The Modern Bible of RG Tron - chaper 19: The Coil Deck Sideboard Plan

Today we will get vary specific and give a straight SB plan for the first of the deck builds we looked at in chapter 7 - The Coil Deck.

You can find the article on the deck here: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2015/04/the-modern-bible-of-rg-tron-chapter.html

The Deck List
1 Eye of Ugin
2 Forest
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Powerplant
4 Urza's Tower

1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
3 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Spellskite

4 Oblivion Stone
4 Karn Liberated

4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
4 Expedition Map
4 Sylvan Scrying
4 Ancient Stirrings
3 Relic of Progenitus
4 Pyroclasm

Sideboard
4 Nature's Claim
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Spellskite
2 Boil
2 Torpor Orb
3 Combust
1 Firespout

A word of warning
Your sideboard will and should depend on your metagame. This is just a snapshot, an example of what a sideboard plan could look like. The intention is to show you what a sideboard plan could look like and give you ideas how to make your own - not to give you a template that will win every game. So be warned. With that said, lets get on with it.

Also, the sideboard plan does not contain every known deck. Please add to it in the comments below.

The Coil Deck sideboard plan

8-Rack:   -4 Pyroclasm, -1 Spellskite , +4 Nature's Claim, +1 Relic 

Abzan: +3 Nature's Claim, +1 Wurmcoil Engine,  -4 Pyroclasm    
           
Ad Nauseam: +4 Nature's Claim,  +1 Wurmcoil, -4 Pyroclasm, -1 Spellskite      

Affinity: +4 Claim,  +1 Wurmcoil, -3 Relic, -1 Karn Liberated, -1 Eye of Ugin, 

America Control; +4 Claim, +2 Boil, -4 Pyroclasm,  -1 Spellskite, -1 Oblivion Stone   

Amulet of Vigor:  +4 Nature's Claim, +1 Spellskite - 4 Pyroclasm, -1 Relic

BW Tokens: +2 Claim, +1 Firespout, -1 Spellskite, -2 Relic
           
Bogles: +4 Nature's Claim, +1 Spellskite, -3 Relic, -1 Karn Liberated, -1 Emrakul 

Burn:  +4 Nature's Claims, +1 Wurmcoil, +1 Pyroclasm, +1 Spellskite, -2 Karn, -2 Stone, -3 Relic

Delver: +2 Claims, +1 Wurmcoil, +1 Pyroclasm -1 Karn Liberated, -3 Relic

Dredge: +1 Relic, -1 Spellskite

Eggs: +4 Nature's Claim +1 Relic, +3 Slaughter Games, -4 Pyroclasm,  -1 Spellskite, -1 Ulamog, -1 Karn, -1 Wurmcoil Engine 

Faeries: +2 Torpor Orb, +2 Boil, -1 Spellskite, -3 Relic of Progenitus  

Green Ramp: +1 Wurmcoil, -1 Spellskite

Hatebears: +2 Nature's Claim, +1 Pyroclasm, +1 Wurmcoil, -1 Eldrazi (you will not have mana), -3 Relic    

Infect:   +4 Nature's Claim, +1 Spellskite, +1 Pyroclasm, -1 Emrakul/Eldrazi, -1 Wurmcoil Engine, -3 Relic, -1 Karn, -2 Sylvan Scrying  

Living End: +1 Relic, +1 Wurmcoil, +2 Nature's Claim -4 Pyroclasm,  

Jund  +1 Relic, +1 Engine - 1 Spellskite, -1 Scrying/Sphere  

Merfolk:    +3 Nature's Claim, +1 Wurmcoil, -3 Relic, -1 Spellskite, 

Mono-Black Devotion: -1 Spellskite, +1 Wurmcoil

Ninja Bear Delver: +1 Wurmcoil, + 2 Boil , - 1 Spellskite, -2 Relic

Scapeshift: +1 Spellskite, +2 Boil, +1 Relic, -4 Pyroclasm   
               
Soul Sisters: +2 Torpor Orb, +1 Wurmcoil, -3 Relic

Splinter Twin:  +2 Torpor Orb, +2 Boil, +4 Claim,  -1 Wurmcoil, -4 Pyroclasm, -2 Relic, -1 Karn 

Storm: -1 Spellskite, -2 Wurmcoil Engine, -1 Emrakul, -1 Eye of Ugin  
         +4 Nature's Claim, +1 Relic,

Tron, Blue: -4 Pyroclasm, -1 Spellskite, -1 Oblivion Stone, ,+2 Boil, +1 Relic of Progenitus, +3 Nature's Claim.  Never forget to TAKE OUT SPELLSKITE!

