Insider: 10 Collection Gems You Didn’t Know Were Valuable

Posted on August 30, 2012January 17, 2022 by Corbin Hosler

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When I wrote about the Dead Zone in Magic finance, one of the things I suggested doing to pass the time was to go through your collection, as well as any you might pick up. Going through my own stuff, which I last picked a few years ago, I found plenty of gems worth pulling out to sell.

It got even better when a friend came into a collection that he gave to me to sell. He was happy taking all the money from the rares; and I was even more happy to take all the money from the commons and uncommons I could pick. It went very well for me, and I found a bunch of textless spells on top of goodies like Cursecatchers and Imperious Perfects.

But how much mileage you get out of any collection goes only so far as your ability to pick. Time is money, and if you have to spend hours upon hours of looking up card prices, chances are you’re not spending your time very efficiently. On the other hand, if you’re able to quickly pick a collection and pull out all the cards that buylist for a quarter or more, you’re going to do very well.

A lot of the money I make off any given collection comes from picking the commons and uncommons that people usually forget about. Last week there was a request for me to cover some of these cards, so this week I wanted to point out some of the best gems you’ll find in collections.

My Brainstorm Brewery podcast co-host Ryan Bushard covered the Standard picklist extensively here, so I won’t touch on Standard sets. I do think he went a little overboard on the list, as you end up pulling out a lot of stuff like Mulch that most dealers won’t want, but it’s a very good starting point.

I’m going to keep it to sets within the last five years because, in my experience at least, that’s most often what I get when I buy.

10. Elvish Promenade

Lorwyn block is insane for picking. Basic rules. Pull all the Elves you can find, and a lot of the Goblins and Merfolk as well. Imperious Perfect is obvious the nut high, but Promenade headlines a host of other cards worth picking.

Other things to be on the lookout for include any Harbinger in the set, and things like Knight of Meadowgrain and Jagged-Scar Archers. I love picking cards from this era.

9. Manamorphose

This innocuous common is absurdly expensive for what it is, and these are usually $.50 to a dollar from dealers. You will easily pull dozens of these from a reasonably-sized collection, and they add up extremely quickly.

8. Ponder; Preordain; Serum Visions

These are the big 3 of the last few years, but you’re pretty safe grabbing any playable Blue cantrip. Sleight of Hand is another good one. These are usually a quarter on buylists, and it’s another group of cards you find literally dozens of when you’re sorting.

7. Beseech the Queen

This card is a tutor. Therefore, it is played in EDH and worth money as a result. You can get a dollar apiece on these from a good dealer, and it’s a card I see even practiced players skim over when they’re evaluating cards.

6. Faerie Macabre; Relic of Progenitus

To these you can add just about any Eternal-playable hate card. They aren’t anything super special, but they do add up very fast. Relics in particular I see a ton of in collections, and I love pulling them out. Even with a reprinting in a Planechase product, you can get $.50 apiece on these from dealers.

5. Oblivion Ring

Pull out every O-Ring you find. Despite being reprinted a million times, it’s worth the trouble to pull it out of every set it’s been in, because dealers still give real money for these.

4. Blightning

Fringe Modern-playable, but still worth a quarter to dealers. This one is somewhat surprising, since it screams bulk outside of a Standard context these days. But it’s a common and worth a quarter, which means you’re likely to find $5-10 in Blightnings alone in a typical collection from this era.

3. Mind Funeral

I assume most people know this one, but I’ll mention it anyway. This card retails for $4+ and is a beautiful find in collections. But remember not to stop at Mind Funerals. Memory Sluice is a pick. Drowner of Secrets is sometimes even a pick. Just pull out all the Mill cards and check them later, it’s always worth your time.

2. Vampire Nighthawk

This is an odd one. It’s been reprinted a ton, and the M13 version isn’t worth picking at the moment for shipping to dealers, though you should probably just binder it. The Zendikar version, however, is worth 50 cents to dealers. I came across 10 of these while picking my own old boxes a few weeks ago, which was a nice surprise since I would have figured I’d have bindered them back in the day.

1. Nonbasic Lands

Seriously, grab every one you can. The tri-lands from Alara are worth $.50 apiece. The Refuges from Zendikar are worth quarters. Stuff like Ancient Ziggurat are 50 cents. Basically every non-basic land you can find will be worth money, so just grab them all and check it out later.

There you go. As I’ve said before, making the most out of collections isn’t always about getting flashy rares or scoring sweet discounts on Duals. It’s about finding value in the areas where only you can. The seller can look up something like a Jace, the Mind Sculptor. What they won’t do is look up thousands of commons and uncommons.

You, on the other hand, can sort through these in a matter of a few hours and pull out hundreds of dollars in cash. This is where I make the most money on collections I pick up, and the more practice you get at it the faster it will go. Your hourly rate on flipping the collection will go up, and so forth.

Reading about a bunch of cards worth a quarter or two isn’t the most exciting thing in the world, but training your mind to spot these cards while picking will significantly increase the profits you earn. At times it may seem like there are simply too many cards to remember to pick, but that’s why I find lists like this one helpful. You may not be able to remember hundreds of cards to pick all once, but you can remember 10-15 at a time until they become engrained in your mind. And it only gets easier, and more profitable, from there.

Thanks for reading,

Corbin Hosler

@Chosler88 on Twitter

Just Play RUG Delver

Posted on August 29, 2012August 29, 2012 by Ryan Overturf

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I was recently inspired by a Cedric Phillips rant to try playing Storm in Legacy. I think that Cedric was really spot on with his evaluation of the current state of Legacy, and I agree that Storm is currently well positioned. I especially agree with his disdain for decks like Maverick, which plays the least playable basic land ever printed.

I borrowed Forrest Ryan’s copy of the GP Ghent list and took it to a few smaller Legacy tournaments. I found the deck to be both fun and challenging, and I was really enjoying playing it. I had to follow a lot of interesting lines and plan my kill turn a few turns in advance, which I found pretty enjoyable. My favorite play that I’ve made with the deck by far was Burning Wishing for a Gitaxian Probe that I boarded out to go off for exactly 20 the following turn.

But the fun stopped during the fourth round of the Legacy event I played last Thursday.

When my opponent sat down across from me I wasn’t convinced that he know where he was. He shuffled slowly, tanked on simple decisions and was playing double-sleeved despite not having any foils in his deck.

He was playing RUG Delver, which is one of the primary matchups that I wanted to play more on the Storm side. In game one he played a turn one Delver on the play, amateurly Brainstormed to flip it on turn one, and easily killed me before I could find the discard spells necessary to go off.

He continued to play a turn one Delver and Brainstorm to flip it on turn two every game in our match. This is actually the only reason there even was a game three, as his premature Brainstorm in game two made my discard spells MUCH stronger.

Even though he lost that game, his Brainstorm in game three was considerably worse. He had a Trop in play, Brainstormed on upkeep, revealed Force of Will (thanks for the info, bud), then didn’t have a land to play.

He showed me he had disruption, threw away his only way of hiding it, and Brainstorm locked himself off of lands all on turn one.

And he still won very easily.

The moral of the story, kids, is that everybody should just play RUG Delver. It doesn’t matter if you’re incompetent. It doesn’t even matter if you’re missing the dual lands - just buy them before an event and you’ll win back the money very easily. The deck is just insane.

Now, you might be thinking that playing RUG makes you a dog to the decks that I was trying to beat by playing Storm, but I would disagree with you.

The Maverick matchup isn’t nearly as bad for RUG as people seem to think it is if you know how to play it. I’m the type of guy that will always pack 4 Stifle, so Maverick is easier for me than those who don’t (Maverick is literally a pile of activated abilities). But even without it the matchup is fine.

If you’re really worried about it, pack a Dismember in the main and max out on Submerges in the sideboard. With this much removal you should really only be losing if you fail to recognize which creatures of theirs are important. If that’s your problem, then I’ll give you a hint - Mother of Runes, Knight of the Reliquary and Scavenging Ooze.

Thalia can be annoying if you’re choked on mana, but you’ll frequently be able to get it with your Forked Bolt or Fire/Ice. Also, Sulfur Elemental out of the board does wonders against it and Mom.

I’ve noticed that a lot of Maverick players have been adopting Cavern of Souls, which I feel is laughable. If they want to beat RUG, which is one of very few decks that actually cares about countering their creatures, they should just be fetching basics so that they can’t get Wastelanded to death. Cavern is unreal good in Standard, but a deck like Maverick should be much more worried about removal spells and Wastelands than the Dazes that they can easily play around.

Seriously, just play the matchup a few times. Don’t do stupid things like blow your only removal spell on a Noble Hierarch or Wasteland them when you’re behind. You should be golden.

In addition to being favored against Maverick, RUG clearly has an advantage against most combo decks. Sometimes they can just draw more disruption than you, but for the most part you are very capable of fighting them. To be entirely honest, there are only two decks that I’m worried about while playing RUG:

Merfolks

You have Islands. Fish hate Islands. Fish kill you dead.

Unlike Maverick, pretty much every creature out of Merfolk matters. You want to jam as much removal as possible if you want to realistically beat this matchup. Personally I’ve been packing three Red Elemental Blasts on my board and have had two Dismember in my 75 as of late.

Of course, Merfolk is by and large being hated out by everybody else as is. Even still, the REBs have a pretty low opportunity cost as they are good against many flavors of combo and the mirror as well.

The other matchup that concerns me tends to have less overlap with the rest of Legacy…

Death and Taxes

Before I begin this section, I will make it clear that D&T is not a real deck. Anybody playing it is blatantly disrespecting the Legacy format at large, and this is the exact reason that it can be such a tough matchup for RUG.

