It was a Magic-packed week. We talk about FNM and Star City States, analyze some of the cards and decks from Pro Tour Jouney Into Nyx, complain about Conspiracy, and speculate about KHAAAN!!!s of Tarkir. Also, Dustin decided to record his audio from a decommissioned army bunker in Montana. Thank you for your honor.
When a newborn Magic players opens her eyes for the first time, it’s difficult to not be overwhelmed with the price others will pay for multicolored cardboard. If you read the title to this three-part mini-series, it’s obvious I’m not here to justify card prices or imply the financial requirement to play this game. I’m actually here to share how you can play whatever deck you want and grow your collection with minimal financial investment.
From 2011 (two weeks prior to the release of New Phyrexia) to present, I have only purchased Magic cards or related product (sleeves, binders, playmats) from selling cards, flipping collections, tournaments winnings, and store credit . I call it “Magic money.” It can be used for anything. Regular money, on the other hand, is not available for buying Magic cards or related products. This game can be pretty addictive, so this self-imposed restriction is the reason why my collection isn’t extraordinary and why a roof is over my head and a car is in my driveway. I share this story with the intent to help those who want to play the formats and the decks they want.
To understand where I am coming from, I’d like to start at the beginning.
My first Planeswalker
My journey begins in 2008. Some friends I made in a website design class during high school introduced me to Magic. Once or twice a week, we would pile in a car and drive to a small hole-in-the-wall card shop on the other side of Maryville, Tennessee, called The Bullpen (which is sadly no longer in business). I used the loose change from my car to buy one Lorywn or Morningtide booster pack. One day, the shop owner informed us we could buy a whole box of booster packs for somewhere around $80 and would be ideal if we really wanted a better chance to open a new type of card called a planeswalker. I saved up my loose change for a whole month and bought a box of Shadowmoor.
To be honest, we had no earthly idea on how to play the game. One guy in our group, who we called Bull, had “played” the longest and had a massive collection from stealing booster packs from Wal-Mart. We also had no reason to buy sleeves or deck boxes. How could these magical cards even have a financial value? I mean, why use money on that stuff when you can just buy more cards? Am I right?! After high school, I grew apart from that group of friends. My cards retired to shoe boxes and Pokemon-themed top-loader binders.
The first time I saw this symbol, I thought it was a meteor and the next set was going to be about aliens invading “Magic land”
During the Summer of 2011, my employer cut my weekly work hours in half. To make ends meet, I dug out my Magic cards hoping a diamond in the rough would emerge. I walked into Packard’s Movies and Games (also out of business for shady business practices), trusting the Magic “expert” would give me a fair offer for my collection. While he thumbed through my boxes and binders, I glanced over and saw a few guys I went to high school with (not from the group I previously mentioned), Danny and Mitch. They greeted me with confusion, saying, “I didn’t know you played Magic.” I filled them in on my brief adventures during my senior year and caught them up on my financial situation. By that time, the store owner had totaled up my collection to $80 store credit or $40 cash. Appalled by the gap, I said $40 cash seemed like a low blow. Knowing $40 wouldn’t make a big difference in my troubles, I talked him up to $100 store credit and thought I could bring my mother by to pick out a movie she wanted at a later date.
On my way out, Danny ask if I wanted to sit down and watch them play. With a few hours to burn before work, I obliged and quickly found out I had been playing the game all wrong! I won’t embarrass myself with the ludacris rules we followed in my high school days, but I began understanding the game basics, just as Wizards of the Coast intended. We traded numbers and the next week I preordered a box of New Phyrexia and participated in my first prerelease. This was back when everyone received six random booster backs and not some silly prerelease box of, “Here’s a half-built deck in your favorite color.” I was completely decimated through the first couple rounds, but before the third round started, a few of the local players helped me get together a better deck and bombarded me why they changed what they changed. Before I left, a local player gave me the New Phyrexia poster the store used to advertise the new set. I actually still have it.
A local player won this poster by quickly knowing the creator of Magic: The Gathering. He sat next to me at my first prerelease and told me I would enjoy this more than he would.
I connected with a group of locals in the coming weeks and started playing with them after the shop closed. I mostly listened and only asked questions when I was completely lost and couldn’t follow via context clues. They all loved trading so I became fascinated in turning the cards I didn’t use into cards I could.
Karn was the planeswalker that jump started trading career.
With not a penny extra to my name, I realized the only way to continuously participate in a rotating format was to learn the art of trading. I began studying card prices and asking the veteran players why a card I thought to be weak was pulling in big money. They informed me of the competitive tournament circuit and I began correlating the cards being played with the prices they sold for. I memorized the current Standard prices and checked the price changes every Sunday when websites updated their prices in alignment with the top decks of the previous weekend.
Currently my favorite planswalker of all time. Koth and Tezzeret joined forces to create my first “brew” that eventually helped me win a tournament.
I loaded up a Monster binder, I traded a [card]Karn Liberated[/card], and looked at every binder that came through the door. I would place all my cards at Star City Games price and ask fellow traders what they wanted for theirs. Basically, a gateway question to, “What do you value that at?” In my head, if you didn’t know the value of your cards and gave me a lower value, then it was your own fault. I know the value of all my cards, so why shouldn’t you? I was trading [card]Koth of the Hammer[/card]s for [card]Jace, the Mind Sculptor[/card]s and consistently turned my rares and mythics from the latest set into format staples. I kept up with what people wanted and had it ready in the back of my binder for the next time they came in the store. I gave out my cell number so people could contact me if they needed a card. For my effort and (eventually) speed, they rewarded me with a good deal in a trade or the full retail price in cash.
Next, I bought another binder. I placed cards worth $10 or more and high-demand staples in one binder and the rest in the “shit” binder. I observed that if players found a $20 card and a $5 card in the same binder, the $20 card was priority number one, therefore leaving me with low-priced cards in my binder and slim varieties in format staples. Not every binder I looked through had something I wanted. If I just find something low value, then it’s a lot harder to trade when my trade partner is drooling over a card he couldn’t trade his whole binder for.
I know it sounds like I’m a prick, but these were my honest thoughts about how I was supposed to succeed in trading. Though I have grown out of the cut-throat mindset, it was only till SCG Nashville 2014 that I felt my journey was complete on being the trader I desired all along.
Next week, I’ll start with that story, which I also told on Episode #89 of Brainstorm Brewery, along with both my correct and incorrect steps toward playing Magic for free.
As always, thanks for reading.
And with this tenthth episode of Forced Fruition, I would like to think I stayed true to what I set out to do. My primary goal with this series is to learn by doing, and specifically trying things out and learning from mistakes. There are some unique and interesting rare and mythic cards from the Theros block and I was given the chance to play with an excellent combination of them this week. In fact, this is the second week in a row that I’ve managed to get a hold of some instant-speed reanimation! I can count on one hand the number of spells that are capable of reanimation at instant speed, and three of them are from this block. A rare effect indeed. I’ve also got a cameo from my buddy Grant, who drafted with us on episode four. This time, he was our opponent for in round one. I hope you enjoy this week’s episode as much as I enjoyed drafting and playing it. If you’re strapped for time, I implore you to at least watch Match 3, Game 1, where many dreams were lived.
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*1 Reaper of the Wilds
*1 Thassa’s Emissary
*1 Chapmion of Stray Souls
Draft pool for episode 10
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Hello, everyone, and welcome back to The Puzzle Box!
This week, we are going to be continuing our in-depth look at the Twos four-man format. We’ll be replacing some of the black cards in the current Puzzle Box list with cards that are better suited to the aggressive nature of this variant.
If you have never heard of this format, you’re in the majority! It is a little-known style of cubing that seems to have originated in Toronto, Canada, and made its way to Winnipeg via Rich, one of the owners of Fusion Games. It was the de facto Cube format in Winnipeg for five or six years before people got hip to classic six-person team drafts and full eight-person Swiss. This basically meant that the format was explored in a way that was free from the influence of the cards that are good in 1v1 like [card]Wall of Omens[/card] and the like. It got to develop as its own thing for a long time. You can read about why this format is so awesome in my primer post here.
There are lots of swaps to be made in black, and even a windmill slam auto-include from the newest set, Conspiracy, that is super exciting!! Let’s gitt’r done!
[card]Tormented Hero[/card] -> [card]Carrion Feeder[/card] – Carrion Feeder is a creature that should be in the main Puzzle Box list to begin with, but as of right now, it is not. We are swapping out a two-power one-drop for a one-power one-drop here because [card]Carrion Feeder[/card] has a much better upside. It makes your opponents blocks and removal spells worse because it can just eat up whatever is dying and become a huge threat. Not super Twos-specific, but a good swap none the less.
[card]Nezumi Graverobber[/card] -> [card]Fume Spitter[/card] – [card]Fume Spitter[/card] is an incredible threat in this format. As you may be noticing, the cost, and therefore size, of the creatures in a Twos cube is greatly reduced, so the number of x/1’s is going way up. Nezumi Graverobber is just too slow. Though it can sometimes attack for four on turn two, that is basically Magical Christmas Land. It’s most often a 2/1 for two that doesn’t do much else.
[card]Hypnotic Specter[/card] -> [card]Thrull Parasite[/card] – A one-drop anything with extort is good in Twos, as it turns every spell you play thereafter into a four-point life swing! [card]Hypnotic Specter[/card] is just too slow, attacking for two on turn four is not worth the random card an opponent will have to discard (if she even has any left).
[card]Bloodgift Demon[/card] -> [card]Pulse Tracker[/card] – [card]Pulse Tracker[/card] has been referred to as the black [card]Wild Nacatl[/card] in Twos. Every time it swings, it dings each opponent for one, and since you have two opponents, it hits them for two without even connecting! Like with our other cuts, [card]Bloodgift Demon[/card] is too expensive.
[card]Oona’s Prowler[/card] -> [card]Wight of Precinct Six[/card] – [card]Oona’s Prowler[/card] is a great card, but it just doesn’t have the upside that Wight has. Wight is a good turn-two play because there is a good chance that it will be at least a 2/2 with two opponents feeding it. And if the game goes long, you could very well have a 10/10 for two mana… Tarmo-who?
[card]Vampire Hexmage[/card] -> [card]Dregscape Zombie[/card] – [card]Dregscape Zombie[/card] is a two-mana 2/1 that can act as pseudo-burn later in the game. Seeing that blocking is not a big part of Twos strategy (because normally at least one of your opponents will not have a blocker), you can kind of see this card as a 2/1 for two mana that has a flashback [card]Shock[/card] stapled to it. It’ll be there to get those last points of damage in when you are top-decking.
[card]Geralf’s Messanger[/card] -> [card]Soulcage Fiend[/card] – This one is pretty straightforward: [card]Geralf’s Messenger[/card] hits your opponents’ life for four, and the fiend hits them for six.
[card]Sign in Blood[/card] -> [card]Blistergrub[/card] – Drawing two at sorcery speed is just asking for trouble here. [card]Blistergrub[/card] will often be unblockable with two opponents, and will dome them for four when it dies. Sounds like a two-for-one that attacks instead of kills you.
[card]Doomblade[/card] ->[card]Fleshbag Marauder [/card] – A well-timed [card]Fleshbag Marauder[/card] will often be a two-for-one. It takes a lot more work in Cube to get a two-for-one out of a [card]Doom Blade[/card]. And the [card]Doom Blade[/card] will never attack.
[card]Snuff Out[/card] -> [card]Dark Blast[/card] – Similar to [card]Fume Spitter[/card], Dark Blast will kill a large number of threats in Twos and is recurable. [card]Snuff Out[/card] comes at a real cost and will most often be a one-for-one.
[card]Animate Dead[/card] -> [card]Unearth[/card] – With fatties far more scarce here, [card]Unearth[/card] ends up having more utility more often.
[card]Vampire Nighthawk[/card] -> [card]Tyrant’s Choice[/card] – This card will always be eight life for two mana! Nighthawk is awesome, so if you want to find something else to cut for [card]Tyrant’s Choice[/card], go for it, but it is an auto-include!
[card]Black Sun’s Zenith[/card] -> [card]Exsanguinate[/card] – [card]Exsanguinate[/card] is a bomb. It goes in every black deck. It will finish games out of nowhere!
[card]Profane Command[/card] -> [card]Massacre[/card] – [card]Massacre[/card] will often be free with two opponents, and [card]Profane Command[/card] is, again, too expensive.
[card]Curse of Shallow Graves[/card] -> [card]Zombie Infestation[/card] – [card]Zombie Infestation[/card] is a more reliable token generator that helps out the reanimator package, so it’s an easy swap.
It’s clear that black is truly rich in resources when it comes to really great Twos cards. Seeing that there are around thirteen-thousand unique cards in Magic, it is possible that some gems have yet to be mined. If you are interested in this format, take some time to scour Gatherer and see what you can come up with. If you find anything that you think would be good, you can hit me up on Twitter at @awcolman any time!
Thanks for hangin’, everyone. Play this format; it is super sweet!
