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By: one million words, Pete Jahn
Dec 22 2017 1:00pm
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State of the Program for December 22nd 2017
 
In the News
WotC President Speaks Up on Community and Harassment: Chris Cook posted an article on the mothership on Wizards commitment to a fair and welcoming community.  The “Commitment to Each Other” sets forth four principles: Put Fun First, Welcome Everyone, Respect your Play Environment and Follow the Rules. Further information, including more on what those principles mean, is here. I’ve always followed those principles around my home table, and enforced them at the events I run and stores I attend.
 
Duel Decks Out, Challenger Decks In: Wizards has announced that the last Duel Decks will be Elves vs. Inventors, due out this spring. The same announcement described Challenger decks, which will be designed to be competitive in store-level Standard events right out of the box.  Wizards has tried this before, with little success. This time around, Wizards will drastically cut the lead time. This means the decks will be based on the almost-current Standard metagame, and likely include relevant sideboard cards. The announcement is here. I discuss this more in the opinion section.
 
Amonkhet Redemption to Resume: If you were unable to redeem Amonkhet before Wizards ran out of product, you will have a second chance. Wizards is printing another batch, and redemption will resume in early 2018.
 
Great Designer Search 3: (repeat from last week) Wizards was started a sign-up for the third Great Designer Search. This is a contest, with the prize being an internship at Wizards, and possibly a job there. Several current and former R&D members have earned jobs making Magic cards through the previous great Designer Searches. Details here. Sign-up is here.
 
MTG Arena Closed Beta Continues: Wizards gave us another video of MTGA play this week. Nate Price was playing an uninspired deck against other Tier III decks, but provided a bunch of commentary on Arena. The most significant announcement was that Wizards was almost done inviting the “priority” players into the closed beta, and will begin adding other players soon. Nate also mentioned that “hundreds of thousands” of players are already playing in the beta.
 
End of Year News Shutdown:  Wizards has put the mothership into “best of 2017” mode, and announced that this week’s MTGO blog is the last of the year. Since Wizards does not schedule major tournaments over the holidays, that means that news will be scarce until the new set spoilers start in early January.
 
The Timeline
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
Timing
Scheduled Downtime
January 10th, January 31st (extended)
Constructed Leagues End
January 15, 2018
Sealed Leagues End
January 15, 2018
Rivals of Ixalan
January 21, 2018
Core Set Magic 2019
July 20, 2018
25th Anniversary Edition Masters
March 16, 2018
Next B&R Announcement
January 15, 2018
SOI and EMN Redemption Ends
April 28, 2018
Ixalan Redemption Ends
May 23, 2018
Rivals of Ixalan Redemption Ends
May 23, 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.
·       Jan. 6–7: Grand Prix Santa Clara
·       Jan. 20–21: Grand Prix Indianapolis
·       Jan. 27–28: Grand Prix London
·       Feb. 3–5: Pro Tour Rivals of Ixalan in Bilbao, Spain
·       Feb. 10–11: Grand Prix Toronto
·       Feb. 17–18: Grand Prix Lyon
·       Feb. 24–25: Grand Prix Memphis
·       March 2–4: Magic Online Championship in Renton, Washington
·       March 10–11: Grand Prix Madrid
·       April 6–8: Grand Prix Seattle (double-GP weekend)
·       April 14–15: Grand Prix Memphis
·       April 28–29: Grand Prix Bologna
·       May 5–6: Grand Prix Dallas
·       May 11–13: Grand Prix Birmingham (double-GP weekend)
·       May 26–27: Grand Prix Washington, DC
·       June 1–3: Pro Tour Dominaria in Richmond, Virginia
·       June 9–10: Grand Prix Copenhagen
·       June 15–17: Grand Prix Las Vegas (double-GP weekend)
·       June 23–24: Grand Prix Pittsburgh
·       July 7–8: Grand Prix São Paulo
·       July 21–22: Grand Prix Sacramento
·       July 28–29: Grand Prix Minneapolis
·       Aug. 3–5: Pro Tour 25th Anniversary in Minneapolis, Minnesota
·       Aug. 11–12: Grand Prix Brussels
·       Aug. 18–19: Grand Prix Los Angeles
·       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
Complete details, including schedule, rules, and which online events qualify you for which online or paper events is here.   Here are the main dates for the next quarter:
 