Tron, RG:  -4 Pyroclasm, -2 Relic, +1 Spellskite, +1 Wurmcoil, +4 Nature's Claim 

Zoo: +3 Claims, +1 Wurmcoil, +1 Spellskite,  -1 Emrakul, -3 Relics, -1 Karn, 



For a full list of the chapters of The Modern Bible check out this link: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2015/02/the-modern-bible-of-rg-tron-part-1.html

Magic Origins: new mechanics

Magic Origins set is on the way, hence it is high time to introduce new mechanics:

• Renown X 1 - whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, if this creature is not renowned, put X +1/+1 counter on it and it becomes renowned until it leaves the battlefield. The ability will neither trigger if the creature deals combat damage to a Planeswalker nor if renowned creature loses its all +1/+1 counters.
• Spell mastery - if there are two or more instant or sorcery cards in your graveyard your spell will be pumped and you get a special effect. Don't count the resolving spell itself. It's still on the stack at that point, not in your graveyard.
• Menace - is a new keyword for an old ability. A creature with menace can't be blocked except by two or more creatures.
• Double-faced planeswalkers - if a creature meets a specific condition it will be transformed into Planeswalker.

Goblin Piledriver in Magic Origins!!!!

Hi Everyone,
It's not exactly new information that Goblin Piledriver is being reprinted in Magic Origins. It's funny because Magic has said repeatedly that it was poor card design because "protection from blue" doesn't make sense on the card, but it was in order for red to have a one-up on Psychatog (back in my youth). So, now it's getting reprinted. I'm making a bet that it's because a beloved tribe in Magic is Goblins and there's no real viable Goblin deck in Modern. There's Merfolk and Elves, but not Goblins? Goblins was the only viable tribal deck in the mid 1990s. Merfolk and Elves were laughable compared to Goblins, now they are sadly under-represented in Modern.

So what's this mean for the rest of us not playing goblins? Not a lot. it is a basic creature deck with nothing special going on. It has some burn and some creatures.

What's the financial play? Well, it's a little late to buy Goblin Chieftains. They shot from a dime to a dollar in just a few days. I wouldn't pick them up now if you don't have them, I'd wait a few weeks until the "fever" dies and they will be cheaper than they are right now. If goblins is a real competitive deck, it's possible for the cards to go up even more.

Here's the only Goblin decklist I could find on mtgtop8.com:

 

 This list is the only Goblin list I found and it's from a daily event in 2013. I'm sure it could be updated with the new appropriate cards, but I want to point out one interesting point. The deck has four Shared Animosity.  Shared Animosity turns all your creatures into Piledriver type creatures. Is Piledriver going to actually make a difference? Maybe.

MTGO Library Bot 8.93

We have just released ML Bot 8.93. This is a minor build adding some debug messages while loading the collection from the MTGO xml files.
We also fixed a background price reloader bug happening on Windows 8.1.

MTGO Library Bot 8.92

ML Bot 8.92 has been released. The new build includes:

• fixed a memory leakage happening on Windows 7 when Aero effects were disabled
• fixed a crash in trade when the customers typed "0" to remove all the cards
• we reworked the final confirm of the trade to make it faster

The Future of Modern: Amulet Bloom and Reanimator

Hi Everyone!

I'm happy to say this week is over for me. I have had the worst imaginable week and I'm really excited that I can talk about Magic instead of dealing with the hell that was the last four days!

Today I'm talking about bannings in Modern, specifically, Amulet and Reanimator (I'm not sure what it's exactly what it's official name is, but it's the Goryo's Vengeance/Griselbrand deck with Borborygmos).

Are these decks going to have something banned? Maybe, but what would it be. It's pretty easy for Amulet, ban Amulet of Vigor, problem solved. What about the reanimator deck? Goryo's Vengeance? Yep. Two key cards and two dead decks. Sounds like a plan to me, let Twin get back to ruling Modern (FYI, I think combo decks designed to win on specifically turn four make magic much less fun than if these decks didn't exist). Or maybe Elves or "podless pod" or Abzan Collected Company would be the top deck.

Enough Rambling. The reason I'm talking about these decks today is that I don't they will get banned despite their breaking the "turn 4" rule in Modern. I learned from Treasure Cruise that the biggest reason the DCI bans cards is because people complain (that's how it seems to me at least). People complained about delver after delver after delver matches and they banned Treasure Cruise and Dig to take Delver back down to tier 2.

