State of the Program for November 16th 2018
Pro Tour Results: Andrew Elenbogen defeated LSV in a white weenie mirror match to win the largest Pro Tour ever. Pro Tour Guilds of Ravnica had over 500 players, and a reasonably diverse metagame. (The Top 8 is not really representative of the PT metagame, nor of the Standard to come.) Congrats Andrew! Coverage is
here.
Improved MOCS for 2019: Wizards is making it clear that MTGO will continue to be a way to qualify for the Pro Tour. For next year, Wizards will offer more MOCS events in more formats, including Pauper, Modern, Legacy and Vintage. And limited and Standard, of course. Details
here.
Ultimate Masters Coming December 7th: More previews next week, cards and events on MTGO Dec. 7th.
Announcement on the Future of Pro Level Magic Coming Dec. 6th: And that’s about it. Wizards did another pre-announcement, and that’s all the details we have so far.
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 for limited PTQs running the days immediately prior to the PTQ.
Upcoming Events
|
Dates
|
Scheduled Downtimes
|
December 5th
|
Constructed Leagues End
|
January 16th 2019
|
Sealed Leagues End
|
January 17th 2019
|
Ravnica Allegiance
|
January 2019
|
Next B&R Announcement
|
November 26, 2018
|
Core Set 2019 Redemption Ends
|
December 26, 2018
|
WotC Premier Events
Wizards has announced a number of Premier events. Everything on this list in 2018 will be streamed. No word on what sort of coverage we will see for events in 2019.
· Nov. 17–18: Grand Prix Milwaukee
· Dec. 8–9: Grand Prix Liverpool
· Dec. 14–16: World Magic Cup in Barcelona, Spain
· Jan. 4: Oakland – Modern
· Jan. 11: Prague – Limited
· Jan. 25: New Jersey – Limited
· Feb. 1: Sydney – Limited
· Feb. 8: Toronto – Modern
· Feb. 15: Memphis – Standard AND Strasbourg – Limited
· Feb. 22: Cleveland – Limited
· March 1: Los Angeles – Modern
· March 15: Tampa Bay – Modern AND Bilbao - Modern
· March 22: Kyoto – Standard
· March 29: Calgary – Modern
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:
· Time Spiral Block – starting November 14th
· Modern Cube – starting November 21st
· [REDACTED] – starting December 5th
· Vintage Cube – starting December 19th through January 17th
· Ravnica Allegiances – starting January 17th
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
|
Standard: The Pro Tour was last weekend. The Top 8 featured six copies of White Weenie decks with a small red splash. Coverage, including decklists, is
here.
Modern: Sol Malka was playing The Rock (updated) at a GP recently. Twenty or so years ago, Sol created the original Rock and His Millions deck, featuring
Phyrexian Plaguelord and
Deranged Hermit. I played that deck in a ton of tournaments, and was really sad when it rotated out of Standard. I’m trying Sol’s new list now.
Legacy: No Leovold decks this week, but Manaless Dredge finished second in the Legacy Challenge. I have to respect anyone that can play decks that have no answers at all to hate cards. I wouldn’t play them – but that doesn’t mean they can’t win.
Vintage: I have not been featuring Vintage in weeks when all the decks I find are Paradoxical Storm decks with Mentor or Storm, or Shops variants. Except for this one – Hollow One in Vintage. We’ve seen similar Survival decks before, but I can’t resist Survival decks.
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 down this week. The Pro Tour metagame looks awfully white, but that won’t last. I expect Standard to swing back, and that might help some cards recover. On the plus side, I am glad I waited until this week to get my Assassin’s Trophies..
