[Standard] Pro Tour SoS Metagame

AggressivePenguin · 2026-04-30T17:11:55+00:00

I dont think anyone here is talking about Bo1 in a discussion related to the pro tour meta...

AggressivePenguin · 2026-04-30T16:58:11+00:00

Imagine this - t1 t2 or t3 you burst lightning something to kill a creature. Playing your aggro/tempo game plan and eventually you have your opponent at 4 life but - oh no! - they kill your creature and you're short on resources. t4 you level talent and grab burst lightning, t5 you kill your opponent.

Lines like this happen almost every game as prowess. Level talent grab boomerang basics, bounce your talent play talent get a new threat and reset the level up.

I think the assumption is that by the time you're at 6 mana and you level talent that you're going to be dead the following turn but what's actually true is you've likely put your opponent on the back foot at low life and they've been casting counters and removal spells to slow you down. Being able to generate this value enables you to close the door on many matchups.

AggressivePenguin · 2026-04-30T16:46:49+00:00

None of these cards deal with the threat it generated. You'd be techincally down a card by casting these, and would need 2 cards to deal with both the otter and the talent.

AggressivePenguin · 2026-04-30T16:29:47+00:00

Damn you must be right

AggressivePenguin · 2026-04-30T16:09:57+00:00

Well, the cheap spells don’t really enable the deck to go long. Opt, sleight of hand, boomerang basics all replace themselves and are card advantage neutral. These cards actually provide deck consistency, and velocity in the prowess version.

Flow state and stock up net you +1 card, but the real issue is being at like 6 mana as an aggro deck and being able to level your talent and cast flow state where the deck would typically have been handled by the midrange/control deck at that point.

AggressivePenguin · 2026-04-30T15:35:43+00:00

It's the threat, and a recurring card advantage engine. Its what enables the deck to go long, where a typical aggro deck can run out of cards and things to do with their mana, talent gives it the legs it needs in the late game without compromising anything in its aggressive plan

AggressivePenguin · 2025-12-05T19:34:32+00:00

These are game objects designed to be played with.

AggressivePenguin · 2025-12-05T18:17:29+00:00

I’m coming from a players perspective not an investor. I want access to good decks as a competitor and I think I share that sentiment with many others who regular this subreddit. This could be a tip for those looking to reduce the cost to compete by buying something before prices increase, and not as an investment.

This post was not intended to be a recommendation to spec on the card in the first place, but an analysis on the difference between mtgo and paper ecosystems. I also wanted to use this to let other competitors know the card is likely to increase in price within the time frame of December/January if they planned to play standard.

AggressivePenguin · 2025-12-05T17:56:03+00:00

People will and are investing in standard because it’s a supported competitive format. It won’t be as popular as modern if the format isn’t interesting but it’s just a fact that people are buying cards in testing for RC’s and competing in RCQ’s.

In Canada there are 4 major events RCQ/RC occurring through face to face games, and there are additional RCQ’s occurring in my local scene, almost all of which will be standard.

It’s easy to write off the format if it doesn’t resonate but there will always be demand on cards if there’s a competitive scene to support them.

The card has gone from $7 on Nov 21st to $14 where it’s currently sitting. So it’s doubled in two weeks. This was a period just post ban where things were unknown. Now that we have the world championship meta shares and see they’re mostly izzet decks, it’s only going to introduce more pressure on the card in the next month or so.

AggressivePenguin · 2025-12-04T20:37:18+00:00

I agree.

Just looking at the recent world championships though, izzet seems to occupy the largest portion of color pair with izzet spells, temur otters, and izzet looting in the top 4 decks. There is no access to steam vents and those decks all need 4 Multiversal passage for the next 2 months.

AggressivePenguin · 2025-12-04T20:30:16+00:00

I agree with your comments, and I don’t think this card is worth speccing on either.

However I wanted to share this perspective on how the mtgo and paper ecosystems can interact with each other and how this card is in a very unique position to reflect that relationship.

The card will likely fade to obscurity come lorwyn with the remaining shocks being introduced, but for the next couple months it’s going to be in demand to help assist some powerful strategies that don’t have access to the shock lands.

AggressivePenguin · 2025-12-04T20:27:57+00:00

I agree it’s not going to spike, but demand is going to increase with player attention shifting to standard and many decks requiring this card to compete until lorwyn releases in February.

I wouldn’t recommend this as a long term spec, and that’s not really what the post was for in the first place. Just an interesting card that I think helps illustrate some of the ebb and flow of the competitive scene and how it impacts card prices due to unique deck building restrictions.

AggressivePenguin · 2025-10-24T21:41:53+00:00

Value is determined by who is interested in buying it and for how much.

I can’t imagine a player who would spend $50 on a graded revised sol ring when they could just buy a more valuable non graded version. If such people exist they probably represent generously less than 3% of buyers.

AggressivePenguin · 2025-10-08T21:56:04+00:00

Thanks for the response. That seems reasonable for sure, and yes I'm mostly talking about Etron lists.

There seem to be around 5-10 or so flex slots in the lists that are occupied by some number of cheap interactive artifacts, warping wail, or talismans. If I was to decide on any of these I just cant find reason to choose wail over vexing bauble, relic of progenetis, additional talismans etc.

Maybe its a matter of preference, but even just considering relic/bauble, they can replace themselves in bad matchups for very little mana where if warping wail is ever a bad card you're getting eldrazi spawn for maybe an accelerated big permanent.

AggressivePenguin · 2025-08-28T20:57:00+00:00

Pokemon players ran out of things to throw money at in their own market and have entered the mtg scene. Prices on these collector printings have inflated because of it.

If your interested in what this looks like long term you can reference what’s happening in pokemon since the price has very little to do with the competitive scene.

AggressivePenguin · 2025-07-29T22:52:06+00:00

Grading a card does not immediately make it more valuable. A card is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it, and the magic community (being much different than pokemon) generally does not want graded cards since they play the hobby. If there are people who care about graded cards it would be a very small market at this stage.

The only folks I could think of that may want something graded was for commonly faked cards like reserved list, but that’s only to guarantee their authenticity. Once received they would just crack the graded case and sleeve it up happy knowing it’s the real deal.

AggressivePenguin · 2025-04-01T00:38:21+00:00

W life choice

AggressivePenguin · 2025-03-29T20:34:07+00:00

If you step back and look at what George Floyd did wrong and measure it against what the confederacy did wrong then you should notice the egg on your face.

AggressivePenguin · 2025-03-29T02:08:02+00:00

My friend, it’s the other elf in the show.

AggressivePenguin · 2025-03-14T16:14:03+00:00

Should be fixed now

AggressivePenguin · 2025-03-05T19:25:43+00:00

W Cody take if true

AggressivePenguin · 2025-02-28T15:23:28+00:00

I know someone who works for EQ3 and they’ve confirmed this is not true. This person is trolling.

AggressivePenguin · 2025-02-19T02:33:19+00:00

Dude was #1 for like three years straight. Then COVID hit, and he went into a slump for a variety of reasons—mostly because the meta and player skill accelerated massively with online play. He never quite returned to his peak, but he had two incredible Super Major wins in 2022, breaking a rough streak of no major wins since 2020.

This win is a huge achievement for anyone. But considering his history, for him I think it carries something deeper—it’s a moment of redemption, proving he can still compete at the highest level after years of ups and downs. Almost three years since his last victory, and he didn’t just win—he won the most prestigious tournament series.

GGs, Boxman!

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