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By: hamtastic, Erik Friborg
Oct 31 2008 6:06am
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Table of Contents
Editorial Section
MTGO Discussion Items
Card Prices
Conclusion

Editorial Section

One night I was looking for some cards, just like any MTGO user does.  I typed in a search term and waded through the results.  Sometimes I'd stumble upon a listing like this:


How many of you have had this happen? 

One night while chatting with dangerlinto about the lack of a 'ticket' notation (like how $ == 'dollar', but more on that later) we came up with an idea.  The idea was simple... a way to quickly, easily and logically break apart the different actions that one might do in the message board.

The first is to add the ß character to anything that you're looking to buy.  For example ßPernicious Deed 45 would be the same as someone saying "Buying Pernicious Deed 45", and searching for "ßPernicious Deed" would return only the people who are buying deeds.  The same goes for "§".  A search on "§Pernicous Deed" would return only those posts who were selling Pernicious Deeds.

How to make these characters:

To make the character hold down alt key then type '0223' on your number pad. aka alt-0223.
To make the §, hold down the alt key then type '0167' on your number pad. aka alt-0167.

Why bother?

This kind of seems like a silly thing in the abstract, however, I feel that the more we use this the easier it will be for buyers and sellers to find each other with less room for miscommunication.  I know that I've frequently gotten confused about what a buyer/seller ad was actually advertising.  Instead of attempting to smoosh a bunch things together and letting each user figure out what is meant, it allows people to find ONLY people selling the card that they're interested in. 

Back to the lack of a ticket notation... when posting about prices, or when there's an amount of doubt to be had regarding ticket prices I'd love to see alt-232 become the default ticket price notation around the web.  Φ45 would be 45 tix, and you could event start posting conversion statements like Φ1=$.87, and so forth.

Conclusion
Simple, easy, and best of all, functional.  As I look for cards in Alara and Tempest I'll be sure start posting my buy and sell advertisements with the ß and § tags, respectively.


 

And now to get the MTGO Service Compendium Project back on track after a two week hiatus!  This week I had the pleasure of sitting down with Slinger from http://www.mtgobay.com, below is the information for your enjoyment!

EF: First of all, can you tell us a bit about your site?
MTGObay is an auction site for MTGO products only. The idea was inspired the first time that EBay took our listings down but set aside when WoTC worked it out with EBay and got our auctions back.

The idea was revisited approximately March of this year, with the thought of creating something specific to MTGO players that we could help build a much improved and focused product and a more MTGO specific secure way for players to buy and sell their products. As we were working on the site, EBay started taking all our listings down again within the last two months. We saw this as an opportunity to help the MTGO community and rushed things to get the site up, at the very least, to give players a place to complete their MTGO transactions. Due to this rush, the site currently isn’t 100% complete. So as you visit the site, perhaps even bid or list auctions, please keep that in mind. We are in the process of incorporating upgrades and improvements on a weekly basis.

As a matter of fact, the group of MTGO players that are currently using the site have been a huge help in testing and positive development to the site for everyone’s enjoyment. You know who you guys are, thank you for that!


EF: What's the URL to your site?

You can find our site at http://www.MTGObay.com

EF: How long has the site been up?

We launched the site just recently, in September 2008. Since it is new, we are still in the improvement stage of development. We launched early, as previously mentioned, due to EBay’s lack of care and concern for the MTGO secondary market, therefore we still have quite a bit of work to do with testing and improvements.

EF: Can you explain a bit more about the cost structure?  What does one get for the extra money?

I wouldn’t consider MTGObay being “extra money”, and here’s why. As an example, if you were to sell 100 Event Tickets on EBay, starting the listing at $0.99 and it sells for $88.00. Your fees on EBay would be: $4.55 to sell your 100 Event Tickets. The same exact lot sold on MTGObay would incur only $2.00 in total fees.

As for the cost structure, there are No Listing Fees for a simple auction. The only fees to list or sell are the small closing fees and any other listing upgrades that you would like to include in your listing, such as a reserve, bold or highlighted, featured item, make offer, etc.

