No block dailies have fired since the release of FRF. For an analysis of the cause, and what needs to be done to save the format, see my most recent article:
This could be the end of a nearly 20-year old format. If you care about the format at all, or just want another avenue to grind constructed events online, please help get this issue on WoTCs radar. If nothing is done, there's every chance they'll pull the format entirely which would be a huge shame.
No block dailies have fired since the release of FRF. For an analysis of the cause, and what needs to be done to save the format, see my most recent article:
This could be the end of a nearly 20-year old format. If you care about the format at all, or just want another avenue to grind constructed events online, please help get this issue on WoTCs radar. If nothing is done, there's every chance they'll pull the format entirely which would be a huge shame.
I'm in the process of writing a very detailed article to Lee Sharpe about prize payouts and a big section on block/pauper formats et.
Basically my theory is that entry level deck prices have gone down with the decrease in pack values.
Formats ranked in price used to be: Pauper < Block < Standard
Now a Standard deck can be as cheap or cheaper than a block deck so the incentive for a new player to play Block for EV is gone. The need to test for PTQ is gone (since they only run standard) so the only thing people want to play in is block daily events since 8 mans are bad value since if you just want to grind QP's you want the queue with the fastest fire rate and that's standard.
The fact that half the players effectively quit MTGO leaving the aforementioned MOCS grinders has stolen a LOT of players from "niche" formats.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
I don't know that such an elaborate theory is needed to explain the current situation. The format was going just fine until they added a two week break after release for the format to launch. That two weeks used to be the highest participation/interest time for block, and people didn't even know if the format was coming back at the end of it. The current situation shows how absurd the wait is - the format has only had tournaments going for about two weeks now, and we're already in spoiler season for the next set. It was that delay that killed the format - even dailies haven't fired now, so it's not about "queue grinding" EV/value.
Block is still quite a bit cheaper than Standard. Even if you can find a Standard deck that is as cheap as a block deck, you have to deal with losing value to rotation (which doesn't occur just near Fall rotation, Standard cards can lose value as early as Spring). With Block you can buy in a deck, play it for its lifetime, and sell it at peak value. That's a huge deal for people who don't want to bleed money every year / rotation.
The first change is that we're going to remove all of the Khans of Tarkir Block Daily Events. It's been some time since one of these events fired. In general, the Block Constructed format has lost steam on Magic Online as more sets entered the block, resulting in a format without a player base large enough to fire a Daily Event at any of the multiple times offered. Block Constructed fans still looking to find an opponent can continue to use the 2-player queue to play.
I wonder what the people who used to play Block are playing instead. WotC is able to look at that kind of data. If most people have moved on to a different format or seemed to have quit entirely, it makes sense to axe Block. But, speaking for myself, Block was my constructed format of choice, with nothing replacing it as I've waited for something to resuscitate it.
6-2-2-2s are interesting. I like forcing bad players to mix with good players while at the same time providing the comfort of swiss.
Well psychobabble's article touches on why it did poorly, they removed a lot of events, then postponed block events till 3 weeks after the set came out. There's no confidence in the format, it never got to build an audience when they kept changing the schedule. No one knew when the format would be a DE format unless they closely followed their terrible website. The format was fine during ISD, RTR and THS blocks. They made it do poorly.
Well psychobabble's article touches on why it did poorly, they removed a lot of events, then postponed block events till 3 weeks after the set came out. There's no confidence in the format, it never got to build an audience when they kept changing the schedule. No one knew when the format would be a DE format unless they closely followed their terrible website. The format was fine during ISD, RTR and THS blocks. They made it do poorly.
This. They killed the dailys. We thought Lee Sharpe would be good for MTGO. So far everything that matters to the players is on deaf ears and everything that matters to WotC's bottom line is what's up.
First they came for the Singleton Players and I said nothing. Then they came for the Momir Players and I said nothing. Then they came for the Pauper players and I said nothing. Now they came for me. (Actually I did complain about Pauper. It's the gateway to Eternal that doesn't cost $500.)
Apparently standard is rotating so fast now that we're expected to keep up. The payout on 2 Mans is so bad now that it's not worth it. I bet if they got rid of 2 mans and actually brought back leagues the marginalized formats would fire. The only people playing 8 mans are qp grinders and they want the queue that fires fastest. Standard.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
The new standard is basically block. With two rotations occurring a year instead of one and blocks only having 2 sets (1 Large 1 small), block was effectively killed off.
The problem now is that in the past you could look at block to get an early glimpse at future constructed, now it's gone.