With a manabase of mono-Plains and a playset of Aether Vial, D&T can make a joke out of counterspells and Wastelands. Jotun Grunt and it’s gigantic backside couples with its ability to hose Tarmogoyf and Nimble Mongoose are also quite problematic.

The one advantage that RUG has in this matchup is that D&T relies on the activated/triggered abilities of Mother of Runes, Mangara of Corondor and Aether Vial. Stifle really shines against decks like this.

If you’re not playing Stifle… Well, good luck. The one thing you can do is have Sulfur Elemental on board. It might look like a wasted slot, but it’s also good against Maverick and is worth boarding in against certain combo decks where tapping out for Tarmogoyf can be a huge liability.

Like I said, though, D&T is not a real deck, so you shouldn’t have to play against it. But lord knows that I always find a way to play against the only guy in the room playing it.

While I think that I have grown some as a player simply by picking up Storm for a spell, I just can’t bring myself to not play RUG in any event where it matters. It can be tuned to beat basically any metagame and its bad matchups are few and far between.

If you take the time to actually learn how to play the deck and Brainstorm well, like so few other players have done, then you will see great success with the deck. This I promise you.

Good luck, high five.

-Ryan Overturf

Insider: Izzet True?

Posted on August 29, 2012January 17, 2022 by Chad Havas

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Well, over the weekend, we’ve gotten a full spoiler of the Izzet vs Golgari Duel Decks. What a great way to kick off the excitement into the new block. I’ve been pretty excited for Return to Ravnica already, but after seeing some hot new spoilers, I’m chomping at the bit. As most of you have hopefully seen, Sigmund has created an awesome spoiler update page, that is constantly updated with any new RTR spoilers, so bookmark it!

This week we saw a few cards, but the most exciting one to me is Izzet Charm. This card is exactly what the Izzet mage wants. It’s cheap, it’s a counterspell, it’s removal, it’s card selection. This card is versatile enough that I envision a variety of strategies arising that can employ this card in Standard.

Izzet in Standard

Considering this card is both a counter and burn, it quickly makes the cut in any counter-burn strategy. Faithless looting at 2 mana isn’t exciting, but as an instant it’s much stronger, especially given the flexibility you have when you cast it. I could see this in an aggro-control U/R Delver build, as well as a longer game U/R/x control build. In either case, it provides cheap answers to protect threats or to deal with them after they hit the board. This is all I needed to see to know that [card Snapcaster Mage]Snapcaster[/card] will have a home post rotation and I’m going to rebuy my set. As we looked at a couple weeks ago, some of the Izzet cards I still recommend targeting are Sulfur Falls and Desperate Ravings. Patrick Chapin broke Desperate Ravings early in a Grixis control deck, but control really hasn’t been around since then.

I expect it to come back in an Izzet variety, and this uncommon has already disappeared from view. These can be found well under $1/set and $4-5/set for foils. This is something that could be a big winner, even dumping them to dealers, as I could see this hitting $0.25 buy list pretty easily. It’s a card that has an extremely powerful effect, and flashing it back is some of the most insane value there is (if you’re into that sort of thing). The longer shot part of this call is [card Tibalt the Fiend-blooded]Tibalt[/card]. Tibalt has a very unique set of abilities, that would actually have synergy with a U/R control deck. Given there’s enough redundancy and Flashback in your deck, the random discard on both of these spells is not a big deal. His Stormseeker ability is a absolute beating against control and his ultimate is so scary against aggro they’ll be trying to kill your Tibalt instead of your life. He’s cheap enough now (<$3) that I don’t expect him to drop any further and find him to be a minimal risk even if it is a long shot to succeed. Golgari has also shown us a spicy new 3/3 haste for 3 mana. This guy is aggressively costed and is enough reason to start thinking about G/B aggro, or some variety there of like Jund or Junk. Not to mention he’s got the new Scavenge ability which lets him pump your other dudes from your graveyard. I’m not totally sold on this mechanic or guild yet, but my eyes are fixed, and I’m still looking to pick up Woodland Cemetary whenever the price is right.

Legacy News

In other news, Omniscience is tearing up Legacy and everyone’s hot spec target is Academy Rector. Talk to your EDH friends, find out who’s got them for trade and get ‘em. They’re already sold out everywhere. My Legacy insiders all are ranting about going deep on it, and I can’t disagree with their rationale. A card that’s already an EDH favorite that might suddenly become a 4x in the most popular combo deck in Legacy? Get them if you can. I do recommend a swift sale on any profit you’re comfortable with, as this is something that the metagame will correct if it truly becomes a big deck. If you have any sitting in an EDH deck somewhere, I’d ship them out via EBay and replace them at a later date.

EBay Misspellings

Lastly, I wanted to give everyone a reminder to check misspellings on EBay. I’ve written about this a couple times, but sometimes a refresher is in need. Last week I posted one I found on twitter for two “Duel” lands, and one of my followers bid, and had no competition. Ask @punk43rckr about it if you don’t believe me. Since then, I’ve discovered a site that specifically will check for commonly misspelled listings on EBay. So if it was too hard for you to come up with your own misspellings, try this site! www.typobay.com Pretty easy to use, and will be a serious time saver if you check on these misspellings (and you should!).

This week I’ve got 3 things on my agenda. Pick up Tibalt, Desperate Ravings and ask around for Academy Rectors from EDH folk. I’m continuing to hunt for Innistrad Duels that match the upcoming Ravnica Guilds, and scouring EBay for deals (misspelled or not). Happy hunting this week!

Jason’s Archives: eBay Wackiness, Maro gets Presidential and the Beatdown in Bean Town

Posted on August 28, 2012August 28, 2012 by Jason Alt

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Greetings, Speculators!

If you follow the Twitter stream you are usually a day (or three) ahead of the pace at which podcasts and articles can keep you apprised of things. Following Helene Bergeot, Aaron Forsythe and Maro seems like a no-brainer if you want to have your finger firmly on the pulse of the game's future developments and you can usually contribute to informal polling that they do with those accounts. Following Brian David Marshall and Rich Hagon is valuable if you're interested in coverage of major events. It's better to know things about events while those events are still going on; waiting until Monday isn't always the best way to stay plugged in.

Helene Bergeot recently brought the following link to everyone's attention: Outcome of the WTGWC Shuffling Investigation. If you read the mothership religiously, you saw it already, but I prefer to have others sift through that information for me. Maybe that's why I like reddit.com so much.

Here's the gist of the article: the incident I highlighted last week in my Gen Con wrapup was investigated and there will be no further disciplinary action taken.

This came as somewhat of a surprise, especially in light of the excellent analysis by Tom Martell that makes Iramain look quite guilty. Intent is difficult to prove when it's disguised as sloppiness. Also, his opponent always did his due diligence and cut/shuffled his deck when it was presented to him. Shuffling your opponent's deck doesn't mean you don't trust them, it should be a reflex action that you do every time.

If you follow Maro, you will know what a prolific contributor of content he is. He reminded his Twitter followers this weekend that he'd published his annual "State of Design Address. He also included links to past years' addresses. It's a lot of reading, but it's all interesting stuff and well worth the read.

What Manner of Silliness Can One Find on eBay?

Well, I'm glad you asked, rhetorical device. Bored out of my mind and needing a break from the drudgery of listing items for sale in my eBay store, I occasionally type random phrases into the eBay search engine to see what pops up. Occasionally this can lead to great deals ("[card Jace, the Mind Sculptor]Jace the Mind Sculpter[/card]" is a favorite of mine. Three hours left and zero bids, eh? Wonder why.) and occasionally it can lead to big lols.

I was waiting until I had enough of these gems and today is your lucky day.

Whispers of the Amusing

My decision to publish this collection of hilarity was inspired by Quiet Speculation's own Doug Linn who e-mailed me this hilarious eBay auction he encountered.

How much for the rulebooks — Brought to you by the writer of Hoarders and the producer of Pawn Stars.

I wasn't aware I had literally 12 dollars of hidden value just sitting in a pile in my basement waiting to be discovered. I bet I can get $5 for the 200 empty Betrayers of Kamigawa precon boxes I have littering up the joint. Rat's Nest truly is the gift that keeps on giving.

The day I found out I was a millionaire — I thought it was a joke until I saw how many were sold.

In case of avid QS readers forming an angry mob to drive to Rhode Island and teach this seller a lesson, I opted not to include too much seller info. The going rate for basics is about $2/1000 lands. To see them sold for this much money kind of offends my MTG finance sensibilities. I guess it doesn't hurt to see if I can't sell 200 basics for 10 bucks in my store. I hear that's a huge savings. They go for $12 per 200 on eBay I heard.

Not the classiest — ... And that's enough internet for today.

I think it's telling that the seller's name isn't "MTGSuperfan." This fake alter onto a basic swamp is the kind of monstrosity only a fan of the Japanimation could love (do you kids still call it that nowadays? I'm so behind the times.) I must commend the talent of the alterist here, though. It takes a lot of skill with Photoshop to make a pair of breasts that big look unappealing. My hat is off.

This has 6 bids — **Used** sleeves? Few things are less appealing.

If that last one didn't make you feel dirty all over, maybe this one will. Someone else's fingerprint grime for free! Talk about value!

This just goes to show if it says "Magic: the Gathering" on it, someone will buy it. No matter how.... used it is.

Enough Awful for One Day. Tell Me about the Toinaments.

Soitenly.

This weekend, there were some tournaments.

Now Tell Me of their Significance

They were significant.

