
|
-29%
|
|
$81.04
|
$88.36
|
($7.32)
|
-8%
|
|
$21.14
|
$19.91
|
$1.23
|
6%
|
|
$13.83
|
$15.86
|
($2.03)
|
-13%
|
|
$33.06
|
$34.52
|
($1.46)
|
-4%
|
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
|
$117.83
|
$99.12
|
$18.71
|
19%
|
Amonkhet
|
$85.88
|
$76.66
|
$9.22
|
12%
|
Dominaria
|
$118.16
|
new
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
Ixalan
|
$92.19
|
$93.84
|
($1.65)
|
-2%
|
Hour of Devastation
|
$51.13
|
$60.10
|
($8.97)
|
-15%
|
Kaladesh
|
$94.02
|
$87.24
|
$6.78
|
8%
|
Rivals of Ixalan
|
$84.81
|
$84.42
|
$0.39
|
0%
|
Treasure Chest
|
$2.35
|
$2.53
|
($0.18)
|
-7%
|
Dominaria Booster
|
$3.45
|
$3.50
|
($0.05)
|
-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. The list has shrunk to 60 cards this week. That’s the smallest list in a long while.
Name
|
Set
|
Rarity
|
Price
|
True-Name Nemesis
|
PZ1
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 84.65
|
True-Name Nemesis
|
C13
|
Rare
|
$ 81.04
|
Black Lotus
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 70.14
|
Mox Opal
|
MM2
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 66.51
|
Mox Opal
|
MS2
|
Bonus
|
$ 62.78
|
Mox Opal
|
SOM
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 61.96
|
Force of Will
|
MED
|
Rare
|
$ 57.33
|
Horizon Canopy
|
EXP
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 55.06
|
Engineered Explosives
|
5DN
|
Rare
|
$ 53.40
|
Engineered Explosives
|
MMA
|
Rare
|
$ 53.12
|
Engineered Explosives
|
MS2
|
Bonus
|
$ 51.59
|
Liliana of the Veil
|
MM3
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 50.29
|
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
|
A25
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 49.27
|
Horizon Canopy
|
FUT
|
Rare
|
$ 48.36
|
Horizon Canopy
|
IMA
|
Rare
|
$ 47.68
|
Liliana of the Veil
|
ISD
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 47.49
|
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
|
VMA
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 44.15
|
Wasteland
|
TE
|
Uncommon
|
$ 43.46
|
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
|
WWK
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 42.90
|
Mox Diamond
|
TPR
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 42.79
|
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
|
EMA
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 42.68
|
Force of Will
|
MS3
|
Special
|
$ 41.67
|
Wasteland
|
TPR
|
Rare
|
$ 40.68
|
Force of Will
|
EMA
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 40.45
|
Liliana, the Last Hope
|
EMN
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 39.27
|
Force of Will
|
VMA
|
Rare
|
$ 38.91
|
Dark Depths
|
V16
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 37.80
|
Misdirection
|
MM
|
Rare
|
$ 37.52
|
Unmask
|
V16
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 36.34
|
Mox Sapphire
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 36.33
|
Wasteland
|
EXP
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 34.16
|
Ancestral Recall
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 33.60
|
Mox Emerald
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 33.19
|
Wasteland
|
EMA
|
Rare
|
$ 33.06
|
Cavern of Souls
|
MM3
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 32.95
|
Exploration
|
UZ
|
Rare
|
$ 32.69
|
Mox Ruby
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 32.34
|
Karn, Scion of Urza
|
DAR
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 31.64
|
Black Lotus
|
VMA
|
Bonus
|
$ 31.50
|
Walking Ballista
|
AER
|
Rare
|
$ 30.94
|
Ensnaring Bridge
|
MS2
|
Bonus
|
$ 30.54
|
City of Traitors
|
EX
|
Rare
|
$ 30.51
|
Underground Sea
|
ME4
|
Rare
|
$ 30.50
|
Karn Liberated
|
NPH
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 30.16
|
Underground Sea
|
ME2
|
Rare
|
$ 29.69
|
Show and Tell
|
UZ
|
Rare
|
$ 29.55
|
Surgical Extraction
|
NPH
|
Rare
|
$ 29.37
|
Mox Jet
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 29.09
|
Ensnaring Bridge
|
ST
|
Rare
|
$ 28.80
|
Karn Liberated
|
MM2
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 28.55
|
Tarmogoyf
|
FUT
|
Rare
|
$ 28.19
|
Ensnaring Bridge
|
7E
|
Rare
|
$ 27.86
|
Cavern of Souls
|
AVR
|
Rare
|
$ 27.80
|
Surgical Extraction
|
MM2
|
Rare
|
$ 27.70
|
Ensnaring Bridge
|
A25
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 27.66
|
Gorilla Shaman
|
ALL
|
Common
|
$ 26.47
|
Ensnaring Bridge
|
8ED
|
Rare
|
$ 25.90
|
City of Traitors
|
TPR
|
Rare
|
$ 25.83
|
Mox Diamond
|
ST
|
Rare
|
$ 25.40
|
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 $ 19,550. That’s down another $1,670 from last week. The Modern crash continues, and Vintage is following.
I ran a Dominaria sealed event last weekend. For the most part, the format and players were great. One player, however, should have stayed home. That player gave me a nasty plague at the event, and I have been just miserable ever since. That’s not Dominaria’s fault, though. However, it might be another reason to play Magic on MTGO instead of in paper. You cannot catch the flu from an online opponent.
PRJ
“One Million Words” on MTGO
This series is an ongoing tribute to Erik “Hamtastic” Friborg.