Oh man, do I feel so much better! I can actually eat food again, real food, but somehow I’m left craving bad junk food… how unlucky. I’m sorry that last week’s offering was lacking in it’s usual blisteriness, but it just couldn’t be avoided. Food, now that could have been avoided. Yeughch, you shoulda seen the times when I should have avoided food but ventured back to it anywa~ no, no, that’s something nobody else should see.
*scrubs at eyes*
Back to stuff about Magic Online, and Standard. Now, you may be thinking that I focus too much on Standard, when Magic Online has a wealth of other formats, and you’d be right. Of course, you may actually instead be thinking that Jessica Simpson is a talented artist worthy of any and all respect that she may or may not have coming to her, and in that you’d be so very wrong. But yes, Magic Online has a great deal to offer in the format department, which is just on the left after the shoe department and before the restrooms. It just happens that the on-the-floor special in the format department is Standard at the moment, largely from the fact that it’s the most played Constructed format online, and that it’s currently part of the team Pro Tour Qualifier format that’s floating about out there in real life.
*shudder*
Ew, real life. Don’t worry, I won’t bring it up again.
I realize that some time in the near-ish future, Block Constructed will become the flavor of the week, and at that point I’ll start focusing more on the prices in relation to that format instead. If that old stalwart Extended shows it’s ugly mug again, then we’ll take the time to look at that then too (although some prices for online Extended cards can be quite ridiculous), but for now, it’s all Standard, all of the time. Well, not all the time. Some time soon I think I might even share a few tips and tricks to consider when playing in Leagues, but we’ll see if I manage to make that a reality closer to the time, won’t we? Plus who knows what else this fevered brain might cook up between now and later? I sure as hell don’t!
(Yes, that does scare me a little at times…)
There was one good thing that came out of my illness last week. I’m not talking about my suddenly diminished waistline, which wasn’t exactly in danger of being unsightly to begin with. No, I’m talking about the formatting I used to present the Standard Premier results for the weekend before last. On the surface it appeared to be minimalistic to the point of laziness, which it kinda was out of necessity at the time. However, I found it to be far more useful than listing the individual results, because it gave us a clear indication of how widespread the Orzhov based decks actually were. Even I, a confirmed Orzhov derivative (Ghost Dad) supporter, was quite surprised by those figures, which are conveniently listed alongside this week’s results in much the same way I was tracking the previous week’s card prices. The other advantage is that I may well be able to cover the events across the whole week, instead of just the weekend. The following results go back as far as last Wednesday OMG wow!
22 (17) Hand in Hand (Ruel Black/White) 30.55% (30.35%)
11 (7) Magnivore (Blue/Red with Wildfire/Magnivore) 15.27% (12.5%)
8 (2) Heartbeat Combo (Heartbeat of Spring and Early Harvest combo-killing with Maga, Traitor to Mortals) 11.11% (3.57%)
6 (4) Gruul Beats (Red/Green Aggro) 8.33% (7.14%)
5 (3) Ghost Dad (Black/White Tallowisp) 6.94% (5.35%)
5 (1) GhaziGood (Green/White Aggro Control with Greater Good) 6.94% (1.78%)
2 (2) GhaziGlare (Green/White Aggro Control with Glare of Subdual) 2.77% (3.57%)
2 (2) Orzhov Control (Black/White Control) 2.77% (3.57%)
2 (2) Owling Mine (Blue/Red with Howling Mine and Ebony Owl Netsuke) 2.77% (3.57%)
2 (1) Orzhov Husk (Black/White Aggro with Nantuko Husk and Promise of Bunrei) 2.77% (1.78%)
1 (3) Zoo (Green/White/Red Aggro) 1.38% (5.35%)
1 (2) Angel/Weirding (Blue/White/Red Control with Zur’s Weirding and Firemane Angel) 1.38% (3.57%)
1 (3) Boros Deck Wins (White/Red Aggro) 1.38% (5.35%)
1 (1) Hierarch Control (Green/White/Black Control) 1.38% (1.78%)
1 (1) Dimirtron (Blue/Black Urzatron) 1.38% (1.78%)
1 (0) Critical Mass (That Blue/Green Aggro Control deck from a few months ago) 1.38% (-.– %)
1 (0) Sea Stompy (See Below…) 1.38% (-.– %)
0 (3) Izzetron (Blue/Red Urzatron) -.– % (5.35%)
0 (1) Greater Gifts (Gifts Ungiven Control with Greater Good, it’s also a wee bit Combo) -.– % (1.78%)
0 (1) Dragon Reanimator (Dragons right, coming back to life and stuff, get it?) -.– % (1.78%)
Out of 72 (56). Also note that I kinda worked out the differences so we could see if there was an increase in any given archetype or not. Am I a smarty-pants or what? For those of your who are fans of the more in depth match-by-match coverage stuff I sometimes do, fear not… I’ll still be doing that from time to time as well. Anyway, the Sea Stompy deck mentioned above showed up at Pro Tour Honolulu, but didn’t exactly receive much press. Well, I mean I did a feature match where Tomoharu Saitou played it against Craig Krempels, but not much other than that, so here is the list.
