State of the Program for May 9th 2104
In the News:
V3 GOING DARK IN JULY!
Wizards has Announced that the Current Client Will Be Switched Off in July: Details
here. Wizards feels that they have the Wide Beta running well enough to use, and are giving us the official “months of warning” they promised. In this case, months = 2-3. I’ll review the current Wide Beta client in the opinion section, below. Summary: Is it better that V3? In some ways yes, in some ways no. Is it functional? Yes. It worked fine for the prerelease I played in. Will I use it? Yes – what choice do I have? And it works.
Wizards Wants Feedback on the Wide Beta: Wizards needs to hear constructive criticism and suggestions about the wide beta. Your can email them
here, take
this survey or post comments in
this thread. Post comments like “hate it” and “cancel V4” if you absolutely must, but those type of comments have zero value. (More on that in the opinion section.) And please keep it civil. I have been seeing abusive and profane comments at work and online for 25 years. They have never had any practical effect, other than making me tired and cynical.
Last Wednesday’s Downtime Extended: It took a little longer than expected to get the new client up and running this last week’s downtime. The wide beta client eventually came up at 5:30 PDT. The V3 client came back Friday due to the Wide Beta Showcase. Details – well, announcement of the delay -
here.
Another Crash Last Monday: MTGO had another unscheduled crash last Monday. MTGO was down for a couple hours. Players were reimbursed entry fees for any events which did not complete.
Tribal Wars Legacy is Back: The only format where you can play a Phoenix deck has returned from the ashes for the second time.
Journey into Nix Release Events Begin Monday: The release events are pretty much what we have done in the past. Details
here.
Journey into Nix Championship Details Announced: The Journey into Nyx Championships will occur at the end of May – not at the end of the season, like Born. Details
here. The formats will be limited and Theros Block Constructed.
HammyBot Discount Increases: 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 $7,000, but there are over 23,000 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 sets, but it includes a ton of Masters Edition and Classic cards, and some nice Modern bargains. I recently jumped on HammyBot and filled a couple holes in my collection, including a
Mana Drain to get ready for Vintage. (Two more left as I write this.)
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. Here’s what we know, want or are tracking. I also created another list for notable bugs. If you know of one that has not been fixed (and you or someone has filed a bug report) please let me know.
Item (date it will return) and notes
· Online PTQs & MOCS: (no date announced) Wizards original statement is
here, and their FAQ is
here. We have been promised an update in sometime in April.
· Vintage Masters (6/16/2014)
· V3 Client Shutdown (
JULY) Read the latest announcement
here.
· Leagues (2014) Wizards has promised that leagues will return this year.
· Magic 2015 (7/28/2014) M15 will be online end of July. Expect the Prereleases 3 days earlier, or four days earlier if Wizards has a Wide Beta Showcase.
· Duel Decks: Jace vs. Vraska (5/12/2014) Details
here.
· Duel Decks: Speed vs. Cunning (10/6/2014) Details
here.
Bugs Needing a Good Stomping:
A ton of bugs got stomped last downtime. Here’s what I have been told still doesn’t work. Let me know what needs to be added.
Opinion Section: Five Fixes the Wide Beta / Shiny / New Client Needs Now
A couple comments before we get started.
First, the new client is not “garbage” or “unplayable” or “the worst program ever written.” Comments to that affect accomplish nothing. If you are a stand-up comedian, maybe that gets laughs. When I hear that sort of thing in a comment, I immediately pigeonhole the commenter as part of the tinfoil hat brigade. It is really difficult to take that sort of rant seriously. When I interact with someone, I interact completely differently with someone who is ranting and irrational vs. civil and rational. No rational discussion has ever involved hyperbole like “this is the worst [thing] ever!”
Second, I don’t much like Shiny. Like most humans, I don’t love change for the sake of change, and I don’t like having to learn new ways of doing what I already know how to do. It’s okay if I am getting a bunch of cool new stuff. When I don’t see much cool stuff, it feels like a Windows upgrade at work, where most of the cool features are either irrelevant or blocked by our network. So far, Shiny feels like the later. That affects my perception of the product, not the product itself. I have hated having to relearn stuff with every Windows & Office upgrade ever, but that does not mean I would like to be back using a DOS box with Windows 3.1. Shiny does some things better. More importantly, it also gets rid of some of the legacy problems with V3. (Are there problems with V3? Heck yeah. For instance, it is not a coincidence that leagues vanished when V3 was rolled out, and will be back when it is gone.)
