Insider: Dragons Ahoy

Posted on December 10, 2012January 17, 2022 by Paul Feudo

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So Thundermaw Hellkite happened.

Juza's tweet naturally had everyone scrambling and by weekend's end the 'Red Baneslayer' had jumped to $32 TCG Mid while ebay auctions varied from the high 20s on single copies to as much as $30/per for playsets. Of course it also won a Modern GP (along side Lotus Cobra which could be a spicy pick up for Modern season) while having 37 copies in the top 16 of GP Nagoya and 28 copies in the top 16 of SCG LV.

This of course begs the question, what now?

I'm inclined to agree, there isn't enough money left in Thundermaw Hellkite to justify any real play beyond trade stock.

Crazy is certainly one word for it. I think there is money to be made making a play on Angel of Glory's Rise at <$.50, if the deck has real success at the SCG Invitational it should be $3 by this time next week.

Its worth noting the Humans combo list from Nagoya runs a playset of Huntmaster of the Fells which was also everywhere in SCG LV as a mainstay of the various 3 and 4 color midrange lists with 27 copies in the top 16. We could see a price spike in the near future, well before official Gatecrash spoilers come out. If you were looking to pick copies up to sell into Gruul hype during spoiler season in January its best to pick them up sooner rather than later.

-----
I love the smell of napalm in the morning.
The lesson learned over the summer has been remembered; there were 22 Bonfire of the Damned in the top 16 of GP Nagoya and 28 in the top 16 of SCG LV spread across various midrange and Rakdos decks. I've been very high on this card for a few weeks now and I think there is still an opportunity to make a play if you can get in at $20 or so. People remember the summer of $50 Bonfires, and if the card starts to get hyped the spike should come hard and fast.

B/R was everywhere this weekend, and while most of the SCG LV versions played it by the book, there was a lot of variation in the B/R aggro decks at GP Nagoya as players looked for edges in the 'mirror', and it appears not all Rakdos aggro staples are created equal. The most notable variation being a red based aggressive deck that eschewed most of the black entirely including all of the zombies and sometimes Hellrider in favor of Ash Zealots, and Stromkirk Nobles. Both of these aggressive red staples were already reasonable anticipatory pick ups for Gatecrash but as with Huntmaster the time table for acquiring them may have changed going forward. On the flip side, both Geralf's Messenger and Gravecrawler have been stagnant as of late despite all of their recent constructed success and a possible shift away from them should only continue to hurt their prices.

Hellrider is a different story as even some of the otherwise 'stock' Rakdos lists battled without the double red costing devil. If its popularity wanes over the next few weeks keep an eye out for a temporary price dip or just people looking to unload the copies they might not need anymore. The card has a lot of potential with Boros and Gruul coming in Gatecrash and should rebound quite easily.

~
The table below is from mtgstocks.com which tracks the pricing history of cards based on TCG Player Mid.

Now that RTR is beginning to bottom out (I don't think its done yet) there isn't any reason to get cute when making long term calls, stick with real cards like Angel of Serenity, Jace, and the shock lands. I don't have a problem picking up cheap Loxodon Smiters or the like, but it shouldn't be your focus as the real money is usually in the mana fixing, planeswalkers, and splashy mythics and I doubt RTR will be any different.

Insider: The Modern Spike and Modern Masters

Posted on December 10, 2012January 17, 2022 by Sigmund Ausfresser

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After a couple months of Return to Ravnica, the Standard metagame finally seems to be settling. A quick look at the Top 8 at the latest SCG open from Las Vegas solidifies this point.

In short, you’re either playing Zombies or some form of Midrange deck that likely includes Thragtusk and Restoration Angel, with the U/W/R Midrange deck being an exception.

This metagame is fairly boring for the speculator – we’ve seen all these decks before at least in some form, and I do not see much opportunity for price shifts. Sure, Thundermaw Hellkite is achieving Bonfire of the Damned-like status and Loxodon Smiter may be a reasonable sleeper pick.

But I am not seeing true innovation in the form of Craterhoof Behemoth and Sphinxs Revelation. Not even a quick flip like Rhox Faithmender.

Because of this, I am going to shift focus this week to Modern. Modern season is nearly upon us and this past weekend’s GP in Toronto showcased the latest metagame for the format. And while there were not any major breakouts (at least not after Day 1), I still feel like there are some financially relevant facts worth highlighting going into January.

The Modern Spike Is Back

During the last Modern season, many staples did see a bit of a price bump. Looking at the plot for a card like Tarmogoyf, you can see the Modern season spike in April within the graph.

The same trend can be seen on other Modern staples as well, such as Cryptic Command (chart from blacklotusproject.com).

Only in the case of Cryptic Command, a card is seeing an even greater price spike in anticipation of the next Modern season. Almost one year later, some of these Modern cards are slightly harder to find due to normal card attrition and a small increase in the format’s popularity. Thus the additional price spike on a card like Cryptic Command or even the Zendikar Fetch Lands shouldn’t be too surprising.

Because of these price increases, I believe Modern is the format to make some profits on in the next month or so leading up to Modern PTQ season and Gatecrash release. Although many of the price jumps have already begun, there may be a small window remaining to acquire some Modern staples at a discount from other players.

Some Pickups of Note

MOTL and eBay have been my largest source of Modern acquisitions, though I’d imagine trading in person could also provide additional opportunity. I recently bought a set of Cryptic Commands for $44 on MOTL only to see that the cheapest Buy It Now listing on eBay is $70. It took a week, but I finally managed to unload my set for some profit.

Vengevine is another one of those overlooked cards. I’ve seen copies sell on MOTL as low as $9 and eBay auctions sometimes end a tad bit higher. But Buy It Now listings on eBay are still cheapest at $60 for a playset. Star City Games has maintained their price of $17.99. Vengevine only has to have a so-so performance during Modern season and he will pay off. I wouldn’t pay more than $11 on this creature, but seeing as I’ve bought 8 copies in the last 2 weeks for under $10, there could still be some opportunities to acquire these at discounted pricing.

I’ve mentioned the Eldrazi creatures in previous articles, but no Modern article would be complete without their recognition. I still cannot believe Ulamog and Kozilek retail for $29.99. And that foil Kozilek, Butcher of Truth I bought on Card Shark for $38 finally has its first bid on eBay: at $59.99. This is still a full $20 below retail and the bidding may not end there.

Needless to say, many people don’t realize how much Rise of the Eldrazi card prices have risen in general. Linvala, Keeper of Silence anyone? (chart from blacklotusproject.com).

As a general catch-all, any Modern staples that are not in the spotlight and are not prone to reprinting in Modern Masters could be a strong pickup. I wouldn’t rely on massive returns from Zendikar Fetch Lands simply because they are already on everyone’s radar. On the other hand, something like Linvala, Vengevine and Raging Ravine may be a better pick-up. Interestingly, the last time Raging Ravine saw a spike was back in April – once again driven by Modern season.

A Tougher Question: Time to Sell?

Wizards has made it very clear they want Modern to be a premier, affordable format. Tarmogoyf is not too powerful for Modern, but is currently too expensive – hence the upcoming reprint in Modern Masters. I fully expect other costly staples such as Dark Confidant, Thoughtseize and Vendilion Clique to also get a reprint.

This is where the contradiction comes in. Wizards wants Modern to be affordable and so they are printing Modern Masters, but at the same time we are being calmed by the notion this set will have a very limited print run. I understand the need for a limited print run as we do not want to see another Chronicles. However, if the print run is too low, prices won’t drop a whole lot, negating the purpose of the set. I anticipate Wizards will print enough copies to bring prices down significantly, though, of course, not the same magnitude as Chronicles.

If we carry this assumption, then the potential implications on our Modern portfolios are noteworthy to say the least. I don’t want to be sitting on Tarmogoyfs and Bobs if the price is about to reduce by 50% in six months. It isn’t good for business. So what’s the right action to take here?

If I want to put finance first, then I strongly believe I should be selling out of my expensive Modern staples next month during the Modern price bump. There will be three months of everyone needing Tarmogoyfs for their Jund PTQ decks, and selling my playset for $300 seems like a strong play. The same goes for Dark Confidant and Thoughtseize, which have already seen a small bump (chart from blacklotusproject.com).

It may pain me to part with these trusty staples, but the decision seems 100% correct from a strict financial perspective.

No-Lose Situation?

Selling my expensive Modern staples prone to reprinting seems like a no-lose situation. If Wizards reprints these in Modern Masters, their prices will drop some, minimally from people panic-selling. If they don’t, then I will happily run my cheap Melira-pod deck during PTQ season and buy back into these staples in a few months when the inevitable price drop occurs (see July-September in chart above). Either way, I’m not parting with any cards for good and there will be ample time to re-buy.

So while everyone is closely watching Standard and waiting for the next big thing, I’ll be looking to sell out of Modern. I haven’t decided on the best time to do so – perhaps it’s in January and perhaps it was two weeks ago. I also haven’t decided on the venue to sell. MOTL seems like a strong option since I can avoid eBay fees, though if eBay prices average more than 15% higher, then the fees may be worth it.

All I’ve decided at this point is that the time to sell out of Tarmogoyf, Dark Confidant, Thoughtseize, Vendilion Clique, etc. is now. Otherwise I will be left holding a Modern collection of less value when Modern Masters comes around. And even if Modern Masters drives prices up in the long term due to increased interest in the format, I am confident there will be at least a small window where people panic-sell and these staples will be acquirable at lower prices than today's.

What do you think?

…

Sigbits

Some retailers still think Umezawas Jitte is more expensive than it really is. Auctions often end sub-$17 on eBay, yet Card Kingdom is paying $17 for the equipment. Star City Games is still paying $15. This seems remarkable considering the card is banned in Modern (for now), sees little play in Legacy and isn’t super fun in EDH. Plus it was reprinted as a GP promo. I always like to keep a copy in my binder to sell to dealers at larger events.
Do you know anyone with piles of useless Unhinged cards? It may be time to sift through them again. Everyone knows the lands and some obscure foils are money, but there are some other random cards that buylist for $0.10. This includes Ass Whuppin, Cheatyface, Little Girl and Rocket-Powered Turbo Slug. City of Ass even buylists for $0.50!
Channel Fireball is still paying $70 on Jace, the Mind Sculptor, which is just incredible. This is a full $10 more than Card Kingdom and Star City Games. Not a day goes buy where I don’t contemplate selling these. Some sort of reprint seems so inevitable.

-Sigmund Ausfresser
@sigfig8

Insider: Holiday Cube on MTGO

Posted on December 7, 2012January 17, 2022 by Matthew Lewis

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Holiday Cube

Cube draft returns for the holidays, replete with the Power Nine! These will be phantom drafts, so you don't get to keep what you draft. But you also don't have to use booster packs to enter. Entry is 8 tix, or 2 tix and 10 Cube tickets. Cube tickets are awarded in prizes from Cube draft. 1st place gets 2 boosters, 12 Cube tickets and 1 QP for MOCS purposes, 2nd place gets 1 booster and 8 Cube tickets. 3rd and 4th get no packs and 6 Cube tickets. 5th through 8th get 2 Cube tickets.

Cube draft will be available for two weeks. In the first week awarded boosters will be from Urza's block, and in the second week the amalgamated Mercadian Masques block packs. Each Cube draft that fires will push one draft set onto the market. This is an effort to push more out-of-print supply onto the market without destabilizing prices too greatly.

Online Cube History

The first time Cube appeared on MTGO it awarded in-print packs, Innistrad (ISD) and Dark Ascension (DKA). Cube proved so popular that the prizes flooded the market as players sought to Cube draft again and again. This knocked down the secondary market value of ISD and DKA packs. DKA packs in particular are still struggling to get pack to par, and are currently at 2.3 tix on the classifieds.

WoTC realized they had a money maker on their hands, but they decided to fine tune the prizes in order to inject supply of older cards and avoid cannibalizing their own pack sales. They moved to out-of-print packs as prizes with the second Cube offering, which awarded Time Spiral-Planar Chaos-Future Sight (TSP) packs (cube tickets would come later). To give players an outlet for their prizes, they temporarily brought back TSP draft queues, with nix tix entry fees. Cube was just as popular this time around and with TSP as prizes combined with nix tix queues, prices of TSP draft sets crashed. The price of Tarmogoyf temporarily fell by a third as well.

The next go around of Cube awarded Onslaught-Legions-Scourge (OLS) as prizes, and the accompanying OLS draft queues required 2 tix as well as packs for entry. Cube kept right on rolling, but the lack of money rares in OLS meant that OLS drafting wasn't very popular and OLS boosters came down in price, a lot. Legions and Scourge are still the cheapest boosters widely available on the secondary market at 0.71 and 0.74 tix respectively (prices taken from supernovabots.com). An OLS draft set is one third the retail price at just under 4 tix.

