State of the Program for May 6th 2016

In the News:

Magic Online Championship Fast Approaching: The MOCS Championship is one week away. The action starts next Friday, with three rounds of Legacy followed by four rounds of Standard. Action continues through Sunday on Twitch.tv/magic. Details here .

Phantom SoI Sealed Events on Now: Wizards has rolled out Phantom Shadows sealed deck evens. They are 6 TIX or 60 Play Points for three rounds of Swiss play. Going 3-0 gets you 90 Play Points, 2-1 breaks even, and 102 earns 20 Play Points.

Super Leagues Commence: Randy Buehler is now producing two Super Leagues. The Vintage Super League has begun its qualifying event on Tuesdays, while the Community Super League is playing a variety of formats on Thursdays. Details Randy Buehler is now producing two Super Leagues. The Vintage Super League has begun its qualifying event on Tuesdays, while the Community Super League is playing a variety of formats on Thursdays. Details here

Windows XP and Vista Users Need to Upgrade: If you are running either of those programs, you may have noticed that MTGO will not run anymore. This is because MTGO now uses NET 4.5.2. XP does not work with NET 4.5.2, period. Vista users need at least Service Pack 2.

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 MTGO calendar and the weekly blog, while the best source for known bugs is the Known Issues List . For quick reference, here are some major upcoming events. In addition, there are either one or two online PTQs each weekend, with qualifiers running the three days prior to the PTQ.

Item: date and notes

· Power Nine Challenge: Last Saturday of the month, at 11am Pacific. Next one May 28 th .

· Legacy Challenge: Second Saturday of the month, at 11am Pacific. Next one May 14 th .

· No Downtime on: May 11, June 8 and June 22

· League End Dates: all current leagues end July 27, 2016

· Eternal Masters: online release June 17, 2016. Details : online release June 17, 2016. Details here

· Eldritch Moon Prerelease: July 29-August 1. Details : July 29-August 1. Details here

· From the Vault Lore: releases online October 10, 2016.

Flashback Schedule:

Flashback drafts are 10Tix / 100 Play Points / 2 Tix plus product, not Phantom, single elim and pay out in play points: 200 for first, 100 for second, 50 for third and fourth.

· Triple Time Spiral: May 4, 2016 to May 11, 2016

· 2 Time Spiral and 1 Planar Chaos: May 11, 2016 to May 18, 2016

· Time Spiral, Planar Chaos, and Future Sight: May 18, 2016 to May 25, 2016

· Triple Tenth Edition: May 25, 2016 to June 1, 2016

· Triple Lorwyn: likely June 1 to June 8

· 2 Lorwyn, Morningtide: likely June 8 to June 15

· Triple Shadowmoor: likely June 15 to June 22

· 2 Shadowmoor, Eventide: likely June 22 to June 29

Flashback This Week: Flashback drafts are coming back next downtime. The format will be triple Time Spiral. Enjoy the format. The only money cards are Ancestral Visions in the rares, and Pendelhaven, Lord of Atlantis and The Rack among the “Time Shifted” cards. In Planar Chaos, the only money card is Flashback drafts are coming back next downtime. The format will be triple Time Spiral. Enjoy the format. The only money cards are Ancestral Visions in the rares, and Pendelhaven, Lord of Atlantis and The Rack among the “Time Shifted” cards. In Planar Chaos, the only money card is Damnation

Opinion Section: Same Old Grind

I saw four online threads I considered talking about this week. Tolarian Community had a tweet asking for SMALL changes that would 1) be doable and 2) make MTGO better. Some good ideas, but the main ones were dealing with leftover commons and making Magic cheaper. I have written about the first many times, and the comments about the second were either not simple, or simplistic.

Also saw an article about Magic and eSports. The article said that Magic was too complex and not flashy enough for eSports. Not sure where to go with that.

Saw another thread about bullying and stereotyping in stores being bad. Yes, obviously. That sort of thing is highly corrosive and should not be tolerated anywhere, ever. But I have written about that endless times.

