I cannot believe how many times Irencrag Feat into Muxus just was utterly backbreaking. Hardly anyone would believe it was possible turn 3. Snoop was "ok." Krenko was the un-sung MVP for me. So many times I had to go SUPER wide with a pile of Goblins.
I only ever played against someone once who pulled a Cage out of their SB to prevent Muxus from fetching stuff up- so I just grabbed Krenko and went super wide. Felt good.
All 5 Commander 2020 decks for $99.99, free shipping. Cool beans... Lets get it, and my kids can give it to me for Christmas. I can add it to the stack of sealed things I have for later sale/trade. (That pile currently consists of 2019 Commander decks in a box)
About 4 hours after placing my order, the package was delivered from Amazon. Seriously quick delivery! However, there was a small problem- the box containing all five decks was opened. The shipment was simply put in a mailer poly-bag and shipped. Alrighty then... I couldn't see anything wrong with the individual decks, but my wife complained to Amazon just to see what they would do.
Turns out- they offered to replace the decks with a new one. Keep the old one. (I guess ordering a bunch of stuff provides some leeway) Welp, ok then. Two sets of 2020 Commander decks.
Instead of keeping both, I sold one on eBay for profit, thus making the extra one completely free. No clue what I am going to do with it for now, but free set of Commander pre-cons is decent. Currently clocking in at $140 plus on eBay. I am sure they will at least hold, and likely increase over the next year or two because of the cycle of free casting cards in each deck. Not likely to be reprinted in the next year.
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I bit the bullet on my Soul-Guided Lantern "investments." I am shipping 48 of them off to Card Kingdom for about $1.04 a piece in trade value. I paid about $0.30 a piece for each. (minus about $3.50 in shipping) Not huge profits, but I will take it. I can get a few pieces for edges of decks I am slowly compiling... like never to be played burn or mono-red stompy. Or some SB pieces for D&T like Armageddon. I have a list, I know what I want.
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I'm not super in love with Arena currently. I do like the Historic aspect, but it is really starting to feel like Pioneer lite. I am REALLY not a fan of Standard sooooooooooo... kinda back to the reason I wanted to do Arena in the first place- practice drafting. Which at this rate, I won't do in paper until April 2021 at this rate.
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Comment on prices of cards. In June 2020, I acquired a Good condition Volcanic Island from Card Kingdom for a bunch of extra cards in a trade-in. At the time I "paid" $342.99 which was slightly up-ticked over a month or so that I was watching. And it was the only one I saw in stock for almost two weeks. As of today, 11/17/20, a Good condition Volcanic Island from CK is listed for $489.99. Five months, and I 'made' or saved myself $147 in that time. Crazy.
I doubt I will make it to Mythic this season as all I play is Historic. However, I did make it back to Platinum on the back of Goblins. So that was fun. I tried out a couple different builds along the way. Found the one I liked best, no Snoop for me. Also tried Bant Control for a week, too grindy for my tastes.
Here are some screenshots I shared with a friend to share the love. Lol.
I believe this was a 6 for 6 Muxus grab. Not too shabby.
Sharknado! Was when I playing around with Bant control. Never stuck long.
Turn three Muxus vs Elves. Non-too-shabby.
Dropped two Muxus in one turn. I think he was at -58 when all was said and done.
I picked up a Zendikar Rising pre-release kit. I think I might have done decently in the event after looking through my commons and uncommons. Value-wise from rares/mythics, I might have broken even? I did get two rare foils, so that was very cool. The one mythic I got, was the very single one I was interested in getting- Forsaken Monument It might go into an Eldrazi stompy build at some point. Shrug. Its a nice to have more than anything else.
On to two Arena screen shots.
This first one was in reaction to playing against mono-white lifegain, aka Soul Sisters. I don't HATE it as much as the Sac deck, but this one is freaking annoying. I've scooped plenty to it. However, this particular game, I was playing ramp. They didn't get off to the most blazing of starts, but still, enough to get me down to 5. I dropped Ugin, wiped the board on them... However, they exiled him, a bit of a sad face panda, but then I dropped a second Ugin. Even though they had 38 life, they scooped.
Second game was today, playing against, what I can only describe as reanimator. In a best of one context, seems decent. I was playing ramp again. They attacked my Ugin instead of Nissa and that allowed this to happen:
Bonus image- check this out... Most triggers I've ever had. Too bad they didn't let it all ride out. (they scooped)
I've got some more free time on my hands compared to non pandemic times. Go figure. I don't play MtGO. Been playing Arena since the very first beta came out. (According to Arena login information, it says "Member since: 12/20/2017) I haven't put much money in, only did a couple times to get some gem deals so I could poorly draft.
Since Historic has been a thing, I find it interesting. Slightly modified version of Pioneer. They get cards into it how they can. For example, they slid Thoughtseize in Amonkhet Remastered. Go figure.
I decided to grind Historic with burn... but not just any burn, control burn. I was ok at it. Got to Gold without really trying. But with Jumpstart, they introduced Pillar of Flame. Sweet!
I starting rocking the wins. I made it to Platinum and hit a wall. Couldn't get further... so I made more adjustments. Took out Heartfire, and just put MORE burn in with Shocks. Here is the deck I tweaked to perfection. (ignore the SB as I never use it and it is likely jank)
The deck actually plays as control, but it can win from now where. Yes, it only has 18 lands. I have won a fair number of games on 2 mana. The mortal enemy of the deck is mono-black with Phyrexian Obliterator. I've won against it, but it is entirely up to how much damage I got in before they play the Obliterator out. If I can get them down under 10, there is a decent chance I can just burn them out.