Since then, WoTC has gone with a new object as prizes, the Cube ticket. It's an untradeable digital object usable only for entering another cube draft. This has the result of reducing the huge price swings we've seen in packs and singles from the awarded sets. Essentially WotC wants to sell Cube drafts and reap the revenue from that, without disrupting other draft formats or the secondary market too much. The Cube ticket neatly captures the revenue they want, and keeps drafters coming back for more. When prizes were in devalued packs like OLS, drafters were getting discouraged by not being able to draft again from their prizes.

Urza's Block Queues

Prices below on non-foil cards are current as of December 4th, 2012 and are taken from Cardbot's website. Prices on foil versions are taken from Supernovabot's website.

Urza's block queues will kick things off with all tix entry for 14 tix, or boosters plus 2 tix. These queues are 4-3-2-2.

Urza's Saga doesn't have much in the way of money commons, but it does feature cards like Argothian Enchantress (16 tix), Exploration (16 tix), Gaea's Cradle (41 tix), Gilded Drake (14 tix), Show and Tell (36 tix), Sneak Attack (13 tix), Time Spiral (10 tix), and Tolarian Academy (15 tix). This is also a pack to watch out for foil versions, as they command a much bigger premium than normal foils. A foil version of Yawgmoth's Will is priced at 37 tix, about seven times the regular version. Goblin Lackey (2 tix) is a notable uncommon to keep in mind as it's not very good in draft so it tends to be passed late.

Next up is Urza's Legacy, and if you didn't pick off a money rare to help pay for your draft, you might make it up here with money commons such as Cloud of Faeries (4 tix), Rancor (2 tix) and Snap (2 tix). There is one money rare to watch out for, Grim Monolith (14 tix).

Urza's Destiny finishes off the block with a few more money rares such as Academy Rector (21 tix), Metalworker (19 tix) and notably a foil version at 108 tix, Replenish (10 tix), Rofellos (8 tix) and Treachery (6 tix). There's not much in the way of money commons or uncommons in this pack though.

If you're trying to stretch your budget to play these queues, two older articles from puremtgo might help, both by TheRegularGangster. The first article has to do with drafting with expected value in mind. The prices are out of date so be sure to double check the numbers. The second one is more specific to Urza's block draft strategy.

Mercadian Masques Block Queues

The second week of Cube draft will award Masques block booster packs as prizes, with the corresponding 4-3-2-2 draft queues available during the same time. They did something funny with these sets and combined them all into one big mess of a pack. It creates a somewhat strange limited environment that is apparently very slow and grindy.

Keep in mind the following money rares when drafting: Dust Bowl (10 tix), Food Chain (9 tix), High Market (7 tix), Misdirection (36 tix), Nether Spirit (9 tix), Rishadan Port (65 tix) and Unmask (6 tix). There are quite a few money commons in Mercadian Masques so keep your eyes open! Ancestral Mask (4 tix), Brainstorm (2 tix), Gush (2 tix), Invigorate (7 tix), Sandstone Needle (3 tix), Saprazzan Skerry (3 tix) and Snuff Out (2 tix).

There are some pricey commons in Nemesis too. Accumulated Knowledge (3 tix), Daze (8 tix), Thran Dynamo (2 tix) and Flame Rift (3 tix), as well as one expensive uncommon in Submerge (9 tix). Rares worth taking include Kor Haven (7 tix), Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero (4 tix), Parallax Tide (4 tix), Parallax Wave (7 tix) and Tangle Wire (37 tix).

As for Prophecy, there's only one card worth a mere sniff, which is Rhystic Tutor at 3 tix. For more on Masques block draft on MTGO, check out this article.

What's the Play?

If you are not interested in drafting these sets, and would like to speculate on the cards instead, the prices on all the above cards should give you a good place to start. Their high prices are mostly due to low supply online as their sets were never released as a current draft format. Some of these cards have appeal in competitive formats and some don't, so do some research to figure out which is which. Focusing on cards with competitive appeal in Legacy or Pauper will reduce the risk.

Drafters will be selling their cards into the market, depressing prices while the queues are up. If you have time, post a buy ad to the classifieds and pick up the cards that you like. Pauper staples generally rebound in price eventually so making a play on the commons is a decent call. This would include the money commons from Urza's Legacy such as Cloud of Faeries and Snap, as well as Invigorate, a powerful card in the Pauper Infect deck.

Two Events, Two Decks

Posted on December 6, 2012December 6, 2012 by Mike Lanigan

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This past weekend, I traveled out to Indianapolis to play in the TCG Player Invitational. To qualify for this event, you needed to earn twenty points by playing in TCG Player sponsored events. By earn I obviously mean you can purchase these points extremely easily with your own hard-earned money. Many people at the event were willing to trade their points for cards and if you didn’t have any cards to trade you could always buy points from any of the vendors. The cost for entry was about fifty dollars, which is a lot of money, but not really a lot of cards.

The other part of the event that was important was the byes. Players could redeem twenty or forty points to gain one or two byes. In my opinion this was broken. Because it was so easy to get the points if you wanted to, over 65% of players had two round byes. That percentage is staggering and should really be a wake up call for the TCG Player organizers. Byes stop being important or good if everyone has them.

The main thing to remember about this event overview is that if you want to play in a high stakes tournament, you can. TCG will hold this event next year and as of yet, they have made no changes to the process. I expect more players to take advantage of the easy access next year but so should you.

For the event, I chose to play the Four-Color Peddler deck I talked about a couple weeks ago with some changes. Here’s the list I registered.

Untitled Deck

Creatures

3 Deathrite Shaman

4 Nightshade Peddler

4 Izzet Staticaster

4 Huntmaster of the Fells

3 Falkenrath Aristocrat

3 Olivia Voldaren

2 Thundermaw Hellkite

2 Thragtusk

Spells

3 Pillar of Flame

4 Farseek

3 Trackers Instincts

Lands

4 Cavern of Souls

4 Overgrown Tomb

4 Blood Crypt

4 Steam Vents

3 Woodland Cemetery

3 Rootbound Crag

3 Hinterland Harbor

Sideboard

3 Slaughter Games

2 Silklash Spider

1 Pillar of Flame

2 Bonfire of the Damned

2 Evil Twin

1 Falkenrath Aristocrat

3 Zealous Conscripts

The first thing I want to say about this deck is that I love it. It is so powerful and there are so many interactions. What I don’t like about it is the lack of consistency. The Tracker's Instincts help, but in the aggro matchups you do not really have time to be casting that card. The main problem is that some opening hands that are generally solid happen to be horrible against specific decks.

So, if you keep a hand that seems pretty reasonable, you could be in a bad position depending on what deck you end up facing. Some decks are amazing game one decks; this one is the terrible game one deck. Once you know what you are playing against, you can decide if the hand is keepable. Let me give you a couple examples.

If this was your hand game one, would you keep?

I think this is an auto keep every game one. How can you throw this hand back? Turn two Farseek into turn three Olivia. Then you even have a Trackers Instincts to look for a Nightshade Peddler to pair, or another threat to follow up with.

The problem is this hand is horrible against a lot of decks. Let’s say you are paired against UW or UWR this round. Obviously you don’t know that, but it could easily happen because that deck is gaining popularity again. I’m not sure you can beat them with this hand, even if you draw a Cavern of Souls. Unless they miss land drops they'll just use their Unsummons and Azorius Charms to stall you into oblivion.

What about this one on the draw?

Again, I think this is a keepable hand. This one is a little closer, but if you start mulliganing this type of hand, you will find not many hands are keepers. Against many decks, this hand is fine, but what about against Rakdos or GW Humans? If you find yourself paired against one of those two decks, you may not have time to stabilize before they kill you. I would say this hand is a trap, but I think it’s a keep the majority of the time.

Obviously your analysis can change depending on what you are playing against. Once you know your opponent’s deck, you can decide on a mulligan a lot more easily. I still see this deck putting up results at events, but it is a risky choice in my opinion. Until you play tons of games, you won’t realize the level of risk you are taking by showing up to a large event with this deck. If you are looking for a deck to take to FNM, this is a great decision, and you will probably win that event. Just make sure to scout your opponents.

Battling at the Invitational

So what happened at the Invitational? Well, those two hands I did keep, and I was paired against the deck they were bad against. Unsurprisingly, I lost those matches. The UW match was much closer than I believed it to be but it is still a very winnable match. The card you don’t want much of is Olivia and I proceeded to draw the other two that game as well. Game two I won quickly with an aggressive start, but game three I lost again by drawing two Olivias and nothing else of note.

In addition to losing to that deck, I also lost to two Rakdos decks and a Mono Red deck. Mono Red seems like a very bad matchup even with access to Pillar of Flame. Rakdos is very winnable though. In both matches I lost to the deck, game three I stalled the game so it went long and then I proceeded to flood out. One of the games I had eleven mana in play when I lost and another four on the top of my deck. The Rakdos match is not one you want to face with this deck though, as it is not in your favor.

Because of that, I don’t think I would take this deck to an event again. I did beat one Rakdos deck but other than that, my record was horrid. Despite not drawing well, losing a lot of games, and feeling like my deck was out-classed against the best deck in the format (Rakdos), I played very well. After the event I analyzed my play and there were only one or two plays that I made judgment calls on I was unhappy about. Neither of them were play mistakes, but rather a calculated decision that ended up not working out.

With no luck making day two of the Invitational, I struggled to figure out what to play the next day for the 5K. My friend wanted to test his Bant deck against Rakdos so I played the aggro side of the matchup. After destroying him the first five games without sideboard, I realized just how powerful the Rakdos deck is. Every card in the deck is inherently powerful and there is some synergy as well. The main feature is that the creatures are hard to kill, which is one of the things I look for in an aggressive deck. We played a bunch of sideboard games and he won about half of them which gave both of us a lot of information.

Based on how strong the Rakdos deck was, I decided to just play that the next day. It was similar enough to decks I had played before that I felt I could play it well. I didn’t change much from the main deck, but I did altar the sideboard quite a bit. Here’s what I played for the 5K.

Untitled Deck

Creatures

4 Diregraf Ghoul

4 Gravecrawler

4 Knight of Infamy

4 Geralfs Messenger

4 Hellrider

4 Falkenrath Aristocrat

2 Thundermaw Hellkite

Spells

4 Pillar of Flame

4 Searing Spear

2 Victim of Night

Lands

4 Blood Crypt

4 Cavern of Souls

4 Dragonskull Summit

1 Mountain

4 Rakdos Guildgate

7 Swamp

Sideboard

1 Flames of the Firebrand

3 Rakdos Return

3 Bonfire of the Damned

2 Victim of Night

4 Vampire Nighthawk

2 Zealous Conscripts

This may seem like a very stock list, but I did actually put a lot of thought into the card choices. The sideboard especially, was my own creation. So what happened at the event?

Round 1 – Mono Red
Round 2 – Rakdos
Round 3 – Rakdos
Round 4 – Rakdos
Round 5 – Rakdos
Round 6 – Rakdos
Round 7 – GWb Humans
Round 8 – Rakdos

That’s right, six Rakdos decks out of my eight rounds! That many mirror matches in one event was insane. By the end of the day I was asking myself, are there other decks in the format? I also started asking my opponents what they had played against. Most of them said they played a variety of decks. One opponent said he had a similar experience to what I was having. Take a look at how I did.

Round 1 – Mono Red, win
Round 2 – Rakdos, win
Round 3 – Rakdos, win
Round 4 – Rakdos, win
Round 5 – Rakdos, lose
Round 6 – Rakdos, lose
Round 7 – GWb Humans, win
Round 8 – Rakdos, lose

You definitely do not want a play by play of the event but I can tell you a little about the mirror match. Go figure, right?

Despite the reputation of previous aggro mirrors, the Rakdos mirror is quite skill intensive. There are many opportunities to outplay your opponent. If you are considering this deck, make sure you test the mirror because it is the hardest match by far.

Most of the time, when you are on the draw, you need to consider yourself the control deck and be concerned about your defense. This is not always the case though. If you have a turn one play and they don’t, that can easily turn the tempo in your favor. Learning when to play a creature or hold for removal is important. If you are bad with combat math, this mirror is going to be tough for you to win. Often it comes down to attacking while playing defense to make sure you kill your opponent first. The biggest swing in the mirror is usually Hellrider so calculate how much damage your opponent could do with it before you make your attacks.

Tips for the Mirror

Treat every mirror different because there are many lists with unique features. Some of those features include Blood Artist, Rakdos Cackler, more removal, less removal, Tragic Slip, Vampire Nighthawk, Mark of the Vampire, etc. Some of those typically are sideboard strategies but I had to play against all of those cards throughout the event.

Sideboard differently for each mirror as well. I would want a sideboard plan for a stock list like the one that won the Grand Prix, but remember to change your plan depending on the specifics of your opponents deck.