I’ll think about these a bit, but this week, I just don’t have anything new to say. The last makes me really upset and depressed, but I have written that rant many times. I have nothing new to say. Just don’t do that.

I’m still mulling over small changes – if I come up with anything, I will write about that. Next week.

Judge Question of the Week

I have been training new judges for many years, and part of that training involves setting out scenarios and problems that teach various parts of the rules. They start simple – i.e. a creature with trample is blocked by a creature with protection – and more up. The goal is to determine what areas of the rules I need to teach, and what my candidate already knows. Lagrange asked me to share some, so I will keep throwing them out until people beg for mercy.

A couple questions here, all revolving around the same interaction. You have two Heartless Summoning in play, and cast Solemn Simulacrum . What do you pay to cast the Solemn Sim, and what is Solemn Sim's converted mana cost while on the stack? What happens when Solemn Sim hits play?

As always, there are no relevant cards not mentioned: the Sad Robot has no counters or equipment on it, and no static abilities affect its power

Cutting Edge Tech:

Standard: We had a Standard GP and a Standard MOCS last weekend. Bant Collected Company won the MOCS, but the second place deck was interesting. MOCS decklists are here . The GP Coverage is here .

Sultai Midrange, Mothkebab, Second Place, MOCS Creatures Non-Creatures Sideboard 3 Deathcap Cultivator 2 Dragonlord Silumgar 3 Duskwatch Recruiter 1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet 2 Nissa, Vastwood Seer 1 Shaman of Forgotten Ways 4 Sylvan Advocate 2 The Gitrog Monster 4 Thought-Knot Seer 3 Tireless Tracker 4 Ultimate Price 2 Warping Wail 3 Oath of Nissa 1 Blighted Fen 3 Evolving Wilds 4 Forest 4 Hissing Quagmire 1 Island 4 Llanowar Wastes 1 Lumbering Falls 3 Swamp 1 Wastes 4 Yavimaya Coast 1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet 2 Bearer of Silence 2 Clip Wings 2 Dead Weight 2 Duress 1 Infinite Obliteration 1 Languish 1 Naturalize 1 Transgress the Mind Virulent Plague

Modern: Modern may no longer be a Pro Tour format, but it is still being played. SCG ran an Open in Milwaukee last weekend. The big winner was Abzan Company, which put three copies in the Top 8 , in addition to winning the whole thing.

Legacy: Here’s another interesting Legacy deck that did well in the leagues. This looks like an archetype that Sam Black popularized a couple years back, and that I played in paper events. Interesting.

Vintage: The VSL qualifying event is ongoing, and we had a Power Nine Challenge. The winning decklists from the P9 Challenge are : The VSL qualifying event is ongoing, and we had a Power Nine Challenge. The winning decklists from the P9 Challenge are here

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: A bit of play here, in response to recent metagame shifts. Jace is the big loser.

Modern staples: Modern took a hit again this week. Third week in a row. I suspect people are playing at manipulating the market.

Legacy and Vintage: Legacy and Vintage are down again this week. I suspect people are selling old cards to pay for Shadows over Innistrad limited - liquidating what they don’t need in expectation of Eternal Masters. Wasteland is certainly falling fast.

Set Redemption: You can redeem complete sets on MTGO. You need to purchase a redemption voucher from the store for $25. During the next downtime, Wizards removes a complete set from your account and sends you the same set in paper. Nothing strange about the hard fall in Shadows cards. The prices I had last week were just days into the set being available. Prices will drop after that.

Complete Set Price Last Week Change % Change Battle for Zendikar $72.51 $62.76 $9.75 16% Dragons of Tarkir $139.60 $131.01 $8.59 7% Magic Origins $138.23 $153.72 ($15.49) -10% Oath of the Gatewatch $119.15 $103.40 $15.75 15% Shadows over Innistrad $102.92 $117.15 ($14.23) -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. Worth promised to use the promo program to up the supply of some needed cards. These may qualify. (Gaea’s Cradle made it!) The list is down below 50 cards this week. I’m guessing people are selling now, expecting to rebuy at lower prices when Eternal Masters gets here.