Event Date
Event Type
Event Format
Invites
Friday, December 29
Monthly
Ixalan Sealed
February 10 MOCS Playoff
Saturday, December 30
Open
Ixalan Sealed
Magic Online Championship, Pro Tour Dominaria, PT Challenge at Pro Tour Dominaria
Saturday, January 6
Open
Ixalan Sealed
Magic Online Championship, Pro Tour Dominaria, PT Challenge at Pro Tour Dominaria
Sunday, January 7
Monthly
Modern
February 10 MOCS Playoff
Saturday, January 27
Monthly
Standard
February 10 MOCS Playoff
Sunday, January 28
Monthly
Ixalan-Rivals of Ixalan Sealed
February 10 MOCS Playoff
Saturday, February 10
Playoff
Standard
Magic Online Championship, Pro Tour Dominaria, PT Challenge at Pro Tour Dominaria

 
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

 
Flashback, Throwback Standard and CUBE for 2017
Wizards will be offering either a flashback draft league, a flashback Standard gauntlet, a CUBE league or prerelease / Release events each week.   Here’s the schedule so far.
 

Flashback and Such Rotation
Begins
Ends
Vintage Cube
December 20th
January 15th
[time off for Rivals of Ixalan events]
January 15th
???

 
The Flashback Leagues are still draft, and still you-keep-the-cards. They are 12 TIX / product plus 2 TIX / 120 Play Points. However, they are no longer single elimination. Now you play until you have three wins or two losses. Prizes are 150 play points for three wins and 70 Play points for 2 wins. The leagues run one week.
 
The Throwback Standard Gauntlet events provide a random choice of prebuilt decks from a past Standard environment. These will function like the Pro Tour Gauntlets – you won’t need to own the cards. The entry fee is 10 TIX or 100 Play Points. Prizes are in Play Points: 150 for 3-0, 100 for 2-1, 40 for 1-2 and 10 play points as a bad beats award. 
 
Opinion Section:  
Wizards has announced that they will be taking another crack at making a tournament-viable pre-constructed deck. The initial announcement of the Challenger Decks is here
 
The goal, of course, is to provide an on-ramp to store-level constructed events. It can be tough for new players to get into competitive events – even FNM. We have all seen new players hat show up with their kitchen table decks and get trounced. Worse yet, these players may show up with a pile of favorite cards, only to find out that many of them are not legal in the format. In theory, these precons should give new players a way to buy a reasonably priced deck and play in a Standard FNM event without getting completely destroyed. 
 
Wizards has done this in the past, but the precon decks they created were not competitive. The old decks were designed months in advance, based on guesses about what the metagame might be. Since these guess were made by the people that didn’t foresee the broken (Shaeeli Rai) and Aetherworks Marvel decks, the precons were bad. (Alternatively, the combo decks were broken because of the rotation that didn’t happen, but that also illustrates the old problem of decks being designed way before the metagame developed.) This time around, Wizards has promised a much faster development process. This may partly be possible because printing has become much more automated. More importantly, Wizards now has a team dedicated to play balance, and that team will have a much better handle on the competitive metagame. So we can hope.
 
The first round of Challenger Decks is due out April 6, 2018. Ideally, these decks would incorporate the lessons of the Pro Tour (which will be held in the first week of February.)   That timeline is tight but doable, especially if the packaging and so forth is designed in advance. Doing the packaging ahead of time means that Wizards will have to decide on at least some of the archetypes ahead of time, but they can at least tweak the decklists and tune the sideboards.
 
Creating these decks will be challenging. Wizards intends to sell these decks for a MSRP of $29.95.  They have promised that these decks will have at least two Mythics per deck, and presumably additional rares and uncommons. Wizards has to be careful that they do not damage the secondary card market, so they cannot throw in playsets of chase cards. This is a serious limitation.  With cards like Chandra, Torch of Defiance over $30 per copy, it would be hard for Wizards to include more than a single copy without having to really limit the rest of the deck. For that matter, with Botanical Sanctum hovering about $8 apiece both online and in paper, a playset of those land will eat most of that $29.99 MSRP.   (The MSRP is not a hard limit, but I can’t imagine Wizards going over two or three times that amount. Probably.)
 
Actually, the mana base will be the biggest issue. A huge part of every Standard metagame for the last five years or so have been three to five color decks built around expensive rare lands.   This is a major reason that Standard Magic has such a high cost of entry. It is also a reason that many of the precon decks have been mono-colored or two colored in the past. Basic lands are free, so mono-colored decks can use their budget on “business” cards. 
 
