State of the Program for September 27th, 2019
The Great Eldraine Bake-off: I saw this last week, was going to do it, then saw someone post a picture of their submission on day one. It was so good I decided to not participate, because well, when you see greatness it's hard to overcome that sometimes. Prizes are great, and if you're cooking you might as well think about this. Check out the rules here.
Collegiate Arena Starleague: Gosh, when I was a professional student I would have loved to be a part of this. Sadly, even though I joked about it, I'm not about to go to grad school so I can get in to a Magic tournament. If you're already in college registration ends in October, so study, and grow strong!
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
|
Unknown
|
Constructed Leagues End
|
January 15, 2020
|
Sealed Leagues End
|
January 16, 2020
|
Next B&R Announcement
|
October 7, 2019
|
|
|
|
|
Theros: Beyond Death
|
First Quarter 2020
|
Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths
|
Second Quarter 2020
|
Core Set 2021
Zendikar Rising
|
Third Quarter 2020
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:
Nothing this weekend, due to Throne of Eldraine hitting the client. Enjoy the prereleases!
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, 8:00 am PT
|
|
Saturday, 10:00 am PT
|
|
Sunday, 8:00 am PT
|
|
Sunday, 10:00 am PT
|
It was a slow news week and an even slower opinion week. I have nothing for today, other then, enjoy Magic!
Standard: Bryan Gottlieb won the first post Throne of Eldraine event on Arena with this sweet Esper deck featuring
Dance of the Manse
and
Doom Foretold
. More importantly, it helped me level up on the ladder a couple of times! Deck is sweet and a lot of fun to play though!
Legacy: Look, I am not dialed in to Legacy as much as I would like to be, but this
Mystic Forge
looked interesting to me. I think, and I am probably wrong here, the deck just cycles through with the Forge, gets a
Karn, the Great Creator
, and then does stuff with
Paradox Engine
, probably infinite mana and then wins with a giant
Walking Ballista
? I have no idea, the deck just looked neat, and maybe someone better than me can tell me how it wins!
Modern: Here is a deck that if LSV's twitter account is to be believed, got incredibly stronger thanks to Throne of Eldraine.
Emry, Lurker of the Loch
is being tested in this deck now, and looks poised to make an impact on the Modern format.
Pauper: Slivers is a fun one in the format. It has access to 12 lords, and the linear tribal strategy can steal wins out of nowhere thanks to
Virulent Sliver
.
Brawl: I am waiting to see if there are any cards from Throne of Eldraine that will impact Vintage (I have an idea that Emry might), but until then, I am going to post a random Brawl deck. The format is fun and on MTGO, while Arena players have to wait still!
1 Goblin Cratermaker
1 Golgari Findbroker
1 Judith, the Scourge Diva
1 Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin
1 Leyline Prowler
1 Mayhem Devil
1 Orzhov Enforcer
1 Paradise Druid
1 Plaguecrafter
1 Priest of Forgotten Gods
1 Thrashing Brontodon
1 Vindictive Vampire
1 Angrath, Captain of Chaos
1 Liliana, Dreadhorde General
1 Vraska, Golgari Queen
1 Deathsprout
1 Finale of Eternity
1 Dreadhorde Invasion
1 Blood Crypt
1 Bloodfell Caves
1 Command Tower
5 Forest
1 Golgari Guildgate
1 Gruul Guildgate
1 Jungle Hollow
2 Mountain
1 Rugged Highlands |
1 Stomping Ground
5 Swamp
1 Temple of Malady
1 Arcane Signet
1 Ayara, First of Locthwain
1 Bake into a Pie
1 Castle Garenbrig
1 Castle Locthwain
1 Chittering Witch
1 Cryptic Caves
1 Fabled Passage
1 Find/Finality
1 Garruk, Cursed Huntsman
1 Golden Egg
1 Korvold, Fae-Cursed King
1 Moldervine Reclamation
1 Murderous Rider
1 Rankle, Master of Pranks
1 Return of the Wildspeaker
1 Savvy Hunter
1 Syr Konrad, the Grim
1 Taste of Death
1 The Great Henge
1 Thorn Mammoth |
The Winner's Circle is where I will recognize winners of the past events on MTGO.
Modern Challenge: worrier1000 won the event with Urza control.
Vintage Challenge: Winning this week with Jeskai Arcanist was ReneRandrup.
Legacy Challenge: xJCloud won with Bomberman.
Pauper Challenge: PR0boszcz stomped the yard with Stompy.
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!
Early Standard decks from the Fandom Legends event can be found here.
Adam Yurchick looks to break Throne of Eldraine in Standard.
Nick Prince wrote about the new cards after the streamer event online.
Alex Ullman discussed Throne of Eldraine for Pauper play.
Tolarian Community College made a video about the Deluxe Collection.
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: Throne of Eldraine prices will be coming next week. Seems like the best idea, instead of reporting on a ton of cards that are surely to drop prices, and since I am doing prices on the first day of release, it feels like more work than it would be worth.
