State of the Program for April 20th 2018

In the News

No B&R Changes: Wizards announced no changes to any format. Everything is fine. The next B&R announcement is July 2nd. 1v1 commander, however, did see some changes. You can read about that Wizards announced no changes to any format. Everything is fine. The next B&R announcement is July 2. 1v1 commander, however, did see some changes. You can read about that here

Redemption Ending Soon: Redemption for sets of Shadows over Innistrad and Eldritch Moon end April 28th. Redemption for Ixalan and Rivals of Ixalan ends May 23rd.

First Female GP Winner: Last week, we have the first ever 18-0 record sat a GP. This week, we have the first GP female champion. About time. Congrats Jessica!

Dominaria is on MTGO Now!: Dominaria leagues and drafts are firing, and Dominaria is legal for play in Standard . Time to play.

You Can Now Target Planeswalkers: One of the rule changes coming with Dominaria is that you no longer need to – and, in fact, cannot – redirect damage from your opponent to your opponent’s Planeswalkers. Instead, you can target the Planeswalkers directly. Also, if you bolt your opponent, you will not have an opportunity to change that to Jace, so be careful.

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 PTQs each weekend, with qualifiers running the three days prior to the PTQ.

Upcoming Events Dates Scheduled Downtimes May 9th Constructed Leagues End (a long time from now) Sealed Leagues End April 23, 2018 Core Set Magic 2019 July 13, 2018 Next B&R Announcement July 2, 2018 SOI and EMN Redemption Ends April 28, 2018 Ixalan Redemption Ends May 23, 2018 Rivals of Ixalan Redemption Ends May 23, 2018 Dominaria Redemption Ends

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.

· April 28–29: Grand Prix Bologna

· May 5–6: Grand Prix Dallas

· May 11–13: Grand Prix Birmingham (double-GP weekend)

· May 26–27: Grand Prix Washington, DC

· June 1–3: Pro Tour Dominaria in Richmond, Virginia

· June 9–10: Grand Prix Copenhagen

· June 15–17: Grand Prix Las Vegas (double-GP weekend)

· June 23–24: Grand Prix Pittsburgh

· July 7–8: Grand Prix São Paulo

· July 21–22: Grand Prix Sacramento

· July 28–29: Grand Prix Minneapolis

· Aug. 3–5: Pro Tour 25th Anniversary in Minneapolis, Minnesota

· Aug. 11–12: Grand Prix Brussels

· Aug. 18–19: Grand Prix Los Angeles

· Aug. 25–26: Grand Prix Prague

· Aug. 31–Sept. 2: Grand Prix Richmond (double-GP weekend)

· Sept. 8–9: Grand Prix Detroit

· Sept. 15–16: Grand Prix Stockholm

· Weekend of Sept. 23–24: 2018 Magic World Championship and Team Series Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada (exact event dates TBD)

· 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 "Spaghetti" 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:

· April 23rd forward: Dominaria

· May 16-23: Triple Lorwyn

· May 23-30: TBA

· May 30-June 6: CHK / CHK / BOK

· June 6-13: Battle of the Planes

· June 13-July 6: 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:

NOTE: not this weekend – paused for the prerelease.

Opinion Section: Set Reviews and Moving

We moved our offices from one building to another this week. We are slowly getting unpacked. The network is up and most computer functions are working again. No printers, yet, but we can live without those for a few days. My chair never arrived, so I am standing or sitting on my deck for now. It's pretty much over, but it has messed up my week.

Dominaria has been fully revealed now. The Card Image Gallery is complete. I am really tempted to do a set review. The problem is that my history of set reviews is not great. I tend to rave about cards that never end up seeing any competitive play, and missing cards that define archetypes and become tournament staples. Actually, real staples – things like the 1 or 2 mana burn spells, the cheap white removal, the 2 mana counterspell, etc. – those I spot. I just get enthusiastic about the wrong cards. Worse yet, I have trouble getting too excited about new sets and new cards. Well, generally not too excited. Cards like Damping Sphere will be impactful, and I think that is kinda cool. I like it - but I also like playing Tron.

I have similar problems writing set reviews about limited. I've done this too many times before. I have watched Serra Angel appear in the gallery over a dozen times now, and have known that it was great every time. I have seen countless version of the blue mill spell and/or creature appear. (This set has Diligent Excavator, and it is not going to spawn a draft archetype this tie, either.) The new black Terror ((Cast Down)) will be great. And Icy Manipulator is back. It’s going to be great in limited. It always is.

But what does have me excited is what is back! This set is a throwback to early Magic, when Dominaria was where all the action started. I remember so many of these cards! I also get so many of the throwbacks. Benalish knights – if not Benalish Knight itself – are back. Mesa Unicorn is nothing exciting from a limited or constructed standpoint, but neither was Mesa Pegasus . That said, we had literally dozens of Mesa Pegasi in our collection back in the day. And the set has Ghitu and Keldons and Homarids and the Thran and on and on.

The cards are amazingly nostalgic for me, and the handful of Magic players as old as I am.

