State of the Program for February 8th, 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.
Redemption: Redemption is up and running! Remember that redemption runs now until supply is gone. Currently being redeemed are Dominaria United and The Brothers' War. Phyrexia: All Will Be One will be up for redemption in March.
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.
Phyrexia: All Will Be One: Set came out yesterday! Art Bundles are going to be a new way to get cards on MTGO. They will have a package for the Phyrexian Oil lands, which will be 10 of any one basic for 3.99 or 10 of each basic for 16.99. The compleated walkers are 14.99. The borderless fastlands will be 4.99. You are buying copies of the cards, not card styles here. These art bundles will not be included in Treasure Chests. Treasure Chests will update on the 7th. They will include Extended Arts, Borderless, Ichor, Manga, and the Jungi Ito Elesh Norn. It will not include the cycle of alternate art praetors. There will be new Commander cards in the Treasure Chests as well. Magic Online Player Rewards packs updated, losing the basic lands, and gaining Borderless and Retro commons and uncommons from Dominaria Remastered. Next month and April will see the Ichor common and uncommons. You can read about all the cool stuff that is happening here. The Borderless Praetors, previously stated to not be out until later in the year, will now be in booster packs at the same rate as tabletop packs. The will be part of the Treasure chest update next month.
Limited Challenges: Due to expected interest with the new set, Limited Challenges are going back to 64 player events until the demand goes back to a lower number. This change does not effect the 1 a.m. Pacific challenge.
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
|
February 15, 2023 |
|
Constructed Leagues End
|
April 18, 2023
|
|
Sealed Leagues End
|
April 18, 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 - Phyrexia: All Will Be One events
February 11 - Modern Showcase Challenge
Februart 12 - Pioneer Showcase Challenge
February 15 - The Magic 30 Cube
February 22 - Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty
March 1 - Time Spiral Remastered
March 8 - Modern Horizons
March 22 - Modern Horizons 2
April 5 - March of the Machine Release
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:
This week with Phyrexia: All Will Be One releasing, I am going to veer off the path of looking at new decks in the format, but instead, talking about a format that I have started to play and adore, Premodern. You may have noticed a league for this on Gatherling, or events on MTGMelee, but this community driven format, consisting of decks made from set from Fourth Edition to Scourge has picked up in popularity on social media. You can see the sets and banned list
here. You can find information about the Magic Online Society (the group that typically hosts these events),
here. If you are interested in other decks, you can find them
here.
Rec Sur: Pre Modern feels like the hits of of my late teen years and early adulthood. Most of these decks had Magic in a chokehold at some point or another.
Zombies:
Elves: Elves has always been a popular tribe, and this deck is so much cheaper to build with digital copies of
Gaea's Cradle
!
Stiflenought: This was a popular choice in Legacy for a time!
Madness: Madness took over Block Constructed, Standard and Extended!
The Winner's Circle is where I will recognize winners of the past events on MTGO.
Challenge Winners
Friday Modern - sydneydude - 4 Color Footfalls
Saturday Legacy - duke12 - Reanimator
Saturday Modern 32 - fuya - Azorius HammerTime
Saturday Modern - HappySandwich - Azorius HammerTime
Saturday Pauper - RClint21 - Flicker Tron
Saturday Pioneer - XboxGreg - Golgari Elves
Saturday Standard - MJ_23 - Mardu Midrange
Saturday Vintage - thepowernine
Sunday Legacy - XxShuicuexX - Reanimator
Sunday Modern - rerere - Jund Aggro
Sunday Pauper - Tyerube1618 - Songs of the Damned Combo
Sunday Pioneer - Hamuda - Boros Heroic
Sunday Standard - Arianne - Esper Midrange
Sunday Vintage - duke12
Other Event Winners
Legacy Qualifier
Modern 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: Phyrexia: All Will Be One singles will hit the list next week! Prices were done Tuesday Afternoon, shortly after events started, and because of that, everything is super inflated right now!
One with the Multiverse
is new to the list this week though.
Ob Nixilis, the Adversary
is off the list.
Modern Staples:
Sigarda's Aid
has been added to the Modern table because it sees the most play in this format, despite being in a Pioneer legal set.
Magus of the Moon
has fallen off.
Eternal Staples:
Karakas
came off the list this week.
Pioneer Staples:
Werewolf Pack Leader
was one the list, howled, and moved on. It must have summoned
Hive of the Eye Tyrant
because it is on the list again.
Resplendent Angel
flew off the list.
Rest in Peace
is back on the list.
Archon of Emeria
is off the list
.
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!