A Bunch of Virgins Join the Mile High Club

Denver was home to the Star City Games Open this weekend.

Top X Standard Decks

I guess it's the Top 24? It's never clear why the deck in 131st is reported and the deck in 19th isn't.

Winner Michael Lee is a fellow redditor, posting a victory snap on the site today. Congrats, Michael.

G/W Aggro seemed like an odd choice as the list doesn't look terribly powerful at a glance. But its speed and synergy became readily apparent to onlookers as this deck ran an ugly gauntlet of U/W Delver and a surprising amount of Mono-Green Infect to take top honors. [card Melira, Sylvok Outcast]Melira[/card] out of the board shows Lee was prepared for such a contingency.

Also worth noting was a favorite deck of mine, Black Market, piloted by Matthew Pitzer who did so well with the deck that he finished both 8th and 16th.

double prizes — Better than winning an online PTQ between rounds.

I collected as many Trading Posts as I could at Gen Con. This card, especially in foil, has nowhere to go but up. Forecasting what a Standard without Black Sun's Zenith will look like, Pitzer jammed four Mutilate. But will a Standard without Pristine Talisman be as good for this deck? Only time will tell. With most of the relevant artifacts set to rotate, the clock may be ticking on this archetype.

Also notably not U/W Delver was Wolf Run White, a Naya-colored ramp deck that doesn't have any trouble hardcasting that [card Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite]Elesh Norn[/card]. What do we say to graveyard hate? Not today!

Three Top 32 B/R Zombies decks to zero U/B Zombies deck make the picture increasingly clear that the best zombies in the block are actually vampires.

Great job, competitors!

Top X Legacy Decks

Jamming a Moat (not Humility?) into U/W Control, Joe Lossett decided Legacy should look more like Standard and trounced the competition, spreading the Azorius menace to another format.

Could Joe actually be running Portent instead of Ponder? It looks that way, as Portent is being tested as a way to ruin the meticulous plans of a competitor attempting to stack their own library. Whether thwarting their miracles, shuffling away a Sensei's Divining Top or ordering your own library following a disappointing Brainstorm, Portent actually has a lot of utility, and is a cantrip to boot. It's not just a bad Ponder, folks, this card has legs. I hope to see this tech adopted.

Eight different decks in the Top 8? That's a welcome sight. The format continues to be anyone's game and most matches come down to skill and preparation, making it arguably the healthiest constructed format in the game.

Omniscience continues to impact the meta as Omni-Tell variants outperform their non-all-knowing counterparts. Impervious to Karakas and Gilded Drake, this build is the gold standard for "unfair" decks in Legacy right now.

Grab those Omnisciences, folks! Dealers tried to give me $2 on them all weekend which meant people were selling them at $2 which means not everyone has caught on. If you can get these under $5 in a trade, you'd be silly not to. Let everyone else fight over Thundermaw Hellkite and Liliana of the Dark Realms, the real value in this set is still under everyone's radar.

The GP in Boston-Woostah (That's how they pronounce it, don't look at me) was Limited. Michigan's local hero and Grizzly Adams lookalike contest winner Brain Demars smoked the competition to take down his first GP win, proving he's not just a Vintage guy. The decklists are on the Mothership if you are into that sort of thing.

I Take My Leave of You and Your Faces

If you learn nothing from my articles, retain the most salient elements. There is money to be made from M13, but not where everyone thinks there is; the market is roughly a month behind the Legacy metagame as Humility can still be scooped for $6-$8 in trades and people are willing to come off of Omniscience for $2 cash; and, most importantly, 90 rulebooks are worth more than nothing. So much more.

Take care of yourselves.

Jason Alt
@JasonEAlt on Twitter

Insider: Vintage & Legacy Markets, Overmaster and More Crazy Picks

Posted on August 28, 2012January 17, 2022 by Douglas Linn

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We've got a lot to go over this week! First, I want to talk to you about quirks of the collector market in Legacy and Vintage. I'll also touch on a pop-up card and some out-there picks in anticipation of Return to Ravnica.

But first, have you seen Izzet Charm?

I love Charms a lot and it's nice to see their power level going up. Let's hope that this is emblematic of the other charms, too. This is imminently playable and intuitive to everyone how awesome it is. It's got three, near-universally useful abilities that will change in power over the course of the game. With nine more guilds to look at over the next few months, I'm sure we'll see two or three stand-out Charms. I am particularly excited about the enemy-colored charms in Orzhov (B/W) and Simic (U/G) on account of those color combinations being weird and sometimes very powerful.

Vintage and Legacy Collectors Are Really, Really Picky

When it comes to staples like Force of Will, dual lands and fetchlands, Eternal magic players are pretty generous. Played and beat staples like these are still currency, since so many people want them but don't care about the condition very much (myself included). However, there are a few instances where condition matters a lot.

Foreign languages: I have seen many a trader overvalue their Japanese non-foil cards, sometimes still at two or three times the value of the English counterpart. I've seen people think that $19 is fair for a Flooded Grove that looks like a sushi menu. The thing is, with the huge stocks in online stores and the push for foreign languages in the market, cards in different languages don't really command a premium any more. I've noticed this on big retailers like SCG and Cape Fear Games. CFG, in particular, tends to have Japanese versions of cards for the same value, sometimes only a penny or two more. So when you get those Japanese Lodestone Golems, don't get too excited that some Vintage player is going to pop out of his Workshop for a moment to pay you $20s on those things.

HOWEVER-

Foil versions of Japanese cards are still hot stuff. You know this. English foil versions are sometimes slightly less hot stuff (foil Spell Snare is still $40) but sometimes they are just blanks (foil Phyrexian Revoker is a glum $3). Don't trade for foils based on them being Vintage cards unless you are sure of what they run!

Let's shift to Magic's debut for a moment. Chas Andres did an excellent rundown on SCG awhile back that exhaustively looked at the Beta market. If you're looking at getting into it or have a lot of Beta cards to get rid of, the cost of their subscription is worth it for that article alone! To summarize one of Chas' big points: condition matters. Condition is nearly everything. If your card is more Beat than Beta, there's no market for it. This means cards like Purelace should be Mint (and if they are, they're worth $10) or else they'll poison your binder for years and years. Now when you're looking at Beta dual lands, it's a different story, but most Beta cards are valuable to people who are collecting Beta. The condition of their Scryb Sprites matters to them, not the card's playability.

Overmaster

Overmaster has been heating up recently, thanks to three copies appearing in the winning Sneak & Show list from GenCon's Legacy Championships. We've been discussing this card on the QS Forum for several weeks and the reaction to the card among posters is mostly tepid. The card has gone from five pennies to about a dollar at this point, so it's worth a bit more. People report that they're selling briskly on Ebay, but with such small actual-dollar margins to be made, I don't know that this is one that I'd pursue very much. Even worse, trading these away has been miserable.

Overmaster is clever, I'll give you that. It's not blue though, which is a major strike against it and a reason why I'd consider something like Spell Pierce over it. You're not going to use it to beat Counterbalance anyway (stop your Overmaster with C-Bal), so you might as well use a more proactive card instead. However, foil versions have been getting a few bites. This tells me that the always-reliable Legacy deck pimps want their Overmasters to be reflective and are paying for them. Again, I'm not big on this card at all, but it's worth looking for in boxes of foil rares if you have them around.

Crazy Picks from Recent Sets For RTR

Return to Ravnica is going to be the talk of Magic for the next several months. I'm already prepared for long and insufferable Standard reviews of it. I'm also prepared for a glorious and sprawling, awesome set filled with goodies for everyone. I already want half of the cards spoiled, so they're getting something right.

One of the set mechanics is Populate, which will clone a creature token. The anticipated combo that people are looking forward to is a Populate Dude paired with Cackling Counterpart. Simply play the Populate guy and then Cackle him at the opponent's endstep. It'd be this season's Splinter Twin if a monster with Populate actually comes along. The big question, though, is if we're actually going to see anything that Populates with a suitable mana cost. This is holding people back and this is bad thinking! Cackling Counterpart is really, really cheap. It's fractions of a ticket on MTGO and about a quarter in paper. The upside on hitting with this is great, since you're looking at a card that would be at least $2-3. The downside is that you've spent $5 on innumerable copies of a card that will probably have some appeal down the road to Commander players. To put it in terms of The System, you're risking only 10 cents on each copy since you can bulk them out for 15 cents. This is not as good as Twin was, but it'll still be good if they print anything that works with it. The time to buy this, if you want in on it, is now and not when we all see that 2W Populate or 1G Populate guy get printed - by then, everyone will know to pick up Counterparts.

I'll give a hat tip to Sylvain Lehoux from the QS Forum for this next one, Blasphemous Act. He correctly pointed out that there's no white sweeper in M13 and this is a cheap card that gets cheaper with tokens. I'm excited about Blasphemous Act; it scales with the Selesnya hordes to make a pretty cheap sweeper. It doesn't compete on the same angles as Bonfire (Bonfire is best when you have mana ramp around) and it is very, very easy to splash into decks. We're going to be Farseeking up a lot of Stomping Grounds, folks. Unlike Mutilate, there's nothing that punishes us for running only one Mountain in our G/U deck to turn on Blasphemous Act. I don't know if it'll outcompete Black Sun's Zenith, but I don't have high hopes for black decks in Ravnica. Dimir and the U/B color combo in general has usually been considered too good in development to actually get good cards. We are going to have to work harder to remove lots of permanents. This means we'll be playing lots of Swamps or maybe paying BB4 to kill an X/4 army. Blasphemous Act is by no means a catch-all, but it gives a lot of sweeping options.

