Speculation and market investment in Magic is in its Golden Era right now. We have access to information at a speed that we never had before in Magic. If you’re spying for new tech, you don’t have to wait for a tournament report on the Dojo or read about it a month later in Inquest – you can hustle over to GGSlive and watch Kibler cast Huntmaster of the Fells in real-time. This article is about Magic speculation and price bubbles in what I am calling the “early modern” era.

Commander Banned List! What does it mean!

Fifth Dawn was the third set in Mirrodin and was inexplicably focused on getting people to play all five colors. In the abstract, this is fine, but this was in a set full of artifacts that gave you advantages for running them. It would be like if Onslaught Block culminated in a set focused on super-powered spells instead of really good Tribal creatures…

Oh, wait.

Onslaught was a momentous set. The cards catered to a huge number of casual players who wanted support for their tribal decks, with support for Elves, Goblins and other, newly-ordained tribes like Soldiers and Wizards. It’s hard to believe that before Onslaught, “tribal” wasn’t really much of a term to describe the mechanic. The set had plenty for tournament players, too.

Neale is new to QS but not to Commander, and wastes no time jumping into his first rule: play to win.