Sylvain Lehoux - While You Are Not Free Drafting M15

With the release of M15 on MTGO, players who had logged into their account had a free draft package waiting in their account. It was mentioned in the QS Forums and a few articles that there is an opportunity to create some new accounts to take advantage of the $10 draft packages.

But in the meantime, Sylvain sets up the landscape for the coming future. Now's a good time to map out your acquisition strategy for the upcoming season:

All these changes aside, release events are usually the opportunity to find good deals among discounted cards that players are willing to let go for few extra Tix. For several cards in Theros block, it might as well be the cheapest prices you’ll see before the new Standard season starts.

I’ll give you my thoughts on the M15 rares next week, as there’s absolutely not rush to acquire them–with very unique exceptions, all of the M15 rares will be on a downward slope until Khans of Tarkir‘s release next October and you are very likely to overpay if you buy them sooner than that.

And Sylvain kept true to his promise, covering his thoughts on M15 this week.

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Sigmund Ausfresser - Reactions to the SDCC Announcements

With a slew of Magic: The Gathering announcements being made at the recent SDCC, Sigmund took the opportunity to digest the news and spoilers--both good and bad:

The good news is some of the information spoiled will certainly impact financial values. The bad news is most of the most obvious effects will be negative for prices. But that doesn’t mean there is nowhere to look for opportunities – there just may have to be a little more “speculation” if people hope to get into a bet on the ground floor.

Always sober and honest in his market prospectus, Sigmund reminds us that the market is rarely as simple as "buy this, sell that".

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David Schumann - MTG Stock Watch

Drawing familiar parallels between MTG Finance and the stock market, David does a solid job correlating the common categories and using historic price graphs to identify similarities.

The first thing I’d like to do is break down potential cards into different categories. The normal stock market tends to split them into these main categories:

• Penny Stocks – cheap, very speculative stocks. The Wolf of Wall Street made his fortune by pushing these onto people and for the most part they lost their money on these picks. This types of stocks are very high risk/high reward (similar to lottery tickets).
• Blue Chip Stocks – these are stocks of established companies, often considered safe and dependable. They are your Coca-Cola’s and your Microsoft’s.
• Income Stocks – These are the stocks that give you higher dividends but are usually less likely to grow much in value, similar to putting your money in a bank and getting your interest rate as a return.
• Growth Stocks – These types of stocks tend to grow and yield a good return, though dividends are usually re-invested into the company.
• Value Stocks – These are the stocks/securities that are considered undervalued. The market experts believe they are good longer-term investments

As the first example of a Penny Stock, David uses Terra Stomper:

#1 Terra Stomper (+359.2%) - The reason for this guy being the biggest jumper for the penny stock group is that he was included in the green Sample Deck but not in normal M15 packs. However, many stores didn't realize this and in order to fill preorders they were forced to crack Sample Decks or buy up the Zendikar version. Thus his bump was mainly due to misunderstanding.

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Ryan Overturf - Modern Izzet Delver Updates and a PTQ Report (Top 8)

Ryan's favorite Modern deck, Izzet Delver, led him into the Top 8 of a recent PTQ. Always one looking to improve, he offers up his list, his report, and the subsequent changes he would make, having faced this particular metagame.

If you're into Modern and either want to know how to pilot or play against Izzet Delver, Ryan's report and innovations are worth reviewing.

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Paul Nemeth - [Video] AngelPod M15 Update

With the release of the new MTGO client and M15, Paul tackles his updates Modern AngelPod. Did Reclamation Sage make the cut?

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Danny Brown - History Matters

Danny reminds of us of the historical truth to set release timing and prices, proposing opportunities for acquisition and the importance of timely offloading:

I’ve written before about long-term Standard trajectories. If history is to be our guide—and that’s the new hypothesis I’m working under, remember?—then Theros block staples are at their low points right now.

Supply has peaked: M15 is the new hotness, so most of the Theros that will be opened has already been drafted. Demand has bottomed out: it’s summer, so fewer people are playing. Standard is stale. People are getting rid of their rotating RTR cards and many are wrongly trading out Theros as well.

All of that will change. Khans of Tarkir is coming, and when it does, we’re going to see the yearly reinvigorated interest from the community. All of a sudden, no-longer-being-draftedTheros cards will come into sharp demand, especially the ones that go well with what we now know is a set based on the three-color enemy wedges of Tarkir. So which Theroscards are good buys?

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Jason Alt - Holding

Returning from GP Boston, Jason iterates that, even though large events offer a great opportunity to sell inventory, not everything ought to be sold off. He covers some important reasons to hold onto cards.

What are some reasons I would hold onto a card that was in the same box as other cards I ended up selling? Why would I not just try to relieve the stress on my back and ship the entire box?

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Mike Lanigan - Building a Big Green Machine

With M15 live in the wilderness, Mike brews up a Mono-Green Devotion list, circling around the one that captured many players' hearts:

With the inclusions of Chord of Calling and Genesis Hydra, his list is waiting for you to sleeve it up.

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Corbin Hosler - Organized Play Changes and You

Corbin begins by describing the recent, drastic changes to Organized Play:

• Each advanced store can run one Preliminary PTQ per season, open to anyone who wishes to compete.
• Stores can choose between running a Standard, Modern, or Sealed Preliminary PTQ during each season, regardless of the format the Pro Tour it leads to is.
• The winner of a Preliminary PTQ will qualify for the season’s Regional PTQ.
• The first Preliminary PTQ season will run December 2014–February 2015, and the Regional PTQ will take place a few weeks after the end of the Preliminary PTQ season.
• Anyone qualified for that season’s Regional PTQ is ineligible to compete in a Preliminary PTQ for that season.

And wraps up his article with takeaways on how these changes will affect you.

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Adam Yurchick - Controlling Modern - Esper Control by Guillaume Wafo-Tapa

Guillaume Wafo-Tapa went undefeated with his Esper Control list on day one at the recent Grand Prix Boston-Worcester, and, with a little more luck on day two, could have been within striking distance of Top 8. Regardless of his placing, this new list has drawn a lot of excitement and attention.

Adam dissects the list and rationalizes the card choices, offering some valuable insight into how the deck works together.

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