It can control Goblins with Muxus long enough to get damage in. Same with Elves. However, sticking a single Fanatical Firebrand, or with a Fervent Champion, really doesn't do enough. The true MVP of the deck is Ghitu Lavarunner to be honest. Makes the Wizard's Lightning a bolt. Can push through 2 points a turn which is nothing to sneeze at. Generally, does exactly what the deck wants to do.
Here is my winning match to make Mythic. Sorry, no sound... still figuring out OBS software.
Couple of notes-
Once you make mythic in ANY constructed format, you are mythic for all of them. Kinda weird.
Still not a fan of Collected Company/sac deck. But whatever.
Much like real paper life, I still don't own any Thoughtseizes
Even though I made Mythic, there are other layers yet. To make the top 1000 you need to crawl even more up the way by winning even more. Which means:
I am gonna play a meme sort of deck more than I want to because I don't want to make the top 1000. Sooooooooooooo here is my 0/X Combo Deck
Magic is a product. A very inventive game. Hugely successful for WoTC, thus Hasbro its parent company. Its been around for a while, 27 years now. The very first reserve list, those cards WoTC flagged as to never be reprinted, was published on March 4, 1996. The reserve list language can be found here.
I am no lawyer, don't even play one on TV. Not sure how legally binding this list is to their costumers. However, it has caused quiet a few problems in the opportunity for those who like the older cards to continue to play those same cards. Allow me to break this down in WAY too many words for my own good.
I am worried about the health and long term stability of paper legacy right now. Allow me to expand
Pandemics and EDH
The pandemic/Covid-19 has caused a very interesting problem with Magic players. There was fear early in the pandemic that many players would start to dump their collections to help pay rent, get food, generally survive. Prices were poised to tank, and we saw some of that in Europe for a short time. That has not been the case at all. If anything, the opposite has occurred. Free money has flooded the market. On top of that, players who normally would go out, travel, spend money on other events have focused inward. Those extra dollars are now spent on high dollar cards like Dual lands. And the players with the most diverse interest? EDH. They drive the market. Even causal players have no problems with getting their needed one of dual land for their deck. Before the pandemic, they drove the market so much so that 2020 was declared by WoTC to be the year of commander.
EDH players buy packs way more often than standard or format players. They buy a single copy of something for their pet decks, and they have MANY decks. They drive prices more than anything else including Standard, or Pioneer. That causal format is how most players enjoy the game by heads and shoulders over everything else.
These two issues have dried the market up. Vendors are not sloshing through cards as players sell out of one thing and into another. Players are not ditching reserve list cards to get some new hype. Even the mega-sites like Card Kingdom have slowly raised their prices on duals like Volcanic Island over the past 2 months so they can offer higher sale/trade in values. I was personally watching this so I could get another one after a large trade up. On 6/26 I got a Good condition revised Volc for $342.99. Currently Good is priced at $405.99. $66 more in two months. There are no paper events occurring. There are none planned for the rest of the year. Where are the cards going? EDH players.
But- thats blue based duals. Who cares? To which I say- Look at even the lowly Plateau. Currently clocking in at about $175. PLATEAU!!!
Paper Legacy is headed to:
All this above leads me to say:
I am currently worried for the health of paper legacy because it is being eaten alive by EDH. These are the factors I can see, and have seen, in the current times of EDH domination:
- Newer invested players, or even long time players, will cash out their duels because it is just too much money to turn down.
- The player base will retract considerably, thus drying up the pools of players and shops able/willing to support the format.
- Only a few die hards will hang on to play in MUCH smaller regional events. Legacy will basically become the same as Vintage, only the hard core long time invested players.
If prices continue at this pace, I might not have much disagreement to selling my duals off. I could use a new camera body. (Canon 5D anyone?) I've got no problem with playing with proxies again because the player base will have shrunk to the point that it will be just a couple buddies drinking beer and cracking jokes. The meta will be driven by on-line play only. I don't want much part of that. The death of Legacy might be coming sooner than we thought due to Covid-19 and EDH. A two headed monster that will only keep the most hardcore players hanging on.
Possible answers
Reserve List test case- Oubliette
Oubliette. A card that was a perfect case of, "Its only expensive because of the rareness." It got to a high value of about $50, two years ago. Slowly drifted back down, and then got reprinted in Double Masters, at- UNCOMMON! Oh. My. God. The original printing is gonna tank! Its gonna suck! Its gonna- go back to $30. Even with a BRAND new printing, the original version is what most people are gonna want for flair. Newer players can afford the new printing. More copies are injected into the market, even foil! Oooooooooooooo, shiny. The original kept its value.
Yes, the new printing has been out for only a month. Who knows, maybe someone is buying up all the 2XM copies and trying to corner the market. (good luck with that, if you are) Time will tell, but for now, the old card is still valuable because its the first. Plenty of people want that.
I dare say this is the same for Reserve List cards. Yes, the market will take a hit for original versions, BUT injecting THOUSANDS of new copies of a new art work, new frame, etc. will only open up the available game play with those new copies. Introductory players can now play those formats at better prices. People who want Beta Lightning Bolts will always pay a premium for them. Why not just get Mystery Booster copy for $1 or less? Bling, statement, and investment. Old cards are valuable people of the history, the rareness, and perceived value.
