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Howdy everybody, hope you all had a good 2 weeks. Had a bit of a medical emergency last week which kept me from writing, but the past few days I have felt better than I have all year. This week I am going to give the run down on a few of the pricier New Phyrexia cards that were released as well as a few comments on the Legacy prices and the new tournament format announcement.
Legacy Prices
Well, this sure has created a buzz throughout the community whether it be Sean Morgan trying to recite economic theory he heard in his 101 class, to Medina opinioning (Yes, I made that word up) to basically everyone in the world commenting in every forum on the internet. After my last article, which was basically well received, I want to make three points:
1) I no longer think there will be a "bubble burst." I think the Legacy price situation is more like a stomach. Yes, a stomach. It needs fed (everyone playing the format) and keeps getting bigger and bigger. After awhile, it is full, and needs to relax and digest and shrink (people selling cards). Eventually, it will be hungry again, and get bigger again, however, it has stretched and will never get that small again.
Basically, I am saying that the bubble is going to expand and contract, but the contraction will never be to the original prices, but to something between the high current prices and the lower prices from earlier in the year. This has happened the past 2 years and it will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
2) A lot of Americans are complaining about the high cost of Legacy, but I don't see many Asians or Europeans doing so. I am simply going to copy/paste a response by a very well-respected vendor friend of mine and let this tell the truth:
"Foreigners have paid more for Duals, FoW, Power and every other legacy/vintage staple for years and the market has caught up to the U.S. There were a few vendors who made a killing buying cards from Americans and took tons of 1990s Magic cards to Europe and Japan to beat the currency exchange. Now Americans want these cards back and it's going to cost each and every one of us who want Legacy cards.
Americans meet the Euro. This beat you for years and now it's going to beat you if you want to play Legacy."
3) I have said both "Wizards should do some sort of reprint of certain cards like Force of Will or Wasteland to lower the cost a bit to let people in" as well as "I like cards costing money and if you want to win you need to spend the money or not complain." Yes, both statements contradict itself and I actually just think the whole topic is very messy. I can easily see both sides of the argument and I probably need to sit down and just stare at a wall and think about the topic. I just want as many people playing magic as possible at all times. It's good for making money and it's good for the game.
New Tournament Structure
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/news/041411a
I personally like this change for a few reasons. The first is that it makes my local store's prerelease that much more exciting and relevant. It does suck for my local premier tournament organizer (PTO), PES. I am lucky to have such a quality PTO compared to the horror stories I hear throughout the rest of the country. The truth is, Wizards probably doesn't want to keep being in charge of the Pro Tour and PTQs and all that stuff. This would be in line with them making the WPN Premium announcement (http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/Events.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/events/wpn/premium) as well as the this new Tournament Structure annoucement. I can see SCG or some other independent company taking over the task of running the Pro Tour and GP circuit while WoTC keeps a CLOSE eye on everything. It could potentially save them Millions over the year between salaries and marketing and running the events. More GPs and Premium events mean more people playing, which mean more cards to trade for and that means more money for you and me.
New Phyrexia Spoilers
Just going to cover a few interesting cards and give my opinions on them.
Planeswalker - Karn
+4: Target player exiles a card from his or her hand.
-3: Exile target permanent.
-14: Set aside all non-Aura permanent cards exiled with Karn, then restart the game. Then put all cards set aside this way onto the battlefield under your control.
Now, this guy is the hot card in the format and I couldn't be colder on it. $50 for a 7 casting cost Planeswalker? Sorry, I think this format is far too fast for that card to be useful. It might goes as a 1-2 of in Ramp and casual players will love it, but I can see it dropping to around $10-$15 easily. No way this guys stays at $50 for anything past a week or 2 after prerelease.
Creature - Horror
Trample
Whenever a source deals damage to ~, that source's controller sacrifices that many permanents.
5/5
I like this card, but only at the mid-point of the summer. It currently fails the Jace test, however that only matters till October. I would look to avoid until like August, and it should be at a much lower cost point where getting this guy could be profitable just in time for states in October.
