Editorial Section:
We're coming up on the first anniversary of the day Pauper saved MTGO.  Think I'm exaggerating?  I'll direct your attention to this previous article on the subject.  While I'm not a hardcore tournament player I do tend to have to keep up with that world due to the work I do for this article each week.  That work has given me insights into many facets of the game that I otherwise wouldn't have had access to, namely, cause and effect of tournaments on the MTGO economy.  Generally cards on MTGO mimic their paper counterparts for movement either up or down.  If a deck wins a big tournament then the MTGO price of the those cards jump up and the MTGP cards follow slowly along.  However, in the case of Pauper, we had one of the few times that MTGO cards were widely affected by something internal instead of external.  Namely the creation of a sanctioned Pauper format.  Finally there was a format for the introductory players that also allowed for hard core competitive play on budget.  Well, for a while, anyway.  The response to MTGO's Pauper format was skyrocketing singles prices for cards known as "out of print" commons.  Commons from "Legacy" sets like Mirage, Visions and Weatherlight exploded.  Basically any set that had a smaller than normal print run and lower than normal attendance.  Perhaps the most obvious example in this category was Lightning Bolt, which went from being .25 tickets to 3.00 tickets in short amount of time. 

It's now been (about) one year since all this happened.  So I wanted to take a moment to remind everyone about December 4th, 2008.

Looking back at the last year, it seems that Pauper started very strong and ran into major headaches when the prizes were overly depressed on the secondary market.  However, even after being restored a lot of the interest had cooled.  Despite this cool-off, Pauper is still a great introductory format for new MTGO players as well as a great budget outlet for competitive players with various queues and large weekend challenges each week which can be found here.  For anyone interested about the format and talking about it with other Pauper players I'd highly recommend using the resources at www.pdcmagic.com to brainstorm and plan for upcoming events.

End of Chapter 1

Chapter 2 - Why can't MTGO be in charge?
I know it's a lot of work involving a lot of computers and a lot of hassle to set up however many computers it would take to host something like Worlds, but I really think that WotC should move in that direction in the near future.  Probably not until we have a valid Vintage/Legacy pool, but as soon as we logically can do it, we really really should.  I read about four people being knocked out of the tournament for breaking DCI Floor Rules.  The first was for 'fraud' with Charles Gindy of the USA Team.  His disqualification took the entire team out of contention.  There's a lot of information and stories about this one, but the gist of it is that he allegedly intended to allow his opponent to make a mistake that he knew at the time was in his favor.  Again, allegedly, etc.  But that's not all.  In the draft portion three more players were knocked out for looking at some other players cards.  In two of these cases additional teams were completely disqualified from the teams portion.  So from three disqualifications there were thirteen players screwed (each team has three players and a substitution player, so four teams times three plus one more).  I'm not sure what the percentage of players this represents but it's a huge blow to all the involved teams, players and countries.

These two types of issues seem very different on the surface, but oddly enough, they are non-issues on MTGO thanks to triggered abilities as well as the ability to have secure draft pods. 

The player count for Worlds was a little over 400 players which is a tournament size that can easily be handled by the MTGO client.  The biggest issue of course would be getting 400 networked computers to work in one location; which even by my typically hyper-optimistic thoughts is a pretty daunting task.  However, if you remove the effort that they put in to just the paper draft process, I'm thinking that the amount of effort overall wouldn't be too much worse.  For those that are unaware, each pack of cards is actually 15 'loose' cards that have been stamped (to avoid cheating) and re-bound for the event.  Times three times four hundred.  That's a lot of stamping, binding and assigning.  This is done to prevent players sneaking in other cards, and to ensure that the deck that was built is possible based on the cards that were in the pod and passed around, etc.  You might be thinking that that is a lot of work, and you'd be right.  Shift that effort to setting up 400ish computers and you've got yourself a secure, focused draft.  The biggest concerns I have with the MTGO setup is power consumption and bandwidth.  However if venues were chosen with the knowledge of needing to be able to handle this, I suspect that it wouldn't be a huge issue. 

One other thing to note, if you don't have to bring your paper deck, you don't have to worry about it being stolen.  It seemed like I saw a twitter post or two every day of the event where someone was asking for help after having their deck/bag/laptop/phone/etc stolen.  Magic tournaments are ripe targets with the hustle and bustle mixed with highly valuable items with minimal protection.  The less things to leave lying around the better all around.  And this tangent brings me to my next tangent... we need to keep an out for each other.  In a neighborhood watch sort of way.  If the person who set down a deck isn't the person who is picking it up... say something.  If you're leaving something, anything, out and need to be distracted (for trades, or bathroom, etc) make sure to have someone watch your stuff.  We Magic players tend to have enough social awkwardness to fill a garage.  Do we really need to add "Thieving Jerk-Bags" to that list?  I really don't think so.  So as a plead from me to my fellow Magic players.  Keep an eye out for one another.  Our game has enough hurdles to getting and acquiring new players can we please not add these types of bad experiences too?