Remember to make the switch from offense to defense when needed and vice versa. If you are keeping track of your opponent's plays and life total, you should be able to plan your line of attack based on the game state. If you are dead to a fresh Hellrider from your opponent, you need to leave back blockers.

The normal sequence of plays is not always correct. For example, normally you play Geralf's Messenger on turn three and Falkenrath Aristocrat on turn four. There are times when you want to play around your opponents Pillar of Flame by casting Geralf's Messenger the turn after you play Aristocrat. Each game is different and each game state unique so make your plays based on what has actually happened so far.

In the Hellrider vs. Falkenrath Aristocrat debate, Hellrider should win almost every time because your damage output is higher. The times when it is correct to play Falkenrath Aristocrat first are usually when they have passed with mana open. As long as you have another creature, you should probably play Aristocrat first.

Speaking of Falkenrath Aristocrat, knowing when not to play it is important as well. Almost always, if you don’t have any other creatures in play, you should play another creature first. By playing your most resilient threat without a way to protect it, you downgrade the power of the card significantly. Even though you could get in four hasty damage this turn, more than likely it is better to play your other creature first so you have a way to make Aristocrat indestructible.

One of my strategies for beating the mirror was boarding in Rakdos's Return. It may seem counter-intuitive but I liked the plan a lot on the play. If you make them discard two or three cards, they basically can’t win. This strategy usually won't work if you are on the draw or if they have Rakdos Cackler. Just keep it in mind while sideboarding.

As for what actually happened, this event was yet another close call. I started the day 4-0 beating RDW and three mirrors in a row. After that, I lost two close mirrors, beat a mana screwed humans player, then lost my last match to miss prize.

Of the matches I lost, one of them was a legitimate loss. My first loss of the day was to a mirror with two Blood Artists main deck and a third in the sideboard. He drew both of them game one and then all three game three. Because of that swing in life totals and the enormous amount of lands I drew game three, I lost that match. If I would have drawn a threat to go with my pile of removal, I would have moved to 5-0.

The loss right after that was to Christian Calcano, quite a good player. The games were close but ultimately I couldn’t draw a land for two turns game three, which sealed the deal.

Evolving Rakdos

On the drive home I was thinking about one version of the deck that uses the additional sacrifice outlet of Bloodthrone Vampire so you can play main deck Mark of Mutiny. I think this version should have the edge in the mirror because of the better removal and the life swings from Blood Artist in addition to the creature stealing effect. This is the list I will be working from. I like a lot of what it is doing. Might need some Hellriders though.

Untitled Deck

Creatures

3 Blood Artist

3 Bloodthrone Vampire

4 Diregraf Ghoul

4 Falkenrath Aristocrat

4 Geralfs Messenger

4 Gravecrawler

4 Knight of Infamy

4 Rakdos Cackler

spells

3 Mark of Mutiny

3 Tragic Slip

1 Victim of Night

Lands

4 Blood Crypt

4 Cavern of Souls

4 Dragonskull Summit

1 Rakdos Guildgate

10 Swamp

Sideboard

3 Appetite for Brains

3 Bonfire of the Damned

1 Duress

2 Pillar of Flame

3 Vampire Nighthawk

1 Victim of Night

2 Zealous Conscripts

In closing, Rakdos is definitely a big part of the metagame. Make sure you are prepared to face it with whatever deck you decide on because you never know when you are going to have to play against six Rakdos decks in one event.

Until next time,

Unleash the Rakdos Crushing Force!

Mike Lanigan
MtgJedi on Twitter
Jedicouncilman23@gmail.com

Insider: The Next Big Thing

Posted on December 6, 2012January 17, 2022 by Corbin Hosler

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In my job as a sportswriter covering local high schools and University of Oklahoma sports, I’ve found that nearly everything is measured in terms of age. Is this a senior-led team or are they young and inexperienced?

If they’re young, it’s all about how they could develop into the “next” someone, be it Sam Bradford or Keilani Ricketts or whatever your sport of choice is. On the other hand, if they’re upperclassmen, it’s all about who’s coming next. Who’s the hotshot freshman or sophomore who’s going to be the next big thing?

In Magic Finance, it’s also always about the next big thing. A few weeks back I was all over Hellrider and Thundermaw Hellkite. Go back even farther, and I was accumulating Scalding Tarns like it was nobody’s business.

As soon as those cards jumped as I predicted, I was done with them. With the upside gone or significantly reduced, they become completely boring to me, much like how Adrian Peterson’s freshman season was so much more exciting than his junior year.

This is where Standard is at right now. It was cool when Bant Control was new and offered opportunities, and it was cool when the Jace/Hellkite decks took off. Hell, it was even acceptable when Zombies with Hellrider became a thing again.

But, outside of Rhox Faithmender, very little has changed in the last three weeks or so. At this point, we’re likely to see metagame shifts of a rock-paper-scissors nature rather than anything new.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some opportunities, even if we have to look a little farther for them. So let’s see what we can do.

Parallel Lives

This has nothing to do with Standard, but it’s been discussed heavily on the forums and needs to reach everyone. There is little to NO time to get in on these. People already know it’s not bulk. Soon they will realize it’s closer to $5 than $2.

Add in the fact that Innistrad is done being opened, and you can see why we’re running out of time on a card that is climbing past $4 on TCGPlayer.

Tree of Redemption

Now, this is me being speculative. Faithmender is good, and it’s certainly excellent in a lot of the grindy matchups where people are gaining a million life. But not every deck can play white mana, nor does every deck want to overload on lifegain outside of Thragtusk and Faithmender.

And, by the way, Tree of Redemption with Faithmender on the table is insane. If you weren’t aware, as long as your life total goes up (even if by exchanging) it counts as life gain, so activating Tree with Faithmender on the table is actually absurd.

But that’s not all. Jund, for instance, could make really good use of the Tree since it doesn’t play White. Hellkites and Hellriders are a lot less of a problem when you don’t have to do any blocking to gain significant amounts of life.

Furthermore, this is a mythic. Honestly, this is the only reason I like this as something other than a throw-in. We watched Faithmender quadruple in price (a card that I suggested grabbing at the M13 prerelease, by the way), so if Tree starts to see play it could go much higher. It can be had for less than a dollar on TCGPlayer, so I’m suggesting getting on these now through trades and be ready for a cash buy if it starts to show up more.

Nephalia Drownyard

Sadly, winning in Standard is coming down to milling more and more. Drownyard is a good pickup for trades, because it’s going to trade much better than it will buylist.

Jace, Memory Adept

It’s probably not a good sign that this and especially the next card on this list are growing in popularity. But then again I haven’t been a huge player at FNM recently, so I can’t comment on how enjoyable the format is, only what’s trending upwards.

Sands of Delirium

I’m not even joking. This card is seeing sideboard play, and is actually better in some ways than big Jace. It comes down fast, dodges most of the removal in the format, and allows you to do something with your 10+ mana in the long-game.

I refuse to believe this sees much movement, but I wanted to bring it to your attention since it may be a legitimate sideboard plan and is basically bulk right now.

Slayer's Stronghold

This is popping up in more and more lists as a way to make your post-wrath play much better, and it’s absurd on a Geist. With the Boros guild just a little bit away, this is a pretty good target in trades for the next month.

…

The way I see it, Standard is in a holding pattern right now, and outside of really metagame-dependent choices, I don’t see anything besides Tree and Parallel Lives that could merit a cash buy. All of the above, though, I consider great trade targets for the next few weeks, and it’s made even better by the fact most of them are cheap.

Gatecrash is certainly going to shake things up, and there’s going to be a bunch of hype flying around. Until then, I’ll be trying to get ahead of the metagame by targeting cards like these, and let’s hope I’m at least close to as successful as I was with the last month of Standard speculation.

Thanks for reading,

Corbin Hosler

@Chosler88 on Twitter

Insider: Standard Follow-Up and Timeline Check

Posted on December 5, 2012January 17, 2022 by Chad Havas

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Last week we looked at predicting the future of Standard, and there were some big events already since then. We saw a resurgance of the U/W/r Flash decks and some changes to the Rakdos, Bant and Reanimator decks. We'll take a look at those changes, and see how they impact how we feel about the coming weeks.

We also want to double check our calendars because we're just about dead-center in the Return to Ravnica Season, leaving about 7 weeks until Gatecrash Pre-release, which means spoilers aren't terribly far away. A few spoilers came out towards the end of last month, but we still haven't seen the guild mechanics, so our last chance to make moves based on speculative upcoming strategies is coming soon.

Standard Follow-Up

Between the TCGplayer Championship and the StarCityGames Open this past weekend it appears the format wasn't ready for the UWr Midrange deck that took both 1st and Second at the TCGplayer event. The StarCityGames Open saw mostly the lists we were expecting.

In addition to these decks, one Nightshade Peddler deck did make an appearance, as well as a 5-color-control deck. The 5-color deck featured 3 Chromatic Lanterns, which many of you will know is something I'm happy to see. Perhaps there is room for it to grow after all. They still sit around the $3 price tag they were at when I picked them up at the onset, so I'm not really risking anything by waiting to see what happens with this 5-color brew. He also included a singleton of both Garruk, Primal Hunter and Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker.

Another thing of note, there were many copies of the B/R deck in the top 8 of the StarCityGames event, but many of them are already trimming down on Thundermaw Hellkites and Hellriders. Hellkite is being played in the UWr Flash deck so it's not going anywhere soon, but I'm still expecting a steep falloff on Hellrider in the next week or two.

Gerry Thompson was still on a Hellkite-less version, so it's hard to say if he'll stay in those lists or not. Beyond those notes, we're still in the mode we were last week, with regards to standard. Expect the format to shift again once the control decks move to heavier sweeper density and the aggro decks bring their mana curve down.

Timeline Check-in

As a writer, we have these fluxuations in our topics, as they correspond to format rotations, PTQ seasons, bannings and most importantly, set releases. We've had nearly two months to play around with Return to Ravnica, figure out what cards we liked and how the formats would shift around, but it won't be long before we start getting sneak peeks into Gatecrash. Everyone has their speculations about what the guilds mechanics might be, but soon enough there won't be anymore guesswork.

One of the things I've heard around, and agree with, is the Innistrad lands that match with the Gatecrash guilds are likely to see more play once there's direct support for them via Shocklands. This includes Hinterland Harbor, Clifftop Retreat and Isolated Chapel. These are all still reasonable buys, and while I'm not actively picking them up, I'm hanging on to any copies I already have.

Regular readers of my articles know I'm also looking at Utility Lands that may see increased play next season, and the one I've made a move on is Nephalia Drownyard, but a case could also be made for Kessig Wolf Run. Beyond that, I'm not confident enough in what the new set will bring to make further speculations, but if you're feeling confident in what might be ahead, you've got short time to make moves before we see what mechanics the guilds will bring.

PTQ Profits

On the other side of our timeline is the PTQ season schedule. We sit in the middle of Sealed season, which on its own doesn't provide tons of information for finance, besides the massive quantity of packs that get opened at every PTQ. PTQs are an interesting environment now that the professional TO's no longer run the events, but rather Local Gaming Stores. The learning curve for a successful PTQ is steep, and LGS owners are (in general) spread too thin to really nail down an event like this on their first run.

We also see inconsistent types of events. Some places hold the event in their shop, of course saving on space rental, while others will rent a space somewhere to hold the event. Sometimes there will be outside vendors, in other cases the LGS is the only vendor on site. This makes it hard to know what to expect, but in the short time since the policy change, I've found all types have their benefits, and a small bit of research before the event can be well worth your time. I learned this lesson the hard way, but luckily for me, learning this lesson will pay off in spades this coming weekend.

I attended a PTQ this past weekend, and after losing my win-and-in in Round 7 of 8, I perused the dealer booths. Some of my friends had mentioned to me that some of the dealers had some good buy prices, but I was focused on my event and didn't get around to it until the end of the day.

I went to the Shuffle & Cut booth, picked up their buylist, and started peeking through it. Doomed Traveler $0.10, Crusader of Odric $0.25, Murder $0.10. As I scan down this list I'm agonizing over the enormous pile of draft chaff sitting in a box at my house. I'll never find a trader or buyer who wants a Crusader of Odric ever again. Ugh. Just from a long box of marginally playable commons and uncommons I had with me, I pulled over $50 in cards that I was happy to sell at their buy price, and I was being selective.

I find out they are located too far away from me to make it worth while to return to their location at a later date with my stuff, but to my luck, they will be at the PTQ I'm heading to the next week. Since then I've sorted out over $100 in cards to sell them that are simply sitting at home waiting to be proxied on. I have 37 Emancipation Angels, and yes, I will sell them all at $0.10ea and be happy about it.

