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By: one million words, Pete Jahn
Jan 10 2014 1:00pm
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The State of the Program for January 10th 2014

This series is an ongoing tribute to Erik “Hamtastic” Friborg.
 

In the News this Week:

Excellent Article on the Biggest Problem for MTGO: It’s not the interface, or competition, card prices or even the new card frame. The biggest problem, and biggest threat to MTGO long term, is online assholes bullying and generally being obnoxious. Rada Rudyak wrote an excellent article on the problem and solutions. Read it. Think about it. More on this in the opinion section.
 
Wizards Tweaks Premier Events: Wizards has announced some changes to the Premier events. Well, they had to – other than Standard and Theros sealed, almost nothing was firing. The changes fall into two main groups. First, Wizards removed some low interest events, mainly M14, and replaced them with Standard and Theros Sealed. Second, Wizards changed the prize pool and minimum number of players for Legacy, Pauper, Momir Vig, Modern and Theros Block Constructed. These now require a minimum of 33 players, and pay out 24 packs for first, down to a draft set for 9th-16th. Details here
 
Classic Event Times Changed: Classic is a format with a small but loyal following.   Back when Classic events were offered at various times each day, the community found that they could routinely fire the Saturday night event. A number of regular players had commented that they had jobs and families, so the only time that worked was weekends, after the kids went to bed. When Wizards revamped the Daily Events schedule, Wizards moved the Classic events to midafternoon, and attendance plummeted. Now Wizards has moved the start time to 6:30pm PST. We will see if this is late enough.      
 
New Card Face Announced:   Aaron Forsythe, head of Wizards R&D, wrote his annual recap article. The article covered some of the best of 2013 (Modern Masters, most limited formats, premier play) and some misses (Slivers, MTGO and the lack of hoopla for the 25th Anniversary.) He also announced some minor changes to the card face, beginning with M15. The changes will primarily affect paper, and include changes to make the cards more readable and include more information, plus a holographic image on rares and mythics to make forging cards more difficult. You can read the article here
 
Modern Event Decks Announced: We don’t have many details yet, but Wizards did announce that they will offer Modern Format preconstructed, “tournament ready” decks. In the paper version, these will be “tightly constructed 60-card decks with a 15-card sideboard, strategy guide, Spindown life counter, 80 exclusive card sleeves, 5 double-sided tokens, and a deck box.” They will have an MSRP of $74.99. No word on whether online versions will be offered. Maybe, but the online versions of the Standard event decks are not available online, probably because the entire deck can be bought retail for a small fraction of the price. OTOH, Wizards does offer online Legacy intro decks, so we will see. Eventually. The article is subtitled “Your power is here. Your time is now.” but it isn’t, yet. This is a very preliminary announcement. The decks will release in May.
 
Jon Loucks Article on Design: Jon Loucks wrote an article about the treatment of options on MTGO.  He made the point that putting something in front of the 99% who didn't care about something basically clutters up their screens.  He argued for finding other ways to provide that info to the  1% who care.  It is an interesting read, and I agree with some of it.  However, I would also recommend the rebuttal in the forums, especially Braman’s great post (it’s #16.) I wholeheartedly agree with pretty much everything Braman says.
 
MOCS Info Promised: from the blog: [Wizards] will be announcing information on the 2013 Magic Online Championship Series next week, including how to qualify for the final two Championship spots, as well as plans for the 2014 series. Check back here next week for the scoop!  Hopefully, next week I will have some actual info to report.
 
R&D Challenge Today: Wizards will be offering another play against R&D today at 12 Noon, PDT. The event will be Standard, and probably happen in the afternoon, Renton time. Wizards will be fielding at least 10 players: Tim Aten, David Humpherys, Adam Prosak, Ken Nagle, Ben Hayes, Ryan Spain, Max McCall, Ian Duke, Gerry Thompson, Sam Stoddard, Allison Medwin, Lee Sharpe and Jon Loucks.   The event will be streamed on the Magic Online Twitch.tv broadcast.  
 
Wizards Asking for More Beta Testers: Wizards is still asking for more beta testers. This would cover testing of both the next sets and the closed beta of the new interface. You can get details and apply here.
 