In short, I don’t love Shiny, yet, but it works. That said, here are a couple fixes it needs right now.
Add A Turn Indicator: Right now, Shiny show who has priority by lighting up that person’s playmat. However, that indicates priority, not turn. While playing in the showcase prereleases, I often found myself reading the chat log to see whose turn it was. I know I clicked through a turn once because I thought it was my opponent’s first main, not mine. I have also seen a number of comments along the same lines. It would be easy to add a box like his to the program, probably in the bar on the left. Plenty of unused space there.
|
Whose turn:
One Million Words
|
|
What Phase:
Declare Blockers
|
Restore the “You Own” on the Trade Screen: One of the most common trades I do involves sharing spare cards between my wife’s and my accounts. Whenever we draft, we tend to make anything beyond a playset of each card tradable, then open a trade between our accounts. We then filter for owned<4, and add cards until we have 4. The remainder we trade away to a storage account. Every so often, we let MTGOTradersBuyBot loose on the storage account. In Shiny, though, the only way to see how many cards an account needs to complete the playset is to open the collection screen and search card by card. Awful.
Move the Turn Step Indicator: my current monitors are 22” by 11” and 24” by 14.” We have a ton of horizontal space, while vertical space is at a premium. The turn step bar runs horizontally under the battlefield, eating valuable space that the battlefield could be using. That needs to change.
Notes for Buddies and Blocks: I have a ton of buddies, and a dozen or so people I have blocked. Some I recognize. Some were opponents in a Classic Open, which I buddied to let us find each other and duel. Others – no idea. I want to have a list of the players screen name, then a space for notes on who the person is, or why I blocked them. Please.
Better Collection Management: What I want is to be able to build decks and use the lands I bought or collected, not the most recent draft leavings. I paid good money for a set of Unhinged lands for a reason. I want the deck editor to let me find those first. Ideally, I want to have four “binders:” for constructed, unassigned, storage and trade. Anything I dump in constructed I want to keep untradeable, and have those cards brought up first by the deck editor. For example, if I search for Duress, then click add 4 to deck, I want the deck editor to add the 4 Urza’s Saga versions, not three Saga cards and the M14 version I drafted last month. I want the rest to live in trade or storage. When I draft, I want the cards I draft to drop into unassigned. I want to have the ability to go into unassigned and see each card, together with the number I have in constructed. I want buttons to move a card to constructed, and buttons to move cards into storage and trade.
Anyway, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I posted another 20 fixes in the
feedback thread, and I’m sure I’ll have more comments. If you have any – post them in the thread.
Cutting Edge Tech:
Standard: SCG hosted several hundred people playing Standard with Journey into Nyx cards. Last weekend. A few new cards did make it into
the Top 16 decklists, including Mana Confluence, the new Ajani and, of course, the new scry lands. The winner just played the on-color scry lands.
BG Devotion
Andrew Tenjum, Winner, SCG Standard Open Cincinnati.
4 Temple of Malady
4 Hero's Downfall
4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
4 Lifebane Zombie
3 Devour Flesh
2 Golgari Guildgate
1 Vraska the Unseen
4 Desecration Demon
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Pack Rat
4 Underworld Connections
4 Mutavault
4 Thoughtseize
4 Overgrown Tomb
11 Swamp
Sideboard
2 Dark Betrayal
2 Erebos, God of the Dead
2 Pharika's Cure
1 Devour Flesh
2 Golgari Charm
2 Doom Blade
4 Duress
Legacy: SCG had a Legacy Open last weekend. Journey into Nyx did not feature heavily in the
Top 16 decks. Maybe next week. This week, Death and Taxes took it down.