The Challenger decks will have one advantage – the rare dual lands in Ixalan are reprints. Since they have been reprinted several times already, they are not very expensive. Wizards could throw several into the Challenger decks without busting the bank.
 
Alternatively, Wizards could be planning on putting a couple rare lands into every Challenger deck. A couple lands per deck would not crater the prices, but it could put some downward pressure on land prices. In the long term, this would be really good for Standard as a whole. The initial backlash could be significant, but reprinting the current crop of duals allows Wizards an opportunity to get people used to the idea. Next set, if players and dealers are expecting duals in the Challenger decks, land prices will not rise as high. Personally, I have been advocating actions to get the price or manabases down for a decade, so I would love to see that happen.
 
But even if Wizards does allow the cumulative value the cards in the Challenger decks to exceed the MSRP, and discounts the lands, it will still be a tight squeeze. Let’s look at the top archetypes. The singles in the Temur Energy deck that won last week’s MOCS sell, in paper, for around $240.  Even the Sultai Energy build weighs in around $200.   Pummeler decks average $175. You would think that mono-red Ramunap decks would be cheap, but most red decks run $200 to $250 or more – neither Chandra nor Hazoret come cheap. 
 
These decks are not going to come to MTGO.   MTGO prices for uncommons and rares are generally much, much lower than paper prices.   As a result, the online cost of all the cards in past precons has been, on average, about one quarter of the MSRP. It is way cheaper to just buy the chase cards on MTGO, because the rest of the deck is pretty much worthless. However, this may be different on MTG Arena.  MTGA will not allow trading, which implies some sort of purchase-or-craft model. Under such a model, precon decks that give you a decent chunk of a Tier I Standard deck might be worth buying. 
 
We can only wait and see.
 
Cutting Edge Tech
Standard: We had a Standard MOCS last week. The Top 8 was all Energy – one Sultai Energy, two Temur Energy and five 4C Energy. Diversity is good.
 


Modern: 
Since GP OKC, a lot of streamers and online content creators have been playing a mono-blue version of Living End. Not completely clear if this is the real thing, but it is interesting. Pascal Maynard’s video with the deck is here.

Mono-Blue Living End
Various streamers, probably originating with 131Hazzzard - 75 Cards Total
Creature
3 Architects of Will
4 Curator of Mysteries
4 Striped Riverwinder
4 Street Wraith
15 cards

Instant
3 Cryptic Command
2 Disallow
4 Remand
3 Mana Leak
12 cards
Sorcery
4 Ancestral Vision
4 Living End
8 cards

Enchantment
4 As Foretold
4 cards
Land
12 Island
4 Tolaria West
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Field of Ruin
17 cards
 


Sideboard
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Dismember
2 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Dispel
15 cards

Legacy: No big Legacy events in the recent weeks, but I saw a video over on ChannelFireball that caught my eye. It was titled Legacy Enchantress - and I have a long history with Enchantress decks. I played Enchantress at PTQs and GPs, back when it was Extended legal, so I was interested. This build is halfway between Enchantress and Replenish. That’s okay – I played Replenish back when it was Standard legal. Only downside is that this deck does not play Argothian Enchantress – and the 2 mana Enchantress was important for a lot of things, including drawing into lands. The video shows that the deck has mana issues.  You can find the video here.  

 
Card Prices
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. Not a lot of activity. The list – pretty much any card that has had a price of $5 or higher for a while or is surging – shrank again this week.
 

Standard Cards
Price
Last Week
Change
% Change
$7.87
$8.23
($0.36)
-4%
$8.59
$7.74
$0.85
11%
$7.46
$7.34
$0.12
2%
$25.77
$29.11
($3.34)
-11%
$5.76
$7.00
($1.24)
-18%
$10.10
$11.79
($1.69)
-14%
$6.51
$5.87
$0.64
11%
$6.23
$7.83
($1.60)
-20%
$24.73
$25.03
($0.30)
-1%
$15.09
$14.59
$0.50
3%
$10.64
$11.10
($0.46)
-4%
$8.46
$9.98
($1.52)
-15%

Modern staples:  Modern prices were mixed again this week, but the drops were generally larger than the gains.   
 