And for goodness sake, DO NOT put them into Secret Lairs. UGH.... though I suspect they would. Though I honestly don't know if a good way of getting them back into circulation that wouldn't cause immediate arm failing and various degrees of panic over at mtgfiance on reddit.
Proxies/counterfeits?
I am all in favor of people testing out the formats they like. Try decks by proxing the cards they don't have. Play test with friends or in unsanctioned events. Yes thats fine!
Don't sell known fake cards. Don't trade fake cards like they are real. Don't be a jerk about it so you can make a buck.
Currently Chinese fake/proxies are good enough to pass the double sleeve test without much thought. With the holostamps on the newer cards, it is even more so. I've heard of upwards of half the cards in decks being fake/proxy, getting deck checked, and being fine. Judges are more concerned with making sure the cards in your list are what you said they were than spending time pulling out all the cards for realness or not. Unless you are pulling out "beta" duals for your entire deck, or some set of Guru lands because you thought they would be cool, almost no one will bat an eye at a set of holo-stamped Fetch lands from Kahns. (why fake that!?)
These cards are an un-regulated market. There is a LOT of money to floating out there. People want to get something for near nothing- hence the idea of a pack of cards MAYBE containing $100 for just $10. The only thing holding it back is honestly and the amount of money it would take to make the best fakes.
Now the problem is, magic cards are faked. The 'quality' of the fakes are getting better, not worse. If there is money to be made, and there is a ton, the quality of these fakes are only going to get better over time. I would be utterly shocked if the best fakes out there are completely undetectable. I am convinced it has already happened. (rumors have circulated about fakes beating PSA/grading companies) I am sure plenty of players out there have unknown fake cards in their collections, and play them without even knowing.
Double Masters was a hit, if you nailed the variance. Which also took A LOT of money to do. VIP packs started at 85 and just went up. (please note- they can be easily searched and resealed without anyone knowing.)
I went to my LGS draft store (Gamer Corps) and bought 3 packs. At $16.50 per, I felt a little squeamish because I knew I was buying lottery scratch-offs. However, I wanted to support the store during insanity. Got there, and was informed that they were planning to draft the set that night. *GULP!* Yeah, no thanks. Don't feel comfortable occupying the same space with folks I don't know for 3-4 hours passing cards around at first. Draft is fun, but not a risk I'm willing to take at this time.
Here is my video of those three packs. Don't blink it will go quick:
Small note on the video. The reason I wasn't as excited for Ensnaring Bridge, I had JUST acquired a Stronghold copy via trade. Happy to have a second copy, just funny as heck.
Next on the docket- singles.
At first I really thought I was going to get a set of Thoughtsieze. Really I did. However, I was watching the pre-sale prices and they didn't go down. Sooooooooooo, I turned to my next target- Trinisphere. Previous to this printing, there were only 3 versions available. The Darksteel, From the Vault, and a Masterpiece. The Darksteel was expensive, $60 as of just last year, and slowly slide down to about $30. I don't want the foil From the Vault version... and the Masterpiece, well, no. Nice printing, don't get me wrong. Just I have so many other needs that bling makes no sense for me here.
Why buy Trinisphere? I am betting that Astrolabe will be kicked to the curb sooner than later. Once mana goes back to pressed non-basics, then things like Mono/Dragon Stompy become a thing again. Thats when I need/want the Trinisphere. Yes, I know. I need Chrome Mox. But not at current prices. It was printed in 2XM, however, it never got below $40 and is now easily $50 plus again.
The first thing I did was to scope out my "buy point." The price I felt was the lowest I could accept without screwing myself later. For reference, I got hosed on my "buy point" for Rishadian Port and M25. For Trinisphere, I felt WAY more comfortable at about $12-13 for each copy. I waited nicely Friday... then Saturday morning. I kept checking eBay buy-it-now prices, and TCG. I also checked in with a couple folks to see their opinion of this product. Consensus was- get singles release weekend. There is no natural curve to this set. A ton of it will be opened the first weekend, then the market will soak up the singles and prices float back up. (I've seen that analysis on Reddit Mtg Finance)
When I pulled the trigger, it was on eBay. I found 3 different listings. All total, I paid $50.77 for four copies.
As of now, the cheapest copy on eBay buy-it-now are at least $15. TCG is at least $19. Yup- saving money for the things I want/need. Feels good.
Lastly, trying something new this week- some video play content. Two reasons:
#1 Fun to try doing new things. Might try Arena at first with a CRAPPY microphone, and eventually try capturing Legacy paper play video webcam. Likely running out a Sneak&Show build just because I can.
#2 I am curious to see how my game play is. Reviewing your own play, I've heard, is one of the best ways to help improve my game. And god knows my game needs improvement.
Two of the things I enjoy in magic is constructed play in way of Legacy, and current set drafting. They scratch different itches, and are enjoyable for different reasons to me. Each take different skills, mostly different knowledge and background, and general understanding. Staying up on the format like Legacy isn't as hard as say standard, but requires time and effort to know. Where-as draft will change every few months because a new set is released. The themes change, draft knowledge changes, etc. etc.
Benefits of each-
Draft will likely supply my draft supply and I enjoy the various parts of the "Gathering" section of the game. Get to know the weekly players, get to enjoy some stories, something to look forward to. Winning can be equally fun. I've also come to enjoy a REALLY good game of draft. The back and forth, the sweating out the top deck. etc. Mana screw is the absolute worst way to go in a draft game. Sucks, bu it is what it is.
