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The Magic Market Index is a weekly series that documents the prices of all new released expansions throughout their life in Standard. -
The Magic Market Index for January 6, 2017
Welcome to The Magic Market Index. This article series documents the price changes of cards currently in print. This article will track how cards go from release to its time out of Standard, and as long as deemed necessary for non-Standard sets, as well as offer insight into what cards to invest in and what to ignore. The Magic market is a dangerous place, and this article is here to help guide players and speculators through the murky waters to greater returns.
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The World of Zendikar Part VI: Oath of the Gatewatch
The Vorthos Guide to Magic: The GatheringWelcome back to Archive Trap, the unofficial story column for all things Magic: The Gathering! Today we’re returning once more to the world of Zendikar, the plane that jumpstarted our articles and that we’ve returned to in Battle for Zendikar and Oath of the Gatewatch. In Part I, we filled you in on all the key players and gave you a little bit of background on each. We also talked about the geography of Zendikar itself, which is as much a character as anything else, with its Roil-torn landscape, ancient dungeons and flavorful artwork. In Part II, we took you back 6,000 years into Zendikar’s past, where three planeswalkers decided the fate of Zendikar, and then took you all the way to just after the Eldrazi's release and Gideon's vow to find help. In Part III we filled you in on what happened between Gideon’s vow to find help and his eventual return to the plane, leading right up to Battle for Zendikar. Part IV explored what's changed since we were last around and addressed the plane as it exists now. Today we're going to talk about the plot and the end of the Eldrazi conflict. Part V took you through the story of Battle for Zendikar, right up to the emergence of Kozilek. Today we take you through the formation of the Gatewatch, in Oath of the Gatewatch.
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The World of Zendikar Part V: Battle for Zendikar
The Vorthos Guide to Magic: The GatheringWelcome back to Archive Trap, the unofficial story column for all things Magic: The Gathering! Today we return once more to the World of Zendikar, the plane that jumpstarted our articles and that we returned to in Battle for Zendikar and Oath of the Gatewatch. In Part I, we filled you in on all the key players and gave you a little bit of background on each. We also talked about the geography of Zendikar itself, which is as much a character as anything else, with its Roil-torn landscape, ancient dungeons and flavorful artwork. In Part II, we took you back 6,000 years into Zendikar’s past, where three planeswalkers decided the fate of Zendikar, and then took you all the way to just after the Eldrazi's release and Gideon's vow to find help. In Part III we filled you in on what happened between Gideon’s vow to find help and his eventual return to the plane, leading right up to Battle for Zendikar. Part IV explored what changed since we were last around and addressed the plane as it exists now. Today we will talk about the plot of Battle for Zendikar and the end of the Eldrazi conflict.
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The World of Zendikar Part IV: Return to Zendikar
The Vorthos Guide to Magic: The Gathering Welcome back to Archive Trap, the unofficial story column for all things Magic: The Gathering! Today we return again to the World of Zendikar, the plane that jumpstarted our articles and that we visited once more in Battle for Zendikar and Oath of the Gatewatch. In The World of Zendikar Part I, we filled you in on all the key players and gave you a little bit of background on each. We also talked about the geography of Zendikar itself, which is as much a character as anything else, with its Roil-torn landscape, ancient dungeons and flavorful artwork. In Part II, we took you back 6,000 years into Zendikar’s past, when three planeswalkers decided the fate of Zendikar, and then brought you to just after the Eldrazi's release and Gideon's vow to find help. In Part III we provided you with what happened between Gideon’s vow to find help and his eventual return to the plane, leading right up to Battle for Zendikar. -
Why Spoilers are Important
On December 16, 2015, Trick Jarrett posted this article entitled "Why Leaks Hurt." This is nothing new, as every few years Wizards experiences a rather large or ugly leak of their card designs well before they had intended to show them to the public. It has been addressed by Wizards repeatedly, with a number of voices chiming in over the last decade. Wizards' bottom line? Leaks are bad, and not just for them but for you, the consumer. But is that really true? In this article, we'll discuss how and why leaks happen, examine some of the claims made about leaks and analyze why these claims are at best overstated or misleading. -
Archive Trap: The World of Zendikar Part III
The Vorthos Guide to Magic: The Gathering by Jay13x and Kaburi Welcome back to Archive Trap, the unofficial story column for all things Magic: The Gathering! In Part I, we filled you in on all the key players and gave you a little bit of background on each. We also talked about the geography of Zendikar itself, which is as much a character as anything else, with its Roil-torn landscape, ancient dungeons and flavorful artwork. In Part II, we took you back 6,000 years into Zendikar’s past, where three planeswalkers decided the fate of Zendikar, and then took you all the way to just after the Eldrazi's release and Gideon's vow to find help.
