State of the Program for August 9th, 2023
MTGO Socials: Daybreak has set up forums for MTGO, which you can find here. In addition to the Forums, Daybreak has set up a Discord for MTGO. You can get the invite here. MTGO has a Twitter account, and can now add an account for Facebook and Instagram.
Two-Factor Authentication: This is in Account Settings. To turn it on you will be asked for your account password and a 6-digit code sent to the email associated with your account. You can use either an email or authenticator based system. This will help keep your accounts secure, you can read about the system here.
Redemption: Redemption is up and running! Remember that redemption runs now until supply is gone. Currently being redeemed is The Brothers' War, Phyrexia: All Will Be One, and March of the Machine. As of May 23, 2023, Redemption Tokens are non-refundable! A limited amount of Dominaria United is back in stock. You can check the new redemption page here.
Challenge Schedule Changing: Two Prelims on Friday nights are now becoming small Challenge events.This helps players in the Asia-Pacific region. Saturday is also getting another Modern Challenge. Both of these are 32 player events. The Saturday 6 a.m. Standard Event is going back to a small event prize structure.
64 player Single-Elimination Drafts: Coming back with Vintage cube are large scale 64 player events. These, of course, Single-Elimination. Will be Vintage Cube, and start on August 25.
New Bans: Tricked you, it was new Unbans! Preordain
was unbanned in Modern, giving a buff, according to the article to Izzet Murktide, which had three top eight placements in MTGO challenges over the weekend. Mind's Desire
is also unbanned in Legacy. You can read the full article here.
Prize Increases: Prizes are now being paid out to the top 128 of Showcase Challenges. Increases are a full regular set to 9-16. A full regular set for players that finish the Swiss X-2. 33-64 will get 200 play points and 10 Treasure Chests. 65-128 will get 150 play points and 5 treasure chests. Super Qualifiers are also getting a boost, 33-64 are getting 400 play points and 10 chests. 65-128 is getting 200 play points and 5 chests. Players that finished that highly in Super Qualifiers since July 30, got a retroactive prize increase as well.
Patch Notes: You can check out the notes for this update 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 MCQs each weekend, with qualifiers for limited MCQs running the days immediately prior to the MCQ.
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Upcoming Events
|
Dates
|
|
Scheduled Downtimes
|
August 30, 2023 |
|
Constructed Leagues End
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September 5, 2023
|
|
Sealed Leagues End
|
September 5, 2023 |
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:
Ongoing - Commander Masters and Chaos Draft
August 12 - Modern Showcase Challenge
August 13 - Pioneer Showcase Challenge
August 19 - Standard Showcase Challenge
August 20 - Legacy Showcase Challenge
August 16 - Vintage Cube
Magic Online Format ChallengesThese are high stakes events that happen every weekend. They cost 30 Tix / 300 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:
Legacy: Skipping Standard this week, because
Creative Technique
came to MTGO this week and won the first Challenge.
A Second Legacy Deck:
Modern: Blue Tron? Blue Tron! *so what if it has
Dismember
in it, it's still Blue Tron!
Pauper: After all the cool downshifts from Commander Masters, the Saturday results came in, and the cards that won so far were basically
Murmuring Mystic
,
Dread Return
and
Lotleth Giant
. Hopefully we'll see some
All that Glitters
and other cards.
Pioneer: sMann2.0 has been on a run recently with
Transmogrify
decks in Pioneer recently. I believe this started off as a Jund Vehicles list, then moved to a Jund Saga list before moving on to this Rakdos version.
The Winner's Circle is where I will recognize winners of the past events on MTGO.
Challenge Winners
Friday Modern - rastaf - Rakdos Evoke
Saturday Legacy - Beekeeper - Creative Technique
Saturday Modern - boytriton - Izzet Murktide
Saturday Modern - Lennny - Boros Burn
Saturday Pauper - Nulyan - Boros Synthesizer
Saturday Pioneer - bernardocssa - Rakdos Midrange
Saturday Standard - kasa - Dimir Midrange
Saturday Vintage - thepowernine
Sunday Legacy - SureThing - Dimir Death's Shadow
Sunday Modern - RespectTheCat - Saga Jund
Sunday Pauper - jwaves - Mono White Aggro
Sunday Pioneer - Xenowan - Rakdos Transmogrify
Sunday Standard - _IlNano_ - Dimir Midrange
Sunday Vintage - medvedev
Other Event Winners
Limited Super Qualifier
Limited Super Qualifier
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:
Brotherhood's End
went up a bit, but not enough to hit the five dollar mark that we like to do for non fetchlands!