We have cards that used to be banned, or restricted coming back. We have Juggernaut . We have a new Regrowth . (Yes, the B&R list has been strange at times. Jugs was banned, and Regrowth was restricted in Vintage for a decade or more.)

We have a new Yawgmoth’s card. I love all things Yawgmoth. For almost a decade, I wrote a column called Yawgmoth’s Whimsy. My column was semi-casual – something (Yawgmoth’s Will) was not. Now other Yawgmoth spells were nothing special: (Yawgmoth’s Edict) and Agenda never saw serious play, but the new card looks quite solid. I think.

new old toys. Red has someold toys. Goblin Warchief Skirk Prospector and Siege-Gang Commander were the core of some powerful decks back in the day. The coupled with Patriarch's Bidding and Goblin Sharpshooter to make a really good combo deck, and Goblins has been a tier one archetype on and off for years. And now the first three are back. It’s not at all clear that Goblins has what it needs to make a comeback, but maybe in Modern? We will see. Warchief is potent.

Jaya Ballard is back. Google the sayings of Jaya Ballard, Task Mage . Some of the best flavor text ever written is credited to Jaya Ballard – and some was just inspired by her. Is here Planeswalker card any good? Who cares – she’s a win just because of her past.

Green has Llanowar Elves back. Wizards has said that one casting cost mana creatures were too good – but this set has the Lawnmower Elf himself. And, because you need something to ramp to, it has Thorn Elemental at uncommon. More importantly, it has “the best fattie ever printed:” Verdant Force . Verdant Force was the Force part of Secret Force – the great mono-green fatties deck that saw Pro Tour play late last century. Creatures have come a long, long way since 1998, but I’m hoping to cast Verdant Force again, at least in limited.

Anyway, the set looks really good. I’m more excited for this set than anything I have seen in a long, long time. We may find that some of the cards are too good for limited, or that Standard will also be a mess. Hopefully not – what I do know is that I ordered several extra booster boxes of Dominaria and look forward to lot so of drafts and sealed events with friends, and maybe some Winston drafts with Ingrid. Ordering extra booster boxes is not something I have done for years.

Cutting Edge Tech

Standard: It’s a week before Dominaria becomes Standard legal. All tech from last weekend is stale. The first events to include Dominaria cards will happen next weekend.

Modern: GP Hartford brought us yet another new winning deck and combo archetype. Matt Nass won the event with Ironworks. This probably does not make Wizards very happy – Ironworks is a boring deck to watch. It is like watching the old Eggs decks – something I did a lot of when judging Modern events back before that deck was banned. Wizards didn’t ban it this week – we will see what happens in June. Coverage of the GP is : GP Hartford brought us yet another new winning deck and combo archetype. Matt Nass won the event with Ironworks. This probably does not make Wizards very happy – Ironworks is a boring deck to watch. It is like watching the old Eggs decks – something I did a lot of when judging Modern events back before that deck was banned. Wizards didn’t ban it this week – we will see what happens in June. Coverage of the GP is here

Pauper: Wizards banned nothing in Pauper this week. I think that may have been a mistake. Every single deck in the Pauper Challenge T8 ran Augur of Bolas . Some were Tireless Tribe combo, others were mono blue Delver / spire decks, or blue black Gurmag Angler builds. None were interesting – and all of these are decks I have featured before. So, no decklist this week – and I may pass on showing Pauper decklists until something else appears.

Legacy: The Legacy Challenge winner really doesn’t want anyone else to have any fun at all. This is a Miracles decklist with : The Legacy Challenge winner really doesn’t want anyone else to have any fun at all. This is a Miracles decklist with Back to Basics – which is even worse than Blood Moon to play against.

Vintage: The : The Team Vintage Super Team is back, with team Vintage play. The team decklist rules make it questionable whether the decklists will be viable in more conventional tournaments, but the decks are interesting. Fortunately, we have a new archetype from last weekend’s Vintage Challenge to think about.

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

Standard Staples: Standard prices are down, overall, again this week. I cut a few more cards. Prices should keep dropping as we get closer to Dominaria. Some cards will then climb, once people start talking about new, Dominaria-fueled archetypes.

Modern staples: Modern prices climbed again this week. Masters 25 is no longer adding new cards to the pool, so we should see the values returning to normal. Horizon Canopy desparately needs a reprint. Since that was a Future Sight card, I wonder if we might see a cycle of those cards in the fall set. Wizards needs to do something!

Legacy and Vintage: Legacy and Vintage are generally pretty quiet this week. Rishadan Port is off the table. It was once $1,000+ per playset, now that playset is under $30.

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).

Complete Set Price Last Week Change % Change Aether Revolt $87.00 $81.29 $5.71 7% Amonkhet $69.40 $72.19 ($2.79) -4% Ixalan $83.53 $78.24 $5.29 7% Hour of Devastation $58.56 $58.74 ($0.18) 0% Kaladesh $80.04 $82.05 ($2.01) -2% Rivals of Ixalan $81.93 $77.36 $4.57 6% Treasure Chest $2.60 $2.53 $0.07 3% Ixalan Booster $3.55 $3.77 ($0.22) -6% Rivals of Ixalan Booster $1.85 $2.10 ($0.25) -12%

The Good Stuff

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. Horizon Canopy has now passed Jace and Black Lotus. Insane.

