LotusRing

When I was writing about black devotion in the next standard, the triple U elemental aroused a possibility for blue devotion. I rushed to collect Master of Waves but totally forgot Thassa is a part of Blue devotion deck. Next time, I should be more sensitive on card choice. Beside Shorecrasher Elemental, I guess there will be another UU creature in Dragons. Hush, not many people found it yet. A few hours ago, Battle for Zendikar was announced. Together with the announcement of Tempest Remastered and the release of Vintage Master, it shows that more and more "secure" investments are now under the risk of falling. No longer can we buy and hold a single card for months. While we can balance out the risk by collectiong a range of cards from a certain set/format. So far, I found they are pushing blue control decks again. From draw spells like Anticipate and Dragonlord's Prerogative to removals like Silumgar's Command to Narset Transcendent, it's not hard to see th...

About a month ago, I made a ramp deck with Ugin and posted here . It may look a far cry from the one in GP Sevillie 2015, but at least they both have Nissa, Whisperwood Elemental, and the mightly Ugin. After reading the GP coverage, I started to buy in Ugin at around 17-18 for short term profit. I have the following points: 1. Triple Fate Reforged draft ends today. 2. There is a Standard GP this weekend. 3. MTGO Standard Pro Tour Qualifier Preliminaries starts this week. 4. Ugin is in UB control and Green Ramp. They make up around 10% of the meta. 5. UB control may use more than 2 copies of Ugin as finisher against decks full of Thoughtseize, Heros Downfall and Utter End. But there isn't no uncertainty for the move: 1. Brimaz was also the top card in the second set, it didn't rise the week after prerelease. Instead, it dropped a lot. 2. Ugin 's mana cost is huge. It's hard to be used in other decks except Ramp and UB control. 3. Ugin isn't so popul...

Born of the Gods             1 pack Prerelease Events: February 1-2, 2014 Journey into Nyx             1 pack Prerelease Events: April 26-27, 2014 Khans of Tarkir                2 packs Prerelease Events: September 20-21, 2014 Fate Reforged                  1 pack Prerelease Events: January 17-18, 2015 Dragons of Tarkir            2 packs Prerelease Events: March 21-22, 2015 Magic Origins                  3 packs Prerelease Events: July 11–12, 2015 Spring of 2016 Khans and Fate Reforged rotates out. Autumn 2016 Dragons of Tarkir and Magic Origins rotates out. From the information above, the supply of Fate Reforged is similar to that of Born of the Gods. However, Fate has a shorter time period in Standard format. Likely, ...

Monastery Mentor dropped to 12 tix, no longer an overpriced buy-in price. I may buy a few this week and more in the next month. Why do I like it? I can see some token decks using it and these decks now make up just a small portion of the meta game. That's good because the chance for a less popular deck to get 10% or above of the meta game is higher than that for a 10% deck to reach 15% or 20%. After all, WOTC doesn't want to see a deck dominating the meta game for good. The functional side of Monastery Mentor is brilliant, too. Both its mana cost and mana combination are highly adaptable among decks. Depending on the mana cost and strength of non-creature spells, Mentor is able to finish the game in 4-5 turns if not killed. In terms of rarity, it is a Mythic rare that the chance of getting reprinted as a promo card is lower than rares. Besides, the current game environment is packed with high power/toughness creatures. Logically, the next set will provide us with some s...

On  MTGO main site, I 've just seen this message: MOC S and PTQ Prelim and Final Event Prize Changes Beginning January 30, booster prizes for all MOCS and PTQ Prelim and Final Events will award two-thirds  Khans of Tarkir  booster packs and one-third  Fate Reforged  booster pack. Those who collected KTK packs must sell them out asap. WOTC don't give packs of only one set as prizes now. The supply and KTK will match its demand. One of the pillars supporting pack investing is ruined. Another is at risk as the third set of KTK, Dragons is a big set. It's highly possible that the meta game will be changed by the coming of Dragons.

