I believe the Onslaught fetchlands and the Ravnica block shock lands, while not dropping, are at a low and affordable price, representing good value. If you are looking to play commander in the future, or looking to make an investment, I think they are a very good bet.
I read these articles almost religiously at this point, having come into MTGO only a few months ago. I love the charting and the price discussions, since I have learned to use them to judge when to buy (or not to buy) certain cards. It also has been great to tell me when my judgement would have cost me or gained me tickets when I didn't have the money to invest at that point in time.
I just wondered if anyone knows of any specific classic cards (and for Commander specifically) that are dropping due to the current environment that would be wise to scoop up now while they're cheap. Living Death sounds great, but then there was something about devaluation - so is that going to continue going down?
I know these are speculations, not scenes from the future, but any advice to a semi-noob (I played back when everyone had a Mox, quit during The Dark, and only now am getting back in with MTGO) would be much appreciated.
Hamtastic, awesome article as always, keep it up :-D
I did the same thing. I bought a pair of city of traitors for 17 (Actually I trade a fire and lightning FOD and 6 tix for one of them)...I bought 3 mox diamonds for 12 each (I pulled a 4th in a draft.
I also ripped an intuition, recurring nightmare, oath of druids, hatred, and another city of traitors during the drafts.
I did play in 12-15 drafts but never opened a ancient tomb or wasteland.....They must of been the mythic rarity!
It's always annoyed me slightly too when people make a "big deal" over what the next FNM promo cards or MTGO promo cards are. I might go so far as to say "I'm not so eager to go for the FNM card this month as last month", mention it's not a card I want to play or that this time out I don't like the alternate art much, doesn't even look as good as the original card art or whatever. What I don't do is rant or whine, as if to imply I'm "entitled" to a better promo card being available, or imply that Wizards is incompetent for not having picked a better one this month. Or like it's any kind of big deal at all.
It's not. It's one small part of my hobby, and I expect that the desirability of the promo card will fluctuate up and down quite a bit from one month to the next. And that different people will love/hate each month's card more or less, beauty being in the eye of the beholder (and card valuation also). I earn/win whatever promo cards I can, tuck them away, play them, collect them, trade them off, or buy/trade for the ones I like best. (Still want 3 more promo Path to Exile and 1 more promo Qasali Pridemage. Maybe if I get that new job.)
Not worth the time and effort to get all hot and bothered about.
Completely agree! I stalked the Classifieds and auction room to get my hands on a playset of Wasteland for 84 tix. Like Paul, I don't see this as an investment; rather, as an opportunity to pick up cards I might otherwise not be able to pick up. I also managed to get 2 City of Traitors for 16 each, 4 Mox Diamonds for 12 each (not such a great deal in hindsight I guess) and cheap playsets of Crystalline Sliver and Muscle Sliver. That was my bounty. My only regret is not having more tickets. =D
Recently I did something I have been waiting to do for awhile. The recent drop in prices encouraged me to blow my tix on +3 Living Death and +4 Tradewind Rider. I expect with the TSE drafts going on these cards might drop even lower but it felt like the right time. (Cost me about 22 tix for the bunch.) I realize these cards are not investments so I don't really care about the devaluation. But these two cards are some of my favorites printed to date. Being able to afford them was great. Thanks WoTC for bringing Tempest Block back if only temporarily.
Is a long time member of the magic community, and we are very happy to have him write here. If he wanted to share with us his tips and tricks to making the greatest cakes in the world I would let him just because of the amount of respect he has earned.
And yes, we are puremtgo. It is possible for us to have paper content.
No it's just what you decided to obsess about. My original comment was primarily directed at your question regarding the Draft Viewer, but you deciding to ignore that comment in order to step up on your soap box about how only poor people draft Mythics. Pretty much any pro you ask will give you an honest answer of, "If I was in a tournament, I would pick Lightning Bolt; otherwise I'd pick Jace Beleren".
What's the point of trying to draft the best deck in a Swiss queue? Your results will be skewed regardless of your picks. Thus your mindset and goal are inconsistent with your draft venue. You need to play an 8-4, DE, PE, or PTQ to get quality results. But oh wait, M11 is a dead format. Each format is different, very different, so much so that drafting more 10th Edition and M10 will not really help you get better at M11, so there is little point to just mindlessly putting the blinders on.
