State of the Program for September 21st 2018
Guilds of Ravnica On MTGO a Day Earlier: Guilds of Ravnica will be playable on MTGO on the
Thursday before the prerelease. This is one day earlier than previously. MTGO players will have an option of playing a normal 6 pack competitive sealed leagues, or playing a friendly league with 5 normal GoR packs, and one guild themed booster. Details
here.
Guilds of Ravnica Info Released: The set is fully released. The complete card image gallery is
here. The release notes are
here. You can play on MTGO in six days, and at store prereleases is seven days. Enjoy.
Player of the Year Tie: The Player of the Year race ended in a tie, with Seth Manfield and Luis Salvatto both ending with the same number of pro points. Details on the one on one playoff coming soon. It’s been a while (seven years) since Brad Nelson and Guillaume Matignon faced off in a player of the year playoff. Good luck to both.
Leagues Closing Soon: Guilds of Ravnica will be up shortly, so existing leagues will be winding up next week. Get your matches in quickly.
1v1 Brawl Leaving MTGO: The 1v1 Brawl format is being retired
on MTGO – and only on MTGO. Wizards has realized that Brawl is best played as a multiplayer format, and MTGO does not really support multiplayer, so Wizards is eliminating Brawl on MTGO. Brawl will still be played in brick and mortar stores, and in side events at GPs and the like. Info about halfway down this
article.
MTG Arena Goes to Open Beta: Wizards is opening up the MTG Arena Beta to all comers. Closed Beta accounts will be wiped, and everyone will be starting at the same level. Lots of details
here. Also, a great trailer for Arena
here.
Worlds This Weekend: Magic Worlds Championships will be this weekend. Coverage on Twitch.tv/Magic. Also the team championships. Details
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 PTQs each weekend, with qualifiers running the three days prior to the PTQ.
|
Upcoming Events
|
Dates
|
|
Scheduled Downtimes
|
September 26th & October 24th (both extended)
|
|
Constructed Leagues End
|
September 25, 2018
|
|
Sealed Leagues End
|
September 25, 2018
|
|
Guilds of Ravnica
|
September 27, 2018 release
|
|
Ravnica Allegiance
|
January 2019
|
|
Next B&R Announcement
|
October 1, 2018
|
|
Dominaria Redemption Ends
|
October 10, 2018
|
|
Core Set 2019 Redemption Ends
|
December 26, 2018
|
WotC Covered Events
Wizards will be streaming a number of events next year, including all four Pro Tours, the Magic Championship and World Magic Cup, along with 35 Grand Prix. Since Wizards does not schedule premier events on prerelease weekends and certain holidays, that means they will be streaming an event nearly every weekend. Here’s the schedule we have so far.
· Weekend of Sept. 23–24: 2018 Magic World Championship and Team Series Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada
· Oct. 6–7: Grand Prix Montreal
· Oct. 13–14: Grand Prix Denver
· Oct. 27–28: Grand Prix Lille
· Nov. 3–4: Grand Prix Atlanta
· Nov. 9–11: Pro Tour Guilds of Ravnica in Atlanta
· Nov. 17–18: Grand Prix Milwaukee
· Dec. 8–9: Grand Prix Liverpool
· Dec. 14–16: World Magic Cup in Barcelona, Spain
2018 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:
· September 5-September 28: Legacy Cube
· Guilds of Ravnica
Magic Online Format Challenges
These are high stakes events that happen every weekend. They cost 25 Tix / 250 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:
|
Event Type
|
Start Time
|
|
|
Saturday, 8:00am PT
|
|
|
Saturday, 10:00 am PT
|
|
|
Saturday, 12:00 pm PT
|
|
|
Sunday, 8:00 am PT
|
|
|
Sunday, 10:00 am PT
|
|
|
Sunday, noon PT
|
|
Opinion Section: Paper Promo Codes for Online Play
|
For over a decade, I have been calling for Wizards to tie their paper and digital games together. I have begged them to put advertising cards in packs offering a free online booster or phantom draft. I wanted them to leverage their paper game to support their online game, and vice versa.
This week, Wizards announced that they would be pitting codes into prerelease packs good for one online sealed deck, and cards in packs with codes good for a free pack. (Both of these are limited to one per account.) Finally.