Death and Taxes
Per Nystrom, Winner, SCG Legacy Open Cincinnati
1 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
2 Spirit of the Labyrinth
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Batterskull
4 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Flickerwisp
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Aven Mindcensor
3 Serra Avenger
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
4 Aether Vial
11 Plains
4 Rishadan Port
4 Mother of Runes
4 Wasteland
2 Karakas
4 Swords to Plowshares
Sideboard
2 Rest in Peace
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Mirran Crusader
1 Ratchet Bomb
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Wilt-Leaf Liege
2 Oblivion Ring
1 Sunlance
1 Pithing Needle
1 Armageddon
1 Cataclysm
Classic: Classic fired its one weekly Daily last weekend, but last weekend also featured the fourth annual Ham on Wry event. Unfortunately, I can’t find the decklists for Ham on Wry, so I’ll have to pull from the Daily.
BANT
Zahori, 4-0, Classic Daily #7051671 on 05/04/2014
1 Forest
1 Island
1 Karakas
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Plains
1 Savannah
1 Strip Mine
3 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
3 Wasteland
3 Windswept Heath
2 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Qasali Pridemage
3 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Tarmogoyf
1 True-Name Nemesis
4 Trygon Predator
1 Batterskull
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
3 Mental Misstep
3 Spell Pierce
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Bojuka Bog
2 Energy Flux
2 Enlightened Tutor
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Karakas
3 Kataki, War's Wage
3 Rest in Peace
1 Stony Silence
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 MTGOTadersBuyBot(#) (they have buybots 1-4).
Standard staples: Standard prices dropped about 4% almost across the board. As I opined last week, this is probably due to several factors. First, Standard is boring right now, so fewer people play it. This cuts demand for standard cards. Those people not playing Standard are likely drafting, increasing the supply. Finally, people are liquidating unneeded cards to get TIX for the prereleases. At least, that is still my best guess.
|
Standard & Block Cards
|
Price
|
Last Week
|
Change
|
% Change
|
|
|
$6.59
|
$6.26
|
$0.33
|
5%
|
|
|
$23.07
|
$21.08
|
$1.99
|
9%
|
|
|
$15.67
|
$15.98
|
($0.31)
|
-2%
|
|
|
$10.76
|
$12.00
|
($1.24)
|
-10%
|
|
|
$12.00
|
$12.00
|
$0.00
|
0%
|
|
|
$6.39
|
$6.36
|
$0.03
|
0%
|
|
|
$16.27
|
$18.28
|
($2.01)
|
-11%
|
|
|
$16.16
|
$15.81
|
$0.35
|
2%
|
|
|
$8.66
|
$8.05
|
$0.61
|
8%
|
|
|
$17.46
|
$17.98
|
($0.52)
|
-3%
|
|
|
$8.68
|
$10.64
|
($1.96)
|
-18%
|
|
|
$5.66
|
$6.30
|
($0.64)
|
-10%
|
|
|
$20.97
|
$23.74
|
($2.77)
|
-12%
|
|
|
$12.46
|
$12.90
|
($0.44)
|
-3%
|
|
|
$7.72
|
$8.00
|
($0.28)
|
-4%
|
|
|
$6.40
|
$7.59
|
($1.19)
|
-16%
|
|
|
$27.22
|
$27.28
|
($0.06)
|
0%
|
|
|
$10.32
|
$10.63
|
($0.31)
|
-3%
|
|
|
$5.79
|
$6.59
|
($0.80)
|
-12%
|
|
|
$28.15
|
$30.81
|
($2.66)
|
-9%
|
|
|
$4.82
|
$5.15
|
($0.33)
|
-6%
|
Modern staples: Modern staples have also moved around a bit this week, but the big impacts here were due to flashback drafts. Cards like Bitterblossom and Cryptic Command were opened in reasonable numbers, and a lot of those opens hit the market quickly. It won’t last. Prices for those cards will rebound – except maybe Bitterblossom. I’m not sure Faeries is a deck, despite LSV posting a video with the deck again this week.