Legacy gets me back to my roots of playing, but I doubt my old magic self would understand the game if he saw it now. Super powerful cards, played in new and interesting ways along with 27 years worth of cards. (minus about 60 cards all time) Have at it, find you lane in the super highway of Legacy and enjoy. Most legacy players have pet decks, and are willing to dabble in others. I've got issues where new decks pop up and look super interesting. I have a hard time staying focused on single decks, but I have been able to narrow them down to- Show and Tell decks, Eldrazi stompy decks, and Death and Taxes. Each have a variety of versions, and personal tastes and meta decisions can alter them easily. Its a dance, and fun at the same time.
Both of those formats are great. I have spent countless hours digesting content. I've played a lot less than I would like. I play Arena just to kill time and have only spent money on it during the lock down to help kill time. (scratching an itch)
That all said- I have a hard time playing now. The Gathering has been removed. Its the critical piece of this game. The physical space you occupy with friends and your short time opponent. Trading cards. Hearing stupid stories. Enjoying the couple hours you are able to play your game/hobby. While digital is a nice supplement, it is not the thing. Bragging about what you opened in paper draft is completely different than digital. The physical object is much more meaningful. I just text a buddy about opening an Ugin in an Arena prize pack- felt so hollow.
I've often said, "I just want to play the damn game." Well, I was slightly wrong. What I meant at the time was, I didn't care if I had proxied cards- I just loved turning cards sideways with friends. Now I revise my statement- "I just want to hang out and play the game."
While digital might be easier to access, its making the game harder to stay in contact with.
I realized back in May I could order from CardMarket in Europe. Why? How? They limit shipping addresses to EU only. However, I know some folks over there, and one in particular was VERY helpful in getting this deal done. (I owe them a beer) At the time, I found a NM copy of Italian Eureka for 105 €. This translates, after taxes and shipping to about $150. The cheapest copy I could find on TCG, Italian mind you, was $200. That was a heavy play copy, and a NM at the time was at least $250.
Yes, I ordered it on a wing and a bit of a prayer. It finally showed up after shipping from Italy to my friend to France, then from France to my house. After examining the green dot on the back, it was a legit card. The surface was completely clean and perfect. The face only had a print dot at the top, and back was off-center, however... I don't care.
[I did check it if it might be a fake, and it passed the green dot test]
Better condition than expected
Now for my second larger addition. After shipping a chunk of cards I would likely never play, but had aspirations for (eg. Ulamog, Ceaseless Hunger) off to CardKingdom, I wound up getting $391 in credit. Importantly for me pulling the trigger was my Bonus Round investment. When I sent 27 of them in, they were $2.34 per card. As of writing this blog entry, they are $0.98 from CK. I made off pretty good on that one. (less than half for those bad at math) Also for reference, I paid about $0.67 per card. Basically tripling my investment. Could I have done better in a year or two? Maybe/likely. However, I'd rather have what I got for them... or part of.
All week I had been refreshing CK's page for a Revised Volcanic Island. And all week they have been devoid of them. Last night a "Good" condition one popped up, and after a short mental debate, (and seeing the taxes on this purchase) I snapped up that one at $50 cheaper than VG and 3 Goblin Guides. As long as its sleeve playable- I am down. I don't want bling in this case, just give me a damn card to play.
Why these two cards? For combo decks obliviously. The volcanic is ultimately for Sneak & Show (and maybe Delver if the mood ever takes me). The Eureka is for OmniTell. And I admittedly got it at this rate in case I want to trade it for another possible dual land in the future. I picked up at least $75 in value off this transaction.
Just a couple notes- I did some comparison shopping/selling between three big sites- Card Kingdom, ChannelFireball, and ABUGames. In my experience, CK was the easiest of the three to navigate, add cards, and clearly spelled out how many they were willing to take. In almost all cases, they gave me my best return rate for BuyLists. I don't have any affiliation with any of these sites, in the past or most likely future. I also liked CK's "restock alert" system for when they got stuff back in. Very helpful.
This past week I discovered that my local draft shop, Gamer-Corps, had a box of Mystery Booster (retail) for $150. On top of that, they also had two promos to go with it-Reliquary Tower and Mechagodzilla, Battle Fortress (Hangarback Walker). Together they represent about $30 in value. Ok, sure, sounds good.
As I wasn't drafting, buying singles, doing my normal spending out in stores, I decided to buy that box, help the store out as well. Why not... cheapest on TCG was about $175? And if landed a Mana Crypt, everything would be gravy. Though the odds were not good.
Then the great debate in my brain took over- crack, hold, wait to draft?
Ugh!
I asked some friends and responses were basically one of each. Not super helpful. Then I realized- I haven't bought a box of anything Magic related (a full box of pack, etc) since the 90s. Now, that seems hard, but realize, I missed about 14 years of the game. I started getting the itch, and busted open those packs last night.
Why? Cause I wanted to see... I have a hard time holding on to sealed product. Its a lottery card basically. However, Mystery Booster provides a real outstanding chance at getting some VERY good value on your investment.