PureMTGO Standardizes its Lineup: Here at PureMTGO.com, the crew has been working to ensure that you can see quality articles on a predictable basis. The lineup is pretty much finalized. Fortunately, State of the Program made the cut and will continue to appear here every Friday (assuming I do not miss my deadline by too many days/hours, and JXC continues to edit at a frantic pace to get my submission fixed, polished and posted in way too short a time.)
 
Forum Contests: Over on the WotC forums, Cauchy’s “I Love MTGO” contest has ended, and winners have been announced. Some cool entries.  The new “contest” is to explain why your screen name is cool. 
 
Flashback Draft Update: The “Flashback” drafts are over, at least for now. Cube drafts are also done. The calendar briefly announced Invasion drafts, but that was wrong and soon removed. Wizards has promised “there will be information about more coming in the future.” In practice, the flashback drafts simply vanished with no warning or comment from Wizards, except for the calendar post-in-error, a Twitter retraction of that post, and a promise that we would hear something sometime.
 
Really.  
 
Good communications that is not.
 
As a person with a real life and a job, I tend to schedule my weekends. I agree to do things as they are offered, and commit to doing things with friends when I find out about them. For example, this Saturday I will be running a PTQ in Green Bay (at Gnome Games. Standard. TOs great. Come if you can.) I was offered that job months ago. I will also be meeting some friends online to biff goblins in Guild Wars 2 (my personal preferred alternative to WoW.) That, plus football and an evening at my Mom’s house will eat up the weekend. I won’t play MTGO at all. I would have, but all of those other things were offered, and accepted, a week or more in advance – even the GW2 events. You see, GW2, like most other games or events, sends me frequent emails describing upcoming events and special opportunities. MTGO does not. As a result, I have found myself playing a lot more GW2, and a whole lot less MTGO.
 
Wizards, if anyone there sees this, you might want to think about it. I have been passionately involved in Magic since the late 1990s. I am a player, writer, judge, tournament organizer and advocate, and have been constantly since I wrote for The Dojo some 15 years ago. I have collections of 100,000+ cards in both paper and online. And you are losing me. Your inability or unwillingness to tell me what cool events I might want to play in, in a reasonably timely manner, means I am playing other games instead of Magic. And I’m not missing Magic all that much.
 
You really might want to think about that.
 
For everyone else: I’m on the Maguma server over at Guild Wars 2. GW2 is a cool swords and fantasy game with no monthly fee. The game also cleanly separates PvE and PvP play, so you don’t have to worry about other players slaughtering your new character, or you can slaughter other characters, as you prefer. Recommended.   
 
HammyBot Update:   Hammybot is a great way to get cards and support the family of the late Erik Friborg. So far, Hammybot has raised almost 6,200 TIX! Keep it going! Hammybot still has 25,525 cards to sell, including a number of foil Mythics. Hammybot also has a nice collection of Foil lands, so if you want to pimp out your constructed decks… 
 

Opinion Section: What Will Kill Magic

This week’s opinions section was sparked by Rada Rudyak’s excellent article on bullying and abusive behavior in Magic. Read it. Think about it. Click the link now. I’ll wait.
 
The most depressing thing about the article is that the screen shots are from real game logs. The things said in the logs were actually said to opponents who had the misfortune to be paired against these lowlife scum. So sad. It is behavior like this that turns people off Magic. It is things like this that make people stop playing MTGO, and the program cannot afford to lose customers. Nor can it afford to get a reputation for this sort of misbehavior. 
 
Read the article. If you do stuff like this, please stop.  Seriously. You have no right to be a jerk. Your actions harm people, the community and MTGO as a whole. Stop it.
 
Now, everyone, please help us eliminate this type of abuse. If / when you encounter someone like this, here’s what I recommend you do. It’s what I do. 
1.    Start politely – say something like “Dude, I know you were mana screwed, but don’t be a jerk.”
2.    If the abuse, or anything that you don’t feel is appropriate, continues, take a screen shot. (Simply hit the print screen key, then copy it into Paint or PowerPoint or your program of choice, then save the graphic as a jpeg.) If you cannot get a screen shot, at least note down the game ID and the approximate time (on your clock) when it occurred.
3.    Report it to Wizards customer service. Just ask an ORC for the link. 
 