Good Habits to Form

The problem with spending tons of time organizing and gathering a bunch of awful cards to sell at an event, is you don't know which vendors, if any, will be there. Going forward, I'll be contacting the LGS that is putting on the event and ask them about it. If they are the only vendor, ask them for a buylist in advance. If they don't have one, suggest they prepare one before the event day. It really is in their best interest to do so, and it gives you a chance to build rapport with the person on the other side of the phone.

Buylists are important because someone might otherwise have not asked the LGS to look at their cards for sale if they fear it will be a waste of time, but someone who otherwise wasn't planning to sell might do so once they see your list. Be sure to say something when you visit in person, letting them know you did indeed show up and you liked that they took your idea into consideration (whether they followed through on it or not). If they will have vendors on site, contact them for buylists.

Shuffle & Cut was able to do this for me for the next event I will see them at, but once I contacted the other vendors on site, I found even more cards to bring this weekend. For the PTQ Grinder, you want to hit as many PTQs as you can in a season to increase chances at qualifying, but if you can reduce your costs for each event by planning smart before you go, it makes it a lot less painful. Soon enough, PTQ season will be Modern, which will bring new advantages and challenges to buying and trading at events. Once the season gets closer we'll revisit these dealer strategies and see what is working and what isn't, and how things change in Modern as compared to Sealed.

Building a Pauper Cube- Part 2, The List!

Posted on December 5, 2012December 4, 2012 by Ryan Overturf

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Before I get too deep into things this week I would like to take a second to ask everybody that regularly uses anybody's Cube to thank them for the time and effort they put in to building and balancing their Cube. I spent around twelve straight hours putting everything together last Wednesday and I've changed a few cards here and there at least every other day since then. I had no idea that maintaining a Cube was so much work! Thank you to everybody who's Cube I have ever battled with. Your work is not unappreciated!

The List

I ended up going with a 540 card Cube, constructed with the intention of being drafted by 2-8 people. There are 75 cards designated to every color along with five cards for every color pair, 40 non-basics and 75 un-aligned cards (mostly artifacts). I took some liberties on certain cards on their affiliations based on how playable I believe them to be with regard to color alignment. For example, Momentary Blink is decidedly good enough in a white deck (white), Apostle's Blessing is good enough in any deck (unaligned), and hybrid manacosts were all lumped in as gold cards. Here is the list as it stands at the time of this writing:

Pauper Cube

Blue Spells

Black Spells

Green Spells

Red Spells

White Spells

Gold Spells

Unaligned Spells

Nonbasic Lands

As one might expect from a list of 540 cards, there is a lot going on here. The intent of this cube, as with any cube, is to reward deckbuilding over merely drafting good cards. As such there are a number of intentional major and minor strategies, along with many that I'm discovering as I play! Many red decks would be content to play Keldon Marauders, but the decks that draft it along with cards like Kor Skyfisher and Goblin Bushwhacker are going to get a lot more mileage than those that don't. Rather than delve too much into synergies I'd prefer to cover some more general themes in the cube for the purpose of this weeks article.

Manafixing

I stated last week that I wanted manafixing to be hard to come by in this Cube, and I think that I've implemented this goal pretty well. There isn't a high density of cards that fix especially well there is a large incentive to playing cards like Wanderer's Twig. I've even happily maindecked Manamorphose a couple times already.

The best manafixing in the cube is probably in the Bouncelands and Guildgates, which I decided to include prior to release because it seemed awkward to not include any and even more awkward to only include the color pairs featured in Return to Ravnica. While the bouncelands and Guildgates are quite good, I don't think that they're too good by any means and there are several spells like Temporal Spring and Wrecking Ball that help keep greedy players in check.

Even with the fixing being as sparse as it is, four and five color strategies are still very much draftable. Here is a five-color deck that I Winston Drafted last week:

Five Color MetalPoison

spells

lands

6 Mountain

3 Swamp

4 Forest

1 Plains

1 Island

The mana worked very well in every game that I played, and by very well I mean that I sacrificed Elsewhere Flask to cast Lose Hope on more than one occasion. It was awesome.

This deck also does a good job of exemplifying some of the synergies available in the cube. Faithless Looting is sweet with Ichor Slick, Pentad Prism makes turn three Myr Enforcer, the red auras go very well on Bramble Elemental and Cystbearer alike, having Cystbearer+Corpse Cur+Remember the Fallen is a really big game... As I said, there's a lot going on in this cube.

The Metalcraft theme in the Cube also goes a long way in fixing mana, which is also evidenced pretty strongly in the above list. You can stretch your mana pretty far when around half of your spells can be cast off of any land. I'm not 100% certain on the number of Artifacts to feature, but things have been working well so far. The only real problem is that cards like Ghalma's Warden and Chrome Steed are fantastic at outclassing other creatures when they're "on". As such, there is quite a bit of Artifact hate peppered in the Cube. This has also been working well thus far.

On Storm

Last week I stated that I absolutely wanted Storm to be draftable in this Cube, but this turned out to be a lofty goal that I had to compromise on. The simple truth is that constructed Pauper Storm decks rely on a very high density of rituals and draw spells that would more often than not water down a Pauper Cube more than they would benefit it. The compromise that I came to was to include a number of spells that are good at adding storm count without really enabling a truly degenerate archetype. If you want to go really big then Etherium Sculptor might actually be the best option, but Manamorphose, Frantic Search, Lava Dart and others make for pretty good Storm for value turns.

The deck with the best potential to build storm that I've seen thus far is the Burn deck that Kyle Olson drafted in a four man last night. Empty the Warrens ended up going last in one of the packs and I can't help but feel that Kyle really wanted it, though it's not like his deck was bad or anything...

bURn

spells

lands

7 Island

9 Mountain

With Rebound, Suspend, Flashback and card draw all at his disposal it wouldn't be unreasonable for Kyle's deck to be able to storm for 3 or more with some regularity. Clearly his deck didn't really need Empty though, as Keldon Marauders plus Ninja of the Deep Hours and Volt Charge is already some kind of combo.

On Slivers, Spirits and Allies

Slivers, Spirits and Allies are three tribes that I've seen represented in other Pauper Cubes that I decided to eschew. For the most part they're just not good enough without a somewhat dedicated deck which is something that I wanted to avoid for individual cards in my cube. Additionally, these strategies generally require a player to play a lot of colors. While I do think that playing three or more colors should be possible I think it should be to take advantage of some manner of synergy available by doing so, not something that is entirely necessary to make your deck work in the first place.

Tribal themes in general, on the other hand, I believe to be pretty awesome. There are a number of cards in my Cube that benefit from having a certain threshold of on-tribe creatures. Currently Elves has the most support but I want to reinforce Goblins and Soldiers more in the future. The problem with most common Goblin things is that they suck and with most common Soldiers is that they don't really matter much in the context of building tribal decks. Tribal is absolutely something that I desire to explore more as the Cube evolves, and one thing to keep in mind is to add more Changelings as Tribal becomes more prevalent.

Balancing Removal and Creatures

One thing that I've noticed about many Pauper Cubes is that creatures tend to invalidate removal spells or vice-versa. I feel like they're pretty close to being balanced in this Cube, though there are a number of cards on my watch list. I recently cut Sky-Eel School and Gryff Vanguard for giving too much unconditional value on such large creatures- especially in blue which already features some very powerful cards.

For the most part I tried to keep creatures at three or fewer toughness which would leave them dead to many of the Red removals. A large percentage of creatures with more than three toughness are weak to the artifact removal that is prevalent in the Cube, and there is also a good amount of removal that unconditionally kills them dead. Dispel, Apostle's Blessing and the Raise Dead effects also swing things in the favor of Creatures. I believe that things are fairly even currently, but the creatures might be a little too good still.

So far I have been having an insanely good time drafting Pauper Cube, and the largest expense has far and away been the sleeves and the time it takes to put everything together. Though Pauper Cube is technically a budget option, I believe it has all of the complexity of traditional Cubes, just represented in different ways. There are tons of synergies to explore and awesome decks to draft. You can have a deck as simple as Elves or one as complex as Tortured Existence. The possibilities certainly don't start and stop at my list. I also find that Pauper Cube gives the best representation of modern Limited formats with such a strong emphasis on creatures, which makes it good practice for drafting in general.

I really couldn't recommend Pauper Cube, or even Cubing in general enough! If there are any awesome commons that I missed be sure to let me know in the comments!

-Ryan Overturf
@RyanOverdrive on Twitter

Jason’s Archives: Missed Triggers & Missed Opportunities

Posted on December 4, 2012December 4, 2012 by Jason Alt

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Greetings, Speculators

The insiders among you may have benefited from a timely e-mail blast on Saturday morning regarding Rhox Faithmender -- a card that graced the Seance deck's sideboard for many months but only began to see mainstream play last week. Turning Thragtusk into twice the lifegain machine and making Sphinx's Revelation doubly backbreaking, Faithmender has a big enough butt to survive most combats and has the added benefit of costing a mere dollar.

I watched every dealer in the room sell out of this card before 9 am on Saturday and soon it was trading at around $4. I alerted the QS team immediately to give us all time to take advantage of pre-spike pricing. A dollar seemed like an excellent entry point, so I bought out a popular retail website's entire stock.

Now, if this site had said "We don't like your kind, speculator" on Saturday when I placed the order, I would have had time to place another order somewhere else. But they didn't inform me until Monday that my order was being cancelled, leaving me with 120 fewer copies than I'd anticipated having. I trusted this website, having placed several large orders with them in the past and never having an order cancelled like this.

In the speculation game, it's important to have sites you trust who will honor their original price after a spike rather than weasel their way out with statements like, "You should have contacted us to ask us if you could order so many copies of a card." Another popular retail website canceled my order of 15 Scavenging Oozes at $18 apiece the last day of GP Indianapolis because they "couldn't verify [my] shipping address was the same as [my] billing address." Sure enough, those 15 Oozes went back on their site the next day -- priced at $40 apiece.

My advice moving forward is to avoid ordering from tier one retail sites if your order is speculative. It's a mistake to assume they will go out of their way to protect their reputation. They do too much business for one person to hurt them financially and I can't inform enough people of my story without giving them grounds for legal retaliation. Instead I get to sullenly lick my wounds and look for another retail site I can trust.

To that end, TCGPlayer seems like a good choice for speculative buys of quantity. The cards come from a large number of small, individual sellers who are less likely to cancel an order hoping to relist it at a higher price, and more likely to be glad someone bought all their Rhox Faithmenders.

You pay a lot more in shipping this way, but if I could have paid the site I ordered from an extra $10 "don't be douchebags" fee not to cancel my order, I gladly would have. Higher shipping prices can also be mitigated if the site qualifies for the Super Saver Shipping... thing TCGPlayer has. I'm not well versed in this offer, but I wouldn't mind hearing more about it in the comments or the forums.

Your Triggers, Your Responsibility

Redditors will know about a recent kerfuffle involving Owen Turtenwald and a Pyreheart Wolf that happened in San Antonio.

Read his opponent's side of the story and then read Owen's side before we move on. Without taking a side in the matter it bears mentioning that you can miss triggers. At a Grand Prix rules enforcement level (REL), the new rules state that you need to explicitly state your lapsing triggers if you want them to happen.

A lot of discussion has been going on about why pros feel differently about this new rule than most people, much of it suggesting it's because they're scummy. In the reddit post, the guy clearly feels like day-twoing the GP was a huge accomplishment and the only thing that kept him from prize money was that dastardly professional rules lawyer. This feeling likely stems from the belief that he's unlikely to day two a GP again and consequently that he was robbed of something he won't get back. The player seems to feel that Owen, a pro, exploited a loophole in the rules to cheat him.

I really think that isn't the case, and it has something to do with the difference between pro players and non-pros, but probably not what you think.

Author Kevin Dutton wrote an excellent book about the traits that people suffering from psycopathy have in common with Fortune 500 CEOs. Something innate in a psychopath's brain structure makes them less empathetic than a normal person, more free to stab others in the back and take risks heedless of potential consequences -- all things that lead to success in the business world. A startling percentage of Fortune 500 CEOs have more than the minimum number of traits necessary to be clinically classified as a psychopath. In essence, something about being psychopathic makes someone a successful businessperson.

There is a similar feeling in the Magic community -- a feeling that pro players are somehow different, the kind of scumbags who use rules tricks to get an edge rather than outplaying their opponents. A lot of players view Magic pros as somehow different (in his reddit post, the author goes out of his way to mention that he treated Owen just like a regular person; because he's not?) and they're missing the point.

Owen Turtenwald didn't call his opponent on the missed trigger because he's a scumbag. He noticed it because he's more accustomed to playing at a high level where missing an optional trigger often results in a loss, whether enforced by the judge or not. That one damage from the Lobber Crew you didn't untap, that missed Ash Zealot trigger, that land in the graveyard you could have exiled with Deathrite Shaman when you were a mana short -- these things matter and they can spell the difference between a win and a loss.

