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Browse > Home / Strategy / Articles / Weekly Update (Jul 26): FTV Angels, BFZ Spoilers, Magic Online Changes

Weekly Update (Jul 26): FTV Angels, BFZ Spoilers, Magic Online Changes


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MTGGoldfish News Flash

From the Vault: Angels Spoilers

Wizards revealed two additional FTV: Angels spoilers this week in Avacyn and Iona. We now know 4 out of the 15 cards. You can view the latest spoilers on our From the Vault: Angels page. FTV: Angels is released in limited quanities on August 21 and preorders are going for around $75-$80 on Ebay.

Battle for Zendikar Spoiler

Found in the parking lot of a LGS, Evolving Wilds is apparently making another comeback in BFZ. While we're still far away from BFZ spoiler season, you can find all the latest info on the set on our Battle for Zendikar page.

August FNM Promo

Yay! Back to playable cards for FNM promos. August's promo is Ultimate Price.

Magic Online Play Points Changes

Wizards announced huge changes to Magic Online events. The tldr; is they're going to start paying out in a mixture of Play Points (non-transferable, non-redeemable virtual points) and boosters. Most of the community is in an uproar over the changes and we have published several articles about the changes on the site:

Finance Brief by SaffronOlive

It's all about the Jace

So apparently Jace, Vryn's Prodigy is good, very good - which is a little bit embarrassing to admit because I wrote a rather scathing review of the card during spoiler season. He's up another 71 percent this week which puts his current price at nearly $35, and remember, the Pro Tour hasn't even happened yet; this is all on hype and a handful of decklists from SCG events. While it is very unlikely Jace, Vryn's Prodigy can maintain this price over the long-haul without seeing significant Modern or Legacy play, it is possible that he could spike over $50 for a short while if he has a strong showing at the Pro Tour.

Pro Tour: Magic Origins

Speaking of Pro Tour Magic Origins (which happens next Friday through Sunday), if you are planing on speculating in hopes of catching some PT related spikes, place your bets now. MTGFinance has grown to the point where it isn't practical to wait until find out what deck ChannelFireball, UltraPro or any of the other big teams are playing and then start buying the cards. Your orders will likely be canceled, and if they are not you still miss out on the fun of the Pro Tour because your too busy clicking refresh to keep up with the action. If you order by Tuesday or Wednesday, your orders should ship before the event even starts so you won't need to worry about cancellations and you'll be able to kick back, relax and watch the greatest Magic player in the world battle it out for glory (and a $40,000 grand prize).

Movers and Shakers

Apart from the normal ebb and flow of Magic Origins cards - where cards putting up good performances this week are on the rise, while cards seeing less play than expected are on the decline - it has been a relatively quiet week in the paper world, which is actually refreshing after the craziness of the last couple months. The biggest gainer in Modern (Life from the Loam) only increased 11 percent, while the big Standard winners were inexpensive cards like Rally the Ancestors (up 150 percent to $1.50), Obelisk of Urd (up 34 percent to $6.50) and Ojutai's Command (up 36 percent to $1.73), all of which made surprise showings in last weekend's Top 64.

With an eye to the future, one card people keep asking me about is Demonic Pact which is currently commanding a significant premium on Magic Online compared to the rest of the mythics from Magic Origins. There have also been rumors on social media of some pros buying multiple play sets at GP Dallas-Fort Worth, so one theory is the pro community is testing the card for the PT. Whether this is true and translates into success this coming weekend (and a corresponding price spike) is anyone's guess (Ali Antrazi played a Demonic Pact deck at this weekend's SCG Open in Richmond and put up a poor showing), but the card is so cool and well designed that I have no doubt people are going to try to break it so it's definitely worth tracking over the coming week.

Magic Online

Finally, Magic Online is a mess at the moment. Card prices are down significantly and across the board this week. While some of these is from normal sell-offs to get tix for Magic Origins prerelease events and some of it is from the end of the Modern Festival, there is also general uncertainty about the future with the announcement that constructed events will start paying our primarily (or exclusively) untradable Play Points in August. While I believe these changes hurt the average player, this is not the death of Magic Online. Redemption sets a soft floor on the price of standard cards (because if prices get too low people will start buying cards to redeem paper sets, driving up the prices) and the MTGO finance community is already looking at this decline as an opportunity to buy low. I'm riding out the storm and am hopeful that things will get back to normal before too long.

28K Games of Modern Analyzed

What deck beats what deck? We have over 28K games of Modern analyzed from MTGO to draw conclusions from. 28K Games of Modern Analyzed

Week One: Magic Origins By the Numbers

How did Magic Origins perform on week one? What saw play? What didn't? What new decks emerged? Let's find out! Week One: Magic Origins By the Numbers

Magic Origins Limited Archetypes: Ally Pairs

Jake Stiles discusses the five ally pair limited archetypes in Magic Origins. Magic Origins Limited Archetypes: Ally Pairs

Budget Magic: $72 (17 tix) Modern Simic Evolve

Looking for something fresh to play in Modern? What not give Simic Evolve a try at your next FNM or Daily Event? Budget Magic: $72 (17 tix) Modern Simic Evolve

Magic Origins Fat Pack Giveaway

Congratulations to Michael C. from Massachusetts for winning our Magic Origins Fat Pack Giveaway! Stay tuned for our next giveaway!

Tournament Results

Articles Recap

Several great articles were published on MTGGoldfish this week:

#Trending Cards

The five most viewed cards on MTGGoldfish this past week were:
  1. Jace Vryns Prodigy (Magic Origins)
  2. Hangarback Walker (Magic Origins)
  3. Snapcaster Mage (Innistrad)
  4. Nissa Vastwood Seer (Magic Origins)
  5. Collected Company (Dragons of Tarkir)


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