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By: one million words, Pete Jahn
May 08 2015 12:00pm
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State of the Program for May 8th 2015

 

In the News:

Standard Daily Player Caps Increase to 256: Wizards has raised the maximum number of players that can participate in a Standard Daily to 256 from 128. This change will last for the duration of the Standard Super League.
 
MOCS 2014 Championship is Coming Soon: The MOCS 2014 Championships will be held May 15th -17th. The event will be streamed live on Twitch.tv/magic. For more information on the event, including the full roster of competitors, look here.   
 
Article on Tempest Remastered’s Effect on the Client: Alli Medwin wrote an article on the changes to the client Wizards made to implement TMR.   This includes some improvements in the way choices are made for cards with multiple options, like Cataclysm. The article is here.
 
Modern Masters 2015 Coming Shortly: Modern Masters 2015 will arrive at the end of this month. Preview articles are popping up all over. The MTGO MM2015 Event Schedule is now up, with events starting May 29th.  The only downside to the MM2015 release is that MM2015 will not appear online until GP Vegas, et. al, are in progress.  We won’t have a chance to practice the format online.  The avatars being given out for playing in MM2015 events are Dark Confidant and Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas – cards which the website explains may not actually be in MM2015, but just “represent cards in the Modern format.” In other news, for two weeks beginning June 3rd, Modern queues will pay out in MM2015 packs.
 
Mulligan Bug Persists: Last week’s build introduced a new bug – your cards are greyed out while you decide to take a mulligan. (You can read the cards – the screen just has a grey overlay.) Wizards announced that this would get a priority fix, but I was still mulliganing in the dark again this week, even after the downtime. 
 
May MOCS Promo will be Pernicious Deed: Once upon a time this was a super-expensive card. I paid almost $100 for my initial copies, five years ago. Back then it was a valuable card. It’s neither that good nor important now, so its value has tanked. 
 

The Timeline:

This is a list of things we have been promised, or just want to see coming back.   Another good source for dates and times is the MTGO calendar and the weekly blog, while the best source for known bugs is the Known Issues List. For quick reference, here are some major upcoming events.   
 
Item: date and notes
·         MOCS Season 5: Champs 7am Pacific, May 9th
·         MOCS Season 6:  runs from April 29th through May 27th 
·         Dragons of Tarkir Limited Championship: Saturday, June 20th, 8am PDT
·         Dragons of Tarkir Standard Championship: Sunday, June 28th, 8am PDT 
·         Dragons of Tarkir Redemption: May 6th
·         Leagues (Q2 2015?) Wizards said leagues will return in 2015.
·         Modern Masters II: May, 29, 2015. Mirrodin through Zendikar. Details here.
·         Magic Origins: released on MTGO July 27th, prerelease should begin July 23rdor July 24th Code: ORI
·         From the Vault: Angels: October 12, 2015. Details here.
 

Random MTGO Suggestion of the Week: 

MTGO needs a better way to respond to a chat notification from a match/event that has ended. I was chatting with my opponent at the end of our draft. I though he was done, and closed the event. I then got a pop-up saying he had more to say, but clicking on the pop-up bounced me to a replay of the round, not to the chat panel. I could not recover his message, or find an easy way to see his message. Chat so needs to be better.
 
I submitted this suggestion to magiconlinefeedback@wizards.com. If you have recommendations or advice, send them to that email address. Wizards does read them.     
 

Cutting Edge Tech:

Standard: Last week was another sweet week for Standard tech. Wizards hosted two GPs. In Toronto, Abzan was all the rage, and Esper Dragons were absent. (Coverage of GP Toronto is here.)  That was because all the Dragons were all in San Paulo. (Coverage of GP San Paolo is here.)
 
 
 
 
Modern: SCG ran a Modern IQ last weekend in Portland. The Top 16 decklists are here. The winning deck is the new face of Birthing Pod, more or less.
 
 
Legacy: The big SCG event was in Portland this week. Lots of Miracles again. Top 16 decklists can be found here. Miracles is boring, so let’s look at some recent Legacy Dailies. 
 
 
Vintage: Ham on Wry IV was last Sunday. Congrats to Blippy for running another great event.  Details on Ham on Wry IV are here. Results are over on Gatherling.com.
 
 
 

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 almost a decade now, and have never been overcharged or disappointed.
 
