| Quiet Speculation

Insider: Initial Reaction to Modern Masters 2015 Edition

Posted on December 8, 2014January 17, 2022 by Sigmund Ausfresser

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Talk about terrific timing.

This morning I woke up without much of a clue as to what I’d write about. It was a traditional momentary writer’s block of sorts. Fortunately, the feeling was ethereal in nature thanks to the announcement made by Helene Bergeot live during the World Magic Cup.

And boy, was it a big one (though largely anticipated, I might add)…

Having the fortune of being the Monday columnist for Quiet Speculation, I have the freedom to share my perspectives first without the influence of of other writers.

So without further adieu, allow me to dive into my reaction and interpretation of this announcement.

Some Overall Feelings

We all knew this was coming, but it’s reassuring to finally have the announcement behind us. Now we can stop speculating and start reacting!

First, note the MSRP on these packs: $9.99. That’s a full $2 increase over the first Modern Masters set. Obviously Wizards recognized how successful their first Modern Masters product was, and that gave them full license to increase prices.

We can all complain until we’re blue in the face, but the reality is that the vast majority of players who enjoyed Modern Masters 1.0 did so at a cost above MSRP anyway. Increasing the price to $9.99 is only a reflection of reality.

Second, we received news that the three “TBD” Grand Prix in late Spring are all going to be MM2015 Limited events, and that there will be three languages printed for the set: English, Japanese and Simplified Chinese.

To me this has two very relevant effects: first, even Japanese foils won’t be safe from price hits. This is especially the case for cards printed at common, uncommon or rare with identical artwork and frame. For example, Japanese foil Emrakul, the Aeons Torn will probably drop in price right alongside English foils and nonfoils.

Second, I believe multiple languages means the print run will be larger. From a financial standpoint, Wizards has to justify paying their translators, alter print settings, and do whatever it is they have to do in order to support multiple languages. The higher MSRP is a start, but I think there will be more. We already saw the secondary market withstand the blow of a reprint set surprisingly well with MMA. My guess is that Wizards will push the envelope a little further with MM2015.

And three GP’s, including a Las Vegas GP that could be split into two massive events, means a lot more product opened at premier events.

Sell Sell Sell

Emrakul was a $50 card prior to this announcement. Even though it’s being printed at Mythic Rare in MM2015, I still believe the best action here is to sell excess copies.

The price of this guy has been stagnant for over six months now, and the downward pressure of a pending reprint will not help.

Some will make the argument “Tarmogoyf was a Mythic in MMA and it went up after being reprinted”. The thing is, Tarmogoyf is a much more ubiquitous card in eternal formats. The Goyf reprint catalyzed a wave of new interest in Modern and players were eager to finish their sets. After all, not only can Goyf be splashed into almost any deck with creatures, it usually is done as a four-of.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

There was an error retrieving a chart for Tarmogoyf

With Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, however, the story changes. Some decks don’t want to run a full playset. Most decks can’t run any. Therefore, the copies that will be opened will likely be thrown on eBay or placed in the trade binder so that people can acquire other cards they need for their decks. Time will tell if this theory pans out, but for now I maintain a “sell” rating on this Eldrazi.

Speaking of Eldrazi, is it possible we see others in MM2015? Absolutely. There’s no guarantee, but with prices on the other Eldrazi already flattening out, why bother taking on unnecessary risk by holding excess copies?

We also saw an image that corresponds to Etched Champion. While the creature itself doesn’t mean much from an MTG Finance standpoint, there could be reaching implications. If Metalcraft becomes a major keyword of MM2015, guess which card fits perfectly with such a set?

There was an error retrieving a chart for Mox Opal

I’d sell these quickly if I were you.

The fact that MM2015 reaches through Scars of Mirrodin block means cards like Birthing Pod and Gitaxian Probe are also on the possibilities list.

Of course, the other cards that are in the forefront of my mind are the Zendikar fetch lands, which would fit in nicely as the rare land cycle of the set. I sold out of my extra Zendikar fetches a long time ago, but I did just replace the Marsh Flats with Windswept Heaths in my Modern deck. Perhaps I should bail on the Flats before it’s too late. Upside is minimal at this point, but a reprint at the rare slot could potentially drop prices by another 30-50%.