That's the bill for this week! Next week, I'll tackle some more Insider Basics as we wait for RTR to heat up. Until then,

-Doug Linn

Tribes in Commander

Posted on August 27, 2012August 27, 2012 by Andrew Martin

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One of the most exciting parts of Magic is the flavor of all the [card Phelddagrif]interesting monsters[/card].

Whether it's the classic [card Monss goblin raiders]goblin[/card] or the elusive [card floral spuzzem]spuzzem[/card], every creature in the Magic universe has it's place. Some tribes are powerful enough to compete in Legacy, like [card goblin lackey]goblins[/card] or [card Lord of Atlantis]merfolk[/card], while others like [card Diregraf Captain]zombies[/card] or [card Ravenous Baloth]beasts[/card] have been powerful in Standard.

But which tribes are best for Commander? Since we just want to have fun, whatever tribe brings you the most enjoyment will be best for you, but it won't be very interesting if you lose every time!

Why Incorporate a Tribe in a Commander Deck?

Flavor

A sleuth of [card Grizzly Fate]bears[/card] or a clowder of [card White Suns zenith]cats[/card] can be entertaining in its own right, even if the creatures don't interact with one another. I currently have a Toshiro Umezawa deck that takes advantage of many [card Pestilence Demon]demons[/card]. The problem is that there are very [card Blood speaker]few cards[/card] that actually benefit from having many demons in my deck, but it is fun none the less.

Synergy

This is probably the best reason to include a tribe, because certain tribal cards work well together, which we can take even more advantage of by choosing a good Commander. Out of the many Commander decks I've built, one of my favorites was commanded by Horde of Notions. He alone provided enough reason to cram as many sweet elementals into my deck as I could.

Which Tribes Work Best

In other formats, tribal decks can be built using only the best 5-6 tribal cards available, because of the smaller deck size and maximum four copies of a single card. Commander decks don't have this luxury. It's a good idea to search gatherer for every creature of the tribe you are considering. Sometimes a tribe will seem fantastic but you soon find there are very few quality creatures.

Snakes is a good example. There are some sweet snakes, but very few [card Seshiro, the anointed]quality[/card] ones, so it would be difficult to make use of a snake theme. A blue/green snake deck led by Momir Vig, Simic Visionary may be viable though.

Big Threats

Higher costing creatures are usually better in Commander. This lets tribes that are weak in other formats to shine. Elementals, for example, work well because many have 'enters the battlefield' triggers, they span across all five colors, and are usually quite large. Second, Horde of Notions specifically takes advantage of an elemental theme, and lends himself to an awesome five-color elemental reanimator deck.

Another fun idea would be to lead fiery dragons with Zirilan of the Claw or Bladewing the Risen. Very threatening.

Card Advantage -

Another type of tribe that works well are those that can generate card advantage. A great example is wizards, led by Azami, Lady of Scrolls. Wizards have been around since the beginning so there are many to choose from, allowing for many different wizardly themed Commander decks. One caveat is their lack of threats, so be sure to back them up with a few [card Tidal Kraken]krakens[/card] or other juicy blue monsters. Selecting a different commander with [card Ertai, the corrupted]more colors[/card] would be another solution.

A second tribe that generates advantage well is zombies. There are many cards that [card lord of the undead]return zombies[/card] from your graveyard, which keeps the corpses forever marchin'. Using Grimgrin, Corpse-born as the commander opens up endless synergy possibilities.

Which Tribes are Underpowered?

It almost seems like Commander is the opposite of most formats. Powerful strategies in Legacy, for example, are usually bad in Commander, and tribes are no exception. When other formats utilize a tribe they are usually taking advantage of its [card Goblin Piledriver]aggressive[/card] synergies, but this isn't very helpful in Commander.

Cheap and Aggressive

Goblin Recruiter — Let's figure out how to win this one

Naturally aggressive tribes should generally be avoided. Forty life, multiple players, and board [card Oblivion Stone]wraths[/card] are all reasons not to play cheap, aggressive creatures in Commander. Having seven goblins in play on turn five may be fun, but a well placed Wrath of God will put you right out of the game.

I've tried playing goblins, and seen many others try as well, but I have yet to see a goblin deck that can win consistently. Goblins are one of the most popular creature types in Magic, probably more numerous than any other creature, but they just don't provide enough advantage or power to stay in the game after a board sweep. There are even several enticing Commander options, Wort, the Raidmother, Wort, Boggart Auntie, and the newly created Krenko, Mob Boss. I really want these decks to be good, but I just haven't figured out how to build them yet.

Another aggressive tribe is elves. These are quite a bit better than goblins because they are primarily green (the best color in Commander) and synergize better. Ramping mana is a very powerful strategy and elves do it well.

Another popular tribe is soldiers, but they are very weak in my opinion. They are white (the worst color in Commander) and don't generate much advantage.

Not Enough Cards

There can be two problems here. One is that there are enough synergy cards, but not enough other creatures to support them. This brings us back to snakes. There are some sweet snakes, but not enough to use as a primary theme or even a sub-theme. The problem arises because the [card Sosukes summons]snakes that synergize[/card] with other snakes require a bunch of them, which makes it hard to take full advantage of these cards.

The other possible problem is that there aren't enough synergy cards. A good example of this would be giants. The are a bunch of [card inferno titan]sweet giants[/card], but very [card Sunrise Sovereign]few cards[/card] that synergize.

Why Commander is awesome

I'm not saying that you shouldn't use goblins, soldiers, merfolk, etc., themes in Commander, but rather that some tribes aren't as powerful as others. Commander is such a versatile format that almost any theme can be executed, if you're willing to support it with other powerful cards or sacrifice power altogether.

An example would be my Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker deck. It runs a minor goblin theme restricted to [card Siege-gang Commander]goblins[/card] that work well with Kiki-Jiki. I have another deck led by Seton, Krosan Protector that uses druids as a primary theme. It isn't as powerful as an elf theme, but I like to be original with my decks.

Some tribes have enough cards to use as the main theme of a deck, while others can only be used as a sub-theme.

Examples of quality primary theme tribes: [card Horde of Notions]elementals[/card], [card Bladewing the Risen]dragons[/card], [card Azami, Lady of Scrolls]wizards[/card], [card Grimgrin, Corpse-born]zombies[/card] and [card Ezuri, Renegade Leader]elves[/card].

Example of quality sub-theme tribes: [card Krenko, Mob boss]goblins[/card], [card Sliver Overlord]slivers[/card] and [card Blood Speaker]demons[/card].

Other tribes that seem viable: [card Lin sivvi, defiant hero]rebels[/card], [card Iname as one]spirits[/card], [card Radiant, archangel]angels[/card], [card Ancestors Prophet]clerics[/card], [card Garza Zol plague queen]vampires[/card], [card Doran, the Siege Tower]treefolk[/card], [card Kangee, Aerie Keeper]birds[/card], [card Nemata, Grove Guardian]saprolings[/card], [card Oona, queen of the fae]faeries[/card] and [card contested cliffs]beasts[/card].

I am a proponent of having as much fan as you can in Commander, but for me to have fun I have to win sometimes. If making a bizarre [card cateran overlord]mercenary[/card] deck is what makes Commander fun for you, then do it, but for me I want my tribe to be able to crush my opponents.

When I create my Commander decks I am always sure to incorporate a major theme and a tribe is always a fun option. Sometimes tribes work well with other themes to create an interesting and dynamic deck. A great example would be [card gravecrawler]zombies[/card] and a [card Grave Pact]death[/card] [card Phyrexian altar]theme[/card]. However you use tribes in your deck (or even if you don't), just make sure you have fun with them.

Insider: Standard Rotation Pick-Ups

Posted on August 27, 2012January 17, 2022 by Sigmund Ausfresser

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I would like to begin this article with a personal reflection of my experience at GP Boston.

This past Saturday I spent twelve hours on site at GP Boston. After the first five rounds of Limited play I found myself at 5-0 (no byes), at table six out of 636, and seated across Magic World Cup Austria team member Thomas Holzinger.

Boy was I out of my league.

After two consecutive, demoralizing match losses I realized something. My passions and my strengths with regards to the game of Magic are clearly not tournament play. Exhausted and entering round eight I found myself wishing I could be writing this article and sharing my financial stories from GP Boston rather than playing to survive in this major event.

To make a long story short, I won round eight but I had already decided beforehand that I needed to go home. I decided my chances of making day two (let alone cashing out in the tournament) were slim enough that I should drop and return to normalcy at home.

I learned three valuable lessons yesterday – first, that I do have solid skill in the game of Magic and I can be competitive. Second, I treasure my connections with the MTG Finance community far more than I treasure competitive play. And finally, unless I am practically guaranteed a prize I much prefer being with my family than trying to win at a tournament.

Onto the Finance

After a quiet month, I feel like there is finally some financial buzz in Standard. This is likely to ramp up even more once Return to Ravnica spoiler season is underway. When Return to Ravnica is released, there will be a prime opportunity to pick up some Innistrad block cards at optimal prices.

This seems to be a common trend. When a new block is finally introduced, card pools for decks are at their smallest. Therefore, demand ultimately goes up on the previous block’s cards. But this only happens after a short term dip caused by a flooded market and hype the newest set release. Of course, this is right around when the departing block’s cards are cheapest and so it is the optimal time to acquire any Eternal staples you may need from this block.

Scars of Mirrodin Block

There are a handful of cards to consider acquiring soon from Scars block. The first cards that come to mind are the swords. Each of them are near their all time lows, but their playability in EDH and Legacy make them viable pick-ups in the near future (chart from blacklotusproject.com).