Standard Cards |
Price |
Last Week |
Change |
% Change |
Arclight Phoenix |
$11.01 |
$13.12 |
($2.11) |
-16% |
Assassin;s Trophy |
$7.42 |
$7.60 |
($0.18) |
-2% |
Chandra, Awakened Inferno |
$23.25 |
$27.91 |
($4.66) |
-17% |
Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord |
$7.93 |
$10.40 |
($2.47) |
-24% |
Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer |
$5.63 |
$5.94 |
($0.31) |
-5% |
Leyline of the Void |
$3.81 |
$3.75 |
$0.06 |
2% |
Omnath, Locus of the Roil |
$9.99 |
$10.92 |
($0.93) |
-9% |
Cavalier of Night |
$6.64 |
$6.59 |
$0.05 |
1% |
Cavalier of Gales |
$6.22 |
|
$6.22 |
|
Vivien, Arkbow Ranger |
$7.19 |
|
$7.19 |
|
Yarok, the Desecrated |
$9.65 |
$9.82 |
($0.17) |
-2% |
Cavalier of Thorns |
$4.88 |
$4.93 |
($0.05) |
-1% |
Ajani, Strength of the Pride |
$9.57 |
$8.34 |
$1.23 |
15% |
Kethis, the Hidden Hand |
$3.67 |
$4.20 |
($0.53) |
-13% |
Hydroid Krasis |
$12.11 |
$5.58 |
$6.53 |
117% |
Deputy of Detention |
$6.40 |
$7.07 |
($0.67) |
-9% |
Teferi, Time Raveler |
$33.30 |
$35.26 |
($1.96) |
-6% |
Finale of Devastation |
$18.17 |
$22.55 |
($4.38) |
-19% |
Karn, the Great Creator |
$34.24 |
$36.46 |
($2.22) |
-6% |
Finale of Promise |
$17.80 |
$20.36 |
($2.56) |
-13% |
Dreadhorde Arcanist |
$13.81 |
$13.76 |
$0.05 |
0% |
Blast Zone |
$6.62 |
$6.58 |
$0.04 |
1% |
Niv-Mizzet, Reborn |
$6.76 |
$6.50 |
$0.26 |
4% |
Modern Staples: The treasure chest update sure seemed to help the prices of Modern Horizons cards!
Eternal Staples:
Pauper Staples:
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 |
Guilds of Ravnica |
$49.36 |
$51.40 |
($2.04) |
-4% |
Ravnica Allegiances |
$63.50 |
$56.27 |
$7.23 |
13% |
Treasure Chest |
$2.44 |
$2.32 |
$0.12 |
5% |
War of the Spark |
$166.82 |
$183.02 |
($16.20) |
-9% |
Core Set 2020 Booster |
$2.01 |
$2.98 |
($0.97) |
-33% |
Core Set 2020 |
$151.51 |
$152.90 |
($1.39) |
-1% |
Modern Horizons |
$361.49 |
$458.78 |
($97.29) |
-21% |
The following is a list of all the 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 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 |
345.02 |
Mox Sapphire |
1E |
Rare |
159.9 |
Mox Emerald |
1E |
Rare |
122.42 |
Mox Ruby |
1E |
Rare |
114.07 |
Wrenn and Six |
MH1 |
Mythic |
108.61 |
Ancestral Recall |
1E |
Rare |
104.17 |
Mox Jet |
1E |
Rare |
94.16 |
Mox Pearl |
1E |
Rare |
86.95 |
Time Walk |
1E |
Rare |
73.93 |
Karn Liberated |
UBT |
Mythic |
73.13 |
Timetwister |
1E |
Rare |
57.35 |
Liliana of the Veil |
UBT |
Mythic |
52.09 |
Liliana of the Veil |
UMA |
Mythic |
48.76 |
Mox Opal |
SOM |
Mythic |
48.6 |
Mox Opal |
MM2 |
Mythic |
48.29 |
Engineered Explosives |
UBT |
Mythic |
47.49 |
Mox Opal |
MS2 |
Bonus |
45.66 |
Force of Negation |
MH1 |
Rare |
44.26 |
Dark Depths |
V16 |
Mythic |
43.58 |
Jace, the Mind Sculptor |
A25 |
Mythic |
39.88 |
Jace, the Mind Sculptor |
EMA |
Mythic |
39.18 |
Dark Depths |
UBT |
Mythic |
38.69 |
Force of Will |
MED |
Rare |
37.95 |
Jace, the Mind Sculptor |
VMA |
Mythic |
37.63 |
Jace, the Mind Sculptor |
WWK |
Mythic |
37.62 |
Unmask |
V16 |
Mythic |
37.09 |
Jace, the Mind Sculptor |
MS4 |
Mythic |
34.38 |
Karn, the Great Creator |
WAR |
Rare |
34.24 |
Noble Hierarch |
UBT |
Mythic |
33.46 |
Teferi, Time Raveler |
WAR |
Rare |
33.3 |
City of Traitors |
EX |
Rare |
33.24 |
Liliana, the Last Hope |
MS4 |
Mythic |
31.27 |
Lord Windgrace |
PZ2 |
Mythic |
31.24 |
Dark Depths |
UMA |
Mythic |
30.13 |
Cavern of Souls |
UMA |
Mythic |
28.66 |
Cavern of Souls |
UBT |
Mythic |
26.85 |
Karn Liberated |
UMA |
Mythic |
26.38 |
Snapcaster Mage |
UBT |
Mythic |
25.6 |
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.
Nevermind, ignore all of that, Pete got it done for me, because he is just the dang best. The big number this week is 17320. Pete did these prices before Throne of Eldraine was added to the site and to our price data. Last week, before the new treasure chests came to MTGO, the big number was 18105. It appears that the treasure chest changes have worked out pretty well, and you can see that in the Modern price chart. On top of this we have the usual Standard sell off for rotating cards and such. So the difference is a loss of 785, but I'm pretty sure that is going to rebound next week!
Pete did the big number on Wednesday, and I did the prices on Thursday. I played an unhealthy amount of My Time at Portia this past week. I can't tell you how many times I laid down for bed and then noticed it was 4 in the morning.
This series is an ongoing tribute to Erik “Hamtastic” Friborg.