Modern Cards
Price
Last Week
Change
% Change
$13.99
$13.83
$0.16
1%
$21.35
$23.97
($2.62)
-11%
$25.45
$32.04
($6.59)
-21%
$27.81
$30.97
($3.16)
-10%
$13.93
$16.90
($2.97)
-18%
$18.16
$17.24
$0.92
5%
$23.10
$21.70
$1.40
6%
$41.18
$38.25
$2.93
8%
$30.64
$29.92
$0.72
2%
$22.45
$21.77
$0.68
3%
$42.39
$38.52
$3.87
10%
$57.73
$62.74
($5.01)
-8%
$32.61
$33.05
($0.44)
-1%
$57.78
$61.86
($4.08)
-7%
$19.33
$24.94
($5.61)
-22%
$31.23
$32.00
($0.77)
-2%
$24.09
$27.27
($3.18)
-12%
$29.55
$28.22
$1.33
5%
$25.26
$25.92
($0.66)
-3%

Legacy and Vintage: Vintage and Legacy prices generally down again, but not to an excessive amount.  Edgar Markov took off two weeks ago, because will probably fall off the table next week.
 

Legacy / Vintage Cards
Price
Last Week
Change
% Change
$52.17
$43.06
$9.11
21%
$20.64
$20.90
($0.26)
-1%
Edgar Markov
$14.47
$29.44
($14.97)
-51%
$82.59
$86.24
($3.65)
-4%
$35.81
$40.71
($4.90)
-12%
$25.75
$29.81
($4.06)
-14%
$21.50
$22.14
($0.64)
-3%
$30.72
$25.95
$4.77
18%
$41.39
$40.83
$0.56
1%
$26.03
$26.27
($0.24)
-1%
$28.37
$25.63
$2.74
11%
$47.78
$58.34
($10.56)
-18%
$19.41
$20.02
($0.61)
-3%
$68.46
$65.38
$3.08
5%
$18.22
$19.07
($0.85)
-4%
$16.62
$19.94
($3.32)
-17%
$36.94
$28.87
$8.07
28%

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).  Everything is down this week.
 

Complete Set
Price
Last Week
Change
% Change
Aether Revolt
$61.81
$65.75
($3.94)
-6%
Amonkhet
$68.49
$74.78
($6.29)
-8%
Ixalan
$68.76
$73.07
($4.31)
-6%
Hour of Devastation
$52.21
$55.11
($2.90)
-5%
Kaladesh
$95.46
$101.76
($6.30)
-6%
Treasure Chest
$2.21
$2.34
($0.13)
-6%
Ixalan Booster
$2.83
$3.12
($0.29)
-9%

 
 
The Good Stuff
 
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. Nothing is above a hundred bucks. The number of cards on the list is up slightly again this week – just a bit over 60 cards long.
 