I agree with Owen that it's miserable to remind a forgetful player to kill you. The new rules give the more vigilant player an edge which is how I think it should be. There is a fine line that pro and grinder alike are discovering and a bit of painful adjustment will be involved until everyone is on the same page. Jackie Lee's disqualification, the result of unfamiliarity with the new rules on her and her opponent's part, surprised a lot of people. But as we don't see a DQ for something similar every few minutes, clearly people are learning.

Remember your triggers, and remember the real difference between pros and less successful players is one part preparation and one part in-depth analysis of the game state. Pros see those missable triggers because they see everything, and if this game had been between two players of Owen's skill level, the judge would not have been called. Either both players would have remembered their triggers, or the player who missed one would have acknowledged it, learned from his mistake, and moved on.

You can't improve as a player by blaming someone else for noticing your mistake and calling a judge to enforce the rules. The only way to improve is to vow to play tighter and pay attention to those crucial details.

Deck the Halls

Get it? Because it's December and Magic is played with decks, and... because it's a pun and.... I don't have to impress you. You're reading my article so you're a fan already. Let's see you come up with entertaining puns every week.

TCGPlayer 50K Top 16

Once again, TCG Player fails at what I like to call the name game. First they decided to call a deck with twice as many copies of Seance as Unburial Rites "Junk Rites," next they name a Bant-colored deck with a singleton Nephalia Drownyard "Dark Bant," which is actually idiotic. I should be nice, but come on. "Dark" Bant? "I screwed up my mana base because I'm not creative enough to run Sands of Delirium in my sideboard Bant" and "Let's deal with Thragtusk by making it gain 10 life instead of 5 Bant" would be worse, but at least they're descriptive.

Bant was the boogeyman at this event, but it was UWR, or "American Midrange" --A name likely to piss of France, Great Britain, Australia and the 59 other countries with red, white and blue flags-- that took the top three spots. It seems the players who can't admit Delver is gone have moved on to this style of control deck, which avoids having to deal a million damage in the long game by using permission to answer Thragtusk. Although it's not my favorite, it's likely the better Sphinx's Revelation deck which potentially makes it the best choice for people skilled enough to pilot it. It requires very tight play.

Missing from the top eight is our good friend Kenta Horoki who was in first place going into round nine before going down in flames. He's been on this deck for weeks, illustrating the importance of dedicating a lot of time to learn the deck. I'd also recommend thinking about something interesting Kenta told me about the deck -- "I have such a hard time dealing with Reanimator I decided not to waste any sideboard slots on it."

He got a bad bounce and had to play Reanimator twice early on day two which likely cost him a seat in the top eight. While you're playing a million games to learn the ins and outs of this deck, work on the sideboard. I don't know how to tune it for a meta that will likely feature Reanimator for the next year, but ignore that matchup at your peril.

Proving it wasn't just a flash in the pan, players continue to brew with Nightshade Peddler. Chris Benzinger's and Jeff Levine's decks are pretty dissimilar but both found a use for [card Nightshade Peddler]Peddler[/card] beyond Izzet Staticaster. Thundermaw Hellkite is my favorite pairing, but I hadn't considered Huntmaster of the Fells as a possibility and it looks like it paid dividends. There are a ton of ways to build this deck so get brewing. I think Peddler decks are at minimum a fine choice for FNM but this event proves they can finish in the money at large events too.

Fighting through Thragtusks and [card Rhox Faithmender]Faithmender[/card]s all day were a lot more aggro decks than I'd expected to see in the top sixteen. Players will continue to brew the beatdown, and with Boros promising to be the fastest of the ten guilds and Gruul slated as the third (the second fastest is obviously Rakdos), I don't see that changing post-Gatecrash.

Sunday 5K from Indy

I won't dwell on this a ton since they haven't included the top eight lists at the time of writing and most people just jammed their deck from Saturday's X-3 drop performance. I included this as bonus content because I'm a swell guy like that. People are clamoring for Jackie Lee's list, a deck designed by Adrian Sullivan (or "Sully" as I have begun telling people he likes to be called; let's see if this one sticks better than "Zombardment"). When that gets posted I'll likely chime in with my two cents in the comments section. Now that's bonus content. Suck it, Avengers Blu Ray.

Down to "The Wire"

The Wire being the only thing I know about Baltimore, besides "For the love of God, stay out of Baltimore."

You guessed it, there was an SCG event in Baltimore, the city of brotherly stabbings.

SCG Baltimore Standard Top 16

The new layout is really kind of atrocious, but we'll get used to it, in time.

Naya Midrange took the thing down. I've said before I'm excited that Naya is a deck now, because Gruul and Boros will only give it more options. All good stuff, all the time, this deck jams four-of efficient beaters with a little ramp and some removal. Perfection.

There are a lot more Thundermaw Hellkites in Baltimore than there were in Indianapolis. Naya, Jund -- this card is everywhere. I think they're peaking now but they could hit $30. I'm not banking on it though, mine are all gone.

Ali Antzari's Five-Color Control is the most interesting list and makes me excited for the possibilities when Gatecrash gives us more gold cards and better mana bases. I am surprised that I don't see Unburial Rites in a list that runs [card Gisela, Blade of Goldnight]Gisela[/card] and [card Griselbrand]Grizzle fer Shizzle[/card]. His games must have gone pretty long, but clearly he was winning them as a ton of draws don't see you make third place.

Half of the top eight is B/R Zombies?! WUT?! In a Thragtusk-infested Standard this deck usually lacks the reach to deal 30 damage reliably or 20 quickly enough to beat the first Thragtusk down. I suspect that once the pros who were slinging Bant in Indianapolis are in the mix, Zombies doesn't stand much of a chance. I think the UWR decks that dominated Indy also curbstomp Zombies so it's a bad metagame choice once people digest all the new info.

SCG Baltimore Legacy Top 16

Speaking of half of the top eight, what's with all the BUG all of a sudden? Shaheen Soorani took it down with Esper Stoneblade (ugh) but there were 4 BUG decks in the top eight. Two were Delver and two were control, but the common theme is a healthy dose of Deathrite Shaman and Abrupt Decay -- cards I always said would impact the Legacy meta more than they would Standard. It took a while, but people are finally jamming them in Legacy and I think the meta is shifting.

Abrupt Decay is unbelievably good in Legacy right now and Deathrite Shaman is unbelievably good everywhere. I think Deathrite, instead of being good in Maverick, is probably going to be the death of Maverick. Already underperforming recently, Knight of the Reliquary decks will struggle even more in a meta infested with Deathrite Shaman. However, the smug little emo kid (seriously, look at Deathrite Shaman's art; he's even wearing a hoodie) can be easily domed by a Punishing Fire, so the meta may be ripe for the return of Punishing Maverick. Fire also deals with [card Dark Confidant]Bob[/card], [card Vendilion Clique]Clique[/card] and life totals. Brew, Legacy players, BREW!

The stars aligned for a Dredge deck to top eight. I love it when pet decks get there, which seems to be roughly once per event. Whether it's Belcher, Lands, High Tide, Dredge or Enchantress, some tier two deck top eights on the back of the pilot's copious experience with it and a stroke of luck. This makes investing time, energy and a lot of money into a Legacy deck worth it. The meta hasn't undergone a tectonic shift with the addition of good green/black cards and pet decks can still get there. So get there!

Is BUG the new RUG? None of the RUG Delver decks in the top sixteen breached top eight. Also under-performing is Show and Tell, although it hasn't been doing that well for a few months. Carlo Fuentes nearly got there with Cephalid Breakfast, a deck with more copies in the top thirty-two this weekend than Academy Rectors. Is that card up so much just because of Vintage? I can't imagine that. I have my suspicions that Rector's price bump was artificially instigated and not the result of an open market dictating an increase in demand.

A deck that delighted me was Josh Cho's, which SCG (poorly) titled "UB Tempo," belying the simple elegance of a deck with 16 lands, 12 creatures and all the spells on earth. Designed to win and win quickly, Cho pays a lot of life for his spells which can make Death's Shadow a real monster.

Nivmagus Elemental may be more playable than we gave it credit for in Legacy. I like it as a way to get rid of spells your opponent has countered, but paying 2 life for Gitaxian Probe only to strap it to elemental seems fine as a way to reduce both your life total and theirs.

Snuff Out does work here and I imagine the whole idea is to get your life total to around 8 to make Death's Shadow bigger than Tarmogoyf and swing with it, Niv and [card Delver of Secrets]Delver[/card]. Removal and permission prevent them from KOing you at your precarious life total. I Imagine the [card Erayo, Soratami Ascendant]Erayo[/card] in the board is to combat Mono Red, which can put a damper on your plans to play Death's Shadow for value. All in all this deck looks like fun and I'll likely sleeve it up soon.

The last thing I'll mention is that Sam Castrucci had the sack to sleeve up Scapeshift Valakut. Anything so good it was banned in Modern is probably unfair enough to jam in Legacy. I like this concept a lot.

Another Perfectly Good Day Wasted Reading 3000 of My Words

Get back to whatever you were doing before. Learn from mistakes and brew, dammit. Hit me up in the comments, let's talk about this Jackie Lee deck people are clamoring for. If you correctly guess the site I tried to order Faithmenders from, I'll be sure to respond with a cryptic "maybe" -- the same response I'll give if you're wrong. What fun!

Insider: Tracking Your Instincts

Posted on December 4, 2012January 17, 2022 by mathieu malecot

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Keeping an account of your costs of investments and their performance relative to other options will help identify personal strengths and weaknesses. Often just moving to strengths will increase profitability, while recognizing weakness will at least help you recognize what trades to avoid if you can't take more time putting them together.

Taking My Own Medicine

Personally, I can't stand stuff like Rhox Faithmender (the subject of a recent QS email). Here I see a cheap card getting eaten up in an event following an increase in red play. It is interesting tech and can swing a life gain race between competing Thragtusks in a player's favor. It's also relatively easy to splash.

So what's my problem? Well, it isn't a card that presses to victory. I am reminded of really bad legacy Dredge sideboards that take a reactive approach to decks instead of offering different sacrifice outlets for the pilot. Beating mid-range by playing a mid-range card is great if your deck is already a mid-range deck. More aggressive decks don't need this and combo doesn't (I say combo like that's a thing). Right now Rhoxy is $3.50 with shipping on TCG. The next two weeks are a great time to unload him for value. If you can pick him up at bulk, go for it but I am going to avoid this thing at $1 or more.

Let's mark that : Rhox Faithmender, sell recomendation on December 3rd TCG price $3.49

Hot Targets

Meanwhile, in the world of MtG cards playable in any format, Cavern of Souls is available for $19.15 on TCG. I don't think Cavern gets under $18 until it rotates out. After the typical time out of standard this piece of real estate likely settles around $20. Every tribal deck wants counter protection for its creatures.

Big old BUY recomendation on Cavern of Souls, today at $19.15 TCG

Bonfire of the Damned is around $23. Have you tried picking these up? My local store doesn't have them and the players that are holding are all sharks. Maybe <$25 is too low for this miracle. Afterall, who is going to play this as a single copy? Bonfire is a card that remains under-appreciated across other formats, but it will still make its way into more powerful formats once people realize setting up miracles isn't that hard and this thing isn't getting less one-sided. That said, it probably settles <$10.

Boros is coming. Buy <$25, up now on TCG for 23.

Sphinx's Revelation is a good card. It's got blue for FoW. It draws X at instant speed. It's mythic! I played two copies in a deck and it started talking to me in game, asking me why i wouldn't play at least one more. Unfortunately this card is clunky. Blue Sun's Zenith is a better card most of the time (it can be redirected, which sucks) and post-rotation Zenith is <$0.50. Until this Mythic gets back to $8 I won't be adding. In fact...

I have 2 Sphinx's Revelation for sale get yours today. TCG says they are worth at least $20. You know you want to prove me double-wrong. Lets swap out my Revelations for your Bonfires.

The Oft Forgotten

Ajani, Caller of the Pride. Go look at the spread of prices for this guy on TCG. It's nearly ten to just over twenty dollars. Looks like a lot of people having a hard time finding a price for the Caller of Prides. I think 10 bucks is a great price for a 3cc walker that is getting Boros to work with in Gatecrash.

I'll Gladly give you 1 Sphinx's Revelation for 2 Ajani, Caller of the Pride today. TCG says you win! Believe that.

Going a Little Deeper

Five is good enough on big stuff. Now i'm going total speculation on you.

How much is the FNM Lingering Souls worth? 3x as much as an uncommon with the same name from Dark Ascension at my local store... but they don't have anymore. Lingering Souls is a good card. I think w/b is a thing with plenty of good cards already and a guild coming to save the day on the way. I love trading for commons and uncomnons. If you want to get something that will see play in legacy and vintage get a pauper game going at your store. Trade pauper staples for O-Rings and Souls.