Modern Staples:
Blood Moon
is back on the list.
Cavern of Souls
is back as well.
Dismember is membering disses or something like that.
Eternal Staples:
Jeweled Lotus
is of the list, and to be honest, it probably should have been off a while ago. I don't think players are using
Doubling Cube
on this mana anymore. A note on
Creative Technique. It's currently not on the list. MTGOTraders will update the price when it's in stock. When that happens it will be on the list. If you're looking for a copy, be prepared to spend upwards of 80 tickets on one.
Pioneer Staples:
Lair of the Hydra
barely climbed back on.
Hengegate Pathway
is back on.
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 Time |
Change |
% Change |
| The Brothers' War |
$76.01 |
$76.64 |
($0.63) |
-1% |
| Dominaria United |
$68.36 |
$63.60 |
$4.76 |
7% |
| Innistrad: Crimson Vow |
$55.46 |
$53.16 |
$2.30 |
4% |
| Innistrad: Midnight Hunt |
$73.03 |
$74.06 |
($1.03) |
-1% |
| Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty |
$92.27 |
$81.97 |
$10.30 |
13% |
| March of the Machine |
$154.43 |
$157.53 |
($3.10) |
-2% |
| March of the Machine Booster |
$1.99 |
$2.06 |
($0.07) |
-3% |
| Phyrexia: All Will Be One |
$163.84 |
$159.61 |
$4.23 |
3% |
| Streets of New Capenna |
$39.96 |
$36.96 |
$3.00 |
8% |
| Treasure Chest Booster |
$2.37 |
$2.42 |
($0.05) |
-2% |
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 |
265.22 |
| Mox Jet |
1E |
Rare |
120.7 |
| The One Ring |
LTR |
Mythic |
100.26 |
| Ancestral Recall |
1E |
Rare |
99.43 |
| The One Ring |
LTR |
Mythic |
98.62 |
| The One Ring |
LTR |
Mythic |
94.21 |
| Mox Emerald |
1E |
Rare |
74.67 |
| Mox Sapphire |
1E |
Rare |
72.4 |
| Time Walk |
1E |
Rare |
70.86 |
| Mox Pearl |
1E |
Rare |
60.62 |
| Cavern of Souls |
UBT |
Mythic |
57.78 |
| Liliana of the Veil |
UBT |
Mythic |
55.91 |
| Mox Ruby |
1E |
Rare |
54.59 |
| Karakas |
UBT |
Mythic |
46.44 |
| Mox Diamond |
V10 |
Mythic |
45.16 |
| Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth |
UBT |
Mythic |
43.39 |
| Mox Diamond |
ST |
Rare |
43.35 |
| Mox Diamond |
TPR |
Mythic |
41.71 |
| Timetwister |
1E |
Rare |
40.81 |
| Subtlety |
MH2 |
Mythic |
40.48 |
| Dark Depths |
UBT |
Mythic |
40.3 |
| Orcish Bowmasters |
LTR |
Rare |
39.91 |
| Demonic Tutor |
UBT |
Mythic |
39.49 |
| Grief |
MH2 |
Mythic |
37.33 |
| Orcish Bowmasters |
LTR |
Rare |
35.83 |
| Kozilek, Butcher of Truth |
UBT |
Mythic |
33.58 |
| Breath of Fire |
PZ2 |
Common |
31.63 |
| Fury |
MH2 |
Mythic |
31.03 |
| Snapcaster Mage |
UBT |
Mythic |
29.84 |
| Force of Will |
MED |
Rare |
29.21 |
| Boseiju, Who Endures |
NEO |
Rare |
28.69 |
| Wasteland |
ZNE |
Mythic |
28.52 |
| Force of Negation |
2X2 |
Rare |
28.45 |
| Armored Whirl Turtle |
PZ2 |
Common |
27.88 |
| Flooded Strand |
ZNE |
Mythic |
27.53 |
| Reanimate |
UBT |
Mythic |
27.35 |
| Polluted Delta |
ONS |
Rare |
27.32 |
| Force of Negation |
MH1 |
Rare |
26.79 |
| Fable of the Mirror-Breaker |
NEO |
Rare |
26.12 |
| Endurance |
MH2 |
Mythic |
26 |
| Underground Sea |
ME2 |
Rare |
25.59 |
| Chalice of the Void |
MS2 |
Bonus |
25.54 |
| Polluted Delta |
EXP |
Mythic |
25.2 |
Prices were done Tuesday night.
This series is an ongoing tribute to Erik “Hamtastic” Friborg.