|
Modern Cards
|
Price
|
Last Week
|
Change
|
% Change
|
|
|
$16.96
|
$16.96
|
$0.00
|
0%
|
|
|
$31.48
|
$27.31
|
$4.17
|
15%
|
|
|
$10.04
|
$9.75
|
$0.29
|
3%
|
|
|
$20.69
|
$22.74
|
($2.05)
|
-9%
|
|
|
$17.80
|
$15.95
|
$1.85
|
12%
|
|
|
$13.99
|
$14.81
|
($0.82)
|
-6%
|
|
|
$28.24
|
$27.88
|
$0.36
|
1%
|
|
|
$11.93
|
$8.74
|
$3.19
|
36%
|
|
|
$23.45
|
$20.89
|
$2.56
|
12%
|
|
|
$15.86
|
$15.65
|
$0.21
|
1%
|
|
|
$19.58
|
$23.67
|
($4.09)
|
-17%
|
|
|
$26.72
|
$24.00
|
$2.72
|
11%
|
|
|
$39.36
|
$39.36
|
$0.00
|
0%
|
|
|
$36.88
|
$32.61
|
$4.27
|
13%
|
|
|
$87.26
|
$78.35
|
$8.91
|
11%
|
|
|
$21.73
|
$21.73
|
$0.00
|
0%
|
|
|
$60.40
|
$57.66
|
$2.74
|
5%
|
|
|
$29.54
|
$28.62
|
$0.92
|
3%
|
|
|
$21.03
|
$21.03
|
$0.00
|
0%
|
|
|
$20.07
|
$19.99
|
$0.08
|
0%
|
|
|
$40.98
|
$31.25
|
$9.73
|
31%
|
|
|
$11.61
|
$12.29
|
($0.68)
|
-6%
|
|
|
$19.31
|
$19.13
|
$0.18
|
1%
|
|
|
$10.25
|
$9.15
|
$1.10
|
12%
|
|
|
$90.40
|
$88.44
|
$1.96
|
2%
|
|
|
$44.55
|
$38.85
|
$5.70
|
15%
|
Pauper: Pauper staples have moved around a bit. Once again, the main impact is due to recent flashback drafts. It seems to take a couple weeks for the increase in supply to affect the price, but it is doing so now. Another note: people love to manipulate the prices of Pauper cards. Look at Nettle Sentinel – it went way up last week, and crashed this week. My advice – if you want to play Pauper, check the prices for the last few weeks, and only buy in when the prices are low. Then keep your cards, if you can afford do so. Trying to time the market when it is being manipulated is dangerous.
|
Pauper Cards
|
Price
|
Last Week
|
Change
|
% Change
|
|
|
$1.96
|
$1.96
|
$0.00
|
0%
|
|
|
$3.79
|
$3.38
|
$0.41
|
12%
|
|
|
$1.76
|
$1.76
|
$0.00
|
0%
|
|
|
$3.58
|
$3.55
|
$0.03
|
1%
|
|
|
$2.34
|
$2.34
|
$0.00
|
0%
|
|
|
$2.50
|
$2.33
|
$0.17
|
7%
|
|
|
$9.98
|
$9.81
|
$0.17
|
2%
|
|
|
$1.14
|
$1.14
|
$0.00
|
0%
|
|
|
$3.30
|
$3.57
|
($0.27)
|
-7%
|
|
|
$1.15
|
$0.91
|
$0.24
|
26%
|
|
|
$3.93
|
$3.96
|
($0.03)
|
-1%
|
|
|
$6.52
|
$6.52
|
$0.00
|
0%
|
|
|
$2.93
|
$2.93
|
$0.00
|
0%
|
|
|
$2.21
|
$2.12
|
$0.09
|
4%
|
|
|
$5.27
|
$5.27
|
$0.00
|
0%
|
|
|
$0.36
|
$2.00
|
($1.64)
|
-82%
|
|
|
$3.13
|
$3.15
|
($0.02)
|
-1%
|
|
|
$0.63
|
$0.76
|
($0.13)
|
-17%
|
|
|
$3.76
|
$3.52
|
$0.24
|
7%
|
|
|
$3.90
|
$3.22
|
$0.68
|
21%
|
|
|
$1.10
|
$1.42
|
($0.32)
|
-23%
|
|
|
$1.04
|
$1.04
|
$0.00
|
0%
|
|
|
$1.36
|
$1.58
|
($0.22)
|
-14%
|
Legacy / Classic: the prices for vintage playable staples are very stable this week. Even the flashback drafts have had little impact.
|
Legacy / Classic Cards
|
Price
|
Last Week
|
Change
|
% Change
|
|
|
$15.00
|
$15.61
|
($0.61)
|
-4%
|
|
|
$38.38
|
$36.60
|
$1.78
|
5%
|
|
|
$21.58
|
$22.19
|
($0.61)
|
-3%
|
|
|
$20.29
|
$20.87
|
($0.58)
|
-3%
|
|
|
$30.52
|
$32.68
|
($2.16)
|
-7%
|
|
|
$102.85
|
$109.42
|
($6.57)
|
-6%
|
|
|
$64.71
|
$64.71
|
$0.00
|
0%
|
|
|
$22.97
|
$22.28
|
$0.69
|
3%
|
|
|
$19.22
|
$19.71
|
($0.49)
|
-2%
|
|
|
$43.43
|
$43.43
|
$0.00
|
0%
|
|
|
$99.09
|
$99.09
|
$0.00
|
0%
|
|
|
$29.03
|
$29.03
|
$0.00
|
0%
|
|
|
$71.98
|
$67.22
|
$4.76
|
7%
|
|
|
$31.86
|
$31.86
|
$0.00
|
0%
|
|
|
$21.56
|
$23.94
|
($2.38)
|
-10%
|
|
|
$15.30
|
$15.30
|
$0.00
|
0%
|
|
|
$18.00
|
$18.00
|
$0.00
|
0%
|
|
|
$46.92
|
$38.61
|
$8.31
|
22%
|
|
|
$104.79
|
$104.79
|
$0.00
|
0%
|
|
|
$64.11
|
$64.11
|
$0.00
|
0%
|
|
|
$31.11
|
$32.38
|
($1.27)
|
-4%
|
|
|
$30.65
|
$29.13
|
$1.52
|
5%
|
|
|
$44.79
|
$44.79
|
$0.00
|
0%
|
|
Vampiric Tutor
|
$33.54
|
$33.54
|
$0.00
|
0%
|
|
|
$23.29
|
$23.29
|
$0.00
|
0%
|
|
|
$76.66
|
$76.66
|
$0.00
|
0%
|
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 price of one of everything in each current set. Those prices have fallen again this week.
|
Complete Set
|
Price
|
Last Week
|
Change
|
% Change
|
|
Born of the Gods
|
$67.58
|
$71.90
|
($4.32)
|
-6%
|
|
Dragon's Maze
|
$60.50
|
$66.69
|
($6.19)
|
-9%
|
|
Gatecrash
|
$95.17
|
$96.46
|
($1.29)
|
-1%
|
|
Journey into Nix
|
(soon)
|
(soon)
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
|
M14
|
$129.14
|
$130.11
|
($0.97)
|
-1%
|
|
Return to Ravnica
|
$129.69
|
$129.73
|
($0.04)
|
0%
|
|
Theros
|
$97.05
|
$101.12
|
($4.07)
|
-4%
|
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. This week, Force of Will is back on top, and Rishadan Port is climbing. Lion’s Eye Diamond is just under $100.