Tracker's Instinct, Thought Scour, Desperate Ravings, Grisly Salvage.... all these are better than the average. Leverage them into money now as uncommons or bulk rares. Get foils and you'll find buyers on ebay. Right now the foil Charms are outta control hot. I have a playset of Izzet Charms at todays prices, and I preordered them.

Happy Hunting

GP Toronto City Guide

Posted on December 4, 2012December 3, 2012 by Ryan Abcede

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Welcome to Toronto! If this is your first time visiting Toronto I am glad you are reading this because Toronto has a lot to offer that most people are not aware of. If you’ve been to Toronto before welcome back! Hopefully I can enhance the quality of your stay by giving you some new ways to explore and enjoy our great city. I am writing this article hopefully for multiple websites so I am going to use the tried and tested method of a Ctrl+F table of contents. Some people are interested in food, some people are interested in night life and some are just interested in how to get around the city so instead of having to read through a wall of text you can simply use the table of contents to find what you are looking for.

One important thing that I would like to point out is how to figure out directions in Toronto. All you have to do is find the CN Tower. You can see it almost anywhere in the city. It is on the South end of the city closer the West end of Downtown. If you can find where Yonge Street is (pronounced Young), the main subway line runs beneath it that is slightly east of the CN Tower. With those two landmarks to guide your way it should be pretty easy to find your way in our city.

[LCTN] Location

[WTHR] Weather
[TRNST] Transit
[S&AT] SITES, SHOPPING AND ATTRACTIONS

-          [NIFA] Niagara Falls
-          [PACM] Pacific Mall
-          [AIRC] Air Canada Centre
-          [CNRC] CN Tower/Rogers Centre
-          [EATC] Eaton Centre
-          [Y&DS] Yonge and Dundas Square
-          [SLVR] Silver Snail Comic store
-          [CTYH] City Hall/Nathan Phillips Square skating
-          [QUST] Queen Street West
-          [B&BL] Bay & Bloor/Yorkville
-          [DISD] Distillery District

[TOFD] FOOD

[PUTN] Poutine
- [SPOU] Smoke’s Poutinerie

[BRGS] Burgers
- [STYD] The Stockyards
- [BUPR] The Burger’s Priest

[PZZA] Pizza
- [PZLI] Pizzeria Libretto

[TCTO] Tacos
- [GREL] Grand Electric
- [LACA] La Carnita

[AIZN] Asian
-          [BBLT] Bubble Tea
-          [YETU] Yeuh Tung
-          [MOFU] Momofuku
-          [JPNZ] Japanese
-          [SPFK] Spoon and Fork
-          [GUTO] Guu

[LNET] LATE NIGHT EATS
- [ZETS] Zet’s Restaurant
- [LKVW] The Lakeview

[MU&E] MUSIC AND EVENTS

[MGTP] MANADEPRIVED.COM GP Toronto Party

Location [LCTN]

This year’s venue is located at the Toronto Congress Centre http://www.torontocongresscentre.com/Exhibiting/Directions.htm. It is a much better location than last GP with easy access by transit and limited food options nearby. Sadly it is still in the outskirts of the city, technically not even in Toronto, so if you are planning on visiting anything in Toronto you will have to drive or take the transit. There is also FREE PARKING which is a great bonus for locals and anyone who is renting a car to get around. It is close to the airport. You can actually take a bus directly from the airport to the venue if you are so inclined. Take the 58 bus towards Lawrence West Station. Get off when you see the Subway, Swiss Chalet or Harvey’s. The cash fare will be $3

Weather [WTHR]

As I am writing this we are currently in our first real cold spell of the winter season. We’ve had our first snow fall, but it was just light snow that hardly stuck on the ground if at all. I am not even sure if the core of our city even saw a single flake. Some people are still walking around with shorts on but I personally wouldn’t suggest that. The current temperature is 0 degrees Celsius which is 32 degrees Fahrenheit. It should stay in that general area so heavy fall/light winter apparel should be fine but if you are coming from some place that never gets a hint of cold make sure you at least have decent coat, hat and scarf. If you are planning on visiting Niagara Falls, which I would suggest you do, you may want to bring some warmer apparel. No parka’s, thermal underwear or artic gear required unless you doubling this as a snowboarding/skiing trip.

Transit [TRNST]

There are two main modes of public transportation in the city of Toronto, TTC and GO Transit. The TTC is the main way to get around the actual city of Toronto. It is for the most part a one fare system that will take you anywhere the TTC goes, just remember to grab a transfer in case you get lost. If you end up going the wrong way a bus driver can punch your transfer to allow you to go back on another bus. The TTC system is comprised of buses, street cars and a 2.75 line subway system. 2 big lines, a short 5 stop line and a short 6 stop LRT line. The bus in front of the venue takes you straight to Lawrence West Station. From there you can access almost anything in the city in less than 2 hours with most places being roughly 1 hr away from the venue because it is in the outskirts of the city. Regular cash fare is $3. They do not give you change on buses. Tokens give you a small discount but have to be purchased at stations. You can purchase them through a machine or the ticket booth operator but can only be purchased in certain multiples. A day pass is $10.50 and can be used by 2 adults and up to 4 kids on Sundays. The day pass gives you unlimited travel on the entire TTC for that day. You will have to buy them at a station. You are also able to buy tickets/tokens at random convenience stores in the city but I can’t guarantee there will be one close to your hotel or the venue.

The other transit option is GO Transit. This is mainly used as a commuter service for people who live in the suburbs and need to get into the city for work. There are trains as well as buses but for the most part you won’t need to use this service. If you do end up having to take it for some reason, the fare is distance/service based. It is not easy to mix the two up but if you are down town and looking for a way back to the air port there are possible ways to take GO Transit to the air port.

HOW TO GET DOWNTOWN

From the venue you can take the 58 bus East towards Lawrence West Station.

Once you are at Lawrence West station (4th stop on the left side of the yellow line) take the subway down to anywhere between St Patrick Station to Dundas Station. It all depends on where you want to go. Eaton Centre is connected to Dundas and Queen Station. All of the stations in the left side of the "U" at below the green line are on the same streets as the corresponding right side of the "U". Its about a 5-10 minute walk from one side of the U to the other side.

Sites and Attractions [S&AT]

OUT OF CITY

Niagara Falls [NIFA]

If you have never been to Niagara Falls and its surrounding area you should probably go here. It is a great example of how powerful yet beautiful nature can be. Seeing it in the winter give you a different view of the falls that you won’t see in pictures. Aside from staring at the falls while freezing your face off the surrounding area is a great entertainment district.

Niagara Falls is roughly 1 to 2 to two hours from Toronto, depending on where you are located. Here are driving directions from the airport to Niagara. http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=pearson+airport&sugexp=chrome,mod%3D14&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&ei=2AC4UPbiL4qTyQH8uoFQ&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAA

If you don’t want to drive there is actually another way to get to Niagara, the Casino shuttle buses. They are a great deal and the only down side is you are restricted on when you can go or come back on them. Here is a link to their pick up locations. http://www.safewaytours.net/casinobus.html The basics of it are you pay $30 if you don’t have a player’s advantage card then you bring your ticket to the player’s advantage card booth at the casino and you get a $25 play Voucher. So basically the trip ride costs you $5. Talk to the bus driver and find out what times buses leave. From what I understand you get priority seating on the bus 5 hrs from when you arrive but your ticket back is valid for standby seats up to 48 hrs.

There are two casinos, Casino Niagara and Fallsview Casino. Fallsview is the newer one and much better in my opinion. However for poker I am not sure which is a better venue. Fallsview has a decent buffet but the last time I ate there was when it opened so it could easily have fallen off the wheels since then.

Other than the Casinos, there are a lot of tourist trap attractions; a Ferris wheel, 4D Theatres, Haunted Houses etc… They are all kitschy but fun none the less. In the past I’ve gotten a pass for $30 that gave me access to 4 attractions and it was worth the money in my eyes just for the laughs alone.

There are a few clubs in Niagara that are pretty busy because a lot of Americans come over to party due to our lower drinking age. I am sure they are better for booze than music though so depending on what you are looking for they may or may not interest you.

EAST

Pacific Mall [PACM]

Pacific Mall is a very unique mall. It is basically a modern China Town rolled up into a nice mall. Every store has glass doors and walls. You can find a lot of import goods from China, Japan and the rest of Asia in this mall. If you are looking for an interesting place to shop while sipping on a Bubble Tea you should make the trek out east to Pacific Mall. Make sure to go up stairs to the mini food court for some great finger food options like Beard Papas (cream puffs) or some other more traditional Asian street food options. To get here the easiest way is to go to Finch Station and take the 53 East bus to Kennedy Rd. There are several 53 buses (A, B, C etc…) but all should go to Kennedy.

DOWN TOWN

Raptors/Leafs/Air Canada Centre [AIRC]

If you are a hockey fan you will thank your wallet that there is no NHL this year. Leaf games are pretty much impossible to get tickets to and if you can find a ticket they are extremely expensive. If Dave Matthews Band or Carrie Underwood are your cup of tea they will be performing on the weekend of the GP. The Air Canada Centre is a great venue for concerts. Acoustics are good and views are generally good. Depending on if you stay in Toronto after the GP or not you could catch the other horrible team that plays in the Air Canada Centre, the Toronto Raptors (can you tell I’m a disgruntled fan?). The earliest game is the Wednesday after the GP vs the Nets. If you are not here for that long but do want to watch some basketball or any sport for that matter in the city I would suggest heading to Real Sports bar just outside the Air Canada Centre. I will go into more detail about the bar in the food section but it is definitely the best place I have ever been to for watching any sporting event. To get to the ACC area as well as the Skydome/Rogers Centre area all you have to do is take the TTC to Union Station and follow the signs. There is a direct access to the ACC through Union Station.

CN Tower/Rogers Centre/Skydome [CNRC]

The Skydome, now named the Rogers Centre is a few minutes away from the ACC. It is easy to find because all you have to do is look up and find where the CN Tower is. Both should have tours if you are into that sort of thing. Both have restaurants in them as well but are higher priced places just for the novelty/view.

Eaton Centre [EATC]

Eaton Centre is arguably the city’s best mall. Regardless of how good it is compared to other malls it is still a decent sized mall with almost anything you would want. Eaton Centre is a tourist landmark in the city and it is understandable once you get in there. Because the Christmas season is upon us the mall will have a special kind of cheer in the air you only get during this time of year. If you only do one daytrip while in the city Eaton Centre and its surrounding areas, Yonge and Dundas Square, Queen Street, City hall and possibly Kensington Market are your best bet. The Club district is also pretty close to Eaton Centre so if you really want a full day of going out and enjoying Toronto, this area is definitely your best bet.

Yonge and Dundas Square [Y&DS]

This is basically Toronto’s mini version of New York’s Time Square. It isn’t necessary to see the actual corner itself. Billboards are just billboards and it is nowhere as impressive as NYC, but it is located right in the centre of downtown Toronto. There are also usually events going on in the area so you may luck out and catch a food truck event or a free concert. If you plan on going to Eaton Centre to shop you may as well check it out as you are basically there anyways. To get to Yonge and Dundas Square just get off at Dundas station. From here you can access Eaton Centre, Silver Snail, Kensington Market (a little bit of a walk) and Queen Street (a little bit of a walk).

Silver Snail [SLVR]

Silver Snail is the city’s best comic book store. It recently moved to its current location and you are lucky you get to see it in all its glory. Its location is perfectly situated across the street from Eaton Centre and Yonge and Dundas square. It is above a Five Guys and doors away there is a Chipotle. Like I said, PERFECT location for a comic store. Inside you will find a huge assortment of action figures, vinyl figures, trade paper backs and comics. They do have Magic cards but selection is limited. They also have a café inside the store which is a nice addition if you have time to lounge around and read a chapter or two of a TPB.

City Hall/Nathan Phillips Square Skating [CTYH]

City Halls are usually boring but if you are into architecture etc… you can check out our new and old city hall right beside Eaton Centre. Interesting fact, our New City hall was pictured blowing up in Resident Evil Apocalypse seen here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEK2uIVDuKQ. You can also check out Nathan Phillips Square beside city hall which is basically a skating rink. There are burger/fry trucks along Queen Street beside the skating rink. Nothing special but if you want a greasy freshly fried poutine you can’t really go wrong with these trucks.

Queen Street West [QUST]

Queen Street West is our trendy alternative district of our city. You will find big name stores along this street but you will also find a lot of small boutiques, vintage apparel stores and some great shoe stores. Almost any place on Queen Street is at least an ok meal. Nothing outstanding but good enough if you want to eat in that area. It is a short walk from Eaton Centre, just exit on the end of the mall where Mc Donald’s and the Disney Store are and walk west. You are going the right way if you exited out the doors where you face the Bay department store walk right down Queen Street. Along the way you will see City hall with a large skating rink keep on walking down Queen Street. You can walk all the way to Bathurst but stopping at Spadina, the corner with McDonalds is good enough for most. The further west you go the more hipster it gets.

