State of the Program for December 25th, 2020
Rivals League: We missed this item from a couple of weeks ago, but there have been some changes to the Rivals League for this season. Jessica Estephan and Emma Handy have both resigned from the league. Jess left due to immigration issues and work ineligibility, Emma left due to becoming a part of the Play Design team at Wizards of the Coast. Since they left in the middle of season there will be no replacements for them. Best wishes to them as they move on to exciting new parts of life!
Showcase Qualifiers: December 26th is Modern. December 27th is Legacy.
Showcase Opens: January 2nd and January 3rd both feature Zendikar Rising sealed. For more information about these play options, go here.
Kaldheim Previews: After the week of metal, previews have trickled out with the next one scheduled for December 24th, which is of course, Wizards of the Coast's gift to us, the discourse about a new card. You can find how to collect the set here, the preview schedule here, and the card image gallery here.
Cube Replacement: Hullbreacher has been pulled from the Vintage Cube and replaced by Thada Adel, Acquisitor, due to an issue, but also because Wizards thinks it will be more fun.
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
|
January 27, 2021 |
Constructed Leagues End
|
January 27, 2021
|
Sealed Leagues End
|
January 28, 2021 |
Next B&R
|
Unknown
|
Zendikar Rising Redemption
|
Ends April 7th, 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.
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:
Cutting Edge Tech is being replaced this week. There is going to be a lot of decklists in this article!
2020 in Magic: The Gathering was an incredibly weird year. We had the cards from 2019 and F.I.R.E generation of cards. We had the Year of Commander, a pandemic that wiped nearly all paper organized play away and saw the highest levels of play shift to digital. We had bans in a format in nine of the twelve months, and a power level ban in Vintage for that first time in decades. Almost no format was untouched by the bans as the companion rules came out, were changed and effectively banned seven additional cards. We saw cards leave platforms and replaced by placeholder images explaining that racism has no place in Magic, and Wizards doing not much since then.
This is the year 2020 in Magic.
Standard:
Banned this year:
Agent of Treachery,
Fires of Invention,
Wilderness Reclamation,
Teferi, Time Raveler,
Growth Spiral,
Cauldron Familiar,
Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath,
Omnath, Locus of Creation,
Lucky Clover,
Escape to the Wilds
Deck of the year: I think the deck of the year this year for Standard has to be Temur Reclamation. It was dominant over multiple portions of the year, and was able to adjust as threats to it came to the field. It was widely played and saw a lot of success in the format. It would go from Temur to a four color deck by the time
Wilderness Reclamation was finally banned.
Jund Sac: Featuring another banned card Jund Sac and the life gain engine provided by
Witch's Oven and
Cauldron Familiar made it difficult for aggro decks and provided just enough aggression for the Reclamation decks to battle against.
Sultai Midrange: More banned cards! It boggles my mind that
Nissa, Who Shakes the World never got caught up in the bans. The five mana planeswalker protected herself very well and ramped into huge end game threats that helped out against the aggro decks of the field.
Omnath: This deck saw so much play, and it was clear after one set of bannings that another was going to have to happen. After it dominated the next event,
Omnath, Locus of Creation earned a timeout.
Gruul Adventures: I feel as if Gruul Adventures is currently the best deck in Standard.
Historic:
Banned this year:
Agent of Treachery,
Winota, Joiner of Forces,
Fires of Invention,
Nexus of Fate,
Field of the Dead,
Teferi, Time Raveler,
Wilderness Reclamation
Suspended this year:
Oko, Thief of Crowns,
Once Upon a Time,
Veil of Summer,
Winota, Joiner of Forces,
Burning-Tree Emissary,
Wilderness Reclamation,
Teferi, Time Raveler,
Omnath, Locus of Creation
Unsuspended this year:
Burning-Tree Emissary
Azorius Control is the current big thing in Historic, which has seen the format dominated by Goblins, thanks to Jumpstart cards like
Muxus, Goblin Grandee, Reclamation control, and Winota decks. 7 cards have been banned in the format, and if
Paradox Engine has any say in the matter, it may be among the first banned in the new year.