Andrew
This is our time to shine. You shoulod think coverage when you think Pitt Imps and this is a PT weekend. Nothing could be better in my eyes. We sit and watch all 3 days of coverage just so you don’t have to and relay exactly what happened to you guys. Sure it takes a while but its so worth it. A few news tidbits showed up during the games so we cover all of that because if not it woulod be some sort of sick Conspiracy. See what I did there? Ha! Anyway we was blessed to have the last member of the Pitt Imps Posse to get a shot at guest hosting do an amazing job helping us out with this. Our guest was Mike Hardy.
Host – Angelo Twitter – @ganksuou
Co-Host Ryan Twitter – @brotheryan
Guest Host Mike Twitter – @Mhardy1987
Show Email [email protected]
Conspiracy Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U09xnozP3gQ
2 weeks left to submit possible logos for us in the $100 make a logo contest
Welcome back, readers! I always say “welcome back,” but I’d like to take a moment to mention how much I honestly mean that. It’s not a cheap way to get three extra words on the page to finish this article sooner. I received a lot of excellent feedback on my analysis of the Modern Event Deck last week, and I’ve been reading some comments and messages on the various mediums of the internet about how there are some people who appreciate my writing, and that makes me feel amazing. If I can help others out there to play Magic cheaper, or make some side cash while maintaining their collections, then that’s all I need to continue writing. If anyone has any topics that they want me to write about for future articles, always feel free to let me know!
Emotional ramblings aside, let’s talk about a word that, historically, people have wanted to avoid talking about. Conspiracy. For those who haven’t been subjected to WotC’s evil corporate mind games that are manipulating you into buying this extremely awesome product, I’ll let you in on the fun with a link to this video explaining what it is.
Even if you’re normally someone who never buys booster boxes on principle because they’re “bad value” (I am one of these people), I highly recommend finding a group of friends who are willing to split the costs and jam one of these drafts. Before we get into the financial analysis of the currently spoiled cards, I think that in the spirit of the set, we can just say “screw money drafting” for once. Conspiracy looks to be one of the most interesting, extraordinarily fun sets to draft in a long time, going back to Unhinged levels of absurdity. If you’re a cold-hearted, solely financially-minded individual like myself, try to consider the fun you’ll have to be part of the value in this set while drafting. I know I’m going to try to attend as many of these events as my budget allows, profit be damned.
Now, let’s look at some of the (potentially) financially interesting spoilers, try to determine whether they’re worth buying into at presale prices, and predict their future values in the coming months as more and more product is opened. We’ll also analyze what kind of players will want which cards and how that will affect their prices. There aren’t many preorder opportunities to grab Conspiracy singles at the moment, so it’s hard to actually find “current” prices to compare to. I’ll be going by a rough guide of current eBay listings for what you can order the cards for right at this moment, and whether they look like good buys. For further reference, here’s a list of every card spoiled from the set thus far.
New cards to Conspiracy will not be legal in Modern or Standard, just Legacy and Vintage. So we have to ask ourselves: is Dack Legacy playable? My guess is no. In my opinion, a good measuring stick for Legacy playability is, “Does [card]Show and Tell[/card] care about this?” [card]True-Name Nemesis[/card] didn’t exactly topple the steady ship that is Legacy, so Dack has some pretty steep competition. Stealing [card]Batterskull[/card] doesn’t give you the germ, and there aren’t too many other game-breaking artifacts worth stealing. Also, the decks that want to play [card]Faithless Looting[/card] care that it’s a one-mana sorcery that can be cast multiple times per turn. $37 definitely seems like a case of planeswalker hype to me, so if you’re looking for one for cube or EDH, wait a bit. He’ll probably settle in the $15 range in a few months.
Super casual EDH playable, five/six-costing red dragon that wants to attack #115? Yep, we got him. Worth anywhere near $10? Nope. It’s a mythic dragon that won’t be drafted a whole ton though, so it probably won’t hit bulk. $4-5 in the coming months seems reasonable, and it’s definitely a cool use of the dethrone mechanic.
Breaking News: most people won’t let you [card]Time Warp[/card] for one blue mana less. It’ll almost always end up being [card]Concentrate[/card], and that’s boring. If you can bribe your friends with some sort of multiplayer political scheme, be my guest, but that’s probably more effort then it’s worth. Speaking of worth, $2.
Well. This one is a bit of a kick in the balls for me, because I happen to own five of these things from when I played Legacy Lands before taking it apart. They recently spiked to $40, I got greedy and waited to see if they’d go any higher, and now this comes along. In my opinion, the new artwork is gorgeous, and I’m glad that it might ease the entry into Legacy for a few individuals, if ever so slightly. To be honest, $15 doesn’t sound like a bad entry point if you can find them for that price, and want them to play with. It might take a couple of months, but I don’t think it’ll ever be a whole lot lower than that. If you watched the video, you’ll hear that foils of the cards in this set will exist. Foil [card]Exploration[/card]s have never existed before. Take that how you will.
This is less of a kick in the balls for me, because I own zero copies. This is another highly sought-after Legacy card, but I would wait a bit on this one and see if the reprint drops it lower. There’s much less casual appeal in this than [card]Exploration[/card], and I wouldn’t be surprised if the reprint is $10 by the time M15 is released. On a side note, I think these two reprints are a strong example of how no card that’s not on the reserved list is safe from reprint. “It’s really old,” and, “It’s too powerful,” aren’t very compelling arguments. Even cards like [card]Elspeth, Knight-Errant[/card], can receive the lash of the reprint whip several times within just a few years. If you want an absolutely safe investment, stick to the Reserved List or sealed product. I made the mistake of holding onto [card]Exploration[/card]s despite that they had the possibility of being reprinted. I don’t suggest dumping every card you own that can be reprinted, but keep it in mind if you’re holding out for that tiny bit of extra value.
I may or may not have previously suggested this had the possibility of being in an upcoming product named From the Vault: Annihilation. I may or may not have been horribly wrong, and that this may or may not be included in a product that does not have a limited print run and its price may or may not drastically tank as a result. Art and flavor text are sick, though.
Well, I have a new EDH deck to make. One that will have the back of a [card]Plains[/card] as a general with “Marchesa” scrawled onto the back of it in Sharpie until this card is under $6 in price. I don’t expect to have to wait too long.
Two of Legacy’s most powerful and versatile one-mana instant spells will always hold demand, and the prices of these will depend on whether or not the art sucks. Foils will definitely be spicy, and people will want them, but don’t expect Masques foil Brainstorm prices. These will have a much higher print run.
Due to the fact that such a huge portion of the attraction of these cards is only present during the draft, there will most likely be a huge flood of these singles entering the market after the dust settles, and the only target audience for the singles are people who need the cards for a cube of some sort. That audience won’t fill the demand for the massive supply, so I don’t recommend picking them up just because of how unique they are. They’ll be bulk soon enough, as will any of the actual “conspiracy” cards.
There are a good number of other $5 or $10 rares in the set, but my verdict on them is pretty much the same. The set will not have a limited print run, and Mark Rosewater stated on his Tumblr that there will be print runs as needed to satisfy demand. The [card]Silent Arbiter[/card]s and [card]Decimate[/card]s of the set will likely lose up to 50% of their prices, and remain depressed as more Conspiracy continues to enter the market. Some cards like [card]Fact or Fiction[/card] may be reduced to bulk.
What do you guys think about Conspiracy? What about other potential reprints of Legacy cards that we might see in upcoming supplemental products? Am I terribly wrong about the entire set? Let me know in the comment section, on Twitter, or on the appropriate Reddit thread on r/mtgfinance. I personally think the set looks extraordinarily fun, and I can’t wait to hear all of the hilarious stories that result from drafting this innovative set. Until next week!
There are some great bargains on MTGO right now.
I usually write articles about strategy or trends because I think they are most valuable and because there are a lot of writers who do a better job picking cards than I can. Still, every now and then I see enough opportunity somewhere to make me want to write a card-picking article. So here you go.
MTGO prices are depressed right now. I think there are a few things at play.
Whatever nasty mixture of the above factors is causing it, the situation is a good buying opportunity.
We’re looking for low-risk cards that will allow us to double our money or better. Here are the two main criteria:
We’re looking for cards that will turn us a tidy profit just for getting back to their previous price and carry very little risk.
We’re looking for graphs like this:
[card]Darkslick Shores[/card] has lost over half its value in the last month. It’s been at 1.5 tix recently and above it previously. This is exactly the kind of card I want to be buying. It’s virtually a guaranteed double-up with very little risk and it shouldn’t take that long, either. Check the other fast lands, as well. All of them but [card]Razorverge Thicket[/card] are buys, in my opinion. In fact, [card]Seachrome Coast[/card] is 0.37 tix right now.
That’s one. I’ll give you handful, but you should be able to find plenty more yourself. In general, you are looking for rares or uncommons because mythics tend to hold their value better. Also keep in mind that prices bounce quite a bit on MTGO. By the time you read this, the prices will have all changed at least a little. Maybe that works in your favor, maybe some of these cards run away before you have a chance to buy.
Next, [card]Gavony Township[/card] is played in Pod and has lost about 75% of it’s value in two months. It’s getting pretty close to bulk and there is no way it stays there.
While we’re on this card, let me give you a tip. When you are buying very inexpensive cards like this, you run into the “less than a ticket” issue. It pays to use bot chains here because you can share credit across them, picking up a set of Townships from each of the bots in the chain (until they cap you).
When selling, don’t get greedy. As you can see from these charts, prices bounce up and down like crazy on cards like this. There are no transaction costs and you will surely have another chance to buy, so you don’t need to hold on for the absolute highest price. Any time you can package cards for an even number of tickets and make a decent return it’s a fine idea to go ahead and do so. If you buy at 0.16 tix and sell them 3-for-1-tix, you’ve still doubled up and walk away with full tickets.
[card]Tectonic Edge[/card] is a card I always keep my eye on. I’ve ridden the peaks and valleys on it more than once, buying as low as 0.25 tix and selling for a buck. It is holding at 0.61 tix right now.
It’s not only Modern cards, either. [card]Temple of Abandon[/card] is about at an all-time low. The Temples will either be the best or second best set of duals in the new Standard, and either one of those things means it is too cheap. The UG, BW, and RB (Born of the Gods) Temples are also under one ticket right now.
[card]Scavenging Ooze[/card] is closing in on its all-time low. No need to get greedy with this Modern powerhouse and wait for a bottom, in my opinion. It’s already a great buy. Same with [card]Deathrite Shaman[/card]. They might drop a bit more as rotation gets closer, but they might not. Getting Ooze at 4.5 tix is just great.
Last one. [card]Chandra, Pyromaster[/card], is at an all-time-low-since-we-knew-it-was-good. This card showed up in the finals of the Modern Grand Prix less than two weeks ago, guys. Is it getting reprinted in M15? Almost certainly. [card]Garruk, Primal Hunter[/card] hit 20 tix in its second printing, and [card]Jace, Memory Adept[/card] hit 15 in its second run.
No big takeaways from this week’s article other than this one: there is a ton of value to be had on MTGO right now. You will find plenty of great buys other than the ones I’ve listed if you look around. Good luck!
Thanks for reading. Find me on Twitter, @acmtg, or leave a comment below.
I recently moved about 200 miles from my previous local game store and wanted to find another place to play Commander. In early March 2014, I scouted online for pictures of different nearby shops to gauge size, cleanliness, and player feedback. My search dug up Cybertek Games near Louisville, KY. The store looked nice and unlike its competitors, staff was extremely responsive to my questions through Facebook. That weekend, I headed out early on Friday to try to luck into some Commander pick-up games.
I walked in as a complete stranger and of course immediately began scoping out the store’s sale binders next to another player named Zack. Zack was buying cards and, after introducing myself, I offered up some suggestions. I found out he was interested in Standard and Commander and I offered to see if there were any improvements he could make using his existing collection.
It’s been my long-term personal policy to donate bulk commons and uncommons to a Magic club at a local library instead of recycling them back through a retailer (true, it’s a bit of a personal financial loss versus bulking them out to a local game store, but I feel it helps generate more interest in the game which to me is worth it). To be fair, I typically keep obviously valuable commons and uncommons back for trade and personal use. I stockpile particularly relevant budget Commander cards like [card]Scroll Thief[/card], [card]Stealer of Secrets[/card], [card]Krosan Tusker[/card], [card]Cultivate[/card], guildgates, cycling lands, and [card]Armillary Sphere[/card]. I find these are great budget deck cards and having mass quantities of them is extremely handy. Also, between my girfriend and I, we own 32 Commander decks with various power levels. It’s extremely useful to have some of these cards readily available when building something new. (I share Jason Alt’s assessment that Commander players simply do not rip their decks apart. I also epitomize this trend and have the collection to back it up. Consider this when getting into Magic finance.)
During my first visit to Cybertek, I brought my box of Commander commons and uncommons with me. In Zack’s case, I was able to give him some utility cards that allowed him to customize his Eternal Bargain precon even further. As we went over his build, I got a feel of what he likes about [card]Oloro, Ageless Ascetic[/card], what he wanted out of the deck and theme, and what he likes to play with. This in turn helped me assist him with deck building suggestions and properly judge what deck I own that would avoid breaking the social contract. Later on, we shuffled up, played, and had a great time.
