Weekly Update (Jun 12): Stories from CommandFest Richmond
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Banned and Restricted Update, June 7, 2022: Winota, Expressive Iteration Banned in Pioneer, Explorer |
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Winota, Expressive Iteration Banned in Pioneer and Explorer.Read more
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Budget Magic: $77 Splendid Mill (Standard) |
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Can Splendid Reclamation make for a strange new style of mill deck in Standard in conjunction with Ruin Crab and the new common fetchlands from Streets of New Capenna? Let's find out!Read more
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Finance Update w/ Saffron Olive |
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This week was surprisingly slow on in the world of Magic finance, especially considering that it's release week for Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate. Discounting super old Alpha/Beta/Unlimited cards, the biggest gainer this week - Mystic Speculation - was only up 33%, going from around $2.50 to $3.50. The Future Sight uncommon suddenly finds itself in demand thanks to Elminster. Since the new planeswalker commander gives you a discount on your next spell based on how much you scry, Mystic Speculation essentially turns into a repeatable free spell - you can cast it with buyback for three mana to scry three and then get a three mana discount on your next instant or sorcery - while also helping set up the top of your deck for Elminster's -3 ability. As a fairly unique one-print uncommon from an old set, Mystic Speculation could continue to climb, although with so many Commander precons being printed these days, it could also be reprinted at pretty much any moment, which would likely drop it back down towards $1.
From a more meta perspective, we found out this week that Dominaria United Jumpstart booster boxes will contain just 18 packs, down from 24 in the last Jumpstart release. While early Amazon presale prices are subject to change, right now it seems like the price of a box will be roughly the same as last time at around $100. Toss in that Double Masters 2022 collector booster boxes have just four boosters, but are selling for the same price as a normal 12 pack collector booster box, it seems like Magic might be experiencing some shrinkflation where rather than increasing the price of a product, a company decreases the amount of the product you get while charging the same price; a technique often used to mask price increases. A lot of company have done this recently with Gatorade going from 32 ounce to 28 ounce bottles, an order of Domino's chicken wings going from 10 to 8, and Kleenex cutting a few tissues from a box. So perhaps seeing stagflation (possibly?) come to Magic shouldn't be a surprise, but it does mean it will be especially important to read the description of the product you are buying and not just automatically assume you know the number of packs you'll get in a box based on your past experiences.
As for Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate itself, in general cards are still trending down, although there are a few exceptions, with the biggest being Displacer Kitten (extended), which climbed 11% to $7 this week. While Displacer Kitten (extended) seems great in blink decks in Commander, it's also getting some hype in Legacy, where it goes infinite with Karn, the Great Creator. The idea is that you use Karn, the Great Creator to tutor a Lion's Eye Diamond from your sideboard, play it to blink Karn, the Great Creator, use Karn to grab a Tormod's Crypt from your sideboard, play it to blink Karn, and then use it to exile your own graveyard. You can now use Karn to grab the Lion's Eye Diamond and then Tormod's Crypt from exile and repeat this process a bunch of times to generate infinite mana, eventually finishing the game by tutoring a Walking Ballista from your sideboard with Karn. While the combo is sweet and may even be competitive, just how much being a part of a Legacy combo matters financially is up for debate. When you consider that Hullbreacher is a legitimate Legacy staple but only worth a couple of dollars because it's banned in Commander, it's clear that just being good in Legacy doesn't matter all that much to the price of a new card. Still, a bit of Legacy demand combined with strong Commander demand could mean that Displacer Kitten (extended) ends up the most expensive non-land rare from the set and it wouldn't be a surprise to see it continue to tick up over the short term.
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Podcast 384: Stories from Commandfest Richmond |
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The crew talks about their weekend at Commandfest Richmond.Read more
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Commander Clash Podcast 046: Top Cards From Baldur's Gate |
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The crew discusses their favorite cards from Commander Legends: Baldur's Gate.Read more
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Single Scoop: Turbo Xander (Explorer, Magic Arena) |
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Lord Xander can be a bit costly at seven mana so our gameplan is to turbo play Xander!!Read more
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Top 10 Cards We Need on Arena NOW (to Make Explorer into Pioneer) |
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What are the top 10 cards that Wizards ccould add to Arena to turn Explorer into Pioneer as quickly as possible? Let's count them down!Read more
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This Week in Legacy: The Daze of Delver |
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Joe Dyer dives into some recent comments on Legacy in regards to Delver from Wizards of the Coast!Read more
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Fish Five-0: Grixis Dragons (Explorer, Magic Arena) |
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In a format with control and Parhelions running around, TheAsianAvenger dares to play clunky five-drops in a brand new color trio he's never played before(Sarcasm), Grixis.Read more
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$100 Budget Decks | Commander Clash S12 E16 |
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Crim joins the crew for a game of Anything Goes!Read more
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Vintage 101: When In Doubt, Jund Em Out! |
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Joe Dyer dives into Jund related strategies in Vintage!Read more
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Much Abrew: Dino Prison (Legacy) |
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How do you jank out players in a format where the most played card is Force of Will and most decks are blue? Play Carnage Tyrant as quickly as possible, of course!Read more
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Single Scoop: This Deck is Rigged (Standard, Magic Arena) |
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Sometimes you just need a fight to be a little rigged and this Golgari deck does just that!Read more
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Tournament Center |
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- Josh Warsaw took down NRG Series $10,000 Trial - Lansing (Modern) (modern) with Four-Color Blink (Yorion).
- Zachary Okorn took down $500 Cash GGtoor M:TG Arena Duel #14 (FREE!) (standard) with Jeskai Hinata.
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#Trending Cards |
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The five most viewed cards on MTGGoldfish this past week were: