Insider: Our Ongoing BFZ Coverage

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Hey Insiders! Here's our repository for all of our Insider info from the Pro Tour. They're emailed out and also posted in the forums. The newest alerts will always be on top.

6pm Friday night

Kelly sent along the top 24 tables, minus the feature matches from Round 3. Due to requirements that come with our press badge, we cannot list who these players were. We also have to jumble which tables are which, so the top of this list is not the top table. Nonetheless, it's a near-complete list. Lots of Atarka Red. All of the Esper decks are packing Dragons, as far as Kelly can tell.

GW mirror match
Abzan vs. Esper
Jeskai vs. Atarka Red
Atarka Red mirror match
Jeskai vs. Esper
Jeskai vs. Atarka Red
Jeskai vs. Atarka Red
Atarka Red mirror match
Atarka vs. Esper Control
GW vs. Jeskai
Atarka Red vs. Jeskai
Jeskai vs. 5-color brew
Jeskai vs. ??
Esper Control vs. Jeskai
Atarka Red mirror match
Jeskai vs. Jeskai
Atarka Red vs. Jeskai
Esper Dragons vs. Abzan Control
Abzan-Mardu mashup vs. Jeskai
Esper vs. Jeskai
Jeskai vs. Abzan

Individual interesting cards:
Shambling Vent is everywhere. Much more prevalent than Lumbering Falls.

Two decks at the high tables had Butcher of the Horde.

Two of the Atarka Red decks are running Dragon Whisperer, including someone who recently placed highly in a Pro Tour.

One GW megamorph player was running Tragic Arrogance in his 75.

Mastery of the Unseen has been spotted in a Jeskai shell.

Multiple copies of Flamewake Phoenix are showing up in Atarka Red decks.

Multiple copies of Ob Nixilis in Abzan and Esper shells.

Sarkhan, Dragonspeaker is most common in Jeskai.

Evolutionary Leap is showing up in the G/W Decks.

Radiant Flames is ubiquitous.

There's a deck running Shaman of the Forgotten Ways at a VERY high table. Kelly says it's not a pure ramp deck.

5pm Friday night

Kelly got info in from Round 2 for me. He also made a metagame breakdown that came in just as WOTC posted theirs :\ He was accurate on the numbers, at the very least!

More info, in the form of a brain dump from Kelly. He's going to watch the top tables next round and get a read on what's doing really well.
Jace is everywhere.
Liliana is a staple in the Aristocrats deck.
Silumgar, the Drifting Death is much more popular than expected.
Flamewake Phoenix is in a few red decks.
Warden of the First Tree is everywhere.
Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker is more popular than expected.
Stratus Dancer is in the Bant Megamorph lists.
Silumgar's Command made a short appearance.
Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury is doing work in Token decks.
An Arashin Foremost was spotted, once.
One build of Aristocrats was running Grim Haruspex.
Thunderbreak Regent is popular.
Mastery of the Unseen is in a lot of the megamorph lists.

3pm Friday afternoon

As I'm watching right now, Nassif is facing down dragons from Atarka Red. His Smothering Abomination has been doing a great deal of work. So my first advice is to pick these up, since they're getting bought up right now.

Kelly emailed in notes from his interviews with PinkBunnyGames.com, one of the two dealers in the room. His notes follow:

Despoiler of Souls was sold to 4 guys on the same team, surprisingly. Sold with Liliana, Bloodsoaked Champion.
Oblivion Sower was marked up because of the GP buyout.
Wingmate Roc was marked up because of low supply.
Knew Surge of Righteousness was going to sell, marked up, still sold out twice.
Dragonlord Ojutai - didn't sell a single copy.
The uncommons were hot. Silkwrap was the most sold single card.
People needed checklist cards.
Hidden Dragonslayer - inexpensive rare. people often needed 1 more. its a good "bad rare"., sells a ton online.
Several people bought singleton Woodland Wanderer
Rush of people bought 1 or 2 copies Exert Influence all at once.
most sales came from sideboard / metagame tweaks.
things they decided to buy online at retail, in reaction to what was happening: dragonmaster outcast, flamewake phoenix, soulfire grand master
sold a lot of gideons, more than expected
demonic pact double-retail price was not really intentional.
molten vortex was not purchased in any quantity

11am, Friday Morning

I just got off the phone with Kelly about what's been selling well.