Two other interesting cards I may look to acquire soon are Karn Liberated and Mox Opal. But while Mox Opal is also near its all time low price, Karn has actually rebounded recently. This is likely due to his recent appearances in Modern. It is impressive how robust Karn’s price has proven to be, but I still believe if you need these for play that the time to acquire them is near.

Finally, there are a few smaller cards worth considering for long term acquisitions. The one I want to highlight here is Green Sun's Zenith – a powerful card maintaining a consistent price tag despite appearing in an Event Deck (chart from blacklotusproject.com). It probably won’t be too difficult to trade fresh Return to Ravnica cards for these Zeniths at around $6, which is nearly equivalent to converting your overpriced RtR cards for cash.

Innistrad Block

This is where things get interesting. This block has some very powerful cards that should prove useful even in the new Standard. While I could spend countless articles highlighting all of them, I’ll choose to focus on the few cards I’m currently eyeing.

First and foremost, and for the millionth time, I am bullish on Innistrad Dual Lands. Everyone knows why. But everyone may not know that as of Saturday, Star City Games only had six SP Clifftop Retreats in stock at $6.49 and zero NM copies at $6.99. They also only have nine NM copies of Hinterland Harbor in stock selling at $6.99. While dealers are still only offering $3 each to buy these cards, I feel their stocks will dry up soon and these will be on the rise.

I have also been recently touting the miracles of Avacyn Restored. While everyone knows Bonfire of the Damned is on the rise, cards like Terminus and Temporal Mastery may deserve a second look (chart from blacklotusproject.com).

Terminus hasn’t moved much in price since its release, but the trend this month has been slightly positive. With Day of Judgment rotating and no other board sweeper spoiled yet, this card may see increased play. Its utility in Legacy has also increased my interest in this card.

Temporal Mastery is also near it’s all time low price (chart from blacklotusproject.com).

Like Terminus, Temporal Mastery is just starting to see more play in constructed formats. Time will tell on this one, but if you need a set or are interested in speculating on these, the time to acquire them is near.

As for the some of the current Standard staples such as Geist of Saint Traft and Snapcaster Mage, I am still on the fence. These may be powerhouses now, but their utility will have to be proven again come rotation. Now, of course both are seeing solid Modern play and Snapcaster Mage sees Legacy play as well. So their prices do have a floor. But even if these cards do remain strong, they likely hold limited upside (especially Snappy, which is already a $20 rare in Standard).

One last recommendation I can make here requires a slightly larger investment, but with almost no downside – Avacyn Restored booster boxes. These are averaging in the $95 dollar range on eBay and I don’t expect their prices to drop. In fact, the only other stand-alone third set released by Wizards recently, Rise of the Eldrazi, currently averages $150 on eBay for English booster boxes. This represents a potential 50% return.

Given that Avacyn Restored is filled with both casual favorites (Angels galore) and powerful spells (Bonfire of the Damned, Terminus), acquiring a booster box or two of this set seems like a no-lose scenario. And while I can’t guarantee my other recommendations will increase in value, I am 99% sure Avacyn Restored booster boxes will not lose you money if you hold onto them for a couple years. It all depends on your goals and strategies for profiting.

Turning the Page

I picked up a few interesting facts this past weekend when talking with buyers at the dealer booths. None of them are aggressively buying Restoration Angel or Snapcaster Mage. The best offers I got on these were $6 and $12 respectively. When I challenged these offers, I was simply told that they already had many in stock.

Another card that didn’t move well was Overmaster, but I think this card’s time is near. Innistrad Duals only fetched $3 from the dealers, but I did notice many of the dealers lacked stock on at least one of the five. I feel these buy prices are due for a hike in the near future, perhaps a few weeks after Return to Ravnica’s release.

Not surprisingly, there was not much I actually was happy to sell to the dealers this time around. With everyone in a holding pattern in anticipation of Return to Ravnica, dealers are not willing to over commit to some cards. That being said, I still managed to move a few things here and there for solid prices and I am pleased with the outcome.

But the most important learning for me this past weekend was about my own priorities. My passion is still for MTG finance, and while having my one round amongst the pros was an exciting moment for my Magic playing career, I still prefer the convenience and rewards of Magic finance. Speculating on cards requires less time away from my family and is much less tiring. For these reasons, I plan on sticking with MTG finance for years to come.

Insider: MTGO Standard Market Snapshot

Posted on August 24, 2012January 17, 2022 by Matthew Lewis

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Something interesting is happening on MTGO. For a few weeks now, Avacyn Restored (AVR) Limited events have been far outpacing Innistrad/Dark Ascencion (ISD/DKA) events. Glancing at the list of events from the Limited Queues room, AVR 4 pack sealed is firing at a three-to-one rate over ISD/DKA, and there are eleven AVR drafts to exactly zero ISD/DKA drafts. This was all over a three hour time period on the morning of Sunday August the 19th of 2012. This difference in quantity of events has been ongoing since at least the start of M13 release events.

AVR is a format that players have stated they don't like. But on MTGO, given the option of what format to draft, players see more value in AVR than ISD/DKA Limited. It's not our job to listen to what players say, but to observe what they do. And in this case they are currently voting with their tix for AVR Limited.

It appears that the relative novelty of AVR combined with high singles prices has left it the default format for drafters when they are not interested in playing M13. Bonfire of the Damned is the only card in Standard to command a price higher than 30 tix at the moment. The set also has two of the highest priced rares in Cavern of Souls and Restoration Angel. One might not crack a Bonfire that often, but when a single rare can cover close to half the cost of a draft, that is the kind of expected value which encourages continued play. If this trend keeps up over the medium term, ISD and DKA are going to be in much shorter supply than people anticipate.

Charting the Evidence

We can see in the chart below that the [card Sulfur Falls]ISD dual lands[/card] have started moving up in the first week of August (chart courtesy of mtggolfish.com). Many writers and commentators have been calling these lands good investments for the Fall and this appears to be correct at this time.

On the chart is highlighted the start of an uptrend after a long sideways trend, labelled 'The Breakout'. This price move coincides with the release of M13 and the slowdown in ISD/DKA Limited. Expect to see the [card Sulfur Falls]Innistrad duals[/card] continue to rise in price until their utility in Fall Standard can be determined. The amount of fresh supply from Limited events coming onto the market is low, which is putting upwards pressure on the price.

Supply vs. Fresh Supply

Some would argue that the amount of fresh supply is irrelevant to the price. As evidence they would present the large amount of product opened from October to May when ISD and then ISD/DKA were the Limited formats of choice. Although the total amount of cards opened over this time period is probably large, this idea ignores the distinction of how Limited events actually affect market supply.

Cards in the hands of a grinder are sold quickly, keeping a fresh supply of cards coming into the market which keeps prices in the stable to falling range, depending on playability. But many players are more casual, and these types of players will hold onto cards longer. Sometimes they will just not play for weeks or months at a time. This effectively reduces the overall supply of a card. The cards in these players' collections do not actively circulate on the market to the same degree as those of the grinders of MTGO.

Although the total supply of ISD lands on MTGO is quite high, the fresh supply of ISD rares has been severely curtailed recently due to the slowdown in ISD/DKA Limited events. This lack of fresh supply can be observed in the recent price surge in the ISD duals index, and is corroborated by cards like Snapcaster Mage, now at 8+ tix, and the two DKA zombies, Gravecrawler and Geralf's Messenger, both of which have crept over 6 tix.

Comparing Prices from Multiple Sources

The MTGO Library bot network is a useful tool in gauging the depth of a market and will be used here to offer some evidence for the dearth of fresh supply from ISD and DKA. Using their price wiki function one can look up a particular card and compare its price across a number of bots. The price at each bot will be listed as well as the number of copies for sale. This gives a rough guide to the state of the market supply. The following is an example of a price wiki search.

Below is a summary of market data collected from the price wiki, as well as prices from cardbotmtgo.com and Star City Games for comparison. The * indicates 'out of stock'. This table gives a rough estimate of the availability and price range for the two highest-priced mythics from each set of the last year. Some comments follow. All prices as of Aug 18th 2012.

Card Name	Quantity	Price Range	Average Price (Tix)	Cardbot (Tix)	StarCity Games (US$)
Geist of Saint Traft	43	$25-29	$26.40	$25.81	$21.99
Liliana of the Veil	53	$21-26	$21.86	$21.60	$19.99
Huntmaster of the Fells	40	$18-23	$19.33	$19.07	$17.99
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad	36	$14-15	$14.48	$14.56	$12.99*
Bonfire of the Damned	30	$39-44	$40.95	$39.78	$49.99*
Tamiyo, The Moon Sage	71	$14-20	$15.29	$15.41	$19.99
Ajani, Caller of the Pride	71	$11-17	$12.69	$11.50	$19.99
Sublime Archangel	70	$8-14	$9.17	$8.80	$24.99

Analysis

Overall, the most readily available cards are from M13. It is not surprising to see the M13 mythics as being the most plentiful due to the set's novelty and popularity. The least available are DKA mythics, which is consistent with the slowdown in ISD/DKA Limited and Dark Ascension being a small set in a large-small-large block structure.

Bonfire of the Damned has the least amount of copies for sale of any of the cards on the table and is also the highest priced. Although Limited play is putting a steady supply of new copies onto the market, it appears that its cardboard price combined with high playability means that demand remains strong relative to supply. This card's price is currently taking a breather online but it might make another push towards 50 tix in the coming weeks, especially if IRL prices continue to rise.

