The Stack #60- Last Year's Hits

Afternoon Zoners!

Usually the New Year brings us time to reflect on the good and bad of the past one. That's what we're all about today- celebrating the best of the last.

Tom, Gramps and I have selected our best picks from 2014. So let's get to it.

THIS IS THE STACK!

UNCLE LANDDROPS

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
I loved the scry lands, not just Temple of Epiphany. The whole cycle rocked, and gave us some powerful additions to every mana base. This temple was picked because it's my favorite artwork of all of them. The color palette has tremendous contrast, making it incredibly appealing, but the best quality of it is that the electrical storm brewing allows the card to both fit the Ancient Greek-ness of the Theros set while also transcending its own plane. With the Izzet guild so identifiable, I really like the fact that this card and artwork seems to slip right into another Izzet deck without seeming awkward. GG and I both liked how Wizards did something similar in Innistrad with the printing of the enemy-colored m10 counterparts, and I think that's where this set succeeds too.

Grandpa Growth-  THUMBS UP
 Yea...these cards are pretty excellent. I have been playing New Benalia in my mono White decks for years. I always thought it was great. These cards are just ridiculously powerful. Lands have become the most important part of any deck and, in modern Magic sets, some of the most expensive. Taplands in general feel pretty bad to draw late in the game, but the Temple cycle is completely different. If you are going to draw a land, you are so much happier drawing this.

Tom - THUMBS UP
I don't have a lot to say about the Scry lands that hasn't already been said. They're awesome. Topdeck manipulation and colour fixing in the same land? Be still my beating heart.

GRANDPA GROWTH

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
Having played with this a bit, I am well and truly convinced that it is overpowered. Clone effects are almost always cheaper than the thing that they are copying. This is a fair deal because you often have to wait for an opponent to play something appealing before you can unleash your Clone, mitigating any potential tempo gains that would accrue from a less mana-intensive play.

 D^2 completely breaks the mirror by granting Haste and Dethrone. Your version gets to attack immediately giving you a clear tempo advantage AND your copy is often larger than theirs because of a single +1/+1 counter you get when coming from behind. How is this fair at all?

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
I was so excited for this because of Animar, and it hasn't let me down.

The last awesome thing I did with it was copy my opponent's Ulasht, the Hate Seed. For those who don't know, giving Ulasht more ways to get bigger on the battlefield lends itself to some serious power. Because Animar is a combat-based deck, predicated on getting wide, I got to a point in the game where I just turned him into a bunch of Saprolings and added some additional Hellrider triggers so I could kill both my opponents at the table.

Tom- THUMBS UP
I haven't had a chance to play with it yet, but I love Clone and copy effects. If it weren't for that pesky little bit of Red in the mana cost this would go right into my Roon of the Hidden Realm copy/blink deck. What really sells this card is the Haste, allowing you to hold it until after someone else drops their Blightsteel or Eldrazi in order to copy a big bastard and launch it an opponent immediately.

UNCLE LANDDROPS

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
One of the finest mass removal spells I've seen printed. In my opinion, this is right up there with Wrath and Damnation, except it creates an excellent way to get one-sided with some of the weenier White or White-Adjacent decks.

Grandpa Growth-THUMBS UP
This is the best five mana Wrath; in my opinion at least. To create an advantage with Wrath, you usually have to set something up or trade away life points. In the decks that play this, there really is no set up cost. You have cheap Creatures, with which you are beating down during the early game. Naturally, your opponent will have bigger late game plays that outclass your Creatures. However, when you play this, you are right back on the war path. Your opponent is left with a frumpy frown and a bad taste in their mouth.

Tom- THUMBS UP
The only thing better than a wipe is an asymmetrical wipe. It's what justifies the high cost of In Garruk's Wake, it's what makes Martial Coup a nightmare in a weenie token deck and it's what makes Necromantic Selection into a potentially game-ending play. I get something while you get nothing, and it's really hard to argue with that kind of advantage when it's applied to multiple opponents. Best of all it works in the many, many new Alesha brews we're seeing to leave her army of midgets in perfect position for an aggro rush.

TOM

Tom -THUMBS UP
The moment I saw this guy, I knew I was going to build around him. There are so many potent death trigger abilities that draw cards, gain/drain life, force opponents to sacrifice and just generally give everyone a tough time that a general who can not only force sacrafice of creatures but get mightier from each death creates a constantly self-reinforcing deck in which every action benefits in some form or another.

So what makes the card so good? Well, the first and most obvious factor is the harsh punishment handed down on any opponent who tutors, ramps or cracks a fetchland. It's EDH, we know how prevalent this kind of thing is, and being able to shut it down is a slice of fried gold. Not to mention that Ob's ability gives poor old Maralen of the Mornsong a reason to keep getting up in the morning. However, useful as that is (and it really is - you wouldn't believe how often opponents will end up ramping/fetching lands with Ob on board just because they need the mana so badly), it's not what really puts Ob at the top of my list.

No, what drives my demonic pal into the top tier is his combination of two forms of evasion coupled with his ability to get bigger and bigger whenever another creature kicks the bucket. I've noticed that opponents will usually ignore this and focus on his anti-searching tech, but it's actually the latter ability that kills them in what is basically deathtriggers.dec. Be it through my own shenanigans with Skullclamp, Attrition, Ghoulcaller Gisa or Soldevi Adnate, potent symmetrical effects like Butcher of Malakir and Grave Pact, or simply targeted or mass destruction from the likes of Malicious Affliction and Plague Wind, Ob Nixilis accrues +1/+1 counters fast, and his flying/trample let him swing in for huge amounts of Commander Damage.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS DOWN

I find it interesting that the reactions to this card have varied so widely. When my threats don't do something to immediately impact the board, I take issue - ESPECIALLY with expensive cards. This does grow quickly, so the fact that it is undersized for its costs doesn't particularly bother me. People use to play Scavenger Drake in this format, and at one time, that was acceptable.