Name Set Rarity Price Rishadan Port MM Rare $ 161.63 Black Lotus VMA Bonus $ 133.67 Misdirection MM Rare $ 103.60 Liliana of the Veil ISD Mythic Rare $ 82.15 Mox Sapphire VMA Bonus $ 62.24 Tangle Wire NE Rare $ 55.51 Wasteland TE Uncommon $ 53.18 Tarmogoyf FUT Rare $ 52.62 Tarmogoyf MM2 Mythic Rare $ 50.12 Ancestral Recall VMA Bonus $ 49.84 Wasteland TPR Rare $ 49.24 Tarmogoyf MMA Mythic Rare $ 47.79 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy ORI Mythic Rare $ 47.16 City of Traitors EX Rare $ 45.86 Mox Jet VMA Bonus $ 41.49 Gaea's Cradle UZ Rare $ 40.61 Ensnaring Bridge ST Rare $ 38.80 Exploration UZ Rare $ 37.43 Time Walk VMA Bonus $ 36.34 Underground Sea ME2 Rare $ 34.80 Scalding Tarn ZEN Rare $ 34.78 Food Chain MM Rare $ 34.36 Mox Emerald VMA Bonus $ 34.25 Infernal Tutor DIS Rare $ 34.13 Mox Ruby VMA Bonus $ 33.65 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet OGW Mythic Rare $ 33.63 City of Traitors TPR Rare $ 33.27 Voice of Resurgence DGM Mythic Rare $ 33.25 Grove of the Burnwillows FUT Rare $ 33.23 Batterskull NPH Mythic Rare $ 33.19 Lion's Eye Diamond MI Rare $ 32.63 Show and Tell UZ Rare $ 32.20 Ensnaring Bridge 7E Rare $ 30.95 Scapeshift MOR Rare $ 30.89 Mox Pearl VMA Bonus $ 30.70 Mox Opal SOM Mythic Rare $ 30.23 Horizon Canopy FUT Rare $ 29.71 Ensnaring Bridge 8ED Rare $ 29.11 Mox Opal MM2 Mythic Rare $ 28.81 Underground Sea ME4 Rare $ 28.38 Collected Company DTK Rare $ 28.13 Force of Will MED Rare $ 27.95 Griselbrand AVR Mythic Rare $ 27.88 Cavern of Souls AVR Rare $ 27.45 Containment Priest PZ1 Rare $ 27.33 Containment Priest C14 Rare $ 26.16 Crucible of Worlds 5DN Rare $ 25.89

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 $ 26,015. That’s down about $285 from last week’s number.

Weekly Highlights:

A lot happening this week, but none of it involves Magic, so never mind.

PRJ

“One Million Words” and “3MWords” on MTGO

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

HammyBot Super Sale: HammyBot was set up to sell off Erik Friborg’s collection, with all proceeds going to his wife and son. So far, HammyBot has raised over $8,000, but there are a lot of cards left in the collection. Those cards are being sold at MTGOTrader’s Buy Price.

Judge Question of the Week Answer:

A couple questions here, all revolving around the same interaction. You have two Heartless Summoning in play, and cast Solemn Simulacrum. What do you pay to cast the Solemn Sim, and what is Solemn Sim's converted mana cost while on the stack? What happens when Solemn Sim hits play?

You pay nothing to cast the Solemn Sim, because each Heartless Summoning reduces the cost by two. However, the converted mana cost of the Sim is still what’s printed on the card, even while on the stack, so the CMC = 4.

When Solemn Simulacrum enters the battlefield, the enter battlefield trigger triggers. Before the trigger goes on the stack, State Based Actions are checks and Sad Robot dies. The leaves the battlefield trigger now triggers. SBAs are checked again, so nothing, so now triggers go on the stack. Two triggers are waiting to go on the stack, and both are controlled by the same player – you. You get to choose the order in which those triggers go on the stack.