I'm saying I don't know if Amulet will get banned, but if it does, it will be for being too fast and/or for being uninteractive. I'm pretty sure Amulet should be banned on power level.

I also think the reanimator deck could get banned. It's boring to watch, wins too quickly and doesn't interact with opponents, the hallmarks of what's not supposed to be in Modern.

Updates to the Holiday Cube

The Holiday Cube is coming back on July 8th to Magic Online. There has been 52 card changes.

They finally decided to get rid of Time Vault as it was "too broken". Duh. We knew that.

Some interesting additions are Siege Rhino, Gurmag Angler, Dig Through TIme, Monastery Mentor, Gush, Treasure Cruise (yeah! My favorite card!), Tasigur, Kuldotha Forgemaster, Ugin, Fastbond, Mental Misstep, Gitaxian Probe and Deathrite Shaman.

The vampire theme has been cut. I am not sure what they want black to draft now but pretty much anything is probably better than the vampires.

Plow Under is also gone, which is probably good as it makes for some very uninteractive gameplay, although you could argue that the Holiday Cube is all about that.

How do you think these changes will affect the gameplay experience of the MTGO cube?

Full article here: http://magic.wizards.com/en/MTGO/articles/archive/magic-online/holiday-cube-updates-2015-06-22

MTGO Library Bot 9.80

ML Bot 9.80 is a minor update containing improvements on the speed of the trades. We worked on the "central part" of the trade, when the bot reads the cards, quotes them and picks the tickets, and made it 2x faster. You won't probably notice any difference on fast computers (because that part was already fast), but you should be able to see a difference with mid and low-range hardware.

The future of Vintage and Legacy

Hi Everyone!

If you've read my articles and watched my videos you know that I constantly talk about how Modern will progressively look more and more like Legacy.

I realized something last night when I watched one of my favorite streamers double queued Vintage and Modern. I couldn't tell at first glance which deck was Vintage and which deck was Modern.

This was quite the realization. At that moment I realized that it's not modern that's beginning to look like Vintage, it's Vintage that's beginning to look like modern.

It all makes sense though, they keep printing better and better creatures. I remember when the best thing to tinker or show and tell was Darksteel Colossus. I remember when Autumn Willow (the first creature with pseudo hexproof) was a big deal (it never got played at my LGS but it was still a big deal).

So, let's all not be surprised when some kind of survival of the fittest deck becomes a top tier deck at some point in the future. It could be like Pod was to modern. Creatures are insane compared to the Serra Angels I used to play with back in the old days.

Do you think creatures could ever get so good that Vintage decks could be primarily creature based?

The Modern Bible of RG Tron chapter 18 - The Titan Deck sideboard plan

Today we will get vary specific and give a straight SB plan for the first of the deck builds we looked at in chapter 6 - The Titan Deck.

You can find the article on the deck here: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2015/03/the-modern-bible-of-rg-tron-chapter-six.html

The Deck List
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Eye of Ugin
1 Forest
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Powerplant
4 Urza's Tower

1 Sundering Titan
3 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Spellskite
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

4 Oblivion Stone
4 Karn Liberated

4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
4 Expedition Map
4 Sylvan Scrying
4 Ancient Stirrings
2 Relic of Progenitus
4 Pyroclasm

Sideboard
4 Nature's Claim
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Spellskite
2 Boil
2 Torpor Orb
3 Combust
1 Firespout

A word of warning
Your sideboard will and should depend on your metagame. This is just a snapshot, an example of what a sideboard plan could look like. The intention is to show you what a sideboard plan could look like and give you ideas how to make your own - not to give you a template that will win every game. So be warned. With that said, lets get on with it.

Also, the sideboard plan does not contain every known deck. Please add to it in the comments below.

The Titan Deck sideboard plan

8-Rack:   -4 Pyroclasm, , -1 Spellskite , -1 Sundering Titan,  +4 Claim, +1 Emrakul, +1 Wurmcoil

Abzan: +3 Claim, +1 Wurmcoil Engine,  -4 Pyroclasm    
           
Ad Nauseam: +4 Nature's Claim,  +1 Wurmcoil, -4 Pyroclasm, -1 Spellskite      

Affinity: +4 Claim,  +1 Wurmcoil, +1 Firespout, -2 Relic, -1 Sundering Titan,  -1 Karn Liberated, -1 Eye of Ugin, -1 Emrakul

America Control; +4 Claim, +2 Boil, +2 Combust, -4 Pyroclasm,  -1 Spellskite, -3 Oblivion Stone   