Khans is not another Theros. Its draft structure is like that of RTR. After the third set Dragons releases, the mainstream draft events will be switched to Dragons, Dragons, Fate. I see a chance to buy KTK cards form now (full set is around 87), during Fate Reforged prerelease events and until the time Standard becomes active again. I have picked the following cards: 1. Dig Through Time After the banning, it has dropped to under 2 tix. I think blue based control will keep rising and eventually dominate the Standard metagame in the next few months. Having learnt enough lessons form previous trades, I will start buying regularly but gradually. Maybe it can rest at around 0.5 - 1 tix during prerelease. 2. Flooded Strand and Polluted Delta When blue based controls rise back to popular decks, these lands are essential to them. But there is a risk that Zendikar fetchlands are reprinted in Dragons. 3. Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker and Ashcloud Phoenix Decks today are filled w...

This article includes the bottom-to-top method to compare and rank cards from Fate Reforged. We will predict the potential of cards simply on their abilities; deck types are not considered in our ranking system. What do we care about? Pure damage - How many points of damage can it deal if resolved or unblocked? Card Advantage - What can the card do to bring you advantages over your opponent (one of for X)? Mana Feasibility - Is it easy to splash in various decks? How many mana do they cost? Protection - How strong are they against opponent's spells? 1. Ugin, the Spirit Dragon It's much slower than Elspeth but highly splashable among the control decks/ramp decks. I don't think it will be great in this Standard as enemies of control may be fast enough to finish the game before you draw Ugin. 2.  Monastery Mentor It's very good in Legacy and Vintage, where spells are cheap. In standard, I think it's hard to unlock its real power right now. 3. S...

Picking card to collect, we look at their future values. When a new deck type is showing signs of getting popular after the adding of a new set, I first choose cards based on the colors of the deck type. This time, I expect UB or UW control to come back. In a control deck, it likely for us to use 4 copies of  Dig Through Time . Pearl Lake Ancient and Jace, the Living Guildpact can also be something we need.  The fetchlands, especially Polluted Delta and  Flooded Strand a re good to buy but we must be patient, as KTK will be heavily drafted during prerelease. Then, cards from the set will keep dropping until the third set releases. We have plenty of time to buy. Something I feel confused is the effects of Soulfire Grand Master and Monastery Mentor on tri-color control decks. Frankly, they themselves make up a combo that can constantly burn, counter, draw, give out tokens, depending on the spells you cast. Even when players only gets either of them on the battlef...

Long time no see! It feels so nice to write about MTG again. The cards I want to review today: Shamanic Revelation Sorcery Draw a card for each creature you control. Ferocious — You gain 4 life for each creature you control with power 4 or greater Whisperwood Elemental Creature - Elemental At the beginning of your end step, manifest the top card of your library. (Put it onto the battlefield face down as a 2/2 creature. Turn it face up any time for its mana cost if it's a creature card) Sacrifice Whisperwood Elemental: Until end of turn, face-up, nontoken creatures you control gain "When this creature dies, manifest the top card of your library." Both 5 mana cards are green, one provides conditional draw advantage, the other serves as a response to mass removals that do not exile creatures.  I like the green elemental more. Giving a 2/2 creature every end of turn is an advantage less conditional than card drawing based on number ...

No articles for a long time, I 've caught a cold, a fever and a running nose this week. 1. Ajani, Steadfast Doing playtests on MTGO, I can figure out the standard is not as slow as we expected before. Uncontrolled Burn, Red Aggro decks can chop opponent's life down to zero in 4-5 turns. I think seeking a better way of life gaining is a task of the first priority in this standard. That led me into browsing the whole standard card pool for life gaining cards and I found Ajani Steadfast as a card for Abzan, Naya and GW Decks. When Ajani targets Brimaz, Siege Rhino, Fleecemane Lion or Wingmate Roc, any of these creatures can boost you 4 or more life. That trades for an opponent's Stoke the Flames or Jeskai Charm. Besides, Ajani's 5 loyalty stands one attack from a Mantis Rider or 4 goblin tokens. As it's still low (4 -5 tix), it's a safe timing to collect it slowly. 2. Jace, the Living Gulidpact The game designers tried to remove blue based controls ...

