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So now that we know when to buy new cards, there are still some topics to discuss when it comes to grinder finance. I’d like to point out that this is not the only way that it can be done, but merely a recommendation of one way. Protecting Your Investment A lot of players don’t invest…
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Welcome back, recently christened experts of personal budgeting and finance! Well, experts probably isn’t the word I should use. All I did was recommend three possible methods of categorizing your personal spending and income, but I’m curious to hear if any of those worked for you. Have you started jotting down your transactions into Google…
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Modern is an eternal format. Legacy-light to some, perhaps, but regardless a format with a high skill cap that rewards knowing the cards, the format, and how interactions work. This will be my first entry in a series where I cover some of the more widely played cards that I see both new and old players incorrectly…
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Our r/Spikes series is still going strong. Max is back with a second effort. He’s still plugging away with his deck he’s dubbed “Philadelphia Zoo” and a Primer on the deck may be coming soon. Enjoy! – J Hey, everybody, I’m back with another entry and updated version of the Philadelphia Zoo! I headed into…
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Welcome back, conjurers of currency! Pro Tour M15 was several days ago, but I’m writing this on Sunday afternoon, so any financial information that arises between now and Tuesday night is something that won’t be discussed until next week. Anyway, let’s do a quick rundown of some of this week’s winners. We haven’t seen spikes like these…
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So maybe you dabble in MTG finance. You buy a few cards here and there and turn them in for some store credit when you’re short on cash. Maybe you’re just a player who wants to balance between buying a playset of every set that comes out and not being able to play the deck…
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Welcome back, everyone! As we close the book on M15’s set review, I’d like to address a couple pieces of feedback that I received on these last two articles, and how my opinions might have been influenced since then. I’m certainly not perfect in my card evaluation skills, and that’s one of the reasons I…
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If I had to guess why most games are won and lost in Magic, the first stop on the blame train would be mulligans. A good number of players have a hard time knowing what is keepable and what would be better as a random six. An even larger number of players don’t know when…
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How do Magic finance and personal finance fit together? I haven’t seen too much written on the subject, but I think it’s worth discussion. Personal finance is incredibly important to success in life, so the degree to which Magic finance can aid or derail you along the way is very relevant. I’ve seen people engage…
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It’s been a long time, Since I’ve seen a su-u-u-u-u-u-unny day. – Cake, Long Time I’ve been playing Magic a long time: since Fifth Edition/Weatherlight. For a while, I was grinding PTQs, but there was no MTGO, no local Magic scene in my college town, and basically nothing but rolling up to the tournament after…
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Welcome back to part two of my M15 set review! If you weren’t here last week, we went over my predictions of what some of the more expensive cards Magic 2015 would look like price-wise two months from now (in September). This gives everyone enough time to play around with their synergy with all of our current toys,…
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We’ve already spilled quite a bit of digital ink discussing the first two elements of the Unified Theory of Commander: mana and draw. Over the last four articles in this series, we learned why to make mana production a priority during deck construction and how to utilize card draw to create options that help our decks succeed….
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Welcome to another installment in the r/spikes tournament report series. Barrett Goss comes at you with a two-fer; a report about how his deck of choice fared at a GPT in Philadelphia and then at a PTQ in Delaware the next day. Hang on a second—didn’t Max Perlmutter play those same two events? Wonder if…
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Welcome back! Today we’re talking about brewing with M15. I’ll cover just some of the possibilities that the cards from Magic 2015 create, and fair warning, this will include four [card]Chord of Calling[/card] builds—sorry, I get excited when I can play with a toolbox deck. We have nine Standard and two Modern lists today, which…
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I’m kind of a snob and I seek out lots of foils and cards with specific art for my EDH decks, so knowing promos is just something I do. But I’m often surprised by the lack of card knowledge shown by a lot of other people. You can easily find yourself getting fleeced in trades…
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Hello, everyone, and welcome back. I don’t normally get the itch to write set reviews, but I’m once again sitting at my computer at 9:30pm. I think my editor, Danny Brown, is sitting outside of my window holding his newborn child in one arm and a crossbow in the other [Editor’s note: Mages don’t need crossbows, DJ],…
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The r/spikes series continues with a great report from Timothy Mezoff. Going from a disappointing 0-3 scoop to an impressive 8-2, 14th place finish in a short time, Timothy discusses his day filled with lucky topdecks, missed triggers and a Magic mountain that reminded him to keep his head and power through tilt. Enjoy! -Jason…
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Six months ago, Pro Tour Valencia was on the scene and it looked like Modern cards couldn’t be any hotter. We were approaching $100 fetch lands and it looked like any Modern card was bound to spike if it saw even moderate play. Corbin has a great article about what has changed over on Quiet…
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Welcome back to C+C Magic Factory. It’s been a hot minute since I picked up the [card]Bloodletter Quill[/card] as end-of-year job duties caught up with me, but now that we are in the warm relaxation of the summer, it’s time once again to talk some EDH. In part one of this now three-part mini series…
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Pain Lands $3-5 Let’s get the obvious picks out of the way. I know they’re reprints and I know they’re not the fetches you’ve been dreaming of, but they’re dual lands. You know what happens to dual lands that stay in Standard after rotation? They go up! What does almost every competitive deck need to play…
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“What is Modern?” you might ask. Modern is an eternal (non-rotating) format that was introduced in the Spring of 2011, with a card pool that spans from Eighth Edition all the way to the present—basically, all the sets since the “modern” (soon to be replaced) border was introduced. In an effort to keep the format fun,…
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Welcome back, brewers. Today we are going to talk about little-known format called Legacy. Legacy is a great format because you can basically play any deck you want. Every play style is represented; even the person who only wants to play lands can win. It Is also a format where every turn matters. Turn one…
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Last Time on Conjured Currency Welcome back, newly knighted experts of bulk Magic cards! For the past couple weeks, we’ve focused on how to go full Golgari in the world of MTG finance, focusing on the “trash” that nobody else cares about. If you’re not up to speed on what to do with the thousands…
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This is another installment in our series of submissions from the r/spikes subreddit. This is a two-fer; Max Perlmutter played the same 75 in two back-to-back events and learned a lot about how Big Zoo fares in the Modern meta in the Philadelphia area. Enjoy! -Jason Philadelphia Zoo Hey people! Let’s start out by getting these…
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Here they come to save the day, Clash packs! They’re like duel decks with standard legal reprints, right? But no sweet alternate art foils or older popular cards…. Wait, you mean they have alternate art foils now? That’s right folks, the M15 clash pack comes with 1 of each in a new art foil: Prophet…
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