EF: What sets your site apart from the other sites?

Firstly, MTGObay is an auction site that was developed and designed by MTGO players for MTGO players. The site was not created, developed, and designed by a store, dealer, bot owners, or other money driven individuals.

Second, we specialize in MTGO listings and nothing else. That way you don’t have to fish or surf through any other listings that may not pertain to you.

Third, MTGObay is an auction only site. It was not a forum, blog, or store that is also adding auctions. MTGObay is a stand-alone auction only site.

Fourth, MTGObay offers free raffles and prizes to members using our site to conduct regular MTGO transactions.

Fifth, MTGObay is focused on security from scammers and non-paying bidders. We currently have options for members to verify their physical address and real identity. We are also in the process of setting up a collection agency to combat dead-beat bidders and also working on a verification system to verify members’ actual MTGO username and list it in the auction listings. That way you know exactly whom you are buying from before you bid.

What features should a prospective user know about?
The feature that I am most excited about is the monthly raffle on MTGObay! Each month we will be giving away MTGO product like cards, event tickets, booster packs, etc… or perhaps even gift certificates to your most favorite MTGO singles retailer.

Another feature that is important is: listing your MTGO username in the auction listing (and having that username verified in the near future).

Many more features that are in development and will be here shortly include: Power Seller program to give regular sellers a huge discount and other benefits, incorporating an outside company to battle non-paying bidders via collections, an SSL certificate with a secure log-in, a verification process for MTGO usernames, and more. I am excited about the weeks and months to come!


Why should a seller use your site to list their items?
Sellers will benefit by using MTGObay to sell their MTGO items by having a very targeted audience. Since MTGObay is for MTGO auctions only, the only people at the site will be individuals that are interested in looking at MTGO auctions. Sellers on our site will also incur much less fees than the current most popular place to list MTGO auctions (EBay). In the future, with the inclusion of the collection agency, sellers will have even more protection by making MTGObay not attractive to “Fake Bids” by non-paying bidders. Sellers will also get a chance to take part in the monthly raffles simply by using MTGObay to sell.


Why should a buyer use your site to buy their items?
Buyers will find the site very easy to use. By including MTGO usernames in the listings, buyers know exactly whom they are buying from before they bid. This is to help combat sellers that scam on other sites. Buyers will also have the chance to participate in the monthly raffles we hold. Where else can you buy cards below retail and also get a free chance at other prizes?


Are there any up front fees before someone can use the site?
We do require new users to verify a PayPal email address with us in order to decrease the number of scammers joining the site. We do require a new user to send us a $1 payment to verify the email they have entered is truly theirs. Once a new user has bought, sold, or any combination thereof and earned 20 Reputation Ratings (aka feedback), we will send that user their $1 back. On a side note, if you catch me on MTGO, I will sometimes offer to send you 1 Event Ticket right away for joining and verifying your PayPal address.

Do you have any plans for future versions of your site?
Yes there are. We have many plans to grow and improve the site, however, first things first we want to establish the site that is up and running now and add every feature that the membership requests to better improve their auction experience. Then and only then will we start working on Version II or our next task.


What has been the biggest hurdle for your site?
I feel that the biggest hurdle for us has simply been the skeptical nature of people on the internet. Yes we are new. Yes there have been other sites that have come and gone. Yes we are different. No we are not EBay.

Many people naturally don’t want to change their habits or do something different. People in general are habitual and are “set in their ways.”

So I would say that the biggest hurdle is overcoming the skeptical nature of people enough that they will step outside their comfort zone and try something new. I am certain that as we at MTGObay grow, Magic Online grows and improves, and the community comes together with all the new MTGO projects that are out there, there will be a huge demand for this type of place for people to transact their MTGO business at a place that actually cares about the MTGO player.

Just getting started is the hurdle.


Discussion Items


The first part of this section will be the compilation of updates for the week, be it WotC updates, generic game updates, etc. 