[slight aside] Guess its a good time to mention I just shipped off a chunk of cards to Card Kingdom in the hopes of landing another Volcanic Island. Thats the goal anyhow, but why now? Because my Bonus Round investment finally hit a critical level. I bought 18 of them for $0.65 over a year ago, and wound up acquiring others via trade for a grand total of 26 of them. Card Kingdom was offering $1.80 per, and 30% on top for a $2.34 per card in trade value. My investment for roughly $26 will net me $60 in trade value towards a dual land- which is exactly why I got them.
[small in-line update, just checked my account and it looks like CK graded my cards already, but has not issued the amount yet. After grading, and 30% bonus, looks like I should get $391.39. Enough for a VG graded Volcanic if they ever get one. "Only" lost about $20 in value due to grading)
Here are the winners of the Mystery Booster packs:
And while it doesn't look like much to the untrained eye, the middle row in the photo is the "money" row.
After picking though and scanning a bunch because, honestly, I don't know many of the cards that might have value, I wound up with about $225 in value. (around $1 and up) Plus the two bonus cards... lets just call it at $250 total. Not too shabby.
I was kinda looking forward to this pre-release. It is/was my birthday weekend. Kinda fun, planned to do it at least twice because of that. A certain virus sweeping the world kinda changed how magic happens in terms of the Gathering. *sigh*
The local store- Gamer-Corps, threw in a promo pack for anyone who pre-ordered. No clue how many people did that though.
I thought about filming the opening, but was too excited. I got too jittery. Too hyped.
My promo was General Kurdo of Drannith. I turned to my kids to open a couple packs, and they had fun. Got an extended art Triome from one... so cool. Got an Obosh, the Preypiecer out of another. Meh.
But TWO more Triomes. One a base, and the other was an extended art foil. Yikes! And a Vadrok, Apex of Thunder mythic. These cards were all on color to play, mostly... I could have had an insane pre-release... but again, a certain virus had other plans.
Here is the class photo complete with the blah Promo pack results on the lower right.
I picked up another pre-release kit on Sunday to help celebrate the birthday fun. The store threw in another promo pack, which was awesome! And also good because my pre-release kit SUCKED. I mean sucked.
However, the promo pack was CRAZY good. See below:
A foil promo pack of both Fiend Artisan and Hydroid Krasis in the same promo pack. CRAZY!!!!
I might keep both just because.
I saw this item in an auction site I go to for cards. Only reason it hit was because of the term "magic." However, the guy's name is Maro. I looked him up- turns out he was a magician 110 years ago.
The magic tie in? Mark Rosewater's employee ID early in Wizards existence was "maro." Because it was the shortest unique identifier that could be used to email him internally.
There was even a mistake card named for him from Mirage- Maro. He is asked to sign it all the time, apparently.
But back to this flyer, it is just super funny to see this based on the references and coincidence. Made me giggle a bit.
A couple things happened all at once... well, they all came together at the same time.
The new set of Ikoria is not, what I would call, a fun set. Its wonky... its weird. The monsters are very large, and get bigger. One of the mechanics, mutate, is not really good in paper. The other mechanic, Companion, is shattering every single version of constructed. The response, from the grand pooh-bah, Mark Rosewater... was, ummm, not re-assuring. He even admitted the entire mechanic could be banned in Vintage, which seeks only to restrict things.
I tried to enjoy Arena, I really started out to draft. Things changed with Ikoria release, they moved to human drafts and doubled the cost of the virtual currency to support it. Okkkkkkk... thats fine. But I have had less than middling results in my game. They have been downright awful to be honest.
Before you get me to be a neh-sayer, I got to Platinum Tier 1 in Standard on the back of mono-red. Yeah, I'm a sucker. But after 3 drafts of Ikoria and completely crapping the bed on game play, I had enough. I uninstalled the software Saturday night. Haven't even felt the need to go back in.
My preferred constructed format, Legacy, has been under assault due to Ikoria. Well- actually, the Companion mechanic. Yes, on-line meta is different than paper. Yes, I doubt I will ever play in a 50+ tournament any time soon. But to hear the complaints about things being broken from every set that need to be banned, is hard. You either get the cards, play that deck until they ban it, or just sit on the side and wait for sanity. (I'm the later) I play at my local, with friends, etc. I am no grinder. No on-line Twitch streamer. I enjoy that format, but not such that I need to wait for bans. It happened with Wrenn and Six, then Underworld Breach, now an entire mechanic. *sigh*
I will never invest in digital legacy, well, not now. Paper play is the way I prefer. I have cards. There are practical restrictions. There are beers to be drunk with friends. (I'm old) I've done some digital over cam games with people all over the US. Its a nice substitute, but not the real thing. Even for an introvert like me, I enjoy the small slice of away to hang with like minded people and enjoy the game. Heck, there are times I actually get free cards out of the deal by winning. Go figure!
All these things made me pause many of my ingests of Magic content. Arena. Podcasts. YouTube. Blogs. Auctions. Reddit. If I was consuming Magic via it, as of Saturday night, I was done with it. Its been almost 48 hours since I did that, and I'm fine. I need the break to be honest. Lets see how long I can take this break for... its not a challenge. But things are crappy all at once. Thats how these things go.
I can't wait for paper based drafting is possible/safe again. My first draft back will be with my Beta Basics. Hell yes. I need to do that.
I managed to play against two more people over zoom in the past few days. The first one was from Denver, he played- I believe a 4c UroDark Depths deck. I jammed in there with my Eldrazi Stompy. I won game 1 due to a Sphere. He had the combo in hand, but couldn't produce the 20/20 because of the Sphere affect. He could only jam in the Crop Rotation for the other half combo with Stage. I smashed face and did what Eldrazi does.
