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Legacy Hero #3

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Welcome back everyone for this weeks Legacy Hero.

Last week we went over a few things, including: the deck I’m going to build (Stoneblade Variant), touched on the legacy format pillars, how to free up some value for the trade binder by switching standard decks, and maximizing the resources at my disposal.

 This week I want to go over what Pucatrade is, what to do with Sealed Product, showing the finalized legacy build that I will be working toward, and what to do with our standard stuff we added to the binder from the Jesaki Aggro deck I was playing last week.

 I have only recently got on the Pucatrade banaaat is a great way to pick up cards. It is an even better way to turn the small stuff that is worth a little bit more than you would get on a buylist into big ticket items or the oddball cards that are cheap but hard to find like a Foil Children of Korlis (399 points). Basically, I’ve been listing the casual/EDH stuff, that is worth more than $3 and less then $10. Good example is the Foil Kaerveck the Merciless (839 points). Then there are the slightly more than worthless uncommons like Timely Reinforcements (47 points) or Essence Warden (96 points). I went through a bulk 1000 box that has been laying around my basement since the Gatecrash Prerelease, if I were to guess by the stickers on the box. I thumbed through it really quick, all the common, uncommon cards I thought that was worth more then bulk, all the foils and rares. The highlights of the box were Garruk, Primal Hunter, Teferi, Mage of Zhalfier, Cabal Coffers, and playsets of both Jorga, Treespeakers and Rite of Flame. To start my Pucutrade account I added all of these separated out items, a few emblems, and some tokens that I had.

Pucatrade also gives you a total of 600 points(one point is equal to one penny) once you do all the little things involved with setting up your account and shipping your first card, but remember that you are responsible for postage when you send something out, so I always try to trade multiple things to the same person. I have 743 points for shipping out 3 Portal Three Kingdoms Islands and requesting a Vision Charm to be sent to me. I’m saving points on here because I’m going to get a dual land out of this. I want to see how long it takes, and how much it costs in real dollars (shipping and materials) to get something that expensive. The Tropical Island from Revised is 21106 points ($211.06) and is supposed to be NM. Again, I am new to this concept, but I am excited to try it out for this project.

 Next we have the deck selection. I have been researching the Stoneblade/Deathblade archetypes, trying to find the one that stands out the most to me. Most of the sources suggest that the Delver variant is just better. I’m not sure if that is true, but I haven’t played a Delver variant or a Stoneblade variant since Treasure Cruise was printed. With all of the UR Delver running around lately, I’ve been playing either The Epic Storm, Show and Tell, or my own personal favorite,a Stifle-naught Delver variation. That is the beauty of the legacy format. There are SO many decks you can play. I keep a stack of proxies laying around to test different decks before sinking a major investment in to an idea. I can’t have plain, sharpie proxies like a normal person since I found these http://zeerbe.blogspot.com/. The Proxy Guy’s stuff is absolutely breathtaking.

 I have decided to build the UWr Stoneblade deck. This is mostly based on my personal play style, but also some research I have done, which I’m going to go over. The access to Pyroblast and Lightning Bolt outweigh Deathrite Shaman and Abrupt Decay in my mind. However, I will pick up a set of Shamans just in case the meta slows back down and lets the Deathrite Shaman build have the edge again. It does make some sense to snag a playset as a long term hold. The price has been steady and there is always the possibility of it being unbanned in Modern

.Deathrite

 

The other advantage of going with the UWr version is the cost of the mana base. Not having to get a couple Underground Seas and 4 Polluted Delta is huge. That is going to save at least $550.

Here is the base build I have settled on:

UWr Stoneblade W/Containment Priest (1st place SCG Legacy Open Columbus Rudy Briksza)

 4 Flooded Strand

3 Island

3 Scalding Tarn

3 Tundra

3 Volcanic Island

2 Plains

2 Arid Mesa

1 Karakas

1 Mountain

4 Stoneforge Mystic

2 Containment Priest

2 True-Name Nemesis

2 Vendilion Clique

1 Snapcaster Mage

4 Brainstorm

4 Swords to Plowshares

4 Force of Will

3 Lightning Bolt

2 Dig Through Time

2 Pyroblast

2 Counterspell

2 Spell Pierce

1 Treasure Cruise

1 Council’s Judgment

2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

1 Umezawa’s Jitte

1 Batterskull

 

This deck lets us play with all of the new legacy toys like Treasure Cruise, Dig Through Time, and Containment Priest. Khans is as close to the bottom in price as it’s going to be,so anything Khans is worth getting now. The set as a whole is around $250, and 35 cards in the set are worth more than a buck. This is just a little more than the set of Theros, which has a about the same amount of cards worth more than a dollar.I can also build three different decks from the base of this one, so this another huge advantage to choosing this base.  Those three decks are: UWr Miracles, UWr Stoneblade, and UWr(Patriot) Delver.