Since that first meeting with Zack and later Jake, Cameron, Corey, Ricky, and others, I’ve somehow become a Commander ambassador at Cybertek games. Other existing Commander players have since asked to sit down and game with us. While I’m there, other players ask me for deck-building advice. They ask me to play certain decks to work within certain power levels. Now at Friday Night Magic, I can expect to see anywhere between three and six other Commander players with various styles and deck power levels with which to explore the social contract.
My policy on Commander commons is well-known, but no one asks for free cards or attempts to take advantage of it. I’ve even had some other players offer to trade for the random commons and uncommons in Theros block relevant to Commander just because they know my overall level of disinterest in the set. Offering up these cards and deck building advice has also managed to pull at least three players away from Standard Friday Night Magic to play Commander instead. A few weeks ago, Zack brought in a new player and I was able to build a rather competitive Raka deck for him. (He noted that being able to use cards he was very familiar with was very helpful for him. This was something I had not considered before since I’ve been playing for so long.) Even Mike, the employee responsible for Magic at the store, has tasked with me building “the most annoying deck ever” using [card]Child of Alara[/card]. (I think he actually wants to play Archenemy instead of Commander, but I’m fine with letting him see how long he can outlast the table. I think the other players will be as well. It’s like Horde Magic, but you’re trying to beat the store instead.) Mike has also been very receptive to new ideas to getting a better organized selection for the Commander singles in order to garner more money for the store and improve access to card stocks for the Commander players.
Sure, Standard, Modern, and Draft all have their places at Friday Night Magic. However, there are a lot of casual players out there that are still looking for something else. If you’re a Commander player, consider looking for those players and reach out for a game. If you can afford it, take some of those extra commons and uncommons from drafting that still work well in Commander and make sure the non-drafters who play Commander have them. Of course, you can buy a pack by turning in one thousand commons, but how many [card]Archetype of Courage[/card], [card]Banishing Light[/card], [card]Dawn to Dusk[/card], [card]Nyx-Fleece Ram[/card], [card]Revoke Existence[/card], [card]Dissolve[/card], [card]Divination[/card], [card]Hour of Need[/card], [card]Interpret the Signs[/card], [card]Mnemonic Wall[/card], [card]Omenspeaker[/card], and others do you really need to hold onto?
Also, consider taking those extra commons and uncommons and building a budget Commander deck. If you bring that deck with you, you can potentially loan it out without fear to that guy that says, “Well, I don’t have a Commander deck…” Sure, it may not be as snazzy as the 2013 preconstructed decks, but a communal deck like that can have some unexpected gravitas. (I played at a shop where every card in one player’s deck had been a donation and he insisted each donor sign the card. It was awesome to see what people had been willing to give up.)
Lastly, maintain the social contract for your group. Granted, many of the players in my group are beginning a bit of a nuclear arms race, but generally each of them really stops to consider and attempt to adhere to the social contract. If your deck isn’t on the same power level as the rest, you’re risking driving others away. And Commander isn’t nearly as much fun just playing a goldfish.
Have comments or suggestions on growing a Commander playgroup? Please share below!
I have a confession to make. I have an unhealthy obsession with [card]Ral Zarek[/card]. I’ve heard it all:
“He’s just bad.”
“He doesn’t give you card advantage.”
“Nice untap.”
Look, I get it. [card]Ral Zarek[/card] requires some help and his +1 ability is a bit underpowered. Using two loyalty to get a [card]Lightning Bolt[/card] is about on par nowadays, considering how much [card]Lightning Strike[/card] costs. Therefore, you are paying four mana for six damage. Even though we don’t really judge a planeswalker by its ultimate, Ral’s can definitely lead to one having a bad taste in his mouth (I ultimated Ral on an empty board against a Junk Midrange opponent. Good news: I hit the 1:32 odds. Bad news: It was the wrong way. I took zero extra turns with a [card]Stormbreath Dragon[/card] in hand).
So why play Ral Zarek, especially after such a glowing recommendation? Because he reminds me of two other planeswalkers that were underrated during their time in Standard: [card]Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas[/card] and [card]Venser, the Sojourner[/card]. Both of these Planeswalkers had some odd abilities that required you to build around them. Venser couldn’t protect himself and both Ral and Tezzeret only marginally protected themselves. But, just like Tezzeret and Venser, Ral is extremely powerful in the correct shell. So the question becomes, what shell do we use?
History, as it tends to do, will lead us in the correct direction. Ryan Hipp played an Izzet Devotion list at the Star City Games Open in Cincinnati. The deck tech can be found here.
[deck title=R/u Devotion by Ryan Hipp]
[Creatures]
*4 Ash Zealot
*4 Boros Reckoner
*4 Burning-Tree Emissary
*4 Chandra’s Phoenix
*3 Fanatic of Mogis
*4 Frostburn Weird
*3 Stormbreath Dragon
*2 Purphoros, God of the Forge
[/Creatures]
[Planeswalkers]
*2 Ral Zarek
*2 Chandra, Pyromaster
[/Planeswalkers]
[Spells]
*1 Cyclonic Rift
*4 Turn // Burn
[/Spells]
[Lands]
*10 Mountain
*2 Mana Confluence
*4 Steam Vents
*4 Temple of Epiphany
*3 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
*1 Stormbreath Dragon
*3 Aetherize
*2 Cyclonic Rift
*2 Negate
*2 Hammer of Purphoros
*1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
*1 Harness by Force
*3 Mizzium Mortars
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
As you can see, this deck has some nice things going for it, and by that, I mean it has [card]Ral Zarek[/card]. Ryan finshed 7-2-1 for a 22nd-place finish. I talked to him about his deck around round five, and he claimed that he really wanted to add a fourth [card]Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx[/card], but I think he needed to add another Mountain in order to cast his [card]Stormbreath Dragon[/cards]s on time. Obviously, this is a good shell but there are some problems:
Luckily for us, most of our work has already been done for us.
As some of you may know, Gerry Thompson is no longer [card]chained to the rocks[/card] at Wizards of the Coast. When it comes to deck building and deck tweaking, I tend to defer to Gerry’s ideas and decisions because he builds decks in a similar manner to myself (i.e. theory-based crafting), but has been doing it longer and more successfully than I have (for now…). With that in mind, here’s the list that we will be working off of in order to make our [card]Ral Zarek[/card] dreams come true.
[deck title=R/b Devotion by Gerry Thompson]
[Creatures]
*4 Boros Reckoner
*4 Burning-Tree Emissary
*4 Fanatic of Mogis
*4 Firedrinker Satyr
*4 Frostburn Weird
*4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
*2 Purphoros, God of the Forge
[/Creatures]
[Planeswalkers]
*2 Chandra, Pyromaster
[/Planeswalkers]
[Spells]
*2 Hammer of Purphoros
*3 Dreadbore
*3 Mizzium Mortars
[/Spells]
[Lands]
*12 Mountain
*4 Blood Crypt
*2 Mana Confluence
*4 Temple of Malice
*2 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
*4 Stormbreath Dragon
*1 Burning Earth
*2 Ultimate Price
*1 Hammer of Purphoros
*1 Chandra, Pyromaster
*4 Anger of the Gods
*1 Mizzium Mortars
*1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
As you can see, Gerry has made the proper adjustments to his deck.
However, I still have problems with this deck as well:
With all this in mind, let’s see where this leaves us:
[deck title=R/u Devotion by Ken Crocker]
[Creatures]
*4 Firedrinker Satyr
*4 Burning-Tree Emissary
*4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
*4 Mogis’s Warhound
*4 Boros Reckoner
*4 Chandra’s Phoenix
*4 Fanatic of Mogis
*1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
[/Creatures]
[Planeswalkers]
*2 Chandra, Pyromaster
*2 Ral Zarek
[/Planeswalker]
[Spells]
*3 Turn // Burn
[/Spells]
[Lands]
*11 Mountain
*4 Steam Vents
*4 Temple of Epiphany
*3 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
*2 Mana Confluence
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
*2 Hammer of Purphoros
*1 Burning Earth
*2 Negate
*2 Mizzium Mortars
*1 Mountain
*4 Stormbreath Dragon
*2 Cyclonic Rift
*1 Harness by Force
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
[card]Mogis’s Warhound[/card] is the answer we’re looking for. It plays well with [card]Burning-Tree Emissary[/card], allows us to punch through Caraytids, Coursers, and what not, helps against removal, and replaces the mediocre [card]Frostburn Weird[/card]. Also, we don’t need removal if we have [card]Turn // Burn[/card], as it answers everything we could want it to and helps get back our [card]Chandra’s Phoenix[/card].
The Dragons are in the sideboard because of the reasons I mentioned before. But we may need to add land if we’re going to bring them and the Hammer in versus control decks. Overall, I believe this is the best possible version of Red Devotion due to the versatility the planeswalkers give you, the pressure it places on your opponents, and the new angles of attack splashing blue can add to this deck. Play it and let me know what you think!
I haven’t given up on my Divine Aristocrat list. Here’s some updates to it (sans sideboard):
[deck title=The Divine Aristocrats by Ken Crocker]
[Creatures]
*4 Voice of Resurgence
*4 Cartel Aristocrat
*4 Lotleth Troll
*4 Herald of Torment
*3 Varolz, the Scar-Striped
*2 Pharika, God of Affliction
*2 Athreos, God of Passage
*4 Reaper of the Wilds
*4 Desecration Demon
[/Creatures]
[Planeswalkers]
*2 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
[/Planeswalkers]
[Spells]
*4 Abrupt Decay
[/Spells]
[Lands]
*4 Godless Shrine
*4 Temple Garden
*4 Overgrown Tomb
*4 Temple of Silence
*3 Temple of Malady
*1 Swamp
*3 Mana Confluence
[/Lands]
[/deck]
As you can see, we cut the cute stuff, like [card]Dark Prophecy[/card] and [card]Scourge of Skola Vale[/card]. Sometimes you just go to deep, right? [card]Polkuranos, World Eater[/card] has been replaced by [card]Reaper of the Wild[/card] because of its scry ability, ability to fight through ground creatures, and being easier to cast. The mana probably still needs some work. In all honesty, this deck is a strong FNM candidate and if there were a one-drop that gave us value when it died, then I could see this deck being tournament viable. Unfortunately, until the release of M15, all we have are [card]Festering Newt[/card] and [card]Slitherhead[/card], which do not inspire power and confidence. But I would keep this deck in mind when spoiler season starts, as it seems to be one of the better [card]Ajani, Mentor of Heroes[/card] decks I have seen in Standard.
Hello and welcome back to Serum Visions, everyone!
This week I am going over a much requested topic: the brew day. In this article I will be dealing with all of the gear and steps you’ll need to do you first steep brew. Think of it as a lesson in home-brew. At the end, there will be a final shopping list that you can take to you local home brew shop (LHBS) to get you started in one of the best hobbies one can enjoy!
These last couple weeks have been exciting in my beer world. During my career of making beer, I have had countless people ask me how to beer is actually made. It takes me about ten minutes to explain the whole process and about a third of the time the person I explained it to is intrigued enough to want to learn. It seems that now that my days in Winnipeg are numbered, it is crunch time for getting in all of these brewing lessons. Last week I did one on Monday and another on Tuesday and I have at least another two lined up in the next month; what fun!
Before we get into the step-by-step bit of the article, there is one thing that the new home-brewer must know and two lessons to be learned right from the beginning.
First thing: There is never such a thing as a perfect brew. Mistakes happen, and as long as you stay clean everything will be fine.
There are two sayings you need to remind yourself of as you absolve yourself from making a mistake in the brewing process.
1. RDWHAHB: “Relax, Don’t Worry, Have a Home Brew.” This is the famous line from Charlie Papazian, the author of the definitive home brewing book, The Complete Joy of Home Brewing. It is advised that when you are making beer you should be drinking a home-brew at the same time. If it is your first batch or you have poorly timeed your batches so you don’t have any HB left for your brew day, any good craft beer will do.
2. “It’ll be beer“: I think this one came to me from the Home Brew Talk forums. This is one that I personally love. As you go though the process, you’ll miss temperatures and timings and forget things. As long as you are keeping everything clean with your non-rinse sanitizer, everything will be fine and you will end up with beer! So just say, “It’ll be beer…!”
Step One:
Pick a recipe at Brew Toad, and purchase your ingredients at your LHBS. The ingredients for a steep beer will include:
Malt extract
Specialty grains
Hops
Yeast
Simple enough.
Step Two:
Once the ingredients arrive in your kitchen, get out your brewing pot and fill it close to the top with cold water. The smallest pot you’ll want to use for this process is about 12 to 14 liters. Anything smaller and you are going to have trouble having enough room for all of your ingredients and a reasonable amount of water.
Step Three:
Place your specialty grains in a grain bag and that bag into the cold water. You’ll get this bag at you LHBS when you are getting your ingredients for the first time. I recommend a nylon one as it is easier to clean and won’t fall apart after a few uses.
Step Four:
Turn your stovetop to high and bring the water up to 170 degrees Fahrenheit; use a thermometer. As the temperature of the water rises, it will extract the unique flavoring characteristics from the specialty grain. Note: these grains will not add to the alcohol content of the beer using this procedure. They will only add flavor, color, aroma, and mouthfeel. If you let the water go too much above 170, it will start to extract undesired things from the grain such as tannins.