The largest cardboard-digital price discrepancies occur for the two M13 mythics. Once M13 drafting slows down and redemption fires up, prices should normalize between the two. This indicates that Sublime Archangel and the new [card Ajani, Caller of the Pride]Ajani[/card] have room to move up in price online.

The card with the shallowest market supply is Sorin, Lord of Innistrad. It has a relatively low number of copies available online, and is one of two cards on the list out of stock at SCG. Its price range is by far the narrowest with all three prices in close alignment. This card took a brief dip below 14 tix this week before bouncing back to 14.56 on Cardbot, indicating the price floor of 14 tix has held and will not likely be breached in the near term. All told, the low amount of ISD/DKA events firing combined with it being a middle, small set has created a situation where any DKA breakout in Fall Standard will cause a rapid and large price increase.

Extrapolating Future Price Shifts

Comparing prices and availability from multiple sources is a great way to get a feel for the market. Combined with the observation of other trends, such as the type and amount of Limited events firing, it can provide a solid basis for projections about future price movements.

As an exercise, see if you can suggest the future price movements on Geist of Saint Traft and Huntmaster of the Fells based on the evidence presented here and their probable place in Fall Standard. Post your analysis in the comments or the forums under Ask the Author.

The 10 Most Green Cards in Standard

Posted on August 24, 2012August 24, 2012 by Mike Lanigan

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As you may have noticed, I did not write an article last week. The reason I was unable to do so is because I was on vacation in the great country of Ireland. I went there to explore and learn a little bit more about my heritage. While I was there, I was surrounded by nature and it got me thinking about the color green in Magic. I have also been out of the competitive loop of the game for those two weeks so it seemed like the perfect time to write about a "less serious" topic.

The goal today is to discuss the cards that most embody the color green, at least as I see it. I wanted to limit the card pool a little bit so I am sticking to Standard cards.

For maximum enjoyment, read this article with an Irish accent.

10.

Despite the fact that any color deck can play this card due to the Phyrexian Mana in the cost and activation, this is actually a very green card. Birthing Pod is a tutor specifically for creatures. Other green cards do this as well, such as Worldly Tutor, Primal Command, Green Suns Zenith and the new Mwonvuli Beast Tracker. Every color gets some tutoring effects but green always searches for creatures.

The fact that this is a repeatable tutor effect obviously makes this artifact amazing. Birthing Pod reminds me of the build-around-me enchantments that the color used to get like Aluren, Earthcraft, and Survival of the Fittest. Birthing Pod is going to be one of those cards that players are using for years to come.

9.

At this point, most of us think of Acidic Slime as a core set staple because it has been available for the last three years. This M10 card affects the board in a very green way. Naturalize is an effect that green used to share with white. Now, white only gets to destroy enchantments and red gets the artifact destruction side. Green still gets both though.

When Acidic Slime was printed I was surprised that it was able to destroy a land. It had been a little while since green had a Creeping Mold effect. I think we take this creature for granted sometimes and forget just how good it really is. In addition to removing hard to deal with permanents, the card also gives you a 2/2 bear that trades with most other ground creatures.

When I was working on Wolf Run Black a couple months ago, Acidic Slime was one of the key cards I missed the first time I built the deck. When I remembered the innocent-looking card, it fleshed out the deck and helped me in many matchups. As long as it is in Standard, look for Acidic Slime to have an impact.

8.

Green is known for its ability to fix your mana. There are always a variety of ways to do this in Standard. We still have both Rampant Growth and Farseek as well as Borderland Ranger. The reason I chose Abundant Growth is because the way green used to fix mana was often through enchantments. It has been a while since cards like Wild Growth and Fertile Ground were legal in Standard.

Although this new enchantment does not accelerate your mana, it does replace itself and grant you access to whatever color you are in need of. When Return to Ravnica comes out don’t forget about Abundant Growth in your deck building. Allowing your land to tap for any color of mana is a powerful effect that may open up possibilities with the new multicolored set.

7.

I know this card is not going to blow you away with its power level, but the effect it provides is a very green one. The ability to "regrow" cards back from your graveyard is only given to green.

Regrowth is powerful enough that it is still restricted in Vintage. Revive only allows you to get back green cards and that takes the card from all star to nearly unplayable. I would not be surprised if we saw this effect being printed in Ravnica as a multicolored card. Revive will allow you to get back a lot of cards coming out in the new block so although it most likely won’t see play, it is worth remembering.

Do you think reprinting Regrowth would be too powerful for Standard? Let me know your thoughts to that question below in the comments.

6.

A top ten list idealizing green would not be complete with out a sweet pump spell. Giant Growth was in the core set for years and there have been many different versions of that effect. Green also gets pump effects that leave the counters on the creature. Decree of Savagery comes to mind. In fact, the increasing cycle including Increasing Savagery seems like a shout out to the decree cards from Onslaught Block. Even though it is rarely used, being able to flash this spell back will definitely win you a few games.

5.

Every color gets some type of card drawing and green is no exception. If you are playing a lot of creatures like green tends to, this sorcery has the ability to draw you a lot of cards. Even with a high percentage of creatures in your deck you can still hit one or zero creatures in some games which is why this has not seen more play.

When it was first printed I tried it out many times. Later once Innistrad Block was out, I worked with it again in Birthing Pod decks and I always thought it belonged in that deck.

4.

For me, Rancor is a classic green card. In the past green has been an aggressive color. Wizards has moved away from that identity until this year when they printed Strangleroot Geist and now Rancor. These two cards make an aggressive green deck a possibility once more. Rancor embodies the resiliency that is often associated with the color green as well.

3.

Speaking of resiliency, Thrun brings further meaning to that word. Many players have forgotten just how good Thrun is because he has been overshadowed by the power level of the clones, Phantasmal Image and Phyrexian Metamorph. Thrun is good enough that even at four mana he has seen some Legacy play. One characteristic of green creatures is being hard to kill, and with not only hexproof but also regeneration, Thrun fits the bill. His only drawback is his vulnerability to clone effects.

2.

This five cost creature is in my opinion one of the best ever printed. How is an aggressive deck supposed to beat this insane card? Five additional life is a lot, considering the power and toughness you get on the creature. Again with green's creatures being resilient, Thragtusk always leaves behind a 3/3. It doesn't matter how they remove it the first time, you always get your 3/3 to replace it. I know this guy is not seeing much play right now but unless combo becomes a major part of the new Standard format, Thragtusk will definitely have a big impact on the format.

1.

The number one spot goes to . . . Dungrove Elder, of course. It doesn't get much more green than power and toughness equal to your forested lands. Historically green does get a lot of creatures with stars for power and toughness and this is one of the best examples of the effect.

Well there you have it. The top ten cards that epitomize the color green. Honorable mentions go to Cudgel Troll, Garruks Companion, Llanowar Elves, Predator Ooze, Stingerfling Spider and Jade Mage. All of those cards were ones that I gave serious consideration to during the process of writing this article. If I missed a card that you think idealizes green, post it below in the comments.

Finally, I will leave you with my favorite picture from my Ireland trip. Next week I'll be back, hopefully covering some sweet spoilers from Ravnica.

Until Next Time,

Don't forget, Magic is supposed to be fun.

Mike Lanigan
MtgJedi on Twitter
Jedicouncilman23@gmail.com

Insider: The Pros and Cons of Bulking

Posted on August 23, 2012January 17, 2022 by Corbin Hosler

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It seems like the perfect scenario. Your trade partner has some expensive cards you want, whether it’s a Sword or a Bonfire of the Damned. The best part is, he just wants the crap out of your binder that isn’t worth anything! Everyone wins, right?

Wrong.

Let’s start by defining bulking. Bulking is where someone (usually a dealer) gives a flat rate of 10-12 cents on all your supposedly worthless rares. Other traders will sometimes try and do the same.

The Cons

Bulking is an old trick to trade cash for cards. When a person gives 10 cents per bulk rare in trade, they’re essentially buying those cards at cash prices, or even below cash prices because you can sometimes get 12 cents per bulk rare, depending on the store. You must be wary of this trap, because it sounds good on the surface but doesn’t usually turn out that way.

Here’s the problem with bulking. You pull out the expensive card of theirs that you want. Say, for instance, it’s a Sword of Fire and Ice. You ask them their price, and they respond with a fair offer of $35, which you accept. Then they ask you if you’re interested in bulking, and say they even offer you 12 cents per rare.

Assuming for the sake of this scenario that all the rares pulled out are indeed bulk (this is rarely ever the case, something we’ll get to). Because 12 cents is a cash price and not a “trade” price, it is literally the exact same as using cash to buy a card, especially when you’re at a GP where the bulk is easily liquidated. You’ve essentially just bought a Sword at full retail, and the other guy has sold one at that price.

I have a few suggestions on how to handle someone asking you to bulk to them.

- Just say no if you aren’t comfortable. Many people don’t know what is true bulk and what isn’t, so chances are you could be giving away even more than you know.

- If you are comfortable with bulking, demand a cash price on their card as well. That means buylist price of whatever site they’re using. If you’re playing with cash numbers, they should be doing the same.

- Target Standard cards in the exchange. Sure, it’s fine to go all the way up to a dual or something, but if you’re working with buylist numbers you’re going to get the best deal by looking at Standard cards, since they will have the lowest buylist-to-retail spread.

Now after this I can certainly see why you’d just want to avoid the process altogether, and there isn’t anything wrong with that. But it’s also an incomplete evaluation, because there are ways for both parties to win with bulking, as there is in any trade.