However, these will tie to Arena, not MTGO. Arena is getting a ton of marketing support. A ton. MTGO is not. For that matter, paper Magic is not getting much support. The Silver Silliness diverted a bunch of Pro Tour money to Hearthstone players. And advertising for Arena looks good – but I’m not seeing much support for high level paper play. It’s Worlds this week, and I haven’t seen a single ad or notice pop up on Facebook or alongside YouTube, etc.
Wizards, I know you want that Hearthstone money, but don’t bet the whole store on it. Paper Magic is still the cash cow that supports all this. MTGO isn’t, but a ton of enfranchised players still live on MTGO. Maybe give us something more than refurbished counters and one extra day of pre-prerelease.
Just saying.
Standard: We are just two weeks away from Standard decklists with Guilds of Ravnica: the new meta. I’ll start featuring new Standard decks then.
Modern: We had two big Modern GPs last weekend. GP Hong Kong had 908 players, and the Top 8 included a Tron deck (winner), Bridgevine in second, a couple Jeskai decks, a couple humans decks, Jund and RDW. GP Stockholm had 1322 players. Bant Spirits took it down, with three UW Control, another Bant Spirits, Jeskai Control, Mono-white Martyr, and Storm rounding out the Top 8.
Legacy: The Legacy Challenge this week had an interesting Top 8: a couple Grixis Control builds, Miracles, Eldrazi Aggro, Loam, Reanimator, Death & Taxes, and UR Delver.
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 over a decade now, and have never been overcharged or disappointed.
Standard Staples: Standard prices are pretty stable as we head towards rotation. This table will change a lot in a couple weeks.
|
Standard Cards
|
Price
|
Last Week
|
Change
|
% Change
|
|
Baral, Chief of Compliance
|
$5.07
|
$7.95
|
($2.88)
|
-36%
|
|
Carnage Tyrant
|
$10.01
|
$10.66
|
($0.65)
|
-6%
|
|
History of Benalia
|
$11.36
|
$8.40
|
$2.96
|
35%
|
|
Karn, Scion of Urza
|
$24.47
|
$25.59
|
($1.12)
|
-4%
|
|
Lyra Dawnbringer
|
$7.89
|
$7.62
|
$0.27
|
4%
|
|
Nexus of Fate
|
$13.25
|
$13.76
|
($0.51)
|
-4%
|
|
Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
|
$12.90
|
$15.46
|
($2.56)
|
-17%
|
|
Rekindling Phoenix
|
$25.54
|
$29.56
|
($4.02)
|
-14%
|
|
Sarkhan, Fireblood
|
$6.48
|
$7.18
|
($0.70)
|
-10%
|
|
Search for Azcanta
|
$7.56
|
$7.47
|
$0.09
|
1%
|
|
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
|
$34.51
|
$30.74
|
$3.77
|
12%
|
|
Vivien Reid
|
$6.96
|
$6.90
|
$0.06
|
1%
|
|
Vraska's Contempt
|
$5.89
|
$4.69
|
$1.20
|
26%
|
|
Walking Ballista
|
$14.14
|
$13.12
|
$1.02
|
8%
|
Modern staples: Modern prices were mixed this week. Slightly down, but more adjustments after some price leaps that may have been caused by speculators. Horizon Canopy is all over the place, week to week.
|
Modern Cards
|
Price
|
Last Week
|
Change
|
% Change
|
|
|
$20.11
|
$19.53
|
$0.58
|
3%
|
|
|
$13.68
|
$14.16
|
($0.48)
|
-3%
|
|
|
$25.16
|
$27.96
|
($2.80)
|
-10%
|
|
|
$24.04
|
$24.80
|
($0.76)
|
-3%
|
|
|
$18.22
|
$18.66
|
($0.44)
|
-2%
|
|
|
$19.24
|
$15.12
|
$4.12
|
27%
|
|
|
$18.34
|
$18.50
|
($0.16)
|
-1%
|
|
|
$34.95
|
$36.61
|
($1.66)
|
-5%
|
|
|
$29.18
|
$28.83
|
$0.35
|
1%
|
|
|
$57.96
|
$69.20
|
($11.24)
|
-16%
|
|
|
$74.27
|
$72.25
|
$2.02
|
3%
|
|
|
$26.27
|
$29.45
|
($3.18)
|
-11%
|
|
|
$16.38
|
$16.12
|
$0.26
|
2%
|
|
|
$15.42
|
$18.57
|
($3.15)
|
-17%
|
|
|
$46.94
|
$46.76
|
$0.18
|
0%
|
|
|
$48.14
|
$45.88
|
$2.26
|
5%
|
|
|
$56.07
|
$56.76
|
($0.69)
|
-1%
|
|
|
$29.40
|
$32.15
|
($2.75)
|
-9%
|
|
|
$25.03
|
$26.07
|
($1.04)
|
-4%
|
|
|
$43.70
|
$48.24
|
($4.54)
|
-9%
|
|
|
$28.38
|
$25.54
|
$2.84
|
11%
|
|
|
$19.26
|
$19.40
|
($0.14)
|
-1%
|
Legacy and Vintage: Back to Basics continues to climb. Overall, these prices are staying strong.