Let’s take a look at core of the decks.

 

UWr Stoneblade Miracles UWr Stoneblade

 

4 Flooded Strand (4)

4 Scalding Tarn (3)

2 Tundra (3)

2 Arid Mesa (2)

1 Volcanic Island (3)

1 Karakas (1)

 

4 Stoneforge Mystic (4)

Containment Priest (2)

True-Name Nemesis (2)

2 Vendillion Clique (2)

Snapcaster Mage (1)

4 Brainstorm (4)

4 Swords to Plowshares (4)  3

4 Force of Will (4)

2 Pyroblast (2)

2 Counterspell (2)

Spell Pierce (2)

4 Counterbalance (0)

4 Sensei’s Divining Top (0)

3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor (2)

1 Batterskull (1)

Umezawa’s Jitte (1)

 

To turn it into the Delver deck I would just have to add some number of Lightning Bolt, Ponder, and Delvers. For Miracles, I would just need to add some tops and miracles.

 

I already have the Flooded Strands from my standard deck I parted out. As for the Brainstorm, Swords to Plowshares, Pyroblast, Spell Pierce, and Counterspell, they are readily available and fairly inexpensive coming in around $25 for the lot. I will be looking to get these cards as throw ins whenever possible. Your trade partner won’t usually walk away from a trade if you push for him to toss in that beat up counterspell he has.

 

What cards, out of the high end needs like the dual lands, force of will, etc, do I need to prioritize? You can’t count on the kids that need to sell some of their legacy stuff to pay some bills to find the best deal. You have to look at all the options. The option that I like the best is to focus on whatever is the cheapest to get. The best deal, to me, is to trade for the beat up Tundra out of my trade binder instead of buying the one in the case. As it stands right now my trade binder is ill equipped to get anything except for a few Force of Wills and that would leave things a little thin. I’m more than happy to get the cheapest sleeve playable option. Once the deck is built, then I can worry about a NM FBB Tundras or Japanese foil Stoneforge Mystics.

 

Speaking of trade binders, let’s look at what I was able to add to it by switching to the Jeskai Heroic Combo deck instead of the stale Jeskai Aggro deck I was playing. (trade value followed by best buylist prices per mtgprice.com)

 

+4 Flooded Strand 15.97/10

+1 Battlefield Forge 9.31/5

-1 Shivan Reef 8.18/5

+1 Temple of Triumph 5.46/3

-1 Temple of Epiphany 10.40/6

+1 Temple of Enlightenment 5.76/3

+2 Dig Through Time  8.71/5.01

+4 Stoke the Flames 5.26/3.40

+3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos 31.13/20

+4 Goblin Rabblemaster 16.17/10.64

+4 Mantis Rider 3.52/1.92

+1 Stormbreath Dragon 17.53/10.80

+1 Chandra, Pyromaster 7.62/4

+1 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion 32.72/18

+2 End Hostilities 2.31/1

 Out of those cards I’m going to keep the Flooded Strand and the Digs for the legacy deck. Stoke the Flame and Goblin Rabblemaster should move really quickly. I’ve been able to trade out any copies of those cards I’ve had for the past month or so. Temples have been slow but steady movers for me but great to have in the binder. Planeswalkers are another great staple to have in the trade binder.

I went to play FNM this past week but we didn’t have enough people show up on time to get anything going. Saturday was better since I got to play in a standard event that was offering the new Commander 2014 decks as prizes. 1st place got the first pick of the decks, and so on for the top 4. I really like the new Heroic deck. I was able to claw my way to 2nd place and I picked the white one. I’m going to wait until after the legacy GP to see if I need to part it out right away. I have my monthly  EDH game with friends this weekend. That will be a good place to look for some legacy stuff. These are mostly casual guys so I will be able to move a lot of the abstract stuff I have. I will make sure to take pictures of any trades and hopefully have enough time to upload my Legacy Hero trade binder online.

