Also while I dont see a chart for Sphinx of the Steel Wind...as far as I can remember it has held steady in the 8-13 range for quite some time. The highest I remember it was 13.5 tix and I bought my copy once it dropped to 9.5 tickets figuring a 4 ticket drop was decent. Obviously since it has started to increase again I made the right choice.
The answer is as usual, more complex than just any one thing. The price for that specific card has a lot of factors which impact the price.
Just a few of them:
1) There is no "cost" to hold onto a card on MTGO. By that I mean that once you have a card in your collection it's not costing you any more than that to hold onto it. There's no storage fees, no inventory fees, etc. (there is of course opportunity costs involved with holding anything you don't use, but that's way more complex). So once someone buys any Mythic, they don't *have* to sell it again unless they have a need for the tickets.
2) There was a time it was very sought after for some decks and some combo decks. Mix this with the above point and once someone has purchased that card the only way it will become liquid again is if it's a necessity.
3) Mythics are the redemption bottleneck now. So for every redeemed set you need that card. Mix that with the above two points... and you see where this is going.
4) Less drafts of that block means less new Mythics to replace that card that's idling in someone's account. Mix again.
5) A new set with new toys means new demand for strong effects... mix...
6) Standard PTQ season means higher than average demand for most cards as well. IF a lot of the price changes is due to this then we'll see it crash once PTQ's wrap up.
i really dont understand some values. for example how come that artifact sphinx (pro red-green)is 10 tickets. Yes i understand it is mythic but it only goes to random polymorph-summoning trap decks
"But enough reminiscing about WHY leagues rocked, I'd like to add a thought about ways for MTGO to improve their old League structure, since they'll probably have time to make changes by the time it's all said and done and ready to support leagues again. Namely, the biggest thing that has been generating buzz is that I'm allowing them to add one pack of any set I have on hand. "
I have been thinking about this sort of league by adding packs from any sets for the last few months and looking at possibility’s of how to run it online as a PRE. I was going to wait for the Scars of Mirrodin set before I put a plan/article into action. There are still a lot of things I haven’t had the time to work out as it would be a big project.
Not feeling antagonized lol. I am not surprised the guy who ran hosers and felt THOSE were ok felt your Maga deck was groovy. I believe that is because the dividing line in casual comes down to several types of players. The spikier a player is, usually the less objections they have to anything. Johnny Spikes may be the most accomodating though, having admiration for true innovation even when it hoses them. Timmy Spikes Might be the most sensitive to game hosers, and have the most rigid rules (internal to them) for fair play. I know I am somewhere in between, and a lot of my feeling for a game has to do with mood and how much foreknowledge I have. Going in against Maga, I may admire the deck even while disliking the fact that I have to play against it.
Going in against combo however tends to cause me to not want to play at all because I got my fill of engines back in the day with Zvi and SteveOMS (Both awesome engine players) and others at NG in 50 player chaos. To me all of the 'Johnnyness' of modern combo tends to be backseat to getting the turn 1 win (in normal formats) or as close to it as you can. And really I could care less if it just boils down to a coin flip in the meta. Skill tests are something else. Everyone going in knows the stakes and the odds.
One of my favorite combos in old standard was Swans, even though it was relatively hard to stop once it got going, just because of the beauty of the idea, but most combo is ugly and fairly straight forward (ProsBloom I look at thee...)
And yes indeed it takes all kinds. Which is why when in a communal pool it is not OK to just be the shark without regard for those who are less inured to that style. Well that is my take on things. Maga at least tells people straight up. "I am going to be killing you as fast as possible. Kill me before I get you. NO holds are barred."
Funnily enough, the Reaper king player complimented my deck, and said that he had fun in the game. Not trying to antagonize you, just pointing out that it takes all kinds.
You are better off not flooding your brain with useless information. Classic is really not that mindboggling because the meta is some what flat (or so I understand it) but I can see Legacy and Ext being crazy. In fact I am never sure how the ext season is going shape up until it is half way into it and only then I get a clue because of site reports. I recommend the fringe formats until you are fully comfortable with your collection but watching eternal format games can be fun if you know the people playing and can commentate/ask questions.
