State of the Program for October 8th, 2021
Standard: Through the Ages - It's happening now, I recommend the Splinter Twin
deck, because everything else wants to play fair Magic and the Twin deck does not. Other than that, this is a really good look at Standards of Formats Past and I think they did a great job picking out of the best decks of the formats past. You can see the lists here.
Magic World Championship XXVII: The decklists for the tournament were publishes early. In the 16 player event, 8 players are on an Alrund's Epiphany
deck. 4 are Izzet, the other 4 are Grixis, splashing black for discard. Mono Snow Aggro is played by another 5 players, three on green, two on white, the rest of the field is Izzet Dragons, Temur Midrange and Azorius Aggro. Coverage starts on twitch today. You can see the lists here.
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
|
November 10th, 2021 |
Constructed Leagues End
|
Ends November 10th, 2021
|
Sealed Leagues End
|
Ends November 11th, 2021 |
Next B&R
|
Unknown
|
D&D Redemption
|
Ends December 1st, 2021
|
Midnight Hunt Redemption
|
Begins October 20th, 2021
|
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: Standard: Through the Ages
October 9th - Pauper Qualifier
October 10th - Standard Super Qualifier
October 13 - Artisan Cube
October 20 - Three weeks of Vintage Cube
October 27 - Triple Innistrad Draft
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:
They didn't publish Arena decklists this week. Missed out on the fun decks!
Standard: New Standard was going well until a couple of results started to come in. First players remembered at
Alrund's Epiphany
was a really good card. Second they learned that
Esika's Chariot
is also a really good card. Third those two decks started to bash each other and finally Magic social media became useless as the discourse then turned into what to ban. Anyways, here is the Mono White deck that won the Saturday Challenge.
Historic: Takobyte took this Selesnya Humans deck to Mythic. You can check out a sideboard guide
here.
Legacy: Stompy decks sure have evolved. I remember when this kind of deck was powering out
Rakdos Pit Dragon
. I am old.
Modern:
Living End
decks these days seem to be defined by free spells. Of course you have the namesake sorcery, but most are also using a playset of
Force of Negation
as well. This list takes those out of the main and replaces them with 8 elementals from Modern Horizons 2.
Force of Vigor
also hangs out in the board and with so many cards not requiring mana to be played, you'd think WotC was trying to make Modern Legacy.
Pauper: I think it's pretty refreshing to see a deck without
Atog
or
Delver of Secrets
pick up a big win. That's what Azorius Blink did this weekend.
Pioneer: I'm still not sold on
Angrath's Marauders
no longer having a place in the deck, but it looks like it's taken a bit away from being a combo deck and started to be a midrange deck that just overwhelms in the attack step. If that's the case is
Heroic Intervention
worth taking a look at at for the mass removal matchups?
The Winner's Circle is where I will recognize winners of the past events on MTGO.
The Saturday Legacy Challenge has had an issue with it either happening or the decklists being posted. There were no results posted for the event again this week.
Challenge Winners
Saturday Legacy - No Results
Saturday Modern - bellfy - Elemental Living End
Saturday Pauper - Backoff - Bogles
Saturday Pioneer - SpicyLeche - Winota
Saturday Standard - Lennny - Mono White Aggro
Saturday Vintage - albertoSD
Sunday Legacy - SuperCow12653 - Goblin Stompy
Sunday Modern - patheus_84 - Temur Rhinos
Sunday Pauper - Drugo - Mono Blue Tempo
Sunday Pioneer - O_danielakos - Izzet Phoenix
Sunday Standard - onewaygarden - Izzet Epiphany
Sunday Vintage - IdraftTheBeatz
Other Event Winners
Pauper Super Qualifier - Not Good - Azorius Blink
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: A couple of cards came off of the Standard list this week from Forgotten Realms.
Faceless Haven
jumps on to the list. A few more cards from Midnight Hunt also fell off the list.
Modern Staples:
Eternal Staples:
Demonic Tutor
came off the list.
Pioneer Staples: Despite the small list, Pioneer really seems to be in a really good place. Give the format a chance if you haven't in a while!
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 Week |
Change |
% Change |
Forgotten Realms |
$215.46 |
$199.15 |
$16.31 |
8% |
Innistrad: Midnight Hunt |
$185.01 |
$171.18 |
$13.83 |
8% |
Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Booster Pack |
$3.30 |
$3.23 |
$0.07 |
2% |
Kaldheim |
$126.30 |
$117.06 |
$9.24 |
8% |
Strixhaven: School of Mages |
$148.38 |
$153.84 |
($5.46) |
-4% |
Treasure Chest |
$2.33 |
$2.39 |
($0.06) |
-3% |
Zendikar Rising |
$104.62 |
$101.22 |
$3.40 |
3% |
The following is a list of all the non-foil, non-promo cards on MTGO that retail for more than $25 per card. These are the big ticket items in the world of MTGO. The list is interesting, at the least. This is interesting to me because a lot of these cards have been reprinted more than once, and they are still commanding a high price.