|
Card
|
Rarity
|
Set
|
Price
|
|
Rishadan Port
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R
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MM
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$ 104.79
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Force of Will
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R
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MED
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$ 102.85
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Lion's Eye Diamond
|
R
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MI
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$ 99.09
|
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Tarmogoyf
|
R
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FUT
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$ 94.79
|
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Tarmogoyf
|
M
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MMA
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$ 90.40
|
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Liliana of the Veil
|
M
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ISD
|
$ 87.26
|
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Misdirection
|
R
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MM
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$ 71.98
|
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Tundra
|
R
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ME2
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$ 67.34
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Gaea's Cradle
|
R
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UZ
|
$ 64.71
|
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Show and Tell
|
R
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UZ
|
$ 64.11
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Tundra
|
R
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ME4
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$ 62.20
|
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Mox Opal
|
M
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SOM
|
$ 60.40
|
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Volcanic Island
|
R
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ME4
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$ 48.20
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Volcanic Island
|
R
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ME3
|
$ 47.70
|
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Underground Sea
|
R
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ME2
|
$ 47.21
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Polluted Delta
|
R
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ONS
|
$ 46.92
|
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Vendilion Clique
|
M
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MMA
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$ 45.72
|
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Underground Sea
|
R
|
ME4
|
$ 44.79
|
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Vendilion Clique
|
R
|
MOR
|
$ 44.55
|
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Jace, the Mind Sculptor
|
M
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WWK
|
$ 43.43
|
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Bayou
|
R
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ME4
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$ 41.51
|
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Scalding Tarn
|
R
|
ZEN
|
$ 40.98
|
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Bayou
|
R
|
ME3
|
$ 40.91
|
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Griselbrand
|
M
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AVR
|
$ 39.36
|
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City of Traitors
|
R
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EX
|
$ 38.83
|
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Karn Liberated
|
M
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NPH
|
$ 36.88
|
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Vampiric Tutor
|
R
|
VI
|
$ 33.54
|
|
Misty Rainforest
|
R
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ZEN
|
$ 33.10
|
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Tropical Island
|
R
|
ME4
|
$ 32.65
|
|
Mishra's Workshop
|
R
|
ME4
|
$ 31.86
|
|
Batterskull
|
M
|
NPH
|
$ 31.48
|
|
Flooded Strand
|
R
|
ONS
|
$ 31.47
|
|
Mana Crypt
|
R
|
ME2
|
$ 31.14
|
|
Sneak Attack
|
R
|
UZ
|
$ 31.11
|
|
True-Name Nemesis
|
R
|
C13
|
$ 30.65
|
|
Flusterstorm
|
R
|
CMD
|
$ 30.52
|
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Tropical Island
|
R
|
ME3
|
$ 29.94
|
|
Noble Hierarch
|
R
|
CON
|
$ 29.54
|
|
Mana Drain
|
R
|
ME3
|
$ 29.30
|
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Cryptic Command
|
R
|
MMA
|
$ 28.60
|
|
Cryptic Command
|
R
|
LRW
|
$ 28.24
|
|
Voice of Resurgence
|
M
|
DGM
|
$ 28.15
|
|
Threads of Disloyalty
|
R
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BOK
|
$ 27.31
|
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Sphinx's Revelation
|
M
|
RTR
|
$ 27.22
|
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Geist of Saint Traft
|
M
|
ISD
|
$ 26.72
|
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 $26,425. That’s down just $5 from where we were last week.
Weekly Highlights:
What I learned this week: I suck at Shadowmoor drafting. I thought I was drafting pretty well, but I played in a bunch of 8-4s and won exactly zero packs. My rating has crashed. It actually dipped below 1700. And slops to Wizards for putting a bomb in the white prerelease pack. I bought the white, but my white was three good cards and nothing else, so I played UG. I lost to that blasted white rare every time it hit play.
PRJ
“one million words” on MTGO
This series is an ongoing tribute to Erik “Hamtastic: Friborg.
21 Comments
I don't have any personal experience with the new client but Adam Barnello says it's junk and he's not part of some tinfoil hat brigade. His article on CFB today makes the point that not only is v4 nit designed for us, the current hardcore enthusiasts, it isn't even accessible to new players. What's more, the perception is that it's garbage, and most prominent players who stream on twitch have labelled it garbage and won't use it. That perception will fuel a panic as the date nears.
I am once again feeling very nervous about holding a valuable digital collection. If this goes as badly as expected, or is even perceived as bad, prices of all non-redeemable cards could tank overnight.
Calling it "junk" and leaving it at that is tin foil hat brigade. There is a vast difference between:
"The program is junk."
and
"The program is severely lacking in the following ways...here's why...here's suggestions on how to address those issues..."
Similarly there is a vast difference between
"Scrap V4 it is so bad."
and
"At this stage the new version does not justify it's own existence because it is not better than the current version, here's why, a comparison and why the situation is bad enough to warrant starting over and going with a theoretical V5"
I believe that is more the point Pete was aiming for. The first comment in both will not be read with much seriousness while the second while.