Step Five:
Remove grains from the water at 170 degrees and let the remainder of the wort drip from the bag. I do not squeeze the bag because this also extracts tannins from the grains. I believe some people do squeeze the bag and are happy with their beer. I’m not sure if this topic has been empirically explored yet, so I can only recommend not to on folk practices.
Step Six:
Bring pot up to a strong rolling boil.
Step Seven:
Start a timer for 60 minutes and start adding your hops according to your hop schedule. This will be included in the recipe for your beer. Note: when you see a hop addition with a number of minutes beside it, this indicates the remaining time left in the boil. For example, the hops added at the 60-minute mark will be boiled for 60 minutes. The hops added at the 10-minute mark will be boiled for 10 minutes before the element is turned off and cooling begins. Flame out hops are added to the “boil” when the element is turned off and cooling starts.
Step Eight:
With 15 minutes left, add the malt extract and stir until it is completely dissolved into the wort; this is to sterilize the extract. Take the pot off of the element and add your malt extract. It is very important to take the pot off of the heat so the extract does not scorch when it settles on the bottom of the pot. At this point, your 60-minute timer for your hop schedule is paused and you must wait for the wort to come to a boil again before resuming your hop schedule.
*Note: sanitary practices are extremely important for the remaining steps.
For this you’ll need a no-rinse sanitizer such as Iodophor or Starsan. I recommend Starsan, but I won’t use the space to go into all the reasons why.
Make a proper dilution of this sanitizer and put some in a spray bottle. Spray everything that comes in contact with your wort. This includes you hands after you have touched anything that is not sanitized.
Step Nine:
Turn off the heat source and start cooling the wort. If you are just starting out, chances are good that you won’t have a wort chiller. If you know you are going to be getting into the game of making beer for real, then I would recommend one strongly. It cuts cooling time drastically. If you do not have one, an ice bath in a kitchen sink with cold circulating water is the next best way of cooling down you wort. You can fill some 571ml pop bottles and add them to the sink of water to bring the temperature down lower than the tap. You will be adding water to your fermenter to bring it up to the 19-liter mark so that will cool it down as well. Here is a calculator to help you hit your final temperature target (around 72 degrees Fahrenheit ) by balancing out water temperatures and volumes.
Step 10:
Add your cooled wort, using a large funnel, to you carboy and top it off with water until you have reached a volume of 19 liters.
You may want to strain your hops out at this point through a metal strainer that has been sanitized. This may not be necessary if you haven’t used a lot of hops in your beer.
Step 11:
Airarate your wort by shaking the hell out of it inside the carboy for three to five minutes. Sanitize your rubber stopper and put in in the top of the carboy, then sanitize your hand and cover the small hole on the stopper and shake shake shake, shake shake shake, shake yo booty, shake yo booty. The oxygen that you mix in is necessary for the health of the yeast and fermentation.
Step 12:
Take a sample of your wort using your thief and take a gravity reading using your hydrometer. These are two indispensable tools for a home brewer. The thief allows you to take samples of your beer with out having to tilt the carboy over and disturb the fermentation. The hydrometer is the tool that tells you how much sugar is in your wort—which eventually converts to alcohol. Make sure to write down the gravity reading from the hydrometer in your brew log. I keep my brewlog in Evernote.
Step 13:
Add your yeast to your wort when it is between 68 and 78 degrees. A lower temperature is fine, but it will take longer for the yeast to start fermenting. A higher temperature should be avoided as it will create off characters in your beer. When you are starting out, I recommend using a dry yeast rather than a liquid one. The reason for this is tat there will most certainly be enough of a yeast cell count to ensure a properly fermented beer. Liquid yeast take a bit of finessing that is not necessary in the beginning stages. Do not shake the fermenter. Let the yeast spread across the top and fall on its own.
Step 14:
Put airlock in stopper and fill airlock with sanitzer solution and plug the top of your carboy. Be sure to move the carboy to a dark place in your home that has a fairly consistent temperature between 65 and 75 degrees. This is assuming you are brewing an ale. Let’s not worry about lager for now.
Step 15:
Wait. The fermentation of your beer will take around 7 to 10 days and will need an extra week in the carboy after that to clear. Most of the time there is no rush to bottle. I have left beers in a glass carboy for months with only positive effects. If you are using a plastic fermentation vessel of some kind, you are on more of clock, as the plastic will actually allow the beer to oxygenate, which is bad.
This is not an exhaustive primer on how to make a steep beer, but it’s pretty good. There are some minor details that I have not had room for, so I do recommend that if you want to make beer, try to find someone to walk you through it your first time. If you don’t have that luxury, by following these steps and the steps to follow in the bottling portion, you should be able to get the hang of it. If you can get together with a friend, even if he or she knows nothing either, it will make for a much more relaxed and enjoyable experience.
If I have left something out or you want to include me on your first brew day, you can catch me on Twitter at @awcolman. Can’t wait to hear from you!
Thanks for hangin’, everyone.
Andrew
[deck title= Homebrew Starter Shopping List]
[Ingredients]
1 Malt Extract
1 Specialty Grains
1 Hops
1 Yeast
[/Ingredients]
[Big Stuff]
1 Twelve Litre Pot
1 Carboy
1 No-Rinse Santizer
1 Thief
1 Hydrometer
1 Thermometer
1 Spray Bottle
1 Funnel
[/Big Stuff]
[Little Stuff]
1 Grain Bag
1 Rubber Stopper
1 Airlock
[/Little Stuff]
[Sideboard]
6 Homebrew to drink
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
Brainstorm Brewery is blowing up all over the internet! Our latest is a feature on the Quad9s Youtube Channel.
Quad9s is a channel that profiles some MTGO gameplay. There are a lot of good Cube videos in the “Like a Johnny” series. The channel also features a lot of booster pack opening vids, and let’s face it; who doesn’t love to watch other people open packs? I totally, unironically do. If someone busts a pack of Beta and gets a Mox like MTG Headquarters did when Jeremy opened a Beta Ruby, you share in their jubilation. When they open a Deathlace like, well, MTG Headquarters also did, you get a little Schadenfreude to enjoy and you also get to think “I’m glad that wasn’t my $800”.
Quad9s recently ordered some of our tokens and opened them up as well as some booster packs in a ceremony that is as good as any to serve as a debut of our Rk Post Kraken tokens. Kiora is making waves (that pun was unintentional, I promise, but I’m going to leave it) at the Pro Tour right now, and if you plan to make a splash (last one, I promise) with Kiora in the new, post-rotation Standard, you don’t want to be playing some trifling 9/9 kraken you got in a booster pack like a poor person. You’re a fan of finance, and finance fans make tokens in style. Windmill one of our krakens, or, if that’s not your style, find an excuse to jimmy jam with a 1/1 Ray Perez Soldier by Derfington, a 1/1 flying Spirit by Inkwell Looter or a 2/2 Satyr token by Brian Clymer.
Here is the Quad9s video. Like it, share it, subscribe to the channel; go nuts. Let’s show our supporters some support and make the phrase “Brainstorm Brewery Bump” a real thing and not just something I say ironically when one of our writers get 2 new twitter followers. We sold a ton of tokens already over at our store and we have more on order as well as redesigned playmat. Watch the video and listen for episode 100 of the podcast coming next week.
This is your Brainstorm Brewery Overlord, Jason Alt signing off.
If I were to describe this draft with one phrase: Staying Alive. Right from the get go, our strategy started to form, mostly due to a couple sheepish picks that wound up dictating the rest of our draft. Adding in the Journey pack to this format helps even out the different draft strategies that are available by toning down white-based aggro (read: fewer Ordeals and [card]Wingsteed Rider[/card]s) and giving some of the weaker colors more to work with. I’m pretty happy with where its at and am excited to bring you guys some great JBT drafts. So breathe deep and join me for some games of Magic: The Gathering.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=td7GdwZFATA&w=640&h=360]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fJbn4VM4CE&w=640&h=360]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2C1m-ivO2I&w=640&h=360]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXVfZkJvox8&w=640&h=360]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6-WIAp7-zs&w=640&h=360]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXqmkIn_NrE&w=640&h=360]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCz2su4iv2Y&w=640&h=480]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z30VngKlFqs&w=640&h=480]
Game over, man!
What’s up, brewers? Welcome back. Today we are going to talk about Legacy, and since I don’t know very much about Legacy, I decided to take the opportunity to talk to someone who does. This article will feature an interview of my good friend, Mr. Thomas Herzog. Tom is known locally as being an awesome Magic player. And he really proved that when there was a Legacy Open in his backyard. That’s right, Tom skipped out on spending Easter with his family to demolish the competition (the same one where I had a rather mediocre finish in Standard the day before).
This is a rather cool article for me to write because Tom got me back into competitive magic. He always wanted to test every format and it was fun to test with someone who was so good. His help pushed me to be the better player I am today and it’s always good to see someone who puts in the work succeed. Tom is no stranger to competition. Back in college, he used to play on the Michigan State basketball team, which is cool if you follow the second best school in Michigan for sporting events (for those of you from out of state, U of M would be the first).
Tom took his trusty Maverick deck, and even though some people think the deck is dead, Tom was able to place fourth, losing to RUG delver, the deck he was able to beat in his quarterfinals match. Maverick is a green-white good stuff deck, where you play a lot of reactive and proactive creatures. [card]Mother of Runes[/card] can shut down removal. [card]Thalia, Guardian of Thraben[/card] is key to stopping the combo decks. [card]Qasali Pridemage[/card] is very effective at destroying [card]Batterskull[/card] and [card]Umezawa’s Jitte[/card]. And [card]Knight of the Reliquary[/card] can quickly make your opponents dead.
Today I was able to sit down with Tom and ask him some questions about his deck, as well as some of the hard-hitting questions that everyone wants to know. Let’s go.
Tom you appear to be slightly taller than the average person. How tall are you?
213 centimeters. Feel free to convert that later. [Ed.—That’s just under 6’10”]
Do people assume you play basketball because you’re so tall?
Yeah, all the time. They say, “You’re tall; do you play basketball?” My response has become, “You’re short; do you play mini golf?”
Don’t you play basketball?
Yes.
Did they play minigolf?
Sometimes.
Anyways…what deck list did you settle on for the event?
[deck title=Maverick]
[Creatures]
*4 Deathrite Shaman
*4 Mother of Runes
*1 Noble Hierarch
*3 Qasali Pridemage
*1 Scavenging Ooze
*2 Stoneforge Mystic
*1 Gaddock Teeg
*4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
*4 Knight of the Reliquary
*1 Dryad Arbor
[/creatures]
[spells]
*1 Sword of Fire and Ice
*1 Sword of Light and Shadow
*2 Sylvan Library
*4 Swords to Plowshares
*1 Umezawa’s Jitte
*4 Green Sun’s Zenith
[/spells]
[Lands]
*2 Forest
*1 Plains
*1 Bayou
*1 Horizon Canopy
*2 Savannah
*1 Scrubland
*4 Verdant Catacombs
*4 Wasteland
*4 Windswept Heath
*1 Gaea’s Cradle
*1 Karakas
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
*2 Ethersworn Canonist
*1 Qasali Pridemage
*1 Scavenging Ooze
*1 Choke
*2 Oblivion Ring
*2 Path to Exile
*1 Zealous Persecution
*1 Gaddock Teeg
*4 Thoughtseize
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]
With Legacy so full of fun and interesting decks, why did you settle for this one?
Maverick really fits my play style. I really like to play a sort of aggro-control deck. You generally have a good matchup against any deck that combos off on turn one. The deck has solid mana and a brutally efficient curve. I like a deck without [card]Brainstorm[/card]s and counter magic. You can play hate bears to fill [the disruption] role, and hate bears attack.
What are Maverick’s best matchups?
Maverick is a very versatile deck. Because you play a lot of creatures with abilities, you can tune those creatures for whatever expected meta you think will be at any given tournament. Expect a lot of combo? Be ready with [card]Gaddock Teeg[/card] and [card]Ethersworn Canonist[/card]. Playing against creature decks? You have larger creatures and [card]Swords to Plowshares[/card].
Generally, any fair deck is a fairly good matchup. You have a lot of graveyard interaction. You have creature removal. You have [card]Mother of Runes[/card] to protect your threats. And you have the biggest creatures in Legacy. The whole deck is very synergistic. You also get to play [card]Stoneforge Mystic[/card]. The equipment is very good in this deck. You generally have multiple creatures in play and Jitte can easily take over a game. You also can play [card]Sword of Fire and Ice[/card] to attack through [card]True-Name Nemesis[/card].
Yeah, and [card]Batterskull[/card] is also pretty strong at stabilizing the game, right?
I don’t play [card]Batterskull[/card].
Why not?
It’s because I’m not as devoted to the Stoneforge plan. With only two Stoneforges, you draw the Skull without the Forge a lot more often. It sucks paying five mana to play [card]Batterskull[/card]. I want all of my cards to be good on their own, not just when I tutor them up. I’ve played four Stoneforges before, and in that deck, Skull is generally very good.
What are some of Maverick’s worst matchups?
