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By: JXClaytor, Joshua Claytor
Sep 25 2020 12:00pm
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State of the Program for September 25th, 2020
 
In the News

Banned List:  On Monday there will be an update to the ban list.  It will go into effect on MTGO at 12 p.m. PT. 

Limited Super Qualifier
:  Ready for more Zendikar Rising Sealed?  Check out the Super Qualifier on Saturday. 

Standard Split Championship Qualifier
:  Say goodbye maybe, to the Standard format as we know it before Monday's news.  This is on Sunday.

Secret Lair:  Zendikar Revisited is the theme of this one.  You get your choice of foil or nonfoil versions, and the set includes Admonition Angel, Roil Elemental, Zulaport Cutthroat, Warren Instigator and Avenger of Zendikar.  These cards use the Zendikar Rising Showcase frame, and if you are in to that, check it out here.

Rivals League:  The new lineup for the next season of the Rivals League was released.  Congrats to the forty eight deserving players who were selected to participate!  The Magic Pro League is unchanged. 

Oracle and Rules ChangesOracle updated, as well as the comprehensive rules.
 

The Timeline

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
October 28, 2020
Constructed Leagues End
January 27, 2021
Sealed Leagues End
January 28, 2020
Next B&R Announcement
Possibly September 28, 2020
Ikoria Redemption Guarantee
Ends September 2nd 2020
Core Set 2021 Redemption
Starts July 22, 2020
Zendikar Rising
Fourth Quarter 2020
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 16 - October 7: Modern Cube
October 7 - October 14: Mystery Booster: Magic Online Edition
October 14 - October 21:  New Cube
October 21 - October 28:  Innistrad Supreme Draft
October 28 - November 4:  Triple Innistrad Draft and Commander Legends release.
November 4 - November 18:  Vintage Masters Flashback
November 18 - November 25:  Supreme Chaos Draft
Novemver 25 - December 2:  Core Set Cube
December 2 - December 9:  Chaos Draft Masters
December 9 - December 16:  Another New Cube
December 16 - December 23:  Vintage Cube Supreme
December 23 - ???:  Kaldheim Vintage Cube
 
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:

TIME (PT) SATURDAY SUNDAY
12:00 a.m.   Vintage Challenge
2:00 a.m. Pauper Challenge  
4:00 a.m. Legacy Challenge Modern Challenge
6:00 a.m. Standard Challenge Pioneer Challenge
8:00 a.m. Modern Challenge Legacy Challenge
10:00 a.m. Vintage Challenge Pauper Challenge
2:00 p.m. Pioneer Challenge Standard Challenge
 



Cutting Edge Tech

Standard:This might be a great place to start depending on what gets banned on Monday. Heck maybe nothing gets banned and we get a suspended list instead, like Historic. I doubt that, but it's getting tough with all the bans. I appreciate risks being taken though.


Historic:  Historic hasn't been hit as hard as Standard with Omnath, but if you're tired of playing it, and want something a lot more controlling to play, you could do worse then this deck!


Legacy
:I am old enough to remember when they called decks like this Something Stompy, be it Sea Stompy (for Sea Drake) or Dragon Stompy (for Rakdos Pit Dragon).


Modern:


Pauper: This is always a fun deck when it shows up.


Pioneer:This is a deck that I started off Pioneer with, but the mana was just so bad. I'm not sure about Mana Confluence in the deck over Sunpetal Grove, but I do appreciate the Pathway showing up here.


Vintage:



 
Winner's Circle

The Winner's Circle is where I will recognize winners of the past events on MTGO. 

Challenge Winners

Saturday Legacy - rob85tx - Temur Delver
Saturday Modern - TheEnzym - Mill
Saturday Pauper - mlovbo - Tron
Saturday Pioneer - yashimoro - Bogles Selesnya Hexproof
Saturday Standard - Terribad - Sultai Ramp
Saturday Vintage - hodortimebaby

Sunday Legacy - Bryant_Cook - ANT
Sunday Modern - coert - Selesnya Life Combo
Sunday Pauper - Oscar_Franco - Dimir Control
Sunday Pioneer - Mogged - Gruul Aggro
Sunday Standard - telsacow - 4 color Omnath
Sunday Vintage - SingPanMan

Other Event Winners

Vintage Champs - unicornparadise
Pauper Champs - uspdudes - Boros Metalcraft
Modern Champs - pootisgodsamongus - Prowess
Legacy Champs - Nammersquats - Hogaak Dredge
 

Around the Web

MTGOTraders YouTube:  Did you know that MTGOTraders.com has a YouTube page with videos added Monday, Wednesday and Friday?  Well if not, now you do, and you can find it here

Frank Lepore asks if Standard has become a failed expirement
Joe Dyer goes over the results of the NYSE for all you Vintage fans!
Adam Yurchick shows off the cards from Zendikar Rising helping older formats.
Cardboard Crack is back!
Reid Duke goes over the Modern Charbelcher deck.

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 a decade and a half now, and have never been overcharged or disappointed.

I have gotten a new computer, it's running MTGO fantastically, but I am still without the tools I use to make price tables.  I am hopefully getting it on Monday, and will be able to deliver the new tables next week.  I am so sorry for this. 

The Good Stuff
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 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 $24,750.  On September 4th, the big number was $24,671.  It's up a little bit! 

 
In Closing

With my computers out of order, I decided that I would try to spend less time online and off computers.  It helped that my laptop runs Windows Vista, and I don't have the first idea of how to upgrade that, and my mother's computer is not great for Arena, MTGO or Battlegrounds.  Instead, I played a ton of Fortnite, read a book and started to play a weird RPG on Xbox called Alvastia Chronicles.  I might have to dust off one of the old vanity sites to write about it, but just like my desire to leave Magic for the tuba again after the Undertale concert a bit ago, I will lose all motivation to do so. 

This series is an ongoing tribute to Erik “Hamtastic” Friborg.