 Thanks again guys! mtglegacyhero@gmail.com

Follow me on twitter  @somethingsays

 Shout out to  The Proxy Guy. He has this really cool Community Binder Project and is a master of his craft. I would kill for some of his stuff for my cube. @TheProxyGuy on twitter. http://zeerbe.blogspot.com/

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Hunting for Commander Foils: Artifact Part II

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By: Guo Heng Chin

Welcome back readers! This is the second part of the Hunting for Commander Foils series where we evaluate foil Commander staples to see if they hold any financial potential. You can find the first part here. Today we shall continue where last week’s article left off, shiny artifacts.

Taking into account the comments I have received for the first article in the series, I am going to slightly alter the format of the discussion. The first article was written in a pseudo-set review style in an attempt to cover as many cards as possible by working down the list used to rank the popularity of the cards. While I eschewed foils that are too expensive (no point harping about a $118 foil Sensei’s Divining Top if the majority of readers would not be willing to spend that much for it) or are stagnant price-wise, I covered foil staples that are already relatively expensive like Solemn Simulacrum.

My intention were to evaluate if it is worth acquiring your personal copy of those cards even though they may not be good spec targets anymore. However, it gave the impression that the article was discussing ships that have already sailed. Plus it seemed that a set review style would be too long-winded; last week’s article barely made its way down the top ten cards.

So I am opting for a more succinct approach this week: I shall focus only on the foil Commander staples on the list that are undervalued, a topic I think readers of this column prefer.

Before we get to the cards for this week, an obligatory shout-out to the super useful database in which we will be extracting our cards from:

50 shades of colorless.
50 shades of colorless by scoeri. This joke never gets old.

The list comes from an extensive Commander statistics database created and maintained by MTGSalvation.com EDH Primer Committee member scoeri. Every month, scoeri runs a script which trawls mtgsalvation.com for user-posted Commander decklists and breaks them down into various categories, giving an invaluable snapshot of the Commander metagame. You can find the lists here under the forum post Statistical Breakdown of the Commander Metagame. The database was last updated on 31 October 2014 with 3023 decks from 1473 users (decks posted or updated from 31 October 2013 – 31 October 2014). I am indebted to scoeri for the awesome database.

As with last week, we will be using the colorless list for the purpose of this article as the list includes artifact creatures while the artifact list only contains noncreature artifacts. Last week, we made our way down the list to Expedition Map. This week, the criteria will be stricter and we shall only discuss artifacts that possess financial potential. We will be skipping over popular, obvious and already sailed artifacts like Chromatic Lantern and focus on foil staples that are still cheap like this sacrificial deer:

Hart of Gold

Hart of gold.
Any more burnishing and you’ll scrape off  the foiling.

Foil Theros: $1.12

Number of Foil Printings: 1

The humble draft mana fixer, Burnished Hart has been getting a lot of love on the EDH subreddit and it is easy to see why: most Commander decks would like to have access to mana-fixing, and a double Rampant Growth on a bear (bear-hart) that fits into decks of any color has the making of a Commander staple, if it is not already one. Though more expensive than Armillary Sphere in casting and activation cost, the fact that Burnished Hart is a creature gives it synergy with a wider range of strategies: besides the usual artifact recurrence with Academy Ruins, it can be reanimated,  pulled out from your bottom (of your deck, hopefully most of the time) with Grenzo, Dungeon Warden, it triggers Sidisi, Brood Tyrant (which by the way has been growing in popularity as a Commander) and many more interactions a humble Armillary Sphere is not capable of.

Theros is still a Standard-legal set, but going for slightly more than $1, I see only upside for foil Burnished Hart. While I do not think foil Burnished Hart will grow to the double digit price of other common artifact mana-fixers like Dimir Signet and Azorius Signet due to the significantly larger print run of modern day sets like Theros, I am confident that foil Burnished Hart will exceed the price of other common rarity foil artifact mana-fixers on the top fifty list like Wayfarer’s Bauble, which is already less popular than Burnished Hart as of writing and is going for $3.81. The shiny fawn will take a while to become a full-fledged hart, get it now when Theros is abundant in supply and foil Burnished Harts are aplenty in bulk foil boxes before it becomes a $4 – $5 card. I know I am getting some myself.