Generally, the turn-one combo decks are a big problem. You don’t have any way to interact with them when they go first. Decks like Belcher and Sneak and Show can go off so fast and there is no way to beat their god hands. Generally, the only way to interact with them on turn one is [card]Swords to Plowshares[/card] and [card]Wasteland[/card]. If you make it to turn two though, you can usually be okay. You gain access to Thalia, [card]Qasali Pridemage[/card], and can have an active [card]Deathrite Shaman[/card]. All of which are very good in their respective matchups.
Maverick isn’t doing anything busted. If another deck has a very good draw, it is difficult for Maverick to win. In the Swiss matches, my only loss was to a Jund deck that cast [card]Punishing Fire[/card]. I just couldn’t stop it and he was able to kill all my guys.
What’s your favorite card in the deck?
That’s a tough one because the deck feels so cohesive. All the pieces generally work off each other to make the deck really powerful. My favorite card is always changing. Right now it’s between Thalia and Knight of the Reliquary.
Thalia is really good against all the combo decks and also really good against RUG Delver. Most of their deck gets hit and it basically doubles the casting cost of everything in their deck. I really like making [card]Brainstorm[/card] cost two. Thalia is so good that when I draw a hand against an unknown opponent and it doesn’t contain Thalia, I often think hard about whether the hand is a mulligan or not.
[card]Knight of the Reliquary[/card] is also very good. This deck plays [card]Wasteland[/card], so once you resolve Knight, you can start turning all your lands into Wastelands and just make it so your opponent can’t cast spells—all at the same time as growing Knight. Knight is also very good against [card]True-Name Nemesis[/card]. Generally your knight grows so large that they have to hold their TNN back. They can’t race your 10/10. Knight also lets you tutor for [card]Gaea’s Cradle[/card], if you need a lot of mana say for your equipment, or lets you get [card]Karakas[/card].
Is there anything you would change from your winning decklist?
I would cut an [card]Ethersworn Canonist[/card] for another [card]Zealous Persecution[/card]. They are both good against Elves, but Persecution is good against Delver decks and kills [card]True-Name Nemesis[/card]. It also blows out Death and Taxes. Other than that, I liked the deck that I played.
What was your favorite moment from the tournament?
It has to be my top eight match that was captured on camera. The board was me with an active [card]Mother of Runes[/card] with a [card]Sword of Fire and Ice[/card], and a summoning sick [card]Mother of Runes[/card]. I cracked a fetch on my turn to play around [card]Stifle[/card], but it put me to three. He had three [card]Nimble Mongoose[/card]s that all had threshold. He attacked with all his guys. I played [card]Zealous Persecution[/card]. I was able to block two Mongooses, save the non-active Mother, and go to one. He was left with only one sad, lonely goose and I was able to win from that position.
Whats your favorite thing about Magic?
I love competition. Magic is like basketball that you play with your mind.
Patrick Sullivan tweeted that you were the first D-1 athlete to top eight an open. Are you?
As far as I know. Probably. Anyone else out there, hit me up.
Some people are saying that you brought Maverick back, did you?
I’d like to think so.
Well there you go: a quick look at the inner workings of the GW deck of Legacy. Have a question about the deck? Sound off in the comments. Have a cool story about Legacy? Leave it in the comments. Also a D-1 athlete that top eighted a large Magic event? Leave your story in the comments. Thanks for reading, everyone.
Will Corbin ever figure out how technology works? Has Ryan actually broken Modern? What’s the best name for a deck with Griselbrand and Borborygmos Enraged? Did Marcel manage to edit this cast into something that resembles continuity? Will Jason talk another five minutes with his mic turned off? Find out all this and more on another exciting installment of Brainstorm Brewery.
Cabe Riseau produced the intro and outro music for Brainstorm Brewery.
Contact Us
Brainstorm Brewery – website – email – twitter – facebook
Ryan Bushard – email – twitter – facebook – gatheringmagic.com
Corbin Hosler – email – twitter – facebook – quitespeculation.com
Jason E Alt – email – twitter – facebook – gatheringmagic.com – quitespeculation.com
Marcel – email – twitter – facebook
Welcome back, readers! Last week I talked about how you can make a positive impact on your community by making sure they’re all aware that you are willing to pick up cards for competitive buylist values. This week, I’m going to go in a completely different direction, because that’s what I do. I scavenge for topic ideas at the last minute, and have little to no continuity between my articles. It’s like a whole new adventure each week, with no need to go back and read the first chapter to be up to date. You’re welcome.
Anyway, the Modern Event deck just got spoiled this past Tuesday. While the deck is indeed B/W Tokens as we all anticipated, there are no copies of [card]Marsh Flats[/card] to be found. No [card]Auriok Champion[/card]s, and not even a copy of [card]Scrubland[/card]. LAME. Well, maybe not. Here’s a copy of the decklist, so you can decide for yourself.
[deck title=Modern Event Deck]
[Creatures]
*2 Soul Warden
*3 Tidehollow Sculler
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
*3 Honor of the Pure
*2 Inquisition of Kozilek
*4 Intangible Virtue
*4 Lingering Souls
*3 Path to Exile
*4 Raise the Alarm
*2 Shrine of Loyal Legions
*4 Spectral Procession
*1 Sword of Feast and Famine
*3 Zealous Persecution
*1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
[/Spells]
[Lands]
*4 Caves of Koilos
*2 City of Brass
*4 Isolated Chapel
*5 Plains
*4 Swamp
*1 Vault of the Archangel
*4 Windbrisk Heights
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
*2 Burrenton Forge-Tender
*2 Dismember
*3 Duress
*2 Ghost Quarter
*3 Kataki, War’s Wage
*3 Relic of Progenitus
[/Sideboard]
[/Deck]
In addition to the 75 cards, you also receive 80 “exclusive card sleeves,” but the quality of those is probably questionable at best. Let’s not add those into the potential value of the deck. If we add up the value of every card in the deck, we get a TCGplayer low value of about $130. If we estimate and round down by eliminating the irrelevant commons/uncommons like basic lands, [card]Ghost Quarter[/card], [card]Duress[/card], and [card]Lingering Souls[/card], then I would put the deck at somewhere around $110 (again, we’re lowballing a bit). If you actually wanted a chunk of this deck to build the real BW tokens deck yourself, buying in at MSRP is fine. If you’re interested in buying out your LGS of these at MSRP in order to flip them online: first, you’re a jerk. Secondly , I don’t think you’ll make as much as you think you will.
However, what will the ramifications be of this deck for the prices of the cards within? It’s hard to say. On one side is the traditional argument of, “The deck is introducing thousands more copies of [card]Elspeth, Knight-Errant[/card] and [card]Sword of Feast and Famine[/card] (which seems like a really weird inclusion to me, but whatever), so the prices will drop. This will affect cards like [card]Isolated Chapel[/card] and [card]Path to Exile[/card] even more, because they’re three- and four-ofs in the deck.” That’s certainly a valid point, but there’s more to it than that.
The other side of the coin is demand, and considering how much interest this will stir about Modern as a format. I’m sure that there are a non-zero number of Standard-only players who just recently started playing competitively, who have their [card]Godless Shrine[/card]s and [card]Thoughtseizes[/card], and are more than willing to shell out $75, touch up the deck a bit more, and jam Modern events at the FNMs they haven’t been able to play.
Our closest comparison for Modern reprints, Modern Masters, followed both of these trends. Reprints of stuff like [cardTarmogoyf[/card] increased interest in the format dramatically, and prices skyrocketed to beyond pre-reprint levels, while cards like [card]Divinity of Pride[/card] and [card]Kitchen Finks[/card] are no longer $8 to 10 dollars, and likely won’t be for several years. Overall, I don’t see Elspeth or the Sword dropping much, if at all. They’re both highly sought after in formats other than Modern, including Cube, EDH, and other casual formats (one of the strongest planeswalkers in the game, at 20 percent of the price of a [card]Jace, the Mind Sculptor[/card], and “Sword of X and Y” have always been casual home-runs).
On the other hand, I can see cards like [card]Burrenton Forge-Tender[/card], [card]Spectral Procession[/card], [card]Caves of Koilos[/card], and [card]Windbrisk Heights[/card] suffering in price even more severely, due to their limited versatility (they each really only go in one type of deck) and higher print run within the event deck. If you have spare copies of these that you’re not using, I recommend buylisting or finding another way to get rid of them. For those who do buy the event deck for just the Elspeth/Sword/Paths/Inquisitions, you’ll see Processions/Caves/Heights sitting in binders for months. Expect the Procession to be a a dollar or less, Caves to be barely above a bulk rare, and Heights to take a hit of a couple dollars.
I think that the price of [card]Path to Exile[/card] is safe, due to the vast amount of varied play it sees in the format. Yes, it’s Path’s 100th printing, but it’s indisputable that it is the best white removal spell in Modern, and will continue to see infinite amounts of play. Maybe it dips by a dollar as people who bought the deck for profit try to unload copies quickly, but it won’t last. People will always need the card.
Overall, buy it if you’re a Standard player looking for a (relatively) cheap entry into Modern FNM. Don’t buy it if you’re trying to pick up 10 copies of the deck and flip them online. Elspeth, Sword, Path, and Inquisition won’t drop much (if at all), and I would like to casually mention to Wizards that we have had enough copies of [card]Lingering Souls[/card] in circulation for quite a while. Thank you Wizards, you have effectively printed it to death. My stack of [card]Lingering Souls[/card] is worth as much as a stack of [card]Charging Badger[/card]. I hope you’re happy.
Well, those are my thoughts on the event deck. Now let’s hear yours! Throw me a comment in the section below, or on Twitter if you want to discuss your thoughts or feelings about the deck. Should it have had a [card]Marsh Flats[/card]? [card]Bitterblossom[/card]? I’m curious to hear everyone’s opinions, and whether or not you agree with me. Until next time!
There are a number of basic concepts that you learn when starting in Magic finance. These are the building blocks that make Magic finance predictable enough to be profitable—the fundamentals that dictate supply and demand. I’m talking about things like rarity, big set versus small set, draft pack ratios, scarcity of older sets, and rotation. I’ve always thought rotation was the most tenuous of these. Why? There’s just not enough data. Rotation happens only once a year and Magic finance, in it’s current form, hasn’t been around that long. Truthfully, how many rotations have you been through where you were totally focused on the financial ramifications? For most people, it’s less than a handful, or maybe just one or two. Sure, there are store owners and dealers who have been doing this for ten years or more, but the Magic economy, and thus rotation, has changed drastically over that time. It continues to change every year. It’s always prudent to question conventional wisdom. Rotation is not some kind of immutable truth. It’s an event that happens once a year. Unless you think Magic in 2014 is exactly the same as it was last year or the year before or in 2010, you should be challenging the assumptions that are based on those data points.
Modern has only existed through three rotations. It’s impossible to have more experience with the format than that. Pre-Modern rotation trends are not nearly as valuable as they once were. Of those three rotations, the first one is almost a mulligan because it happened two months after the format was introduced (with Zendikar block rotating out). It was far from certain that the format was even a real thing at that point. So really, all we have to go on is last year and the year before. That’s it. Most of what we assume about rotation this year is based on two data points. In a lot of cases, those two data points don’t even agree with each other. When Scars of Mirrodin block rotated in 2012, the prevailing theory seemed to be that Modern would mirror Extended when it came to rotation. The cards would drop in price when they left Standard, jump back up when Modern season came around, and then drop again when the season was over. How did that work out? Last year, when Innistrad rotated out of Standard, the theme seemed to be “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” [cardLiliana of the Veil[/card] made a mockery of the whole idea of rotation. Not only did the card fail to drop even a little bit, it has increased around 50% in the year since rotation. [card]Snapcaster Mage[/card] and [card]Geist of Saint Traft[/card] weren’t quite as resilient as Lilly, but they never got super cheap and certainly didn’t afford us long windows to get in. Two Modern rotations, two critically different outcomes.
If you assumed that Innistrad cards would behave the same as Scars cards when they rotated, you probably got burned. It took [card]Batterskull[/card] almost 18 months to get back to $25. It took Geist five months. I know I thought I had a lot more time to pick up Innistrad block staples, and I missed quite a few as a result. Let’s not make that mistake again this year. Return to Ravnica block is not going to behave exactly the same as Innistrad block. It’s certainly not going to behave the same as Scars block, or Zendikar block, or anything before it. Throw out conventional wisdom on rotation. I see a lot of opinions like this on Twitter and Reddit: “Shock lands will probably dip modestly over the summer before moving steadily upward starting early next year.” That’s copy-and-paste logic from years past. I’m not saying it can’t turn out that way, just that we shouldn’t assume it because that’s what would happen if this was 2011. Getting it right this year is going to take real analysis. It’s not going to be as easy as saying “it will probably look the same as last year except the timeline will be moved up a month or two.” If that seems like an oversimplification, it is. The truth is that every rotation is different and conventional wisdom may or may not apply. We need to roll up our sleeves and figure it out. So let’s do it. We’ll start by asking ourselves two questions. What is different about rotation this year? How do those things change our approach?
Quite a bit, actually.
My conclusion on rotation is simple. The days when we could definitively say “wait until July or August to buy” are over. The factors that made that good advice are no longer in place. It will be bad advice as often as good advice in the future.
