All the Good News July 12, 2016 WRITTEN BY George Khoury

Hello Fellow Traders!

Welcome to All the Good News, the weekly update on what's happening in the wonderful world of Emrakul. This last week, we got the full Eldritch Moon set spoiled, set release notes that include the rumored "controlling another player" rule update-rakul, and an announcement that San Diego Comic Con promos are being announced soon. On the PucaTrade front, PucaShield was rolled out. For our Canadian traders, it looks like the potential postal strike/lockout has at least been delayed for a month. In the secondary market, the past couple weeks saw some remarkable volatility and venom regarding buyouts of reserved list cards, and a long-time-in-the-works attempt by TCGplayer.com to help players make better card buying decisions was unveiled. On top of all this, LoadingReadyRun held their pre-prerelease last Saturday, giving us a preview of the biggest event happening at LGS's all over this coming weekend: the Eldritch Moon Pre-release.

The Spoils of Eldritch Moon- Pre-Release This Weekend!

This last week WotC gave us some real fireworks, and by fireworks, I mean some awesome cardboard. With the full set revealed and pre-release this weekend, you can start adding Eldritch Moon cards to your want list, and be sure to check out Martin's article on Eldritch Moon's constructed playability. Along with the full set card preview, WotC gave us the full release notes including a significant rules update discussed below. In those release notes, you'll find all the answers you need about how exactly Meld, Escalate and Emerge work, with the actual rules update.

Click here if you want to see all the Escalate cards.

Click here if you want to see all the Emerge cards.

Release day is July 22nd, Pro Tour Eldritch Moon is August 5th – 7th and Game day is coming up on August 13th – 14th. This weekend's pre-release kit includes four Eldritch Moon boosters, two Shadows Over Innistrad boosters, a foil date stamped promo, a foil-double-sided zombie token, a spin-down and the cardboard box.

Rules Update: No Sideboards When Controlling Another Player

The release notes on the Mindslavering portion of Emrakul, the Promised End says:

"Controlling a player doesn't allow you to look at that player's sideboard. If an effect instructs that player to choose a card from outside the game, you can't have that player choose any card. This is a change from previous rules." (Emphasis added by the author, who happens to be a huge fan of the Mindslaver).

Additionally, this means that any Wish cards will be cast-able while controlling another player, but you'll "fail to find" even if you know every card in your opponent's sideboard. The official rules that are available for download from the mothership have not been updated quite yet, but an update is expected soon as the Meld and Escalate mechanics are new and must be added before the actual release.

San Diego Comic Con Promos Announcement Announcement

In the usual WotC fashion, we were treated to an announcement about an upcoming announcement this Monday. In the mothership's daily update it was revealed that there will be SDCC Promos again, and that they will be announced soon. While we don't know if we're getting another set of extra-fancy planeswalkers, or simply booth promos to be handed out at the convention, but getting new art is always welcome. We'll keep you updated as we learn more.

PucaShield is the New PucaTrade Guarantee

This past Monday, PucaShield was launched. If you don't know about PucaShield, then read this explanatory article. Basically, for a trade to qualify for the PucaTrade guarantee, a sender must use PucaShield, which costs 1, 2 or 3% of the trade value (depending on your level of membership). The points paid into PucaShield will disappear from the system.

PucaShield serves two purposes: 1- It makes shipping cards easier for traders, and 2- it reduces the number of points in the system. If you're wondering how this makes it easier for traders, it replaces the previous policy that required all cards over 5,000 points be tracked. Now, the updated site rules provide that: "Case admins may ask to see proof of tracking on PucaShielded packages worth more than 20,000 PucaPoints in order for them to be eligible for our 100% Trade Guarantee."

The Canada Post Saga Cordially Continues

Whether the Canada Post will strike or be locked-out and replaced has been a big story we've been following. A strike or lockout could have a significant impact on our Canadian traders and international traders sending cards there. It looks like for the time being, the union and government are being cordial and the threats have been retracted, temporarily. This may be an alright time to resume trading within Canada, especially as the post has reported an all time low shipping volume, but be mindful that on August 8th, there may be another call for a strike or lockout.

Buyout City: Build It and We All Suffer

If you're into MTG finance, are actively trying to get into Legacy or Vintage, or are trying to build up your collection of staples, then you've probably heard about the recent Lion's Eye Diamond and Moat buyouts, which was followed by Martin Shkreli (yes, that guy who became infamous when he increased the cost of AIDS medication by a few thousand percent) deciding to invest in some "rare" cards. Shkreli was asking on Reddit for advice on collecting rare cards. This spooked the community. While many people believe Shkreli is serious when it comes to investing in magic, there are just as many people who believe he is simply trolling the community to get a rise. Shkreli tweeted about having already bought five Black Lotuses.

Regardless, the LED buyout certainly made players very aware of the fact that buyouts happen and can happen overnight. Shkreli's post induced some panic, with players worrying about someone with significant resources committing the monies needed to buy up every blue dual as well as other Reserved List staples.

Magic has grown significantly, which means that new players are picking the game up with every new set, and if they stick with the game, they may want to play every format. When a buyout of a reserved list staple happens, like with Lion's Eye Diamond, the card spikes in price hard, which makes it even more difficult for players to acquire the cards they need for the decks they want to play. No one doubts that Reserved List cards are promising target for speculation, but buyouts limit the supply which has devastating effects to the players that were recently attracted to the game and are interested in entering Legacy.

TCGplayer.com Releases New Pricing Data Point

While right on the heels of the buyout drama, TCG Player released out of Beta testing their new "Market Price" data point. Rather than the "TCG-mid" which used to be the standard when it came to card value, "Market Price" is an attempt to mitigate the damage done to TCG-mid price when a buyout occurs. The "Market Price" is the average price of actual recent sales.

TCG Player has a plan in place to protect against the price of a card being inflated because a few sellers list a card for well above the market's actual price. For a really in-depth look at what TCG player has planned, check out their reddit post explaining this change and few more.

LoadingReadyRun Pre-Pre-Release Eldritch Moon

Want to get a leg up on the friendly competition at your local prerelease this weekend? Well, you can watch the LoadingReadyRun Pre-Pre-Release over and over again right here. Couple hints: 1- Skip to 2:36 to see Gaby Spartz Meld; 2- Skip to 6:55 to see the final round featuring Marshall Sutcliffe vs. The Professor.

That's All the Good News! Good luck to the pre-release crowd!

-GK

Discuss this article on Reddit at: https://www.reddit.com/r/PucaTrade/comments/4si3db/article_all_the_good_news_july_12_2016/