First, a note on what we can and cannot find out. First, the dealers are absolutely barred from talking to us until the first round of Constructed starts. However, Kelly has lined up interviews so we should be able to get more complete information in a few hours. As part of Kelly's press credentials, he is unable to name anyone by name or team until the event starts.

However, out of simple protracted observation, Kelly found that:

Red cards, including Temur Battle Rage and Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh have been in high demand. There is slight movement on Molten Vortex (!) and Dragonmaster Outcast, due to the Jeskai decks.
Lantern Scout was purchased very discreetly.
Infinite Obliteration was selling briskly.
Complete Disregard and Transgress the Mind were also selling very well, especially the latter. Foils are the pickup targets here.
Woodland Wanderer was purchased, so someone still believes in that card!
Nobody was buying Jace; I presume that's because people already had him.
End Hostilities was purchased alongside Exert Influence.

Again, we can't ID people even if we knew them and the dealers can't talk about what's been selling well (yet). But you're not gonna find this info anywhere other than through QS Insider.

Remember to drop by the chat room (it gets busy during Standard rounds) and stop by the forum coverage thread to see more!

2am, Friday Morning

Good morning QS Insiders! When you read this, it'll be just before the start of Day 1 here at Pro Tour: Battle for Zendikar, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As I write this, the Thursday night players' meeting has just concluded, and understandablyeveryone is very tight-lipped about what they're playing. Regardless, we still have a ton of great information to share. Grab a coffee, make yourself comfortable and get ready for an interesting weekend.

There are only two vendors on-site at the Pro Tour (Dan Bock's Power 9 and Damien Miller's Pink Bunny). P9 didn't have their cards on display, but Pink Bunny did, and permitted me to snap pictures of their display case and prices.

A list of 22 noteworthy on-site prices and their comparison to the Trader Tools prices are displayed below. (Click any card image to view the full Trader Tools report). I want to draw attention to 9 specific cards before showing you the entire list:
Wingmate Roc ($10) is listed on-site for twice it's current retail price, perhaps an indication of anticipated strong demand.

Liliana, Heretical Healer ($25) is selling at almost a $10 premium. A Pro who wishes to remain nameless (but performed very well at the last PT) has some strong positive opinions on this card, and the huge mark-up tells me there's something afoot.

Silumgar, the Drifting Death ($2) is listed for over twice its price, and I saw at least one Pro purchase the card. We've discussed it to death on the forums and on podcasts so this should not be a surprise.

Hidden Dragonslayer is also part of the glamorous "double club", selling at $4 while retailing normally for less than $2.

Silkwrap, a 25 cent DTK Uncommon, is selling for $2, as it seems to be an amazing answer to most of the best creatures in the format.

Ruinous Path, one of the best cards in BFZ, is selling for $3 over it's retail price. Not surprising given its power level.

Demonic Pact ($6) is also a member of the Double Club. I'm wary of this card in a set with so many other expensive Mythic Rares, but the on-site dealers aren't going to jack a card way up just for fun. There's a reason this is so expensive, and I am eager to find out what that reason might be. I have a hunch it's going to be in an Abzan list taking advantage of Dromoka's Command.

Dragonlord Ojutai is selling onsite for an insane $50, almost twice its current retail price. I don't even know what to say here! The card is great, but is it really that great? Only time (and a few hundred matches of Magic this weekend) will tell.

Finally, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar is selling at $45, a $10 premium on retail. I mention Gideon because I have heard whispers of people who believe he has the potential to become even more expensive. That's a tall order for a card that's already $35 and can't be cast with blue mana, but if he dominates the format, it's possible that he syphons all the value from an otherwise weak set. You better believe I'll be keeping a close eye on this guy from the word "you have 50 minutes, you may begin".

Here are the aforementioned cards, along with a few others, and their corresponding current market prices.