While Pete Jahn may not feel that the beta is unplayable garbage, the vast majority of people do. For a significant amount of players it will not even run on their computer in the first place, or will crash so often as to be unusable. The program is ugly, barely works and is a large downgrade to v3.
Check out the article on channellfireball.com and read through the comments. Its not just me saying the beta is crap, its virtually everyone.
but I do question whether "vast majority" of people feel it is "unplayable garbage." The self-selecting people who comment on articles are unhappy with it, but I don't know how that number compares with the whole population. People who are not upset rarely comment at all.
BTW, good article on SCG, too.
Personally, I have tried the new beta at least once a month, often more often, since the wide beta first appeared. I figured I had to, if I was going to report on it accurately. I have always changed back to the V3 client as soon as I could. I will again this weekend. I don't *like* Shiny, but you can play Magic on it.
If I were in charge, my first action would be a complete review weighing the probable effects of scrapping shiny and starting V5, verses a move to Shiny. I would want to know exactly what is wrong with V3, what would be required to patch it up, and when we could have V5.
In the end, though, the decision has to be to start V5. In that case, the next decision is whether Shiny or V3 is better in the interim. And, yes, I know what the wait for V5 will be like. I have been reporting on Magic since V1, remember?
I read Adam's article on CFB today as well. It was a well written peice that really outlines alot of the problems with Shiny.
Not to add to the furious amount of negativity that has already been put on the Beta client, but it is an inferior product to V3 imo.
It has improved from a year ago, but nowhere near as much as it should have in that time frame.
I worry about the future of modo if they force us onto this existing Beta client in July without alot of improvements.
I completely echo Rex's thoughts on my collection. Particularily as mine cards are all foil and I cannot tollerate looking at them on the Beta they are so ugly.
This is a pivotal stage in the growth of modo and they better not screw it up.
Montolio
I logged on yesterday mainly because I felt I had to after Wednesday's podcast. (We advocated giving it a chance.) I was not disappointed because I expected no changes to the things that bother me (greatly) about v4. I really wish WOTC didn't have such a stubborn commitment to it because they are not improving it as far as I can see. Sure stability is #1 priority but if your longest time users feel like they are being forced to abandon ship then maybe your priorities need to expand a bit.
Anyway, Pete, last week's article had a lot more bugged cards listed in the comments. Did you forget to add them?
just for flavor to put a ! on how I feel about this mess:
http://youtu.be/uXnJVkEX8O4
One thing that frustrates me to the point of banging my head against my keyboard is the fact that in spite of their comments to the contrary, Wizards does not listen. You can cry and scream an complain all you want but they will doggedly go ahead and do what they want. They don't care if they lose valued long-term customers. They figure they will acquire new customers to replace the ones who quit.
I've actually talked in person to Wizards employees (big-name former players that most people would recognize). They all were of the opinion that only Wizards knows what's best for the game and we should all be grateful for whatever we get.
That's because they've had kegs worth of the Kool-Aid to help them see the light. That and they don't recognize the Big Muddy.
I played in the Prerelease, even won the tourney but felt so miserable, exhausted & unthrilled
by the experience that I seriously think of quitting my number one game of all time:
And this is distinctly different compared to the switch from V2 to V3 - even with losing leagues.
What a mess!
Is this the state that MTGO has devolved to, where we judge the client on whether it functions and where we have to use it cause there is no other choice? I surely will not lower my bar to that level.
I am with Rexdart, this is very concerning and now there is even a petition* (see link below) to stop beta let alone the many many negative posts on every MTGO forum I can find. How many players will be lost to beta and what impact will that have on our collections and ability to play? Very concerned and disgusted at the state of beta...
*(http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/wizards-of-the-coast-acknowledge-t...)
Wizards is king at lowering you digital expectations until they are met.
http://gatherling.com/eventreport.php?event=Ham%20on%20Wry%20III
Decklists for Ham on the Wry III.
