All posts by Travis Allen

Travis Allen has been playing Magic on and off since 1994, and got sucked into the financial side of the game after he started playing competitively during Zendikar. You can find his daily Magic chat on Twitter at @wizardbumpin. He currently resides in upstate NY, where he is a graduate student in applied ontology.
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MTG Fast Finance Episode 8

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by Travis Allen (@wizardbumpin) & James Chillcott (@mtgcritic)

MTG Fast Finance is a weekly podcast that tries to break down the flurry of financial activity in the world of Magic: The Gathering into a fast, fun and useful thirty minute format. Follow along with our seasoned hosts as they walk you through this week’s big price movements, their picks of the week, metagame analysis and a rotating weekly topic.

Show Notes: March 10th

Segment 1: Top Movers of the Week

Sylvan Library (Legends)
Start: $45.00
Finish: $90.00
Gain: +$45.00 (+100%)

Legion Loyalist (Gatewatch)
Start: $4.00
Finish: $9.00
Gain: +$5.00 (+125%)

Chainer’s Edict (Non-Foil & Foil) (Troment)
Start: $5.00
Finish: $13.00
Gain: +$8.00 (+160%)

Whilring Dervish (Both) (Legends)
Start: $0.75
Finish: $2.25
Gain: +$1.50 (+200%)

Risen Executioner (Dragons of Tarkir)
Start: $2.00
Finish: $6.00
Gain: +$4.00 (+200%)

Conspiracy (Timespiral)
Start: $1.50
Finish: $6.00
Gain: +$4.50 (+300%)

Circle of Protection: Artifacts (Antiquities)
Start: $0.55
Finish: $4.00
Gain: +$3.45 (+625%)

Segment 2: Cards to Watch

James Picks:

  1. Cinder Glade Battle for Zendikar Expeditions, Confidence Level 6: $35 to $60+ (+100%, 6-12+ months
  2. Windswept Heath Battle for Zendikar Expeditions, Confidence Level 8: $105 to $150+ (+40%, 6-12+ months)
  3. Verdant Catacombs Battle for Zendikar Expeditions, Confidence Level 8: $160 to $200+ (+25%, 6-12+ months)
  4. Horizon Canopy Oath of the Gatewatch Expeditions, Confidence Level 8: $105 to $150+ (+40%, 6-12+ months)
  5. Collected Company Foil Dragons of Tarkir, Confidence Level 8: $35 to $60+ (+70%, 6-12 months)
  6. Chord of Calling Foil Magic 2015, Confidence Level 8: $25 to $40+ (+60%, 6-12 months
  7. Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit Foil Dragons of Tarkir, Confidence Level 8: $5 to $15+ (+200%, 6-12 months)

Travis Picks:

  1. Linvala, the Preserver, Oath of the Gatewatch, Confidence Level 6: $3 to $10 (+300%, 0-6 months
  2. Razorverge Thicket Scars of Mirrodin, Confidence Level 5: $7 to $15+ (+115%, 6-12 months
  3. Gifts Ungiven Modern Masters, Confidence Level 8: $10 to $20+ (+100%, 6-12 months)

Disclosure: Travis and James may own speculative copies of the above cards.

Segment 3: Metagame Week in Review

Eldrazi dominated the triple Grand Prix weekend, but there were still some decks across the three top 8s that were worth discussing, especially with the likelihood of an Eldrazi ban in the near future.

Segment 4: Topic of the Week – What Does Shadows Over Innistrad Hold?

Between the banned and restricted list update and the return of madness, what will Shadows Over Innistrad do to Modern and Legacy?

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.

City of Traders

PROTRADER: First Set of the Rest of Your Life

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By: Travis Allen
@wizardbumpin

Originally I had planned on attending Grand Prix Detroit. I love Modern, I had a place to stay, and it’s only a four hour drive. Howsever, as it became clear that the format would be overrun by Eldrazi, I ended up deciding to bow out. I haven’t played against the deck once yet, and without a clear idea of what I wanted to bring myself, it simply wasn’t worth the time investment. I didn’t want to play Eldrazi, and I didn’t know what to bring that would beat Eldrazi, so what was the point?

If you didn’t catch it, during the top 8 they got Aaron Forsythe on camera and BDM asked some surprisingly pointed questions about the Eldrazi. Aaron, for all intents and purposes (not intensive purposes!), confirmed that something would be banned at the next B&R update. It sounds like they’re not sure what they want to get rid of yet, but he did make a point of saying that he doesn’t want to get rid of the deck entirely. It is, after all, just an efficient creature deck, something which doesn’t really exist in the format otherwise right now. That sounds to me like they’re going to hit either Eye of Ugin or Eldrazi Temple, but not both, and if I had to pick which one would be better at controlling the menace, it would be Temple. Eye can make a lot of mana very quickly, but the drawbacks are real. Temple is a land with absolutely no drawbacks that is just a straight sol land for Eldrazi spells. Eye still leads to the double Eldrazi Mimics on turn one, but without Temple, you can’t get the turn two Thought-Knot Seer or Reality Smasher.

Anyways, had I known there was going to be an Innistrad-themed puzzle room, I may have reconsidered. It’s a shame Wizards hadn’t made that known ahead of time, because that definitely would have pushed me back into the “it’s worth going” camp, and I bet it would have changed the minds of others that decided to hang back as well.