Let me first warn anyone who think getting 3 mana of different colors in turn 3 is easy: it's nearly impossible without the help of Birds of Paradise, Mox Diamond or Noble  Hierarch  - we don't have them in Standard. Even in a format with Birds,  Noble Hierarch, Cavern of Souls, we seldom find players using 3 cmc wedge creatures like Doran, the Siege Tower (it's a 5/5 for 3 mana!). It's because without  1st turn mana ramp card more secure than 0/1 creatures, a 3 cmc card can't enter on turn 2, then the relative card advantage of it drops largely when opponent has 4-5 mana on his/her side to develop. Therefore, the 3 drops in KTK are not the reasons we build decks with according colors. On the other side, some of the 4 cmc wedge creatures do look quite relevant to serious decks. D iscussions have been triggered on the possibility that Junk, which includes Siege Rhino as the 4 drop, replaces Jund after rotation. Now it's the time we should take into account l...

Today, I saw the mechanics of KTK, namely Outlast, Prowess, Delve, Raid, Ferocious, Morph, Modal Spells and Abilities. (If you don't know what they are, click here .) At least 3 of them interact with Jace, the Living Guildpact. The bouncing ability of Jace can reset your opponents' Outlast and Delve creatures or your Morph creatures. The more powerful creatures with these abilities are, the higher chance we see Jace in serious decks. Besides, Jace 's self milling favors Delve of your own creatures. It 's not much now but all we are waiting is something like Tombstalker. As the full KTK card list has not yet been spoiled, we can still collect Jace at 5 tix. I'm putting some tix into Jace. Reading up to this line, you may think my words are illogical, simple minded, lacking practical MTG deck building value. Let me refute. My experience on trading tells me one thing: before the 1st set of a new block releases, decks are generally more creative than those professio...

I am going to predict some situations possibly happening after rotation. If you want to collect potential cards, if you want to avoid great losses, if you want to build decks standing out the crowd, read them. 1. The disappearance of a 4 mana sweeper: Without a card replacing Supreme Verdict, there is no guarantee that UW control can exist. I think soldier decks, GR monsters, GW aggros, Black aggros all too fast for a UW control with turn 5-6 removals to survive against. The two possible outcomes are that Elspeth drops to half of its current price or it rises over 20. Why's that? When UW control abruptly withdraws from the standard, a large proportion of demand on Elspeth disappear, what worsens it, people playing UW decks may sell their 1-2 copies of Elspeth, dooming it to plummet. Logically, half of the demand for Elspeth will evaporate. But we shouldn't underestimate the power of Orzhov control. With all popular removals in it remaining for the next year, Orzhov may like...

When I am able to squeeze out some time to write my blog, it's already early autumn. The season is prefect for some adventurous moves. With the tix I earned from speculating on Vintage cards before Vintage Masters and MTGO V4, I will try on two sets: M15 and Vintage Masters. In M15, I found nearly most of the staples are undervalued. Planeswalkers are cheap, painlands are cheap, also the modern staples like Chord of Calling and Phyrexian Revoker. As for Vintage Masters, I think it 's ripe to plunk at this price level - 700tix a set on supernovabots . Long term collectors should focus on cards that are used in both Legacy and Vintage and reprinted as MOCS before; it's important to pick the right cards as MOCS reprinting hurts the card values gravely. The cards below are those I sorted out from Vintage Masters: Force of Will Underground Sea Tropical Island Bayou Jace, the Mind Sculptor But I recommend picking some staple cards under 5 tix, each collect 20 - 30 copies....

