State of the Program for January 18th, 2023
MTGO Forums: Daybreak has set up forums for MTGO, which you can find here.
MTGO Discord: In addition to the Forums, Daybreak has set up a Discord for MTGO. You can get the invite here.
Starter Commander decks: These are new to the shop and the exact product that you would buy in paper!
The Brothers' War Redemption: Redemption is up and running! Remember that redemption runs now until supply is gone.
MOCS Season 3 Showcase: This event is on Saturday, January, 21. 8 players, the formats are Vintage Cube and Modern. You can watch it on the Magic twitch channel with Cedric Phillips, Carmen Handy, Haiyue Yue, and Mani Davoudi!
Dominaria Remastered: Releases on January 26th on MTGO. Boosters will cost 3.99. Traditional Draft and Single Elimination queues will be offered. Treasure Chests will be updated with the set release. Borderless and Retro Frame cards from the common and uncommon slots in the remastered set will not be in booster packs, but will be in Magic Online Player Rewards packs. Rarity downshifts will apply after downtime and will be good for the Pauper Qualifier the Saturday after the set releases.
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: Previews for the set have been long ongoing, especially since people in the Dominaria Remastered Prerelease were opening the new set in packs of Dominaria Remastered. You can see where to find previews here. You can check out the Card Image Gallery, Variant Card Image Gallery, and Commander Card Image Gallery as well.
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 25, 2023 |
Constructed Leagues End
|
Ends January 31, 2023
|
Sealed Leagues End
|
Ends January 31, 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 - Vintage Cube
January 21 - Modern Super Qualifier
January 22 - Limited Super Qualifier
January 26 - Dominaria Remastered
Magic Online Format Challenges
These 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:
Standard: I wanted to highlight decks to play in Standard and Pioneer this week. This Mono Green list looks like a fun way to spend some time in league play!
Standard: While the Mono Green list looked fun, this deck looks like a killer. Very similar to the Izzet build of the deck,
Topiary Stomper
ramps you to a lot of really cool stuff!
Standard: This deck went 5-0 in Standard, and it can either be a win trading deck on MTGO, or a neat deck full of littler synergies! I'm hoping for the later, but it might be the former.
Pioneer: Mono Blue Devotion has always been at the side of the format. While Mono Green Devotion dominates, I have always held out hoope that if something from that deck were banned, it would be
Storm the Festival
and
Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner
, because those two give the Mono Green a strong combo finish. This deck, as well as the Mono White and Mono Black (and I guess Mono Red, I've seen it, it exists, it's better if we pretend it didn't though) probe that you don't need the Walkers and Sorcery to have a good Pioneer deck.
Pioneer: Niv to Light has been a staple in the format since it was first created and it is still a good time now.
The Winner's Circle is where I will recognize winners of the past events on MTGO.
Challenge Winners
Saturday Legacy - slasher21 - Mono Blue Artifacts
Saturday Modern - LuisMJ - Breach Aggro
Saturday Pauper - LuffyDoChapeuDePalha - Affinity
Saturday Pioneer - ls149950 - Green Devotion
Saturday Standard - Arianne - Esper Mid
Saturday Vintage - Showcase Challenge
Sunday Legacy - Showcase Challenge
Sunday Modern - AlexanderRosdahl - Four Color Creativity
Sunday Pauper - Hamuda - First Day Combo
Sunday Pioneer - rafp - Mono White Aggro
Sunday Standard - MJ_23 - Mono Red Aggro
Sunday Vintage - canepis16
Other Event Winners
Legacy Showcase Challenge - JUJUBEAN_2004 - Izzet Delver
Vintage Showcase Challenge - Enrichetta
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:
Skitterbeam Battalion
has skittered off the list.
Adeline, Resplendent Cathar
is gone.
Xander's Lounge
is no longer hosting guests.
Hallowed Haunting
is haunting somewhere else and the RSVP for
Wedding Announcement
has gone with no reply.
Modern Staples:
Eternal Staples:
Pioneer Staples:
Day's Undoing
came 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!