Why bother taking on that risk?

Hold or Buy

What cards are likely safe after all the dust settles?

The first one I can think of is Snapcaster Mage. The Innistrad rare cannot appear in MM2015 due to where Wizards made their cutoff. With so many Treasure Cruise strategies floating around, Snapcaster Mage seems well-primed to outperform in Modern and Legacy.

Even though he doesn’t quite work with the delve ability, he belongs in any deck that wants to play one mana cantrips. Just be cautious--I’m generally not a huge fan of buying deeply into $30 rares from large sets. A ton of copies exist, and it will take some real market movement to get this guy to appreciate in price profitably.

I’d make sure you have the copies you need, but would advocate more of a hold here than a buy unless you can find inexpensive copies. Then again, trading your Emrakuls and Mox Opals into Snapcaster Mages seems like a terrific strategy going forward.

All of the Return to Ravnica cards are also safe. This means shock lands and Abrupt Decay will likely turn higher. And if MM2015 sparks greater interest in the Modern format just like MMA did, then I could see shock lands moving measurably higher.

I really like trading into shocks right now, and Abrupt Decays are also fine pick-ups. Blue shocks are naturally the best ones to target.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Abrupt Decay

There was an error retrieving a chart for Snapcaster Mage

Lastly, it’s worth noting that all the eternal gems of Avacyn Restored are also immune from this round of reprints. Griselbrand would be noteworthy here, except I think he’s already slated to be a promo of some sort. Avacyn, Angel of Hope, on the other hand, is not likely to drop in price any time soon.

But if I had to make a recommendation on what to pick up in trade, I’d start with Restoration Angel and Entreat the Angels. Both of these white cards are well off their peaks.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Restoration Angel

There was an error retrieving a chart for Entreat the Angels

Wrapping It Up

We now have five months of speculation, rumors, spoilers, and further speculation around what’s to come. This column is merely an initial reaction to the news of Modern Masters 2015 Edition. Given that I heard this information only two hours prior to writing the article, I know opinions will shift over time.

My greatest piece of advice to you is to pay very close attention to the chatter on Twitter and the QS forums. These two places will be an excellent source of news, but they’ll also reveal how others in the game are reacting to this announcement. It’s likely many will have differing opinions, and some may be 100% correct. Only time will dictate how things unfold.

In the meantime, my attitude is that MM2015 will have a larger print run and potential reprints--especially commons (e.g. Gitaxian Probe, Lightning Bolt) and uncommons (e.g. Inquisition of Kozilek)--will be unsafe to sit on. Begin moving your excess copies now so you don’t have to panic-sell on the news and you’ll protect yourself from the downside.

Will some cards go up in value after seeing reprint in MM2015? Possibly. But only the truly ubiquitous staples in multiple formats will maintain that privilege. Anything else will only drop under this new supply pressure.

Being the risk averse person I am, and given the nature of my investment goals, I am conservatively moving forward under this strategy.

…

Sigbits

Star City Games has made immediate notice of Chalice of the Voids price increase. They’ve upped their nonfoil copies to nearly $8 and their foil copies are $30 (Mirrodin) and $20 (Modern Masters). Every single copy is sold out.
Not everyone will like the call, but I’ve observed a recent bump on Darksteel copies of foil Trinisphere. The card recently bumped slightly higher on eBay, and Star City Games has just two MP copies in stock for $10. I don’t think this card jumps like Chalice of the Void did, but I don’t think it goes down from there either. Nonfoils have also been moving lately, which may have missed many speculators’ radar.

Star City Games discounted their Standard cards during this December sale. Included in this sale are Polluted Delta and Windswept Heath. Delta is sold out at $14.58 and Heath is sold out at $12.71. This tells me demand for these fetches is definitely strong, and prices may be bottoming as we speak... especially if there’s a sudden surge in Modern interest!