Name
Set
Rarity
 Price
Black Lotus
 1E
Bonus
 $ 95.03
Exploration
 UZ
Rare
 $ 82.59
True-Name Nemesis
 C13
Rare
 $ 71.20
True-Name Nemesis
 PZ1
Mythic Rare
 $ 68.46
Mox Opal
 MM2
Mythic Rare
 $ 63.51
Liliana of the Veil
 MM3
Mythic Rare
 $ 60.77
Mox Sapphire
 1E
Bonus
 $ 59.79
Mox Opal
 MS2
Bonus
 $ 59.70
Mox Opal
 SOM
Mythic Rare
 $ 57.78
Liliana of the Veil
 ISD
Mythic Rare
 $ 57.73
Ancestral Recall
 1E
Bonus
 $ 54.61
Force of Will
 MED
Rare
 $ 53.46
Mox Diamond
 TPR
Mythic Rare
 $ 52.31
Black Lotus
 VMA
Bonus
 $ 52.17
Wasteland
 TE
Uncommon
 $ 49.03
Mox Ruby
 1E
Bonus
 $ 48.83
Rishadan Port
 MM
Rare
 $ 47.78
Mox Jet
 1E
Bonus
 $ 46.51
Mox Emerald
 1E
Bonus
 $ 45.44
Force of Will
 EMA
Mythic Rare
 $ 44.45
Karn Liberated
 MM2
Mythic Rare
 $ 42.45
Karn Liberated
 NPH
Mythic Rare
 $ 42.39
Engineered Explosives
 5DN
Rare
 $ 41.72
Misdirection
 MM
Rare
 $ 41.39
Engineered Explosives
 MMA
Rare
 $ 41.39
Engineered Explosives
 MS2
Bonus
 $ 41.18
Time Walk
 1E
Bonus
 $ 41.15
Wasteland
 TPR
Rare
 $ 40.51
Wasteland
 EXP
Mythic Rare
 $ 39.62
Mox Pearl
 1E
Bonus
 $ 38.52
Wasteland
 EMA
Rare
 $ 36.94
Force of Will
 VMA
Rare
 $ 35.83
Force of Will
 MS3
Special
 $ 35.81
Dark Depths
 V16
Mythic Rare
 $ 35.62
Mox Diamond
 ST
Rare
 $ 35.43
Scalding Tarn
 EXP
Mythic Rare
 $ 34.36
Unmask
 V16
Mythic Rare
 $ 34.07
Ensnaring Bridge
 MS2
Bonus
 $ 33.38
Underground Sea
 ME2
Rare
 $ 32.81
Liliana, the Last Hope
 EMN
Mythic Rare
 $ 32.61
Scalding Tarn
 MM3
Rare
 $ 31.95
Ensnaring Bridge
 ST
Rare
 $ 31.41
Chalice of the Void
 MMA
Rare
 $ 31.39
Scalding Tarn
 ZEN
Rare
 $ 31.23
Underground Sea
 ME4
Rare
 $ 30.99
Ensnaring Bridge
 8ED
Rare
 $ 30.88
Leovold, Emissary of Trest
 PZ2
Mythic Rare
 $ 30.72
Ensnaring Bridge
 7E
Rare
 $ 30.64
Mystic Confluence
 PZ1
Rare
 $ 30.49
Surgical Extraction
 NPH
Rare
 $ 29.66
Surgical Extraction
 MM2
Rare
 $ 29.55
Chalice of the Void
 MS2
Bonus
 $ 29.37
Tarmogoyf
 FUT
Rare
 $ 28.69
Mox Sapphire
 VMA
Bonus
 $ 28.37
Chalice of the Void
 MRD
Rare
 $ 27.81
Gorilla Shaman
 ALL
Common
 $ 27.27
Mox Diamond
 V10
Mythic Rare
 $ 26.03
Tarmogoyf
 MMA
Mythic Rare
 $ 25.90
Tarmogoyf
 MM3
Mythic Rare
 $ 25.87
Chandra, Torch of Defiance
 KLD
Mythic Rare
 $ 25.77
Gaea's Cradle
 UZ
Rare
 $ 25.75
Celestial Colonnade
 WWK
Rare
 $ 25.45
Tarmogoyf
 MM2
Mythic Rare
 $ 25.26

 
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 $ 19,100. That’s down about $850 from last week. 
 
Weekly Highlights
 
Happy Holidays everyone!
 
 
PRJ
 
“One Million Words” on MTGO
 
 
This series is an ongoing tribute to Erik “Hamtastic” Friborg.
 
HammyBot Super Sale: HammyBot was set up to sell off Erik Friborg’s collection, with all proceeds going to his wife and son. So far, HammyBot has raised over $8,000, but there are a lot of cards left in the collection. Those cards are being sold at MTGOTrader’s Buy Price.   
 

38 Comments

the as foretold deck is so by JXClaytor at Fri, 12/22/2017 - 15:19
JXClaytor's picture

the as foretold deck is so good!

Random Question by AGuy at Sat, 12/23/2017 - 09:19
AGuy's picture
5

I really like this series - been reading it for a while.

I couldn't find the answer elsewhere - apologies if it's been asked already. Does the "full playset of every card available on MTGO" include restricted cards? I know it doesn't include repeat versions (just the cheapest version right?). Like - is it 4x Power 9 or just 1x? I'm guessing 4x b/c the 1x seems hard to sort/keep track of....

Thanks!

You know I don't know. I by JXClaytor at Sat, 12/23/2017 - 16:19
JXClaytor's picture

You know I don't know. I could see where it counts either way there.

do you refer to something by stsung at Wed, 12/27/2017 - 11:44
stsung's picture

do you refer to something specific? All I know is that on a wotc provided account I have ... cards that are provided are in a play set in each of their versions both foil and non-foil, including cards that you in theory need only once (or cards banned in respective formats).

the restricted list changes...not so often but it does so it would mean that those who get all cards at one point would have 4 copies of the card and those that got their cards later would get 1 copy...It would just create more chaos when allowing a player to have access to all cards.

I think the comment refers to by Cauchy at Wed, 12/27/2017 - 12:03
Cauchy's picture

I think the comment refers to the total price calculated by Pete in the section called “Good Stuff” which is for a playset of every card on MTGO.

re by Hearts at Tue, 12/26/2017 - 00:34
Hearts's picture

Lets hear about categories, warning system, DQs, collusion and bribery please ?