Amulet of Vigor:  +4 Nature's Claim, + 2 Torpor Orb, +1 Wurmcoil - 4 Pyroclasm, -2 Relic -1 Sundering Titan

BW Tokens: +2 Claim, +1 Firespout, -1 Spellskite, -2 Relic
           
Bogles: +4 Nature's Claim, +1 Spellskite, -2 Relic, -1 Sundering Titan, -1 Karn Liberated, -1 Sylvan Scrying 

Burn:  +4 Nature's Claims, +1 Wurmcoil, +1 Firespout, +1 Spellskite, -1 Karn, -2 Stone, -2 Relic, -1 Emrakul, -1 Sundering Titan

Delver: +2 Claims, +1 Wurmcoil, +1 Firespout -1 Karn Liberated, -2 Relic

Dredge: +1 Relic, +1 Wurmcoil, -2 Pyroclasm

Eggs: +4 Nature's Claim +1 Relic, -4 Pyroclasm,  -1 Spellskite

Faeries: +2 Torpor Orb, +2 Boil, -1 Spellskite, -2 Relic of Progenitus, -1 Sundering Titan  

Green Ramp: +1 Wurmcoil, +1 Firespout, -1 Spellskite, -1 Sundering Titan

Hatebears: +2 Nature's Claim, +1 Firespout, +1 Wurmcoil, -1 Eldrazi (you will not have mana), -2 Relic, -1 Sundering Titan    

Infect:   +4 Nature's Claim, +1 Spellskite, +1 Firespout, -1 Emrakul, -2 Relic, -1 Karn, -1 Sylvan Scrying, 1 Sundering Titan

Living End: +1 Relic, +1 Wurmcoil, +2 Torpor Orb,  -4 Pyroclasm,  

Jund  +1 Wurmcoil Engine - 1 Spellskite  

Merfolk:    +3 Nature's Claim, +1 Wurmcoil, +1 Firespout, +2 Combust, +1 Spellskite, -2 Relic, -2 Karn Liberated, -1 Emrakul, -1 Sundering Titan, -1 Sylvan Scrying, -1 Eye of Ugin

Mono-Black Devotion: -1 Spellskite, -2 Relic,  +1 Emrakul,  +1 Wurmcoil, +1 Firespout

Ninja Bear Delver: +1 Wurmcoil, + 2 Boil, +1 Firespout, --2 Relic, -1 Sundering Titan, -1 Emrakul,

Scapeshift; +3 Nature's Claim, + 1 Spellskite, +2 Boil, - 4 Pyroclasm, -2 Oblivion Stone
                 
Soul Sisters: +2 Torpor Orb, +1 Firespout,  +1 Wurmcoil, -2 Relic, -1 Spellskite, -1 Sundering Titan

Splinter Twin:  +2 Torpor Orb, +2 Boil, +2 Combust,  +4 Claim,  -1 Wurmcoil, -4 Pyroclasm, -2 Relic, -2 Karn, -1 Sundering Titan

Storm: -1 Spellskite, -1 Wurmcoil Engine, -1 Emrakul,  -3 Oblivion Stone,   
         +4 Nature's Claim, +1 Relic, +1 Firespout

Tron, Blue: +2 Boil, +1 Relic of Progenitus, +4 Claim, +1 Wurmcoil Engine.  Never forget to TAKE OUT SPELLSKITE as he is death! - 1 Spellskite, -4 Pyroclasm, -1 Sundering Titan, - 2 Oblivion Stone

Tron, RG:  -4 Pyroclasm, -1 Sundering Titan, +1 Spellskite, +4 Nature's Claim 

Zoo: +3 Claims, +1 Wurmcoil, +1 Spellskite, +1 Firespout,  -1 Emrakul, -2 Relics, -1 Karn, -2 Sylvan Scrying 



For a full list of the chapters of The Modern Bible check out this link: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2015/02/the-modern-bible-of-rg-tron-part-1.html

Changes to the list of 'evergreen' mechanics

Evergreen mechanics are those mechanics that may appear in every set, for instance trample. Lately, Wizards has replaced three mechanics (Intimidate, Landwalk and Protection) from the list with new evergreens (Menace, Prowess and Scry).  I quess you are wondering now what on the list is, so I've prepared the current evergreens in alphabetical order: Deathtouch, Defender, Double strike, Enchant, Equip, First strike, Flash, Flying, Haste, Hexproof, Indestructible, Lifelink, Menace, Prowess, Reach, Trample, and Vigilance.