If you are not sure whether the conduct is bad enough to warrant reporting – report it anyway. If it made you uncomfortable, unhappy, or made you think your opponent is a jerk, report it. If you think it may have bothered a kid playing for the first time, report it. If you think it would have bothered the kid’s parents if they are watching over the kids’ shoulder, report it. Wizards has people trained in how to evaluate the severity and to handle the issue – at whatever level of intervention is appropriate. Wizards can do anything from a simply talking to the player to banning the player’s account. Quick intervention may keep a mild first offense from becoming a problem, while reporting a truly bad actor may mean no one else has to suffer from facing that player. Either way, things get better. For everyone.
 
I have reported some really bad actors, and some players who may just have been having a bad day. With the marginal ones, I may start my post with “this just happened. Not sure if it violates the code of conduct, but it bugged me. If this is as bad as this player gets, no problem, but if s/he is worse elsewhere, it’s worth talking to the player about…”  Nothing bad is going to happen to you or the player if you report marginally bad behavior, even if Wizards decides you overreacted in this case. On the flip side, nothing good will ever come from not reporting abuse. If you have any question about whether a player’s behavior is inappropriate or could be harmful, ask an ORC or just report it. Let Wizards’ staff sort it out.
 
It does not matter if the crap the other player is saying doesn’t bother you personally all that much – if it is abusive report it anyway. If the player has no idea who you are and dumps that on you anyway, that player will also dump abuse on other players. Those other players may be less able to handle it, or less willing to tolerate it and keep supporting MTGO. That type of toxic behavior does drive some vulnerable people to depression or suicide and that is unforgivable. However, it has a wider effect that affects all MTGO players. It drives away a lot of players who experience the abuse and decide that MTGO itself falls in the “life’s too short for this crap” category. The next time you are sitting in a queue for minutes on end, hoping it will fire, think about what would happen if those other players would not have quit.  You could be playing already. Then remember that the next time you face a toxic opponent – and report him or her. 
 
Online bullying and abuse is poisonous. Let’s get rid of it.
 
Here endeth the sermon.
 

Cutting Edge Tech: 

Question: where do you want me to take this section, since PureMTGO now has specialists writing about each of these formats (except Legacy)? What can/ should I do in this section to provide extra value? Should I concentrate on a particular format each week?  Should I do a video overview of a deck or archetype, together with some matches? Should I continue to provide one notable decklists in each format each week? Or should I concentrate on Legacy, since PureMTGO does not have a Legacy specialist, yet. (Or did I miss someone?) Tell me in the comments.
 
Standard: The holidays are over, and events are ramping up again. SCG ran events in Indianapolis last weekend. (Next week is Orlando. Being there would be a nice change from here, where it is currently -20F.)  I was going to stick Owen Turtenwald’s deck here, but PureMTGO is premiering a new article series every Wednesday called Topping the Charts. It will focus on the Standard metagame. Owen’s decklist, and more, are in that article.  Please check it out and let kriskruse know what you think of his article.
 
Modern: BlippytheSlug is back, both with his weekly article series and Overdrive! PRE. Check here for a lot more Modern info than I have room for. And if that is not enough Modern for you, Procrastination writes The Modern Perspective, which also appears on Thursdays on PureMTGO.com. 
 
Pauper: PureMTGO.com features a number of articles on Pauper on Monday. Since I often steal my tech from these articles, I am just going to link to Back to the Drawing Board, Mikey K Radio and the Common Cause podcast.
 
ClassicYawgmoth’s Soap Opera covers the Classic scene, and appears just above or below my article every Friday. They have more info on Classic than I do, especially since Classic did not fire this week.  Since Wizards has adjusted the time for Classic events, that will hopefully change.
 
Legacy: So far, PureMTGO does not have a dedicated Legacy article, so I’ll give you a decklist, like I used to for all formats. SCG ran a Legacy Open in Indianapolis last weekend, and the winner was called, by the coverage, Jund Depths. That’s not really correct – the deck is a hybrid Smallpox / Lands / Dark Depths / Thespian's Stage deck. It is fascinating. The coverage is here, and the top 16 decklists are here
 
 
So, please tell me in comments what I should do with the Cutting Edge Tech section. I am open to suggestions.
 

Card Prices: 

Notes: All my prices come from MTGOTraders.com. For cards that are available in multiple sets, I am quoting the lower price. Thus, the price I’m quoting for Thoughtseize is generally the Theros price. In certain other cases (e.g Brainstorm) I will note which version I track. All these cards are generally available from the MTGOTraders Bots, so check out mtgotradersbot, mtgotradersbot2, mtgotradersbot3, mtgotradersbot4, mtgotradersbot5, CardCaddy and CardWareHouse, or you can order them directly from the website. Now, on to prices.
 