Gruul Aggro: After it was allowed back in the format
Burning-Tree Emissary carved itself out a nice spot in the metagame.
Deck of the year: Ever since Jumpstart hit Arena, I can't recall another deck winning so much, so quickly. The new Goblins, highlighted by
Muxus, Goblin Grandee allow for some pretty incredible turns that win the game out no where.
Sultai Midrange: Uro may be showing us the continuning mistake allowing Uro in constructed formats.
Legacy:
Banned this year:
Underworld Breach,
Lurrus of the Dream-Den,
Zirda, the Dawnwaker
After the bannings during the year it appears that 4 Color Snowko is the biggest deck of Legacy this year. I've spent so much time looking for cool decks to show off in the format, and have often times struggled because of the amount of times this deck is played. Death and Taxes was another huge winner with
Skyclave Apparition becoming a real useful card for the deck later in the year.
Deck of the year: This one was pretty much all over the place from the beginning of the year until the end of the year. If you're playing Legacy you need to bring a nice coat, because it appears to be the coldest format.
Bomberman: Bomberman was among the reasons that
Zirda, the Dawnwaker was removed from the format. Videos online show the deck winning on turn one often thanks to the fast mana and mana sinks in the deck.
Lurrus Control:
Lurrus of the Dream-Den wasn't the only Ikoria card to be removed from the format, it was played in a lot of decks, but this control deck may have been the worst offender of the lot.
Modern:
Banned this year:
Mox Opal,
Mycosynth Lattice,
Oko, Thief of Crowns,
Once Upon a Time,
Arcum's Astrolabe
Like Legacy, Modern started off the year dominated by a snow deck. It's many variations eventually led to bannings, and it wraps up the year as one of the better decks, although it is just a four color version of that. Zendikar Rising created a new archetype and strengthened
Death's Shadow decks.
Deck of the year: Maybe Modern is the format with the most chill? Different versions of this deck were among the most played and successful during the year.
Landless Spy: This deck was a glass cannon that existed, but really didn't take off until after Zendikar Rising. The modal land cards really help take advantage of the
Balustrade Spy and
Undercity Informer.
Death's Shadow:
Death's Shadow has long been an established archetype, but it got help from Zendikar Rising with the addition of
Scourge of the Skyclaves.
4 Color Snow: This is what Snow Control evolved in to over the course of the year.
Pauper:
Banned this year:
Expedition Map,
Mystic Sanctuary
Deck of the year: Izzet Faeries took full advantage of
Mystic Sanctuary while it was legal in the format. The tempo deck was able to replay key pieces of removal or countermagic thanks to the common land.
Flicker Tron: Banned on the same day as Sanctuary, removing
Expedition Map was supposed to knock the consistency of Tron down a level. So far, it hasn't really worked as the deck is still a major player in the format today.
Monarch: Commander Legends impacted Pauper with new cards and downshifts. Adding the Monarch mechanic to blue was a thing that worried some, and so far, the different versions of
Fall from Favor blue decks have made themselves known to the format.
Affinity: I do believe that Affinity is the best way to race Tron and keep up with Monarch plays from the blue players.
Pioneer:
Banned this year:
Inverter of Truth,
Kethis, the Hidden Hand,
Walking Ballista,
Underworld Breach
Unbanned this year:
Oath of Nissa
Deck of the year: Dimir Inverter is of course, among the dead combo decks of the Pioneer format.
Lotus Breach is the only combo deck that survived in Pioneer after the bans. It started off as a Simic based combo deck, and with the removal of
Underworld Breach the deck mostly reverted to the previous form.
Sultai Delirium has also recovered well from the banning, as
Walking Ballista was easily replaced. It's been a favorite deck of solid MTGO players for some time.