Black Lotus |
1E |
Rare |
173.88 |
Cavern of Souls |
UBT |
Mythic |
135.99 |
Karakas |
UBT |
Mythic |
110.2 |
Liliana of the Veil |
UBT |
Mythic |
96.14 |
Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer |
MH2 |
Mythic |
93.09 |
Snapcaster Mage |
UBT |
Mythic |
92.6 |
Mox Jet |
1E |
Rare |
92.22 |
Ancestral Recall |
1E |
Rare |
87.61 |
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth |
UBT |
Mythic |
84.96 |
Mox Sapphire |
1E |
Rare |
69.44 |
Time Walk |
1E |
Rare |
67.1 |
Mox Emerald |
1E |
Rare |
65.06 |
Wrenn and Six |
MH1 |
Mythic |
63.79 |
Teferi, Time Raveler |
WAR |
Rare |
56.96 |
Dark Depths |
UBT |
Mythic |
55.96 |
Demonic Tutor |
UBT |
Mythic |
55.9 |
Endurance |
MH2 |
Mythic |
54.7 |
Purple-Crystal Crab |
PZ2 |
Common |
54.41 |
Mox Pearl |
1E |
Rare |
50.57 |
Misty Rainforest |
MH2 |
Rare |
50.13 |
Solitude |
MH2 |
Mythic |
49.51 |
Force of Negation |
MH1 |
Rare |
48.38 |
Urza's Saga |
MH2 |
Rare |
47.88 |
Force of Will |
MED |
Rare |
45.59 |
Jace, the Mind Sculptor |
MS4 |
Mythic |
45.33 |
Mox Ruby |
1E |
Rare |
44.79 |
Heavenly Qilin |
PZ2 |
Common |
43.79 |
Chalice of the Void |
TSR |
Bonus |
41.58 |
Scalding Tarn |
MH2 |
Rare |
40.97 |
Wasteland |
EXP |
Mythic |
40.96 |
Chalice of the Void |
MS2 |
Bonus |
39.89 |
Chalice of the Void |
A25 |
Mythic |
39.82 |
Chalice of the Void |
MMA |
Rare |
39.64 |
Mox Diamond |
TPR |
Mythic |
38.86 |
Hullbreacher |
CMR |
Rare |
38.32 |
Karn Liberated |
UBT |
Mythic |
37.49 |
Liliana, the Last Hope |
MS4 |
Mythic |
37.26 |
Verdant Catacombs |
MH2 |
Rare |
36.8 |
Mox Diamond |
ST |
Rare |
36.09 |
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth |
UBT |
Mythic |
35.8 |
Noble Hierarch |
UBT |
Mythic |
35.64 |
Wrenn and Seven |
MID |
Mythic |
35.37 |
Flusterstorm |
CMD |
Rare |
35.1 |
Chalice of the Void |
MRD |
Rare |
35.03 |
Allosaurus Shepherd |
JMP |
Mythic |
34.97 |
Earthshaking Si |
PZ2 |
Common |
34.29 |
Marisi, Breaker of the Coil |
C19 |
Mythic |
33.91 |
Force of Vigor |
MH1 |
Rare |
33.53 |
Flusterstorm |
MH1 |
Rare |
33.36 |
Flusterstorm |
IMA |
Rare |
33.03 |
Flusterstorm |
PZ1 |
Rare |
32.29 |
Flusterstorm |
VMA |
Rare |
32.14 |
Mana Vault |
UBT |
Mythic |
32.13 |
Celestial Colonnade |
UBT |
Mythic |
31.93 |
Force of Will |
2XM |
Mythic |
31.54 |
Demilich |
AFR |
Mythic |
31.42 |
Reanimate |
UBT |
Mythic |
31.37 |
Platinum Emperion |
UBT |
Mythic |
30.82 |
Verdant Catacombs |
EXP |
Mythic |
29.84 |
Timetwister |
1E |
Rare |
29.77 |
Force of Will |
VMA |
Rare |
29.44 |
Wasteland |
ZNE |
Mythic |
29.27 |
Mox Diamond |
V10 |
Mythic |
28.92 |
Sunbaked Canyon |
MH1 |
Rare |
28.34 |
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria |
MS4 |
Mythic |
28.28 |
Fulminator Mage |
UBT |
Mythic |
28.11 |
Engineered Explosives |
UBT |
Mythic |
27.96 |
Mishra's Bauble |
IMA |
Uncommon |
27.7 |
Flooded Strand |
ZNE |
Mythic |
27.62 |
Scalding Tarn |
EXP |
Mythic |
27.53 |
Cavern of Souls |
UMA |
Mythic |
27.49 |
Force of Will |
MS3 |
Mythic |
27.36 |
Wasteland |
TPR |
Rare |
27.16 |
Archmage's Charm |
MH1 |
Rare |
27.07 |
Creeping Tar Pit |
UBT |
Mythic |
26.92 |
Force of Will |
EMA |
Mythic |
26.57 |
Bitterblossom |
UBT |
Mythic |
26.31 |
Dockside Extortionist |
C19 |
Rare |
26.12 |
The big number is the retail price of a playset (4 copies) of every card available on MTGO. Assuming you bought the least expensive versions available, the cost of owning a playset of every card on MTGO is approximately a number that I cannot figure out still. I have actually asked Pete to do this for me, because Open Office is weird, and I have no idea what I am doing, and I am pretty close to just being a dog in a labcoat.
I started my ADHD drugs this morning. I am not a fan of how they make me feel. I'm not entirely sure if I am going to keep up on them. The non stimulant I am on though is supposed to be fast acting. I may actually see results later on today.
This series is an ongoing tribute to Erik “Hamtastic” Friborg.