Announcement Details Date
4 Man Constructed Queues The following formats now have smaller queue options: Extended, LWR-SHM Block Constructed, Classic, Prismatic, 100 Card Singleton  9/25/2008
World Champs Qualifier: MTGO Keep an eye out for qualifier tournaments that feed into bigger and more competitive events!

 10/03/2008

CBS Bot WARNING
If you've been running the "CBS" bots you really need to read this announcement.  There's a lot of he said/she said going on right now. 

Shards of Alara Release Events
Some new changes, including the start of 16 person queues

New Skin Released
Art is subjective, don't-ya-know? 10-29-2008


Classic Concerns -
Some solid back and forth about the future of Classic on MTGO.  This is a very hot topic right now, and fo good reason... we're standing on the edge of history, watching it unfold.  The way this event is handled will impact MTGO for the distant future.

 

Top

Card Prices

 

Card name: Last Week This week Percentage Changed
Mind Shatter 0.9 1.75 94.44%
Story Circle 0.48 0.86 79.17%
Fire-Lit Thicket 1.3 2 53.85%
Glen Elendra Archmage 2.5 3.5 40.00%
Vexing Shusher 1.3 1.75 34.62%
Regal Force 0.3 0.4 33.33%
Agony Warp 0.15 0.2 33.33%
Wake Thrasher 1.5 2 33.33%
Hurkyl's Recall 1 1.3 30.00%
Glimpse of Nature 0.97 1.26 29.90%




Card name: Last Week This week Percentage Changed
Sigil of Distinction 2 0.2 -90.00%
Relic of Progenitus 0.75 0.08 -89.33%
Gather Specimens 1 0.15 -85.00%
Salvage Titan 2 0.35 -82.50%
Prince of Thralls 4 0.7 -82.50%
Cradle of Vitality 1 0.2 -80.00%
Kederekt Leviathan 1 0.2 -80.00%
Skill Borrower 1 0.2 -80.00%
Crucible of Fire 1 0.2 -80.00%
Where Ancients Tread 1 0.2 -80.00%




Card name: Last Week This week Amount Changed
Sarkhan Vol 30 8 -22
Elspeth, Knight-Errant 24 7 -17
Tezzeret the Seeker 14 4.5 -9.5
Ajani Vengeant 11 5 -6
Stoic Angel 7.75 2.75 -5
Hellkite Overlord 6.5 1.75 -4.75
Knight of the White Orchid 6 1.5 -4.5
Empyrial Archangel 6 1.75 -4.25
Master of Etherium 7 2.75 -4.25
Rafiq of the Many 9 5 -4




Card name: Last Week This week Amount Changed
Bitterblossom 14 16.75 2.75
Figure of Destiny 20 22.5 2.5
Wrath of God 9.75 12 2.25
Stifle 7.6 8.82 1.22
Abeyance 18 19 1
Fetid Heath 5 6 1
Glen Elendra Archmage 2.5 3.5 1
Engineered Explosives 9.9 10.89 0.99
Mind Shatter 0.9 1.75 0.85
Wrath of God 9.56 10.4 0.84


As usual, I skim the list for surprising stuff... the normal post-release crash of Alara cards is not out of the ordinary.  Event the gainers are pretty straight forward, all things considered, and actually shows a good thing: strengthening constructed stapes.  This is something that many hoped we'd see once more and more constructed reasons to play on MTGO were added, and it seems to be working, and that's a good thing.


And of course, we have the weekly peak at the health of the MTGO economy.  We had the predictable decrease in Standard, thanks to Shards of Alara prices falling.  We had a minor decrease in Classic, which I expect to continue decreasing for a while.  The surpriser here is that Extended jumped up a bit.  If I had to guess, it's on the back of Extended season in the Paper version of our beloved game.

Conclusion

Not a lot of hot discussion items on the MTGO boards this week, although, considering what the last hot item was I think it's okay to have a break for a while.  I hope you're all enjoying the Shards of Alara events (as much as could be, what with the lag and all, I guess) and look forward to seeing you all online!