Other decks that deserve a mention in Pioneer are Niv Mizzet Reborn control, the Mono White Heliod combo deck that saw a ton of play before the ban and Mono Green Devotion which saw a bit of a resurgance when
Oath of Nissa was unbanned.
Vintage:
Banned this year:
Lurrus of the Dream-Den
Here is a reason Lurrus got banned.
After the bannings things seemed to be back to the pillars of Vintage.
Mishra's Workshop,
Force of Will,
Bazaar of Baghdad, things of that nature.
I don't know why they decks Xerox in Vintage, and I am to afraid to ask.
Brawl:
Banned this year:
Lutri, the Spellchaser,
Golos, Tireless Pilgrim,
Drannith Magistrate,
Winota, Joiner of Forces,
Teferi, Time Raveler,
Runed Halo Gideon's Intervention (Intervention was of course, Historic Brawl only),
Omnath, Locus of Creation
Suspended in Brawl this year:
Commander:
Banned:
Lutri, the Spellchaser,
Flash
The Winner's Circle is where I will recognize winners of the past events on MTGO.
Challenge Winners
Saturday Legacy - _INF_ - ANT
Saturday Modern - dough_shack - Temur Scapeshift
Saturday Pauper - Pilototo - Izzet Delver
Saturday Pioneer - ElYallo - Orzhov Auras
Saturday Standard - pokerswizard - Mono Green Food
Saturday Vintage - Phill_Hellmuth
Sunday Legacy - jacetmsst - Temur Delver
Sunday Modern - Boucha - Oops! All Charbelchers
Sunday Pauper - ecobaronen - Izzet Delver
Sunday Pioneer - claudioh - Azorius Control
Sunday Standard - John1111 - Dimir Rogues
Sunday Vintage - Condescend
Other Event Winners
Modern Champ Qualifier - Gobo2009 - Izzet Blitz
MTGOTraders YouTube: Did you know that MTGOTraders.com has a YouTube page? Well if not, now you do, and you can find it here!
Chantelle Campbell looked at Magic as an eSport over here.
Cassie LaBelle has a review of MTG Finance for the year here.
Kendra Smith looks at the myths that are behind Kaldheim.
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: No changes to the list this week.
Modern Staples: An Eldrazi is back on the list with
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn annihilating the list.
Eternal Staples: I believe that
Hullbreacher and
Opposition Agent are both seeing enough eternal play to warrant their inclusion to the list now. I wish I could say the same about
Apex Devastator.
Submerge and
Daze have also found their way back on to the list. Finally,
Paradigm Shift is on the list as well, thanks to some Legacy play.
Pioneer Staples: Looking at the price drop of
Bomat Courier, I don't think I've seen something from a list fall so hard, so fast, outside of when a new set is coming in to Standard. I may have also reported last week's foil price. I don't think I did, but it's possible.