Insider: You Should Be On Pucatrade – An Introduction to Maximizing This Trade Outlet

Posted on December 8, 2014January 17, 2022 by Derek Madlem

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If you follow me on Twitter (@goingmadlem), you'll know I spend the bulk of my tweeting doing one of three things: complaining about people in public/people driving, trolling Nick Becvar, or tweeting about Pucatrade.

Pucatrade started as a way for players to get fair trades with their cards but has grown to be so much more. Like all great websites from the last decade, Pucatrade provides a service that generates volumes of data. I'm not saying that Pucatrade is the MTG equivalent of Facebook, but there are certainly a number of applications beyond just trading cards.

The Basics

For those of you already familiar with Pucatrade, you can skip this part unless you just really like words. There will be plenty of those.

Pucatrade uses its own currency to facilitate trades. This currency is known as "Puca Points."

How do you acquire this mythical currency? You can buy points, which helps fund the site, or you can send cards to other players. The point values are based loosely on a combination of TCGPlayer and other stores' prices, so a point translates to roughly one shiny penny.

So let's say Bob has acquired 500 pts and added a card worth 450 pts to his "want list". You can simply confirm the trade and mail him the card. When he receives the card, he confirms that he received it and you get the 450 pts. After that, you add cards to your "want list" and as points become available to you, people will start mailing you cards.

I know what you're getting ready to ask. What happens when someone starts scamming? Pucatrade has a pretty responsive staff when it comes to disputes, but the most important thing to remember is that most players have to "buy in" to the system to get points in the first place, so honesty is a welcomed side effect of the system.

You Can Stop Skipping Now

Pucatrade does offer a number of features and tools that you can apply to Magic Finance in general. For example:

One of the most basic tools you have access to are the most sent cards. This gives you a finger on the pulse of the Magic community as a whole. While Pucatrade isn't universally used by Magic players, there is now a large enough community to treat it as a legitimate "sample group" that represents Magic as a whole. Just looking at the top sends here, you see that Pucatrade is clearly not a "casual" player's tool to get random EDH cards and the like.

The top sent cards page shows the top 50 cards sent and is sortable into various time frames. A simple drop down menu lets you choose between weekly, monthly, or even the top traded cards of each year.

Just looking at the top eight cards on this list shows me that Treasure Cruise Delver decks are extremely popular in Modern. So much so that the components have been elevated to the most traded cards of all time.

Predicting Price Spikes

I've been using Pucatrade as a tool for predicting the trajectory of cards for a while now. Because the number of points available rivals the number of Pokemon in the wild, players feel like they really need to catch 'em all, so trades don't often last long for cards worth more than than $2-3 (my minimum send threshold is $2.50, for example). When I take a look at my "sends" page, I can garner a decent amount of information based on what I see.

The sends page is sortable by a number of categories, as you can see below, so it's easy to manipulate the data to give you exactly what you're looking for.

I usually log into my account at least once a day, but more often around big tournament weekends. Here's a small section of the sends page just to give you an example.

This is what my sends pages as looked like for the past couple months. Steam Vents galore. Everybody wants Steam Vents, but I'm not sending many.

Why is that? Because look at how many people are clamoring to get them! I can click through to each of these players profiles and see their entire want lists and you know what I see? Just Steam Vents.

So this tells me two things: tons of people want Steam Vents and most people don't want to send them at the current price.

I can search "Steam Vents" and Pucatrade will pull up every version printed. If I hover my cursor over the edition I'm interested in, it will reveal how many people want that card and how many people have that card to send. Every user has their own priorities for what they're going to send, but for the most part, people only add cards to their "Haves" if they're looking to send those cards out.

You can also click through to the version and see who both wants the card and has the points to cover it right now.

Seeing the same cards on the sends page day after day tells me those cards are either experiencing a spike or a pseudo buyout.

That's right, there are some #MTGFinance gurus on Pucatrade as well, and it's often funny to see the correlation between Tweets and what everyone has on their "wants" page.

For example, a few months ago someone (I think Corbin Hosler) tweeted that Doomwake Giant was a good "penny stock" pickup. Next thing I knew, my entire sends page was filled with Doomwake Giants, and I watched its asking price go from 45 points all the way up to where it is now.