End of Chapter 2

Chatper 3 - Basically, Momir
For those of you who missed the news, there is going to be a large, free, Momir Basic tournament in the not too distant future.  The reason is to celebrate the Community Team victory in the Community Cup Challenge in Renton.  I realized that it has been a good long while since Momir Basic was a well known term and we've had a lot of player turnover since it was last in vogue.  So it stands to reason that some of my readers may not know about the fantastically frustrating format known as Momir Basic.  The history of the format is a strange one.  The Momir Vig avatar was the participation avatar for the Dissension release events.  It was underpowered in the actual Vanguard format (which is another currently unsupported by WotC) but the players found a very different way to utilize the zany random avatar.  Instead of trying to shoe-horn a deck around the avatar they used it as a great equalizer.  Everyone played nothing but basic lands and one avatar.  From there, everything else was the luck of the random creature you got each turn.  The format was wildly popular.  Enough so that people broke down 'optimum mana bases' based on activated abilities.  Enough so that people ran the percentages on hitting a first turn 'mana elf' like Boreal Druid.  Enough so that people would run the numbers on hitting a game losing drop at four and seven mana (Leveler and (Phage, the Untouchable), respectively).  Enough of the history for now, what about the rules?

Rules:

• 60 Basic non-snow lands
• One Momir Vig avatar
• One land per turn (as usual)
• Pay x mana, discard a card: put a random creature with converted mana cost of x onto the battlefield.  Do this only once per turn, as a sorcery.

Great Cards/General Thoughts:
Hitting a first turn Llanowar Elves or other mana producer is awesome in that it turns on your crucial turns (five and eight) on a full turn ahead of your opponent.  Another exciting drop is the (Azorious Guildmage) which interestingly enough can counter the activated ability of your opponents Avatar... essentially shutting them out of the rest of the game.  Just leave two blue/white hybrid up and you'll pretty much coast to an easy victory unless they hit the same two drop you do.. Seriously, I think that is their only out if you hit it on turn two. 

The available creatures are cumulative.  Meaning that for each version of that creature in the game you have a chance at hitting it.  Case in point, I had a Gold Bordered Godsire hit the table across from me, which indicated that for each version of a card in the system you might hit it at that mana cost.

And lastly, for those looking for some more in depth reading on the topic I present the following links:

Momir Basic Primer - Jeff Till
Momir Basic: 60% Luck, 40% Skill, 100% Awesome - Daedalianingenuity
The Beautiful Struggle - Momir Basic for Fun and Profit - Mark Young
Tips and Tricks, Momir BASIC, and Leagues - Frank Karsten

Discussion Items:
Magic 2010 Release Schedule -
Another aggressive schedule for up MTGO folks.  Again, I caution each and every one of my readers to not get swept up in the chase for everything.  That way lays madness.  Instead, focus on your enjoyment of Magic, and enjoy the pieces you really like and don't worry about the rest.  

Banned and restricted lists. - No Change.
Expect a detailed rant on this subject in the not too distant future...

Price Discussion:
Wow!  Worlds really slammed into Standard prices like a freight train.  Thanks to decks like Conley Woods' "Magical Christmas Land", Lotus Cobra has surged upwards and brought Violent Ultimatum up with it.  As a deck that focuses on breaking the game in half on turn three or four, it's a powerhouse that certainly brought back some respect for the recently flaccid pricing of Lotus Cobra.  Also moving up are the Alara Block Planeswalkers.  These two (Ajani and Elspeth) were powerhouses in Alara Block constructed and I'm not at all surprised to see them move up in Standard.  Scapeshift has begun to prove itself in Extended with Valakut as a one card combo that can just flat out win a game.

On the flip side of the coin, we had some quick market corrections in the names of Nissa Revane and Eldrazi Monument.  Both are still strong but hare probably being liquidated after some fast speculation buying when Eldrazi Green didn't really stand up against the insanity that was the new and improved Standard. 

Price Tables:

Price Charts:

lotus cobra chart
ajani vengeant chart
baneslayer angel chart
elspeth, knight_errant chart
rampaging baloths chart
time warp chart
ob nixilis, the fallen chart
font of mythos chart
emeria angel chart
honor of the pure chart
violent ultimatum chart
worm harvest chart
aven mimeomancer chart
archon of justice chart
scapeshift chart
sphinx of lost truths chart
rampaging baloths chart
emeria angel chart
font of mythos chart
lotus cobra chart
nissa revane chart
eldrazi monument chart
rootbound crag chart
bitterblossom chart
rafiq of the many chart
figure of destiny chart
tarmogoyf chart
elvish archdruid chart
banefire chart
iona, shield of emeria chart
nissa revane chart
traumatize chart
eldrazi monument chart
spellbreaker behemoth chart
elvish archdruid chart
rootbound crag chart
hypnotic specter chart
gilt_leaf archdruid chart
exotic orchard chart
ethersworn canonist chart

Tournament Stuff:

Dailies:

Premier Events:

Weekend Events:

Conclusion:
Yowzers!  That felt like a lot more writing than usual this week... hopefully it will tide you all over during the long holiday weekend.  As a topical aside for the week, I'd just like to take a moment to express my appreciation since this is the week of our Thanksgiving Holiday here in the states.  I'll say that I'm thankful for my wonderful and supportive wife.  I'm thankful for my weekly readers.  I'm thankful for Heath for running PureMTGO and giving me a place to hang my digital hat.  I'm thankful for WotC for making a great game and for the wonderful times I've had recently covering their MTGO events.  I'm thankful to be alive and healthy in a wonderful country of opportunity.  There are flaws in this country, no doubt about it.  I'm still thankful for what I have, and what I may yet be able to enjoy in life.  I'm thankful for the men and women of our military.  They are some brave and amazing people who do something that I cannot even fathom.  You all deserve more respect than our country can give you.  I hope you all take a moment to thank those people in your life that make it bearable, and don't forget to enjoy life while you have it.  It's gone way too fast.

See you in seven!
~Erik