Game 2 he just crushed me, I had a middling hand, mulliganed, and found an even worse version of that first hand. *sigh* Nothing going on there, a large spaghetti monster ate my life.
Game 3 I managed to have de-nutz. I wasted him off colored mana, then, at the end of the game, I had a Smasher in play, one in hand, and topped 2 more. The best he could do is Crop Rot for a Maze of Ith, but then die to the multiple Smashers. It was glorious.
My second match was with a nice guy from Ottawa. He mentioned that his deck is not common, and he never plays it on MtGO because of the amount of clicking it requires. He also mentioned he had Astrolabe in it, but removed due to horrible draws. I had no clue what all that meant, but thought it might mean he was on an Oko pile?
We played two matches, and I wound up 4-1 overall in games. Turns out he was on Aluren, and Eldrazi stompy is a poor match up for him. He said he the deck is very good against fair blue decks, mostly those with Delver.
It was fun to learn about this deck because I had NEVER played against it my entire magic career. Very nice guy who walked through what it is trying to do and how it gets there. He felt Stompy was a bad match-up for him, and with OUAT now, it helped even out poor draws, or help dig for that answer it previously missed.
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I am a SUCKER for beta basics. I managed to sell something, and after fees and such- I had about $50. What did I buy?
Island B: LP
2 Island A: LP
Plains C: LP
Plains B: LP
Plains A: LP
I am such a sucker... I should have bought a Sylvan Library, or maybe a fetch land maybe.... but nope, beta basics.
Lock down, gatherings are gone, paper card play seems almost quaint.
Thats how magic is as of right now. The last time I played paper magic was 4 weeks ago when Mystery boosters came out. I was hyped about it. I wanted to draft the heck out of that set. I really did. Was super looking forward to it.
Most of my magic play over the past month has been via Arena. I broke down and bought Gems twice so I could draft. The first time I did, I drafted twice a day for like 4 straight days. I gained enough new gems to keep jamming drafts, it was great fun. Even if I didn't do so great.
This last week, with gem purchases, I discovered that Arena had a "cube" system. For 600 gems, or 3000 gold, you get 6 packs of cards you are unable to keep. Winning generated gold up to the final win which got you 600 gems. Winning also got you cards to keep in your collection, mostly Historic format cards. That has been GREAT fun to do... so I have been torn between Draft and "Cube" play. Both are fun, but I dragged myself away from the Cube thing to do some more drafts in order to max out my rares/mythics. Yeah, I doubt I will ever get the whole set but its something to shoot for.
A new development has popped up, legacy via video chat. (Zoom for what its worth) I have played legacy twice- both over video conferencing software Zoom on a wonky setup.
As you can see in my photo, I suspend my phone over my play area and have an old iMac which allows me to see my opponents board. I learned that within Zoom you can pin a certain display, so that you stay on THAT camera. (Zoom has this annoying habit of switching between which ever camera has the audio at that moment. It was never setup for game play like this, so pinning allows staying on the board.)
My first two players I got to jam Legacy against was Seth from Causal Ponderings podcast. Then Jerry Mee from Leaving a Legacy podcast.
Heck of a start, and now that I feel much more confident in my setup and chances, I am going to be jamming many more games like this while the lock down is in place. Highly recommend the paper magic discord server if you want to join in.
I like to draft, and am just above average at it. I tend to get tunnel vision, and miss opportunities to switch out of certain colors. I also don't always know all the various color pairs and themes they carry. However, just jamming weird stuff together and hoping for the best is my usual theme of the day.
The one thing I started doing from my first draft days is to have pre-sleeved lands handy. I picked this advice up from various pre-release advice videos/podcasts. Save time by not scrambling to get land ready. I also save time because I just need to sleeve the cards only. I consider a set of draft lands to be 10 of each type, so 50 basic lands. My draft box has an extra 30 or so sleeves for the drafted cards. So I have about 80, plus some, sleeves ready to go. Very rarely, like twice in all my paper drafts, have I needed an extra land or two due to some wacky draft I tried. Otherwise I have been perfectly fine with the 10 of each type.
My first set of lands was full art from Battle for Zendikar. They seemed to be all the rage, full-art lands! Oh my! As I was just back in the game at this time, I didn't care to be honest. Its a bag of whatever. But they were handy.
My second set of basic lands to draft with was, I think, Revised. They are the most awful lands in my opinion. They reflect when I got into Magic initially. So much land taken from starters and boosters. Plus, the printing was the most pale, lack of depth, and just boring printing of the original lands.
My third set of draft lands were beta basics. I wanted bling. Thats why I got them. They are still way more than I paid for them. (other than 3, which, well, thats another discussion for another day) Many of my beta basics are actually populating other decks, but I could pull them together a super sized draft if I felt like it. It'd be a bit of a pain, but it can be done. I have gotten a few more beta and alpha basics since my initial set was acquired. But it is a personal preference.
My fourth set of draft lands were Unlimited. I really think basic unlimited lands are my favorite to use. Some people think they look pale, others think they are really interesting. I like them due to the history, and they are really easy to know what your opening hand is like with white boarder lands. It is just a visual queue thing.
My fifth set of draft lands are the full are lands from Theros Beyond Death. While the most recent, I like the essence of lands there. Its something new and interesting. It has something interesting to see when you play them. Nothing else there.