Trading Cards in a Game of Trading Cards

Trading cards in a game of trading cards.
Where do you play a trading card game? Why, at the trading post of course!

M13 Foil: $2.79

M14 Foil: $1.98

Number of Foil Printings: 2

Trading Post is the Batman’s utility belt in Commander. Need to block a rampaging 12/12 Hydra Broodmaster? Here’s a goat. Need more lands? Sacrifice that goat of yours who is going to die anyway to get back your Wayfarer’s Bauble. Need more gas? Sac that worn out Worn Powerstone to further fuel your conquest. Life’s got you down? Toss away that 10th land you drew for 4 life.

Trading Post feels a bit like a Planeswalker in the sense that it generates incremental card advantage once per turn when it hits the board. Of course, I’m not claiming that Trading Post is anywhere near the power level of a Planeswalker (maybe except Tibalt) but it ekes you advantage over a prolonged game, and most Commander games tend to go long.

Trading Post is a Swiss Army knife that most Commander decks could find use for and yet foils of it could be acquired for less than $2. Granted M14 has just rotated out and being printed in both M13 and M14 created a huge supply. Nevertheless $2 is pretty close to bulk for foil rares, what more for a popular Commander rare. I suspect foil Trading Post will become one of those foil rares that surprises people when they look up its price a few years down the road. There’s always a risk of reprint, but at $2, how much can you lose? Plus foils do retain their value better than normal copies.

Foil Trading Post have a lot of room to grow, though I doubt it will be able to hit foil Staff of Domination prices due to Trading Post’s higher supply and the fact that Staff is ran as a one-of in Legacy and Vintage MUD decks (not that Vintage counts for much). However I do think that foil Trading Posts could hit $8 – $10 in the coming years.

Trading Post is also a pretty fun card to play, and its appeal as a ‘one-stop shop’ probably contributes to its popularity among the casual crowd. Did I mentioned, Trading Post has synergy with the artifact creature Burnished Hart too?

Signets That Shine

The most expensive foil signet of them all.
The most expensive foil signet of them all.
The cheapest foil signet of the lot.
The cheapest foil signet of the lot.

Ravnica Block Foils: $2.51  – $14.58

The cycle of signets from the original Ravnica block are some of the most popular artifact mana fixers in Commander, with four of them in the top fifty most played colorless cards list (five if you refer to the artifacts list).

But their prices are starkly different. You have foil Dimir Signet at $14 and foil Azorius Signet at $10. Foil Izzet Signet is around $7 and the rest are under $5. A foil Gruul Signet is a measly $2.51 and foil Selesnya Signet is no better at $3.16. They all have seen the same number of foil printings. So why the huge price gap between the most and least expensive signet?

The price pattern shows that the signets with green in them are the cheapest of the lot. Perhaps already having access to plenty of mana fixing, green-based decks do not run signets as much as the non-green decks do.

A quick glance through another database by scoeri breaking down the statistically average composition of the decks of the top fifty commanders validated the hypothesis. The green-based decks rarely included signets in their list, while the non-green decks often ran all the signets their color identity allows. Furthermore, the four signets in the top fifty most played colorless cards list (and the fifth signet if you count the artifacts list) are all non-green.

That makes the green-based foil signets a bad investment, regardless of how cheap they currently are. However foil Rakdos Signet and foil Orzhov Signet seem to be significantly lower than the other four non-green signets; they the only non-green foil signets available for under $5 but they see similar amount of play with the two most expensive signets, Dimir Signet and Azorius Signet. Boros Signet sees less play than both Rakdos Signet and Orzhov Signet and is $6.

Check out the top fifty most popular commanders over the past year, from the same database referred to by this article:

The real Hall of Triumph. The Journey into Nyx one was a knock-off.
The real Hall of Triumph. The Journey into Nyx one was a knock-off.

As mentioned above, most of the non-green decks run all the signets their color identity allows.  From the list we can see that popular non-green decks running Dimir Signet and/or Azorius Signet tend to also run Rakdos Signet (Nekusar, the Mindrazer, Jeleva, Nephalia’s Scourge, Marchesa, the Black Rose) and Orzhov Signet (Oloro, Ageless Ascetic, Sydri, Galvanic Genius, Kaalia of the Vast, Sharuum the Hegemon).