Resisting temptation to Rare Draft is certainly a timeless skill, but it's easy to pick up. When I Top 8 a PE, the temptation to Rare Draft goes right out the window, considering you earn like an extra 10 packs per round you survive.
Other players make a good about about Rare Drafting the dual. At worst, you can pick up a niche card for your deck or hate draft. There are instances where Mighty Leap and Fling are useful. Deathmark might be the right pick in terms of not only hate drafting, but you could legitimately switch colors since it's only 4th pick, and it is certainly maindeckable. The dual is useless because it's very very unlikely that you will abandon both Pacifism and Lightning Bolt in order to play U/B/x or B/X/u or U/b/X. If I was going for the "absolute best pick", Drowned Catacombs would never even cross my radar.
Regardless of how much money you make, a dollar is always going to be worth exactly $1.00.
You're looking at this situation all wrong.
I'm not going to address all your points because you're just rambling a lot, but in the context of this draft, Jace is the correct pick, regardless of how much money you have, regardless of your level of play, and regardless of the amount of cards in your collection.
Context is the key word here.
Why do you think people are posting "I thought this was an 8-4?"
Ironically enough, If you really were concerned about maximizing your level of play don't you think you'd be better off doing 8-4s as opposed to Swiss drafts? That seems like a poor argument to use to defend your position. You're also saying to a degree that you like Bolt better because it's more "fun" and provides you with a happy memory. We're saying this should be a logical, and not an emotional decision.
They really aught to bring snakes back, very cool tribe, though maybe they should just make a new type called "Reptile" and add turtles, viashino, snakes and lizards to the tribe. We already have bird which is pretty broad and that would make it easier to have cross interaction between blocks with a tribe that has always been really unfocused.
I once made a clan that I recruited bad players to and then coached them and tried to make them 1800+ limited players. I met some interesting people this way and teaching them made me better.
The clan name was "1400s Do It Mainphase"
The white sun passage guy reminded me of that clan, so I laughed.
First, white was getting cut really hard from your left pack 1, probably the guy next to you I'd imagine, also he cut blue, pack 1 I guess you got the bolt and you decided red but man, pack 2 you would have had a foresee, and if you're getting p2p3 foresee, I think you switch into u/w, especially when the good chunk of the spells that blow you out ie pyroclasm/sleep/doj/safe passage are all instants/sorceries, also, even if the guy was cutting blue, you'd have still maybe gotten 2 blue fliers but more importantly the secondary cards like mana leak and flashfreeze which prevent white based decks from getting blown out.
I take anything over 2 tickets. Passing a Jace is basically a felony where I'm from. Granted, I consider myself to be good enough to overcome "missing" a pick.
I'm more concerned with the long term, so I raredraft.
Agree with this assessment. But if someone's going to bash I think I'm going to have fun doing it too.
What's funny is that the whole Magic Cruise podcast apparently took to heart for a lot of people. And after that first night I stopped caring. But apparently more damage has been done than expected :-)
And Legion events knows our positions now. Which were misinformed when the cast original was recorded. Steve is the man and was very helpful. However his twitter comments warranted a response from some of our team.
I believe the Onslaught fetchlands and the Ravnica block shock lands, while not dropping, are at a low and affordable price, representing good value. If you are looking to play commander in the future, or looking to make an investment, I think they are a very good bet.
I read these articles almost religiously at this point, having come into MTGO only a few months ago. I love the charting and the price discussions, since I have learned to use them to judge when to buy (or not to buy) certain cards. It also has been great to tell me when my judgement would have cost me or gained me tickets when I didn't have the money to invest at that point in time.
I just wondered if anyone knows of any specific classic cards (and for Commander specifically) that are dropping due to the current environment that would be wise to scoop up now while they're cheap. Living Death sounds great, but then there was something about devaluation - so is that going to continue going down?
I know these are speculations, not scenes from the future, but any advice to a semi-noob (I played back when everyone had a Mox, quit during The Dark, and only now am getting back in with MTGO) would be much appreciated.
Hamtastic, awesome article as always, keep it up :-D
where is this cake article you talk about?
I did the same thing. I bought a pair of city of traitors for 17 (Actually I trade a fire and lightning FOD and 6 tix for one of them)...I bought 3 mox diamonds for 12 each (I pulled a 4th in a draft.
I also ripped an intuition, recurring nightmare, oath of druids, hatred, and another city of traitors during the drafts.
I did play in 12-15 drafts but never opened a ancient tomb or wasteland.....They must of been the mythic rarity!