The cost of entire sets is relevant if you redeem, but it is also a decent indicator of overall trends. Right now, I think we are seeing a combination of the rebound after the panic following the scheduled events suspension, and a slowdown in Theros drafting. Theros was underpriced; that can’t last.
 

Complete Set
Price
Last Week
Change
% Change
Dragon's Maze
$86.41
$77.56
$8.85
11%
Gatecrash
$109.93
$107.08
$2.85
3%
M14
$139.67
$138.84
$0.83
1%
Return to Ravnica
$162.58
$161.45
$1.13
1%
Theros
$121.14
$107.83
$13.31
12%

 
Standard prices are moving around. I have added a couple cards and removed a few that fell below $5. 
 

Standard & Block Cards
Price
2 Weeks Ago
Change
% Change
$7.71
(new)
$10.45
$10.75
($0.30)
-3%
$6.17
$5.85
$0.32
5%
$16.99
$20.35
($3.36)
-17%
(Chandra, Pyromancer)
$19.28
(new)
 
 
$20.48
$19.86
$0.62
3%
$10.17
$10.16
$0.01
0%
$9.13
$7.30
$1.83
25%
$13.61
$14.41
($0.80)
-6%
$35.17
$32.92
$2.25
7%
$7.25
$7.04
$0.21
3%
$7.91
$7.84
$0.07
1%
$27.94
$26.52
$1.42
5%
$14.68
$11.77
$2.91
25%
$10.09
$8.67
$1.42
16%
(Sphinx’s Revelation)
$30.59
$34.00
($3.41)
-10%
$17.79
$13.99
$3.80
27%
$8.06
$7.77
$0.29
4%
$5.80
$6.05
($0.25)
-4%
$34.74
$26.89
$7.85
29%
$7.54
$6.87
$0.67
10%

Modern prices have climbed significantly recently. The format is recovering. 
 

Modern Cards
Price
Last Week
Change
% Change
$14.16
$13.16
$1.00
8%
$28.64
$24.43
$4.21
17%
$16.46
$16.23
$0.23
1%
$19.43
$16.08
$3.35
21%
$14.00
$12.19
$1.81
15%
$24.55
$22.80
$1.75
8%
$10.63
$9.43
$1.20
13%
$11.68
$11.11
$0.57
5%
$10.32
$7.85
$2.47
31%
$42.21
$37.28
$4.93
13%
$17.97
$16.06
$1.91
12%
$29.07
$24.12
$4.95
21%
$46.35
$37.56
$8.79
23%
$8.45
$7.31
$1.14
16%
$63.92
$49.60
$14.32
29%
$13.97
$13.18
$0.79
6%
$48.97
$49.80
($0.83)
-2%
$18.62
$15.64
$2.98
19%
$13.11
$13.64
($0.53)
-4%
$23.74
$25.32
($1.58)
-6%
$12.64
$9.43
$3.21
34%
$10.06
$9.24
$0.82
9%
$73.60
$65.57
$8.03
12%
$36.43
$29.62
$6.81
23%

Pauper prices fell hard, especially the prices of the sets featured in Flashback drafts. That always happens, and the price drops don’t last. If you drafted cards like Cloud of Faeries or Flame Rift, hold them for a couple months. Prices will climb back to their previous highs.
 

Pauper Cards
Price
Last Week
Change
% Change
$0.95
$2.11
($1.16)
-55%
$2.10
$4.88
($2.78)
-57%
$1.20
$1.26
($0.06)
-5%
$2.16
$1.29
$0.87
67%
$1.91
$4.85
($2.94)
-61%
$3.65
$3.64
$0.01
0%
$9.63
$8.15
$1.48
18%
$0.88
$1.09
($0.21)
-19%
$1.83
$1.83
$0.00
0%
$1.45
$4.55
($3.10)
-68%
$3.31
$3.76
($0.45)
-12%
$2.72
$2.48
$0.24
10%
$2.38
$2.33
$0.05
2%
$0.66
$1.05
($0.39)
-37%
$1.00
$1.16
($0.16)
-14%
$0.75
$0.95
($0.20)
-21%
$0.48
$1.25
($0.77)
-62%
$1.93
$3.11
($1.18)
-38%
$2.31
$2.31
$0.00
0%
$5.36
$4.85
$0.51
11%
$0.85
$2.06
($1.21)
-59%
$1.13
$1.05
$0.08
8%
$0.32
$2.07
($1.75)
-85%