The new standard is basically block. With two rotations occurring a year instead of one and blocks only having 2 sets (1 Large 1 small), block was effectively killed off.
The problem now is that in the past you could look at block to get an early glimpse at future constructed, now it's gone.
Don't forget your cards weren't going to rotate for a year so you could sell them at peak times.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
The new standard is basically block. With two rotations occurring a year instead of one and blocks only having 2 sets (1 Large 1 small), block was effectively killed off.
The problem now is that in the past you could look at block to get an early glimpse at future constructed, now it's gone.
Don't forget your cards weren't going to rotate for a year so you could sell them at peak times.
Yeah, that's the biggest thing financially. The window for selling cards after they peak was between when the first set of the next series came out and 6 months before the expired. Now these things happen at the same time. I think the window for selling has dropped to 1 month after the new set comes out.
Well psychobabble's article touches on why it did poorly, they removed a lot of events, then postponed block events till 3 weeks after the set came out. There's no confidence in the format, it never got to build an audience when they kept changing the schedule. No one knew when the format would be a DE format unless they closely followed their terrible website. The format was fine during ISD, RTR and THS blocks. They made it do poorly.
This. They killed the dailys. We thought Lee Sharpe would be good for MTGO. So far everything that matters to the players is on deaf ears and everything that matters to WotC's bottom line is what's up.
First they came for the Singleton Players and I said nothing. Then they came for the Momir Players and I said nothing. Then they came for the Pauper players and I said nothing. Now they came for me. (Actually I did complain about Pauper. It's the gateway to Eternal that doesn't cost $500.)
Apparently standard is rotating so fast now that we're expected to keep up. The payout on 2 Mans is so bad now that it's not worth it. I bet if they got rid of 2 mans and actually brought back leagues the marginalized formats would fire. The only people playing 8 mans are qp grinders and they want the queue that fires fastest. Standard.
What happened to Momir Basic?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Level 1 Judge
"I hope to have such a death... lying in triumph atop the broken bodies of those who slew me..."
You don't call "dying to removal" if the removal is more expensive in resources than the creature. If you have to spend BG (Abrupt Decay), or W + basic land (PtE) to remove a 1G, that is not "dying to removal". Strictly speaking Goyf dies to removal, but actually your removal is dying to Goyf.
Well psychobabble's article touches on why it did poorly, they removed a lot of events, then postponed block events till 3 weeks after the set came out. There's no confidence in the format, it never got to build an audience when they kept changing the schedule. No one knew when the format would be a DE format unless they closely followed their terrible website. The format was fine during ISD, RTR and THS blocks. They made it do poorly.
This. They killed the dailys. We thought Lee Sharpe would be good for MTGO. So far everything that matters to the players is on deaf ears and everything that matters to WotC's bottom line is what's up.
First they came for the Singleton Players and I said nothing. Then they came for the Momir Players and I said nothing. Then they came for the Pauper players and I said nothing. Now they came for me. (Actually I did complain about Pauper. It's the gateway to Eternal that doesn't cost $500.)
Apparently standard is rotating so fast now that we're expected to keep up. The payout on 2 Mans is so bad now that it's not worth it. I bet if they got rid of 2 mans and actually brought back leagues the marginalized formats would fire. The only people playing 8 mans are qp grinders and they want the queue that fires fastest. Standard.
What happened to Momir Basic?
Their official answer was the variance was too high to be a competitive format. Basically they didn't like having to give out QPs for it and the 8 mans didn't really fire. At least Pauper requires some new cards. Momir requires nothing but entry fees so it gets regulated to the 2 man queues.
WotC isn't acknowledging the real problem which is that the client change plus $25 redemption fee have had major economic impacts. AKA people are quitting. That's why the queues aren't firing. Grinders will play whatever fires fastest. Standard. There used to be enough other people to give those of us who don't want to play only standard a choice, but now they aren't around.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
Unfortunately, it is now very difficult to find Block Constructed decks and ideas in the post-DTK world, which stinks as my LGS is having a Block FNM in two weeks.
I would look at some of the draft archetypes (if it's only DTK and FRF) and then try to see if they fill out to 60 cards. IE what makes this deck tick. Sometimes that means in draft a build around me uncommon, but since in constructed you have access to playsets of the rares they fill those spots instead.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
I would look at some of the draft archetypes (if it's only DTK and FRF) and then try to see if they fill out to 60 cards. IE what makes this deck tick. Sometimes that means in draft a build around me uncommon, but since in constructed you have access to playsets of the rares they fill those spots instead.