These Ravnican guild signets did not appear in Return to Ravnica and each signet bears the name of their respective guilds, so it is highly unlikely for the signets cycle to see a foil printing outside another visit to Ravnica, which probably would not happen within the next five years or so, a.k.a. a long, long time. So far they have been reprinted in Commander and Archenemy, both non-foil supplementary products.

I am of opinion that Rakdos Signet and Orzhov Signet are mispriced and are due for a market correction.

Closing

With the signets, we conclude the artifact segment of Hunting for Commander Foils series. Do comment on if you’ve enjoyed the approach I took for this article, and any suggestions for future articles are more than welcomed. You can find me @theguoheng or just drop a comment here.

Join me next week as I discuss the epic fails (and whatever little wins) I have experienced throughout my time in Magic finance and the lessons I have learnt from them. In the mean time, I can’t wait to finally unpack that Built from Scratch deck I have purchased over the weekend but have yet to find time to bring it out for a test run. Artifacts for the win!

 

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WEEKEND PRICE UPDATE: NOV 8TH/14

By James Chillcott (@MTGCritic)

Here’s your weekly update on what’s been shifting around in price in the world of paper Magic: The Gathering this week. This week, the story continues to be about the deflation of Khans of Tarkir prices.

5 Winners of the Week

1.  Forked Bolt (Rise of the Eldrazi, Uncommon): $0.36 to $1.26 (+40%)

Format(s): Modern/Legacy

Heading into GP New Jersey next weekend, a tournament that is likely to be the largest Legacy Magic event of all time, we have a metagame before us that pivots on the fulcrum point that is U/R Delver decks. Suddenly most of the creatures you need to kill (Delver of Secrets, Young Pyromancer, Swiftspear, Tokens) are begging for the cheapest possible solution that can do 1-2 damage. That card is Forked Bolt. Low inventory relative to immediate demand is spiking the card, and foils have done even better. I was happy to mop up a handful of foils a couple of weeks at market rates based on my early Legacy testing and tourney results, but the paper version could easily hit $3-4 on the floor of GPNJ in a world where Stoke the Flames exceeds that price. The long term prognosis largely depends on whether Treasure Cruise gets banned in Modern, which could signal a shift back towards other decks, but there is profit to be found here in trades at Legacy events in the interim.

Verdict: Buy/Hold

2.  Firedrinker Satyr (Theros, Rare): $1.05 to $1.20 (+14%)

Format(s): Standard

The red aggro deck continues to be a popular and viable strategy in local standard metagames despite not taking down any top tables at major tourneys upstream. Depending on how many Coursers and Caryatids you need to punch through this guy can be a very helpful little bastard. I was targeting these at .35 cents and as throw-ins for trades last summer, so trading out now is a good move if you aren’t playing your copies.

Verdict: Trade

3.  Whip of Erebos (Theros, Rare): $1.87 to $2.23 (+19%)

Format(s): Standard/EDH

With a few strong Top 8 finishes lately, the various Whip decks have staked a claim to Tier 1 deck status in Standard for the season. Some decks go so far as to play 4 copies of this legendary enchantment, which is helping to boost the price. These will drop near rotation for sure, due to a complete lack of legacy play, so if you can trade out extras in the $2-3 range that’s a solid move, looking to pick some back up for long term holds next spring/summer.

Verdict: Trade

4.  Jeskai Ascendancy (KTK, Rare): $2.18 to $1.95 (+12%)

Format(s): Standard/Modern/Legacy

First it was jank. Then it was the hidden king of combo. Then it was too fragile for Standard, but ban-able in Modern. Then Ivan Jen took down SCG Open Oakland last weekend with his Heroic/Ascendancy hybrid deck and demonstrated yet again the versatility and power of this multi-facted combo piece. They key here is whether it’s getting banned in Modern this winter, and so far, the lack of results there makes me say no. Assuming it survives the first swing of the axe (which will almost certainly hit Treasure Cruise regardless), this could be a serious gainer heading into next fall as more cards become available to expand the combo options in Standard. I’m quite happy to these up at $2-3 and roll the dice for a role in multiple formats. I’m also holding a plethora of Japanese foils of this card, but it’s a risky move.