"WotC President Speaks Up on by MichelleWong at Tue, 12/26/2017 - 20:15
MichelleWong's picture

"WotC President Speaks Up on Community and Harassment"

Latest development: Not satisfied with harrassing Jeremy, people have now gone to Jeremy's wife's facebook account and posted intimidatory messages including the photo of her home address. Messages have also been recently sent to Jeremy with threatening comments like "Hope your wife remains safe" and words to that effect. The relevant DCI number has been reported to WotC with evidence of the posts.

Let's see if WotC are genuinely against harrassment (as a principle). The ball is in their court now and I will call out the hypocrisy if no action is taken by the end of Feb 2018.

What is it you want to get by Cauchy at Wed, 12/27/2017 - 05:54
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What is it you want to get out of your post? What is the ideal scenario for you?

Hi Cauchy, the ideal scenario by MichelleWong at Wed, 12/27/2017 - 10:06
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Hi Cauchy, the ideal scenario is for no one to harrass anyone else in the MTG Community. But if it happens and WotC decides to take action, then they need to take action with integrity, fairness, and without any hypocrisy and double-standards.

Well in this case, wotc could by JXClaytor at Wed, 12/27/2017 - 10:17
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Well in this case, wotc could look at it, and decide that no one in the magic community is being harassed since, he's been removed from it right?

Yes, let's delete a person by MichelleWong at Wed, 12/27/2017 - 10:39
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Yes, let's delete a person entirely from our welcoming community forever with no chance of appeal. Then our noble mission statement need not apply because the said person can receive as many death threats as the esteemed and righteous members of our community are willing to deal out.

No double-standards at all.

The community is open to all by JXClaytor at Wed, 12/27/2017 - 10:43
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The community is open to all is not a thing you can seriously push considering other lifetime bans long before this. Also considering that Jeremy signed up for the DCI and MTGO and such and agreed to their rules, well kinda works against him too.

They are part of a publicly traded company who has to answer to stockholders, and letting an alt right (because seriously who is proud to have their "movement" featured on the Dailystormer and Beitbart) serial harasser go is the best move to their bottom line.

Death threats are out of the realm of wotc. The proper law enforcement should be involved. Yes him getting doxxed sucks. Yes his wife getting involved sucks and it should have never happened, and it is incredibly sickening that it did.

I will no longer engage, as my computer time this week is incredibly short, and my son, who is the most important person in my life is spending time with me. Again happy holidays to all!

Let's unpack this:Death by MichelleWong at Wed, 12/27/2017 - 13:14
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Let's unpack this shall we? According to your reasoning:

Death threats = worthy for reporting to police (but not worthy of a WotC ban)
Alleged Serial Harrassment by Jeremy = not worthy of reporting to police (but worthy of a WotC ban).

Can anyone not see that something is wrong with the above?

no where did I say that by JXClaytor at Wed, 12/27/2017 - 14:21
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no where did I say that serial harassment was not worthy of reporting. Nor did I say death threats were not worthy of a wotc ban.

Please don't put words in my mouth.

At this point though, I am seriously stepping away from this conversation. Happy holidays Michelle!

Hi Michelle, It is sad that by Cauchy at Wed, 12/27/2017 - 11:43
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Hi Michelle,

It is sad that the only way to satisfy you now is for others to suffer and get a life-time ban. Are you going to quit the game if you do not get what you want?

Hi Cauchy, I said previously by MichelleWong at Wed, 12/27/2017 - 12:53
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Hi Cauchy, an un-banning by WotC would be fine by me.

Or if no un-banning is forthcoming, then at least be consistent when applying the bans. Otherwise it stinks of hypocrisy, double-standards and political weaponisation. All I ask is that they live up to their supposed standards, that they be opposed to targeted harassment no matter who the victim is, is that too much to ask?

Hi Michelle,You are not by Cauchy at Wed, 12/27/2017 - 13:19
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Hi Michelle,

You are not asking for consistency. You are asking that specific people receives a life-time ban. You know that the process for why and when WotC applies bans are not transparent. You dont know what evidence has been presented or how it has been evaluated and you dont even know what kind of actions have been applied by WotC already. So despite having incomplete information you call for blood. It IS too much to ask for WotC to publicly respond to every complaint filed. Think about how many times players are reported in the client. It would not be in the interest of anyone if they outlined their verdict for each report.