There is a good chance shock lands bottomed three months ago. [card]Rest In Peace[/card] foils are $15. This is an article about rotation which will be published five months before it actually happens and it’s still too late on that stuff.
We’ll have to do this the old-fashioned way. When a card hits your buy price, buy. It doesn’t matter if it’s August or December or February. I don’t have all the answers, but I’m determined not to get blown out because I failed to see that this year was different.
Thanks for reading.
Hi all, first let me apologize for taking so long to write my follow up to my Defense of Star City Games. This article series sounded like a great idea to connect with the community I love so much, but when it came down to it, I was struggling to string together 500 words rather than the 2000 that made the articles worthwhile. But after the long interlude, I am refreshed and ready to start the grind of providing you with sound financial advice!
Surprisingly or not, what got me motivated was an article I saw on another site about how we should have already bought into Modern. While it’s true that the moment for making crazy money on [card]Birthing Pod[/card] and [card]Celestial Colonnade[/card] might have passed, there are tons of new opportunities for longer picks.
First, a quick aside on [card]Celestial Colonnade[/card] and [card]Birthing Pod[/card]. While Pod has slipped back down to its pre-spike level of $10 on third-party sites like eBay and TCGplayer (TCG), I still like this card moving forward. Essentially, the card has not moved at all based on how most of us acquire cards. If you are trading for Pods using TCG, the price point has not moved and if you are a Star City Games (SCG) homer like me, then you are now giving up $15 on a card you can still sell for $10. Before I move off Pod, I also want to point out that the murmurs of ban talk have never materialized for this card and realistically we would need to see 30 percent or more of the field play this card before the hammer comes down.
[card]Celestial Colonnade[/card] is a nice comparison because the price on this gem has maintained its new price tag of $20. A couple points I want to bring up about this card: whether you are in the “American” or “Patriot” camp, new players are identifying “Patriot” UWR builds as the de facto control strategy for “pro” players to pick up. In my meta, the new Modern players poring through my binders are all looking for the same pieces: [card]Lightning Helix[/card], [card]Spell Snare[/card], [card]Path to Exile[/card], and the accompanying mana base. Colonnade is a solid four-of in those builds and I do not see the price going down until a reprint or ban, however unlikely, happens. More importantly in this discussion, Colonnade is sold out on SCG at $20 and selling at $20 on the third-party sites listed above. A price correction will happen, so now is the period where I would advocate heavily trading for this card. The spread is literally zero dollars and SCG will move to stay ahead of the market before too long.
[card]Birthing Pod[/card] and [card]Celestial Colonnade[/card] are both cards I have been sitting on since the Modern format was first created. It’s been nice seeing a healthy return from my investment, but rather than gloat about fat stacks, I’d like to point out a few cards that will be primed for spikes in the new future if you have time to wait on them. Listening to an old cast, Ryan Bushard identified [card]Stony Silence[/card] as a great long-term card to be picking up. I personally love that pick because it’s still under a $1 in trade and for cash pick-ups. More importantly, it’s a card I do not think players fully appreciate for its Modern applications.
As much as I like hijacking picks, I am super interested in [card]Grafidgger’s Cage[/card] and [card]Counterflux[/card], alongside a slew of other Modern playables that are under $1. Like the above, these are all cards that see play in a variety of decks and only have room to grow. Another reason I like them is I very rarely feel comfortable asking for throw-ins in a trade unless it’s for true bulk cards for my friends. But asking the Standard player to throw in a [card]Counterflux[/card] when that card hasn’t seen play since miracles is a no-brainer.
Following the most popular question on Reddit, I am going to rapid-fire some picks I think are worth getting in on now and a brief explanation why. Also, unless I specify differently, I believe acquiring foils of the below to be worthwhile as well.
[card]Ghost Quarter[/card], FNM [card]Ancient Grudge[/card], [card]Obstinate Baloth[/card], and [card]Pithing Needle[/card] are super cheap but all see a decent amount of Modern play. Barring reprints, this is the ground floor for a card that I would put in a box and forget for a year.
[card]Abrupt Decay[/card], [card]Supreme Verdict[/card], [card]Slaughter Games[/card], [card]Detention Sphere[/card], and [card]Scavenging Ooze[/card] are not dipping at rotation, so pick them up now. Cards like Decay and Verdict may seem like no-brainers, but all of the above are priced at a point where I don’t see them getting cheaper when rotation hits. And if they do drop, the margin isn’t going to be large enough where it is worthwhile to reacquire at the “bottom.” The only upside is that the Standard-only player is the only person not looking for these at the trade tables.
[card]Gavony Township[/card], [card]Leonin Arbiter[/card], and [card]Blade Splicer[/card]. Two out of these three have seen small gains. How much longer do you think it’s going to take for Splicer to make a jump? And it may seem obvious, but if Township and Arbiter don’t see a reprint, they are not getting cheaper.
[card]Orzhof Pontiff[/card], [card]Scapeshift[/card], and [card]Prismatic Omen[/card] are extremely unique. With the exception of Omen’s ambiguity, I can’t see where a reprint for the other two fits in unless it’s a Dual Deck (DD) or From the Vault (FTV). I have been fearful of picking up Omen as a spec only because its ability essentially reads, “Hey, we fixed your mana,” and that might be fair enough for Standard or Modern Masters 2.
[card]Prophet of Kruphix[/card], [card]Anger of the Gods[/card], [card]Swan Song[/card], and [card]Springleaf Drum[/card] are almost draft leavings at this point. I am targeting Prophet and Anger because I think both are too powerful for the low cost. Commander players should buy Prophet while Modern keeps a stable floor on the other two. Drum is only uncommon, but it’s a four-of in one of the cheapest (read, easiest entry point) Modern tier-one decks.
If you listen to any advice, take this to heart: any card that sees Modern play and is cheap right now will rise! Take the time to look at daily lists for cards that routinely show up as four-ofs and invest accordingly. It’s easy to buy in on [card]Fist of Suns[/card] before it spikes and sell when it does—if you know what to look for.
Here at Casually Infinite, I subscribe to the theory that my Magic Online experience shouldn’t cost me anything. An account with 1000 tickets has a lot of flexibility to vary between long- and short-term specs. New players, or players who have seen their accounts dwindle, are just looking at the first steps to move their bankroll up without having to stick more coins into the machine. This article is for you. Again, if you’d rather just pay $13 and jump into a draft, there are better articles for you. But if you’re looking for ways to move from the starting base of five event tickets to six, and six to seven, then my advice is aimed at you.
At a cost of one event ticket and two new player tickets, the new player phantom drafts have a pretty good expected value. You pay one ticket and one of four people will win a pack. Overall, this has a negative EV, but the possibility of paying one ticket and winning one pack is pretty decent. The scheduled Sealed events are among the best possible value because getting two or more wins give you two event tickets out of the Deck Builder’s Essentials. The cost of five new player tickets is kind of steep and you can’t draft instead of playing Sealed, but the potential rewards are really good and it doesn’t cost you any of your initial event tickets.
Lands have been in solid demand since the beginning of Magic. Every Standard season has some dual lands that frequently dip down below the one ticket price range. Real estate moves quickly and when someone is making a deck, she will frequently just want to pickup her playset and move on. When looking at real estate to flip, look for lands that are priced just below advantageous price points such as .50‡, .66‡, .75‡, and 1‡. Sometimes you can also find lands that sit around prices over one ticket but you can pickup a play set for an even 4‡ or 5‡. Right now, a [card]Temple of Abandon[/card] or [card]Temple of Deceit/card] will run you .70‡, and a [card]Temple of Mystery[/card] can be grabbed for .40‡. Selling a play set of [card]Temple of Mystery[/card] for 3‡ or 4‡ for Abandon or Deceit is pretty easy. Just put it up in the classifieds and you’ll probably get an answer over the weekend. I have found that posting a playset of each of the cheaper lands in Standard for a ticket more than the playset cost me to buy has helped me sell two or three play sets a week.
The way bots calculate value of a card is based on how often that specific card sells. While you and I may not care if we buy a M13 or a M14 [card]Ajani, Caller of the Pride[/card], it often happens that the price of the current edition is rising while the cost of the older edition is falling. I’ve purchased [card]Steam Vents[/card] from original Ravnica for less than the current price of a Return to Ravnica one. In some ways, Return to Ravnica shock lands are better because they are available for redemption. But a large portion of buyers don’t care about this factor. If someone is looking for a card in his deck, he’ll take either one. There are far more shock lands being sold from RTR, so these prices move much more quickly than those in RAV. There was a period where an M11 [card]Glacial Fortress[/card] was available as low as .25‡ while a M13 one ran about 1‡. Buying M11 lands and then selling them at M13 prices can be quite profitable.
MTGO promos are a strange beast. Unlike most paper promos, they are generally worth less than their non-promo counterparts. They also frequently aren’t foil and they aren’t available for redemption. Something else I’ve found about promos is that bots seem to have difficulty recognizing them and pricing them correctly. On occasion you can find a popular standard card that is worth anywhere from 1‡ to 3‡ available as a promo for .05‡ from multiple bots. Much like cards from older sets, these cards frequently aren’t as active, causing a much lower price. For someone that isn’t interested in redemption, they don’t care if they’re playing a promo version of a card. I generally don’t advertise that my cards are promos but I’m always upfront about it when asked. There’s always going to be people out there that just don’t care and don’t spend the time to research it.
Regardless of how you move forward, there are a few important things not to do. First off, picking up bulk rares from a vendor isn’t a good idea. The specific values of cards in MTGO means you can easily spend a ticket to put together an acceptable casual deck by picking up four [card]Shivan Dragon[/card]s and four [card]Ogre Battledriver[/card]s then calling it a deck. However, many cards which have value in paper don’t translate to digital. These cards have essentially no value in MTGO. If you want to start working your way up, you have to buy something that people want. Bulk rares are not that. If it’s not worth .25 tickets, it isn’t worth anything. Just because someone could find it for cheaper doesn’t mean they won’t buy it from you.
And I have a lot to learn. If you’ve been following the series, you’re aware of this fact. I won’t try to hide it—there it is, out in the open. My friend Cory is a much better Magic player than I, so I enlisted his help to run through another Cube draft while its available this go around. The result is what you see here.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDRqbgWPy14&w=640&h=360]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2PkWaag0Kc&w=640&h=360]
Decklist from Forced Fruition Episode 8
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GS0eOUy4gI&w=640&h=360]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_KlAcbblrM&w=640&h=360]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNmqSNd6RCM&w=640&h=360]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RdfsGAuPns&w=640&h=360]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRoSpfRKkak&w=640&h=360]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwcLDgleHNQ&w=640&h=360]
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Puzzle Box!
This week we are going to be continuing our exploration of the four-man cube format called Twos. If you are just tuning into this little mini-series, you can go back and find what this format is about and if it is right for you play group here.
The section we are going to be looking at this week is blue, and it come with a little bit of a caveat: This list is untested when it comes to playing Twos. It is also considerably different from the tuned list that is Pidgeot’s on Cube Tutor. Aside from his list being powered, there is one very significant difference: his colors are not evenly balanced. This is not to say that is bad, it is just different. There are some distinct advantages to having an unbalanced cube, especially in this format. One of my first times playing Twos, while building my deck, I was given a piece of advice.
“If you’re not drafting blue, you better hope you team mate is. And if you’re both drafting blue, you need to make sure you have a way to win.”
That is to say, you generally want at least one blue player on your team or you’re going to have some trouble. The problem then becomes: what if there aren’t enough blue cards in the draft pool to support two control decks? This is where the beauty of having an unbalanced cube comes in. If you just have more blue cards than the rest of the cards, then you’ll be able to support multiple blue decks. This concept, however, comes with built-in criticism. Namely, why do there have to be two blue control decks? But keep in mind that you can build the format however you want. If you want it to be a more white-control-focused format, you can double up on white cards and make that your main support color. Or you can have evenly distributed colors and let the cards come as they will. All of this is pretty pedantic and just goes to show you that your cube is yours and you can build it exactly how you and your play group likes it!
[card]Arcane Denial[/card] —> [card]Erayo, Soratami Ascendant[/card] – Arcane Denial is garbage. I think I am going to swap it out in the regular list for [card]Deprive[/card]. That being said, with four players playing cheap spells, two of whom want Erayo to flip, the Soratami is super easy to turn over and it counters each opponent. This is back breaking!
[card]Looter il-Kor[/card] —>[card]Spellstutter Sprite[/card] – Looting is great and this one carries equipment like a champ. I could be convinced to keep LIK as a reanimator support card but I think the two-drop slot can be better served. As for [card]Spellstutter Sprite[/card], she also carries equipment like a champ and is also a very real counter spell in this format. Because it’s so fast, one-mana spells are abundant, and you will counter something in a game with the sprite.
[card]Serendib Efreet[/card] —> [card]Mental Misstep[/card] – The Efreet is a long game control card and these will not be long games. [card]Mental Misstep[/card] has the same virtue as [card]Spellstutter Sprite[/card] as being almost guaranteed to get something. This will be a theme in this article: cheap counters for cheap spells.