Bay and Bloor/Yorkville [B&BL]

The Bay and Bloor area of the city is the posh end of the city. During the Toronto International Film Festival, this is where all the big stars shop, eat and party. Most of you will probably not be interested in shopping here but for the few of you looking for your next $100 pair of socks head over here.

Distillery District [DISD]

This is one of my favorite parts of the city, especially during the Christmas season. It is a historic area of the city with brick laid streets and restored Victorian Industrial buildings. There is a Christmas Market going on at this time of year. It involves lights, music, decorations and festivities as well as great food and interesting shops throughout the area. It is a short street car ride from Eaton Centre as well so if you are not interested in shopping on Queen Street you can’t really go wrong heading up towards the distillery District either. To get here all you have to do is walk to King Street from Eaton Centre (South) and take the 504 Street car East. Get off at Parliament and walk two blocks south.

FOOD [TOFD]

Toronto has a large China town, Little Italy, Greek Town, Little India and Korea town among other ethnic centred areas. If you are looking for food in any of those areas it is hard to go wrong. I won’t really list any of my favorites out of those areas because they all really come down to personal tastes.

Toronto is not known as a foodie town worldwide, but trust me, there are tons of great places to eat and if it were an American city it would definitely be in the top 10, maybe even top 5 for food destinations in North America. Our large variety of cultures only helps this out as there is basically something to please almost anyone’s tastes in Toronto. An easy way to get a quick view of how good the cuisine in Toronto is to head over to BlogTo http://www.blogto.com/toronto/ , or theGridto http://www.thegridto.com/grid-picks/ and check out their restaurant picks. BlogTo’s best of lists cover almost any type of food you want to try and you don’t have to go to the number one spots; any spot on their lists is usually worth the trip.

Now on to my favorite spots…

POUTINE [PUTN]

If you do not know what Poutine is it may sound weird at first but trust me, it is one of the best comfort foods you could ever eat. A basic poutine is fries topped with cheese curds and gravy. Any foodie coming to Canada should be looking to try a poutine joint. I haven’t tried many places known for “poutine” specifically because you can get a decent poutine almost anywhere that sells fries. However for an out of towner there is one place I would send them too just for the experience of it.

Smoke’s Poutinerie [SPOU]

http://smokespoutinerie.com/

Smoke’s Poutine is one of the better poutines in the city but it is so far from what I remember poutine as when I was growing up. My favorite poutine is still the poutine I used to get in high school at a local burger joint made with fresh bacon crumbled on top. Sadly that burger joint no longer exists but like I said, you can find decent poutines everywhere in Toronto, even from fry trucks scattered throughout the city. However if you want to go to one place to have a poutine and have a great experience Smoke’s is the place to go. I would suggest going to the Adelaide location which is just South of Queen Street West and worth the small detour. It is also in the club district and open really late so if you end up going to a club in Toronto that is a great after club option. The location on Dundas Street is in a little bit of a shady area so I wouldn’t suggest an out of towner going there unless you want to go to the really dirty strip club across the street.

BURGERS [BRGS]

The Stockyards [STYD]

http://www.thestockyards.ca/

I’ve only had burgers here but it’s because I am pretty much in love with their burgers. My wife has had the fried chicken and says it is amazing as well. Their fries are great. Seasoned well and perfectly cooked. Their biscuits are also tasty. It is a small place and can get pretty busy at times so if you do go set some time aside for waiting to get in and/or waiting for your food. If you are driving you will have to find parking on the street.

The Burgers Priest [BUPR]

http://www.theburgerspriest.com/

Burgers Priest is basically Shake Shack the Canadian version. The “Option” is their cheese infused Portobello mushroom similar to Shake Shack’s “ShackStack”. The fries are nothing to be excited about. I would stay away from them unless you were really hungry. There are two locations, one East of downtown. You would have to take a street car if you wanted to get there from downtown. It is on Queen Street East. The other is in our uptown area. About a 10 minute walk North of Lawrence Station. There are actually a lot of good food choices in this area but nothing else that a tourist would really want to go to this area for.

PIZZA [PZZA]

Pizzeria Libretto [PZLI]

http://pizzerialibretto.com/

I’ve had Pizza all over the world and Libretto is in the higher levels of my Pizza hierarchy. It is a thin crust style pizza but not overly crispy. They have fresh toppings, a great atmosphere and amazing service. There is nothing much else one can say about a good pizza joint.

TACOS [TCTO]

Tacos are a newer trend in Toronto but we have a few great joints.

Grand Electric [GREL]

http://www.grandelectricbar.com/

Grand Electric is as trendy as they come. It may scare away some people with its loud music and too hip it hurts waitresses but if you can get past that you are in for a treat. The music is actually really great if you like hip hop. The Baja fish taco is insanely good but I would suggest trying anything that peaks your interest on their menu. It changes day to day but you I’ve never been disappointed with anything I’ve ordered. The line ups can be pretty insane, sometimes 3 hrs for a table and they don’t take reservations. The best bet is to get there 30 minutes before opening. If you can’t do that you can always get your name down on the waiting list then heading to a bar close by for a drink or three while waiting, they will call you when a table opens up.

La Carnita [LACA]

http://lacarnita.com/

La Carnita is not as good as Grand Electric food wise; however, you may have a better experience. It too plays great hip hop (a current Toronto trend for new restaurants) but it is a much bigger restaurant. The wait times are definitely less. The only thing I would say stay away from on their menu is the Avocado Taco. It’s a vegetarian option and it just isn’t as good as the meat options. La Carnita currently makes my favorite drink of all time. I can’t remember what it is called but it is their version of a Caesar. On the menu it is made with Tecata beer but ask for it to be made with Negra Modelo. Try it out if you like Caesars or Bloody Marys, you won’t be disappointed. Their desserts are also excellent but because it is cold outside you probably won’t want to try one of their fancy homemade popsicles.

ASIAN [AIZN]

I am a little biased when it comes to Asian food because, well I am Asian. So I end up eating more Asian food than anything else without even consciously doing it. Toronto has a huge Asian population so our choices here are pretty top notch. The problem with Asian food in general is similar to the problem with Poutine. Local places you grew up eating at are usually your favorites but they may not be the best and there are definitely tons of other places similar to your favorite place sometimes even next door.

Bubble Tea [BBLT]

I’ve heard some places call bubble tea Boba but in Toronto we call it Bubble Tea. We have some awesome Bubble Tea spots in Toronto but they are pretty much everywhere. Tea Shop 168 is a decent chain that is consistent if anything. If you do end up in Pacific Mall my favorite spot there is Serissa. Their bubbles are of varying size and taste great which makes it different enough from everything else you can get to make it memorable. If you wanted a place to hang out for dessert/bubble tea I would head to Destiny Café on Hwy 7 and Hwy 404. It is easy to get to by car, has a great open ceiling design and is surrounded by tons of decent chain restaurants if that’s the type of dinner you want. There is a Melting Pot nearby and it is beside a decent Korean BBQ place called Chako.

Yeuh Tung [YETU]

http://www.yuehtungrestaurant.com/

This is your run of the mill China town style restaurants. However they have one dish that I crave more than anything. After a foodie trip to NYC my wife and I headed straight here after we stepped off the plane. If I was on death row this is what I would ask for as my last meal. The dish is Manchurian Chicken, dry. I’ve heard their Chili Chicken is good as well but I think they are basically the same thing with just a slight variation in the spices. This restaurant is about a 5 minute walk from Eaton Centre and is basically behind City Hall. You can actually get to it if you walk to the right of the actual city hall building. It is on the corner of a side street that intersects with Dundas. Look for the Longos super market it is across the street from it.

Momofuku [MOFU]

http://momofuku.com/toronto/noodle-bar-to/

If you are from NYC you may recognize the name. Momofuku just opened up its Toronto location in the past few months. It too is close enough to Eaton Centre that you can walk to it. There are 4 separate sections to the restaurant on 3 different floors. The noodle bar is the ground floor and is the cheapest to eat at. If you want to have a finer dining experience, you can go all the way up to the fine dining option on the top floor. So if you are dying for a little bit of NYC Momofuku is the place you want to be.

Japanese [JPNZ]

Japanese cuisine is very popular in Toronto. Sushi especially can be found almost everywhere. There are tons of all you can eat Japanese places but the quality is never top notch but that doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy the meal. My rule of thumb going to an all you can eat Japanese joint is as long as it is busy the sushi should at least be somewhat fresh.

Spoon and Fork [SPFK]

http://www.spoonandfork.ca/vaughan.php

One of my preferred Asian all you can eat places is Spoon and Fork. This is mainly because I live close by but it is also a little higher end so you aren’t eating day old sushi. It is about a 20 minute drive from the venue so if you are driving and only have time to eat at one place this is a decent choice if you are staying near the venue. It has a classy décor and lots of great choices if you are not a sushi lover. It has some great Thai curries and Chinese noodle dishes. My favorite dish is actually the smoked duck salad. Try it if you head over to this restaurant.

Guu [GUTO]

http://guu-izakaya.com/toronto/

Izakayas are another trend creeping throughout the city. Probably one of the more popular ones is a place called Guu. I personally haven’t been yet but it is definitely on my list of places to go. Guu has done so well that they now have a chain of restaurants that have all gotten decent reviews. They have a Ramen joint called Kinton http://kintonramen.com/ which is hard to get into at times. Their newest spot is one that I really want to try. It is called Ja Bistro http://www.jabistro.com/. It has been getting really good reviews and is probably one of the better spots to get sushi in the city.

LATE NIGHT EATS [LNET]

I work odd hour shift work so Late night eats are very near and dear to my heart.

Zet’s Restaurant [ZETS]

http://www.zets.ca/restaurant-menu.html

Zet’s Restaurant is not a fine dining experience. It is what it is, a 24 hour diner close to the air port. It has a mean hamburger as well as a great souvlaki. You can’t really go wrong with diner food at 4am. If you are going to the Manadeprived party http://manadeprived.com/announcing-the-manadeprived-com-gp-toronto-party/ this is a great place to head to for an after party bite to eat, especially if you have a little bit of alcohol in you.

The Lakeview [LKVW]

http://thelakeviewrestaurant.ca/

This is my go to eatery any day of the week. I have been here dozens of times and I have never been disappointed. It is comfort food at its finest. They have a great selection of sandwiches and burgers as well as a great poutine. You can also get all day breakfast but there are so many other great things on the menu that I have never even tried their breakfast. They have cheap mimosas and Caesars every day all day. To top it off they have killer milk shakes. You can even get a slice of pie BLENDED into your shake! They also have deep fried chocolate bars available for dessert. They don’t list them on the menu but I’ve had deep fried Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and they were DIVINE! Warning, this is a Hipster joint but other than that it is one of my favorites in the city.

MUSIC AND EVENTS [MU&E}

If you are looking for entertainment in the city I am not the best person to talk to. I work off hours and have weird days off. Luckily Toronto events are pretty well organized online. Check out the following websites or physical newspaper/magazines to find out what sort of things are happening in the city.

www.toronto.com

www.eyemagazine.com

www.nowtoronto.com

Toronto is also known as a theatre town. Check out www.mirvish.com if you are interested in going to see a play you have some decent options.

Manadeprived.com GP Toronto Party [MGTP]

I’ve saved the best for last. If you do one thing and one thing only with your time while in Toronto it definitely has to be the Manadeprived.com’s GP Toronto Party. Check out this link for full details. http://manadeprived.com/announcing-the-manadeprived-com-gp-toronto-party/

It is steps away from the venue and will be a blast. @MrScottyMac has organized what looks to be an amazing night. SCG Vegas and GP Toronto Replays will be streaming on the TVs in the bar. They’ve organized Karaoke to be available and there will be food specials for the night as well. Capacity is 250 so get there before it fills up. Several Team Channel Fireball guys are going as well as writers from Manadeprived.

And finally, here's a handy map to put together all the places I've outlined above: http://goo.gl/maps/C5Mtk

Good Luck, High Five! Episode 13: Deers, Beards and Automobiles

Posted on December 3, 2012December 2, 2012 by Mike Hawthorne

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Dana Kinsella returns from deep in the woods to join the usual degenerates in discussing Standard, the Holiday Cube and the beards of Magic. Also featured are tangents on Coors Lite, Monopoly and A+ card Cloud of Faeries (for all you Pauper fans).

Show notes:

Dana's TCG Twitter:

(The views expressed in "Good Luck, High Five!" are those of the personalities featured and do not necessarily represent the views of and should not be attributed to our host.)

