I'm pretty on board with this, esp for M15. I'll go back to drafting that. I seem to be a LOT better at it than DTK/KTK/KTK (I've been told the variance is higher in the later).
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.
I think holding KTK and selling FRF if you aren't drafting is the right move. FRF is basically what it costs from the store so you don't have to worry about it going over 4, but the odds they do adjust the payouts are a lot higher than it going over 4. KTK shouldn't go below 2. That would be VERY rare for an in print set. The downside risk of holding is minimal (say 0.2/pk), but the upside potential could be up to 1 tix.
Basically everything has been horrible after Lee sharpe took over:
Basically 0 reaction to pack price problem.
Killing off Momir, while also forgetting to mention it in the article and then make a last-minute argument to motivate it.
Mediocre Mocs-promos
having ridioulus gimmickevents be phantom (alara and lorwyn) when modern needs nobles and cryptics etc
We were hoping for a boost to block with the new event schedule. It seems to have hurt participation. (EV is likely the other factor).
I understand Momir. I love the format and would like to see more MTGO only formats like it, but there is no reason for it to take a daily slot.
They killed M15 Sealed which was needed. It never fired. (Fortunately I was able to trade my last M15 packs for nearly 4 each a 1 tix profit from where i bought them).
I agree with Rickster_. Mocs promo's are better than they were. It shouldn't be the reason you grind MOCS. If the EV of MOCS itself isn't enough they can look at that. (See Grand Prix Promo's for what I think they are going with here).
ALA block drafts might fire, maybe this is a test of the water. LLM wasn't nearly as popular as SSE last time they did it (EV might have had something to do with that).
They did change the payouts of sealed daily events on 3 wins to 3/3 rather than 4/2 making it align with the sealed event rather than draft event.
The big issue with KTK prices is 1) 2 Mans pay in KTK still. 2) The 1 pack win on Swiss pays in KTK. I understand that WotC wants the drafts to pay in the kind of boosters they need to draft, but every store on the planet is paying in the new stuff when players get to choose. MTGO should be no different. WotC has to acknowledge the glut of KTK on the secondary market and that this draft environment is only going to last another month at best.
FRF/KTK/KTK isnt' as popular a format as 3xKTK. People are holding out for DTK events. Personally I think KTK packs will rise eventually but I'm content to accumulate sets at under 60 ea right now. I think the goal should be to get pack prices around 3.33 across the board and adjust payouts on the fly accordingly (esp 2 mans).
Regarding Holiday Gimick Events. I normally play in the sealed ones that are 10 Phantom packs like the ones for Halloween and Thanksgiving. I certainly am not grinding the format but what else are you spending phantom points on?
MTGO gameplay is slow compared to paper (except for shuffling). People want to maximise the number of games. When you are so far ahead on board in a match that doesn't mean a lot they are going to concede rather than play it out for that 5% chance something different might happen.
Well I bought them from humans for 40-44, bots probably had them for 50 and they only went up in price after that. I think they'll be in the 30-50 range the first week. I can't guess on how to buy at the bottom at goyf. But I can tell you the card is worth 50 tix. It's so powerful in modern, and pretty good in legacy (unplayable in vintage though).
How low it gets will be driven by how popular MM2 draft is.
Yes. Players have gotten spoiled by "good" draft formats and are reluctant to play crappy ones, even for the pack lottery. With that said, I expect this set to be a good format, a bit more gimmicky than MM1 was. Also keep in mind that the bottom for a playable card won't be at the end of drafts but a week to 10 days before as people try to "feel" the bottom.
MTGO requires that you play very casually or play very competitively. There is little middle ground for a player to jump in and figure out what they want to do on the fly without putting wads of cash into the client. I'm working on a video series now (As in just started storyboarding - pre-recording) to address some of these issues.
Wild Defiance has spiked up to almost $3 and the supply is quickly dwindling. This card was a favorite of mine when it was in Standard, but I never thought I'd see it above junk rare status, especially this soon after printing. I'm guessing Infect, just like Pendelhaven?
Yes. It was tested in infect before, but there really isn't a consensus on the card. The Pantheon used it heavily so it is likely seeing more widespread play.
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.
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.
We were hoping for a boost to block with the new event schedule. It seems to have hurt participation. (EV is likely the other factor).
I understand Momir. I love the format and would like to see more MTGO only formats like it, but there is no reason for it to take a daily slot.
They killed M15 Sealed which was needed. It never fired. (Fortunately I was able to trade my last M15 packs for nearly 4 each a 1 tix profit from where i bought them).
I agree with Rickster_. Mocs promo's are better than they were. It shouldn't be the reason you grind MOCS. If the EV of MOCS itself isn't enough they can look at that. (See Grand Prix Promo's for what I think they are going with here).
ALA block drafts might fire, maybe this is a test of the water. LLM wasn't nearly as popular as SSE last time they did it (EV might have had something to do with that).
They did change the payouts of sealed daily events on 3 wins to 3/3 rather than 4/2 making it align with the sealed event rather than draft event.
The big issue with KTK prices is 1) 2 Mans pay in KTK still. 2) The 1 pack win on Swiss pays in KTK. I understand that WotC wants the drafts to pay in the kind of boosters they need to draft, but every store on the planet is paying in the new stuff when players get to choose. MTGO should be no different. WotC has to acknowledge the glut of KTK on the secondary market and that this draft environment is only going to last another month at best.
FRF/KTK/KTK isnt' as popular a format as 3xKTK. People are holding out for DTK events. Personally I think KTK packs will rise eventually but I'm content to accumulate sets at under 60 ea right now. I think the goal should be to get pack prices around 3.33 across the board and adjust payouts on the fly accordingly (esp 2 mans).
Regarding Holiday Gimick Events. I normally play in the sealed ones that are 10 Phantom packs like the ones for Halloween and Thanksgiving. I certainly am not grinding the format but what else are you spending phantom points on?
I wouldn't play windscout. Curfew is solid option against Boggles which seem to be on the rise again.
Yes. Players have gotten spoiled by "good" draft formats and are reluctant to play crappy ones, even for the pack lottery. With that said, I expect this set to be a good format, a bit more gimmicky than MM1 was. Also keep in mind that the bottom for a playable card won't be at the end of drafts but a week to 10 days before as people try to "feel" the bottom.
Yes. It was tested in infect before, but there really isn't a consensus on the card. The Pantheon used it heavily so it is likely seeing more widespread play.
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.