MTGO Library Bot 9.79

We have just released ML Bot 9.79.
The update contains 2 bug fixes:

• when trading cards for more than 400 tickets, the bot picked more than 400 tickets, resulting in an error message from MTGO saying "you cannot pick more than 400 items". The bot was unable to handle that message correctly and the trade was lost.
• we fixed a problem with the picking of the tickets, resulting in many adjustments before being able to pick the correct number. For example, if the bot had to take 100 tixs, it could pick 120, then step back to 90, then 105, and then finally to 100. We fixed this "oscillatory" behaviour.

We also slightly changed the trading messages to have a cleaner interaction with the customer.

MTG Magic Modern Lantern Control

Hi Everyone, A couple months ago I came across a sweet brew that controls the opponents draws. At first I dismissed the deck but occasionally played against it. I thought I still needed to give the deck a go. Enjoy!!!

MTGO Library Bot 9.78

ML Bot 9.78 fixes a round-off price problem with LITE bots buying cards at 0 tixs instead of 0.001 (if you visit wikiprice https://mtgowikiprice.com, you will see that some bots are currently buying cards at 0 tixs).

The problem with Goyfgate even being a thing

Hi Everyone!

Today I had a whole article planned talking about the turbulence in the market for Paper Magic that's caused by Modern Masters 2015 and how it should fade soon, but I keep reading about Goyfgate.

The first problem with Goyfgate is that it should be called Tarmogate, not Goyfgate. How is Tarmogate not superior in every way as a name than Goyfgate. I think people get too caught up in calling it a goyf that they forget that the technical point is that calling it Tarmy or Tarmo (although not socially accepted) is just as correct as calling it a 'Goyf. Tarmogate is a better name because it more easily rolls off the tongue more easily than something lame and uninventive, like "'Goyfgate".

Secondly it was a Grand Prix, not worlds, not a pro tour, nothing special. In fact, the GP was split into two and there were 3700 to 3900 people in each one (one was 37XX the other had 38XX participants). The GP payouts for first is $4000, second is $2700, third and fourth is $1500, and $1000 for fourth through eighth. Just to reiterate, the maximum prize is $4000. He had an opportunity where someone approached him and said, "Would you take $500 or have that burst lightning for your deck". The decision was obviously the $500. The reason I say $500 is that it was a stamped Tarmogoyf and it was likely to have some additional value for being a GP top 8 foil Tarmogoyf.

The 'Goyf ended up selling for almost $15000 and Pascal kept half. That makes choosing the 'Goyf better than choosing a card that would have guaranteed a tournament win. This is especially true for professional players. They are making a living, not playing for the "experience", it's all about the dollars and sense.

Here's what I'm going to tell you for when you're in his position, he took the foil Tarmogoyf, you should too.

MTGO Library Bot 9.76 and 9.77

We have just released ML Bot 9.76 and 9.77. The update fixes a crash happening on the LITE bots that were unable to start displaying an error. The update is required for the LITE bots because 9.75 does not work in LITE mode (the crash appears immediately, you cannot even launch the bot) .

Introducing Soulbond - a new video series

Pierakor is a streamer on twitch.tv/magicgatheringstrat. He mainly streams Modern with Mono Blue Tron and Pauper with Bant Fog, about three times per week.

He is also the main host of the new video series Soulbond where he invites a guest and they go back and analyze Modern and Pauper matches in great detail to see where Pierakor can improve his play.


SOULBOND episode 1 - Modern
In the first episode he breaks down a Modern daily with benne433


SOULBOND episode 2 - Pauper
In the second episode he breaks down a Pauper battle where he plays Bant Fog against BorosKitty.

If you are interested in these two decks, Pierakor has things to say about them.

Learn more about Pierakor here:

youtube.com/magicgatheringstrat
@pierakor on twitter
/u/pierakor on reddit
pierakor on MTGO
magicgatheringstrat on twitch

MTGO Library Bot 9.75

Few hours ago we released ML Bot 9.75, including all the changes discussed last week (learn more here: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.com/2015/06/coming-soon-prices-and-margin-tab.html).

This is a major release not only for the new "Margin" tab , but also for the many changes under the hood that results in an improved bot. Just to name one, the bot now adjusts the tickets automatically in selling mode (more or less like goatbots do) and so the customers will not be forced to write "done" or click the submit button to activate the bot and make it pick the tickets. This results in smoother and faster trades.

Please note that versions before 9.75 are not allowed anymore due to a MTGO incompatibility happened after the downtime. You should upgrade your bot to 9.75 as soon as you can.

We hope you'll like the new version and that you'll see a noticeable increase of trades!