I like to eat delicious cakes.
It's always annoyed me slightly too when people make a "big deal" over what the next FNM promo cards or MTGO promo cards are. I might go so far as to say "I'm not so eager to go for the FNM card this month as last month", mention it's not a card I want to play or that this time out I don't like the alternate art much, doesn't even look as good as the original card art or whatever. What I don't do is rant or whine, as if to imply I'm "entitled" to a better promo card being available, or imply that Wizards is incompetent for not having picked a better one this month. Or like it's any kind of big deal at all.
It's not. It's one small part of my hobby, and I expect that the desirability of the promo card will fluctuate up and down quite a bit from one month to the next. And that different people will love/hate each month's card more or less, beauty being in the eye of the beholder (and card valuation also). I earn/win whatever promo cards I can, tuck them away, play them, collect them, trade them off, or buy/trade for the ones I like best. (Still want 3 more promo Path to Exile and 1 more promo Qasali Pridemage. Maybe if I get that new job.)
Not worth the time and effort to get all hot and bothered about.
Hi
Just wanted to point out (for anyone not visiting the thread), it's the MOCS points which will be updated daily, not the MOPR points.
Also good work on another good article. Though I still miss the draft set EV tables (which I feel obliged to mention everytime I leave a comment!!).
Cheers
Completely agree! I stalked the Classifieds and auction room to get my hands on a playset of Wasteland for 84 tix. Like Paul, I don't see this as an investment; rather, as an opportunity to pick up cards I might otherwise not be able to pick up. I also managed to get 2 City of Traitors for 16 each, 4 Mox Diamonds for 12 each (not such a great deal in hindsight I guess) and cheap playsets of Crystalline Sliver and Muscle Sliver. That was my bounty. My only regret is not having more tickets. =D
Recently I did something I have been waiting to do for awhile. The recent drop in prices encouraged me to blow my tix on +3 Living Death and +4 Tradewind Rider. I expect with the TSE drafts going on these cards might drop even lower but it felt like the right time. (Cost me about 22 tix for the bunch.) I realize these cards are not investments so I don't really care about the devaluation. But these two cards are some of my favorites printed to date. Being able to afford them was great. Thanks WoTC for bringing Tempest Block back if only temporarily.
Is a long time member of the magic community, and we are very happy to have him write here. If he wanted to share with us his tips and tricks to making the greatest cakes in the world I would let him just because of the amount of respect he has earned.
And yes, we are puremtgo. It is possible for us to have paper content.
It's kind of depressing to think that if I wanted 4 Primeval Titan, I could bust 300 packs and not even have the playset I wanted =/
Criticism is fine if balanced and worthy.
Poo
No it's just what you decided to obsess about. My original comment was primarily directed at your question regarding the Draft Viewer, but you deciding to ignore that comment in order to step up on your soap box about how only poor people draft Mythics. Pretty much any pro you ask will give you an honest answer of, "If I was in a tournament, I would pick Lightning Bolt; otherwise I'd pick Jace Beleren".
What's the point of trying to draft the best deck in a Swiss queue? Your results will be skewed regardless of your picks. Thus your mindset and goal are inconsistent with your draft venue. You need to play an 8-4, DE, PE, or PTQ to get quality results. But oh wait, M11 is a dead format. Each format is different, very different, so much so that drafting more 10th Edition and M10 will not really help you get better at M11, so there is little point to just mindlessly putting the blinders on.
Resisting temptation to Rare Draft is certainly a timeless skill, but it's easy to pick up. When I Top 8 a PE, the temptation to Rare Draft goes right out the window, considering you earn like an extra 10 packs per round you survive.
Other players make a good about about Rare Drafting the dual. At worst, you can pick up a niche card for your deck or hate draft. There are instances where Mighty Leap and Fling are useful. Deathmark might be the right pick in terms of not only hate drafting, but you could legitimately switch colors since it's only 4th pick, and it is certainly maindeckable. The dual is useless because it's very very unlikely that you will abandon both Pacifism and Lightning Bolt in order to play U/B/x or B/X/u or U/b/X. If I was going for the "absolute best pick", Drowned Catacombs would never even cross my radar.
Hey Peter,
I appreciate the response, and apologize for assuming you were referring to us.
~Joey
Here is the updated list.