Once in a while if I like a pick, I'll dive in. Here's a snapshot of my inbound trades from the last few days:

The great thing about utilizing Pucatrade to acquire penny stocks is that you don't foot the bill for shipping. If you have some points sitting around unused, just add those cards to your want list and they'll start showing up a few days later.

The Watcher

Another tool that I utilize is the "Watch" list. This tool is a great way for me to keep track of cards I know I'm going to want eventually but am not quite ready to pull the trigger on because I don't feel they've hit bottom or are not my top priority quite yet.

As you can see, I have a passing interest in playing Faeries in Modern. But I am not ready to commit to acquiring the cards just yet because I think these cards have room to come down in price. You can also see Lifebane Zombie in there, another card I feel has long term potential but hasn't found it's bottom.

You can also use this tool if you just want to create a list of cards that you want to keep an eye on the price of, though I'm sure there are other ways to do that more effectively.

Access

Pucatrade is a great way to sell into spikes without the hassle of listing cards on eBay or TCGPlayer.

If money is your only motivation, you'll want to go a different route, but if opening your trade binder to thousands of players instead of dozens is your goal, Pucatrade is a tool for you.

I consider myself a fairly casual user of Pucatrade. I normally just check it a few times while watching movies or football or even Magic coverage. Here's a look at the top cards I've received and you can see the total dollar value of the trades of completed at the top.

As you can see, I've "traded" away nearly $7,000 in cards that I didn't want for cards that I did want, including the bulk of my foil Khans fetchlands and some foil shocklands for my Ravnica Cube(d).

Pucatrade also gives me access to cards that aren't as readily available for trade at my local game store. For example, I wanted 8-12 copies of Elspeth, Sun's Champion before rotation. There were basically none available for trade at my local game store, so I acquired them on Pucatrade when they dipped down to roughly $20. And once they hit $25-28, I mailed half of them right back out. "Flipping" cards at your local game store doesn't work nearly as well when you're trying to trade cards at a higher price back to the same people you got them from.

Storing Value

This is far and away my favorite feature of Pucatrade. The ability to store the value of my cards.

Every time a new set is released, I tear into those boxes like a mad man and make two piles: the "keep" pile for the cards I need for decks and the "ship" pile for cards I think are going to go down in value (hint: almost all of them).

A couple hours after the set is released, I've already mailed out a number of the set's hottest cards at the hottest prices. Even just being able to "cash in my chips" by sending out Standard cards that I'm not using lets me get out at the best possible moment without having to decide what exactly I want to trade for. How many times have you sat down with a trade partner that wanted everything you were trying to get rid of but currently had nothing you wanted?

Pucatrade is one of the best kept secrets in Magic right now. But unlike most "best kept secrets," it only gets better with more users.

It allows you to store value, anticipate trends, and gives you access to thousands of trade partners the world over. You can literally turn a mountain of commons and uncommons into the cards your little heart desires most. They'll even give you points just for signing up to get you started.

Hell, they'll even give me points if you sign up here. You can't beat that for value, and value is always the most important thing to any Magic player, right?

Shenhar Repeats as World Champ!

Posted on December 8, 2014December 8, 2014 by Corbin Hosler

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Winning one World Champion is a herculean task. Winning two was simply unheard of.

That is, until last weekend.

You can thank Shahar Shenhar for that. Another incredible run by the Israeli, and we now have our first back-to-back World Champion. It was an incredible week of Magic in Nice, France, and we ended the weekend with a winner certainly deserving of all the accolades he's received. He played an incredible tournament and also took the Israeli team to the Top 16 of the World Magic Cup before winning it all at the World Championship.

You find full coverage of Shenhar's final victory here.

The Year of the Cheat

Posted on December 6, 2014 by Jason Alt

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According to the Chinese Zodiac, this is the year of the horse. People born in the year of the Horse are great at communicating and enjoy the spotlight. Horses should avoid marrying rats and rabbits because they would kill their spouse attempting to consummate the union. Even though 2014 isn't officially the year of the rat, it's starting to feel like it.