As for beta, it takes more processing power than 6 months ago, freezes up and is just not very balanced as a program, it has shiny stuff from which it got its name but overall is underwhelming and disappointing program.
If they expect people to keep funding them thru online game they should at least improve it instead of going one step back and 7 to side.
The new client might not “garbage” or “unplayable” or “the worst program ever written", it remains however not very good. Which, for passionate people, translates pretty much to the same thing. And considering Wizards seldom bothers to listen to us, using the strongest language available either in the hope of finally being heard or out of sheer frustration is sensible enough. I, for one, am fed up telling them their client is not good enough and arguing why. I might as well scream at them Shiny is garbage: they might not listen more, but at least I'm saving my breath and it feels good.
Brian kinda said this but made his opinions known.
http://bmkgaming.com/state-mtgo-beta-spoiler-alert-bad/
Is Brian still playing MTGO? Didn't he encourage people to delete MTGO some time back? That is just a testament of the kind of empty threats and rhetoric that the V4-haters use: We will quit the game unless V3 is kept as it is!
In the new article Brian writes "Prior to this, I hadn’t used the Beta client all that much.... I wanted to record a video for StarCityGames before I left, so I decided to wade into the Beta and give it a shot."
So he has never really used the client before and now he records a video using it. No surprise that the first couple of times you try out a new client it is difficult compared to what you are used to.
I think you may be reading a bit too much into a sparse story. I am pretty sure most of the people who loath v4 (I am one) are people who have repeatedly tried to use the beta and never been happy with it. Yes it is minimally functional overall and as far as I can tell great for drafters who don't care at all about anything else.
Don't you think the hyperbole is deserved just a little in this case? I don't say this to be argumentative but because I really feel WOTC has fallen on its face, and refuses to see the big Muddy ("the damned fool said to march on!")
Not to equate this with the Vietnam war but to: Learning from one's mistakes and seeing the error before it kills (metaphorically in this case) you.
I expect eventually I would develop Stockholm syndrome if I kept using the client, especially when forced (no v3 to use instead) to choose between that and quitting. I can see why people might feel the need to express a warning that this seems like quitting time.
Actually, for various technical reasons, I have been using Shiny exclusively for the past year and a half. I can say from experience that: 1/ Shiny is minimally functional AT BEST. For many, including myself, it often and randomly fails to be functional at all. 2/ I went from getting into events on average 5 times a week last year to not logging in weeks at a time. I barely play these days, even though I relatively recently spent a fton of money on legacy cards. My love for the game is intact, I just do not have the courage anymore to face the client and the lag, drops and other crashes that come with it. No Stockholm syndrome here!
I'm still not a big fan of many of the UI choices in the beta, but overall, it works, and does everything that the current client does. It's very much worth noting that the last time they forced everyone over to a new beta (the current software), this was not the case.
At that time, switching over to the incomplete new software, and in truth *vastly* more incomplete than this time, allowed them to focus on developing the new software and getting us the client that everyone is so hesitant to give up now.
The same will happen again, but with far less pain and hassle than last time. Wizards may not be getting everything right with this, but the change over this time should go from train wreck to annoyance, and that's a huge step up.
Also, one note on the turn indicator, it's already there, just in an odd spot. The bar that shows you the phases and steps of the turn lists who's turn it is at the leftmost side of the bar.
I don't know if you remember but the v3 of 2007/08 was very similar to the v3 of 2009 but at the end of that year they hired a UI designer who came in and fixed many of the things people complained about and then started knocking out some of the backend errors.
I hope we don't need to wait for 2016+ to get that kind of action with V4.
After hearing the number of vocal persons saying that V4 crashes on them constantly, I guess that I am one of the lucky ones.
I have a Vista (32 bit) quad core with 4GB Ram and a Raedon 6570 vid card. I can simultaneously run V4 (closed beta), V3, Chrome with a couple of flash games running and Camtasia 8 at the same time with next to no lag and minimal problems.
I wanted to post a comment and I didn't see anyone else say anything about this, but the Beta client does have a turn indicator. It is right above you hand at the left side of the phase indicator where you can set your stops. it is a pretty thin bar and is easy to miss but it is there.