Creatures (21)
- 4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
- 2 Llanowar Elves
- 4 Birds of Paradise
- 4 Kird Ape
- 3 Dryad Sophisticate
- 4 Rumbling Slum
Lands (22)
Spells (17)
Now that’s a cool list, you have to admit. I remember thinking at the Pro Tour how cool that deck was, it’s just a shame it didn’t do well enough to get a spot under the limelight. By the way, why is it called the limelight? Is that based on color or flavor? Could it be a lemonlight, or a grapelight? Or would that be a yellowlight, or a purplelight? Hmmm, food for thought. Yes, food! I like food.
*wanders off in search of food again*
Ah, much better. Now for the ever-fluctuating list of prices.
Howling Mine 3-4 (3-4)
Pithing Needle 17-20 (16-18)
Umezawa’s Jitte 9-11 (9-11)
Well, not all of it is fluctuating. Those Jittes are sitting on the same price quite steadily, thanks to their availability in a PreCon. I guess we might see a change in price in approximately four to five months, or whenever it finally rotates its way in to Extended. Pithing Needle, however, is a card that knows how to fluctuate! First it plummeted, and now it seems to have dramatically recovered some of its previous value. People must be torn between an “obviously” good card, and the fact that it seems to have very few positive applications in Standard right now. Sure, you could shut down a Greater Good or a Miren, but then you’re just taking five to the face in the air while the Pithing Needle just sits there smugly accumulating dust.
Cranial Extraction 6-8 (7-8)
Dark Confidant 3-4 (3-4)
Kokusho, the Evening Star 6-8 (6-8)
Kagemaro, First to Suffer 6-7 (6-8)
Phyrexian Arena 2-4 (1-3)
I predicted the Arena would go up, but this isn’t exactly what I meant. I guess that’s just how it goes when you’re a base-set card that doesn’t tap for multiple colors of mana or blow up every creature in sight.
Gifts Ungiven 4-6 (4-5)
Kami of the Crescent Moon 4-6 (3-6)
Keiga, the Tide Star 4-5 (3-5)
Meloku, the Clouded Mirror 4-6 (4-6)
The Kami of the Crescent Moon is steadily climbing. It seems that the Orzhov Aggro decks are scaring away most of the Zoo and Gruul beats decks, and Owling Mine is slowly but surely poking its head out from under the covers.
Loxodon Hierarch 4-5 (4-5)
Ghost Council of the Orzhova 7-9 (7-9)
Rumbling Slum 3-5 (4-6)
Giant Solifuge 6-8 (6-8)
Burning-Tree Shaman 7-8 (7-9)
Arashi, Sky Asunder 4-6 (4-6)
Birds of Paradise 4-6 (4-6)
Greater Good 2-4 (2-4)
Why is it that the Green cards never seem to move? I guess it could conceivably give Jamie Wakefield something to complain about, if he was really struggling to find an angle.
Char 4-5 (3-5)
Magnivore 3-4 (2-4)
Wildfire 3-4 (2-4)
I like that the Red cards are going up in price. I like Red cards, they are like burning things and I like burning thi~ I mean, I like chocolate! Yes, chocolate. That was a purely innocent typo, the keys are right next to the other ones, I swear.
Isamaru, Hound of Konda 3-4 (3-4)
Wrath of God 9-11 (8-10)
Yosei, the Morning Star 3-5 (3-5)
Paladin en-Vec 5-8 (3-5)
I was quite surprised to see Wrath of God rising slightly in price. I seem to remember it being this price around six months ago, so I guess the fact that you can play it in both Orzhov based Control decks and the Angel/Weirding deck means that it could be going up a little again. Oh yeah, that Angel/Weirding deck needs a better name, I’ll have to slap on my thinking cap and see what happens.
Forge[/author]“]Battlefield [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author] 7-8 (6-8)
Brushland 5-7 (5-7)
Llanowar Wastes 6-8 (6-8)
Shivan Reef 10-12 (10-12)
Underground River 5-7 (5-6)
Yavimaya Coast 6-8 (6-8)
Karplusan Forest 5-7 (6-8)
Caves of Koilos 9-11 (9-11)
Adarkar Wastes 6-8 (5-7)
Sulfurous Springs 5-7 (5-7)
Overgrown Tomb 6-8 (6-7)
Sacred Foundry 6-7 (6-7)
Temple Garden 6-8 (6-8)
Watery Grave 6-7 (6-8)
Stomping Ground 11-13 (12-14)
Steam Vents 12-13 (11-13)
Godless Shrine 13-15 (13-15)
Of course, Godless Shrine continues to stay high and mighty in the singles market. Usually at this point, cards have dropped in price after their initial release-fever exorbitance, but it seems that the Orzhov are a popular family. They have connections, you know? You will pay the top-uh price-uh… *insert other Mafia clichés here*
Before I go, a quick word on spoilers. It is spoiler season again, and this time I will be sitting it out. I will be actively avoiding all spoilers, even the ones Wizards put up on their site (and it by the looks of things, this one). After going to the Guildpact Prerelease not knowing the whole set, I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun it was cracking packs that contained unfamiliar cards.
I kinda wish I could have gone back and seen, say, a Goblin Piledriver, and dismissed it as being a kiddy card, only to gradually realize it’s true value as I began to read through all of the other cards I was opening. Or maybe to open some Mirrodin packs and see all of those Artifacts, and start to piece together an Affinity deck in my head, bit by bit. I dunno, you don’t have to do this, I’m just saying that I’m giving it a go because I think it would be more fun than not. Perhaps you should try it; you may be pleasantly surprised.
Until next week, my cheerful chums!
{e}