You see that inflated price for Phyrexia: All Will Be One? That's why I didn't do single prices for it in the Standard chart!
| Complete Set |
Price |
Last Time |
Change |
% Change |
| The Brothers' War |
$112.34 |
$116.84 |
($4.50) |
-4% |
| The Brothers's War Booster |
$1.98 |
$2.42 |
($0.44) |
-18% |
| Dominaria United |
$116.74 |
$120.72 |
($3.98) |
-3% |
| Innistrad: Crimson Vow |
$59.75 |
$57.70 |
$2.05 |
4% |
| Innistrad: Midnight Hunt |
$98.85 |
$103.35 |
($4.50) |
-4% |
| Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty |
$122.32 |
$119.01 |
$3.31 |
3% |
| Phyrexia: All Will Be One |
$434.10 |
|
|
|
| Phyrexia: All Will Be One Booster |
$3.35 |
|
|
|
| Streets of New Capenna |
$67.57 |
$69.83 |
($2.26) |
-3% |
| Treasure Chest |
$2.38 |
$2.30 |
$0.08 |
3% |
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 |
256.8 |
| Mox Jet |
1E |
Rare |
119.14 |
| Cavern of Souls |
UBT |
Mythic |
112.29 |
| Ancestral Recall |
1E |
Rare |
106.45 |
| Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth |
UBT |
Mythic |
96.4 |
| Karakas |
UBT |
Mythic |
95.43 |
| Liliana of the Veil |
UBT |
Mythic |
92.19 |
| Mox Sapphire |
1E |
Rare |
81.24 |
| Time Walk |
1E |
Rare |
79.86 |
| Marisi, Breaker of the Coil |
C19 |
Mythic |
73.1 |
| Mox Emerald |
1E |
Rare |
70.31 |
| Demonic Tutor |
UBT |
Mythic |
62.05 |
| Mox Ruby |
1E |
Rare |
61.95 |
| Mox Pearl |
1E |
Rare |
61.74 |
| Heavenly Qilin |
PZ2 |
Common |
53.43 |
| Aether Gale |
C14 |
Rare |
51.31 |
| Fury |
MH2 |
Mythic |
49.88 |
| Earthshaking Si |
PZ2 |
Common |
49.87 |
| Dark Depths |
UBT |
Mythic |
48.9 |
| Purple-Crystal Crab |
PZ2 |
Common |
47.94 |
| Sheoldred, the Apocalypse |
DMU |
Mythic |
47.26 |
| Urza's Saga |
MH2 |
Rare |
47.09 |
| Boseiju, Who Endures |
NEO |
Rare |
45.69 |
| Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer |
MH2 |
Mythic |
44.77 |
| Force of Will |
MED |
Rare |
43.71 |
| Snapcaster Mage |
UBT |
Mythic |
43.51 |
| Wasteland |
ZNE |
Mythic |
43.43 |
| Kozilek, Butcher of Truth |
UBT |
Mythic |
43.13 |
| Liliana, the Last Hope |
MS4 |
Mythic |
42.78 |
| Jace, the Mind Sculptor |
MS4 |
Mythic |
42.1 |
| Mana Vault |
UBT |
Mythic |
41.5 |
| Reanimate |
UBT |
Mythic |
39.33 |
| Teferi, Hero of Dominaria |
MS4 |
Mythic |
37.33 |
| Gaea's Cradle |
UZ |
Rare |
36.76 |
| Flooded Strand |
ZNE |
Mythic |
36.26 |
| Endurance |
MH2 |
Mythic |
34.61 |
| Timetwister |
1E |
Rare |
33.95 |
| Cleansing Screech |
PZ2 |
Common |
32.75 |
| Thoughtseize |
TSR |
Bonus |
32.68 |
| Pramikon, Sky Rampart |
C19 |
Mythic |
32.53 |
| Life from the Loam |
UBT |
Mythic |
31.82 |
| Creeping Tar Pit |
UBT |
Mythic |
29.24 |
| Snuff Out |
MM |
Common |
28.98 |
| Ugin, the Spirit Dragon |
MS4 |
Mythic |
28.55 |
| Solitude |
MH2 |
Mythic |
28.01 |
| Noble Hierarch |
UBT |
Mythic |
27.94 |
| Flusterstorm |
CMD |
Rare |
27.82 |
| Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines |
ONE |
Mythic |
27.75 |
| Mox Diamond |
ST |
Rare |
27.57 |
| Edgar Markov |
PZ2 |
Mythic |
27.15 |
| Fulminator Mage |
UBT |
Mythic |
26.96 |
| Ledger Shredder |
SNC |
Rare |
26.78 |
| Mox Diamond |
V10 |
Mythic |
26.36 |
| Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre |
UBT |
Mythic |
26.23 |
| Flusterstorm |
IMA |
Rare |
26.07 |
| Mox Diamond |
TPR |
Mythic |
26 |
| Orvar, the All-Form |
KHM |
Mythic |
25.2 |
| Cavern of Souls |
ZNE |
Mythic |
25.2 |
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.
I started off the montly Modern series with a 2-3 record, playing Grixis Archon. Needing to play 10 matches and win 7 to qualify didn't seem awful. Just had to 5-0 what amounted to a league. Anyways, reader, I went 1-4 in the next five rounds. Whoops.
My health issues are still a thing. I am down to 236 now as of this writing. When it started I was at 301. Looking forward to my appointments.
I did finish the Mass Effect trilogy. It was a delight, as I remembered it being. I thought about jumping right in to replays of Persona, but I think I am going to play stuff I have never played before first, probably Watch Dogs and Far Cry.
I also plan on actually playing paper Magic at an RCQ near me next weekend. Agoraphobia has taken to much from me.
This series is an ongoing tribute to Erik “Hamtastic” Friborg.