Puzzle rooms at each GP acted as a vehicle for spoiling new cards. We got some spicy ones, such as Relentless Dead and Archangel Avacyn/Avacyn the Purifier. I’m not going to get into those today, even though they’re clearly both intended to be constructed playable.

What I want to look at today is not what we’re gaining, but what we’re losing. It’s a short four weeks until Shadows Over Innistrad lands. It’s easy to overlook with all the other excitement in Magic right now, but this is the first new block of it’s kind. SOI is the first block to launch in the spring, rather than the fall, and it brings with it the first non-fall rotation. Given how unintuitive this is at this point, I expect it to catch a lot of people with their pants down. Standard will be dramatically impacted. Are you ready?

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MTG Fast Finance: Episode 7

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by Travis Allen (@wizardbumpin) & James Chillcott (@mtgcritic)

MTG Fast Finance is a weekly podcast that tries to break down the flurry of financial activity in the world of Magic: The Gathering into a fast, fun and useful thirty minute format. Follow along with our seasoned hosts as they walk you through this week’s big price movements, their picks of the week, metagame analysis and a rotating weekly topic.

Show Notes: Feb 26th

Segment 1: Top Movers of the Week

Chandra, Flamecaller (Oath of the Gatewatch)
Start: $9.00
Finish: $19.00
Gain: +$10.00 (+111%)

Petrified Field (Odyssey)
Start: $4.5.00
Finish: $12.25
Gain: +$7.75 (+172%)

Hall of the Bandit Lord (Foil) (Champions of Kamigawa)
Start: $33.00
Finish: $100.00
Gain: +$67.00 (+200%)

Thorn of Amethyst (Both) (Lorwyn)
Start: $4.00
Finish: $15.00
Gain: +$11.00 (+275%)

Peacekeeper (Weatherlight)
Start: $3.00
Finish: $13.00
Gain: +$10.00 (+333%)

Shatterstorm (10th Edition)
Start: $32.00
Finish: $200.00
Gain: +$168.00 (+525%)

Oubliette (Arabian Nights)
Start: $15.00
Finish: $100.00
Gain: +$85.00 (+566%)

Brindle Shoat (Planechase)
Start: $0.50
Finish: $4.00
Gain: +$3.50 (+700%)

Segment 2: Cards to Watch

James Picks:

  1. Shambling Vents Foil, Battle for Zendikar, Confidence Level 7: $10 to $20+ (+100%, 6-12+ months)
  2. Assorted Battle for Zendikar Mythics, Confidence Level 6: $2 to $8 (+60%, 6-12+ months)
  3. Sanctum of Ugin, Battle for Zendikar, Confidence Level 7: $1 to $5 (400%, 12+ months)

Travis Picks:

  1. Kozilek, the Great Distortion, Oath of the Gatewatch, Confidence Level 9: $7 to $15 (+115%, 0-12+ months)
  2. Oath of the Gatewatch product, Confidence Level 6: $80 to $120 (+50%, 6-12 months)

Disclosure: Travis and James may own speculative copies of the above cards.

Segment 3: Metagame Week in Review

Even Legacy isn’t immune to the Eldrazi menace. Two copies made it into the top eight of SCG Philadelphia, alongside three Delver decks. What’s this event tell us about Legacy, Eldrazi, and the Reserve List?

Segment 4: Topic of the Week – MTGO 101

James manages a portfolio of roughly 10,000 tickets on MTGO. Travis takes some time to ask him basic questions about basic MTGO investing principles, the difference between online and paper, and where to look for profits.

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.

City of Traders

PROTRADER: Presidential Conspiracy Theory

By: Travis Allen
@wizardbumpin

Are you familiar with this piece of American folklore? The lives of John F. Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln shared many facets, which depending on your understanding of probability, ranges from “unremarkable” to “concrete evidence in reincarnation.” Among those amazing coincidences are “last and whole names include the same number of letters” and “assassinated.” Here’s the Wiki page on the topic; I’d advise you refrain from viewing if you’re the gullible sort.

Capture

(Seemingly) switching topics entirely, do the words “God Book” mean anything to you? If you started playing Magic in the last few years, probably not. Perhaps you heard tenured players use the term in reference to New Phyrexia, but if you weren’t playing back then, you wouldn’t have much reason to know what it is.

Those of us that were around for New Phyrexia are quite familiar with God Books though.

A whole sordid tale played out over several weeks, which you can read about here. It was the first major leak in modern-bordered Magic. The short version is that a French guy who was good friends with Guillaume Matignon and Guillaume Wafo-Tapa was goaded to releasing a pdf of the entirety of New Phyrexia on IRC. (Yes, IRC. Don’t know what IRC is? Don’t feel bad; it was just as irrelevant in 2011 as it is today.) Shortly after the God Book found its way into the hands of the public, and a month before official spoilers started, the entire internet-using Magic community had access to the entire card list.

It was thrilling and shocking at the time. (What was especially shocking was that not only was a Stoneforge Mystic answer not in the set, but they had doubled down with this new nonsensical equipment “Batterskull.” We all know how that one turned out.) After the initial excitement of pouring over the entire list, the fervor died down, and like the man who knows his girlfriend already found the ring in the jacket pocket, Wizards was forced to go through the motions with full knowledge that the audience lacked the emotional intensity so desired. Months later, once the dust had settled, several players were banned for years and the set was likely undersold as a result of diminished hype.

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