The truth is that nowadays, there is no good reason to be playing a threat that matches up poorly against removal. There are enough good options in every color that you just don't have to make that sacrifice.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
On an individual card basis, I do side with Gramps. Still, we all know O.B. Nix isn't exactly in colors that play fair when it comes to paying for spells, and this is something Mono-Black likes to build around. Premier Reanimation, Boots, and/or Greaves do well to fix the problems here.

GRANDPA GROWTH

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
You've already heard a hundred people talk about how great this reprint is. You are about to hear a couple more people do the same. I am going to do something different.

I don't really 'get' the flavor behind the Dragon bones and the fetchlands. Take delta here for an example: the card seems to imply that the bones are doing the polluting or ARE THE POLLUTION. This is incongruent when you look Wooded Foothills or Windswept Heath, both of which have very 'pretty', nature-centric arts. On those cards it's implied that the skeletons are somehow empowering the growth of plants. Seems weird. Am I alone here?

Tom - THUMBS UP
As a relatively recent convert to the game of Magic, original fetches were way outside of my reach. These reprints have made them much more available, and as someone who loves an efficient mana base I'm overjoyed. The sheer potency of lands that search out the colour you need without an ETB tapped clause is high indeed.

Of course, my excitement has absolutely nothing to do with that foil Windswept Heath I pulled from one of my very first KTK boosters. At all. Ahem.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
This was something I'd found to be an inevitable reprint, and I couldn't think of a better place and a better way to do it.

On top of being economically sensitive to players who held the $35+ original printings from Onslaught (This is because of the block-structure change), I think Wizards did a really nice thing within the confines of their story arc by using the reprint to connect the story of Ugin and his homeland to Zendikar, the last time we saw fetches in Standard. Additionally, it gives us a way to weave and re-weave characters to which we are already familiar with, which is a really smart thing to do in just about every way imaginable.

Well, that's how we stacked it up. We don't have much for news, but it is spoiler season! You can find our latest info and thoughts soon, but if you can't wait that long, follow me on Twitter @unclelanddrops, where I'm sure to be making snarky remarks, re-posting images from PAXEAST yesterday, or answering any questions you have in the future in 140 characters or less.

Until then, make good choices.

Pass.

-The TGZ Staff

Card Corner: Sunscorch Regent

Happy Day of Thor, Zoners!

We're ankles deep into spoilers, and I hope you're feeling wondrously overwhelmed by the influx of the biggest, baddest tribal in the Multiverse.

Today on Card Corner, we're gonna take a look at the CommanderCast preview card I got to check out a few weeks ahead of time, which was a pretty awesome experience.

So after sitting on my thoughts for a week and a half, I get to do some analyzing and postulating, and I hope you'll join me as we talk about the White Dragon Regent!

THE FLAVOR

Although there are Dragons scattered across every color in Magic History, the most compelling part about this block's theme was the sort of "future flavor," if you will, in design. While Red, Black, and even Blue have that innate "enemy" color persona, Green and White have never really been able to reproduce the same kind of reverence when it comes to making a Dragon feel like a Dragon.

The sneak peek in Fate Reforged did little-to-nothing for me in terms of mapping out how they were going to demonstrate this, and I have to admit I felt a little cheated. For starters, Dromoka didn't feel complete as a Dragon (or a Legendary Creature, in my opinion), and the two cards we did get (Wardscale Dragon and Destructor Dragon) barely seemed to communicate a precedent for this design space.

In all fairness, these colors pose a challenge. With Green, Flying is a static ability left almost exclusively to small bugs and bees, while White has the opposite problem- too many creatures with Flying, and not enough space to separate their feel from Angels or Birds.

Relating to Sunscorch Regent, it's pretty clear that the Tarkir flavor REALLY overpowers the essence of this card as a Dragon, which is fine, but it's not aligned with my personal impressions and expectations as a marketed product. While I won't say it was a let down, because I understand what Design and Development had to do to make this work, I have to admit I was a little disappointed. I'm still not sure what a White Dragon looks like, and even though it's a foolish human impulse to use one card to demonstrate the whole, it was clear that Sunscorch Regent wasn't going to be that card, and we were still in the hunt.

THE MECHANICS

Mechanically, I think this card is pretty nice. This is probably attributed to the fact that they really went what they call "Bottoms Up," designing cards with rules and stats before giving it a name and all that.

As it relates to Tarkir, and what we understand of Dragons, and the underlying motivations of the Dragon Broods, it does this well. A reactionary, opponent contingent trigger provides balance while maintaining the power of that old green Forgotten Ancient made by the Magic Community a long time ago. Infused with the afterthought of incremental life gain, we're reminded that this is in fact a card we're gonna pay Plains mana to play, while also giving us additional value driven incentive.

Here in Commander, this card is playable, simply because a 5-Cost creature with evasion and a reason to remove it provides enough incentive for our opponent(s) to think about it. There is going to be a drastic difference between its value in multiplayer versus 1v1, but I think it will be fine for either.

THE ART

The last thing I want to talk about is the artwork, so I've posted it at again. I find it both cool and strange. The colors and scaliness of the dragon itself are typical of what we understand to be the differentiation between the kinds of Dragons on the plane- almost a regional phenotype. Much like desert lizards, these dragons are dry, scaly things that are easily distinguishable.

What I don't like is the color palette. It's just too beige to distinguish the dragon from the background. It's almost like camouflage, which could be an arguable flavor point, but I'm not sure that's really Dromoka brood thing.

Which leads us to the part I both like and dislike- the beam of light coming from Sunscorch Regent's mouth. This is where our eyes are drawn, and I like this eerie, glowing quality. Immediately, I thought Sunscorch Regent was abducting two small people, and I found this notion to be fairly charming, for no real reason.

The thing I dislike is that the more I've been thinking about this, the more I realize that it doesn't make sense when you think about what the card ACTUALLY does. We don't know whether or not Sunscorch Regent is helping or hurting these people. Regardless, how does that relate to the flavor? If he is using it to "sunscorch," that doesn't sound like a good thing. And his reactive, triggered ability suggests that this is a creature more incentivized by hitting back than hitting first. This art doesn't convey these things clearly, based on what I know about the story of Tarkir and the innate-ness of the card.

CONCLUSION

Overall, I think this card is pretty average for us. I like the weirdness, and am really happy, regardless of whether or not it slides into any deck I make, that I had the privilege of getting to see it before everyone else.