Legacy and Classic prices were mixed. Most cards were up. However, those from Masques and Urza’s blocks – the blocks that were featured in recent flashback drafts – fell a bit. The falls were not all that large, and will not last, but the prices are down for now. Beyond that, Baleful Strix fell, since it is in the same Commander deck as True-Name Nemesis.
 

Legacy / Classic Cards
Price
Last Week
Change
% Change
$5.50
$8.00
($2.50)
-31%
$35.32
$36.21
($0.89)
-2%
$21.42
$21.42
$0.00
0%
$25.75
$28.08
($2.33)
-8%
$113.94
$113.94
$0.00
0%
$60.64
$71.70
($11.06)
-15%
$35.74
$33.89
$1.85
5%
$163.39
$166.31
($2.92)
-2%
$26.69
$26.69
$0.00
0%
$12.50
$18.14
($5.64)
-31%
$66.09
$69.36
($3.27)
-5%
$27.97
$26.40
$1.57
6%
$41.00
$42.71
($1.71)
-4%
$18.30
$18.30
$0.00
0%
$21.40
$20.87
$0.53
3%
$33.22
$33.22
$0.00
0%
$87.70
$90.66
($2.96)
-3%
$8.81
$9.16
($0.35)
-4%
$71.11
$85.73
($14.62)
-17%
$29.55
$40.44
($10.89)
-27%
$28.09
$29.12
($1.03)
-4%
$17.39
$19.88
($2.49)
-13%
$ 26.81
(new)
 
 
$40.30
$40.30
$0.00
0%
Vampiric Tutor
$38.34
$36.41
$1.93
5%
$29.74
$29.74
$0.00
0%
$74.27
$70.85
$3.42
5%

The Good Stuff:

The Good Stuff starts with a list of the non-foil, non-premium cards on MTGO that cost more than $25 each. Force of Will is back above $100 – as are several other chase cards. Rishadan Port is up, again. The list of cards over $25 is now 44 cards long. 
 

Card
Rarity
Set
 Price
Lion's Eye Diamond
R
MI
 $ 163.39
Force of Will
R
PRM
 $ 115.52
Force of Will
R
MED
 $ 113.94
Rishadan Port
R
MM
 $   87.70
Wasteland
U
TE
 $   74.27
Tarmogoyf
M
MMA
 $   74.21
Tarmogoyf
R
FUT
 $   73.60
Show and Tell
R
UZ
 $   71.11
Misdirection
R
MM
 $   66.09
Liliana of the Veil
M
ISD
 $   63.92
Gaea's Cradle
R
UZ
 $   60.64
Mox Opal
M
SOM
 $   48.79
Tundra
R
ME2
 $   46.36
Karn Liberated
M
NPH
 $   46.35
Tundra
R
ME4
 $   44.96
Fulminator Mage
R
SHM
 $   42.21
Natural Order
R
VI
 $   41.00
Underground Sea
R
ME4
 $   40.30
Underground Sea
R
ME2
 $   40.29
Vampiric Tutor
R
VI
 $   38.34
Vendilion Clique
R
MOR
 $   36.43
Tropical Island
R
ME4
 $   36.14
Vendilion Clique
M
MMA
 $   36.12
Volcanic Island
R
ME3
 $   36.00
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
M
WWK
 $   35.74
City of Traitors
R
EX
 $   35.32
Jace, Architect of Thought
M
RTR
 $   35.17
Volcanic Island
R
ME4
 $   34.81
Bayou
R
ME4
 $   34.78
Voice of Resurgence
M
DGM
 $   34.74
Bayou
R
ME3
 $   33.57
Polluted Delta
R
ONS
 $   33.22
Tropical Island
R
ME3
 $   32.81
Mutavault
R
MOR
 $   32.66
Sphinx's Revelation
M
RTR
 $   30.59
Vindicate
R
AP
 $   29.74
Sneak Attack
R
UZ
 $   29.55
Griselbrand
M
AVR
 $   29.07
Batterskull
M
NPH
 $   28.64
True-Name Nemesis
R
C13
 $   28.61
Tangle Wire
R
NE
 $   28.09
Mishra's Workshop
R
ME4
 $   27.97
Mutavault
R
M14
 $   27.94
Grove of the Burnwillows
R
FUT
 $   27.76
Mana Drain
R
ME3
 $   26.30
Flusterstorm
R
CMD
 $   25.75
Mana Crypt
R
ME2
 $   25.61