Complete Set |
Price |
Last Time |
Change |
% Change |
The Brothers' War |
$113.16 |
$115.46 |
($2.30) |
-2% |
The Brothers's War Booster |
$2.90 |
$2.56 |
$0.34 |
13% |
Dominaria United |
$127.16 |
$124.45 |
$2.71 |
2% |
Innistrad: Crimson Vow |
$26.31 |
$55.93 |
($29.62) |
-53% |
Innistrad: Midnight Hunt |
$105.51 |
$105.06 |
$0.45 |
0% |
Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty |
$115.06 |
$116.16 |
($1.10) |
-1% |
Streets of New Capenna |
$69.74 |
$69.92 |
($0.18) |
0% |
Treasure Chest |
$2.39 |
$2.33 |
$0.06 |
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.
The list is down about 30 cards from its highest last year.
Black Lotus |
1E |
Rare |
256.2 |
Mox Jet |
1E |
Rare |
128.49 |
Ancestral Recall |
1E |
Rare |
110.28 |
Cavern of Souls |
UBT |
Mythic |
108.17 |
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth |
UBT |
Mythic |
96.4 |
Liliana of the Veil |
UBT |
Mythic |
92.19 |
Karakas |
UBT |
Mythic |
92.13 |
Mox Sapphire |
1E |
Rare |
82.31 |
Time Walk |
1E |
Rare |
82.01 |
Mox Emerald |
1E |
Rare |
71.01 |
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse |
DMU |
Mythic |
67.53 |
Marisi, Breaker of the Coil |
C19 |
Mythic |
66.75 |
Mox Ruby |
1E |
Rare |
61.97 |
Demonic Tutor |
UBT |
Mythic |
61.83 |
Mox Pearl |
1E |
Rare |
60.9 |
Heavenly Qilin |
PZ2 |
Common |
53.43 |
Force of Will |
MED |
Rare |
51.66 |
Aether Gale |
C14 |
Rare |
50.82 |
Earthshaking Si |
PZ2 |
Common |
49.87 |
Dark Depths |
UBT |
Mythic |
48.9 |
Purple-Crystal Crab |
PZ2 |
Common |
47.94 |
Wasteland |
ZNE |
Mythic |
46.01 |
Snapcaster Mage |
UBT |
Mythic |
43.51 |
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth |
UBT |
Mythic |
43.13 |
Liliana, the Last Hope |
MS4 |
Mythic |
42.78 |
Orvar, the All-Form |
KHM |
Mythic |
42.62 |
Jace, the Mind Sculptor |
MS4 |
Mythic |
42.25 |
Urza's Saga |
MH2 |
Rare |
41.92 |
Mana Vault |
UBT |
Mythic |
41.5 |
Gaea's Cradle |
UZ |
Rare |
41.33 |
Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer |
MH2 |
Mythic |
40.69 |
Endurance |
MH2 |
Mythic |
40.23 |
Reanimate |
UBT |
Mythic |
39.88 |
Boseiju, Who Endures |
NEO |
Rare |
39.67 |
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria |
MS4 |
Mythic |
37.33 |
Flooded Strand |
ZNE |
Mythic |
37.04 |
Fury |
MH2 |
Mythic |
36.59 |
Timetwister |
1E |
Rare |
34.21 |
Cleansing Screech |
PZ2 |
Common |
32.75 |
Pramikon, Sky Rampart |
C19 |
Mythic |
32.5 |
Life from the Loam |
UBT |
Mythic |
31.82 |
Cavern of Souls |
ZNE |
Mythic |
30.01 |
Flusterstorm |
CMD |
Rare |
29.76 |
Creeping Tar Pit |
UBT |
Mythic |
29.62 |
Mox Diamond |
ST |
Rare |
28.89 |
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon |
MS4 |
Mythic |
28.55 |
Snuff Out |
MM |
Common |
28.08 |
Noble Hierarch |
UBT |
Mythic |
27.94 |
Fulminator Mage |
UBT |
Mythic |
26.96 |
Flusterstorm |
PZ1 |
Rare |
26.66 |
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre |
UBT |
Mythic |
26.23 |
Emeria's Call |
ZNR |
Mythic |
25.58 |
Mox Diamond |
TPR |
Mythic |
25.47 |
Edgar Markov |
PZ2 |
Mythic |
25.17 |
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.
The Last of Us was great, the new Battlegrounds patch is neat. I'm working on adding Dominaria Remasted stuff to my Commander decks, and have regrets, but am also downsizing that again!
This series is an ongoing tribute to Erik “Hamtastic” Friborg.