State of the Program for February 3rd 2017

In the News

Sets to Release Faster Online: Beginning with Amonkhet and going forward from there, Wizards plans to release sets online the Monday after the paper prerelease. This means the cards will be available on MTGO before you can buy the paper product.

Pro Tour Happening Now: Coverage on Twitch.tv.

Wizards on the State of the MTGO: Chris Kiritz wrote an article recapping changes to MTGO last year, and setting forth goals going forward. He covers the introduction of leagues, gauntlets and so forth, then goes on to state some goals for next year. The biggest is faster roll-out of new sets on MTGO (see above). Wizards also promised more ways to play, including a Vintage League. The article is : Chris Kiritz wrote an article recapping changes to MTGO last year, and setting forth goals going forward. He covers the introduction of leagues, gauntlets and so forth, then goes on to state some goals for next year. The biggest is faster roll-out of new sets on MTGO (see above). Wizards also promised more ways to play, including a Vintage League. The article is here

Video Coverage Announcement: Wizards has announced expanded video coverage of major paper events this year. The coverage will all be on Twitch.tv/Magic. The lineup includes all 4 Pro Tours, 32 Grand Prix, the MOCS, and the Magic World Champs and World Magic Cup. Article is : Wizards has announced expanded video coverage of major paper events this year. The coverage will all be on Twitch.tv/Magic. The lineup includes all 4 Pro Tours, 32 Grand Prix, the MOCS, and the Magic World Champs and World Magic Cup. Article is here

No Announcements this Week: Wizards did not publish a weekly news blog for this week. I was hoping for something on the upcoming gauntlets and flashback drafts, or just info on which downtimes might be skipped, but nothing was published.

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. Most of the major upcoming events we know of are listed. Not listed, but important: Wizards offers either one or two online PTQs each weekend, with qualifiers running the three days prior to the PTQ.

Recurring Events Timing Power Nine Challenge Last Saturday of the month, at 11am Pacific Legacy Challenge Second Saturday of the month, at 11am Pacific No Downtime (none announced) Extended Downtime (none announced) Magic Online Championships March 3-5, on Twitch.tv/Magic Current Leagues End May 2, 2017 Amonkhet May 2, 2017 MTGO release Hour of Devastation July, 2017 Modern Masters 2017 Edition March 23rd on MTGO Next B&R Announcement March 13, 2017

Flashback, Throwback Standard and CUBE for 2017

Wizards will be offering either a flashback draft league, a flashback Standard gauntlet, a CUBE league or prerelease / Release events each week. Here’s the schedule so far.

Flashback and Such Rotation Begins Ends Dead spot (was to be prerelease/ release events) January 25th February 22nd Throwback Standard Gauntlet (1994?) February 22nd March 1st Invasion/Planeshift/Apocalypse Draft March 1st March 8th Cube Draft (Cube format TBD) March 8th March 22nd Modern Masters 2017 Leagues March 22nd April 12th

The new Flashback Leagues are still draft, and still you-keep-the-cards. They are 12 TIX / product plus 2 TIX / 120 Play Points. However, they are no longer single elimination. Now you play until you have three wins or two losses. Prizes are 150 play points for three wins and 70 Play points for 2 wins. The leagues run one week.

The Throwback Standard Gauntlet events provide a random choice of prebuilt decks from a past standard environment. These will function like the Pro Tour Gauntlets – you won’t need to own the cards. The entry fee is 10 TIX or 100 Play Points. Prizes are in Play Points: 150 for 3-0, 100 for 2-1, 40 for 1-2 and 10 play points as a bad beats award.

Cutting Edge Tech

Standard: We have a Pro Tour coming up, which will define the Standard format, and may or may not lead to bannings. Will they ban Saheeli? We should know by Sunday night. But if you are looking for a deck to play that is not potentially going to die to the ban-hammer, try this:

Modern: Modern continues to be diverse. Lately I’ve seen Goryo’s Vengeance decks appearing in several locations.



Pauper: The Pauper metagame appears to be fairly stale. The 5-0 decks are all familiar. If I was playing this weekend, here’s what I would play.



Legacy: A ton of different Legacy decks are putting up results. Here’s what I would play if I had to play an event today.



Vintage: Remember, if you are not prepared, this can happen. Fix your sideboards, people.

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 mixed again this week. Expect big changes next week, after the Pro Tour redefines the metagame.

Modern staples: Modern prices took a serious tumble this week – more so than usual.

Legacy and Vintage: Legacy and Vintage are down this week, but not as much as other formats. Most of these price changes are minor, with a few notable exceptions.

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. Treasure Chests and the current booster packs are here because they don’t really fit anywhere else.