The Pros

I’ve recently become much more involved in the bulking game because I’ve found a local store paying 25 cents per bulk rare, which is absolutely unheard of. I imagine it’s a terribly unprofitable business practice for the store, but then again maybe they get enough gems in the bulk to make it worth it. Either way, it works out great for me.

I’ve begun allowing people to bulk to me at 15 cents per rare, which is the best rate they will get anywhere. We usually determine a near-cash price for whatever I’m giving them, so this deal actually makes a lot of sense for that party. I’m then able to flip the bulk at a quarter apiece, essentially making a dime on every 15 cents I spend. In short, it’s very profitable.

But let’s assume you’re not lucky enough to have such an outlet (I assume you’re not). What does this mean to you?

Well, there are several other reasons to offer bulking to your trade partners, particularly in your local area where you may be one of their best outlets. A lot of local stores don’t even want to buy bulk, so you can fill a whole in the market.

We’ve established that bulking cards is the same as selling them in cash. And cash is something we can always work out a favorable deal with. Suppose you have a Thragtusk that somebody wants. A fair trade price is $12-15 for the card, and you won’t get more than $7 in buylist for it.

You and your trade partner could work out an equitable trade for the Thragtusk and call it a day. Or, you can get a little creative to make some cash. If you’re looking to out the Thragtusk for cash, you’re not getting more than $7 from a dealer. At the same time, the player who needs it isn’t going to get it for less than $12 from a dealer.

I smell a middle ground!

You can both win here. Just put a $10 price point on the Thragtusk and take that many bulk rares at whatever rate you can out them for (let’s assume a dime each). 100 bulk rares later, you have essentially $10 in cash and your trade partner was able to out a bunch of Vizzerdrix for a discount on a highly-desirable card for his deck. Everyone wins.

Unexpected Benefits

Under the examples thus far, we’ve assumed every card is true bulk. If you’ve ever been involved in this practice, you know that’s hardly ever the case. Even other traders have bulked to me cards that aren’t true bulk, such as Royal Assassin, which you can get 20 to 25 cents for. I realize that doesn’t sound like much, but as we know it all adds up very quickly. When you’re dealing with hundreds of cards, finding a few not-bulk cards per dozen will quickly add up, and all of a sudden you’ve sold that Thragtusk for above retail value.

And chances are you’re going to get more than just a few gems. I’ve seen Proclamation of Rebirths go for bulk to basic Zendikar lands to Asceticisms and Darksteel Plates. It’s all about grinding out value, and bulking is a way to give yourself a lot of opportunities to do so easily. It’s not the sexiest way of getting value, but as you get better at picking bulk you’ll really start to do well.

And this extends to Commons and Uncommons. Many times people will just throw these away, so grabbing them for essentially free can be insane. For instance, at GenCon last week Kelly and I picked 5,000+ C/U I had from a collection. We pulled infinite cards like Imperious Perfect, and I even found a Spell Snare and a foil Zendikar Mountain!

Of course, when you’re trading for these you’re not quite as lucky to do so well, but I imagine you’ll definitely be able to find some Manamorphose-type cards in the bunch.

Bulking is a great power. And like Uncle Ben says, that comes with great responsibility. A lot of people are intimidated by the concept when they are introduced to it, but I hope I’ve demonstrated today how both parties involved can utilize it to great effect.

Thanks for reading,

Corbin Hosler

@Chosler88 on Twitter

Insider: Playing to Your Outs

Posted on August 22, 2012January 17, 2022 by Chad Havas

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As far as lessons we have to learn while playing Magic going, playing to your outs is one of the most important. Top decks that save games only even happened because the pilot put themselves in a position where if they drew their out they could still win. In finance an out is a much different thing. Your out (or outlet) is your method for converting cardboard to cash or open positions to closed ones. Of course, you need to shop around each sale to really get the very best value, but having outlets prepared for various types of cards is very important.

Often times, people will ask me, "What's the best way to sell XYZ?" My answer is most frequently EBay, but there's a handful of caveats here. It's just as important to consider why you are selling as it is what you are selling.

EBay is generally your best bet, so long as you aren't in any immediate rush for your sale (either because you're short on funds or because you expect prices to change promptly). EBay promises you that players will pay fairly close to retail values, but you'll be stuck paying some fees both to EBay and Paypal.

These fees add up to approximately 10+% of your sale price, and this adds a significant dent into your bottom line. EBay is also risky in the sense that it is not a quick method of sale. During the time it takes for your item to sell, things could change and you may end up losing some money. So if I've been speculating on a card, and I feel now is a decent time to get out, I'll typically recommend EBay if I don't think there is a risk in waiting for the auction to close.

If you don't have time to wait for your product to sell on EBay, you also have the option to sell your items to your local LGS or an online store. You're going to get a much lower value for your stuff from a retailer, but you get your money immediately. To sell to your LGS you'd need to be fairly confident that values are dropping on the cards you want to sell before you could sell them any other way.

Selling to online buylists is a little better on the wallet as you can shop around more buylists online and find the very best value on each card you you want to sell. This does leave you paying your own shipping costs unfortunately. This is a middle ground, finding dealers or online stores that give you good buylist prices are important to have lined up in advance, so when you need to make a sale you aren't wasting precious time hunting down options. Standard cards more frequently fall into this category as their pricing tends to be very volatile compared to older formats.

I'm lucky enough to have a local EBay dealer who gives very good Buy prices on stuff he turns around on EBay. This is most frequently how I get rid of my cards, if I don't want to wait for EBay myself. I get the benefit of a LGS or online retailer in the sense that he'll buy nearly anything, but I also get some of the value from EBay because it provides him a market to sell. He even gets to sell at above average pricing due to his volume store level on EBay and high ranking in the user rating system. For me, this is often the perfect mix of both worlds, as I always get great value, without any time risk or loss.

If you don't know any local EBay dealers, try shopping around EBay a little, and use the search filters to find out if there is someone local that moves items at a decent volume. Network with that person and you're all set. If your local community doesn't have an EBay dealer, maybe there's an opportunity for you to become one. I wrote an article about how to run an EBay store about a year ago, which you can find here.

The reason you'll want to have your outlets lined up in advance, is you don't want to hesitate when you have a card you need to get rid of before a price change. Being first to make a move, even after an announcement that triggers your decision, will often be enough to guarantee the buyer will still take what you have. If you act too slowly, however you give other people the opportunity to beat you to those sales before buylists are adjusted. Some of the most common times I'll go to EBay with my sales are during Pre-Release. I'll set 3 day auctions at the end of the Pre-Release weekend, so that they end well before the release date and you'll still have a chance people will fight over what you've got. Especially if you got a desirable foil.

Because my local EBay dealer gives good value on most things, there are fewer times I sell on EBay, but bulk is something to consider. Often times what I would make off of my bulk, minus the transaction fees, it makes more sense for me to go to my dealer anyway. If you don't have that luxury, having some pre-made listings saved somewhere will go a long way to make your life easier when it comes time for posting.

No matter what you're selling or why, be smart about it. You don't want to bleed value by underselling your stock, but you can't afford to bleed time either by waiting for lengthy auctions, shopping around on buylists, or waiting for someone to contact you from MOTL. (As a note, I think MOTL is a great place to sell and buy cards, however speed needs to be very low on your priority list). Have your outlets prepared in advance so when it comes time to make a move you can efficiently find the right outlet promptly.

One Plus One Equals Three

Posted on August 22, 2012August 22, 2012 by Ryan Overturf

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Building a good deck is more than throwing every good card from a color into a pile and shuffling them together. As somebody who has built many, many decks, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that starting a deck with the idea of playing a specific card or color tends to lead to much weaker decks than building around particular interactions and synergies.

When Bitterblossom was first released I immediately knew that I wanted to play the card. For the most part, however, I jammed it into black decks that didn’t take any advantage of it besides it being a very powerful two-drop. If I was smart I would’ve just built Faeries from the get-go. It turns out that the deck built around Bitterblossom is much stronger than a deck that simply includes it.

Now and again the best cards have some inherent synergies that make this principle somewhat difficult to observe. UW Delver, for example, might look to some like it’s just a pile of strong cards. Upon closer inspection, Snapcaster Mage and Delver of Secrets have more in common than might be initially perceived. It’s obvious that the two are intended to be played with a high Instant/Sorcery count, but the specific Instants and Sorceries that get played with these cards are picked because of how well they play with each - not just in order to establish a threshold.

Vapor Snag is the card that really exemplifies this point. It’s not a particularly powerful card, but it plays excessively well with the best cards in the deck. I’ve heard people remark about how something as simple as the loss of one life turned the unplayable Unsummon into a format all-star, but the one life really didn’t have much at all to do with it. It had a lot more to do with the fact that it turned on your 3/2 flyer while often allowing you to Time Walk with your Tiagos.

The importance of such synergies is the principle of deck building that I see players neglect on the most regular basis.

I’ve seen a lot of Trading Post brews recently, and most lists that I’ve seen have been guilty of this. From my experience Posting I have drawn two very important conclusions with regard to building around Trading Post:

Trading Post + Wurmcoil Engine is the best endgame you’ll ever need.
It often takes a long time to set up this endgame.

In light of this, slots that aren’t occupied by Posts and Wurms should be dedicated to ensuring that a player survives to cast these spells. This is why my Counter Repost deck features Snapcaster Mage and Vapor Snag. In a fashion not terribly dissimilar from UW Delver, these cards function as Time Walks so that I can survive long enough to start making Wurms.

Considering these points, I found Brad Nelson’s GW Post list to be rather vexing.

In this list he supplements his Post engine with, for the most part, a lot of big spells. Thragtusk doesn’t make much of any sense with Trading Post to me. It just does the things that the deck is already trying to do in a much smaller way and with a card that doesn’t do much with Trading Post.