PODLESS POD IS GAINING POPULARITY IN MODERN

Hi  Everyone,
I noticed in Modern lately two decks are gaining popularity. The first is Grixis delver. I'm not a fan of this deck as it seems to always be just ok. I'm never really impressed with it. I suppose it does offer some later game resiliency in large threats like Tasigur but still, I'm not terribly impressed.

One deck that i have been impressed with is a Melira/Anafenza deck. It allows us to assemble an infinite creature combo with Collected Company and Chord of Calling. It's shocking how the deck wins out of nowhere. I played a game last week when an opponent who played first polymorphed a turn 3 Emrakul. I managed to combo on my last turn before he annihilate me into a loss. I'd have survived at 2 life, but I'd have had no permanents, Collected Company for the win!

I wanted to share some videos I made with the deck. Enjoy!

The Modern Bible of RG Tron chapter 17 - The Ulamog Deck sideboard plan

Today we will get vary specific and give a straight SB plan for the first of the deck builds we looked at in chapter 5 - The Ulamog Deck.

You can find the article on the deck here: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2015/03/the-modern-bible-of-rg-tron-chapter_22.html

The Deck List
1 Tendo Ice Bridge
1 Eye of Ugin
1 Forest
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Powerplant
4 Urza's Tower

1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
3 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Spellskite

4 Oblivion Stone
4 Karn Liberated

4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Chromatic Star
4 Expedition Map
4 Sylvan Scrying
4 Ancient Stirrings
3 Relic of Progenitus
4 Pyroclasm

Sideboard
4 Nature's Claim
3 Slaughter Games
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Spellskite
2 Boil
2 Torpor Orb
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

A word of warning
Your sideboard will and should depend on your metagame. This is just a snapshot, an example of what a sideboard plan could look like. The intention is to show you what a sideboard plan could look like and give you ideas how to make your own - not to give you a template that will win every game. So be warned. With that said, lets get on with it.

Also, the sideboard plan does not contain every known deck. Please add to it in the comments below.

The Ulamog Deck sideboard plan

8-Rack:   -4 Pyroclasm, , -1 Spellskite , +4 Claim, +1 Emrakul, 

Abzan: +3 Claim, +1 Wurmcoil Engine, +1 Emrakul, - 1 Spellskite,  -4 Pyroclasm    
           
Ad Nauseam: +4 Nature's Claim,  +1 Wurmcoil, -4 Pyroclasm, -1 Spellskite      

Affinity: +4 Claim,  +1 Wurmcoil, -3 Relic, -1 Karn Liberated, -1 Eye of Ugin, 

America Control; +4 Claim, +2 Boil, -4 Pyroclasm,  -1 Spellskite, -1 Oblivion Stone   

Amulet of Vigor:  +3 Slaughter Games, +4 Nature's Claim, - 4 Pyroclasm, -2 Relic -1 Spellskite

BW Tokens: +2 Claim, +1 Pyroclasm, +1 Firespout, -1 Spellskite, -3 Relic
           
Bogles: +4 Nature's Claim, +1 Spellskite, -3 Relic, -1 Ulamog, -1 Karn Liberated 

Burn:  +4 Nature's Claims, +1 Wurmcoil, +1 Pyroclasm, +1 Spellskite, -2 Karn, -2 Stone, -3 Relic

Delver: +2 Claims, +1 Wurmcoil, +1 Pyroclasm -1 Karn Liberated, -3 Relic

Dredge: +1 Relic, -1 Spellskite

Eggs: +4 Nature's Claim +1 Relic, +3 Slaughter Games, -4 Pyroclasm,  -1 Spellskite, -1 Ulamog, -1 Karn, -1 Wurmcoil Engine 

Faeries: +2 Torpor Orb, +2 Boil, -1 Spellskite, -3 Relic of Progenitus  

Green Ramp: +1 Emrakul, +1 Wurmcoil, +1 Pyroclasm, -2 Spellskite, -1?

Hatebears: +2 Nature's Claim, +1 Pyroclasm, +1 Wurmcoil, -1 Eldrazi (you will not have mana), -3 Relic    

Infect:   +4 Nature's Claim, +1 Spellskite, +1 Pyroclasm, -1 Emrakul/Eldrazi, -1 Wurmcoil Engine, -3 Relic, -1 Karn, -2 Sylvan Scrying  

Living End: +1 Relic, +1 Wurmcoil, +1 Emrakul, +1 Nature's Claim -4 Pyroclasm,  

Jund  +1 Relic, +1 Engine - 1 Spellskite, -1 Scrying/Sphere  

Merfolk:    +3 Nature's Claim, +1 Wurmcoil, -3 Relic, -1 Spellskite, 

Mono-Black Devotion: -1 Spellskite, -1 Relic,  +1 Emrakul,  +1 Wurmcoil

Ninja Bear Delver: +1 Wurmcoil, + 2 Boil , - 1 Spellskite, -2 Relic

Scapeshift: +3 Slaughter Games, +1 Spellskite, +2 Boil, -4 Pyroclasm, -2 Oblivion Stone   
               
Soul Sisters: +1 Emrakul, +2 Torpor Orb, +1 Wurmcoil, -3 Relic, -1 Spellskite,

Splinter Twin:  +2 Torpor Orb, +2 Boil, +4 Claim,  -1 Wurmcoil, -4 Pyroclasm, -2 Relic, -1 Karn 

Storm: -1 Spellskite, -2 Wurmcoil Engine, -4 Oblivion Stone,  -2 Scrying  
         +4 Nature's Claim, +3 Slaughter Games, +1 Relic, +1 Pyroclasm (for electromancer)

Tron, Blue: -4 Pyroclasm, -1 Spellskite, -1 Oblivion Stone, , +1 Emrakul, +2 Boil, +1 Relic of Progenitus, +2 Claim.  Never forget to TAKE OUT SPELLSKITE!

Tron, RG:  -4 Pyroclasm, -3 Relic of Progenitus, +3 Slaughter Games, +1 Emrakul, +1 Spellskite, +1 Wurmcoil, +1 Nature's Claim 

Zoo: +3 Claims, +1 Wurmcoil, +1 Spellskite,  -1 Emrakul, -3 Relics, -1 Karn, 



For a full list of the chapters of The Modern Bible check out this link: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2015/02/the-modern-bible-of-rg-tron-part-1.html

Modern Masters 2015 drafts extended

Bad news for those who invested in Modern Masters 2015 staples. Drafts will remain active through Wednesday, July 8, instead of their previous end date of the June 17, what gives us three extra weeks of constant supply of modern cards. Prepare yourself for even lower prices of MM2015, especially rare cards. Initially, Modern Masters 2015 was planned to be running for three weeks.

Pillarfield Pauper League

The Pillarfield Pauper League brings a Vintage Super League-style tournament to the Pauper format!

There are four players and a high quality stream with follow-up videos at youtube.com/magicgatheringstrat.

The players

Troy / way2tall

First block: Return to Ravnica

Favorite Pauper Decks: Stompy and Mono-Black Control

Troy began playing Magic much later than the rest of the league, so he is less experienced in Magic than the rest of the group. He is most comfortable playing Mono-Green Stompy, but is looking to broaden his Pauper horizons. While his inexperience is a liability, he is by no means a pushover.

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Robert / eldrazilackey

First block: Shards of Alara

Favorite Pauper Decks: Familiar Combo, Mono-Black Control

Robert will play just about anything, but he tends to enjoy decks that are difficult to pilot. He enjoys navigating his way through tricky situations, and playing to his outs against impossible odds. Familiar Combo is possibly the most skill-intensive deck in the format currently, so that is the deck that he runs most often.

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Ram / sephirothrr

First block: Onslaught

Favorite Pauper Decks: Burn

Ram has been playing Magic on and off since he was a kid, but he was not any good until Zendikar block. Since then, he claims to be "only mostly bad at magic." When Ram is on top of his game, he is a force to be reckoned with. While the other players understand the majority of Magic's complex interactions, Ram's rules knowledge runs deeper than that of anyone else in the league.

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Jordan / sixsmith

First block: Alara Reborn

Favorite Pauper Decks: Kitty / Tron

Jordan is a true student of the game, and his study of formats and timely insight allow him to better play the game. He has a love for all limited formats, especially ones that allow him to play as many colors as possible. Not-so-secretly a blue mage, he is the reason everyone else in the group has MTGO accounts.

Sample Match

Modern Metagame Shift to Cheap decks due to Modern Masters 2015

Hi Everyone!

As everyone knows, I'm not a huge fan of the ideology that Wizards takes in managing Modern. I think their initial bannings were weak and without warrant. But, now that MM2 is out it's really making a difference in the decks I see.

I think the changes could result in Twin no longer being the singular top deck. I have seen tons and tons of Tron decks and they have been doing well. It seems like the metagame (online at least, and possibly temporary) has shifted to RG Tron being a top deck.