[card]Aetherling[/card] —> [card]Neurok Commando[/card] – Aetherling is a virtual seven-drop blue control finisher. In this format, the point of a blue deck is to support its teammate’s aggro deck and beat the other team down. Note that this does not include a plan to slam a giant fatty after garnering a game’s worth of incremental advantages. [card]Neurok Commando[/card] has shroud and draws cards when it connects. Again, as blocking is not a big part of this format, he’s going to draw you a pile of cards while putting your opponents on a clock.
[card]Enclave Cryptologist [/card]—>[card]Delver of Secrets[/card] – Spending three mana to get a looter that almost never attacks and barely blocks is just no good here. [card]Delver of Secrets[/card] doesn’t need much introduction. He’ll eventually flip and then he’ll eat a removal spell or win you the game.
[card]Frost Titan[/card] —> [card]Inkwell Leviathan[/card] – Combo decks such as the [card]Tinker[/card] decks and reanimator decks don’t have as much time to get online, so this is pulling out the other blue finisher and replacing it with a more combo-friendly card. This could be a worth-while swap of the Puzzle Box list to keep in mind for the next time we look at it.
[card]Mulldrifter[/card] —> [card]Snap[/card] – Five mana for a 2/2 flyer that draws two cards is too slow, and three mana to draw two at sorcery speed is also too slow and it only affects you. [card]Snap[/card] highlights one of the very fun features of this format and how being on teams but taking separate turns creates extremely interesting board states. [card]Snap[/card] allows the person casting it to untap any two lands: including your teammates. So on your TM’s third turn, he can play a land, tap all three, you snap an opponent’s creature back to her hand and untap your TM’s land, giving him a total of five mana to work with while setting you opponent back a turn. How sweet is that?! [card]Frantic Search[/card] is an honourable mention that you can consider, but we wont be including in this iteration of the cube.
[card]Shelldock Isle[/card] —> [card]Spellsnare[/card] – Shelldock Isle is awesome when there is a real glut of huge creature to pick up and hide underneath it. Unfortunately for this situation, we have been cutting all of these creatures, so this amazing land gets way worse for us here. Spellsnare is going along with the more cheap counters for the increased number of cheaper cards. You’ll get something.
[card]Deep Analysis[/card] —> [card]Submerge[/card] – Drawing four cards for five mana and three life is great in long games, but not here. This is a card that looks very strange to be in a cube list, but considering that you always have the island and you have two other opponents who will probably have the forest, this spell is almost always free. Again cheap (or better yet, free), is the name of the game!
[card]Meloku the Clouded Mirror[/card] —> [card]Venser Shaper Savant[/card] – Here we have a scared cow being slaughtered. Meloku is an easily splashable, pack-one, pick-one in many, many cubes… but she’s five mana: cut. Venser is not in the regular list because he is expensive, but we are looking for as many counter spells to fit in here as possible to help blue in its ever supporting role.
[card]Control Magic[/card] —> [card]Brain Freeze[/card] – [card]Control Magic[/card] is a lot like Shelldock Isle, in that it’s awesome when there are tons of fatties running around. With four people playing lots of cheap spells interacting with each other, [card]Brainfreeze[/card] is a very real card and wins lots of games.
[card]Mind Control[/card] —> [card]Standstill[/card] – Same notes as [card]Control Magic[/card]. It is worth noting that [card]Mind Control[/card] is very good in the Puzzle Box list precisely because it is a much slower format. You can be sure that it will get something eventually as the game goes on. [card]Standstill[/card] is amazing in Twos. It will draw your team six cards for two mana so long as you have a slightly better board state than you opponents.
[card]Into the Roil[/card] —> [card]Curfew[/card] – [card]Into the Roil[/card] will usually only be an [card]Unsummon[/card], but its added flexibility is what makes it worth its inclusion in cube lists. [card]Curfew[/card] is the same cost as [card]Unsummon[/card] and you’ll often be able to sculpt a situation where it does twice as much work. Kind of making it four times as good as [card]Into the Roil[/card].
These are the cards that tend to highlight the nature of the format of twos. They may not be the optimal substitutions for the list, but they will send you well along your way to the more fun and complex states that exist in this format.
You’ll also notice that the amount of counter spells has been ramped up. I have done this to try and emulate the format that I am familiar with. If you like the play style I described earlier in the post, you could go further and add in a bunch more blue cards, say an extra 15, to make the total size of the cube 275. Some other possible inclusions for that could be the following.
[Deck title=Possible Blue Inclusions for a Twos Cube]
[Spells]
Gitaxian Probe
Compulsive Research
Vapor Snag
Spell Pierce
Dispel
Negate
Complicate
Exclude
Remand
Essence Scatter
Windfall
Unsummon
Annul
[/spells]
[Creatures]
Calcite Snapper
Augur of Bolas
[/creatures]
[/deck]
A quick shout out to the Cubism Podcast. These guys are the real Twos gurus out there. They have been playing it for a long time and know the format inside and out. Check out their latest podcast for an in-depth look at Twos. Hit me up on Twitter, @awcolman, or leave a comment below if you have some ideas that could help me and the rest of us out with our Twos project.
Next time, we’ll cover the black section!
Thanks for hangin’.
Andrew
It’s been a long, hard couple of months after making top eight in back-to-back tournaments with my Mono-Green Beast Wars deck that I discussed here. Since then, I’ve been to two more PTQs and GP Cincinatti, but was unable to recapture the success I previously had with the deck. However, some others had quite a bit of success with different versions of Mono-Green.
Immediately after my first article went up, Stephen Girdner revised the list to his liking and made top eight of a PTQ.
[deck title=Mono-Green Aggro by Stephen Girdner]
[Creatures]
4 Experiment One
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Kalonian Tusker
3 Swordwise Centaur
2 Gyre Sage
4 Boon Satyr
2 Renegade Krasis
3 Nylea, God of the Hunt
4 Polukranos, World Eater
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Aspect of Hydra
2 Bow of Nylea
1 Enlarge
[/Spells]
[Land]
3 Mutavault
20 Forest
[/Land]
[Sideboard]
3 Mistcutter Hydra
3 Pithing Needle
1 Tower Defense
2 Witchstalker
1 Bramblecrush
4 Nylea’s Disciple
1 Enlarge
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
Later he revised it further and won a Magic Online Premier Event with it.
[deck title= Mono-Green Aggro by Stephen Girdner (TurboG73)]
[Creatures]
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Experiment One
4 Kalonian Tusker
3 Swordwise Centaur
2 Gyre Sage
4 Boon Satyr
4 Witchstalker
2 Nylea, God of the Hunt
3 Polukranos, World Eater
1 Mistcutter Hydra
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Aspect of Hydra
2 Bow of Nylea
[/Spells]
[Land]
3 Mutavault
20 Forest
[/Land]
[Sideboard]
3 Mistcutter Hydra
3 Ranger’s Guile
1 Pit Fight
2 Tower Defense
1 Renegade Krasis
3 Nylea’s Disciple
2 Bramblecrush
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
Mason Lange made the top eight of an SCG Open with a very different version.
[deck title=Mono-Green Aggro by Mason Lange]
[Creatures]
4 Brushstrider
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Experiment One
4 Kalonian Tusker
4 Reverent Hunter
2 Scavenging Ooze
3 Slaughterhorn
4 Boon Satyr
1 Nylea, God of the Hunt
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
2 Mending Touch
1 Ranger’s Guile
[/Spells]
[Land]
19 Forest
4 Mutavault
[/Land]
[Sideboard]
3 Dryad Militant
4 Mistcutter Hydra
4 Nylea’s Disciple
1 Scavenging Ooze
2 Mending Touch
1 Bramblecrush
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
Recently, even Raphael Levy has taken up the Mono-Green mantle with this list.
[deck title= Raphael Levy – Mono Green Aggro]
[Creatures]
4 Experiment One
4 Elvish Mystic
3 Spire Tracer
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
3 Burshstrider
4 Kalonian Tusker
3 Scavenging Ooze
3 Reverent Hunter
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Aspect of Hydra
3 Giant Growth
1 Ranger’s Guile
[/Spells]
[Land]
2 Mutavault
16 Forest
[/Land]
[Sideboard]
2 Mutant’s Prey
2 Ranger’s Guile
2 Hunt the Hunter
1 Gyre Sage
2 Plummet
1 Scavenging ooze
1 Skylasher
2 Unravel the Aether
1 Tower Defense
1 Reverent Hunter
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
What comes next for Mono-Green, you ask? Well, I’m not entirely sure, but there are a ton of options including a splash with any other color. I’ll be covering what I would do with the deck with each color combination and a straight Mono-Green update below.
[deck title= Blue Splash]
[Creatures]
4 Experiment One
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Kalonian Tusker
4 Kiora’s Follower
4 Reverent Hunter
4 Boon Satyr
3 Nylea, God of the Hunt
2 Polukranos, World Eater
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Aspect of Hydra
2 Simic Charm
2 Bow of Nylea
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Breeding Pool
2 Temple of Mystery
4 Mana Confluence
3 Mutavault
10 Forest
[/Land]
[Sideboard]
3 Mistcutter Hydra
3 Setessan Tactics
2 Simic Charm
3 Witchstalker
4 Nylea’s Disciple
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
The blue splash offers a couple interesting options for the main including [card]Kiora’s Follower[/card] for ramp/defensive purposes, and [card]Simic Charm[/card] which does absolutely everything you could want a card to do in this deck. The only real issue the blue splash has is that it can’t protect itself from [card]Supreme Verdict[/card], and that is a problem if control decks become more popular.
[deck title= Black Splash]
[Creatures]
4 Experiment One
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Kalonian Tusker
4 Swordwise Centaur
4 Reverent Hunter
4 Boon Satyr
3 Nylea, God of the Hunt
2 Polukranos, World Eater
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Aspect of Hydra
2 Bow of Nylea
2 Putrefy
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Overgrown Tomb
2 Temple of Malady
4 Man Confluence
3 Mutavault
10 Forest
[/Land]
[Sideboard]
3 Mistcutter Hydra
3 Thoughtseize
3 Golgari Charm
2 Putrefy
4 Nylea’s Disciple
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
The black splash doesn’t offer much in the main deck outside of removal like [card]Putrefy[/card], but it does offer the best sideboard options of any of the color splashes. You gain protection from [card]Supreme Verdict[/card] with [card]Thoughtseize[/card] and [card]Golgari Charm[/card], and access to more removal with [card]Putrefy[/card]. I tried some of the various other removal earlier in the season, but [card]Ultimate Price[/card] and [card]Doom Blade[/card] were just too narrow when I needed to hit various threats. I came to the conclusion that [card]Putrefy[/card], which can hit pretty much anything, was the best option available.
[deck title= Wite Splash]
[Creatures]
4 Experiment One
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Kalonian Tusker
4 Voice of Resurgence
4 Reverent Hunter
4 Boon Satyr
3 Nylea, God of the Hunt
2 Polukranos, World Eater
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Aspect of Hydra
2 Bow of Nylea
2 Selesnya Charm
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Temple Garden
2 Temple of Plenty
4 Mana Confluence
3 Mutavault
10 Forest
[/Land]
[Sideboard]
3 Mistcutter Hydra
2 Deicide
3 Banishing Light
3 Ready//Willing
4 Nylea’s Disciple
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
The white splash adds the second best sideboard options, and one of the best main deck cards among any of the versions of Mono-Green. Adding a card like [card]Voice of Resurgence[/card] adds a lot of protection against decks like Mono-Black Devotion, Esper Control, and U/W Control. The sideboard all-stars in this version are [card]Banishing Light[/card], allowing you to deal with nearly anything, [card]Deicide[/card], which lets you deal with those pesky [card]Detention Sphere[/card]s and gods, and [card]Ready // Willing[/card], allowing you to survive board wipes and occasionally get value with the other half.
[deck title= Red Splash]
[Creatures]
4 Experiment One
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Kalonian Tusker
4 Reverent Hunter
4 Boon Satyr
3 Nylea, God of the Hunt
2 Polukranos, World Eater
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Aspect of Hydra
4 Domri Rade
[/Spells]
[Land]
4 Stomping Ground
2 Temple of Abandon
4 Mana Confluence
3 Mutavault
10 Forest
[/Land]
[Sideboard]
4 Mistcutter Hydra
3 Setessan Tactics
4 Witchstalker
4 Nylea’s Disciple
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
The red splash adds a lot to the main deck, but nothing relevant to the sideboard. Adding [card]Ghor-Clan Rampager[/card] adds the much-needed effect of allowing you to push through your opponent’s creatures with your efficient monsters. Speaking of which, [card]Domri Rade[/card] gives you a steady stream of gas that can push you through those board stalemates and wrath effects.
[deck title= Mono-Green]
[Creatures]
4 Experiment One
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Kalonian Tusker
4 Swordwise Centaur
4 Reverent Hunter
4 Boon Satyr
3 Nylea, God of the Hunt
2 Polukranos, World Eater
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Aspect of Hydra
2 Setessan Tactics
2 Bow of Nylea
[/Spells]
[Land]
3 Mutavault
20 Forest
[/Land]
[Sideboard]
4 Mistcutter Hydra
2 Ranger’s Guile
2 Plummet
2 Setessan Tactics
2 Witchstalker
3 Nylea’s Disciple
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]
And finally, the mono-green version, which has the benefit of a mana base that won’t occasionally slow you down or cost you a bunch of life. This will likely be very relevant for the first few weeks of the format, as players like to push the most aggressive strategies available until those decks get put in check. The only card this version of the deck really gained is the green [card]Wrath of God[/card] in [card]Setessan Tactics[/card]. The biggest issue the mono-green deck faced before was its inability to remove threats from the board, but with [card]Setessan Tactics[/card], you not only get that ability, but you can now have an additional pump spell in the deck to push through those final points of damage.