Instant
( can be paid with either or 2 life.)
Choose target card in a graveyard other than a basic land card. Search its owner's graveyard, hand, and library for all cards with the same name as that card and exile them. Then that player shuffles his or her library.
This card is good, however, it won't be a $10 rare. I can see it being closer to $5 like Green Sun's Zenith, which like this card will be, is played in every format back to Legacy. It is also the buy-a-box promo so that should hurt the cost if it a good bit.
That's all I have for this week. Hopefully this next week I will have some sweet spoilers to tell you if you should invest or not as well as hopefully bragging that I won my regionals! Good luck this weekend everyone at your regionals and hope you guys make some killer trades.
Contact
E-mail: tennis_stu_3001@hotmail.com
MOTL/MTGO: stu55
AIM: stoopskoo15
Store: The Vault- Greensburg, PA
I feel as if Surgical Extraction is getting a bit underestimated. The card in and of itself is broken as it is a mana-less Extirpate. The real key however is that there is no color restriction on this card and it can be played in ANY deck. With a card that can be run in any deck and that has very little substitutes makes the demand very price inelastic. I have feeling that it will be the most disruptive card of the set. I will wait to see the rest of the set before cementing a formal opinion.
Here is the trick with that card, the target has to be in the graveyard. What are you going to do against Boros? Name Steppe Lynx? Getting Jace in the mirror is a big advantage of course, but what if it never hits the bin and resolves first? Memoricide is better against Valakut since it stops Titan from ever resolving, which in of itself is usually game.
What I am getting at is that it does not have any effect on the board at all and unless the card is in hand, it basically doesn't effect any game play except for costing you a card in hand.
You clearly don't play Extraction against Boros, genius. It will most likely find it's way in (for Standard) UB Control and probably some Mono Black Control deck that's full of discard whether it be side or main.
Ok genius…but the plan of "discard + extraction" is also an awful one, genius. I know I am no genius like you, but this card has close to 0 impact on Standard, because all of the genius people in the format have decided that Vengevine decks can't beat Valakut so it isn't being played.
I was mainly ripping on you talking about trying to use Surgical Extraction against Boros is all. Calm down chief.
The boros example was called sarcasm…a great tool
Good article, Stu! I enjoyed it a lot. One of the interesting parts of the SCG series alongside the GPs is that decks evolve really, really fast. Caw-Go is a good example.
On the new Extirpate, you've got to look at it with this question in mind: "What spell, if cast twice, hurts so much more?" There are definitely specific answers, but few good historical examples. In older Vintage, nailing someone's Brainstorms was great. However, if they already ripped a Gifts Ungiven, there wasn't much that nailing a second one would do. The best example I can think of, right now, is Mulldrifter in 5cc. The first one hurt a little, but a second one was rough, especially if it came back from Cruel Ultimatum. Mulldrifters are hard to find in current formats. I've seen people say "well I'll hit all the High Tides in High Tide!" But to do that, you need to run discard or let me Tide once. And if I've Tided once, I'll be winning anyway.
the best part about extraction is that you can Inquisition or Duress away whatever ails you, then crush them with a free T1 extraction. rares just dont stay above $5 though. the precedent really isn't there.
The best part of extraction is actually nothing because it is unplayable. It can't really hit a primeval and there aren't any other combo decks. It is not worth losing a card in hand when you have no impact on the board unless you are crippling a combo deck, just hitting a jace or whatever is not worth it.
Sure it can't hit Primeval Titan but if you counter it and they try to Summoning Trap you can just rip their Titans out of the yard. Plus it hits Valakuts if you Tectonic Edge them. I wouldn't throw out this card just yet.
And if you don't hit anything, it just sits in your hand and does nothing
Why are people talking about Extraction in standard? It's for legacy. The question is would you rather have it be free or uncounterable?
Apparently I am not alone in my opinion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B93HMnXt2c (CF's channely by the way)
I'm actually with Jeebus on this one, borderline unplayable in Standard, though it *Could* work against Valakut or help to win Jace battles, but it's so narrow. Legacy card.