|
Legacy / Vintage Cards
|
Price
|
Last Week
|
Change
|
% Change
|
|
|
$35.59
|
$30.59
|
$5.00
|
16%
|
|
|
$27.98
|
$27.58
|
$0.40
|
1%
|
|
|
$25.86
|
$25.45
|
$0.41
|
2%
|
|
|
$17.21
|
$17.27
|
($0.06)
|
0%
|
|
|
$18.21
|
$18.27
|
($0.06)
|
0%
|
|
|
$31.42
|
$32.29
|
($0.87)
|
-3%
|
|
|
$29.89
|
$29.89
|
$0.00
|
0%
|
|
|
$16.00
|
$16.86
|
($0.86)
|
-5%
|
|
|
$56.01
|
$53.67
|
$2.34
|
4%
|
|
|
$13.59
|
$11.46
|
$2.13
|
19%
|
|
|
$23.38
|
$23.13
|
$0.25
|
1%
|
|
|
$20.61
|
$21.97
|
($1.36)
|
-6%
|
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). Also, rotation is coming.
|
Complete Set
|
Price
|
Last Week
|
Change
|
% Change
|
|
Aether Revolt
|
$40.96
|
$42.73
|
($1.77)
|
-4%
|
|
Amonkhet
|
$33.96
|
$33.62
|
$0.34
|
1%
|
|
Core Set 2019
|
$131.65
|
$143.75
|
($12.10)
|
-8%
|
|
Dominaria
|
$120.72
|
$111.80
|
$8.92
|
8%
|
|
Ixalan
|
$76.32
|
$77.18
|
($0.86)
|
-1%
|
|
Hour of Devastation
|
$12.34
|
$13.64
|
($1.30)
|
-10%
|
|
Kaladesh
|
$22.26
|
$21.18
|
$1.08
|
5%
|
|
Rivals of Ixalan
|
$83.92
|
$87.64
|
($3.72)
|
-4%
|
|
Treasure Chest
|
$2.34
|
$2.34
|
$0.00
|
0%
|
|
Core Set 2019 Booster
|
$2.93
|
$3.06
|
($0.13)
|
-4%
|
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 is pretty stable again this week. And a Black Lotus is back over $100, with Mox Sapphire a step behind. Not Ancestral Recall? Strange.
|
Name
|
Set
|
Rarity
|
Price
|
|
Black Lotus
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 109.95
|
|
Mox Sapphire
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 79.14
|
|
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
|
WWK
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 75.93
|
|
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
|
A25
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 75.07
|
|
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
|
EMA
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 74.39
|
|
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
|
VMA
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 74.27
|
|
Horizon Canopy
|
IMA
|
Rare
|
$ 73.49
|
|
Horizon Canopy
|
EXP
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 65.98
|
|
Mox Opal
|
MM2
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 60.61
|
|
Force of Will
|
MED
|
Rare
|
$ 57.97
|
|
Horizon Canopy
|
FUT
|
Rare
|
$ 57.96
|
|
Mox Opal
|
MS2
|
Bonus
|
$ 56.63
|
|
True-Name Nemesis
|
PZ1
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 56.41
|
|
Mox Opal
|
SOM
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 56.07
|
|
True-Name Nemesis
|
C13
|
Rare
|
$ 56.01
|
|
Mox Jet
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 53.04
|
|
Liliana of the Veil
|
MM3
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 50.12
|
|
Ancestral Recall
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 49.95
|
|
Mox Emerald
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 49.04
|
|
Liliana, the Last Hope
|
EMN
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 48.14
|
|
Mox Ruby
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 47.03
|
|
Liliana of the Veil
|
ISD
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 46.94
|
|
Surgical Extraction
|
MM2
|
Rare
|
$ 43.78
|
|
Surgical Extraction
|
NPH
|
Rare
|
$ 43.70
|
|
City of Traitors
|
EX
|
Rare
|
$ 41.20
|
|
Unmask
|
V16
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 38.83
|
|
Time Walk
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 36.95
|
|
Engineered Explosives
|
5DN
|
Rare
|
$ 36.03
|
|
Engineered Explosives
|
MMA
|
Rare
|