A singular Thragtusk just doesn’t do as much offensively or defensively as a Wurmcoil Engine, and I really don’t see why you would want any ‘Tusks before you had at least two Wurms. Additionally, if we’re into life gain and five drops, where are the other two Pristine Talismans? The inclusions of Thragtusk reads to me as just playing a good card because it’s good.

The Jund Rule

Of course, there are times when you should just jam the best cards. The most obvious deck that was mostly just a pile of strong spells in my mind was Standard Jund. Basically, Bloodbraid Elf was too good. So what exactly is the threshold for going out of one’s way to play good spells?

I would argue that it falls somewhere between a three for one and Bloodbraid Elf.

In case I lost you there, here is what Bloodbraid Elf was often the equivalent of:

While the individual cards wouldn’t combine terribly well, a Bloodbraid Elf into Blightning was about four cards worth of value. Certainly higher than three. And if your opponent had a Planeswalker, it could be closer to five…

It’s true that Jund did make some exceptions in the name of synergy. For example, without Cascade I’m certain that Lavalanche would have been very widely played. I mean, it’s Bonfire of the Damned… But for the most part Jund just jammed Bloodbraid Elf and every other good on-color card, most of which being two-for-ones - all of which being considerably weaker than BBE.

It’s easy to see how a card that generates around three cards of value is worth eschewing synergy for raw power, but what about playing a deck full of two-for-ones? What about…

The Deadguy Ale Dilemna

If you don’t know a lot about tier 3 Legacy decks with obscure names, Deadguy Ale is a Black/White deck that utilizes cards like Hymn to Tourach and Stoneforge Mystic to grind out marginal advantage in a world of efficiency and degeneracy.

Deadguy Ale is a deck that is doomed to stay a lower-tiered deck because it simply mashes good cards. Hymn to Tourach and Dark Confidant are strong, to be sure, and they play well enough together, but they’re not exactly synergistic. As I alluded to in the Jund section, playing a lot of two-for-ones is not the same thing as synergy. This only works out if the value cards that you’re playing are more powerful than the format at large.

When it comes to being more powerful that the Legacy format, decks that don’t include this card are questionable at best:

Does Deadguy Ale do anything that is remotely as powerful as Brainstorm? Sure, Stoneforge Mystic and Dark Confidant can generate a great deal of value, but it’s not immediate and there are a lot more Lightning Bolts and Swords to Plowshares than there are Red Elemental Blasts. The simple fact of the matter is that Brainstorm does a much better Ancestral Recall impression than any other card in Magic.

It’s true that Deadguy Ale Top 8’d a recent SCG Open, but let’s not lose sight of the fact that Esper Stoneblade won that event. In a match between the two, Esper should win the vast majority of the matches. Brainstorm is far and away the strongest card in either deck and Jace the Mind Sculptor is capable of generating more value than most cards ever.

tl;dr

Specific examples aside, the basic messages that I’m driving at are these:

First, it’s better to find cards that play well together than cards that are simply good. This is unless, of course, the good card in question crosses a threshold of being worth approximately three or so cards.

Most importantly, if you feel the need to just jam good cards, make sure that you’re jamming the best good cards. Don’t bring a Thragtusk to a Wurmcoil Engine fight.

Play decks. Don’t play cards.

-Ryan Overturf

How Good Is Too Good in Commander?

Posted on August 21, 2012August 21, 2012 by Andrew Martin

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How good should a Commander deck be? This is the question I have struggled with my entire Commander career.

I have assembled vastly powerful Commander decks that consistently defeated my opponents with ease, and others that I promptly disassembled in a fury of disappointment after losing several games in succession. Were these all 'good' Commander decks? It all depends on how 'good' my opponents' decks were, and this is what I find to be the format's fundamental flaw.

Commander was initially designed as a fun way to play Magic that involved many friends at once and allowed for unique play. But things like Armageddon and Blood Moon are legal cards. Should you run these cards? They are extremely powerful in Commander, but they aren't very fun to play against. The problem is that these decisions are made on an individual basis.

A Little Too Broken

Hokori, Dust Drinker is hands down the best Commander deck I have ever made. Can you imagine playing a game of Commander against these cards?

No creatures, no spells, only pain.

What if I [card Mishras Helix]tap every land[/card] you play the entire game and slowly kill you with a few soldier tokens? I had this deck together for only a few weeks before I retired it out of principle. It was the most boring deck to play against ever because absolutely nothing happened, and I won very slowly. Why would I create such a monstrosity? I wanted to see how 'good' a Commander deck I could make. The context in which I use 'good' here is, "a Commander deck that only cares about winning."

When someone asks what a good deck in Legacy is, their meaning is, "what deck is best at winning?" What about in Commander? What does a player mean when they ask what a 'good' Commander deck is? This is a very difficult question to answer. Obviously you want your Commander deck to be good, but the context is determined by your interpretation of how Commander is meant to be played.

My idea of how a Commander game should end is with everyone being excited about the awesome manner in which they were killed.

"Oh, you finally assembled your stupid combo and won? I'm glad I just wasted an hour on this game of Magic to be killed by such a flavorless combination of cards," is not what I want to be thinking after a game of Commander.

I would rather be thinking, "It was pretty sweet when my opponent EoT casted Sphinx of Uthuun into Enigma Sphinx which cascaded into Fact or Fiction thus resulting in two FoF sphinxes which he killed me with." I couldn't care less whether I lose a Commander game as long as I died in an interesting way.

So, let break down the various tiers of quality that Commander decks fall into.

The Commander Deck Quality Spectrum

Quality Competitive

This is where the ridiculous turn four combo decks and my Hokori deck belong. They play to win and don't pull punches. "Of course I'll Wasteland your turn two [card Izzet Boilerworks]bounce-land[/card], I don't care if you can't cast spells and don't have fun. I play to win."

I have encountered many Commander decks in this category. The players that pilot them are usually competitive Magic players that were lured by how fun everyone says Commander is. Sadly, this isn't the format for them.

Terrible Competitive

This is usually the work of a player who sucks at building decks, but tries to win in any way possible. An example of a deck in this category would be something like, "Finally, my combo which is the only way I can win finally worked on the seventh game we played." These decks are pretty infuriating to play against. Either they win in some boring fashion, most likely involving a stupid combo, or you crush them with no resistance.

Sadly I recently constructed a deck that falls here. I had acquired a Lich and was determined to incorporate it into a Commander deck. I ended up with a Savra, Queen of the Golgari deck that occasionally combos off on turn five in spectacular fashion.

Quality Ruthless

These are similar to Quality Competitive, but don't win quite as consistently. The players that usually build these decks are competitive players trying to play 'fair'. A deck like this may have a couple combos and a few cards most people scoff at, but overall tries to play to the spirit of Commander. Occasionally I'll get a good game of Magic against a deck like this.

Terrible Ruthless

This is what you get when a bad Magic player assembles every stupid combo and un-fun card he/she has encountered and shoves them into a Commander deck filled mostly with bad cards. Occasionally they will win with their terrible cards backed up by things like a timely Armageddon or Obliterate.

Quality Fun

This is the sweet spot, which every Commander deck should strive for.

A deck like this will put up a fight, keep the game interesting, and usually win in a spectacular fashion. These decks typically won't contain silly two card combos, or boring cards like Ruination and Contamination. They are built in such a way that they react instead of deny and wound instead of kill.

I try to make most of my Commander decks fall between here and Terrible Fun (see below). Current successes in this endeavor include: Kiki-Jiki, the Mirror Breaker, Seton, Krosan Protector, Toshiro Umezawa, Lyzolda, the Blood Witch, Jor-Kadeen, the Prevailer, and Maelstrom Wanderer.

Pheldegriff — Turns out this guy sucks at Commanding things.

Terrible Fun

Another good place for a Commander deck. These decks are similar to Quality Fun decks, but not as efficient or stable. While they may assemble a neat combination of cards that lead to an interesting game, they may be left with no cards in hand, so when their shenanigans are thwarted they are essentially out of the game.

Garbage

These decks are just bad. They contain a pile of terrible cards that were scrounged together from leftover draft sideboards picked up in the local game store parking lot. Most of the time playing against a deck like this is the same as gold-fishing your Commander deck, except it's easier to win.

Conclusion

We could break this down even further and look at the spectrum that lies between quality and terrible, but you get the idea. The more efficient and better at winning a deck is, the more 'quality' it will be.

I have always tried to make decks spread throughout the spectrum of quality, because hey, sometimes playing two garbage decks against each other is fun, and that is what Commander (and Magic in general) is all about!

If playing a Quality Ruthless deck is fun for you, then do it, but be aware that most people don't play Commander that way. The best way to craft a Commander deck is to build for your play group. If your play group plays mostly lower quality fun decks, then make one too and have fun. If that's not your forte then you should try other formats.

Some people, however, don't really have a reliable Commander play group, so it's a lot more difficult for them to craft a deck they will have fun playing against the diverse spectrum of Commander deck quality.

Working part time at a game store puts me face to face with this situation and leads me to explore varying styles of Commander play. I never enjoy playing with or against competitive and ruthless Commander decks, but I usually try to keep a deck or two in these categories just in case I encounter a foe of this caliber.

Also, if you are ever playing for money, packs, store credit, etc. always play to win. In this case don't be afraid to bust out the obnoxious deck that crushes your opponents on turn four. But remember, the next time you build a Commander deck think about your play group and build accordingly. Not only should you be having fun, but your opponents should too.