Verdict: Buy/Hold below $3

5. Thoughtseize (Lorwyn, Rare): $34.49 to $36.78 (+7%)

Format(s): All

What Snapcaster Mage was to Innistrad and Abrupt Decay was to RTR block, Thoughtseize is to Theros. All are eternal playable power cards that the MTGFinance community told everyone repeatedly to buy at their lows. Thoughtseize never got much below $15, but I managed to snag several sets in the $12-13 range.  Now it’s in the low 20’s and likely to regain 30 within 18 months with ease. My records tell me that I was selling Lorwyn versions at $55USD summer of 2013, so getting back in this year around $30 on those was also solid. With both versions climbing far in advance of rotation I’d grab any sets you want for play or speculation sooner rather than later. You may get a chance to snag copies at a good price from standard players trading out next fall, but then again, you may not.

Verdict: Buy

5 Top Losers of the Week

1. Heliod, God of the Sun (Theros, Mythic): $3.42 to $2.67 (-22%)

Format(s): Casual/EDH

We are now at the point where virtually all of the gods are excellent pickups for long term holds. These are iconic and unique mythics that are unlikely to see reprints in any specialty products anytime soon due to thematic issues and the need to be surrounded by devotion strategies. Commander 2015 would have been a fine vehicle and WOTC passed on that opportunity due to proximity to release, so they should be safe for a few years at least. I’m happy to snag a ton of Heliod around $2-$2.50, as he can easily be expected to settle in around $6-8 down the road. Keranos is the only god I’d wait to target at rotation. The others I’ll be buying in piles heading toward summer lows, happy to dollar cost average.

Verdict: Buy

2. Kiora, the Crashing Wave (Born of the Gods, Mythic): $20.37 to $16.07 (-21%)

Format(s): Standard + Modern

Kiora is a great Planeswalker, but she’s too fragile in the current burn heavy standard meta and she’s just been announced as one half of the spring Duel Decks release alongside Elspeth, Sun’s Champion. In my mind, both cards are worth dumping sooner rather than later, as they will surely crash heading into summer and will then by buys at half the price or less. For what it’s worth I prefer the original art on both cards, so it’s worth watching to see if the bottom will drop out on foils at some point, opening an EDH spec.

Verdict: Sell/Trade

3.  Wurmcoil Engine (Scars of Mirrodin, Mythic): $20.03 to $17.07 (-15%)

Format(s): Modern/Legacy/EDH

As covered earlier, there is far too much value in the new Commander 2014 red deck to allow this freshly reprinted mythic to stay up. I think the floor on this is somewhere in the $8-12 range, and at the lower end of that I’m in for a few sets as longer term holds and to play with, since I only had a few in the collection until now. If you can manage to trade them away above market averages, that’s a slam dunk right now.

Verdict: Sell/Trade

4.  Xenagos, The Reveler (Theros, Mythic) 14.26 to 12.20 (-14%)

This guy has put in plenty of work in the last year and has nothing to be ashamed of. First commanding around $30 at his release, he later dipped to under $10 this summer, when I was snagging him for $8. He spiked in the fall on middling standard results and lessened availability to around $18, but is now falling again on lack of play. You should have got out a few weeks back, but it’s possible he sees a resurgence based on new cards in the next two sets this winter/spring so holding your playset isn’t crazy.

Verdict: Hold/Trade

5.  Stormbreath Dragon (Theros, Mythic) $20.01 to $18.11 (-9%)

Big red threats aren’t winning enough top tables, and when they are, they’re generally named Sarkhan. I’ve been dumping extra copies for a while, and we’d need to be facing down a significant metagame shift before I’d change my mind.

Verdict: Sell/Trade

Quick Hits:

  • Commander 2014 sets of 5 decks can easily be found for about $125, saving you some cash below MSRP. At an MTGFinance play however, these decks are weak. I’m still holding a ton of Commander 2013 product that isn’t likely to produce for another 1-2 years and that’s not where you want to be at this time next year. Cracking them for decks at lowered cost by ditching the banner cards is a fine collector value play, but it’s not a money maker when you consider your time spent. Steer clear.
  • I’m trading foil Treasure Cruise into foil Dig Through Time all day long. Cruise is too good, everyone knows it, and it will be banned in modern this winter without question. It will still see play in Legacy, but DTT has a brighter and broader future. Even better, trade either into foil Delver of Secrets. Those can still be had under $15, and that’s just not right given the current level of play and the fact that Innistrad is almost 3 years older than KTK.
  • If you’re looking for specs for next weekend, you should be figuring out what metagame calls will be made against UR Delver at GP New Jersey and buying accordingly. Folks will be finishing up decks this weekend and copies of key cards should result in some spikes shortly. We’re already seeing it with Forked Bolt, but that won’t be the last card.