I trust that WotC live up to their standards. So I am satisfied when they issue a ban and when they refrain from it.

I hope you dont quit the game just because they dont fulfill your demand.

Hi Cauchy, I respect your by MichelleWong at Wed, 12/27/2017 - 13:25
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Hi Cauchy, I respect your views.

But regarding your comment "I trust that WotC live up to their standards", I respond by saying: No I don't trust that WotC live up to their standards, I have seen no evidence of that, yet I have seen evidence which actively contradicts it. So no, I don't have such a trust.

And true, I don't have all the evidence, neither does anyone else on this site. So I am calling it as I'm seeing it, just like everyone else here.

Hi MichelleWong, I dont think by Cauchy at Wed, 12/27/2017 - 14:07
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Hi MichelleWong,

I dont think I know the meaning of hypocrisy. You say that you do not know if you have the same info that WotC have. You know that the decision process is not transparent. Hence, you cannot possibly know if WotC lives up to their standards. Yet, you still call them out for double-standards. To me this seems like hypocrisy on your parts.

Hi Cauchy,I don't buy that by MichelleWong at Thu, 12/28/2017 - 01:33
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Hi Cauchy,

I don't buy that and here's why. Let's apply your same reasoning to other people's opinions on the issue, and see if the result still stands:

1. Person X believes that the ban against Jeremy is justified, and that his conduct constituted serial harassment.
2. Person X doesn't have all the information which WotC had when performing the investigation.
3. WotC's decision-making is not transparent.
4. Person X "cannot possibly know" if WotC was justified in making the decision.

The above does not hold. Person X is entitled to an opinion based on the evidence which he/she has. The fact that the decision-making process by WotC is not completely transparent does not disentitle or invalidate that person's opinion.

This is why I would not use such an argument against others, and why such an argument does not hold true when used against me.

Let's also be real here and have a sanity check for a moment. I am asking for bans to be issued to people in our MTG community who issue death threats against those they disapprove of. This should not be controversial.

Hi MichelleWong,You have to by Cauchy at Thu, 12/28/2017 - 03:55
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Hi MichelleWong,

You have to realize that there is a significant difference between personal opinions and slander. Let us be real here, you are not just saying that death threats should lead to bannings. You are making accusations against WotC for which the only support are your personal opinions and interpretations.

You also have to realize that no one in here has dissgreed that death threats are a serious offense. So that issue is not really what the debate is about.

Hi Cauchy, you make a fair by MichelleWong at Thu, 12/28/2017 - 07:56
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Hi Cauchy, you make a fair point.

I am happy to leave my comments as simply this:

1. I see evidence that there were serious offences committed against a person whom WotC has now banned indefinitely with no opportunity for appeal.

2. I see evidence that WotC have been informed of this.

3. I see no evidence that any actions were taken by WotC in relation to all those who committed serious offences against Jeremy.

4. I am happy to wait a couple of months to see if WotC will take any action (noting that this has already been going on for months, but let's be generous).

5. People can draw their own conclusions, either now or at the relevant time in the future.

Interesting that you would by MichelleWong at Wed, 12/27/2017 - 10:54
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Interesting that you would mention the "alt-right". I thought that this ban had nothing to do with politics (or so I was told by others in the previous thread).

It has nothing to do with by JXClaytor at Wed, 12/27/2017 - 11:05
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It has nothing to do with politics just because the serial harasser is a proud supporter of the alt-right has nothing to do with the fact that he is serving a lifetime ban from the game.

It does however, have everything to do with him being a serial harasser to members of the community and leading crusades against thots. Being a kind, respectful person is not a political stance.

If it has nothing to do with by MichelleWong at Wed, 12/27/2017 - 12:46
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If it has nothing to do with politics, why did you feel the need to mention the "alt-right"? Because Jeremy's political stance is relevant to whether the ban was issued, let's be real here. If it had nothing to do with it, you would have mentioned only the 'serial harassment' and left it at that.

People can see what is going on here. I honestly don't care if I am pounced upon for calling out the hypocrisy and double-standards.

His political leanings had by JXClaytor at Wed, 12/27/2017 - 14:17
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His political leanings had nothing to do with him being banned.

I know plenty of conservatives that play magic, are politically involved and didn't get banned.

I wonder what the difference is between Jeremy, and say random conservative at a Local game store.