Let me know what you think about my thoughts here in the comments below, or on Twitter, where you can now FOLLOW ME @UncleLanddrops! I'm anxious to hear your thoughts!

Pass.
-UL

In General: MTG Economics Part 3: Investment Strategy

Hello and welcome back to In General, the segment where I talk about anything and everything related to Magic: the Gathering. We are in the midst of a four part saga about using Magic as a financial investment. If you missed the first two segments you can check them out using the links below.

Part One: The Primary Market Price
Part Two: Secondary Markets

In last week's segment we talked about some of the difficulties one encounters when using MTG as a financial asset. Today we are going to look at some of the principles that can help you successfully invest in the game.

Strategies for Financial Growth

It is important to remember that as the game grows, so to does the market for those products, including all manner of merchandise that aren't cards. An investment in a card is likewise an investment in the growth and success of the game at large. You need to think in these terms when you are committing to any investment.

Diversification - You have heard not to put all of your eggs into one basket. If you separate your investments they won't all break at once. If you identify that a card is likely to increase in value, commit to that investment, but don't commit 100% of your portfolio.

Modern Portfolio Theory essentially confirms that you will produce more consistent, positive returns by diversifying across not only different cards, but across different asset classes. Invest some of your money in singles, some in sealed product, and some in limited edition collectibles, original artwork, memorabilia etc.

Timing the Market - Or more accurately: don't try to time the market. You have probably heard the old adage, buy low - sell high. Life isn't always that simple, but it could be...if you stay disciplined. If you have made some good money on an investment, cash out. It doesn't matter if it continues to increase or not, you made money and consistent returns will keep in you in business. If you are unsure about where prices are headed, it is best to 'close your position' (sell for cash) and lock in that gain.

Also, don't buy anything while prices are volatile. The best times to buy are BEFORE a big tournament, not after you have heard the results. When a new set comes out, don't buy it. Instead, buy an older set that has probably gone down in value because people have moved their interest to the new, hot thing. If you want to hold a product for a long time, wait until it rotates out of Standard to purchase it at the lowest price.

Positioning Your Assets

To make money in anything, you need to be in the in the right place at the right time. So much depends on your choice to move in and out of a particular investment that I think it bears a more in-depth treatment.

Position - Your position in a product is how much you hold of it and why.

There are really only two positions you can take on an investment: Long and short.

Long - Taking a long position means that you are going to buy something and hold it while it increases in value. You take a long position because you think something is undervalued.

Short - Taking a short position means that you are selling something and converting that value to cash. You take a short position because you expect the price to decline soon.

If you aren't buying or selling a particular product, you simply don't have a position on it.

It is the advice of this author that if you want to make any money investing in Magic you must buy and hold for the long term. When you get in/out, the size of the spread, and market fluctuations will have an effect on your profits, but they are minimized when you take a long term approach. Don't forget that there is a market for more than just singles! Diversify your investment so that the popularity of particular cards or formats doesn't decrease the value of your investment.

This series has become quite the epic. Many apologies Zoners, but I have a lot to say and only so much time to say it. Join me next week for the epic conlcusion of my discussion of MTG Finance where I will discuss RISKS!!!

-GG

The Stack #59- Y U No Play?

Happy Weekend Once Again Zoners!

Like I always say, "Three's a Pattern," so I hope you're getting used to that old Stack Saturday. Today's episode marks our third since we returned from that less-than-glorious hiatus of not sharing our tech.

Today, Tom, Gramps, and I found ourselves with a pretty good topic- Commanders we'd most like to see get played. There are a lot of signals that get sent from the pre-game "shuffle and flip," and whether it's indicative of an exploited matchup, or just sheer excitement for a Legend that's been generally unloved across the current state of sanctioned formats, there's a lot of "feels" to experience when we step into our Kitchen Table Sandbox.

Anywho, let's get cracking- THIS IS THE STACK!

GRANDPA GROWTH

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
Don't think I have ever lost to this card. Not sure how I would. This is something of a running joke between Landdrops and myself.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS DOWN
Haha. JorK the Dork!

I've tried hard, searched far and wide to build Boros, and at some point, I'm gonna have to give up.

JorK is where I draw the line. I guess I'd be happy to see someone flip this up, but I do think this card has a lot in common with its artwork- it's clear, crisp, and bizarrely evoking, but still found wanting to be better.

Tom- THUMBS DOWN
I'm going to be the contrarian on this one, but I see potential. Boros and aggro may both be jokes in what we Commander players call (loosely) a metagame - with, admittedly, fairly good reason, but Metalcraft is super easy to activate in a world of T1 Sol Ring, Boros Signet, T2 Sad Robot/Swiftfoot Boots/Fireshrieker/whatever followed by T3 Jor Kadeen swinging for the fences. Sure, that's the dream opening, yet cheap-but-useful artifacts abound in the format and the Boros colours can both Voltron fairly well or churn out tokens at a hectic pace, making JK's own pump effect rather potent. Pack in guys to increase the pump or grant evasion like Agrus Kos, Legion Loyalist and Victory's Herald, and you've got yourself a stew.

UNCLE LANDDROPS

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
"I have been brought to this place and I cannot leave. I may be free of amber, but I am still in prison."

That's Mangara's flavor text, and I think it's poetically relevant to the strife he faces in our format. Why this dude isn't more common, I have no clue. His mana cost, P/T, and ability make him the PERFECT fit to combo off with sac outlets and Mono-White mainstays like Karmic Guide, Sun Titan, and Reveillark. With the way his activated ability works, there are so many ways to stack triggers and play board police, even if you just end up sending him back to the Command Zone. I know White has Eight-and-a-Half-Tails, Brimaz, and some other tribal and Voltron types, but seriously- I find it really strange that we don't see nearly enough of Mangara in the metagame.

Tom- THUMBS DOWN
I really don't want to see cheap, repeatable exile effects on the other side of the table. If nobody sleeves this dude up, I'll be happy. Unless it's me, in which case, bow before me, foolish mortals!