Fun note- I got all the lands I needed from drafting and some chaff people left at the local store. Woot to me.
I haven't played legacy much. At all. Almost nothing but a Saturday night with a friend in the past month. I follow podcasts, watch YT content, etc. Refuse to spend more money on another platform like MTGO. So I am stuck with paper-like decks to fiddle with. I still have to proxy parts of them, but they are way better paper legal than they used to be. Here is what I currently have sleeved up for battle at any given moment:
Eldrazi Stompy- still debating Once Upon a Time in this shell.
D&T- I merely change 1-2 cards a week so it is meta ready.
G/U OmniTell- My current "hot" deck I love to crush with.
Mono-Blue Wizards- My meme deck, and could be paper legal if I pushed a bunch of cards around
B/G Depths- Not ready to give up on a 20/20.
Big Eldrazi- need to get a couple more cards to make it optimal.
From what you can see, I like combo and faster games. I don't like prolonged HUGE decision tree games. I realize some people LOVE that. Not me- love to just power things out. Disrupt, and generally make pressure.
I draft Theros Beyond Death about 3 times so far in paper. Did ok. Nothing worth writing home about. Just some thoughts-
10 person pods suck
Black is so deep 5 people in a 8 person pod can draft it
Was on W/B until pack 3 when I opened a foil Dream Trawler and promptly switched to U/W.
One draft, pack 1 was a foil Underworld Breach and a regular Underworld Breach. Gawd.
Seen a couple new adult types coming out to draft, even though they have no clue. Nice to see the infusion of new people
Just want to get a draft set of the basic lands from Theros, about 15 short for the complete "10 of each" type.
Its a bit of a hoot of a set, better than Throne for me. Not like Dominaria good, but still decent. Plenty of depth. Though I doubt I will win any awards for my draft abilities.
Legacy last week- got to play at the local. Showed up, bought my 4th Veil of Summer, and promptly got the first round Bye.
Then got pair against the one deck I did not want to play against, the other Show and Tell deck. I had NEVER played my deck before, and it showed. The lines of Veil are confusing to say the least. I won the first game when he Show and Tell'd. He dropped an Emurkal, and I dropped an Omniscience. To say he was surprised was an understatement.
I got housed in game 2, but game 3 I should have won if I had any clue what I was doing with Veil. Still not obvious to me. Its a stupid card.
Round 3 was vs Maverick without Teeg. He and I were chatting about our decks before the round, and he said, "I hope we don't get paired." And we did. I completely roffled stomped him game 1 and 3. Game 2 I flooded hard, and he had ever piece of hate from his SB.
Promptly picked up a 3rd Council's Judgement, and a Collector Ouphe. For a $15 investment, I got the Veil and the two other cards, PLUS $3 in credit.
Damn you Carpet of Flowers for shooting up to like $30. Got a MP one for $20. Might try to find deals on a couple others.
Last note, my g/u omnitell deck is 85% real cards. The ones I don't have are the most expensive of course- Tropical Islands, Misty Rainforest, Sylvan Library, and Carpet of Flowers. The rest are part of my collection. Nice feeling. If I needed to borrow said cards, I could from friends.
Last last note- for my Eldrazi Stompy deck- took too Reshapers out for two Phyrexian Revokers. Feels good right now. Still debating the merits of the Once Upon A Time. They could be other things, but thats the point, they are supposed to help power out things. Might replace one Spirit Guide with something. Walking B? Jitte? Dismember?
I really wasn't sure I wanted to attend the pre-release, but I thought better of it. I haven't missed one since I got back in and I was glad I did go.
The area I live in was expecting some nasty winter weather on Saturday, and the Friday pre-release came in really handy. I went to the 630 release at Games and Stuff. Glad I got there early, as the line was liteally wrapped around the inside of the store. The game area was completely packed with Modern firing, RPG players, tabletops, and the pre-release. It was crazy warm, boarding on hot.
First- I knew nothing about the set other than some of the bigger cards. Even then, I only listened to Legacy impact podcasts to have a clue. Only card considered for "new deck type" sort of card by everyone has been Underworld Breach. There is already talk for it to be banned due to the interaction with LED. (graveyard hate, hooooooooooooo!)
Sat down, got my box, and realized I couldn't even move to a different place to take my time and read. It was that packed. We had 25 minutes to open, sort, and build a deck. Gads! For cards I have no clue what I am looking at.
My foil promo was pretty good for limited: Erebos's Intervention
I will note- I didn't realize this was an instant until half way through the evening. Seriously. *sigh*
I was hurrying along, opening packs, until... well, this one:
This was the same pack. I kid you not.
I landed a lottery card. Insanity.
I actually had to look it up to even understand what I had gotten. At the time of the event, it was about a $92 card. Since then, it has fallen to $84. I put it up on eBay right away, and finally sold it for $70. This is about right for the card, and it is staring to see play. Which is fine. There will be a ton opened, especially with the collector's boxes out there. I am not willing to wait 2-3 years to see if maybe it will go up 20%.
What did I get with that? I went to FB for Sick Deals, and found myself someone selling a LP Zendikar Scalding Tarn for $55. w00t.
THANKS ASHIOK!
[Updated] After shipping the card out, I thought about if I should have just kept the card. Naaaaa... Looks like I was right in getting rid of it as fast as possible. Currently, you can pick up the same card on TCG for about $36. Price PLUNGED. Feel bad for the buyer, but good news for me!