The big number is the retail price of a playset (4 copies) of every card available on MTGO. Assuming you bought the least expensive version available, the cost of owning a playset of every card on MTGO you can own is $25,600. That’s up about $500 from where we were last week. Now that the holidays are over, people are playing more and prices are rebounding.
 

Weekly Highlights:

Spent the weekend huddled indoors hiding from the bitter cold. Even the dogs are not happy going out at twenty below. On the plus side, we spent the weekend reading and playing games – mainly Guild Wars 2. We took down a bunch of Champions, earned piles of loot and explored a few areas we had never got to before. All good.
 
As for Magic, I played in two Urza’s drafts, opened nothing of value and failed to make the finals both times. I will try to play some Standard as prep for this weekend’s PTQ, but I don’t know whether I will find time / interest. I just got another email from Guild Wars, telling me about an intriguing quest. Nothing comparable from MTGO…
 
PRJ
 
“one million words” on MTGO.

29 Comments

I, for one, would really by Alphi at Fri, 01/10/2014 - 14:49
Alphi's picture

I, for one, would really enjoy it if you kept the Cutting Edge Tech as it was before. Other writers might write about these formats, it's still enjoyable to have a few deck lists of your choice come Friday evening. But if not, then yes, please, do talk about legacy in that section.

Cheers.

I think doing what you are by Paul Leicht at Fri, 01/10/2014 - 15:39
Paul Leicht's picture
5

I think doing what you are doing is fine. If you want to add some polish to the site over all you could summarize each week the articles you liked best or felt were at the top of their formats.

RE bullying: step number one, don't call your opponent a jerk even by implication. Instead call them on their abuse. "I know you were xxx in the game because of yyy but please don't be abusive about it."

What happened with Summoner's by Kumagoro42 at Fri, 01/10/2014 - 15:39
Kumagoro42's picture
5

What happened with Summoner's Egg? I was going to buy a set, had my few cents ready, and now it's almost 2 tix apiece?! Essentially overnight? (Just look at this chart)

Great piece about bullying, Pete. It really is an issue on MTGO. We recently witnessed a few psychological casualties of it, it's always soul-crushing. Reporting isn't even a real solution, it's an extremely bureaucratic procedure that takes forever to get results and possibly doesn't. The best course of action is always blocking the offenders, immediately and forever. Zero tolerance.

Report them anyway by one million words at Fri, 01/10/2014 - 16:15
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Yes, it is slow and bureaucratic, but it is the only way to get these people off MTGO. Having been involved in investigations, it takes a while to make sure you have the full story, and can prove it. It may take a few reports to get a critical mass of evidence.

More importantly, Wizards cannot watch every game. They watch those people who they have reason to suspect - often those that have been reported. If no one reports an abuser, they may never be caught.

Blocking someone protects you from that person. Reporting them protects the whole community. So block them if the bother you, but report them as well.

Of course I wasn't by Kumagoro42 at Sat, 01/11/2014 - 01:33
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Of course I wasn't discouraging reporting. Reporting is a DUTY. Blocking is what you do to preserve your own sanity (also, as Rada perfectly pointed out, to avoid becoming the monster down the line).

In fact, I'm thinking to use the fact that I'm the host of three weekly events now, to ban every proved abuser instantly and for life from those events (easily from every Gatherling event, since I know Dabil has absolutely no patience whatsoever for such kind of things).
At least one should feel safe to play in PREs, and the PREs have the moral obligation to provide a safe environment to their players, since they're created and run by people, not by machines.

Travis Woo happened in by JXClaytor at Fri, 01/10/2014 - 21:29
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Travis Woo happened in regards to Summoner's Egg. He sent out an early morning tweet, and that kinda snowballed!

