State of the Program for August 24th 2018
B&R Update: Or not. No changes to any format.
Maro’s State of Design Article Up: Mark Rosewater published his annual state of design article this week. It’s long – you can read it
here.
Pro Tour Update: Wizards has announced some improvements to the Pro Tour Players’ Club and support for higher level players. They have also announced some information on upcoming Pro Tours – but not formats. Wizards is hiring three pros to serve as advisors on Pro level play. These pros will continue to play in high-level events. The announcement is summarized
here.
Hall of Fame Ballots: Balloting for the 2018 class of the Magic Hall of Fame has begun. Details and stats on this year’s candidates are
here.
Chaos Drafts are here: Chaos drafts are now an option in the limited play lobby. Wizards published an article on bringing Chaos Drafts to MTGO. Read it
here.
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
|
August 29th and September 26th (both extended)
|
Constructed Leagues End
|
September 25, 2018
|
Sealed Leagues End
|
September 28, 2018
|
Guilds of Ravnica
|
October 5, 2018
|
Ravnica Allegiance
|
January 2019
|
Next B&R Announcement
|
October 1, 2018
|
Dominaria Redemption Ends
|
October 10, 2018
|
Core Set 2019 Redemption Ends
|
December 26, 2018
|
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.
· 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:
· August 22-August 29: Chaos Drafts
· August 29-September 5: Triple Khans of Tarkir
· September 5-September 28: Legacy 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
|
Standard: We had two Standard GPs again last weekend. The events were even more dominated by red decks, while Turbo Fog has fallen. In its GP Providence coverage, Wizards broke down Red decks into RB Aggro (27.9%), Mono-Red Wizards (11.7%) and Mono-Red Aggro (8.4%). Nothing else on Day Two topped 8% of the metagame. Probably a good thing much of the red decks will be rotating in 5 weeks. GP Providence coverage is
here. GP LA coverage is
here.
Modern: No Modern GP this week. The
Modern Challenge had some interesting decklists.
Legacy: Last weekend’s Legacy Challenged was won by a deck that appeared at the last Pro Tour. Expect to see more of this in the future.
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 back to a normal. Cards on their way to rotation are falling, and that will continue. Nexus of Fate is still in Treasure Chests, but back to normal drop rates, so it should hold its value even though the Turbo Fog deck is not doing as well as it has.
Standard Cards
|
Price
|
Last Week
|
Change
|
% Change
|
Baral, Chief of Compliance
|
$8.17
|
$5.50
|
$2.67
|
49%
|
Carnage Tyrant
|
$12.36
|
$12.23
|
$0.13
|
1%
|
Chandra, Torch of Defiance
|
$5.98
|
$7.49
|
($1.51)
|
-20%
|
Heart of Kiran
|
$1.47
|
$4.17
|
($2.70)
|
-65%
|
History of Benalia
|
$6.83
|
$5.56
|
$1.27
|
23%
|
Karn, Scion of Urza
|
$22.60
|
$29.07
|
($6.47)
|
-22%
|
Lyra Dawnbringer
|
$7.08
|
$7.48
|
($0.40)
|
-5%
|
Nexus of Fate
|
$13.75
|
$13.74
|
$0.01
|
0%
|
Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
|
$14.62
|
$15.53
|
($0.91)
|
-6%
|
Rekindling Phoenix
|
$39.15
|
$32.50
|
$6.65
|
20%
|
Sarkhan, Fireblood
|
$7.53
|
$7.85
|
($0.32)
|
-4%
|
Search for Azcanta
|
$7.29
|
$7.61
|
($0.32)
|
-4%
|
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
|
$36.96
|
$38.87
|
($1.91)
|
-5%
|
Vivien Reid
|
$9.18
|
$5.93
|
$3.25
|
55%
|
Vraska's Contempt
|
$8.28
|
$7.72
|
$0.56
|
7%
|
Walking Ballista
|
$13.01
|
$10.96
|
$2.05
|
19%
|
Modern staples: Modern prices were back to normal this week. Prices should calm down for a while, as we get closer to rotation.
Modern Cards
|
Price
|
Last Week
|
Change
|
% Change
|
|
$14.29
|
$14.89
|
($0.60)
|
-4%
|
|
$25.33
|
$27.15
|
($1.82)
|
-7%
|
|
$26.47
|
$27.36
|
($0.89)
|
-3%
|
|
$19.76
|
$19.12
|
$0.64
|
3%
|
|
$16.25
|
$18.95
|
($2.70)
|
-14%
|
|
$39.44
|
$42.72
|
($3.28)
|
-8%
|
|
$25.82
|
$23.05
|
$2.77
|
12%
|
|
$48.00
|
$43.15
|
$4.85
|
11%
|
|
$48.03
|
$42.47
|
$5.56
|
13%
|
|
$30.07
|
$29.09
|
$0.98
|
3%
|
|
$17.43
|
$15.78
|
$1.65
|
10%
|
|
$37.14
|
$31.24
|
$5.90
|
19%
|
|
$35.73
|
$33.56
|
$2.17
|
6%
|
|
$49.13
|
$45.08
|
$4.05
|
9%
|
|
$27.91
|
$25.90
|
$2.01
|
8%
|
|
$24.44
|
$27.53
|
($3.09)
|
-11%
|
|
$40.22
|
$35.16
|
$5.06
|
14%
|
|
$15.23
|
$16.12
|
($0.89)
|
-6%
|
|
$9.18
|
$10.39
|
($1.21)
|
-12%
|
Legacy and Vintage: I culled Containment Priest from the list this week. Containment Priest has been on and off the list a couple times.