I went to Titan on 1/11 for a 5 round Legacy event. I had hoped to go 3-2 to be honest, that would have been better than my previous showing.
My Eldrazi stompy deck with Once Upon a Time had been doing fairly well at the weeklies I was able to make it out to. I named it Gunk and Tentacles because of the Chalices, Thorns, and sideboard Sphere affects. Often if any two hit the board at the same time, the other player was just in a world of hurt.
Three other friends joined the fray and we wound up with a total of 25 playing for the hopes of making top 8.
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Round 1 vs Miracles (Adam)
Every time I play him he announces- "you are always my worst match-up. No matter what you play." Always a good guy to play, and only plays a version of Miracles. So props to him for sticking with it.
I stomp all over him to be honest. Both games I got a Chalice out, and he was pretty hosed. Eldrazi does what Eldrazi does.
2-0 in games, 1-0 over all
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Round 2 vs Elves (buddy Dan)
We knew this would happen after our other two buddies played each other in the first round. Kinda funny to be honest. We knew exactly what each other were running, and had played against each other countless times on random weekend Legacy plays.
Won game 1 with stompings, some minor gunk.
Lost game 2 when he got a Hexdrinker to level up to 6 and I had next to nothing.
Won game 3 convincingly with a turn 1 Chalice, and Smashers. He said he screwed up in a turn 2 play but I have no clue how.
2-1 in games, 2-0 over all
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Round 3 vs Death Shadow
Game 1 when he Fetched and shocked I knew exactly what he was on. I couldn't find a Chalice to lock him out to save myself. He never found a Death Shadow, but got there with an angry fish and a Delver.
Game 2 I locked him out of casting most things. He Forced my Chalice, then I played a Sphere and promptly stomped him
Game 3 I kept an ok hand with two lands and NEVER SAW ANOTHER LAND. UGH... I kept turning over cards and it was another 4 after I died before I would have seen an Eye. I mean, seriously. Ugh. If I had won that game, I could have drawn into top 8.
1-2 in games, 2-1 over all
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Round 4 vs Oko Miracles (Paul)
Widely regarded as one of the best players at Titan, and I had razor thin chances at him. None of which worked out.
Game 1 I thought for sure he was on his r/u delver build, nope. It was a fairly long game in which he played 3 Mystic Sanctuary and won him the game off their backs. I had him down to 1 and had hoped to top a third Smasher but thats not where I wanted to be.
Game 2 Just got stomped. I plopped down an Eye, Mimic, then saw a Chalice. Miss played my lands, but I don't think it would have helped. He wound up with like 5 Angels from a miracle. It was bad.
0-2 in games, 2-2 over all
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Round 5 vs Sn-Oko (Jay)
Local player I run into at MTG First usually. I usually give him fits with this build, and I didn't care a damn bit and my deck reflected my distaste for even being at 2-2
Game 1 He whooped up on me with Elks, I had a small chance but he got an Oko on line and just crushed my soul.
Game 2 He countered a Chalice, and a Thorns, but the Sphere got to the board and just hosed him. I closed it out with bit weird creatures.
Game 3 See game 3 of match 3. It was embarrassing. My deck hated the idea of lands.
I only realized this past week that I have been back into Magic for about 4.5 years. I mark my return with the attendance of my first Pre-release: Battle for Zendikar. (September 26th, 2015)
Since then, I have slowly, oh so slowly, built my Legacy collection up. I attended many drafts to play cost effectively. I bought some auction collections hoping to find some hidden gems. I have gotten some money and bought stuff. Mostly though, it has been via trading up, lots of material for the bigger cards I really needed. Its a hard road to slog, let me tell you.
Over this past holiday, I sold a couple household things (for those playing at home, it was stuff I could never use again) and found myself with about $75-$80 to use. And for the first time in a long while, I had to stop and think of what I wanted to get.
I know I want a complete play set of duals, and likely fetches. Those go without saying, but my 'cheaper' want list was pretty much empty for a minute. I was flabbergasted.
A Scalding Tarn, to help my SnS deck get one step closer to being paper legal
I also had to weigh where to buy the cards. I could go to the FB group of "Sick Deals" which is supposed to be 10% lower than TCG. (players selling directly with no fees and overhead) Not always, but you really need to stay on top of it. TCG where the buys are a bit more protected than a FB group. Local card shop, where the "card in hand" satisfaction is nice. Though taxes has to be considered, and the travel.
I wound up asking a couple mtg player friends about deals and where to aim the money towards. Both of them said the Scalding Tarn. Fetch prices are suppressed due to holiday season, and people selling cards to help pay down debt. Makes sense. Oh, and Modern players have been selling off since the announcement of Pioneer as a format that bans fetches. Prices are at a good place for me!
The idea of pimping a little with old art Karakas was very interesting, but totally unnecessary right now. That idea was pitched out the window.
The Scalding Tarn was taking the race by storm when I looked up the prices and found that I could get an original printing, light play, for about $62 via TCG. That sealed the deal. (see pricing history, which has been favoring me for now)
Then I thought- "self, get some more of that Beta bling. Get two beta Plains!" Which I did for $7 a pop. Sweet.
After all was said and done, I paid about $5 in cash for taxes and got a LP Zendikar Scalding Tarn and two LP Beta Plains. Welcome to the collection kids.