$ 36.00
|
|
Back to Basics
|
UZ
|
Rare
|
$ 35.59
|
|
Mox Pearl
|
1E
|
Rare
|
$ 34.95
|
|
Engineered Explosives
|
MS2
|
Bonus
|
$ 34.95
|
|
Dark Depths
|
V16
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 34.68
|
|
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
|
DAR
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 34.51
|
|
Force of Will
|
MS3
|
Special
|
$ 33.63
|
|
Force of Will
|
EMA
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 31.76
|
|
Force of Will
|
VMA
|
Rare
|
$ 31.42
|
|
Tarmogoyf
|
MMA
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 30.53
|
|
Wasteland
|
TE
|
Uncommon
|
$ 30.24
|
|
Misdirection
|
MM
|
Rare
|
$ 29.89
|
|
Ensnaring Bridge
|
A25
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 29.80
|
|
Noble Hierarch
|
CON
|
Rare
|
$ 29.78
|
|
Tarmogoyf
|
MM2
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 29.76
|
|
Tarmogoyf
|
FUT
|
Rare
|
$ 29.59
|
|
Ensnaring Bridge
|
MS2
|
Bonus
|
$ 29.53
|
|
Ensnaring Bridge
|
ST
|
Rare
|
$ 29.53
|
|
Ensnaring Bridge
|
8ED
|
Rare
|
$ 29.45
|
|
Noble Hierarch
|
MM2
|
Rare
|
$ 29.40
|
|
Cavern of Souls
|
MM3
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 29.23
|
|
Ensnaring Bridge
|
7E
|
Rare
|
$ 29.18
|
|
Scalding Tarn
|
EXP
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 29.04
|
|
Tarmogoyf
|
MM3
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 28.38
|
|
Black Lotus
|
VMA
|
Bonus
|
$ 27.98
|
|
Karn Liberated
|
NPH
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 27.75
|
|
Scalding Tarn
|
MM3
|
Rare
|
$ 26.80
|
|
Wasteland
|
TPR
|
Rare
|
$ 26.80
|
|
Karn Liberated
|
MM2
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 26.27
|
|
City of Traitors
|
TPR
|
Rare
|
$ 25.86
|
|
Mox Diamond
|
TPR
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 25.80
|
|
Containment Priest
|
C14
|
Rare
|
$ 25.59
|
|
Rekindling Phoenix
|
RIX
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 25.54
|
|
Wasteland
|
EXP
|
Mythic Rare
|
$ 25.31
|
|
Mox Diamond
|
ST
|
Rare
|
$ 25.22
|
|
Cavern of Souls
|
AVR
|
Rare
|
$ 25.16
|
|
Scalding Tarn
|
ZEN
|
Rare
|
$ 25.03
|
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 $ 18,435. That’s up about $45 from last week. And that does not include any Guild of Ravnica cards.
Too busy to finish a set review this week. Working on it for next week. Fingers crossed.
PRJ
“One Million Words” on MTGO
This series is an ongoing tribute to Erik “Hamtastic” Friborg.
3 Comments
I'm sure you finished your article well before this came to light, but I think it's worth mentioning here that Gerry Thompson is refusing to play in Worlds this weekend in order to make his voice heard over a number of grievances he has with the way professional Magic is presently handled by WotC.
His full announcement is worth the read and can be found on reddit here: https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/9hqyav/im_gerry_thompson_a_pr...
The Cliff's Notes:
1: Pros are not paid a living wage.
2: WotC does not effectively promote its players or tournaments.
3: Poor communication and a needlessly complex and confusing Pro Point system.
4: PTQs are a terrible system, even more so for players outside of North Amreica and the EU.
5: Event coverage is terrible.
6: Penalties for cheating are not harsh enough.
Although not at all the focus of his manifesto, he did manage to put in a little word for the current state of MTGO. I know that’s not what he’s fighting for there, but it felt nice nevertheless.
Did someone say "set review"?