Alex Bertoncini

Trevor Humphries

Jared Boettcher

A lot of high profile players were found out to be cheats and frauds this year and there is still nearly an entire month left for us to ferret out a few more cheats. The hits kept coming this week as we had a high-profile disqualification at the Player Championship. Wizards released a statement that mentions that Marcio Carvalho received a disqualification for presenting an illegal deck but it doesn't really delve too much into what happened. I had to go to social media to find out a bit more.

Per Frank Lepore's Twitter, Marcio Carvalho has pulled a similar cheat in the past, and Matt Sperling has this account.

"For anyone who doesn't know, Marcio has done this cheat time and again, such as vs me AND Tom Martell in PT Amsterdam after he did it against Tom and I begged Toby Elliott to have a judge watch my match with Marcio the following round but he declined. I tried to watch him, I really did, but he had the life totals wrong and I go to score pad to correct it and there you go he topdecks a situationally perfect sideboard card (some falter effect) that wasn't good against me or Tom generally but was topdecked in the final turn against both of us after some distraction tactics. Tom had warned me Marcio cheated him but didn't say how so I didn't know EXACTLY what to look for, just to ask Toby for help. After that draft pod Tom and I compared notes and it was same cheat - card "topdecked" off sideboard or from hidden zone after distraction tactics."

Carvalho had a Hornet Queen underneath his lifepad and presented a 59 card deck to the opponent so he would always have a queen stashed. The source on the Hornet Queen allegation was Tom Martell.

This is pretty cut and dried scumbaggery of the highest magnitude and Carvalho has disgraced himself and his home country whom he was at the event representing. Don't cheat, you guys. Don't do the Boettcher shuffle, don't stash Hornet Queens under your lifepad and don't Bertoncini Brainstorm. Don't cheat.

What is less cut and dried was another story out of the event, this one involving Jeremy Dezani. In addition to his glacial play during the Legacy Masters draft that resulted in disciplinary action, he is embroiled in something the internet has dubbed "Dealergate" because everything needs a "gate" at the end after the first scandal named this way, "Watergate" which involved president Richard Nixon and the Water hotel. Dealergate is detailed in an article by Paulo Vitor Damon da Rosa. According to Paulo,

After semi-settling on decks, we went to the event to buy the cards we were missing, since we were informed there would be no dealers during Worlds. We went to two dealers and bought some cards from each, and were ready to leave when Tom Martell spots one of the dealers we had just bought cards from talking to Jeremy Dezani. Apparently, said person was reading to Dezani from a list that included every card we had bought, as well as cards that previous Worlds competitors (e.g. Sam Black) had bought earlier in the day.

Wizards is investigatin and the community is castigating, Dezani that is. I'll leave it to WotC to conduct an investigation and while I have heard the name of a vendor bandied about, we're not reporting anything until the official investigation names a vendor. Right now all we have is some hearsay from Paulo, but it is compelling enough to get the internet in a butthurt tornado.

So let's talk about "Vendorgate" or "Dealergate" or whatever you'd like to call it. Is Dezani a scumbag for trying to find out what his opponents were buying? Is the vendor a scumbag for offering the information? Is Paulo overreacting? Are gamers just gonna game? Let's get a really divisive fight started in the comments section and I'll pop a bag of Reddenbacher's finest and watch the fracas.

Cover photo courtesy of Mishra's Photoshop - @MishrasFotoshop

Insider Stories: New Horizons with Sigmund Ausfresser

Posted on December 5, 2014 by Douglas Linn

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Hi! Doug Linn of Quiet Speculation here, bringing you interviews with the top minds in Magic finance. Each week, I'll be bringing you an hour-long interview with people tapped into the MTG Finance community on every level. Whether you're a Friday Night Magic hero with a binder full of staples or you want to make this hobby pay for itself, there's plenty to learn in each show.

This week, my guest is Sigmund Ausfresser. In this interview, we chat about:

-How stocks and cards perform similarly

-Why holding cards is a passive "buy" on them every day

-Why Magic art isn't memorable any more (uh, kind of off topic but brief!!)

-Sig's picks for fetchlands and Thoughtseize

-How he interfaces with the game and its play these days

You can listen here!