I think you missed my point. I was not criticizing Anime for not knowing something. I often am lacking knowledge so that would be silly. I was commenting on how hard it was for me to believe that particular instance of his lack because even though I do not play Classic/Legacy or care about it, except where it impacts other formats, I am quite aware of Vial. Nothing wrong with NOT being aware of it. Just didn't quite believe it, as Anime comes off as being extremely knowledgeable in general.
I can see people being mono-focused on a format such as pauper and not knowing anything about classic (the former eternal king online) and I can see that this is the case here. (Also stated that I believe.) It has been hard for ME not to pay attention to the goings on with vial since this site posts an article about Classic once a week (or it used to before everyone went haywire for Legacy.)
Also while I was aware of Vial shennigans in general I had heard nothing of the Flickerwisp goings ons. And this article did not do much to clarify that. As per Just Sin's comments below. Not a big deal, as eventually I did con to the theme, and knew immediately there was something going on.
@Just Sin too, the whole fun thing is precisely why Maga gets hate. It isn't fun to lose to that card. Ever. I understand bringing it, for the same reason I understand bringing Mind Slaver but it is clearly not a fun card for lots of people. Just as Slaver is not (hence the reason I brought that incident up.)
I am not prepared to say I won't play someone who plays combo but if I know someone is playing a 3 turn kill deck I am pretty much likely to tell them if they do that in MY game I may feel obliged to block them and or disinvite them with prejudice.
People who play to make everyone miserable aren't playing to have fun. They are playing to have fun at other people's expense. Playing to win because there are prizes on the line is a type of mentality that people get into and then have trouble slipping out of. Really who DOESN'T want to win? Only the very dedicated and disciplined usually forgo that pleasure just to accommodate their fellows. But there is a lot of room between MUST WIN at all costs and I will do my best to win without being ridiculous (3 turn storm is ridiculous as a commander deck. It completely violates the spirit of the format.)
That said I think casual/not casual can easily be determined in any small group by asking the individuals in question. I happily enjoy playing mass destruction spells (I love to see things go boom) but I curb my enthusiasm for that until I know how cut throat and serious the group is. Some people don't care, others feel Armageddon resolving = gg.
In larger groups or in pick up game situations you may have to be flexible. Getting to know the likely suspects and what they are inclined to bring helps with that.
There is often SOME recursion in the form of Eternal Dragon/Witness, Life from the Loam, Retrace cards, etc. It isn't all about black reanimation. Having some hate in your deck for that stuff is just good strategy.
great stuff, tho perhaps a bit too much emphasis on destroying reanimation, most games ive played the only one using reanimation has been me (usually playing black in there and using volraths) maybe thats just one of those things... what i do a lot of times is throw in Vesuva, which would prob be a nice add since you can kill your own flagstone as well
Well, I didn't say it was a "good" replacement, just a replacement. You are correct, it is very helpful to have some money cards in order to slay most of the opposition. But I think it's possible to run some more budget stuff and still do ok. It just takes more time and tuning with your deck. Like I said, at some point in the future I may run a budget version of this deck out there and bring back a report, but it won't be anytime soon.
I completely understand that Maga is pretty hated. That's why I led in with the intro that I did. However, you could easily change the general here to Drana, and get similar results. And cynicism definitely works as well.
The Mind Slaver thing... That gets into a whole other discussion about the nature of casual, what should be played and what shouldn't. I think you should be prepared for anything, but I don't play certain combos. I have another article coming up that talks a little about this kind of stuff. I was running into a player that looked to continually look out everyone by turn 5 or 6, so I just adjusted my deck when I thought I'd run into them. Since these are basically just pick-up games where you won't really know who you are playing with, you gotta be prepared. And if that means you want to play Mind Slaver, so be it. I don't think there's anything wrong with it, and if people quit, that's their prerogative. Now, recurring it every turn...
goes back to the definition of casual, everyone has their own version of what's "fair".. I played one game where a guy had a storm combo win on turn 3.. I've seen a number of combo - "you win" strategies
the best way I've found to deal with this is everyone ejects that player... congrats you won, but we want to continue our game and not have this as a waste of time, having to start over.. win win imo everyone admits you won, and then continues to play for second
I don't really read up about Magic stuff. Only know the names of a handful of pro players and never follow PTQs. I've started to read articles about different formats on puremtgo and I spectate standard games, but classic / legacy / extended still boggles me. I've only actually played standard once, and it was with Faeries. Easily the most awesome deck I've ever played.
