Hey all,

It’s been an absolutely epic weekend over in the Garden State industrial park, and having played 14 rounds of Legacy this weekend I can assure you that the format is anything but stale.

With something like 50+ viable decks in the format, 20 of which have made a prominent Top 16 in the last six weeks, it’s hard to imagine a format that rewards practice, research and skill more than Legacy. And despite the perception that older formats tend to feature slower paced metagame shifts, Grand Prix New Jersey will surely be most remembered for the dominance of Treasure Cruise and it’s metagame warping influence.

It should come as no surprise then, that the finals of the tournament found familiar faces Brian Braun-Duin and Tom “The Boss” Ross in the hot seat, battling it out for a few thousand bucks. SCG personality BBD was on Jeskai/StoneForge Mystic and managed to take the trophy after a few hard fought games.

Despite only using one in the sideboard, Tom’s use of Become Immense to deal massive finishing blows through his enraged poison creatures has me checking on foreign foil prices.

Sum-total these are the decks that made it to the Top 8 at the largest Legacy tournament of all time:

• Jeskai Stoneblade (BBD)
• Infect (Tom Ross)
• Jeskai Miracles (Philipp Schonegger)
• Jeskai Miracles (Phillip Braverman)
• Tendrils (Royce Walter)
• U/R Delver (Tom Jordan)
• Jeskai Standstill Control (Lam Phan)
• MUD (Joseph Santonassino)

Fellow Torontonian Lam Phan ran against the headwinds this weekend, running just a single copy of Treasure Cruise as a junior partner to 3 Standstills, a card I also considered maindecking in Slivers due to it’s non-graveyard card draw powers. This innovative brew also featured 3 Snapcaster Mage and 4 Stifle, in a field where many folks left both on the sidelines. He also ran 3 Sudden Shock, which was also on my recent card test list and which Phan used to great effect all weekend taking down the plethora of vulnerable 2-toughness or less creatures without fear of counterspells.

Now most of these decks were running the expected cards, and though Jeskai Miracles and Stoneblade variants splashing red to fight the parade of U/R Delver decks are clearly excellent metagame choices, they don’t leave much fresh juice on the table for us MTGFinance types. For that you have to look deeper down the tables for the Titania, Protector of Argoth(!) and Trinisphere to try and shut down down the Delver builds with serious style. (Deck list coming asap). Seems as though Containment Priest might not be the only C14 card to make a strong legacy splash.

Chalice of the Void was also in mass attendance, with many players realizing that shutting down spells that cost 1 on Turn 2 had a chance of countering 30+ possible spells/game. Zach Dobbin was granted an SCG Dech Tech for his sweet Helmerator brew making use of both Chalice and Ensnaring Bridge alongside the unheralded Transmute Artifact.

On Sunday I even experimented with removing the Daze/Force package from my Slivers deck entirely, instead running 4 Chalice of the Void, a Tormod’s Crypt and a sideboarded Masterwork of Ingenuity to achieve cheap parity against the plethora of decks running Batterskull and Umezawa’s Jitte.

The MUD decks seem to be on an upswing and that deck is full of forgotten powerful artifacts that may find some gentle upside price pressure if the deck gains more popularity, including: Trinisphere, Metalworker, Steel Hellkite, Witchbane Orb and Bottled Cloister.

With GPNJ in the bag, I’m heading home tired and excited by a lively and intelligent Legacy format that seems destined to just keep getting better. Oh, and did I mention that I unlocked the achievement, trading up into a Black Lotus in just over the 1-year goal I set. More on that later this week as we break down the anatomy of a super-deal….

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By James Chillcott (@MTGCritic)

If you want to take the temperature of the metagame at Grand Prix New Jersey this weekend and figure out what’s driving the Legacy metagame, there are few ways more direct than to check out the Sold Out cards at the main StarCityGames vendor booth.

Here’s an overview of the sold out cards as of Saturday afternoon on the floor at GPNJ in photo essay form:

Here we see a selection of U/R Delver cards emptying the dealer cases to fulfill the needs of the dominant deck in the metagame. Various forms of the Stoneforge and Maverick/Hate Bears have been prevalent as well, as seen by the white cards that have run out of stock. Containment Priest was sold out everywhere, and currently holds the title of the most (over?)hyped card of the weekend. Despite the lofty $40+ the white sideboard card was fetching this weekend, it’s likely to fall back towards $20 as more Commander 2014 sets are opened. That being said, I did witness EFro take down Sneak & Show in Round 9 using the Priest in response to a Sneak Attack activation.

