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Browse > Home / Strategy / Articles / Weekly Update (Aug 09): Massive Format Bannings

Weekly Update (Aug 09): Massive Format Bannings



Banned and Restricted Update, August 3, 2020: Format Reboots


Standard, Historic, and Pioneer get a reboot!Read more


Budget Magic: $60 Mono-White Auras (Modern)


How many cards can we draw with Kor Spiritdancer and Sram before killing our opponent with a huge Gingerbrute in a ultra-budget Modern deck? Let's see!Read more


Finance Update w/ Saffron Olive


Mana Crypt Hatred Mox Amber

This week, the biggest finance news is Fridays's release of Double Masters. Overall, the set has a solid expected value, assuming you buy an entire box so you get the two box toppers, with a box (on average) offering over $450 in value. The problem is that the variance is extremely high since most of the value in the set is concentrated in the mythic rarity and in the box toppers. The good news is that the set has already had a massive impact on the price of in-demand singles for Commander, Modern, Pioneer, and Legacy. While opening a box is a fun gamble, and with a bit of luck, it is very possible to come out ahead and open more value in cards than you spend on the box, with singles being so cheap right now the smartest move for most players is to snag the individual cards they need to build their decks at a steep discount. 

Hatred is on the rise, with the Reserved List rare shooting up from $20 to $30 this week as one of the best ways to one-shot opponents in the Commander format. This might, at least in part, be related to some of the reprints in Double Masters. Hatred is a staple of Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon decks (in fact Skithiryx is the Commander deck that plays Hatred the most), and thanks to a Double Masters reprinting, Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon is already down to $20 after being as high as $46 just a few weeks ago. This discount might be prodding more players into building Skithiryx decks, which in turn would increase the price of Hatred. One of the awkward parts of staples getting much cheaper due to reprinting is that their lower price increases demand for cards that are played with the reprinted card, which can cause some seemingly random older cards to shoot up in price.

Finally, we had a bunch of bannings this week. Thankfully most of the Standard bannings hit already inexpensive uncommons and commons like Growth Spiral, Cauldron Familiar, and Wilderness Reclamation, although Teferi, Time Raveler is continuing to trend down. Teferi, Time Raveler was already on the downswing thanks to its impending rotation. It should duck below $10 after being over $20 a few weeks ago, but the planeswalker is still a Modern staple, so a complete crash seems unlikely. It may be a card to pick up at a discount for your Modern collection, since long-term it could start to climb again. Perhaps more impactful from a finance perspective were the Pioneer bans, with four top tier decks essentially being driven completely from the format. Walking Ballista's price shouldn't change much since most of its demand comes from Modern, but expect prices of cards like Mox Amber (Kethis Combo), Lotus Field (Lotus Breach Combo), Inverter of Truth and perhaps Jace, Wielder of Mysteries (Dimir Inverter) to continue to trend down. These are cards that were primarily valuable because of their Pioneer play, and until they find a more reliable home in other formats, likely won't have much demand. 

Much Abrew: Vito Combo Vampires (Historic)

Single Scoop: Arclight Red (Historic)

Can the infinite-drain combo of Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose and Exquisite Blood make Vampires into a real threat in Historic? Let's find out! Read more

Can Arclight Phoenix rise from the ashes and attack Historic? TheAsianAvenger tries Mono Red Phoenix in Historic! Read more

This Week in Legacy: The Ninja Rap

Vintage 101: The Human Condition

Joe Dyer dives into the uprising of the Ninjas in Legacy! Read more

Joe Dyer digs into the current iterations of Humans in Vintage! Read more


Against the Odds: Near-Death Experience (Modern)


What are the odds of winning with Near-Death Experience in Modern? Let's find out!Read more

Fish Five-0: Terror of the Jund Peaks

The Expected Value of Double Masters and VIP Boosters

Is Jund a thing in standard? Richard sure hopes so! Either way, TheAsianAvenger takes a spin with Jund MIdrange to see if it can hang with standard's meta. Read more

How much value should you expect to open in a Double Masters box or a VIP Booster? Let's discuss! Read more


Budget Commander: 5 Powerful EDH Decks FREE on Magic Online (Part 2)


Tomer's back with five more powerful Commander decks that you can play for free on Magic Online using Cardhoarder's free 5 ticket loan accounts!Read more

Rough Drafts: Double Masters

Pioneer Peak: GolGarruk Stompy

Double Masters isn't officially out in paper yet, but it is out on Magic Online! Let's jump into a draft and see what the format is all about! Read more

This week Garruk is in good company as Garruk and friends attack Pioneer! Read more


Commander Clash S9 E4: Planeswalker Signature Decks | Chandra vs. Garruk vs. Oko vs. Teferi


The crew dukes it out with planeswalker themed decks!Read more

The Fish Tank: Spicy Viewer Decks (August 2-8, 2020)

Podcast 288: Surprise B&R

What interesting decks did viewers submit this week? Let's find out! Read more

The crew breaks down one of the biggest (and most surprising) banned and restricted announcements in Magic's history and answers #MTGFish... Read more


Instant Deck Techs


Each day we'll be posting a short, three minute deck tech featuring some of the coolest decks that come across the site. The most popular deck will be made into videos the following week based on your views, likes and comments in the videos. Here's this week's Instant Deck Techs:


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