If it is hard not to pay attention then why exactly does it matter if the author mentioned it. According to that logic everyone should know Flickerwisp could be abused via Vial. I just think you are being a little harsh on poor Anime here and I don't even know the guy. Anyone who remotely follows Legacy should know the ability of Vial to cheat things into play and work around Counters. The only people who wouldn't be aware of this are novice players with no Legacy experience, but according to your logic they should be aware of vial anyways.
Not everyone follows all formats, personally I pay very minimal amounts of attention to standard as I prefer to focus on eternal formats. I have a friend who doesn't know much about Legacy other than what I tell him because he will probably never be able to afford the cards needed to play it.
Yeah Gloomlance of all the cards you never thought you would see, I love it when someone brings underplayed cards it makes it so much more interesting.
Graveyard hate was a late thought when I built the deck and I didnt want to take anything else out for a Crypt or Relic. It was a risk but I was lucky and there wasnt too much graveyard recursion.
When I got serious Sengir Vampire was still a well played card. When I stopped being serious was before Aether Vial was even printed. However, I still keep up with the major magic news lol. Yes I know pauper ignores all the nifty rares but it is hard not to pay attention.
Also while I dont see a chart for Sphinx of the Steel Wind...as far as I can remember it has held steady in the 8-13 range for quite some time. The highest I remember it was 13.5 tix and I bought my copy once it dropped to 9.5 tickets figuring a 4 ticket drop was decent. Obviously since it has started to increase again I made the right choice.
The answer is as usual, more complex than just any one thing. The price for that specific card has a lot of factors which impact the price.
Just a few of them:
1) There is no "cost" to hold onto a card on MTGO. By that I mean that once you have a card in your collection it's not costing you any more than that to hold onto it. There's no storage fees, no inventory fees, etc. (there is of course opportunity costs involved with holding anything you don't use, but that's way more complex). So once someone buys any Mythic, they don't *have* to sell it again unless they have a need for the tickets.
2) There was a time it was very sought after for some decks and some combo decks. Mix this with the above point and once someone has purchased that card the only way it will become liquid again is if it's a necessity.
3) Mythics are the redemption bottleneck now. So for every redeemed set you need that card. Mix that with the above two points... and you see where this is going.
4) Less drafts of that block means less new Mythics to replace that card that's idling in someone's account. Mix again.
5) A new set with new toys means new demand for strong effects... mix...
6) Standard PTQ season means higher than average demand for most cards as well. IF a lot of the price changes is due to this then we'll see it crash once PTQ's wrap up.
And so on... :)
it sees play in legacy...reanimator decks if i had to guess
i really dont understand some values. for example how come that artifact sphinx (pro red-green)is 10 tickets. Yes i understand it is mythic but it only goes to random polymorph-summoning trap decks
Shard when do we find out which format won for May 22nd so we can start making decks and testing?
"But enough reminiscing about WHY leagues rocked, I'd like to add a thought about ways for MTGO to improve their old League structure, since they'll probably have time to make changes by the time it's all said and done and ready to support leagues again. Namely, the biggest thing that has been generating buzz is that I'm allowing them to add one pack of any set I have on hand. "
I have been thinking about this sort of league by adding packs from any sets for the last few months and looking at possibility’s of how to run it online as a PRE. I was going to wait for the Scars of Mirrodin set before I put a plan/article into action. There are still a lot of things I haven’t had the time to work out as it would be a big project.
"Induce Paranoia" -> Induce Despair?
I guess they wanted to leave something for the nitpickers.
So Giant Badger was originally a promo that came with a book... and it had a typo on it ("an battle")... and they didn't fix it for mtgo. Amazing.
Not feeling antagonized lol. I am not surprised the guy who ran hosers and felt THOSE were ok felt your Maga deck was groovy. I believe that is because the dividing line in casual comes down to several types of players. The spikier a player is, usually the less objections they have to anything. Johnny Spikes may be the most accomodating though, having admiration for true innovation even when it hoses them. Timmy Spikes Might be the most sensitive to game hosers, and have the most rigid rules (internal to them) for fair play. I know I am somewhere in between, and a lot of my feeling for a game has to do with mood and how much foreknowledge I have. Going in against Maga, I may admire the deck even while disliking the fact that I have to play against it.
Going in against combo however tends to cause me to not want to play at all because I got my fill of engines back in the day with Zvi and SteveOMS (Both awesome engine players) and others at NG in 50 player chaos. To me all of the 'Johnnyness' of modern combo tends to be backseat to getting the turn 1 win (in normal formats) or as close to it as you can. And really I could care less if it just boils down to a coin flip in the meta. Skill tests are something else. Everyone going in knows the stakes and the odds.
One of my favorite combos in old standard was Swans, even though it was relatively hard to stop once it got going, just because of the beauty of the idea, but most combo is ugly and fairly straight forward (ProsBloom I look at thee...)
And yes indeed it takes all kinds. Which is why when in a communal pool it is not OK to just be the shark without regard for those who are less inured to that style. Well that is my take on things. Maga at least tells people straight up. "I am going to be killing you as fast as possible. Kill me before I get you. NO holds are barred."
Funnily enough, the Reaper king player complimented my deck, and said that he had fun in the game. Not trying to antagonize you, just pointing out that it takes all kinds.
vermin man he is called. Hey, buddy, got a light?
You are better off not flooding your brain with useless information. Classic is really not that mindboggling because the meta is some what flat (or so I understand it) but I can see Legacy and Ext being crazy. In fact I am never sure how the ext season is going shape up until it is half way into it and only then I get a clue because of site reports. I recommend the fringe formats until you are fully comfortable with your collection but watching eternal format games can be fun if you know the people playing and can commentate/ask questions.
I think you missed my point. I was not criticizing Anime for not knowing something. I often am lacking knowledge so that would be silly. I was commenting on how hard it was for me to believe that particular instance of his lack because even though I do not play Classic/Legacy or care about it, except where it impacts other formats, I am quite aware of Vial. Nothing wrong with NOT being aware of it. Just didn't quite believe it, as Anime comes off as being extremely knowledgeable in general.
I can see people being mono-focused on a format such as pauper and not knowing anything about classic (the former eternal king online) and I can see that this is the case here. (Also stated that I believe.) It has been hard for ME not to pay attention to the goings on with vial since this site posts an article about Classic once a week (or it used to before everyone went haywire for Legacy.)
Also while I was aware of Vial shennigans in general I had heard nothing of the Flickerwisp goings ons. And this article did not do much to clarify that. As per Just Sin's comments below. Not a big deal, as eventually I did con to the theme, and knew immediately there was something going on.
@Just Sin too, the whole fun thing is precisely why Maga gets hate. It isn't fun to lose to that card. Ever. I understand bringing it, for the same reason I understand bringing Mind Slaver but it is clearly not a fun card for lots of people. Just as Slaver is not (hence the reason I brought that incident up.)
I am not prepared to say I won't play someone who plays combo but if I know someone is playing a 3 turn kill deck I am pretty much likely to tell them if they do that in MY game I may feel obliged to block them and or disinvite them with prejudice.
People who play to make everyone miserable aren't playing to have fun. They are playing to have fun at other people's expense. Playing to win because there are prizes on the line is a type of mentality that people get into and then have trouble slipping out of. Really who DOESN'T want to win? Only the very dedicated and disciplined usually forgo that pleasure just to accommodate their fellows. But there is a lot of room between MUST WIN at all costs and I will do my best to win without being ridiculous (3 turn storm is ridiculous as a commander deck. It completely violates the spirit of the format.)
That said I think casual/not casual can easily be determined in any small group by asking the individuals in question. I happily enjoy playing mass destruction spells (I love to see things go boom) but I curb my enthusiasm for that until I know how cut throat and serious the group is. Some people don't care, others feel Armageddon resolving = gg.