Standard staples: Standard prices dropped again this week. People have acquired the cards they need for the decks they want to play, of made due with the cheap red builds. I may cut more cards if they stay below $5.
 

Standard & Block Cards
Price
Last Week
Change
% Change
$7.79
$7.59
$0.20
3%
$5.16
$7.18
($2.02)
-28%
$21.64
$21.46
$0.18
1%
$6.48
n/a
n/a
n/a
$3.95
$4.73
($0.78)
-16%
$28.29
$28.52
($0.23)
-1%
$4.36
$6.39
($2.03)
-32%
$17.62
$17.47
$0.15
1%
$11.21
$12.84
($1.63)
-13%
$9.97
$10.06
($0.09)
-1%
$9.18
$9.34
($0.16)
-2%
$20.27
$17.25
$3.02
18%
$10.70
$10.51
$0.19
2%
$5.92
$7.05
($1.13)
-16%
$16.42
$16.98
($0.56)
-3%
$11.51
$10.49
$1.02
10%
$5.34
$5.44
($0.10)
-2%
$9.21
$8.14
$1.07
13%
$9.09
$8.53
$0.56
7%
$10.06
$9.99
$0.07
1%
$4.12
$3.44
$0.68
20%
$7.92
$8.25
($0.33)
-4%
$6.32
$6.35
($0.03)
0%

Modern staples:  Modern prices were down again this week.  A few cards are likely to fall off the chart – cards like Scapeshift and Splinter Twin are not pricey enough to keep tracking. I may add some cards. If anyone knows of anything I should add, mention it in the comments. 
 

Modern Cards
Price
Last Week
Change
% Change
Auriok Champion
$23.49
$24.45
($0.96)
-4%
$37.55
$40.20
($2.65)
-7%
$20.09
$20.68
($0.59)
-3%
$19.66
$19.17
$0.49
3%
$9.53
$9.84
($0.31)
-3%
$15.45
$15.97
($0.52)
-3%
$14.25
$14.96
($0.71)
-5%
$9.15
$9.56
($0.41)
-4%
$22.79
$23.77
($0.98)
-4%
$38.58
$38.64
($0.06)
0%
$20.58
$22.32
($1.74)
-8%
$77.90
$77.98
($0.08)
0%
$36.08
$38.97
($2.89)
-7%
$16.72
$17.83
($1.11)
-6%
$22.09
$21.71
$0.38
2%
$23.90
$22.85
$1.05
5%
$8.56
$8.38
$0.18
2%
$15.30
$18.44
($3.14)
-17%
$6.79
$7.93
($1.14)
-14%
$57.92
$58.10
($0.18)
0%
$25.60
$25.83
($0.23)
-1%
$23.91
$24.04
($0.13)
-1%
$17.44
$16.80
$0.64
4%

Legacy / Vintage staples: Vintage took a hit again this week. Doomsday jumped this week – not surprising, because I sold my playset recently.     
 

Legacy / Vintage Cards
Price
Last Week
Change
% Change
$44.12
$45.76
($1.64)
-4%
$117.58
$117.51
$0.07
0%
$37.28
$38.28
($1.00)
-3%
$20.65
$20.96
($0.31)
-1%
$21.05
$21.00
$0.05
0%
$32.56
$29.02
$3.54
12%
$33.06
$33.20
($0.14)
0%
$26.19
$26.83
($0.64)
-2%
$30.01
$30.43
($0.42)
-1%
$31.62
$32.17
($0.55)
-2%
$17.94
$18.36
($0.42)
-2%
$111.18
$112.60
($1.42)
-1%
$30.11
$30.64
($0.53)
-2%
$60.15
$60.75
($0.60)
-1%
$152.35
$152.85
($0.50)
0%
$49.73
$47.79
$1.94
4%
$24.55
$25.09
($0.54)
-2%
$26.75
$27.50
($0.75)
-3%
$19.72
$19.82
($0.10)
-1%
$35.87
$37.43
($1.56)
-4%
$21.81
$23.25
($1.44)
-6%
$29.01
$29.70
($0.69)
-2%
$16.28
$16.60
($0.32)
-2%
$19.78
$19.84
($0.06)
0%
$20.20
$20.83
($0.63)
-3%
$41.86
$41.28
$0.58
1%

Set Redemption: You can redeem complete sets on MTGO. You need to purchase a redemption voucher from the store for $25. During the next downtime, Wizards removes a complete set from your account, and sends you the same set in paper.   For those of you who redeem, here are the retail prices of one of everything set currently available in the store, excluding sets that are not currently draftable or not redeemable.   Dragons of Tarkir will be redeemable in May. 
 