Grandpa Growth - THUMBS UP
I have played a fair amount of this card in 8.5 Tails decks. I wouldn't ever consider making it my commander, but the card is quite good in my estimation. It isn't premium removal, so don't misunderstand. It is substitute that can serve multiple purposes. White decks in particular have great ways to make this a relevant threat when you don't need it to exile problem targets.

TOM

Tom- THUMBS UP
There are really only three guys on the list of dragons in these colours that I'd consider playing, and two of them are only useful when they die. It's not that Silumgar is necessarily bad as a card -  in 5-colour Scion or a Nicol Bolas/Crosis Grixis dragon tribal I can see him doing solid work, but as a general I think he's pretty laughable. A temporary -1/-1 in EDH is not exactly stunning utility to build a deck around, particularly when it needs otherwise weak support cards to make the effect stronger. If someone slaps this down on my table, then unless I'm running a token build and have sustained a strong enough blow to the head that I forgot to include pump effects, I'm going to feel pretty safe ignoring it.

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP 
Yeah, I know what I said about Silumgar being derped in design in my Legendary Review. I don't take back what I said, but also recall I talked about how good Hexproof, Flying and that weird 3/7 body are together.

By himself, Silly-gar is gonna get rid of all those pesky 1 toughness tokens. Despite thinking I was going to build either Atarka Dragonstorm or Kolaghan Dash Beatz, I've actually broke ground on building this deck because there are two sweet cards unique to Silumgar that no other Dragon in the FRF cycle has- Xenograft and Conspiracy, which make that creature type thing basically irrelevant. Add in all the blue Riptide creatures from Legions which mess with creature type, and we've got ourselves a little stew going. Look forward to this one, because I think it's going to be a lot more compelling than we all thought.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
I won't be playing it. Basically every time I say that, which happens quite a bit, it means that I have very little confidence in my opponent. I can think of at least a dozen other generals in this color combination. I think that people know this isn't good enough for Commander, but they are just playing it because it is new, or maybe they are...either way I understand. I am not immune to the allure of fun. I want to try new things and get outside the comfort zone every once in a while. Still though, I don't want to feel like I need a list of excuses for why I built a deck.

GRANDPA GROWTH

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
Basically every time someone decides to play a group hug deck, they are signalling to me that they aren't serious about winning the game. There are certainly ways to manipulate the political landscape of the game to your advantage, but there are even more ways to just outright win the game no matter how many players are at the table.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS DOWN
The first time you see Pheldagriff, you laugh, and think or say all the things GG mentioned. Every time afterward, you think about how uninteresting it is to be given carte blanche in Magical Christmas Land, and how basically the only winner in a Pheldagriff game is the player who gets to play immediately after the Pheldagriff player. Even if the player is bad at Magic, or the deck is actually bad.

I'm not salty about Pheldagriff, but about his association with bad Magic strategy being reinforced and supported by another quality I find useless- politics. I hope to be able to write my thoughts about the latter either here or on CommanderCast. I'm not on the "let's ban this archetype," but I do think that much like Trade Secrets, the game is a lot more fun without the stereotypical "Pheldagriff player."

Tom- THUMBS DOWN
I am intensely suspicious of this goofy-looking dude.Sure, he seems friendly, and he hands out gifts like a cheating spouse desperately hoping that enough shiny trinkets will make them feel less guilty, but I've got my eye on him. This is mostly because despite seemingly every player who runs him doing so in a Group Hug build, he seems to me like a potentially dangerous Voltron General.

A 4/4 for four is a good start, and optional Flying/Trample are solid attributes for Voltron. The option to bounce him to avoid removal or Wrath is also pretty sweet. While the activated abilities do give a little bit here and a little bit there to opponents, two life/a weenie token/a single card aren't so strong in EDH that they're painful to give away, and the bulk of those won't help to stop a flying, trampling Phelly anyway. Personally I'd play the deck as a rattlesnake ambush, disguising it as a Hug-style deck to dodge any early game hate while using cards like Well of Ideas that seem friendly but actually benefit me more than my opponents, then pumping Uncle Phel with Auras (because his colours are truly sweet for that kind of play and unlike Equipment, we can keep them in hand until we need them and retain the element of surprise) and smashing a shocked opponent out of the game.

Bottom line - beware of hippos bearing gifts.

UNCLE LANDDROPS

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
I wouldn't be unhappy to play against Keranos, but I wouldn't be thrilled either. This color combination houses some of the most brutal combos in the format and 99% of the counterspells. I have played several different Izzet decks and I have rarely been disappointed. Regardless of your choice of general, this deck has potential to dominate.

That being said, I would be much more scared to see Niv-Mizzet or Jhoira. Although, playing against God cards is super annoying for most decks.

Tom- THUMBS UP
He draws cards, he smites weenies and utility dudes, and he's indestructible. And as GG says, he's in a colour pairing able to pull off some seriously unpleasant business. I think his colours are why I like his ability so much; it's trivially easy to stack the top of your library in Izzet, ensuring you get the effect you want every turn.

On the flipside, his devotion is harder to hit in a pairing more focused around non-permanent spells, we're getting more and more Deglamer and Deicide effects to deal with pesky gods, and by himself he isn't essential to any of the really unpleasant combo decks I can think of.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
This is an expensive dude right now, but aesthetically is one of the Gods that I thought looked the part. He's more Zeus than Heliod, and matches that point mechanically too. I haven't seen a whole lot of lists on the internet trying to get ambitious, but I think that's just because of the price barrier.  

Also- Queue Song of Storms!



That wraps 'er all up for this week, so do your thing in the comments if you're outraged by anything we like or dislike.

ALSO- BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

Grandpa and I are getting ready to drag our Luddite attitudes into the Wave of Vitriol known as Twitter. I'm already there, you can find and follow me @unclelanddrops, where I'll be doing any of the following things:

-Posting pictures of silly alternate artwork I made or found.
-Making up goofy nicknames for cards.
-Stuff happening to me or friends across Commander/MTG outlets.
-Crazy ideas for decklists, and links to actual decklists I find cool.
-A 24/7 place for you to share with me your awesome Magic-related tom-foolery, or ask me to help you with a deck tech.