Okay, I looked into that just by Kumagoro42 at Sat, 01/11/2014 - 01:25
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Okay, I looked into that just superficially, but it seems he did it intentionally to prove how speculation works or something?
I don't know, if that's the case, I'm kinda appalled.

Twoo has a large following of by JXClaytor at Sat, 01/11/2014 - 02:25
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Twoo has a large following of people that love his decks, if he was working on an egg deck and it was doing ok, he would want his followers to know.

Thank you for highlighting by Copperfield at Fri, 01/10/2014 - 15:59
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Thank you for highlighting Rada's article. That really hit home for me. I've shared it to my social media outlets. Something like that really should go viral.

Wow, Great article as usual by Mikey K159 at Fri, 01/10/2014 - 16:25
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Wow, Great article as usual Pete! Also thanks for the shout out, never thought I was worthy enough to be mentioned in your article!

Also, the article that Rada wrote was one of the best articles I have ever read in my life. It speaks to me also because when I got to the section of the top player who felt entitled etc... At some point in my life of playing mtg, I felt I was finally good enough at the game where I should never lose. I didn't quite go to the extent that he did, with spamming trade chats and what have you, but anyone who has watched my videos from the past knows how angry and how not fun I used to make magic look and if I could go back in time, I would tell myself its not worth it. No matter how much apologizing I do to my viewers and to my past self, I still used to be that way in the end. I could easily delete the videos, but I leave them up there for myself so I know how not to act and how not to take magic so serious and try to have fun.

Again thank you for linking Rada's article, it was an awesome read.

Regarding bad comments in MtgO by Snow at Fri, 01/10/2014 - 16:32
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WotC has done far to little(close to nothing ?) to stop bad behaviour on mtgo, also in paper in my opinion (but that is a discussion for another day).

"We uphold rights to close down an mtgo account for any reason...". ,or however wotc phrases that.

How about WotC actually using that stuff to, f.ex, withdraw some tickets/mythics from accounts held by players that uses bad language on mtgo ?

It does not need be much, I BET 90 percent of this would stop if they just took away 2 tickets each time someone said something bad on mtgo.

As it is now it seems that WotC just dont care for their customers and people that are hit with bad language from opponents.

I suspect that would have a by Paul Leicht at Fri, 01/10/2014 - 17:39
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I suspect that would have a lot of backlash from the community in general as soon as someone was garnished for something they didn't feel was inappropriate or sanctionable.

... by Snow at Fri, 01/10/2014 - 19:40
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Ok, Paul, respect your opinion.

However, I forgot the real point I wanted to make =) (when posting previous post);

We cannot expect WotC to reduce the number of idiot-wanna-be's out there, wotc has no chance to change personalities.

What wotc CAN do though, and to a very large extent, is reduce the substance of their bad behaviour.

It wont take much for people to become trigger happy with reporting.

The general bad behaviour is at least 70 percent WotC's fault.

When talking more seldom cases(the worst offenders) WotC has little to no fault.

Apart from the last mentioned the bad behaviour is in general a WotC problem and not a player/customer problem !

Hearthstone does not have a by JXClaytor at Fri, 01/10/2014 - 21:31
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Hearthstone does not have a chat room, I really like that approach. I can not tell you how many times I've been called nasty things by someone flipping out, nor can I tell you how many times I've done the same.

LoL has the tribunal system I like that idea a lot as well.

Was there an article or by blandestk at Fri, 01/10/2014 - 17:00
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Was there an article or anything on the site about the new daily article updates? I love this site and read it daily and occasionally write articles, but sometimes it suffers from the same problem as Wizards: bad communication. I think revamping the schedule and making things more consistent is great, but it would be awesome to get some details. In addition, I enjoy theme weeks, but I think it would be far better to talk about the week BEFORE articles come out instead of afterward.

There will be an article that by JXClaytor at Fri, 01/10/2014 - 21:10
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There will be an article that shows the new schedule before the weekend is over. A lot of it is for consistency and cosmetic, plus opening up some new features. hopefully!

What's the skinny on this by RexDart at Fri, 01/10/2014 - 17:47
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What's the skinny on this re-formatting of author schedules? This is the first I'm hearing about it. I only write the one article per month now for Theme Week, but I have been assuming I'm still part of that lineup??

Same thing for me, though I by xger at Fri, 01/10/2014 - 19:53
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Same thing for me, though I had some other articles I write. Would be nice to know what is going on...