Complete Set
Price
Last Week
Change
% Change
Born of the Gods
$39.15
$44.32
($5.17)
-12%
Dragons of Tarkir
$114.19
$121.60
($7.41)
-6%
Fate Reforged
$50.03
$49.30
$0.73
1%
Journey into Nix
$89.19
$87.60
$1.59
2%
Khans of Trakir
$76.19
$75.37
$0.82
1%
M15
$106.50
$106.90
($0.40)
0%
Theros
$80.81
$79.14
$1.67
2%

 
 

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. The list shrank a bit more this week, with more TMR cards falling off.  
 

Card
Set
Rarity
 Price
Rishadan Port
 MM
Rare
 $ 152.35
Black Lotus
 VMA
Bonus
 $ 117.58
Misdirection
 MM
Rare
 $ 111.18
Liliana of the Veil
 ISD
Mythic Rare
 $    77.90
Mox Sapphire
 VMA
Bonus
 $    60.15
Tarmogoyf
 FUT
Rare
 $    58.11
Tarmogoyf
 MMA
Mythic Rare
 $    57.92
Show and Tell
 UZ
Rare
 $    49.73
Force of Will
 MED
Rare
 $    44.41
Ancestral Recall
 VMA
Bonus
 $    44.12
Tangle Wire
 NE
Rare
 $    42.42
Wasteland
 TE
Uncommon
 $    41.86
Griselbrand
 AVR
Mythic Rare
 $    38.58
Mox Ruby
 VMA
Bonus
 $    38.07
Batterskull
 NPH
Mythic Rare
 $    37.55
Containment Priest
 C14
Rare
 $    37.28
Mox Opal
 SOM
Mythic Rare
 $    36.08
Time Walk
 VMA
Bonus
 $    35.87
Force of Will
 VMA
Rare
 $    33.06
Doomsday
 WL
Rare
 $    32.56
Infernal Tutor
 DIS
Rare
 $    31.62
Mox Jet
 VMA
Bonus
 $    30.11
Hurkyl's Recall
 10E
Rare
 $    30.01
True-Name Nemesis
 C13
Rare
 $    29.01
Dragonlord Ojutai
 DTK
Mythic Rare
 $    28.29
Stifle
 SCG
Rare
 $    26.75
Gaea's Cradle
 UZ
Rare
 $    26.19
Twilight Mire
 EVE
Rare
 $    25.60

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 $ 22,875. That is down almost $600 from where we were last week. I blame it on Tempest Remastered and the Modern Masters 2015 spoiler season.
 

Weekly Highlights:

I had a chance to play in a paper PPTQ last weekend. I was eighth at the end of Swiss, which would have been far more impressive if the event had been larger – the cut was to top 4 so I missed it. I was definitely rusty, and missed a fair number of triggers. That’s the biggest problem playing mainly on MTGO – real life Magic does not automatically remind you of triggers.   
 
Another highlight of the week – the Standard Super League matches this week. The players in the league are choosing, and sometimes brewing, a bunch of interesting decks. Inveterate control player Andrew Cuneo was bestowing Nighthowlers on Den Protectors. (Just try blocking that!) GerryT was casting See the Unwritten in a deck with 14 red and green dragons. Josh Utter-Leyton was playing four main deck Conifer Striders. And no one was playing Esper Dragons, at least not this week.  A really fun event, and I recommend watching the replays over on YouTube, and the Twitch.tv/magic broadcast if you have time on Tuesdays.
 
PRJ
 
“One Million Words” and “3MWords” on MTGO
 
 
This series is an ongoing tribute to Erik “Hamtastic” Friborg.
 
HammyBot Still Running: 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 10% below retail price. Erik died three years ago, so HammyBot does not include any standard legal cards, but it includes a ton of Masters Edition and Vintage cards, and some nice Modern bargains. 
 

2 Comments

A quick note on your Hammybot by BlippyTheSlug at Fri, 05/08/2015 - 13:16
BlippyTheSlug's picture

A quick note on your Hammybot blurb: Erik died five, not three, years ago.

also by drinkard at Fri, 05/08/2015 - 14:09
drinkard's picture

Due to generous donations over time, many Standard-legal cards are available.