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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Legacy Hero #2

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Legacy Hero #2

Wow. Just wow.

I would like to thank everyone for such great start. You crushed my expectations!
The results are in! I tried to wait as long as possible before calling a winning deck(I was really hoping for 12 Post) but it became pretty clear early on that Stoneblade was the winner. With over 650 total votes, Stoneblade has 14% of the vote. Here are the top 5 results.

  1. Stoneblade – 94 votes (14%)
  1. Miracles – 86 votes (13%)
  1. Delver (UWR/RUG/BUG) – 68 votes (10%)
  1. Shardless BUG – 56 votes (8%)
  1. Show and tell – 52 votes (8%)

This is a great opportunity to explain how similar most of these decks are. Lets look at the staples (other than the dual lands) that these decks have in common.

Force of Will, Brainstorm, Ponder, Spell Pierce, Jace the Mindsculptor, Polluted Delta, Flooded Strand, Misty Rainforest and Scalding Tarn.

We can then compare the cards the Delver variants have in common, then Stoneblade and Miracles. What you’re going to notice is that you can assemble a couple different decks once you get the core together, excluding dual lands. The core is what we’re building our legacy collection around. Force of Will, Dual Lands, Wasteland, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Fetchlands, etc. These cards are the barrier of entry. I can’t speak for everyone but I know how important they are for people who haven’t had them before. It is a reward in itself to get those cards.

When your focus is on the finance part of Magic, it’s easy to lose perspective. I’m reminded of that every time I trade one of those beat up dual lands that aren’t in any condition to sell outright to someone who just wants a dual land to have one or to maybe build an EDH deck around. Recreating that experience is going to be tough but ultimately rewarding.

The core of the top four decks are very much alike.

 

Stoneblade:

Polluted Delta

Flooded Strand

Marsh Flats

Underground Sea

Wasteland

Tundra

Stoneforge Mystic

Deathrite Shaman

Vendilion Clique

Brainstorm

Force of Will

Swords to Plowshares

Ponder

Treasure Cruise

Thoughtseize

Spell Pierce

Jace, the Mind Sculptor

 

Miracles:

Scalding Tarn

Flooded Strand

Tundra

Plains

Volcanic Island

Vendilion Clique

Brainstorm

Force of Will

Swords to Plowshares

Spell Pierce

Jace, the Mind Sculptor

 

RUG Delver:

Wasteland

Scalding Tarn

Tropical Island

Volcanic Island

Polluted Delta

Flooded Strand

Force of Will

Brainstorm

Tarmogoyf

Treasure Cruise

Ponder

Spell Pierce
Shardless:

Polluted Delta

Underground Sea

Tropical Island

Misty Rainforest

Wasteland

Tarmogoyf

Deathrite Shaman

Brainstorm

Force of Will

Thoughtseize

Jace, the Mind Sculptor

 

By identifying the staples, it allows us to branch out into different decks at a later point. For example, the core of Esper Deathblade will work well enough to make Patriot Delver. Here is a copy of a stock Deathblade list (SCG Worcester Ben Glancy).

4 Polluted Delta

4 Flooded Strand

3 Marsh Flats

3 Underground Sea

2 Wasteland

2 Tundra

1 Tropical Island

1 Scrubland

1 Karakas

4 Stoneforge Mystic

4 Deathrite Shaman

2 True-Name Nemesis

1 Vendilion Clique

4 Brainstorm

4 Force of Will

4 Swords to Plowshares

4 Ponder

3 Treasure Cruise

3 Thoughtseize

3 Spell Pierce

 

SIDEBOARD

1 Vendilion Clique

1 Liliana of the Veil

1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

1 Supreme Verdict

2 Zealous Persecution

1 Relic of Progenitus

1 Surgical Extraction

1 Flusterstorm

2 Meddling Mage

1 Sword of Feast and Famine

1 Grafdigger’s Cage

1 Pithing Needle

1 Thoughtseize

A quick look through the deck tells me that there’s a handful of cheap cards that I’ll be able to snag easily. Spell Pierce, Ponder, Brainstorm, Treasure Cruise, Swords to Plowshares, Grafdigger’s Cage, Pithing Needle, Zealous Persecution, and Relic of Progenitus are all under a couple of bucks but we need to focus on the main deck cards here. Spell Pierce, Brainstorm, Treasure Cruise, and Swords to Plowshares. I can pick most of them up as throw-ins for trades.