So if you like/do any of this stuff, click that follow button to keep the party going by following me @unclelanddrops. Look for GG's info soon as well.

Pass.

-The TGZ Staff

Card Corner: Mark of Fury

Happy Day o' Thor, Zoners! Welcome back to another edition of Card Corner, the place where ya boi Landdrops spotlights some of his strangest experiments in technology.

Today's card is one I've had stashed away for a long time now- Mark of Fury.

This card was originally in Heartless Hidetsugu's first 99 when I built the deck a couple years ago. I found Mark of Fury somewhere on the Internet, looking through other mono-Red lists that were adjacent to what I was looking to accomplish with HH, and I needed Haste so I could blast the table and accomplish my goals.

However, because it's an enchantment, and a pretty decent one that can be recycled for something that resembles card advantage, the incentive to remove HH went up.

Additionally, I realized that this card was doing something else that I didn't necessarily want to do, which was blast the table on my own turn. What I've found as I've played Hidetsugu is that taking damage before I start slugging the table is optimal, and in order to give myself a chance to win, I needed to keep that time-value option open as long as possible.

Although this is a great time to talk about Mark of Fury, considering that Heroic and Dash are in Standard right now, meaning that us Commander players are testing it out, I'm not sure we'll ever get another card printed like this. From flavor and color pie perspectives, I'm just not thinking that another enchantment like this will get printed, much less in red. Urza block is home to a lot of broken, weird things that Wizards Lead Designer Mark Rosewater has said they will never do again. While it's not Treachery, the value of this card has scaled well because of the power given to creatures, so much that I believe this would no longer be a Common, if they were to ever reprint this.

However, it doesn't mean we can't enjoy and abuse what we've got. There are a lot of times, I've found, in playing red decks where I said, "Damn, I wish I had Haste!" Well, in case you didn't know, we always did!

After finding this card, the problem diminished quickly. Whether's it's been in HH, its new home in my Common/Uncommon Uril, the Miststalker deck, or even designs I've been less proud of, like Herioc Anax & Cymede, Mark of Fury has been a solid play for support. Because Haste is a time sensitive mechanic, value is massive. Coupled with a cheap additional cost of one red per creature to cast it, and our opponents have a serious problem on their hands.

From a design perspective, this may not be in Red's wheelhouse, but the spirit and sentiment do produce something. The pressure and tempo this Mark of Fury creates for typically not-fast Inferno Titans or Utvara Hellkites is exactly the flavor of red, and the fact that they've continued to design cards that produce this effect with more attention to the color's restriction (Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Feldon of the Third Path, Flamerush Rider, Splinter Twin, Heat Shimmer), demonstrate cleaner precedent moving forward. Even Archwing Dragon and Dash are much sleeker implements of the card advantage going on here.

Anyway, this card has been really good for me, and I hope it will be for you too. It's another cheap spell that's got a market value of around a dime in US, and I can't imagine this being hard to find either, seeing as how it's a common and all. So pick a copy up and check it out.

Also, this week CMDR Decks did a spotlight on my Heartless Hidetsugu deck. Here's the link if you want to check out what it looks like today.

Heartless Hidetsugu CMDR Decks

Pass.

-UL

In General: MTG Economics Part 2: Secondary Markets

Hello and welcome to another In General, the Sunday segment where we can discuss anything and everything that relates to Magic the Gathering. I try to steer clear of the world of MtG finance, particularly in my writing. I deal with finance all day at work and I don't like to mix business and pleasure. But last week, I gave a discussion about why Magic sealed product don't experience a true market, particularly with regards to Magic Online.

This is part two of a four part saga about finance and Magic.
If you missed part one, check it out here: The Primary Market Price

In short, there is inside manipulation occurring that limits supply to artificially hold up prices. Obviously, this will have a significant impact on the value of your collection and your ability to increase that value over time. In this article, I will be explaining some of the problems with trying to use Magic as an investment in the Secondary Market, continuing my metaphor of using Magic cards as securities.

A Separation of Sellers and Buyers

First, let me explain what that means. A Primary Offering, is one that comes from the original issuer or producer, i.e. Wizards. Cards being sold from Wizards to stores are said to sold in the Primary market. A Secondary offering is one that happens between two parties who are not the original issuer. E.g. I sell a copy of Gifts Ungiven to Uncle Landdrops for a Snickers bar. You can see how this ends up creating an environment where there are issuers, brokers, and consumers, who all interact to create a market for the product.

If this sounds complex, don't adjust your TV screen, financial markets are so complex that they often become opaque. This makes it very difficult for the average consumer to make money buying and selling products in an open market. If you have ever known someone who has lost a lot of money speculating on the price of Magic cards you're about to learn why.

Factors that Limit Profits

Ask Price - This is the price that you have to pay if you want to buy a card from a dealer. The asking price is going to be as close to the real, current 'market price'.

Bid Price - This is the price that you would be given if you wanted to sell a card to a dealer. It will always be lower than the asking price because there is an expense to running a business and reselling the card. The bid price is closer to the real 'value' of a card than the ask price, but will usually be far below the 'market price'

The way to easily remember these two is this: You have to pay whatever the dealer ASKS, but when you sell, you will take whatever the highest BID is.

Spread - This is the difference between the ask and bid prices. This covers the dealer's expenses and profits and is often thought of as a sales charge. The spread can vary in size, but make no mistake, it is always a POSITIVE NUMBER. Businesses cannot reliably sustain transactions that don't make money.

The only way that you can really exchange a card for its real value is to trade it for another card that you value equally. The problem with this is that you are trading one SUBJECTIVELY VALUED, SPECULATIVE INVESTMENT for another one. Because of all the associated factors that are outside your control, it is going to be very difficult to amass any real economic gains over the long term.

Arbitrage - This is the act of buying something and then selling it in a different market to take advantage of a difference in pricing. These differences are a result of an inequality of information and only exist for a short time.

This is the holy grail of mercantilism: instant profit. The problem is that the prices are moving constantly and you might be the person who has the bad information, which creates a large risk.