Let's see

Jeremy harassed a cosplayer out of the game.

Random at the game store did not.

Jeremy made a video that said Maro sexually assaulted people.

Random at the store did not.

Jeremy commanded a legion of followers and sent targeted harassment.

Random at the shop did not.

Yet, the random didn't get banned. Gee, I wonder why?

Might it have been because the random at the store adhered to well accepted social norms and didn't harass people out of the game or make videos about sexual assault?

Again, I'll say it, being kind, considerate and not harassing people is not a political stance. Jeremy was not banned because he is alt-right. Jeremy was banned because he bad for the brand.

Please don't straw-woman me. by MichelleWong at Wed, 12/27/2017 - 22:54
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Please don't straw-woman me. You know that I neither suggested that random conservatives at local game stores would be targeted by WotC, nor that Jeremy's political leaning was the exclusive factor involved here. I suggested only that it was a relevant factor (which was my opinion), and the fact that you were the one who mentioned the 'alt-right' in this thread reinforced to me that it has some significance (otherwise why mention this at all?). I presume you raised his political leanings for a reason?

It's fair to say that if I, by AJ_Impy at Wed, 12/27/2017 - 23:02
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It's fair to say that if I, whose views of the far right are less than kind, made a youtube video alleging child molestation by WOTC personnel, the door would slam shut on my backside before I could say 'Let me sell off my collection first'.

Hi AJ, I see what you did by MichelleWong at Thu, 12/28/2017 - 04:32
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Hi AJ, I see what you did there.

I respond as follows: Is it fair to say that if I, whose views of the far left are more than kind, made a death threat against a deplorable in the community whom WotC does not like, and threaten and intimidate his wife, would the door slam shut on my backside (quickly or even at all)?

We have actual evidence that WotC has taken no action in such cases despite this having gone on for months.

Should they take action? by AJ_Impy at Thu, 12/28/2017 - 12:49
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Should they take action? Possibly. Is the fact that they have not yet hypocritical? Possibly. Does this have anything to do with the banned player getting banned? Not particularly.

Be very wary of falling into the Tu quoque logical fallacy, the appeal to hypocrisy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_quoque

Just because some other people have not been banned does not invalidate banning the person who was banned.

Saying 'What about the X?' such as 'What about the people threatening the banned person?' does not address anything relevant to the person who was banned. Not only are we going into logical fallacy territory here, we're veering off into active misinformation:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism

I strongly, strongly advise keeping the two issues ('People have made threats and should face consequences' and 'this guy was banned') entirely separate: Linking them massively weakens both arguments to the point of getting lumped in with gamergaters and other online hostile swarms and not getting through at all to the people you would wish to listen.

Kindly noted. by MichelleWong at Thu, 12/28/2017 - 21:23
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Kindly noted.

as I write this, I troll by JXClaytor at Thu, 12/28/2017 - 03:05
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as I write this, I troll twitter to see another upstanding member of the community driven away by the actions of him and his followers.

I mention the alt-right because these are the same tactics that gamergate used to try to silence those that didn't agree with them.

As far as I can tell the by Paul Leicht at Thu, 12/28/2017 - 06:34
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As far as I can tell the "alt-right" got their start in #gamergate or paralleled them so closely as to be no different. So not surprising that the tactics are the same.

May all forms of serial by MichelleWong at Thu, 12/28/2017 - 07:16
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May all forms of serial harassment in our community come to an end (regardless of who does it, or who is the victim). It has no place.

Let's hope for a healthier community in 2018.

Let's hope :D by Paul Leicht at Thu, 12/28/2017 - 07:39
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Let's hope :D

Big number by one million words at Wed, 12/27/2017 - 17:25
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It is the price for four of every card, using the lowest cost version of each. So it does over count slightly, but the Vintage restricted list is too long to manually adjust, and it would be a pain to program into a macro. Besides, you can play 4 copies of all the restricted cards in freeform decks.

That is partly offset because the total excludes promo-only cards (like Gleemox). I exclude all promos, because the prices of some promos - those that are not in stock - are not always updated. In other cases, the promos are much more expensive than the regular versions - so I exclude all Including promos would give too many false results.

Technically you can play an by AJ_Impy at Wed, 12/27/2017 - 22:24
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Technically you can play an arbitrarily large number of restricted cards in the freeform decks.

Thanks! by AGuy at Thu, 12/28/2017 - 06:29
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Kind of figured that but appreciate the confirmation all the same.