It’s great that they reprinted fetch lands in Kahns. It levels the playing field and lowers the barrier of entry. Let’s look at the price of a Polluted Delta

Look at the price difference between the two. The original Delta was $75+ for well over a year. The Khans Delta has been trending down for a while, making it an easy pickup. I’m big on picking up blue fetches as a long term spec, but I would suggest to anyone wanting to play Eternal formats to pick up a playset of each fetch while they’re low. If you’ve ever looked at the trajectory of shock land prices, it makes sense. Getting them now will – obviously – save you money in the future.

What about the card that defines Legacy – Force of Will. I would like to quote Drew Levin; “Force of Will is the glue that holds Legacy together. Any outlaw can roll up to a tournament with Lion’s Eye Diamond, Show and Tell, Reanimate, or Glimpse of Nature, so it’s up to the sheriffs and their Force of Wills to hold combo maniacs at bay. Force of Will is a weak card on its face, but it is the only reliable counterspell that can be cast on your opponent’s first turn. In a format that is filled with a huge range of powerful spells, Force of Will is your catchall answer. No tempo or control deck is viable without Force of Will.”

Financially speaking, Force of Will isn’t on the reserved list. It could very well be reprinted eventually, other than the judge promo. Trading for them is hard – people that have them keep them. Buying them from a store is non-optional if you’re trying to get out cheap. Floor traders are a good option for gently used (sleeve playable) cards. We can move the stuff that will rot in the trade binder to them for a card that is more in the acceptable price range.

Finally, we have the mana base. The most expensive part of the deck.

3 Underground Sea

3 Tundra

1 Tropical Island

1 Scrubland

1 Wasteland

1 Karakas

4 Polluted Delta

4 Flooded Strand
3 Marsh Flats

That totals over $1700! Fortunately, the prices of the dual lands are, for the most part, consistent. They’ll creep up in price, but you can always find a deal if you’re flexible on things like condition or you’re paying cash. You can always find someone that will trade you a Tundra for your standard and modern staples, but they’re, “trading down,” so they ask for additional, “value,” for doing it. That idea makes me sick to my stomach. I shouldn’t feel like I’m financing a damn 1994 Windsor Woody Wagon from a, “NO CREDIT NO PROBLEM,” car dealer when I’m buying my cards. I’d much rather search and work harder to find someone more amicable than to deal with a loan shark. That relationship with a better trader will pay off in spades over time. Speaking of which… find a reliable trading source!

It’s going to take a lot of work to get dual lands together.

As of right now, my trade binder doesn’t have nearly enough value. It is like Oliver Twist asking for more porridge. I’m going to be attending a local shop’s, “Duel for Duals,” which is self-explanatory, later this month. These kind of local-ish events are great. Not only do I have a chance at winning expensive cards but it showcases my binders to people that I don’t normally get to interact with. It is a great way to move the midrange casual cards that my locals have already pawed through. I will grind these kind of events whenever possible. The equity that it could add to my trade binder makes the travel well worth it.

How can we make our current resources work for us? Playing a different standard deck is a good start. I was watching the SCG Oakland coverage over the weekend when I noticed that sick Jeskai Heroic Combo deck. I priced it out against my current deck (Jeskai Aggrohttp://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/04-11-14-pRo-jeskai-aggro/ )and it looks like I can add about $200 to my binder by switching things up. Maximizing available resources is huge!

Now that I know that the people have spoken and Stoneblade is the choice, I will be able to go to FNM this coming week and trade with purpose. I’ll also be uploading the contents of my trade binder to mtgprice.com so everyone can learn, see changes, trades and my current value.

I want to thank everyone that is along for the adventure so far, and I hope to see you in the coming months.

You can email me at mtglegacyhero@gmail.com and follow me on twitter @somethingsays #legacyhero and of course comment on the article. Don’t forget to pass along any sick deals.

I want to give a shoutout to hipstersofthecoast.com for the pingback.

Here is a link to Drew Levin’s intro into Legacy.

http://www.starcitygames.com/article/27449_How-To-Get-Into-Legacy-Part-1.html

http://www.starcitygames.com/article/27493_How-To-Get-Into-Legacy–Part-2.html

 

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