So here is the squeeze. If you have to purchase the product at a premium and sell it at a discount, you are going to lose money unless the actual value of that product goes up dramatically. Sales charges cut directly into your gains. Also, some of the underlying appreciation of your card's value is being stolen away by successful arbitrage, which acts to quickly stabilize any movement in prices. Anyone who wants to really make some money buy investing in Magic has to take a broader approach and invest for the long term.

So there it is. This isn't an exhaustive list obviously, but I just want to give you a look at some of the problems that can stop you from making a profit trading Magic cards, even if it was heavy on theory.

That is all for this week. How are you enjoying the series so far? As always, your feedback is appreciated. Leave your thoughts in the comments below. I will see you next week for my discussion of how to successfully invest in MTG.

-GG

The Stack #58- Favored In Fate

Happy Weekend Zoners!

Today, we're talking about our favorites from Fate Reforged. We've had Prereleases, FNMs, Game Day- basically, plenty of time to affirm and destroy any opinions we may or may not have had when did the reviews a few weeks ago.

This week, it's just your core TGZ staff sharing picks, but that's not gonna stop us.

THIS IS THE STACK!

UNCLE LANDDROPS

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
What I love about this card is that it is instantly premium removal for us. I was shocked to see something so strong, particularly with such an aggressively costed 1U.

What I don't like about this card is that it feels colorshifted, and definitely not as color intensive. It's just hard for me to see Mastery of the Unseen and feel like this card shouldn't cost WW, GU, or some combination of these colors. It's just so much stronger than Rapid Hybridization and Pongify, which I already play.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
UL took mine. This card is insane. Even in the most Creature heavy decks, you are overwhelmingly likely to flip a noncreature. Most decks are nearly half lands. You can probably expect there to be ramp spells, artifacts, removal, counters, etc. to be at least 25% of their total deck. 25 Creatures is a lot in a Commander deck. In that case, many of them will be mana dorks. All in all, I estimate (roughly) that this will be excellent 95% of the time. The other 5% of the time, instead of being excellent, it will be interesting.

Tom- THUMBS UP
If you're running heavy Blue, there's no good reason not to run Pongify, Rapid Hybridization and Curse of the Swine. Mono-Blue spot removal is scarce - with good reason - but when it does appear it's always a shoe-in for Island-based EDH decks. Now we can add Reality Shift to the list of must-haves.

As GG says, most of the time the Manifested card is going to be less useful than what's being exiled, and even then running something like Lens of Clarity (probably a good idea now that there are going to be more face-down cards in the format) is going to clue you in as to whether the Manifest dude will be a problem later.

GRANDPA GROWTH

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
I have already gone on two rants about this card and how wildly entertaining it is, so I will spare you, but I am interested in hearing other people's opinions on the card.

Bonus audience participation challenge: In the comments, explain how to consistently turn this into card advantage.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
In a bizarre stroke of irony, this is the card I anticipated that GG would want, so I made other picks. Apparently one of those was Reality Shift, which Gramps wanted.

What I like about this card is that I don't actually care about "consistent" card advantage. Most likely, I am going to abuse it once and blow it up. Tormenting Voice is a card I already play in red decks. This is just extra icing on the cake.

Tom- THUMBS UP
Love it. Absolutely love it. It's a very flavourful Red effect. As Uncle Landdrops points out, it's not the usual Blue standard of repeatable tap-and-draw like Arcanis the Omnipotent. It's a one-and-done source of pure draw that fits very nicely with the Red theme of giving up something to get cards. It found an immediate home in most of my decks running Red, and the few times I've drawn it thus far have given me no cause to regret doing so.


UNCLE LANDDROPS

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
Really like this card. Working on a super-budget, common/uncommon Uril deck, and this fortifies card draw while also giving me the pumps. I don't have a whole lot of cards that are just pump effects, but if I've gotta have an exception, this is a nice one. Acting as both a Harmonize and a way to go lethal in conjunction with all the cheap little Auras that have static effects, Sage's Reverie will be a nice addition to Uril, and the better Aura-Voltron decks in the format.

Grandpa Growth-  THUMBS UP
This is an easy shoe-in to Bruna decks, of which I have one. I liked flight of fancy in that deck quite a bit because you need a way to draw cards that plays well on theme. Sure you could cast Divination, but the ability to recur it with Bruna and Hanna, Ship's Navigator is important.

In that deck, this draws WAY more cards and has the added bonus of making your Creature into a legitimate threat.

Tom- THUMBS UP
Solid pick for Voltron builds, equally good for Aura-focused Enchantress builds, and, probably not a common opinion, but it's something I've been wanting to try out for a while: pretty damn good in an Heroic deck. Getting Anax & Cymede's pump effect and a few new cards in hand is value. Cheap White card draw with the potential to grab a whole new grip makes this card a serious contender for a few fun builds. The only downside I see is that it can't be run in any of these newfangled Tiny Leaders decks I'm hearing so much about.


TOM

Tom- THUMBS UP

Krenko has a new best friend! As does anyone else running Red aggro/weenies variants. Myself, I like it for a Prossh deck; throw the hungry dragon and his horde of kobolds at someone, play Dragonrage, then sac the Kobolds to Prossh and spend all the mana using his new mana sink to make him a bigger threat than ever.

What really makes this card shine is the flexibility - there's no overly-narrow specification that the mana generated must be spent on pumping your attackers, so you're free to drop this when Krenko's goblin horde is charging at one opponent and then use a supercharged Comet Storm or similar to blast a second unsuspecting foe out of the game. Boom goes the dynamite.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS DOWN

This card is very interesting, but I haven't seen any truly broken applications for it. This mostly just acts as a Red alternative to Overrun effects. The number one problem is that Creatures don't get Trample, so you really have to assemble an impressive board to make this worth casting. I can't advise using this strategy in a format where there are 50+ legal Wrath effects.

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS DOWN
Magic may have invented a nice new compound word, but the card's mechanics are nerfed quite a bit, which feels reminiscent of a bygone Dragon Rage from a bygone Gyarados (For whatever reason, this attack in Pokemon only did 40 damage). Back to our card, I honestly don't see why it couldn't be RR for each creature. That still seems fair, considering that the attacking clause requires your creatures to be in combat, severely limiting time and place that this can be used anyway, and Trumpet Blast is literally 2R, "Creatures you control get +2/+0 until EOT." While not the same thing, short of having another few handy red Instants, I don't see this mana doing much but Firebreathing.