Name Set Rarity Price True-Name Nemesis C13 Rare $ 87.23 True-Name Nemesis PZ1 Mythic Rare $ 86.71 Horizon Canopy IMA Rare $ 71.82 Horizon Canopy FUT Rare $ 71.80 Horizon Canopy EXP Mythic Rare $ 71.50 Black Lotus 1E Rare $ 71.31 Mox Opal SOM Mythic Rare $ 63.82 Mox Opal MS2 Bonus $ 63.50 Mox Opal MM2 Mythic Rare $ 63.47 Liliana of the Veil MM3 Mythic Rare $ 59.84 Jace, the Mind Sculptor WWK Mythic Rare $ 58.48 Engineered Explosives 5DN Rare $ 58.40 Force of Will MED Rare $ 58.02 Jace, the Mind Sculptor VMA Mythic Rare $ 57.16 Jace, the Mind Sculptor EMA Mythic Rare $ 56.71 Liliana of the Veil ISD Mythic Rare $ 55.24 Engineered Explosives MMA Rare $ 54.54 Jace, the Mind Sculptor A25 Mythic Rare $ 52.31 Engineered Explosives MS2 Bonus $ 50.59 Wasteland TE Uncommon $ 46.00 Mox Diamond TPR Mythic Rare $ 44.33 Liliana, the Last Hope EMN Mythic Rare $ 42.17 Cavern of Souls MM3 Mythic Rare $ 41.38 Surgical Extraction MM2 Rare $ 41.24 Misdirection MM Rare $ 40.52 Wasteland TPR Rare $ 40.52 Surgical Extraction NPH Rare $ 40.47 Mox Sapphire 1E Rare $ 40.24 Force of Will EMA Mythic Rare $ 39.95 Cavern of Souls AVR Rare $ 39.85 Tarmogoyf MMA Mythic Rare $ 39.12 Karn Liberated NPH Mythic Rare $ 38.93 Mox Emerald 1E Rare $ 38.42 Force of Will VMA Rare $ 38.31 Dark Depths V16 Mythic Rare $ 37.98 Noble Hierarch CON Rare $ 37.48 Noble Hierarch MM2 Rare $ 36.73 Collective Brutality EMN Rare $ 36.60 Wasteland EXP Mythic Rare $ 36.44 Karn Liberated MM2 Mythic Rare $ 35.88 Force of Will MS3 Special $ 34.96 Wasteland EMA Rare $ 34.65 Unmask V16 Mythic Rare $ 34.60 Ancestral Recall 1E Rare $ 33.99 Exploration UZ Rare $ 33.76 Tarmogoyf FUT Rare $ 33.37 Tarmogoyf MM3 Mythic Rare $ 32.82 Black Lotus VMA Bonus $ 32.57 Tarmogoyf MM2 Mythic Rare $ 32.12 Mox Ruby 1E Rare $ 31.93 Underground Sea ME4 Rare $ 30.46 Underground Sea ME2 Rare $ 30.31 Chalice of the Void MMA Rare $ 30.15 Show and Tell UZ Rare $ 29.74 Dark Depths CSP Rare $ 28.77 Chalice of the Void MS2 Bonus $ 28.76 Chalice of the Void MRD Rare $ 28.75 Mox Jet 1E Rare $ 28.63 Chalice of the Void A25 Mythic Rare $ 28.52 City of Traitors EX Rare $ 27.90 Ensnaring Bridge MS2 Bonus $ 27.78 Scalding Tarn MM3 Rare $ 27.74 Ensnaring Bridge ST Rare $ 27.66 City of Traitors TPR Rare $ 27.66 Scalding Tarn EXP Mythic Rare $ 27.53 Ensnaring Bridge 7E Rare $ 27.43 Ensnaring Bridge 8ED Rare $ 26.91 Ensnaring Bridge A25 Mythic Rare $ 26.67 Walking Ballista AER Rare $ 26.60 Gorilla Shaman ALL Common $ 26.47 Scalding Tarn ZEN Rare $ 26.32 Mox Diamond ST Rare $ 26.25 Edgar Markov PZ2 Mythic Rare $ 26.04 Rekindling Phoenix RIX Mythic Rare $ 25.61

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 $ 21,750. That’s up $450 from last week.

Weekly Highlights

I attended a judge seminar last weekend. Interesting, and some really good presentations – but between that and the move, I haven’t played any Magic. :(

I intend to play in at least one paper prerelease and run a couple others this weekend. And, if I have any spare time, I may also play some online Dominaria events. It is such a luxury to have a new set on MTGO immediately. We used to wait two weeks before we could play a new set. Better now.

PRJ

“One Million Words” on MTGO