Joshua should have something by one million words at Fri, 01/10/2014 - 20:13
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Joshua should have something up Monday.

RexDart and Xger, if you all by JXClaytor at Fri, 01/10/2014 - 21:11
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RexDart and Xger, if you all facebook me please message me there, so I can add you all to the writers group. I know that I missed a ton of writers when I started it.

Rex is already added. by Paul Leicht at Fri, 01/10/2014 - 23:50
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Rex is already added.

i thought so. by JXClaytor at Sat, 01/11/2014 - 02:26
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i thought so.

Hot Decks recaps by GainsBanding at Sat, 01/11/2014 - 02:55
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I like the top decks recaps here, even if there are other articles about them. I might not play certain formats, but I like to be generally aware of what's going on in them for card speculating or just casual interest purposes. I like that I can get that here by scrolling through on Fridays. That's all I need to know about Format X - a top deck of the week. Just Copy Paste it and link to the Format X article for anyone who wants more info. Maybe someday I'll want more info and I'll click the link.

Pete, Great articles week in by DMKking at Sat, 01/11/2014 - 11:26
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Pete, Great articles week in and week out. I can certainly relate to having a job and commitments while trying to play mtgo. This is the article I look forward to most every week. I do have one question though, what is your day job (if you do not mind sharing)? Every time you talk about your life I wonder what it is that you do.

HammyBot by mrbig1479 at Sun, 01/12/2014 - 15:09
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HammyBot - for a very long time is sitting in 6k of tix, i think it will be a good idea to sell the rest to MTGO traders bots - and give the money to hammy wife , it's been to long now - how long do you plan to wait on this - it can take forever to sell all the cards.....

don't get it. by John Doe at Sun, 01/12/2014 - 19:17
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I just block them. I don't see what the big deal is.

i think by JXClaytor at Mon, 01/13/2014 - 00:41
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Just blocking them and not seeing what the big deal is is kinda part of the problem.

Abusive players (and this is me speaking as one when I first started playing.) should have no part of this game. Everyone that plays magic, does not go in to an event thinking man, some one is gonna crap all over me, I might as well accept it. No one from a pro tour winner (I've seen people rage out and treat PT Champs like they are card playing morons) to the newest player deserves to be treated with the venom and disdain that these people are capable of spewing.

It's not cool, You're not cool (not speaking to you John Doe) if you do this garbage, you're not cool if you treat a woman, a new player a minority like crap just because you lost. Magic should be an inviting game, not a game that sets up like a kegger one random Saturday night filled with Phi Kappa Tau bros.

Not that there is anything by Paul Leicht at Mon, 01/13/2014 - 06:17
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Not that there is anything wrong with Frats or Keggers per se. Just they generally don't mix well with social skills and mtg.

Also Jean Doh! (if you don't mind the audio pun) the precedent behind not reporting is a domino effect. If your friends hear your attitude they are more likely to shrug off whatever happens to them so that the wrongdoers get off again and again.

And if you think that not reporting it and just manning up is the way to go then that is your prerogative but that means you don't get a chance to effect change. Now it is true that just because someone is abusive,they are not necessarily terrible people. (Though they may be lacking seriously in some areas.) A conversation may arise out of such a situation if that person is really just blowing off steam and venting a bit. Or they may stop if you call them on it directly, embarrassment outweighing their rage. The idea isn't to get revenge or punish but to ensure that people stop doing it.

The bullying thing is bigger than we may think because of the very nonchalant "rise above it" and "shrug it off" attitudes that are prevalent. It isn't good to fight fire with fire in this case but it is also not good to do nothing. What if you found out that someone you value highly will no longer play the game because of what they experienced in the game? Would it seem like a small deal then? What if their self-esteem issues (outside of the game, granted) triggered from that abuse and they do harm to themselves as a result? The trigger being present isn't the abuser's fault. But the abuse is. It is inexcusable because the price paid isn't just by one person but the community as a whole.

Blocking is a good answer if you feel unable to cope with a direct confrontation or to prevent yourself from escalating it. But it isn't enough if you want to keep it from recurring.

From the wisest of the wise... by dangerlinto at Mon, 01/13/2014 - 09:24
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Homer Simpson: Son, there's only one thing punks like that understand: squealing. You've got to squeal to every teacher and every grown-up you can find. Coming to me was a good start.