Standard Cards
|
Price
|
Last Week
|
Change
|
% Change
|
Arclight Phoenix
|
$23.21
|
$28.04
|
($4.83)
|
-17%
|
Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants
|
$9.68
|
$9.79
|
($0.11)
|
-1%
|
Carnage Tyrant
|
$12.80
|
$20.67
|
($7.87)
|
-38%
|
Doom Whisperer
|
$10.16
|
$8.09
|
$2.07
|
26%
|
History of Benalia
|
$12.93
|
$14.02
|
($1.09)
|
-8%
|
Karn, Scion of Urza
|
$9.09
|
$11.85
|
($2.76)
|
-23%
|
Lyra Dawnbringer
|
$6.56
|
$6.68
|
($0.12)
|
-2%
|
Nexus of Fate
|
$11.78
|
$11.47
|
$0.31
|
3%
|
Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
|
$11.19
|
$12.85
|
($1.66)
|
-13%
|
Rekindling Phoenix
|
$27.38
|
$34.53
|
($7.15)
|
-21%
|
Resplendent Angel
|
$6.83
|
$10.28
|
($3.45)
|
-34%
|
Sarkhan, Fireblood
|
$8.09
|
$8.49
|
($0.40)
|
-5%
|
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
|
$30.02
|
$31.27
|
($1.25)
|
-4%
|
The Immortal Sun
|
$9.89
|
$15.86
|
($5.97)
|
-38%
|
Vivien Reid
|
$15.13
|
$18.90
|
($3.77)
|
-20%
|
Modern staples: Modern prices are leveling off. Except for those cards in Ultimate Masters. We already know that a lot of the expensive cards are being reprinted again, but even some of those have bottomed out.
Modern Cards
|
Price
|
Last Week
|
Change
|
% Change
|
|
$11.82
|
$9.95
|
$1.87
|
19%
|
|
$16.17
|
$11.88
|
$4.29
|
36%
|
|
$9.00
|
$7.27
|
$1.73
|
24%
|
|
$14.62
|
$14.72
|
($0.10)
|
-1%
|
|
$9.31
|
$10.63
|
($1.32)
|
-12%
|
|
$18.26
|
$18.83
|
($0.57)
|
-3%
|
|
$20.27
|
$21.84
|
($1.57)
|
-7%
|
|
$32.34
|
$29.79
|
$2.55
|
9%
|
|
$38.17
|
$39.74
|
($1.57)
|
-4%
|
|
$16.82
|
$17.08
|
($0.26)
|
-2%
|
|
$16.36
|
$15.33
|
$1.03
|
7%
|
|
$28.11
|
$26.93
|
$1.18
|
4%
|
|
$25.75
|
$25.50
|
$0.25
|
1%
|
|
$35.86
|
$38.42
|
($2.56)
|
-7%
|
|
$14.76
|
$16.14
|
($1.38)
|
-9%
|
|
$17.40
|
$16.80
|
$0.60
|
4%
|
|
$35.00
|
$34.01
|
$0.99
|
3%
|
|
$11.18
|
$13.23
|
($2.05)
|
-15%
|
Legacy and Vintage: Legacy and Vintage are recovering a bit – although Ultimate Masters includes a fair number of Vintage and Legacy staples. It may include more, once we get the full list.
Legacy / Vintage Cards
|
Price
|
Last Week
|
Change
|
% Change
|
|
$16.35
|
$17.13
|
($0.78)
|
-5%
|
|
$34.57
|
$17.37
|
$17.20
|
99%
|
|
$16.26
|
$16.90
|
($0.64)
|
-4%
|
|
$8.31
|
$7.90
|
$0.41
|
5%
|
|
$13.51
|
$13.54
|
($0.03)
|
0%
|
|
$20.08
|
$17.95
|
$2.13
|
12%
|
|
$25.25
|
$25.25
|
$0.00
|
0%
|
|
$36.95
|
$38.96
|
($2.01)
|
-5%
|
|
$7.05
|
$7.20
|
($0.15)
|
-2%
|
|
$10.40
|
$11.06
|
($0.66)
|
-6%
|
|
$9.08
|
$8.63
|
$0.45
|
5%
|
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
|
Core Set 2019
|
$150.57
|
$156.61
|
($6.04)
|
-4%
|
Dominaria
|
$90.27
|
$96.42
|
($6.15)
|
-6%
|
Guilds of Ravnica
|
$102.22
|
$107.62
|
($5.40)
|
-5%
|
Ixalan
|
$70.13
|
$83.29
|
($13.16)
|
-16%
|
Rivals of Ixalan
|
$75.96
|
$94.25
|
($18.29)
|
-19%
|
Treasure Chest
|
$2.12
|
$2.13
|
($0.01)
|
0%
|
Guilds of Ravnica Booster
|
$3.19
|
$3.22
|
($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. The list is down a bit from last week. The Power Nine – the real ones, in the original frames – are on top of the list. And even the cheesy new framed Lotus has climbed back onto the table.
Name
|
Set
|
Rarity
|
Price
|
Black Lotus
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 144.01
|
Mox Sapphire
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 88.84
|
Mox Emerald
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 58.17
|
Ancestral Recall
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 57.54
|
Mox Ruby
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 57.33
|
Mox Jet
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 52.41
|
Horizon Canopy
|
EXP
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 48.65
|
Force of Will
|
MED
|
Rare
|
$ 45.65
|
Time Walk
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 42.12
|
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
|
A25
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 40.94
|
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
|
VMA
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 40.50
|
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
|
WWK
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 40.27
|
Mox Opal
|
SOM
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 39.10
|
Unmask
|
V16
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 38.49
|
Mox Pearl
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 38.41
|
Mox Opal
|
MM2
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 38.34
|
True-Name Nemesis
|
PZ1
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 38.28
|
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
|
EMA
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 38.17
|
True-Name Nemesis
|
C13
|
Rare
|
$ 36.95
|
Mox Opal
|
MS2
|
Bonus
|
$ 35.86
|
Surgical Extraction
|
NPH
|
Rare
|
$ 35.81
|
Dark Depths
|
V16
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 35.03
|
Surgical Extraction
|
MM2
|
Rare
|
$ 35.00
|
Black Lotus
|
VMA
|
Bonus
|
$ 34.57
|
Horizon Canopy
|
IMA
|
Rare
|
$ 33.64
|
Horizon Canopy
|
FUT
|
Rare
|
$ 32.34
|
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
|
DAR
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 30.02
|
Liliana of the Veil
|
ISD
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 29.86
|
Ensnaring Bridge
|
7E
|
Rare
|
$ 29.36
|
Liliana of the Veil
|
MM3
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 28.11
|
Rekindling Phoenix
|
RIX
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 27.38
|
Wasteland
|
TPR
|
Rare
|
$ 26.57
|
Liliana, the Last Hope
|
EMN
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 25.75
|
Misdirection
|
MM
|
Rare
|
$ 25.25
|
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 $ 13,850. That’s UP about $300 from last week.
I watched some Pro Tour coverage this week, and played some Sealed. In general, the coverage was pretty good, but I (like everyone) was a bit disappointed by the final non-game. I was also a bit disappointed in my sealed pool – exactly one uncommon that might see Standard play. And my first opponent destroyed me with multiple Planeswalkers. I hate RNG.
I’ll be at Teslacon this week, instead of GP Milwaukee. Unfortunate scheduling, Wizards.
PRJ
“One Million Words” on MTGO
This series is an ongoing tribute to Erik “Hamtastic” Friborg.
2 Comments
Hey Pete,
I sold my account on 6/08/17 and have been curious on things since I quite and have checked things out. I've noticed that now the prices appear to be a fraction of what they were and figured if there was someone who could explain why they've dropped so much it would be you.
Thanks in advance,
Scion Of Justice
Obviously Pete might have his own answer, but I’d just point out that not all prices have dropped to “a fraction” from what I assume is June 17 (not sure if that’s US or European format, but June makes more sense).
Legacy prices are on par to what they were last year at the same date. They are about half of what they were in June 17, but that’s a bit misleading. We’ll have to see if they follow the same pattern and simply recover by next June.
Modern prices are actually way higher than they were in June 17, about 30% higher if I’m reading my graphs correctly! Of course, that’s a bit misleading as well, as the prices have been falling pretty much steadily since Masters 25. Which is not an indication of trouble, the format is incredibly popular, but treasure chests are doing their work in making cards accessible (which by the way would be my own request to Pete: a good look at treasure chests, I know we’ve had articles before, but they seem to warp the economy more and more).