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 |
$116.84 |
$122.16 |
($5.32) |
-4% |
Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths |
$76.38 |
$75.04 |
$1.34 |
2% |
Theros Beyond Death |
$173.39 |
$166.66 |
$6.73 |
4% |
Throne of Eldraine |
$139.85 |
$144.51 |
($4.66) |
-3% |
Treasure Chest |
$2.30 |
$2.34 |
($0.04) |
-2% |
Zendikar Rising |
$131.00 |
$125.89 |
$5.11 |
4% |
Zendikar Rising Booster Pack |
$3.28 |
$3.27 |
$0.01 |
0% |
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 |
137.78 |
Snapcaster Mage |
UBT |
Mythic |
101.48 |
Force of Negation |
MH1 |
Rare |
96.03 |
Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath |
THB |
Mythic |
79.19 |
Hullbreacher |
CMR |
Rare |
78.27 |
Liliana of the Veil |
UBT |
Mythic |
76.51 |
Karakas |
UBT |
Mythic |
75.9 |
Mox Jet |
1E |
Rare |
75.55 |
Ancestral Recall |
1E |
Rare |
74.29 |
Cavern of Souls |
UBT |
Mythic |
71.91 |
Wrenn and Six |
MH1 |
Mythic |
66.05 |
Mox Emerald |
1E |
Rare |
61.9 |
Time Walk |
1E |
Rare |
61.72 |
Seasoned Pyromancer |
MH1 |
Mythic |
58.74 |
Force of Will |
MED |
Rare |
54.39 |
Allosaurus Shepherd |
JMP |
Mythic |
52.42 |
Karn Liberated |
UBT |
Mythic |
51.38 |
Dark Depths |
UBT |
Mythic |
50.87 |
Noble Hierarch |
UBT |
Mythic |
50.79 |
Dockside Extortionist |
C19 |
Rare |
46.67 |
The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale |
ME3 |
Rare |
42.95 |
Platinum Emperion |
UBT |
Mythic |
42.93 |
Jace, the Mind Sculptor |
MS4 |
Mythic |
42.59 |
Lord Windgrace |
PZ2 |
Mythic |
41.28 |
Carpet of Flowers |
UZ |
Uncommon |
40.77 |
Mox Pearl |
1E |
Rare |
40.75 |
Wasteland |
TE |
Uncommon |
39.43 |
Mox Sapphire |
1E |
Rare |
38.77 |
Teferi, Time Raveler |
WAR |
Rare |
37.71 |
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth |
UBT |
Mythic |
37.32 |
Timetwister |
1E |
Rare |
37.31 |
Force of Will |
2XM |
Mythic |
37.24 |
Mox Ruby |
1E |
Rare |
37.18 |
Liliana, the Last Hope |
MS4 |
Mythic |
35.48 |
Demonic Tutor |
UBT |
Mythic |
35.15 |
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow |
PZ2 |
Rare |
34.99 |
Force of Will |
MS3 |
Mythic |
34.56 |
Karn, the Great Creator |
WAR |
Rare |
34.46 |
Opposition Agent |
CMR |
Rare |
34.31 |
Force of Will |
EMA |
Mythic |
34.04 |
Force of Will |
VMA |
Rare |
31.4 |
Purple-Crystal Crab |
PZ2 |
Common |
31.36 |
Celestial Colonnade |
UBT |
Mythic |
31.29 |
Life from the Loam |
UBT |
Mythic |
30.51 |
Wasteland |
TPR |
Rare |
30.21 |
Wasteland |
ZNE |
Mythic |
29.42 |
Wasteland |
EXP |
Mythic |
29.18 |
Wasteland |
EMA |
Rare |
28.52 |
Gaea's Cradle |
UZ |
Rare |
28.33 |
Elder Gargaroth |
M21 |
Mythic |
26.9 |
Auriok Champion |
IMA |
Rare |
26.84 |
Scourge of the Skyclaves |
ZNR |
Mythic |
26.83 |
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria |
MS4 |
Mythic |
26.41 |
Field of the Dead |
M20 |
Rare |
25.63 |
Bitterblossom |
UBT |
Mythic |
25.28 |
Heavenly Qilin |
PZ2 |
Common |
25.25 |
Creeping Tar Pit |
UBT |
Mythic |
25.19 |
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
I am going to be taking the week off from writing State of the Program next week, as I will have my son and will be spending as much time with him as possible. This marks the end of my first full year of writing the column and I hope I am doing a good job for Erik and Pete. I don't have many hot takes anymore, and I don't consume nearly as much Magic content as I used to, but this year was marked by changes. I don't consume as much as I used to because I am not as competitive as I used to be, and am finding Commander and league play to be about the most I want out of Magic anymore. I will be back January 8th of 2021 with the first State of the Program of 2021. I hope every has a safe, healthy and happy holiday season!
See ya next year!
This series is an ongoing tribute to Erik “Hamtastic” Friborg.