Here we find, hiding among the burn, delver and stoneforge cards, some excellent sideboard pieces and Legacy role players. Leyline of Sanctity answers Burn, TEPS and half the Delver strategy. Smash to Smithereens has been putting in work all weekend taking out Batterskulls and Jitte. Ditto Shattering spree. As some U/R Delver players shift away from Daze, slots are freeing up for Flusterstorm, which also sees play in several other decks with access to blue. Pendelhaven is an Elves card, a deck that was estimated above 20% of the metagame heading into the tournament.

Check in Sunday night for metagame analysis and rogue deck commentary!

James Chillcott is the CEO of ShelfLife.net, The Future of Collecting, Senior Partner at Advoca, a designer, adventurer, toy fanatic and an avid Magic player and collector since 1994.

By James Chillcott (@MTGCritic)

With over 4000 players in the room, the card trading action at Grand Prix is hot and heavy this morning.

A survey of the 15+ vendors on site, confirmed that many of the expected trends for the weekend are in full effect. With the heavy turnout of U/R Delver decks, many dealers are reporting that cards both for and against the expected metagame pillar are moving briskly.

StarCityGames vendor booth reported brisk sales on Forked Bolt, Pyroblast, Chain Lightning and both Hydroblast  and their variants.

Kyle Lopez of Aether Games reported similar trends and stated that he thought Forked Bolt could come out of the weekend in the $5-6 range and hold it moving forward barring a reprint. He also indicated that his team was staying away from Treasure Cruise foils in expectation that the price is headed down this winter before it rises any further, as well as remarking that Delver of Secrets foils were likely too low in the $15-17 range. Given the prevalence of the U/R Delver builds, Lopez believes that Volcanic Island could soon eclipse Underground Sea as the top priced dual land. He also pointed out that at $2-3 Narset is almost certainly a buy, and suggested speculators take interest in foil Sidisi, Brood Tyrant and Narset for future EDH gains.

Andrew Stokinger of Troll and Toad echoed the sentiment on Volcanic Island, noting that they were pricing the U/R dual at $250, just $10 below a similar quality Underground Sea in their case. Stokinger reports that Khans of Tarkir has outsold Return to Ravnica and Theros by “at least 30-40%”, though demand was starting to flag as the market for standard decks reaches saturation. At the Troll & Toad booth Kor Firewalker has popped from $1 to $5 on strong demand, likely in anticipation of Delver and Burn appearances en masse across the event. Forked Bolt is moving briskly at $5 and Price of Progress, a card that has strong chops against much of the field, was selling out at $10.

Across the floor the card mentioned over and over is Containment Priest. Originally priced at $15-20, the card is now selling in the $40+ range, if you can even find a booth with any in stock. Strikezone staff report that both dual lands and shock lands are moving well, with the shocks being used by budget conscious players to fill holes in slightly detuned versions of popular decks. Some players are even playing standard decks in the main event, largely driven by the desire to capture the Grand Prix Promo Batterskull, Brainstorm playmat, deck box and sleeves being handed out to every participant. At Strikezone, Energy Storm and Elemental Tokens were also moving briskly.

CoolStuffInc also noted Price of Progress, Stoneforge Mystic, Monestary Swiftspear, Pyroblast and Hydroblast were moving well and noted strong demand for the 2013 and 2014 black foil planeswalkers.

At MTGCardMarket, Containment Priest, Null Rod, Forked Bolt and foil Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time were hot sellers, and the booth was one of the only ones to have the Harmonic Slivers in stock I needed to finish my deck.

Adam Hotza of HotSauce games highlighted Smash to Smithereens was moving strongly at $6 and predicted that the floor on fetchlands would arrive in January 2015 in the $10-12 range. Other dealers disagreed, with one staff member explaining that “fetches will hold steady above $12. It’s the other rares, even good ones like Mantis Rider and Siege Rhino, that will keep falling.”

Magic Stronghold outlines that Dimir Charm has been moving well, as a flexible answer to multiple issues in the metagame, and also reiterated strong demand for cards from Lands, Deathblade/Stoneblade variants and U/R Delver.

Stay tuned later today as we keep an eye on the top tables for developing trends and check back in with the dealers Sunday morning.

James Chillcott is the CEO of ShelfLife.net, The Future of Collecting, Senior Partner at Advoca, a designer, adventurer, toy fanatic and an avid Magic player and collector since 1994.

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By James Chillcott (@MTGCritic)

This weekend marks an exciting landmark in the history of Magic: The Gathering. At last word, Grand Prix: New Jersey, being run by Star City Games in Edison, NJ, from Nov 15-17th, was now likely to feature 4000+ players!

For context that makes GPNJ the third largest Grand Prix of all time, and the largest Legacy Tournament ever run!

With so many players gearing up for the main tourney and the plethora of alternate format side tournaments, it should come as no surprise that some cards have seen price hikes this week.

Tune in all weekend as we blog live from the floor and share info as it appears. All of the largest MTG vendors are on site and we’ll be interviewing them all weekend long to see what cards are selling out. But for now, let’s take a look at some red hot cards heading into one of the largest MTG gatherings ever.

Hot Cards Heading Into GP New Jersey

1. Forked Bolt (ROE, Uncommon): $.50 to $2.50-$3.50 (+500%)

By now you’re probably aware that both Modern and Legacy are bowing to the might of Treasure Cruise and the return of U: Draw 3. This in turn has led to the advent of U/R Delver in Legacy and the need to kill multiple dangerous 1-toughness creatures like Delver of Secrets, Young Pyromancer and Spirit of the Labyrinth in the same turn with limited mana. Forked Bolt fits those needs perfectly and the spotlight has resulted in a 250%+ increase in price over the last couple of weeks. I could see the card grabbing another $1-2 in price before Treasure Cruise gets banned in Modern, at which point it could settle back toward the $3 range. This card is easy to reprint, so if you haven’t already won the lottery on it, I’d steer clear.

Verdict: Hold/Sell

2. Monastery Swiftspear (KTK, Uncommon):  3.50 to 2.50 (-31%)

Here we have another long term red role player that’s making a splash after it’s recent debut in Khans of Tarkir. It’s playable in Standard, Modern and Legacy and likely deserves to hang out in the $2-3 range despite the massive rate of copies being opened right now. There’s not much beef left on this bone, but I love foils as a mid-long term profit machines as we’re not likely to see a red creature this good for a while and Treasure Cruise’s likely banning in Modern won’t prevent this from finding a home in other decks.

Verdict: Hold/Buy Foils

3.  Price of Progress (Exodus, Uncommon): $5 to $8-9 (+60%)

Short of a reprint, this non-basic land hoser may have some more room for growth. There aren’t that many copies in circulation and with Legacy far from dead, the demand may be there to see this hit $10-12 within the year. It’s a great card in U/R Delver and against many of the decks that will try to prey on it this weekend, so the jump isn’t that surprising.

Verdict: Hold/Buy

4. Leyline of Sanctity (M11, Rare): $20 to $25 (+25%)

In a metagame where burn is going to put many a player to sleep, and TEPS and Storm variants are still skulking in the shadows, a card that can play guardian angel in your opening seven is a very good friend to have. With very few alternatives offering the same level of protection, we can expect this one to keep creeping up unless it sees a reprint in MM2 this summer.

5. Chains of Mephistopheles (Legends, Rare): $320 to $355 (+10%)

Sure this is a pretty expensive addition to any deck, but it’s also a pretty sweet answer to decks like UR Delver and Storm that want to draw a ton of cards in a given turn. Forcing them to discard as they draw can be back breaking and I’ve heard whispers of Maverick and Hate Bears variants likely to be running these showing up this weekend. As a Reserved List card there’s plenty of upside here in the long term, and renewed interest outside of the collector community could easily see this top $500 within 18 months.

Verdict: Hold/Buy

Watch for late morning updates on floor action straight from the mouths of vendors! If you’re on location, ping me on Twitter at @mtgcritic if you’re interested in joining our BringYourOwnPacks Draft Sat night at 8:30pm at the Courtyard Marriott.

James Chillcott is the CEO of ShelfLife.net, The Future of Collecting, Senior Partner at Advoca, a designer, adventurer, toy fanatic and an avid Magic player and collector since 1994.

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