I'd also like to point out that of the 50+ Wrath effects, only a handful can be used or activated on an opponent's step without Quicken or a Vedalken Orrery, but there are many spot removal spells that hose this card. Still, if it does what it's supposed to do, this is an Overrun effect that navigates combat in a more compelling way. By being an Instant-speed trick of its own, the possibility to force trades exists, and that seems cool. My Thumbs still point down, but I'm sure I'll see an opponent beat my face with it, making it a little more optimistic.

That's all we got for this week, but it doesn't mean we don't want to hear from you! Feel free to share with us your favorite Fate Reforged tech for our favorite 40-life format in the comments below!

Pass.

-The TGZ Staff

Cast Stuff

Happy Thor's Day!

I don't have any innate TGZ stuff today. I've been a little slammed this week.

However, I do have stuff for you. In tandem with last week's talk about ObzeDIZZLE, there's a nice strategy overview on Life Gain decks that I wrote for CommanderCast. Here's the link for that:

CommanderCast article- Getting a Life

Additionally, I got a chance to talk Abzan with the guys on this week's podcast. Here's that in case you haven't listened to it:

CommanderCast Episode #187- Card Abzantage

Pass.

-UL

In General: MTG Economics Part 1: The Primary Price

Hello and welcome back to In General. On Sunday's here at TGZ we talk about anything and everything related to Magic the Gathering. Today, I am beginning a four-part opinion/educational piece on the economics of MtG, starting with everyone's favorite scapegoat: MtGO.

You can ask anyone in town, they will all have a few complaints about Magic Online. Specifically, I am going to pick out something that has been bothering me since the very beginning of online play: the cost structure.

Market Control

If you want to purchase a physical MtG sealed product, they are pretty expensive. There are certainly costs to creating and producing the game, but those are relatively small. Primarily, what drives up the cost of Magic cards is demand. While Wizards works to make the game appealing and grow the player base, the demand for cards is largely outside of the company's control. Some sets sell better than other. The reason for this is the strength of the product and people's interest in it.

Things are a little bit different when it comes to Magic Online. The costs of maintaining the program and providing support, etc., are still definitely there, so it could never be free, but there is no scarcity. A mint condition Black Lotus is expensive because only a handful still exist and thousands of people want one. Black Lotus is expensive on MTGO because Wizards has decided it will be that way.

By restricting the supply of new electronic cards 'produced' they keep the price of electronic boosters and other sealed product high, which they can then continue to sell for 99% PROFIT.

I fully endorse Wizard's right to run a profitable business and make money by entertaining people. That is their right as a corporation. But make no mistake, there is no real correlation between the price of an electronic booster pack and a physical one.

They don't require the same materials, don't trade in the same market, and don't suffer the same economic constraints, so why are they the same price? Actually, electronic boosters are usually more expensive from the Wizards online store than they are in real life. Tying these prices together is a convenient way for consumers to visualize and accept the costs, but in actuality this represents a clever price fixing scheme by Wizards.

Consumer Protection

When you provide a product to consumers, you should be required to disclose the extent to which you a Market Maker in that particular product and what your Compensation, if any, is for facilitating that transaction.

A market maker is any entity that has a way to control the supply, and thus the price, of a product. If you are a dealer with an inventory position, you are a market maker, provided you have at least a small percentage of the market under your control.

Compensation is pretty straightforward. I am not saying that every dealer needs to provide a full income statement and balance sheet with every candy bar they sell, but interested consumers should be given the opportunity to scrutinize such information at their request, if only in the interest of consumer protection.

Savvy readers may have picked up the language and rules that I am referencing. This is securities law. In the United States, nationally traded securities are regulated by the Securities Exchange Commission, which utilizes these rules for enforcing proper disclosure of material facts to consumers BEFORE THEY BUY.

Servicing vs. Profiteering

I am an adamant supporter of consumer protection. Not necessarily consumer protection LAWS, which are often politically motivated and have only modest effectiveness, but rather responsible business practices.

If a man was dying of thirst in the desert you would give him some water, right? Well, if you always did it for free, soon you would be out of water yourself because people would take advantage of your kindness, so you need to regulate the price somehow. You also don't want to charge extortionate prices because that will turn people away from you, shrink your market share, and most importantly: it won't serve your customer's needs.

I am arguing that, by pegging the price of online boosters to physical boosters AND artificially restricting the supply by only presenting limited public offerings, Wizards is behaving in an anti-consumer way. They are charging a fixed, theoretical maximum for a product which has a negligible marginal cost to produce. They hold a monopoly position, which is unavoidable because they created the game themselves and it is their intellectual property, but for those who are not inclined to an in-depth economic analysis, suffice to say that this situation usually ends poorly for the consumer.

Charging the highest prices that you can while optimizing sales is a typical indicator of a profiteering business model. A servicing business model is one in which you voluntarily charge lower prices to build up loyalty, trust, and social equity with your customers.

At the beginning I promised that this would be an opinion piece, so in case you don't think that you have gotten your money's worth, here is my final opinion on this subject: Companies, particularly someone like a toy manufacturer who brings so much joy into the world, should use a servicing model for pricing their products, NOT a profiteering model.

Join me next week Zoners, when I discuss why Magic isn't a great investment. Oh joy!

-GG

The Stack #57- Stack-zarus, Come Forth!

Breaking Bad. That was a Breaking Bad reference.

So in case you're not familiar with the recurring trope that is used in Comedy Central's longest running raunchy cartoon,  people happen to come back from the dead a lot. Frankly, the rate of resurrected characters has been astounding across the many programs I follow.

Whether it is because I'm in the resurrecting or reanimating spirit, or just because the truth of the matter is that TGZ's best co-collaborative segment never really did die- it just went and hid out in New Hampshire for several months under a different identity so as to gain perspective- we're back. By we, I mean, The Stack, and there's soon to be a whole host of new guests getting featured.