Complete Set Price Last Week Change % Change Aether Revolt $124.96 $123.91 $1.05 1% Battle for Zendikar $69.58 $62.53 $7.05 11% Eldritch Moon $105.62 $105.36 $0.26 0% Kaladesh $96.47 $93.26 $3.21 3% Oath of the Gatewatch $119.01 $109.84 $9.17 8% Shadows over Innistrad $81.05 $73.82 $7.23 10% Treasure Chest $2.75 $3.00 ($0.25) -8% Aether Revolt Booster $3.96 n/a n/a n/a Kaladesh Booster $2.00 $2.54 ($0.54) -21%

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. The list shrank a couple cards again this week, but Black Lotus climbed back above Liliana.

Name Set Rarity Price Rishadan Port MM Rare $ 168.99 Black Lotus VMA Bonus $ 78.13 Liliana of the Veil ISD Mythic Rare $ 76.86 Ensnaring Bridge ST Rare $ 60.88 Wasteland EXP Mythic Rare $ 57.55 Wasteland TPR Rare $ 57.33 Show and Tell UZ Rare $ 56.44 Engineered Explosives MS2 Bonus $ 55.59 Wasteland TE Uncommon $ 54.35 Ensnaring Bridge 7E Rare $ 53.77 True-Name Nemesis PZ1 Mythic Rare $ 53.23 Tarmogoyf MMA Mythic Rare $ 49.95 Ensnaring Bridge MS2 Bonus $ 48.71 Wasteland EMA Rare $ 48.60 Tarmogoyf FUT Rare $ 48.35 Ensnaring Bridge 8ED Rare $ 48.26 Exploration UZ Rare $ 47.04 Tarmogoyf MM2 Mythic Rare $ 45.77 Engineered Explosives 5DN Rare $ 45.23 Mox Opal MS2 Bonus $ 44.45 Unmask MM Rare $ 43.18 Food Chain MM Rare $ 42.51 Mox Opal MM2 Mythic Rare $ 40.91 Mox Opal SOM Mythic Rare $ 39.96 Engineered Explosives MMA Rare $ 39.92 Back to Basics UZ Rare $ 39.04 Ancestral Vision DD2 Rare $ 38.30 Force of Will MED Rare $ 36.54 True-Name Nemesis C13 Rare $ 36.41 Misdirection MM Rare $ 35.78 From the Ashes C13 Rare $ 35.44 Gaea's Cradle UZ Rare $ 35.21 Blood Moon 9ED Rare $ 34.50 Containment Priest PZ1 Rare $ 34.43 Blood Moon 8ED Rare $ 33.87 Karn Liberated NPH Mythic Rare $ 33.71 Blood Moon MMA Rare $ 33.10 Scalding Tarn EXP Mythic Rare $ 32.98 Leovold, Emissary of Trest PZ2 Mythic Rare $ 32.09 Infernal Tutor DIS Rare $ 31.44 Containment Priest C14 Rare $ 31.43 Griselbrand AVR Mythic Rare $ 31.42 Force of Will EMA Mythic Rare $ 31.38 Tangle Wire NE Rare $ 31.10 Batterskull NPH Mythic Rare $ 31.07 Mox Sapphire VMA Bonus $ 30.77 Unmask V16 Mythic Rare $ 29.42 Liliana, the Last Hope EMN Mythic Rare $ 29.15 Meren of Clan Nel Toth PZ1 Rare $ 29.08 Chalice of the Void MS2 Bonus $ 28.95 Chalice of the Void MMA Rare $ 28.56 Chalice of the Void MRD Rare $ 28.41 Karn Liberated MM2 Mythic Rare $ 27.91 Ancestral Vision TSP Rare $ 27.89 Doomsday WL Rare $ 27.51 Grim Flayer EMN Mythic Rare $ 27.01 Horizon Canopy EXP Mythic Rare $ 26.59 Ancestral Recall VMA Bonus $ 26.04 Scapeshift MOR Rare $ 25.96 Voice of Resurgence DGM Mythic Rare $ 25.11 Oblivion Stone MS2 Bonus $ 25.05

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 $ 24,060. That is down about $875 from last week.

Weekly Highlights

My week has been hell. I have not found time to play any Magic. I did find time, while wolfing a sandwich, to watch The Professor over at Tolarian Community College play the booster box game with a box of Aether Revolt. Spoilers: He got crushed. He made back under half his investment, which provided the perfect capper to my week.

I have to go. I have to prep for a meeting with at least six attorneys, possibly more. Can you guess how much we will accomplish in a meeting with a half dozen attorneys? Whatever you answered, the answer is less than that. Based on past experience, if we do anything it will be to undo past accomplishments.

PRJ

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

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