The time to pick up your Theros block cards for the fall is soon

I wrote about this before so this is just a friendly reminder. Pick up your Theros block cards in June.

If you want to know why you should pick up the Theros block cards you want for Khans of Targir standard now, check out this blog post:

http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2013/11/when-to-invest-in-fall-set-theros-for.html

Short version: Its the summer slump. Very soon interest will switch to Vintage Masters and M15. Be sure to pick up all the Theros block cards you need for play in september AND all the cards you want to speculate on.

This was the time you could pick up Jace, Architect of Thought at 14 a year ago and then sell it six months later for 38.

Two videos from the Born of the Gods prerelease

The first two players on the MagicGatheringStrat team have played the Prerelease.

Brennon takes on this Prerelease Event



Julien crushes this Prerelease draft and has some great insights into the format:





You will find more Born of the Gods videos on Youtube.com/MagicGatheringStrat

The details of the Born of the Gods Prerelease and Release Events can be found here: https://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/other/01132014

The five gods from Journey into Nyx

We have already met the five major gods and five of the minor gods of Theros. But there are still five more gods to be published in Journey into Nyx (prerelease events start on April 26, 2014).

Let me tell you about these five minor gods.

Iroas, God of Victory (RW)
Iroas is the twin brother of Mogis and while both are gods of war, they have a very different outlook and do not get along. He is worshipped in Akros and the Iroan Games (the Theros version of the Olympics) are held in his honor.

The flavor text from Arena Athlete: “The Iroan Games award no medals. Athletes vie for a visit from Iroas, god of victory.”  


Athreos (BW)
It is unclear what Athreos title will be a this time. He is Charon, the ferryman, and is responsible for getting those who die to Erebos's realm. He is surely upset about the Returned who defied the orderly process of Death that Athreos is responsible for.

The flavor text from Sentry of the Underworld: “When Athreos gathers the newly dead to be ferried across the Five Rivers that Ring the World, he sends skeletal griffins to fetch those who stray.” 

Pharika (GB)
She is the godess of Gorgons, healing and poison. She appears as a Gorgon herself. The other gods most likely despise her.

Pharika’s Cure has the flavor text:"’The venom cleanses the sickness from your body, but it will not be pleasant, and you may not survive. Pharika’s blessings are fickle.’ —Solon, acolyte of Pharika”

Keranos, God of Storms (RU)
While Heliod is the lawful good side of Zeus, Keranos seems to be the wrathful, Lightning side of Zeus. If it wasn't for the blue side of him he would seem to be very much like Thor of Nordic mythology. When he is not blasting stuff, Keranos sends visions and prophecies all over the place. One of his most well-known followers is the Queen of Akros, Cymede, a frequent receives of his visions.

The flavor text from Steam Augury: “Keranos is a fickle god, delivering punishment as readily as prophecy.” 

Kruphix, God of Horizons (UG)
Kruphis is pretty much a mystery at this Point. He does not seem to be very Simic at all, but rather deal in time, unblockability and untapping things. We just don't know very much about him at this point in time, which surely is what he intends.

The flavor text from Prophet of Kruphix: "Time is fluid as a dance and truth as fleeting."

Reviewing Born of the Gods for Standard Pauper

On episode 141 of the podcast Pauper to the People I was part of a Standard Pauper Review of the commons in Born of the Gods. These cards will shake up the format!

Here is the show:




The Standard Pauper Show
For your reference, here is the latest episode of the Standard Pauper show, running every week on youtube.com/MagicGatheringStrat

We are getting closer to the Standard Pauper Gauntlet and I am looking forward to reviewing some of the decks for the Gauntlet here.  


What is Standard Pauper?
Standard Pauper is the cheapest possible format - you can play only with the commons that are currently in Standard.

Learn more about the format here. http://mtgostrat.com/?s=standard+pauper

How to survive the Born of the Gods release (or any new set)?

I am fairly new to botting. In the mtgolibrary manual, I read the following about running the pro version of the bot: "The Pro version of the Bot buys and sells cards based on card value. The Bot receives the prices from the CardsMTGO3.txt file that can be automatically or manually downloaded and is kept up to date by ML Bot staff. Each time this file is downloaded a maintenance fee of 0.20 tickets is added to the Bot’s overall fee. It is important to keep this file relatively up to date, especially when a new set or expansion is about to come out. "

So as the owner of a very small bot, how do I ensure that I do not lose all of my tickets when Born of the Gods is released? What if I can't monitor my bots 24/7?

Before I proceed, I wish to make clear that I am no expert. Having said that, I will tell you of my plan.

I will not touch Born of the Gods until March 1st. I will let the prerelease, release and the Pro Tour pass Before I let my bot buy or sell anything from the set.

I might speculate, but I will do so manually, buying and selling from bots brave enough to face the onslaught.

This is what I think I know about the release:

February 1st: Prerelease starts. Prices will be extremely inflated. It would be good to sell stuff, but I will probably not play the prerelease and if I did, I would be in a hurry to sell and would probably sell to someone else's bot.

February 7th: Release starts. Prices are coming down, but are still very high.

Somewhere around February 18th: Prices are at a low point before the PT spike. This would be the time to buy stuff. If I am feeling brave, I might let the bot buy Born of the Gods cards here.

February 21st: Pro Tour Born of the Gods start. Some cards spike hard and must be sold immediatly, which means it is probably better to sell them manually to other bots (if I have them for some reason).

Long-term we already know that the best time to invest in Born of the Gods will probably be mid June, as per this article: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2013/11/when-to-invest-in-fall-set-theros-for.html  That would be with the intention of selling into the PTQ Standard spike of February 2015.

OK, now that I have stated my very defensive stance, tell me how you are going to handle this and teach me how to do it when Journey into Nyx comes around.

Until then, let us Dream of Xenagos the god kicking the crap out of Ajani.

The Most Important thing about MTGO finance: http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2013/10/the-most-important-thing_23.html

When do you sell your card? http://mtgolibrary.blogspot.se/2013/11/when-to-sell-magic-online-card.html