13 Comments

by Anonymous(Unregistered) 98.202.128.110 (not verified) at Tue, 11/04/2008 - 14:09
Anonymous(Unregistered) 98.202.128.110's picture

It seems like the best way for buying selling to be seperated would to have wizards make the 2 rooms like they did in v2.5

by hamtastic at Wed, 11/05/2008 - 16:51
hamtastic's picture

True. Having WotC provide what we want is better than figuring out some strange workarounds.

Notice how I'm not holding my breath while waiting for WotC to do something.  It seems pretty clear to me that they're not going to get around to fixing this soon, if ever. 

As such I like to take things into my own hands if I can.  This is one such instance. While the proposed solution isn't as good as the best solution, it's a solution that *we* can do on our own.

by Anonymous(Unregistered) 212.100.59.137 (not verified) at Mon, 11/03/2008 - 18:01
Anonymous(Unregistered) 212.100.59.137's picture

These artificial characters seem a bit too forced imho. For this to have any real impact you'd have to spread the word really wide and really hard. But why chose such a complicated to type characters then, surely there must be easier ones (yes, I know it is not really hard but ppl will feel that way about it).

Then again, doing a simple [/n] to seperate your BUYING from your SELLING is usually good enough for the eye. The usual card search won't return more than one screen of adds anyway.

Selling/ticket symbol by bubba0077 at Sun, 11/02/2008 - 12:33
bubba0077's picture

One problem is that § is the generally-accepted generic currency symbol, and thus would be better suited as a ticket symbol than to indicate selling.  How about š for selling?

SOLD! by Anonymous(Unregistered) 144.183.31.2 (not verified) at Mon, 11/03/2008 - 07:36
Anonymous(Unregistered) 144.183.31.2's picture

I bought my 4x copies of Glimpse of Nature for a Null Profussion deck about a year ago.  I sold them last night for 7 tix each.  WoooT!

by hamtastic at Sun, 11/02/2008 - 19:56
hamtastic's picture

Nice!  That's quite a deck (on www.magicthegathering.com's site now).

I've always liked Glimpse, so I'm glad to see it getting some love now.  :)

by hamtastic at Sun, 11/02/2008 - 19:49
hamtastic's picture

I've updated the image that I think was causing this issue, hopefully that will fix that. 

by hamtastic at Sun, 11/02/2008 - 19:51
hamtastic's picture

And it still seems to be causing problems.  :(

 

I generally don't post about bugs in this article anymore.  Mostly because they tend to exist and get squished in the time between articles, and this medium isn't very dynamic (as opposed to the forums which live and breathe with these types of chagnes).

I used to try to keep up with all the bugs in this article but I wasn't able to give it the amount of focus it should have so I gave it up to the rest of the community to do a much better job with it than I could do.

Skeletonize by tempesteye at Fri, 10/31/2008 - 20:08
tempesteye's picture

And it's been fixed using a hot patch so it's no longer an issue. :)

by Anonymous(Unregistered) 194.109.22.148 (not verified) at Fri, 10/31/2008 - 20:25
Anonymous(Unregistered) 194.109.22.148's picture

after todays pro-tour start, Glimpse of Nature is now a $5 card

by runeliger at Sat, 11/01/2008 - 14:18
runeliger's picture

The formatting of this article for me is just really screwed up.

skeletonize by Dracc0n(Unregistered) 74.78.199.204 (not verified) at Sun, 11/02/2008 - 03:25
Dracc0n(Unregistered) 74.78.199.204's picture

It doesn't seem to crash whole drafts or drop people anymore (that I know of) but if you play it there's a good chance that the match will end and both players get a lose on their record. It's impacted hundreds of games, even since the "fix". I'm sure people are making fun of it elsewhere.

skeletonize by t0v at Fri, 10/31/2008 - 09:01
t0v's picture

i think u missed the greatest news: they broke skeletonize with the latest update and it's crashing whole drafts (not just the game where it gets played)