You can find Sig on Twitter at @SigFig8

Sig writes for QS and has been one of the site's most popular voices for the past three years. If you want to find out more about QS, you can click here.

You can ask questions and post comments here or tweet to me - @quietspec is where you'll get ahold of me!

The Cruelest Deck I Have Ever Played

Posted on December 5, 2014December 4, 2014 by Danny Brown

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Yesterday, I discussed Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012, which I almost entirely attribute to getting me back into Magic around the time of Innistrad's release. Although I downloaded 2013's version, I didn't play it much. The 2014 version of the series, though, included Sealed play. I love Limited, so I was all too quick to jump into this one.

If you bought this game, you got two slots for Sealed decks for free, and could pay $2 each for up to eight more slots. I bought a few extra slots and made many awesome decks, but one stands out in memory as perhaps the cruelest I have ever been in my Magic-playing days, especially when you consider that DOTP is mainly a game for new and very casual players.

Here's the list:

DOTP 2014 UB Control by Danny Brown

Creatures

2 Scroll Thief

2 Trained Condor

1 Giant Scorpion

1 Archaeomancer

1 Gravedigger

4 Faerie Invaders

1 Rune-Scarred Demon

Spells

2 Unsummon

5 Murder

1 Mark of the Vampire

1 Time Warp

2 Mind Spring

Lands

1 Terramorphic Expanse

8 Island

8 Swamp

No, that's not a typo. There were actually five Murders in this deck. (Although, to be fair, this game starts you with six packs, but gives you the chance to earn up to three more, meaning this was a Sealed deck from nine packs of a small set.)

The amount of rage quits and angry messages I got over this deck was amazing. New players do not like to lose to control decks, and for this format, you couldn't really get much more controlling than this. Most PS3 users don't use headsets, but I remember one guy who did and was freaking out about my making all my plays after my combat step or on his turn. I beat him in six of seven games before he finally refused a rematch. (I also never actually engaged him, acknowledged his rage, or sent him any messages. I try not to feed trolls when I can avoid it, but I'll let them burrow further under the bridge on their own all day long.)

I didn't spend nearly as long grinding this one as I did DOTP 2012, but I did play enough to reach 129th on the Sealed leader boards of nearly 30,000 players.

DOTP 2014 kept some additional stats that DOTP 2012 did not:

I find it hilarious that in 290 wins, I never once went above 20 life. I had a Mark of the Vampire in that UB deck and everything, not to mention other decks with Vampire Nighthawks and the like. I guess I just had some aggressive opponents.

A quick aside: while preparing this article, I noted that Rune-Scarred Demon was a barely above bulk a couple years ago, but is now nearly $4 retail. This should serve as a reminder that: 1) casual cards are pure gold, 2) you should just hold onto your bulk rares—they'll never be worth less and they might someday be worth a whole lot more.

Anyway, thanks for humoring me on my reminiscences about Duels of the Planeswalkers the last couple days. The series has established itself as a popular, workable, and fun game—something MTGO has come nowhere close to doing. I didn't purchase the 2015 version, and based on the reviews I've seen, this was probably a wise decision, as I heard it had a lot of problems. I, for one, hope 2016 is better. I would vastly prefer for MTGO move in the direction of DOTP rather than the reverse.

Insider: MTG Stock Watch 11/30/14

Posted on December 5, 2014January 17, 2022 by David Schumann

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Welcome back readers! Here we are back to another MTG Stock Watch. Let's get started right away.

Penny Stocks

#1 Chalice of the Void (Mirrodin/Modern Masters) (+44.4%/33.1%) - While this one started above our usual $5 or less requirement, the fact that both versions jumped up quite a bit--and it didn't start that much higher than $5, roughly around $6.50 each--was something I felt the need to highlight.

This card attacks the Treasure Cruise decks (in both Modern and Legacy) by creating a major hurdle to their ability to function properly. If one can stick it before they land a real threat the deck is limited to trying to win via Young Pyromancer. Most of the other spells simply become pay 1 mana create a 1/1 elemental token--without any cantripping the deck becomes a lot weaker and reduces its ability to close out a game quickly or find additional threats if the first is eliminated.