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Archive Trap: The World of Zendikar Part II
The Vorthos Guide to Magic: The Gathering by Jay13x and Kaburi Welcome back to Archive Trap, the unofficial story column for all things Magic: The Gathering! Last time we talked we filled you in on all the key players and gave you a little bit of background on each. We also talked about the geography of Zendikar itself, which is as much a character as anything else, with its Roil-torn landscape, ancient dungeons and flavorful artwork. Today we want to take you 6,000 years into Zendikar’s past, where three Planeswalkers decided the fate of Zendikar.
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Battle for Zendikar Spoiler Digest 3: Full Spoiler
With the prerelease just around the corner and the full spoiler up, it's time for the final spoiler digest for Battle for Zendikar. Join us as we explore the final rares and mythics in the set, and look at some of the top picks for various formats.
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Archive Trap: The World of Zendikar: Part I
The Vorthos Guide to Magic: The Gathering by Jay13x and Kaburi Welcome to Archive Trap, the unofficial story column for all things Magic: The Gathering! In this first installment, we’re harkening back to Zendikar, the subject of a set released way back in 2009 and a plane to which we’ll shortly return. Zendikar remains one of the most beloved sets in Magic History, mostly due to its incredibly deep lore, fun mechanics, Dungeons & Dragons vibe, and a twist ending that saw the Lovecraftian Eldrazi released to unleash havoc upon the plane. The characters introduced in the Zendikar Block have endured and even replaced many of the core five planeswalkers, known as the Lorwyn five. The mythology around this plane has grown so deeply that no less than ten planeswalkers have played a role in shaping this world’s story! We'll do our best here to present original sources as much as possible, and we highly encourage everyone to read them! Magic's decades-long history has created a wealth of material that can be daunting, so this article is meant to both highlight interesting tidbits and introduce you to the world and its characters. -
Battle For Zendikar Spoiler Digest 2: Kiora, Ob Nixilis, Manlands, and More
The first week of spoilers has drawn to a close, delivering a large chunk of spoilers. So far, ten out of the fifteen mythic rares have been revealed, as have 38 of the 53 rares. Among these, we have seen two new planeswalker cards revealed, as well as the revelation that Worldwake-style enemy pair manlands are in the set. Complementing these are a slew of exciting Eldrazi and Allies.
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Battle for Zendikar Spoiler Digest 1: PAX Announcements
PAX Prime was this past weekend, and we all know what that means: Wizards of the Coast unveiled the first major batch of spoilers for this fall's set, Battle for Zendikar. We were shown a world at war. On one side were the inhuman, all-devouring Eldrazi, lead by the titan Ulamog. On the other, the battered remnants of Zendikar's natural inhabitants, rallied by Gideon. Can they hold back the endless swarms of Eldrazi long enough for Jace to solve the mystery of the hedrons, or will Zendikar be lost to the Blind Eternities, just another meal to the Eldrazi?
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Pack #32: Dragons of Tarkir, featuring Dragon Whisperer
(Opened for May 30, 2015)
Formidable is the newest member of a group of keywords that are roughly classified as threshold mechanics. Magic has developed numerous threshold mechanics through the years; they even covered all numbers from 1 to 8 quite nicely:
1 or more (damage dealt to opponent) - Bloodthirst from Guildpact and M12
2 or more (spells cast last turn) - Unnamed werewolf mechanic from Innistrad and Dark Ascension
3 or more (artifacts) - Metalcraft from Scars of Mirrodin block
4 or greater (power of a creature you control) - Ferocious from Khans of Tarkir and Fate Reforged
5 or greater (power of a creature you control) - Unnamed Naya mechanic from Alara block
6 or greater (casting cost) - Unnamed dragon mechanic from Scourge
7 or more (cards in graveyard) - Threshold from Odyssey block
8 or greater (power among creatures you control) - Formidable from Dragons of Tarkir
(Okay, some of them were a bit of a stretch, but nevertheless...)
Dragon Whisperer is reminiscent of an earlier shaman named Dragonmaster Outcast, which also employs a threshold mechanic. This just proves that the design space for threshold mechanics is so deep that it can be source of new material for Magic cards for years to come.
What else could the makers of the game be making us count in the future? Well, as of this writing, Battle for Zendikar is due to come out in a few months - an expansion happening on a plane that has always been associated with a strong land theme. Also, as of this writing, Temple of the False God as just been reprinted in a supplementary product.
Coincidence?