That’s all I have for now. I’m very excited for the prospects of Mono-Green Aggro in the near future, and hopefully you are as well. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below and I will try my best to give you an answer.
Thanks for reading,
Josh Milliken
@joshuamilliken on Twitter
P.S. – Hail Hydra!
This is the set review to end all set reviews. Recognizing that a large part of finance is properly evaluating cards in terms of playability, the gang enlists the help of a living legend, Zac Hill (@zdch). Formerly of Wizards of the Coast R&D (lead game designer), writer of StarCityGames’s Chatter of the Squirrel column and current COO of the Future Project (www.thefutureproject.org), Zac brings a tremendous wealth of knowledge and experience to the cast. The cast goes long, and you won’t even care with in-depth discussion about the financial implication and playability of the rares and mythics in Journey into Nyx. There’re no games, no segments, no Magic 8 ball—just wall-to-wall finance talk that will have you saying, “That was a good episode; I rather enjoyed it.”
Cabe Riseau produced the intro and outro music for Brainstorm Brewery.
Contact Us
Brainstorm Brewery – website – email – twitter – facebook
Ryan Bushard – email – twitter – facebook – gatheringmagic.com
Corbin Hosler – email – twitter – facebook – quitespeculation.com
Jason E Alt – email – twitter – facebook – gatheringmagic.com – quitespeculation.com
I’m going to start this week’s article by linking to another person’s article from another website. Last week, Travis Allen explained how the margins on speculation are often lower and riskier than someone who is not accustomed to the workings of MTG finance would expect. As somewhat of a follow-up to that article, I’d like to explain one of the alternative methods to speculating that tends to yield a much higher return on investment, and at the same time can provide a valuable service to the community. Go ahead, read Travis’s piece. I’ll wait.
…. Are you back? Cool. It was an incredibly well written article that should hopefully help dispel the myth that speculators are making out like bandits when a card doubles, triples, or even quadruples in price. It’s very difficult to make significant money on actual blind speculation, not counting the [card]Master of Waves[/card]/[card]Thassa, God of the Sea[/card] situations where we have insider information from a pro tour leak.
The alternative method that I want to discuss this week does require a significant amount of disposable income, or the ability and dedication to make repeated short-term flips to maintain an open cash flow. It’s not for everyone, but my goal is that someone reads this article and realizes: “Hey, I could do that.” If the title is any indication, our discussion this week is on how you can act as your local area’s buylist. If you know that you can pay better than your LGS, or if you can work with your LGS when making buys, then you can help out the players in your area and sometimes even the local store. It’s a lot easier to make incremental increases in your inventory and funds when you make other people aware that you’re almost always willing to buy something for buylist prices, and then resell it at a later date.
Be patient. If you go around on every Facebook page and constantly nag people about buying their cards at buylist, they won’t want to sell, and with good reason. Just be patient, friendly, and wait for opportunities. Magic is an expensive hobby, and people tend to overextend their budget into it. When life hands out unexpected inconveniences and people need to sell specific pieces of their collection, you can be ready with cash in hand.
About a month ago, I wrote about how we don’t necessarily need the cards that we think we do, we just want them. In my opinion, one of the core requirements to providing this service is that you make sure that when you buy cards at buylist prices, you don’t need the cards you buy. If you are offered to buy cards that you do actually want for personal deckbuilding objectives, then be honest with the person you’re doing business with, and offer up a little more than you normally would.
I recommend having access to the major retailers’ current buylists, so you always know how much to offer on a card. If you’re a Quiet Speculation Insider, you probably use Trader Tools at mtg.gg. If not, MTGPrice.com has its’ own free tool that collects current buylist prices and provides them for you to use. As a general rule, I try to almost match the highest current buylist price, so that if worst comes to worst, I can immediately out the card with no net loss.
Be fair with pricing even if you know they’ll accept less. If you buy a [card]Hallowed Fountain[/card] from one of your friends for $5, then don’t offer someone else $4 if you know they need the money badly for car repairs and you’re sure they’ll accept it. Pick a number and stick to it for as long as your inventory allows. If you start to buy too much to the point where you feel the need to lower your buy number, then you’re probably not performing enough inventory turnover, and I’ll redirect you to my fellow BSB writer Anthony Capece to learn about that issue. Keep your buy price static until you move what you have. Then there’s no cross talk between your customers about who got paid what.
If you’re still reading at this point, then you didn’t instantly close the browser when I mentioned the prospect of giving better prices than your LGS. Good. I’m sure that I lost quite a few people by bringing up the thought of purchasing cards at buylist prices instead of directing people to your friendly local game store, but hear me out. I’m not trying to say you should bring a massive trenchcoat to FNM and buy singles from under the store owner’s nose. Don’t do that. Don’t even pull the lame trick of going out into the parking lot/across the street to do your cash deals. The store owner has rent to pay, and he’s letting you play there. We all know it’s a dirty move. However, your LGS doesn’t have domain over the entire town or city that you reside in. They have their margins that they have to make, and you have yours. Yours are probably a bit more flexible because you don’t have to keep the lights on in a business. I don’t think it’s unethical to suggest offering higher prices than the store while outside of their domain.
In addition, I’ve been in multiple situations where it’s entirely possible to work together with your store so that literally everybody wins. If you’re lucky (or unlucky, depending on how you look at it) enough to have a store that doesn’t deal in singles, then you can be the one to provide that service, and get a ton of business by asking the owner to politely direct singles purchases towards you. At another store I’ve come across in my travels, the owner was only able to offer a miniscule amount of store credit for players’ singles, not cash. Since the player was going to spend the credit anyway, I proposed that I buy the cards for more cash than was being offered in store credit. I got the cards at buylist prices, the player got more value for his cards that he didn’t want anymore, and the store owner got actual cash in his register instead of just the player spending store credit. Everyone wins!
Obviously some of these are pretty niche situations that won’t apply to a ton of readers, but the moral of the story is that it’s still entirely possible to buy cards at buylist prices locally if you’re patient, polite, and know your outs and margins well enough. I started out doing this a few years ago just by being the first to respond to Facebook posts of friends. If you have the income (or can flip the items you acquire for a fast profit), then this can be a way to help those in your community while increasing your available funds for Magic.
Do you disagree with any of my personal ethics on the area that an LGS has? Do you have any other suggestions that slipped my mind while writing the piece? Your comments are often just as important as what I write, so I’d love to hear them.
In this weeks installment of the Imps we begin to see what cards from Journey Into Nyx is going to be players in the upcoming standard season at SCG Cinci. We have posse member Walter on to go over this with us. Then we make sure you save your $$$ and not buy the new Event Deck. Seriously, this is one of the worst ever. Then as the title says….. well, you know
Your hosts: Angelo & Ryan
Angelo’s Twitter: @Ganksuou
Ryan’s Twitter: @brotheryan
Show’s Email: [email protected]
Guest Walter
The popularity of Magic: The Gathering has exploded over the past few years.
There, I just taught you everything you need to know about Magic finance. I’m not kidding. Well, I’m sort of kidding.
The truth is that it’s been pretty easy to make money buying and selling Magic cards recently because the overall price level of cards has consistently risen. Modern cards have generally increased in price. Legacy cards have generally increased in price. Casual and/or Commander cards have generally increased in price. Standard cards bounce around for a while in the format and the playable ones eventually find their way into one of those groups and rise in price. So the basic strategy has been to buy Magic cards, wait until they go up, then sell them. Sure, some of the better speculators find cards that go up more or go up faster, but this basic approach works for mostly everyone. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it’s impossible to lose money doing this. If you don’t understand transaction costs, don’t really understand Magic, or just don’t have decent business sense, I have no doubt you can fail at Magic finance. For the rest of us, though, buying good cards at reasonable prices is enough to stay in the black. You don’t have to be great at evaluating cards as long as you buy a good mix of stuff when you see good deals. Even reprints—formerly the most spectacular way to crash and burn on Magic specs—don’t seem that awful anymore. Modern Masters taught us that you’ll have to wait longer to cash out, but the ever-increasing player base will absorb the new copies just the same.
It’s important to understand that all this is being caused by the larger upward trend in Magic’s popularity. We all felt like geniuses when our Modern specs started spiking last year until we realized that basically every Modern card was going to spike. It was about the larger trend of a format growing in popularity, not about the specific cards. The big picture at that point was that Modern was on fire. No other information needed. Playable Modern cards were either good, great, or amazing buys, even the ones that didn’t end up seeing much play. Again, some people did better than others, but the only real losers were the ones who didn’t play. Recognize the trend, jump in, profit. When you step back even further and get the 10,000-foot view, you realize that the most important call yet was not on a particular card, set, or even format, but on Magic as a whole. Sure, different sectors of Magic have jumped at different times. The Commander trend, the aforementioned Modern trend, the Legacy trend. But Magic taking off as a game was the trend that started all the other trends, and getting that call right has been, by far, the single biggest money-maker to date.
Five years ago, Alara Reborn had just hit shelves. Magic finance wasn’t a thing (or it was just called “running a store”), and the new core set and Duels of the Planeswalkers were just getting ready to debut. American grands prix were starting to hit the 1,000-player mark consistently. All the ingredients were there. Hindsight is 20/20, but did you see it at the time? In all likelihood, you were just getting back into the game, oblivious to the fact that there were a million others just like you doing the exact same thing. If you could go back and talk to your 2009 self about Magic finance, what would you say? Sure, you could coach him up on specific cards that were in the pipeline—trade for fetches, pre-order [card]Jace, the Mind Sculptor[/card], find foil eldrazi, etc.—but mostly you would just say, “Get as many Magic cards as you can. Get everything, and get a lot of it.” Is there really much that would have been a bad investment? Let me remind you that we live in a world where [card]Lord of Extinction[/card] is a $12 card. How about sealed product of pretty much any kind? Zendikar boxes? The Divine vs. Demonic Duel Deck that was just hitting shelves? All those soon-to-be Commander staples sitting in bulk boxes? No need to pretend that we could have foreseen $80 fetches since we would have been shoveling those into our binders along with everything else. Literally anything you could get your hands on at the time would turn out to be money well spent. Magic itself was a good investment. If you had your head buried in decklists and tournament reports, you may not have seen it happening around you. But if you had backed up and taken a broad look at the entirety of Magic, the 10,000-foot view, you may have seen surging tournament attendance, exciting new products, more powerful cards being printed, and renewed interest from old players. You may have noticed something was going on.
The question I want you to ask yourself is simply, “What’s going on with Magic right now?” I’m not asking what’s happened over the past six months or a year. I know Modern exploded in popularity. I know dual lands jumped in price. I have to chuckle whenever I see Magic financiers post something on Twitter like “don’t sell fetch lands yet, they are still going up and Modern season is this summer.” Thank you for the report. I’m asking what is going on right now, today, as we speak, in game shops, kitchens, and cafeterias all over. Wherever you were in 2009, did you know players were starting to flock to the game in record numbers? You probably missed it, even though you were right in the middle of it, because you were having so much fun that you forgot to look around. I did. Well, do you know what players are doing now? Are you again right in the middle of something and not seeing it? Are you looking? This isn’t the “pick a format that hasn’t spiked in a while and buy in” exercise. This is trying to understand the health and direction of the entire thing. And there is no answer in this article because I don’t know for sure either. I’m writing to encourage you to spend time trying to figure it out. Do you think Magic has peaked? Why or why not? Are we just getting started, or somewhere in the middle? Do you have a good answer either way? If your default response is, “I think Magic is going to continue to increase in popularity because that’s what it’s been doing for the past few years,” you have some work to do. I’m not saying you are wrong, just that you are clearly guessing. If you have no idea, I suggest you start with Hasbro’s investor materials. Sure, it’s backward looking but it’s right from the horse’s mouth and they occasionally say something really interesting. Plus, with @time_elemental live-tweeting the earnings call, you have no excuse. On that subject, does this surprise you at all? 
There is a saying in finance—they don’t ring a bell at the top. Magic could have peaked today for all we know. We wouldn’t notice it until it had declined somewhat. Any time you are at an all-time high, you are just one bad day away from having peaked. I don’t necessarily think that’s the case and I’m not trying to convince you of it here, but how are you planning to recognize this when it does happen? Then again, maybe this is only the beginning. Maybe Magic goes mainstream with the movie and the action figures and whatever else. Maybe the next generation grows up watching Adventures of the Planeswalkers on Saturday morning. We’ll look back and say, “This was about the time that 4,000 player GP’s started to happen more regularly.” If that is the case, it would be nice to figure it out now. So what would your 2019 self say to you about Magic finance today? Is it, “Get everything, and get a lot of it?” Or is it, “What was Magic finance?” There is a lot of money riding on the answer. Thanks for reading.