Parental Advisory: May Contain Mild Obscene Language

Insider: Recent Price Drops Means Opportunity

Posted on December 3, 2012January 17, 2022 by Sigmund Ausfresser

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Not surprisingly, I received an infant “wake-up call” in the form of a crying baby at around 5:15 am this morning. Having a son has been one of the most rewarding and challenging endeavors of my entire life. While he is absolutely adorable at this age, I cannot wait for him to be old enough to learn Magic.

To help myself shake off the early morning fatigue, I resort to two routines each morning: I have a cup or two of coffee and I check Twitter.

This morning I saw a particularly interesting Tweet from our very own Paul Feudo.

After my cup of coffee kicked in, I headed over to Star City Games to see some of the changes. Sure enough, there had been some prices slashed. This should come as no surprise as the initial Return to Ravnica hype has finally faded. After avoiding the vast majority of RTR cards like the plague the past couple months, it may finally be time to begin acquiring these strategically (although I still like AVR specs better).

Prices Slashed on Lands

One of the price reductions I noticed right away was on the lands of Standard. Shock Lands have been gradually dropping as more copies entered circulation, and Star City Games has finally joined the party.

Steam Vents, which seems to be one of the cheaper RTR Shock Lands, is down to $11.99. I remember just a couple weeks ago when SCG was still paying $8 on this and other RTR Shock Lands. Whether this was by design or not, their lowered buy price of $5 is much more in keeping with reality.

Channel Fireball went even further, reducing their buy price to $4! Needless to say, now would not be an optimal time to buylist this card. (chart from blacklotusproject; note that BLP hasn’t added RTR cards yet, so the Guildpact entry combines prices for both Guildpact AND RTR copies).

Overgrown Tomb, Temple Garden and Blood Crypt have also seen price reductions, while Hallowed Fountain seems to be the most expensive RTR Shock Land as it still buy lists at $6.

The Innistrad Duals haven’t faired much better. While Clifftop Retreat remained at $9.99 and Isolated Chapel remains at $11.99, the other lands haven’t kept their previously high prices. Hinterland Harbor has dropped to $9.99 from $11.99 despite having potential demand increase with Simic cards coming in Gatecrash. Sulfur Falls has taken a real hit by dropping to $7.99 (I hope you cashed out of these like I did). But Woodland Cemetery wins the prize dropping from previous highs down to $11.99.

Finally, these prices have been reduced to be a bit more reflective of reality. The chart on blacklotusproject.com indicates that Woodland Cemetery has peaked and is on its way down.

The same is true for Sulfur Falls as well. And while Hinterland Harbor and Isolated Chapel show a plateau in price on BLP, their fate may depend on Gatecrash. Regardless, there is almost no reason to acquire these for speculative purposes any longer as upside is just so minimal.

Other Price Cuts

Admittedly, I have not been paying close attention to the retail prices on most other RTR cards. I knew they were overpriced at release and so I was in no rush to acquire most of them. With the exception of a few Shock Lands for Modern, Sphinxs Revelation and Deathrite Shaman, I’ve largely been staying away from RTR cards because their prices were bound to drop.

For some cards, this has happened. Abrupt Decay was once touted as a breakthrough removal spell for Eternal formats. While SCG has been resistant to dropping the price too much (it’s at $6.99), their buy price reflects their anticipated price trajectory of the card: a whopping $2. When SCG gives just 33% buy list on their cards, you know they really aren’t anxious to acquire more.

Armada Wurm is in a similar boat selling at $7.99 and buy listing for $3. Other big price drops include Dreadbore, Lotleth Troll and Mizzium Mortars. All these initially hyped cards have finally met reality. Star City Games has likely had their fill on these RTR cards and so they are in little rush to acquire more. All that original hype is slowly fading away…

How I React

When Standard rotates, I love to invest in the older block because those cards often disappear from trade binders and increase in playability. The sudden decrease in card pool means cards which once seemed underwhelming suddenly have a fighting chance.

Even as Gatecrash is released, I will still look for speculation opportunities in Dark Ascension and Avacyn Restored, as their quantities are smallest. This is likely a key reason why Terminus retails for $11.99 card while Supreme Verdict is $5.99. It’s also one reason why Craterhoof Behemoth was a safe pickup when it was hyped.

While I’m focusing on the old, prices on the new continue to drop. Eventually they will be priced favorably. Sets of Lotleth Troll are dropping to $10 and are likely ending even lower at auction.

A set of Loxodon Smiters are in the same price range. Both these creatures have promise for being relevant in Standard as the metagame evolves, and thus they will become good speculation targets... eventually. The key is to acquire as close to the bottom as possible.

In my opinion, that bottom is nearly upon us. As Gatecrash spoilers begin, players will temporarily forget about the $2-$6 RTR rares. These creatures, along with spells like Abrupt Decay and Supreme Verdict, will be ignored in favor of the flashy new spells in Gatecrash. This will be the beginning of discount RTR season, and it’s when I’ll gradually trade into the underappreciated RTR cards.

The tricky part will be to identify the best bets. Last time around, it was almost a sure thing that Innistrad Duals would jump in price. Could Shock Lands see a similar trajectory? It’s possible – they’ve already been dropping and their long term price stability is likely as long as they aren’t reprinted again. But the risk is a little higher since these won’t dip to $2 like the Innistrad Duals did.

Going deep into a card like Lotleth Troll can be risky because his fate in Standard is murky at best. Should he see diminished play, his price can conceivably drop even further. I would advocate trading away RTR cards to anyone still over-valuing them and trading into RTR cards with players who are anxious to rid of them in favor of expensive Standard cards such as Terminus and Sphinxs Revelation (chart from blacklotusproject.com).

Change is Good

These recent price reductions are your friend. They indicate changes are taking place. Change is good because we profit on price fluctuations. Since the game of Magic is still healthy, it means that if some cards are dropping in price, others must be increasing. This time around, it will be Gatecrash cards taking center stage while RTR cards lie in the background. These are brilliant opportunities to speculate.

This is also the time for Modern cards to rise in price. Modern PTQ season is nearly upon us and players will be anxiously seeking out the cards they need for their decks. In fact, some surprising price increases have already taken place. Which brings me too…

Sigbits

Is Cryptic Command even seeing much play? It must be seeing some sort of demand as the card is retailing for $20 and the cheapest buy it now for a playset on eBay is my own listing, at $65.99.
I know Vengevine is still not quite a Tier 1 creature in Modern, but that hasn’t deterred Star City Games from maintaining their high price of $17.99. As much as I hate acquiring this card before seeing it prove itself, it’s difficult for me to pass up on auctions that end sub-$10 a copy when stores are paying this much for them. Keep an eye out for low-ending auctions for quick flips.
I WISH I took Eldrazi creatures more seriously. While I picked up a couple Emrakuls for Show and Tell shenanigans in Legacy, I ignored the lesser Eldrazi creatures. Big mistake. Did you know Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre retails for $29.99? Kozilek, Butcher of Truth also retails for $29.99 and SCG only has 2 SP copies in stock! Foil Kozileks are sold out at $79.99!!!! Hold on a second, be right back *searches internet for foil Kozileks… buys the only one on Card Shark….* Yeah, these are hard to find.

-Sigmund Ausfresser
@sigfig8

Insider: MTGO Market Report

Posted on November 30, 2012January 17, 2022 by Matthew Lewis

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Comparing MTGO and Paper Prices

Two weeks ago I presented a chart that provided a rough guide for identifying value using a ratio of digital-to-paper prices. Revisiting this chart with updated data can give us an idea of what is happening in the market from a broad perspective. Notably, none of SCG's prices have changed in this time, meaning that any changes to the ratios have come from the MTGO side of things. I've eliminated looking at the sets released prior to Scars of Mirrodin to more clearly focus on sets with higher speculative potential.

Set	MTGO to Paper Ratio (Aug 12th)	MTGO to Paper Ratio (Nov 14th)	MTGO to Paper Ratio (Nov 29th)	Supernova	SCG	Trend
Scars of Mirrodin	0.38	0.45	0.50	$63	$125	Up
Mirrodin Besieged	0.4	0.39	0.49	$49	$100	Up
New Phyrexia	0.61	0.57	0.75	$82	$110	Up
Magic 2012	0.37	0.36	0.43	$65	$150	Up
Innistrad	0.54	0.51	0.49	$136	$275	Flat/ Down
Dark Ascension	0.46	0.64	0.77	$116	$150	Up
Avacyn Restored	0.53	0.76	0.70	$175	$250	Down
Magic 2013	0.33	0.5	0.54	$135	$250	Up
Return to Ravnica	N/A	0.39	0.34	$119	$350	Down

First Glance

One of the striking features of this update is that the most recently rotated sets have all appreciated in price in the last two weeks. This indicates that the post rotation bottom has already occurred for these sets. Underpinning these price increases is the value of these sets to redeemers.

But a closer look reveals that New Phyrexia (NPH) now has one of the highest ratios at 0.75. In the short history of this metric, no set has held a ratio higher than 0.77 meaning further prices increases are probably limited for this set. Once the digital version gets closer to the paper price, the value of redeeming sets is reduced, mitigating the speculative potential of NPH.

Meanwhile both Mirrodin Besieged and Scars of Mirrodin look like they have further price increases in their future with relatively low ratios of around 0.5. Opportunities for speculating on these sets are not much different than what was originally suggested in my article two weeks ago, so have a look there for ideas on what cards to speculate on.

On the other side of things we have the continued fall in price of a digital version of Return to Ravnica (RtR). This is a predictable event as drafting and limited play has continued apace, keeping the supply of cards on the market high.

The ratio for RtR of 0.34 is close to the ratio observed for Magic 2013 back in August. At that time, there was exceptional value in buying Magic 2013. This suggests that buying RtR today also represents good value. However, the ratio for RtR is probably not done falling. There are still a number of weeks to go before the release of Gatecrash and the switch to the GGG draft format, so RtR has probably not bottomed in price yet.

Risky Sets

Avoid Innistrad block and Magic 2013. The ratios on these sets are bouncing up and down depending on shifts in the metagame. There is no clear, exploitable trend that can be detected. This means that making a broad purchase from these sets is much riskier than, say, buying a basket of mythics from MBS. Specific cards might represent good speculative opportunities (though I have looked closely and not come up with any recently), but from a complete set perspective you should avoid Innistrad, Dark Ascension, Avacyn Restored and Magic 2013.

Each of these sets has only about five months to go before prices start collapsing due to impending rotation and a fall in demand from redeemers. Note that even though Innstrad block does not rotate out of Standard until October of 2013, we can expect prices to start falling for these sets by the spring. The window of opportunity for speculating on specific cards from these sets is much shorter than for a card from RtR, which has at least 16 months to go before it starts to show it's age.

If a speculative mistake is made on a card from RtR, there is plenty of time for something to change in the Standard metagame that would bail out a position. In comparison, cards from Innistrad block and Magic 2013 only have a few months left before underlying market forces start pressuring prices downwards. Fighting against the market is a tough way to make a few tix as a speculator, so avoid these increasingly risky sets.

The MED Events

Upon the announcement of these events, prices on cards like Force of Will tumbled quite a bit as players sold their copies into the market. They anticipated that the MED events would push new supply onto the market and prices would fall as a result. But I don't think it quite worked out the way that people expected, including myself.

Outside of the drafts for MED I, aided by the lure of cracking a Force of Will, very few of the other MED drafts fired. In fact, I didn't detect any MED II or MED III 64 player drafts firing at all. Players were simply not interested in drafting these sets.

MED sealed queues on the other hand, started off with a bang. These only accepted tix for entry, for which you got one pack of each set in order to build a 30 card deck. Initially the cost of entry was a discount compared to secondary market prices on packs. For instance, MED I was priced at over 10 tix just prior to these events. This encouraged players to join these events in the hopes of cracking valuable cards while also enjoying reasonable prize support in packs.

However, without many of the draft events firing, the prizes from the sealed queues flooded the market causing pack prices to tumble. As a result, the costs of entry became too high relative to the payout and the sealed queues slowed down considerably over the weekend.

The end result was to see a short term bottom on Force of Will on Friday night of the events with a sell price of 84 tix. If you were quick and had the available tix, buying on Friday night could have yielded a small short term profit of 8 tix as the current buy/sell prices on Supernova bots has rebounded to 92/100 tix.

Power Nine on the Horizon

With the Power Nine getting a dry run in the upcoming Christmas holiday cube draft on MTGO, the future for speculating on Eternal staples from the MED sets looks good. At the bottom of this page, WoTC appears to confirm that the Power Nine will be released on MTGO in some collectible and playable form in 2013. Buying staples such as Underground Sea and Tundra at this time is a logical course of action to follow for those interested in speculating on Eternal formats or for those who want to play Vintage in the future.