Sigmund pointed out last week that foils were on the move and it appears that the regular copies have followed suit.

#2 Moggcatcher (+21%) - This guy made an appearance a few weeks ago on camera at an SCG Legacy Open. It combines well in a Blood Moon/Chalice style prison deck as a way to tutor up powerful (goblin-themed) threats like Siege-Gang Commander and Krenko, while bypassing the Trinisphere/Chalice locks the deck likes to deploy. The fact that it has a single print run from an unpopular set in an unpopular block means any sort of increase in demand will likely cause a price spike due to the limited supply it already had.

#3 Savage Beating (+15.3%) - As expected this is another of the short list of "cards that combo with Narset, Enlightened Master" I suggested we all keep an eye on back on 10/19/14. It's good to feel proven correct, however its highest buy price of only $2 means that even if one had gone deep, you can't unload to any stores and make any decent profit.

#4 Aggravated Assault (+13.3%) - Another one I called on 10/19/14, we have another card perfectly slotted for Narset, Enlightened Master (though without a Sword of Feast and Famine it's a more expensive Relentless Assault).

However, looking over the graph this card was already on a steady incline before Narset was even spoiled. This is one of those solid red cards that belongs in any heavy red aggressive EDH deck and can allow players to win out of nowhere.

#5 Hero of Iroas (+9.7%) - With a strong showing by Mr. Tom Ross at SCG Columbus, the U/W and UWr Heroic decks have really taken off in Standard. While they haven't done so well the past two weeks, there's still plenty of demand for the key cards and this is the only four-of rare in the deck from Theros block. The fact that it came from the weakest set in the block which had very little demand only helps further cement the current value.

Blue Chip Stocks

Now we get to review our Legacy "blue chips".

#1 Underground Sea (-4.07%) - Unfortunately, with the recent push in U/R Delver decks in Legacy the BUG decks have seen a drop in play. The fact that Esper Stoneblade has been replaced by Jeskai Stoneblade has also caused the desire for Underground Sea to ebb.

#2 Sneak Attack (-3.18%) - Not surprisingly a deck that needs to cast three- and four-drop spells has a difficult time surviving against a field with a ton of cheap counterspells and Wastelands/Stifles to impede mana development. Though Sneak and Show has seen a brief resurgence recently (especially with the addition of Bosejiu to the sideboard), it's still not putting up all the impressive numbers, especially compared to its utter dominance a year ago.

#3 Wasteland (-2.0%) - This one I must admit is actually a bit surprising. Most of the U/R Delver styles decks have become a bit inbred and are packing 3-4 Wastelands in an attempt to prey on their admittedly shaky manabases. Though it could simply be suffering from the continual downward trend from the major spike back in March/April.

#4 Dark Confidant (-1.75%) - Not surprisingly, in a metagame infested with an 8-mana sorcery, a card that costs you life equal to CMC when revealed off the top is not likely to see a lot of play. It doesn't help that Treasure Cruise's dominance in Modern has also pushed G/B/x rock style decks to Tier 1.5, as Dark Confidant style decks are usually complimented with black discard spells which don't prove that powerful when the opponent can undo three of them with a simple topdeck.

#5 Tundra (-1.62%) - With the success of the Jeskai Stoneblade decks at GP New Jersey, one would expect one of the key lands (Tundra) to be on a positive trend, but even the third most powerful dual land can't keep up with the previous high price point. We see a continued negative slide downward implying that later is a better time to pick them up rather than sooner.

The SCG announcement to no longer always have Legacy opens on Sundays may also push some people away from the format. However, it's important to keep in mind that GP NJ was the 3rd largest GP ever, so it's hard to make an argument that Legacy is a dying format when so many people are willing to travel from all over simply to enjoy it.

Value Stocks

Reviewing the graphs of the Khans fetchlands it appears that they have finally begun to plateau. At the least they are dropping at such a low rate now that it's worth moving into them, as the money lost by not getting them at the absolute bottom is far less than the chance that you miss the bottom pricing anyways (in fact both Flooded Strand and Polluted Delta are actually trending upward again). I have pulled all extra copies out of my trade binder and moved them into my "hold" binder as I don't want to trade them away at their current value, but would be more than happy to pick them up at it.