Core sets have always revealed more than we need to know about the next Standard environment. As usual, from the cards, we should figure out what's looming across both the core set and the next block. As for M15, I found graveyard is one of the themes. Souls of 5 planes, Jace's +1 ability, reprint of Satyr Wayfinder, they all utterly signal us to explore grave related themes. The painlands in M15 along with Mana Confluence reassure us not to worry about aggros/ RDWs: they will not be as fast as today's. Still, easing the pain is an issue future decks need to overcome. I think a direct way to do so is through life gaining. Beside decks using  Courser of Kruphix, today's mono black decks with Gray Merchant may have the chance to splash more colors without big troubles on mana damage. What's more, the solely revealed Khans card, as well as the twitter content from Mr. Rosewater(chief designer of the next block) strongly hints us that the next block is full of tri-...

Part 2:  Courser of Kruphix, Stormbreath Dragon,  Polukranos, World Eater, Elspeth We know painlands, Mana Confluence will be the essential part of mana base for enemy-color decks, or maybe tri-color decks. Taking several damage from tapping these lands can be real painful in a standard with Thoughseize, Eidolon of the Great Revel, Keranos, God of Storms, Pain Seer, Herald of Torment. I think people will start trying to use  Nyx-Fleece Ram, Whip of Erebos, Bow of Nylea, and they may build decks splashed green color to use Courser of Kruphix. Standard environment may goes harsh for pain lands and scrying lands if weenies, RDWs dominate the meta. Playing against a deck doing 10 damage in the first 5 turns, we can't afford to take even 1 damage from pain lands. Players may shift to mono green decks or GR monsters again. If that's true, Stormbreath Dragon and  Polukranos, World Eater are highly under-priced right now. But Worlder Eater is in a  $19.99 special d...

Part 1: Scrying Lands, Mana Confluence and the pain lands I assume  Khans of Tarkir  is a set with 5 more allied lands, I also assume the popularity will remain the same for muti-color decks( Jund, Junk, UW, RG, WR etc). Then the scrying lands will still be a must have part of mana base unless the set after Khans releases and adds more mana fixing lands into Standard. Comparing to scrying lands, Mana Confluence is in a position much harder to predict. 21 mana fixing are currently available and 10 will leave with RTR block after rotation. We've just assume 5 will be added but it's not 100% sure. If we don't have fixing in Khan, Mana Confluence will spike up, even if we have 5 in Khan, still, the demand for Mana Confluence will exceed its supply when players rush to draft Khan. After all, 5 color land is more versatile in mana base than enemy pain lands from M15. Those pain lands plus Mana Confluence signify an urge to collect  Courser of Kruphix . I t...

Hearing that a collector sold his 20K collections and he would take a several month break, I was not so panic as the first time I checked out Vintage Masters spoiler. It's true he had reasons to stop playing MTGO and the reasons produced a conclusion of 15% fall in tix value, 70% loss in dual lands, Force of Will, Mana Drain...... And yes, it's also true that reprinting of old cards as special sets can drag the prices down for 70%( Cryptic Command in Modern Masters, for example) and for years. Besides, there are rumors that new MTGO program will drive players out of this game. Put aside weather they will happen or not, I see a chance. First, we have to assume the game, MTG itself doesn't fall in popularity. Then, the demand from front stores and online card shops doesn't disappear so redeemers won't stop buying full sets from MTGO. When the players sell their collections and leave the game, two things happen: redeemers will take the cards and the supply of sta...

This articles is about buying cards from Theros Block. I listed the cards I picked with reasons, expectations and the possible events which signal further selling or buying. The THS cards are selecting by some rules below: 1. I don't pick gods - they are likely 1 of in most decks. 2. Cards not used in recent top 8 decks are not chosen. 3. Some decks are built with mainly Return to Ravnica cards, I avoid THS cards       in these decks The most likely profitable cards: 1. Elspeth, Sun's Champion Reasons: It's highly usable in control decks. Expectations: It should be as high as Sphinx's Revelation, say 35 if the standard doesn't change too much. Signals: you must sell if the next standard favors fast decks. 2. Courser of Kruphix Reasons: Most green decks need it. Expectations: The price may go up to Restoration Angel's (15 tix to 20 tix) Signals: It stops weenies, ramps mana, offsets life loss to Mana Confluence,  I don't see in what condition it...