It's the full block (KTK / FRF / DTK), so I'm really not sure what to expect. I'm thinking of trying Temur Aggro, with my top end being playsets of Thunderbreak Regent and Surrak, the Hunt Caller, but I'm just not sure what I'll be up against. I assume B/W Warriors will be the most likely deck to encounter.
I guess this was to be expected given the upcoming change to 2 set blocks. I was never that interested in block myself but I feel for the people that were. It's probably even worse than I felt when Pauper was relegated to only premier events/2-mans/8-mans (fortunately it now gets at least 1 DE every day other than Wednesday). Always a negative when we lose formats and gain nothing in return imo.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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http://puremtgo.com/articles/around-block-63-block-constructed-dead
This could be the end of a nearly 20-year old format. If you care about the format at all, or just want another avenue to grind constructed events online, please help get this issue on WoTCs radar. If nothing is done, there's every chance they'll pull the format entirely which would be a huge shame.
I'm in the process of writing a very detailed article to Lee Sharpe about prize payouts and a big section on block/pauper formats et.
Basically my theory is that entry level deck prices have gone down with the decrease in pack values.
Formats ranked in price used to be: Pauper < Block < Standard
Now a Standard deck can be as cheap or cheaper than a block deck so the incentive for a new player to play Block for EV is gone. The need to test for PTQ is gone (since they only run standard) so the only thing people want to play in is block daily events since 8 mans are bad value since if you just want to grind QP's you want the queue with the fastest fire rate and that's standard.
The fact that half the players effectively quit MTGO leaving the aforementioned MOCS grinders has stolen a LOT of players from "niche" formats.
The first change is that we're going to remove all of the Khans of Tarkir Block Daily Events. It's been some time since one of these events fired. In general, the Block Constructed format has lost steam on Magic Online as more sets entered the block, resulting in a format without a player base large enough to fire a Daily Event at any of the multiple times offered. Block Constructed fans still looking to find an opponent can continue to use the 2-player queue to play.
I wonder what the people who used to play Block are playing instead. WotC is able to look at that kind of data. If most people have moved on to a different format or seemed to have quit entirely, it makes sense to axe Block. But, speaking for myself, Block was my constructed format of choice, with nothing replacing it as I've waited for something to resuscitate it.
6-2-2-2s are interesting. I like forcing bad players to mix with good players while at the same time providing the comfort of swiss.
This. They killed the dailys. We thought Lee Sharpe would be good for MTGO. So far everything that matters to the players is on deaf ears and everything that matters to WotC's bottom line is what's up.
First they came for the Singleton Players and I said nothing. Then they came for the Momir Players and I said nothing. Then they came for the Pauper players and I said nothing. Now they came for me. (Actually I did complain about Pauper. It's the gateway to Eternal that doesn't cost $500.)
Apparently standard is rotating so fast now that we're expected to keep up. The payout on 2 Mans is so bad now that it's not worth it. I bet if they got rid of 2 mans and actually brought back leagues the marginalized formats would fire. The only people playing 8 mans are qp grinders and they want the queue that fires fastest. Standard.
The problem now is that in the past you could look at block to get an early glimpse at future constructed, now it's gone.
Don't forget your cards weren't going to rotate for a year so you could sell them at peak times.
Yeah, that's the biggest thing financially. The window for selling cards after they peak was between when the first set of the next series came out and 6 months before the expired. Now these things happen at the same time. I think the window for selling has dropped to 1 month after the new set comes out.
What happened to Momir Basic?
"I hope to have such a death... lying in triumph atop the broken bodies of those who slew me..."
Their official answer was the variance was too high to be a competitive format. Basically they didn't like having to give out QPs for it and the 8 mans didn't really fire. At least Pauper requires some new cards. Momir requires nothing but entry fees so it gets regulated to the 2 man queues.
WotC isn't acknowledging the real problem which is that the client change plus $25 redemption fee have had major economic impacts. AKA people are quitting. That's why the queues aren't firing. Grinders will play whatever fires fastest. Standard. There used to be enough other people to give those of us who don't want to play only standard a choice, but now they aren't around.
- Main Cube
- No Brains, All Feelings Cube
It's the full block (KTK / FRF / DTK), so I'm really not sure what to expect. I'm thinking of trying Temur Aggro, with my top end being playsets of Thunderbreak Regent and Surrak, the Hunt Caller, but I'm just not sure what I'll be up against. I assume B/W Warriors will be the most likely deck to encounter.
- Main Cube
- No Brains, All Feelings Cube