1 Acidic Slime
1 Ant Queen
1 Azusa, Lost but Seeking
1 Bellowing Tanglewurm
1 Borderland Ranger
1 Brass Herald
1 Farhaven Elf
1 Genesis
1 Glass Asp
1 Indrik Stomphowler
1 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
1 Kashi-Tribe Elite
1 Kaysa
1 Matsu-Tribe Birdstalker
1 Matsu-Tribe Decoy
1 Matsu-Tribe Sniper
1 Mire Boa
1 Mold Adder
1 Ohran Viper
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Patron of the Orochi
1 River Boa
1 Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro
1 Sakiko, Mother of Summer
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Sakura-Tribe Scout
1 Sakura-Tribe Springcaller
1 Seedborn Muse
1 Seshiro the Anointed
1 Shizuko, Caller of Autumn
1 Silklash Spider
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Sosuke, Son of Seshiro
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Tangle Asp
1 Vigor
1 Woodfall Primus
37 cards
Other Spells
1 Abundance
1 Asceticism
1 Cultivate
1 Doubling Season
1 Font of Mythos
1 Gauntlet of Power
1 Genesis Wave
1 Horn of Greed
1 Howling Mine
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Loxodon Warhammer
1 Lurking Predators
1 Mana Reflection
1 Mind's Eye
1 Nature's Will
1 Rites of Flourishing
1 Seed the Land
1 Seer's Sundial
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Skullclamp
1 Snake Basket
1 Sosuke's Summons
1 Venser's Journal
1 Vernal Bloom
25 cards
1 Diamond Valley
1 Island of Wak-Wak
1 Khalni Garden
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Mystifying Maze
1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Temple of the False God
1 Terrain Generator
1 Vesuva
5 Forest
7 Forest
7 Forest
8 Forest
38 cards
I am under the impression that articles on this site are supposed to be about online Magic, not the paper crap you write about in this article.
Regardless of how much money you make, a dollar is always going to be worth exactly $1.00.
You're looking at this situation all wrong.
I'm not going to address all your points because you're just rambling a lot, but in the context of this draft, Jace is the correct pick, regardless of how much money you have, regardless of your level of play, and regardless of the amount of cards in your collection.
Context is the key word here.
Why do you think people are posting "I thought this was an 8-4?"
Ironically enough, If you really were concerned about maximizing your level of play don't you think you'd be better off doing 8-4s as opposed to Swiss drafts? That seems like a poor argument to use to defend your position. You're also saying to a degree that you like Bolt better because it's more "fun" and provides you with a happy memory. We're saying this should be a logical, and not an emotional decision.
Context, context, context!
Great article Lyt-Hand-Feat,
Gives me a jones to play a commander match.
They really aught to bring snakes back, very cool tribe, though maybe they should just make a new type called "Reptile" and add turtles, viashino, snakes and lizards to the tribe. We already have bird which is pretty broad and that would make it easier to have cross interaction between blocks with a tribe that has always been really unfocused.
Mike-
Note to self. Never write an article critical of others views.
I once made a clan that I recruited bad players to and then coached them and tried to make them 1800+ limited players. I met some interesting people this way and teaching them made me better.
The clan name was "1400s Do It Mainphase"
The white sun passage guy reminded me of that clan, so I laughed.
First, white was getting cut really hard from your left pack 1, probably the guy next to you I'd imagine, also he cut blue, pack 1 I guess you got the bolt and you decided red but man, pack 2 you would have had a foresee, and if you're getting p2p3 foresee, I think you switch into u/w, especially when the good chunk of the spells that blow you out ie pyroclasm/sleep/doj/safe passage are all instants/sorceries, also, even if the guy was cutting blue, you'd have still maybe gotten 2 blue fliers but more importantly the secondary cards like mana leak and flashfreeze which prevent white based decks from getting blown out.
Forum flame post much?
I take anything over 2 tickets. Passing a Jace is basically a felony where I'm from. Granted, I consider myself to be good enough to overcome "missing" a pick.
I'm more concerned with the long term, so I raredraft.
of course I'm directing this to everyone.
Agree with this assessment. But if someone's going to bash I think I'm going to have fun doing it too.
What's funny is that the whole Magic Cruise podcast apparently took to heart for a lot of people. And after that first night I stopped caring. But apparently more damage has been done than expected :-)
And Legion events knows our positions now. Which were misinformed when the cast original was recorded. Steve is the man and was very helpful. However his twitter comments warranted a response from some of our team.