To honor this momentous occasion, the re-launching features twice the theme- our favorite cards with Flashback, and our favorite cards to Reanimate.

So yeah, we're playing it again, cause The Stack is great, and it never gets old.

Time to throw it in reverse for thirst!
THIS IS THE STACK!

TOM

Tom- THUMBS UP
OK, yeah, I know. Technically, not so much a target for reanimation as it raises itself. Still, that raid trigger is kinda like a Creature-based version of Flashback, so I'm throwing caution to the winds and including the card anyways.

For a deck that runs off death triggers and reanimation, Bloodsoaked Champion is...well, a champion. He's an ideal early turn play to couple with your Skullclamp for immediate card advantage. He's super easy to recur and he gets around the pesky non-token specification for cards like Grim Haruspex and Harvester of Souls. Best of all he can be reanimated repeatedly per turn for so long as you have mana and a sac outlet, making him practically a boardwipe when combined with Grave Pact, Ashnod's Altar and a handful of Swamps.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
Mad props to BS Champ. I've literally pulled my playset of this card from Sealed and Draft, where it's probably even better than it is in Commander: eating Morph dudes for breakfast and being personally responsible for the best Aggro decks in both environments. If it wasn't for Sagu Mauler, I'd say it was the best Creature in those environments.

The big flavor question me and the rest of Reddit want to know though- How does he not block if he's holding two shields?

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
The card is pretty great, but I have to admit, I hate it. Wizards has printed more quality Skullclamp enablers than they have quality exiling removal to deal with those enablers. There are a dozen or more Creatures that look nearly identical to this, which all scare the crap out of me. BSC isn't even the top contender in this category, but it is still enough to get my attention. The added benefit of having a bunch of these cards in your deck is that your opponent often starts losing life very early on AND they can't expect to weasel out of harm's way using a Wrath effect. Just adding card advantage to any Creature makes them into the perfect threat.

UNCLE LANDDROPS

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
This is the most common Flashback card I play in my decks. Along side Merfolk Looter, this becomes a serious amount of card draw, even when all I'm doing is flashing it back.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
This is a super high-impact common, which I love. It is a great way to generate a ton of card advantage throughout the game. It presses your opponent to have multiple counterspells. Is it a little expensive? Sure, but this isn't really an early game type of card. This is the kind of thing you are either sandbagging or celebrating when you draw it late.

Tom - THUMBS UP
Overcosted, Sorcery-speed card draw is pretty meh. On the flipside, anything that allows for "target player" to draw cards wins out over straight self-draw for the added flexibility; Nekusar and a few other decks want that, and even in non-janky non-combo decks giving free cards to beleagured players can be an interesting political tool.

I like the Flashback cost as well. Anything that asks such a small life cost is much better in EDH than elsewhere and two mana + three life for two cards = solid.

GRANDPA GROWTH

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
If you know me, and you know what this card does, then there is no more explanation necessary. This was a close pick for me though, there are probably half a dozen cards that I could very easily claim are my 'favesies'. Army of the Damned, Creeping Rennaissance, Cackling Counterpart, Fervent Denial.

I just want to point out that Landdrops and I both picked commons for this topic. Go Pauper. Whoo!

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
Pauper cards are really helpful in making not just deck designs, but also, Commander, much more exciting.

I love Mystical Teachings, and I often find that I make sketchy U/B decks just so that I can play some of my favorites with these specific color identities. Teachings is definitely there.

That Black in the color identity is what I think makes it both very strong and very scarce in terms what decks this card can go in, relative to our format. I'm not playing Tutors-on-Tutors so much anymore, but this one that I've definitely built several different packages around.

Tom- THUMBS DOWN
A personal preference, but I don't really like to tutor. Granted, it's understood that sometimes you just need a very specific card, but when building decks I err towards redundancy so that there are several cards which can fill any role required. Being able to search the library for answers is undeniably useful, but also - for my money - leads to repetitive games as the "best" answers are usually tutored up or used to win a game out of nowhere. It's funny and cool the first time, but after several games end the same way it grows stale. Not to mention the endless searching/shuffling drawing out the pace of a game can be exceptionally annoying to other players. Putting Flashback on a tutor card is guaranteed to have me grinding my teeth.

UNCLE LANDDROPS

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
This card dominated Standard, shines in Commander, and should be in every Cube out there. The card is just completely bananas at all points in the game. It resists/pairs well with some of the best cards in the format: Removal? Psssh. Show and Tell? What a joke! Upheaval? Deal.

On a related note: I just watched Firefly last year. It wasn't that good. Things I don't like: Nathan Fillion, Joss Whedon, Science Fiction.

Tom- THUMBS UP
I had thoughts to put here, but got all distracted by GG's closing statement. Blasphemy. May the Angel of Serenity smite you.

The best thing about the card is the flexibility. It can be a recursion engine for your graveyard, a multi-target Oblivion Ring for your foes or a bouncing engine for your own ETB creatures. Sweet value in every instance. I run the Angel in my Roon copy/blink deck, and under the right circumstances - like when paired with a Progenitor Mimic or a kicked Rite of Replication - she can spirit away entire armies of opponents' beasties.

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
Well, I have no clue what the hell Grandpa is thinking. Firefly Rulz. Hopefully there are enough Browncoats and Jayne's Hats that enjoy what's going on here. This is my altered version (credit to the unknown Deviant Artist for this) for the Angel of Infinite Card Advantage and Beatdowns, but I believe everyone will recognize Return to Ravnica's premier reanimate target.

I play this in Saffi, and I can't tell you how design predicated on Reanimate-Reinforcement makes this so filthy. Sac outlets and trigger stacking make her one of the strongest synergies I have in a deck where there are plenty of synergies that actually end the game outright as opposed to denying resources. She's still one of the best cards in the deck and has saved my skin more than a few times, making her not just an Angel based on card type alone.

Alright, well that wraps 'er all up. Be sure to holla in the comments below if you have a card to contribute, you have a topic you'd like us to tackle, or you'd like to be a guest on a future episode of The Stack!

Until next time, be sure not to let this Wookie win.

Pass.
-UL/GG/Tom