Growth Stocks

Last, but not least, we come to our sealed product review. We see a huge drop in Worldwake, which isn't a huge surprise as the marquee card of the set (Jace, the Mind Sculptor) has been on a steady decline since June/July of this year. The rise of U/R Delver and Burn decks in Legacy has pushed out legacy's favorite control win condition.

On the other hand we see a nice increase in New Phyrexia, with a nice rise in Gitaxian Probes (thanks to the same blue-red decks), along with a host of other "goodies" like Elesh Norn and Karn Liberated, it's not a big surprise that New Phyrexia is getting some love from collectors and old time drafters. It's important to note that Mirrodin Besieged had zero boxes sold between the last time we checked prices and this one, implying that demand for it has dropped very low.

Week of 11/30/14

Box	Most Recent Completed Auction	Second Most Recent	Third Most Recent	Fourth Most Recent	New Average	Average comparison
Innistrad	$196.00	$224.00	$222.00	$205.25	$211.81	4.22%
Dark Ascension	$110.00	$99.99	$97.95	$89.00	$99.24	1.58%
Avacyn Restored	$128.75	$129.99	$129.99	$129.99	$129.68	-5.25%
Scars of Mirrodin	$198.00	$149.50	$175.00	$185.95	$177.11	8.48%
Mirrodin Besieged	$167.00	$168.45	$169.50	$142.75	$161.93	0.00%
New Phyrexia	$305.00	$315.00	$265.00	$299.99	$296.25	13.71%
Zendikar	$539.99	$538.99	$539.99	$441.00	$514.99	7.04%
Worldwake	$515.91	$537.05	$656.00	$660.00	$592.24	-18.49%
Rise of the Eldrazi	$550.00	$599.99	$579.99	$467.00	$549.25	6.37%

The Deck That Got Me Back into Magic

Posted on December 4, 2014December 4, 2014 by Danny Brown

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I played Magic as a kid from roughly 1995 to 2000 or so. I can't point to any specific reason I quit, and I'm not even exactly sure where all my cards ended up. Saying I lost interest wouldn't be entirely accurate, but it would be fair to say I got distracted.

Magic wasn't on my radar for many years, but I had strong feelings of nostalgia for the game. Every once in a while, I would see if there was a free way to play Magic online. Unfortunately, Magic Online has not yet figured out a pricing scheme that appeals to casual or vaguely interested players, so whenever I Googled the game, I quickly realized it was more commitment that I was willing to give.

Finally, Duels of the Planeswalkers came along. In July 2011, I downloaded DOTP 2012 and was nearly instantly drawn back into the game. A few months later, I attended my first prerelease, for Innistrad, and I haven't looked back. I've heard that many old-school players returned to the game due to DOTP, so I know I'm not alone. Out of curiosity, how many of you are in the same boat?

I've been clearing some space on my PS3 recently, and this game is the oldest one installed on my system. Having not played it in years, I knew it was probably time to delete it, but before doing so, I opened the program one last time to relive the glory days of 2011.

I was not disappointed. Despite only being a little more than three years ago, it's amazing how nostalgic the opening cut scene, gameplay and menu music, and decklists made me. Checking the leaderboards reminded me how much time I spend grinding this game online. Despite not logging in for years, my ranking in two-player games is still 34th out of nearly 75,000 players:

(Yes, Jason, I took a picture of my TV. Shut up.)

I reached top 10 while I was actively playing—I remember frequently passing and being passed by "bennethekid" back then. I guess he ended up winning in the end. Oh, well.

I liked nearly all the decks in this game, but my favorite was a Zac Hill design known as Ancient Depths. I don't know who designed any of the other decks, but this must be one that Hill is very proud of, as I've heard him mention it in multiple interviews. As much as I can pinpoint this article by Hill as the reason I phased out of playing Standard, I have to give him credit for designing a deck that still personally resonates with me to this day.

On DOTP 2012, you could unlock up to 20 additional cards to edit your deck. You can check out the original decklist and available unlockable cards here. The deck I was running back in 2011 was built like this: