State of the Program for November 20th, 2020
Magic Online Championship: Michael Jacob won the event over Logan Nettles in the finals. For a recap of the top 4 which also featured Matti Kuisma and Oliver Tiu, you can check here. The Modern decklists from the event are here, and the Pioneer lists are here.
Magic Online Championship Series Ending: Michael Jacob will be the last of the Magic Online Champions. The series is being replaced with the Magic Online Champions Showcase. It will be an eight player event with a $70,000 prize pool. You can read more about that here. The first one is November 28, and you can watch it on twitch.
Treasure Chest Update: A new set came out, and with that came updates to the treasure chests on MTGO. You can check out the changes here.
MTGO Installer: With the Commander Legends update there was a small change to the upgrade. It relates to security, but you will need to unintall MTGO from your PC (you can see how to do a clean uninstall here) and reinstall from mtgo.com. As of writing, there was an issue between https and http which I didn't understand, but a fix is in the works for that. As of Thursday, November 19, 2020 there is no fix for this, but the team at Wizards of the Coast is no longer recommending that you uninstall and reinstall. There is a work around right now, to where you shift click the download button, and that at least got MTGO to reinstall for me, and others. Trading is off, a lot of things are broken, with fixes planned for Tuesday. Trading is back on as of late Thursday night. Make sure to check out the Magic Online Twitter feed for the most up to date information.
Extra Life Secret Lair: Some people entering codes were not getting what the codes were supposed to redeem. As of Friday, November 20, 2020 this promotion has been suspended. Hold on to your codes! Again, check the Twitter feed for updated information.
Limited Split Championship Qualifier: On Saturday, take 40 MOCS Qualifier Points and try to qualify for the Kaldheimn Split Championship.
Limited Super Qualifier: Sunday sees the top two players qualify for the Kaldheim Split Championship. Entry fee is 40 QP, 40 Tickets or 400 Play Points.
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 MCQs each weekend, with qualifiers for limited MCQs running the days immediately prior to the MCQ.
Upcoming Events
|
Dates
|
Scheduled Downtimes
|
Unknown |
Constructed Leagues End
|
January 27, 2021
|
Sealed Leagues End
|
January 28, 2021 |
Next B&R
|
Unknown
|
Zendikar Rising Redemption
|
Began November 11, 2021
|
|
|
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:
This changed this week, make sure to keep that in mind when looking at the schedule. I put the changes in bold.
November 18 - November 25:
No Event (Commander Legends release)
Novemver 25 - December 2: Core Set Cube
December 2 - December 9: Chaos Draft Masters
December 9 - December 16:
Supreme Draft: Chaos
December 16 - December 23:
Supreme Draft: Vintage Cube
December 23 - January 13:
Vintage Cube
January 13 - January 20:
New Spotlight Cube
January 20 - January 28 - Vintage Masters Flashback
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:
It is another theme week here at Cutting Edge Tech! With the Starcity Events using Historic as the format, I wanted to get in a nice deep dive of what has been winning in the format based on tournaments from mtgmelee.com! What follows is a bunch of decklists from events that won after Kaladesh Remastered hit Arena.
Mono Blue Tempo: Historic is in this place where it wants to be Pioneer, but it's missing a lot of cards still, so it's like a super Standard format. Some ports from the Pioneer format are making their way over, but it's slow going, and even more weird because of the Historic legal cards from Jumpstart and the Anthologies.
Mono Black Aggro: How much better would this deck look if
Mutavault were in the format?
Sultai Midrange: Having
Fatal Push in the format has given black control decks a key removal spell to have in the deck.
Orzhov Auras: Speaking of decks that would look better with some missing cards, Orzhov Auras is still potent in the format, thanks to
Sram, Senior Edificer and
Kor Spiritdancer, but it sure would be better with
Ethereal Armor and
Gryff's Boon.
Azorius Auras: Azorius Auras doesn't really have a direct Pioneer port, but this deck would also love to have the same auras that Orzhov would like.
Neostorm: Okay, so this deck can win on turn three, and I am not nearly as smart enough as I think I am to play it. To go off, you play
Sea Gate Stormcaller and (Neoform WAR), copying Neoform to then search out
Dualcaster Mage, which again copies Neoform fetching more Dualcasters, then Glasspool Mimic:) as copies of Dualcasters, then finishes of with a
Combat Celebrant and a
Tuktuk Rubblefort. The Rubblefort gives your massive board haste, and the Celebrant gives you extra combat.
I paraphrased this from
this Reddit post. All credit to Metabreaker7.
Mono Red: Just a red deck that got better thanks to
Bomat Courier being back on the client!
The Winner's Circle is where I will recognize winners of the past events on MTGO.
Huge week for usernames with underscores in them.
Challenge Winners
Saturday Legacy - T_Kudo - Elves
Saturday Modern - marcofabrizi - Bant Snow
Saturday Pauper - hellkito - Izzet Ninjas
Saturday Pioneer - Bryant_Cook - Lotus Field Combo
Saturday Standard - Phill_Hellmuth - Mill Rogues
Saturday Vintage - LORiWWA
Sunday Legacy - BananasThrower - Simic Show and Tell
Sunday Modern - Bayesta_93 - Mardu Shadow
Sunday Pauper - Store_Shop28 - Boros Monarch
Sunday Pioneer - JoseCabezas - Oops All Spells
Sunday Standard - O_Danielakos - Dimir Control
Sunday Vintage - ZYURYO
Other Event Winners
Modern Champ Qualifier - bigjc00 - AmuLIT
Pioneer Champ Qualifier - marolanzi - Boros Burn
MTGOTraders YouTube: Did you know that MTGOTraders.com has a YouTube page? Well if not, now you do, and you can find it here!
I am getting ready for CommandFest over at LegitMTG.com.
Jess Estephan wrote two great pieces this week, one of Commander Legends Drafting and the other on the path of Organized Play.
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 a decade and a half now, and have never been overcharged or disappointed.
Standard Staples:
Winota, Joiner of Forces came off the list this week.
Leyline of the Void removed itself from the list as well.
Modern Staples:
Eternal Staples:
Pioneer Staples:
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). This is being kept as a small tribute to Pete!
Complete Set |
Price |
Last Week |
Change |
% Change |
Core Set 2021 |
$139.66 |
$146.88 |
($7.22) |
-5% |
Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths |
$74.22 |
$81.42 |
($7.20) |
-9% |
Theros Beyond Death |
$157.01 |
$173.63 |
($16.62) |
-10% |
Throne of Eldraine |
$141.96 |
$148.14 |
($6.18) |
-4% |
Treasure Chest |
$2.40 |
$2.38 |
$0.02 |
1% |
Zendikar Rising |
$139.26 |
$151.53 |
($12.27) |
-8% |
Zendikar Rising Booster Pack |
$3.23 |
$2.82 |
$0.41 |
15% |
The following is a list of all the non-foil, non-promo 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 interesting, at the least. This is interesting to me because a lot of these cards have been reprinted more than once, and they are still commanding a high price.
Black Lotus |
1E |
Rare |
158.05 |
Snapcaster Mage |
UBT |
Mythic |
101.04 |
Liliana of the Veil |
UBT |
Mythic |
79.63 |
Ancestral Recall |
1E |
Rare |
75.66 |
Mox Jet |
1E |
Rare |
75.35 |
Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath |
THB |
Mythic |
74.37 |
Karakas |
UBT |
Mythic |
72.79 |
Force of Negation |
MH1 |
Rare |
71.58 |
Cavern of Souls |
UBT |
Mythic |
70.96 |
Wrenn and Six |
MH1 |
Mythic |
68.87 |
Allosaurus Shepherd |
JMP |
Mythic |
68.03 |
Mox Emerald |
1E |
Rare |
63.86 |
Time Walk |
1E |
Rare |
62.49 |
Noble Hierarch |
UBT |
Mythic |
54.38 |
Karn Liberated |
UBT |
Mythic |
52.64 |
Dark Depths |
UBT |
Mythic |
51.67 |
Mox Sapphire |
1E |
Rare |
44.92 |
Mox Pearl |
1E |
Rare |
43.86 |
Jace, the Mind Sculptor |
MS4 |
Mythic |
43.83 |
Cavern of Souls |
ZNE |
Mythic |
42.81 |
Carpet of Flowers |
UZ |
Uncommon |
40.18 |
Mox Ruby |
1E |
Rare |
40.07 |
Force of Will |
MED |
Rare |
39.99 |
Timetwister |
1E |
Rare |
38.15 |
Teferi, Time Raveler |
WAR |
Rare |
37.68 |
Elder Gargaroth |
M21 |
Mythic |
37.5 |
Force of Will |
2XM |
Mythic |
36.82 |
Lord Windgrace |
PZ2 |
Mythic |
36.44 |
Force of Will |
EMA |
Mythic |
36.03 |
Force of Will |
MS3 |
Mythic |
35.94 |
Wasteland |
TE |
Uncommon |
35.92 |
The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale |
ME3 |
Rare |
35.81 |
Liliana, the Last Hope |
MS4 |
Mythic |
35.48 |
Force of Will |
VMA |
Rare |
34.56 |
Karn, the Great Creator |
WAR |
Rare |
32.92 |
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth |
UBT |
Mythic |
32.75 |
Submerge |
NE |
Uncommon |
32.39 |
Auriok Champion |
IMA |
Rare |
31.25 |
Celestial Colonnade |
UBT |
Mythic |
31.19 |
Dockside Extortionist |
C19 |
Rare |
30.9 |
Scourge of the Skyclaves |
ZNR |
Mythic |
30.87 |
Life from the Loam |
UBT |
Mythic |
30.63 |
Demonic Tutor |
UBT |
Mythic |
30.6 |
Seasoned Pyromancer |
MH1 |
Mythic |
29.77 |
Purple-Crystal Crab |
PZ2 |
Common |
28.96 |
Gaea's Cradle |
UZ |
Rare |
28.49 |
Wasteland |
EXP |
Mythic |
27.95 |
Wasteland |
TPR |
Rare |
27.32 |
Aether Vial |
IMA |
Rare |
26.83 |
Bitterblossom |
UBT |
Mythic |
26.67 |
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria |
MS4 |
Mythic |
26.41 |
Wasteland |
ZNE |
Mythic |
25.86 |
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow |
PZ2 |
Rare |
25.8 |
Creeping Tar Pit |
UBT |
Mythic |
25.44 |
Leovold, Emissary of Trest |
UBT |
Mythic |
25.38 |
Platinum Emperion |
UBT |
Mythic |
25.17 |
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 a number that I cannot figure out still. I have actually asked Pete to do this for me, because Open Office is weird, and I have no idea what I am doing, and I am pretty close to just being a dog in a labcoat.
Nevermind, ignore all of that, Pete got it done for me, because he is just the dang best. The big number this week is $24,217. Last week it was $25,005. We've dipped a bit, that might be because people were getting ready for the new Commander Legends draft format, or it might be because MTGO was not online to a significant portion of its playerbase for a couple of days this week.
I am taking Thanksgiving weekend off. I'm not traveling or hosting any meals or anything like that. It is however, nice to take a break.
This series is an ongoing tribute to Erik “Hamtastic” Friborg.