Legacy / Vintage Cards
|
Price
|
Last Week
|
Change
|
% Change
|
|
$26.32
|
$26.16
|
$0.16
|
1%
|
|
$38.86
|
$38.55
|
$0.31
|
1%
|
|
$15.10
|
$14.62
|
$0.48
|
3%
|
|
$19.97
|
$23.12
|
($3.15)
|
-14%
|
|
$30.74
|
$33.00
|
($2.26)
|
-7%
|
|
$30.95
|
$30.95
|
$0.00
|
0%
|
|
$18.69
|
$19.92
|
($1.23)
|
-6%
|
|
$56.44
|
$56.56
|
($0.12)
|
0%
|
|
$14.62
|
$12.15
|
$2.47
|
20%
|
|
$25.24
|
$19.50
|
$5.74
|
29%
|
|
$23.59
|
$22.59
|
$1.00
|
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).
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 pretty stable; just a couple cards larger this week.
Name
|
Set
|
Rarity
|
Price
|
Black Lotus
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 89.90
|
True-Name Nemesis
|
C13
|
Rare
|
$ 58.13
|
True-Name Nemesis
|
PZ1
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 56.44
|
Force of Will
|
MED
|
Rare
|
$ 54.95
|
Mox Sapphire
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 53.62
|
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
|
WWK
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 51.97
|
Mox Opal
|
MS2
|
Bonus
|
$ 50.96
|
Horizon Canopy
|
EXP
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 50.95
|
Mox Opal
|
SOM
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 50.65
|
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
|
VMA
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 49.45
|
Mox Opal
|
MM2
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 49.13
|
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
|
A25
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 48.71
|
Horizon Canopy
|
IMA
|
Rare
|
$ 48.67
|
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
|
EMA
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 48.03
|
Horizon Canopy
|
FUT
|
Rare
|
$ 48.00
|
Ancestral Recall
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 43.59
|
City of Traitors
|
EX
|
Rare
|
$ 43.37
|
Engineered Explosives
|
5DN
|
Rare
|
$ 42.63
|
Mox Emerald
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 40.58
|
Surgical Extraction
|
NPH
|
Rare
|
$ 40.55
|
Surgical Extraction
|
MM2
|
Rare
|
$ 40.22
|
Mox Jet
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 40.13
|
Engineered Explosives
|
MMA
|
Rare
|
$ 39.71
|
Unmask
|
V16
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 39.59
|
Engineered Explosives
|
MS2
|
Bonus
|
$ 39.44
|
Rekindling Phoenix
|
RIX
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 39.15
|
City of Traitors
|
TPR
|
Rare
|
$ 38.86
|
Liliana of the Veil
|
MM3
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 37.44
|
Liliana of the Veil
|
ISD
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 37.14
|
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
|
DAR
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 36.96
|
Mox Ruby
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 36.84
|
Force of Will
|
MS3
|
Special
|
$ 36.67
|
Liliana, the Last Hope
|
EMN
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 35.73
|
Dark Depths
|
V16
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 34.68
|
Force of Will
|
VMA
|
Rare
|
$ 32.49
|
Wasteland
|
TE
|
Uncommon
|
$ 31.98
|
Misdirection
|
MM
|
Rare
|
$ 30.95
|
Force of Will
|
EMA
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 30.74
|
Karn Liberated
|
MM2
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 30.35
|
Karn Liberated
|
NPH
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 30.07
|
Cavern of Souls
|
MM3
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 28.79
|
Wasteland
|
TPR
|
Rare
|
$ 28.69
|
Noble Hierarch
|
CON
|
Rare
|
$ 28.62
|
Time Walk
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 28.39
|
Containment Priest
|
C14
|
Rare
|
$ 28.29
|
Noble Hierarch
|
MM2
|
Rare
|
$ 27.91
|
Ensnaring Bridge
|
A25
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 27.67
|
Scalding Tarn
|
EXP
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 27.12
|
Ensnaring Bridge
|
MS2
|
Bonus
|
$ 26.88
|
Celestial Colonnade
|
WWK
|
Rare
|
$ 26.47
|
Mox Diamond
|
ST
|
Rare
|
$ 26.45
|
Scalding Tarn
|
ZEN
|
Rare
|
$ 26.38
|
Black Lotus
|
VMA
|
Bonus
|
$ 26.32
|
Ensnaring Bridge
|
ST
|
Rare
|
$ 26.30
|
Ensnaring Bridge
|
7E
|
Rare
|
$ 26.22
|
Mox Pearl
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 26.03
|
Ensnaring Bridge
|
8ED
|
Rare
|
$ 25.82
|
Cavern of Souls
|
AVR
|
Rare
|
$ 25.33
|
Unmask
|
MM
|
Rare
|
$ 25.24
|
Wasteland
|
EXP
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 25.09
|
Mox Diamond
|
TPR
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 25.07
|
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 $ 17,420. That’s up about $620 from last week. Nice.
Rotation is coming. Frank Karsten wrote an article about the Top 10 groups of cards rotating out or Standard. The groups form the core of certain archetypes (e.g. God-Pharaoh’s Gift) that won’t work after rotation. At least, not in Standard. His article is
here.
Also, I will be running Magic at Geek.kon in Madison, WI. If you are in the neighborhood, come and play.
PRJ
“One Million Words” on MTGO
This series is an ongoing tribute to Erik “Hamtastic” Friborg.