In larger groups or in pick up game situations you may have to be flexible. Getting to know the likely suspects and what they are inclined to bring helps with that.
yes, i knew that the day will come for Gerrard one most charismatic heroes of magic.
There is often SOME recursion in the form of Eternal Dragon/Witness, Life from the Loam, Retrace cards, etc. It isn't all about black reanimation. Having some hate in your deck for that stuff is just good strategy.
great stuff, tho perhaps a bit too much emphasis on destroying reanimation, most games ive played the only one using reanimation has been me (usually playing black in there and using volraths) maybe thats just one of those things... what i do a lot of times is throw in Vesuva, which would prob be a nice add since you can kill your own flagstone as well
Well, I didn't say it was a "good" replacement, just a replacement. You are correct, it is very helpful to have some money cards in order to slay most of the opposition. But I think it's possible to run some more budget stuff and still do ok. It just takes more time and tuning with your deck. Like I said, at some point in the future I may run a budget version of this deck out there and bring back a report, but it won't be anytime soon.
I completely understand that Maga is pretty hated. That's why I led in with the intro that I did. However, you could easily change the general here to Drana, and get similar results. And cynicism definitely works as well.
The Mind Slaver thing... That gets into a whole other discussion about the nature of casual, what should be played and what shouldn't. I think you should be prepared for anything, but I don't play certain combos. I have another article coming up that talks a little about this kind of stuff. I was running into a player that looked to continually look out everyone by turn 5 or 6, so I just adjusted my deck when I thought I'd run into them. Since these are basically just pick-up games where you won't really know who you are playing with, you gotta be prepared. And if that means you want to play Mind Slaver, so be it. I don't think there's anything wrong with it, and if people quit, that's their prerogative. Now, recurring it every turn...
goes back to the definition of casual, everyone has their own version of what's "fair".. I played one game where a guy had a storm combo win on turn 3.. I've seen a number of combo - "you win" strategies
the best way I've found to deal with this is everyone ejects that player... congrats you won, but we want to continue our game and not have this as a waste of time, having to start over.. win win imo everyone admits you won, and then continues to play for second
I don't really read up about Magic stuff. Only know the names of a handful of pro players and never follow PTQs. I've started to read articles about different formats on puremtgo and I spectate standard games, but classic / legacy / extended still boggles me. I've only actually played standard once, and it was with Faeries. Easily the most awesome deck I've ever played.
Thanks for the ideas
Shining Shoal is a card I dont have I will have to give it a whirl at some point.
Return to Dust is a great card I do love that one I use in other decks.
Bojuka Bog is a good idea and it saves a card slot in the main deck the colourless mana doesnt cause that much of an issue in a mono deck.
Ruin Ghost - havent tried tiis one yet but have only heard positive comments.
Tectonic Edge I'm saving for my next article.
I didnt want to go down the LD route with this deck as I was after more of a friendly game
As you say Ghostly Prison is nice in the early game but can lack power in the late game.
If it is hard not to pay attention then why exactly does it matter if the author mentioned it. According to that logic everyone should know Flickerwisp could be abused via Vial. I just think you are being a little harsh on poor Anime here and I don't even know the guy. Anyone who remotely follows Legacy should know the ability of Vial to cheat things into play and work around Counters. The only people who wouldn't be aware of this are novice players with no Legacy experience, but according to your logic they should be aware of vial anyways.
Not everyone follows all formats, personally I pay very minimal amounts of attention to standard as I prefer to focus on eternal formats. I have a friend who doesn't know much about Legacy other than what I tell him because he will probably never be able to afford the cards needed to play it.
Yeah Gloomlance of all the cards you never thought you would see, I love it when someone brings underplayed cards it makes it so much more interesting.
Graveyard hate was a late thought when I built the deck and I didnt want to take anything else out for a Crypt or Relic. It was a risk but I was lucky and there wasnt too much graveyard recursion.
When I got serious Sengir Vampire was still a well played card. When I stopped being serious was before Aether Vial was even printed. However, I still keep up with the major magic news lol. Yes I know pauper ignores all the nifty rares but it is hard not to pay attention.