I'm not sure if this deck is popular because many expensive cards for the deck are in MM2, or if it's really good. From my observation I think it's a deck that doesn't have to do a lot of thinking, it's very easy to play. Step 1, get Tron with Expedition Maps and Sylvan Scrying, Step 2: Play expensive spells and win game.

Anyway, I'm not sure if the shift to it being a "budget" online deck for Modern is relevant (probably is) but it's becoming popular.

If Tron stays popular, pick up your Karns, Ugins, and Wurmcoil Engines, and bank on there being another shift shortly after to decks that play many basic lands, or more likely run Blood Moon.

Foil Tarmogoyf vs Burst Lightning

Imagine, that you are drafting Modern Masters 2015 and you are going Boros (WR colors). You cracked a booster pack number two and you see a foil Tarmogoyf. To make it more complicated let's add one more condition. You are drafting in top8 of the largest Magic tournament ever. Would you have picked a money card, which is off your colors, or rather sticked to your strategy and choose in this case Burst Lightning to give yourself the best odds to play in the world championship?

This has already happened during the GP Vegas. Pascal Maynard was on the horns of a dilemma and eventually picked the foil Tarmogoyf. Shortly after Magic community accused him of rare drafting. After all, Pascal Marynard admitted that he missplayed and put up the foil Goyf on e-bay, pledging to donate half of the final sale price to Gamers Helping Gamers. Auction has already finished and the winning bid reached 14 900 USD!

Coming soon: Prices and Margin Tab

In two weeks we will be making some changes to our pricing structure, this will include a format change of the official pricelist CardsMTGO.txt and the addition of a brand new tab to the Bot UI (Prices and Margins tab). You have to do nothing, no action is required from you.

First lets talk about the format change of the CardsMTGO.txt file. We will be removing the buy prices. Example of the current cardsmtgo.txt file.

20678#20679#000#0001#5DN#C#Abuna's Chant#0.008#0.026#0.002#0.008

20878#20879#000#0002#5DN#C#Armed Response#0.008#0.026#0.002#0.008

this is what it will look it will look like when we release the new feature:

20678#20679#000#0001#5DN#C#Abuna's Chant#0.008#0.026

20878#20879#000#0002#5DN#C#Armed Response#0.008#0.026

CardsMTGO.txt will just include non-Foil and Foil selling prices. This is part of the new margin concept we will be explaining in the next section.


New Prices and margins tab introduction:

Currently in the Price adjustment tab you are able to adjust the CardsMTGO.txt files selling prices and buying prices.

This works fine, but there are some problems. For example: what is your profit? Are you now selling your Tarmogoyf for 50 and buying for 35 or selling for 55 and buying for 40? Since there is no way for you to control the official buying price, you simply don't know.

Next week the Price Adjustment tab will retire and will be replaced by an easier to understand tab, named "Prices and Margins". The tool will allow you to define the correction of the selling price over the official sell price contained in CardsMTGO.txt  and the buying price as margin parallel to the selling price in percent.

The buying price will be computed no more as % of the official buying price, but as % of the official selling price. The official buying price will disappear from CardMTGO.txt since it will be no more necessary. As said above, the new CardsMTGO.txt will be like this:

MM2#M#Tarmogoyf#55.160#55.020

and, with -7% and a margin of 10%, you will sell Tarmogoyf at 51.298 and buy it for 46.10 , Having the selling price at 51.298 and the buying at 46.10 means that your margin is 10%.

The migration to the new format will happen automatically: the bot will translate your current settings into the new settings, keeping your prices unaltered, exactly as they are now.

Boosting Bot Sales, Part 1

Hi Everyone!

I have been spending a lot of time looking into the most popular bots and how they are the most successful.

Over the years I have talked to many business owners who raise prices, and raise them more. They are selling an identical product to competitors but think they will make more money per sale with higher prices.

I hope everyone is familiar with economics because I'm not going over the dynamics of a nearly perfect competition market (about as close as can be had to perfect competition.) That's a topic for another day, and it's so big that I could spend a year on it.

The bottom line is that you make the most money by selling at market price. But what else can we do besides sell our cards at market price to boost profits?

How about sell cards for less than market price? What? I'm crazy? No, let's think about it, if we lower the prices we will make more sales. If we make more sales we have more transactions, there's a chance word will "get out" about your low price bot and send sales skyrocketing.

In addition to lower prices, buy prices should be higher also. As an incentive to get people to sell the cards to your bot army.

I have seen some of the most popular chains online that all have one thing in common, low sell prices and high buy prices (relative to competition).

Think of any reduced profits per sale as a marketing expense.
for the sale.