What is Happening?
Standard forum
Posted on Nov. 14, 2018, 10:40 p.m. by NapoleonBonaparte
Been thinking about getting back into standard.... then I saw the price...
Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the most expensive standard ever.
I know many if you will say "just play white weenie, it's only $200" or "play a budget deck", but that's not the point. Standard is supposed to be THE premier format, WOTC pushes standard and tries to get players to play standard over other formats. But currently there are a couple standard decks that are as expensive as a modern deck.
For example:
Jeskai Control/Midrange is $550-700 depending on card choices.
Bant Nexus is $450-600 depending on choices.
Golgari Midrange is $400-500.
The "best deck" luckily is a tad cheaper than the other options coming in at $250-325. (Boros aggro).
If players are told to play standard if they can't afford modern, but standard is almost as expensive as modern, then what are they to do?
I know we can't really change anything but I'm just venting. Personally I don't have any financial issues but I'm speaking out for the average Joe mtg player.
well Standard where a lot of the staples are staples in modern kind of makes that standard more expensive.
Now for boros aggro one could have cut half that price tag if you picked up history when it was lower, I got a playset for less than what you'd get for 2 of them now, you also can probably make an fnm serviceable list in just mono white, most of the recent pt's top 8 lists were mono white mainboard. and while you're attending fnm's you can keep an eye out for people trying to sell out of standard and pick up your needed cards that way.
November 15, 2018 2:03 a.m.
multimedia says... #4
Hey, yep Standard is expensive right now. That's because of the playable manabases (Shock lands and Check lands) and the top decks are playing a lot of mythic rares including some decks are using 4x of a very expensive mythic rare. These cards are unfortunately what make the decks competitive :(
Out of all the competitive decks these are the least expensive:
- Mono-Blue Tempo with Curious Obsession ($100 or less)
- Mono-Red Aggro with Experimental Frenzy ($130)
- White Weenie with History of Benalia ($230 and going up)
- Izzet Drakes with Arclight Phoenix ($240)
- Mono-Red Aggro with Rekindling Phoenix ($240)
- Dimir Control with Doom Whisperer ($250)
- Boros Aggro with History of Benalia ($280 and going up)
There's still quite a few less than $300 decks to choose from that are competitive. At least this means you don't have to play overly expensive Golgari or Jeskai Control to be competitive as long as you prepare your sideboard to beat these decks. I would feel safe/secure taking any one of the above decks to FNM.
This is an expensive Standard, but it's thankfully a long ways from ridiculously expensive BFZ/OGW/ORI Standard with playable manabases of Fetch lands/Battle lands, Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
Flip was a $90 card and 4x in many of the competitive decks. I fear that upcoming GRN/RNA Standard will be close to BFZ/OGW/ORI Standard because of expensive manabases (having 20+ different expensive playable dual lands (Shocks and Checks) to choose from) and because of Teferi, Hero of Dominaria who's going to be more viable in many more decks and he's $50 now. GRN/RNA Standard is going to be fun because of all the options for decks to choose from thanks to the lands, but it's also going to be I think excessively expensive.
November 15, 2018 6:34 a.m.
Expensive standard <-> value in packs
You can't have one without the other. Well, you can - you can simply build decks that are not expensive - Izzet drakes deck is 200+ dollars, but 100 of those are 4 Arclight Phoenix and another 100 are 8 rare dual lands. 95% of that deck's value is in those 12 cards. Can you cut those phoenices for 2 niv-mizzet and more counters and make a control deck for half the cost? Yes, you can.
Additionally, to save $$$, you can invest your cash in cards that yo u can play in other formats. A playset of Vraska's Contempt and Carnage Tyrant are equal in dollars to the aforementioned 8 lands and 4 phoenixes. Which of the two lots of cards sees play in Modern?
The second one. So, you can buy and use those cards in standard, and when they rotate out, use them in modern decks.
November 15, 2018 7 a.m.
Flooremoji says... #6
The BFZ/OGW/ORI standard could easily cost as much as a modern deck. This is less so, but the jeskai control decks are already more expensive then some competitive modern decks. I believe that more cards that will settle into modern are in the most exxpensive decks, so in a way, it is a steeping stone for modern, even if the price is closer then it probably should be.
November 15, 2018 1:45 p.m.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the most expensive standard ever.
Ok. You're wrong. ;-)
Seriously though, as I type this, the average price of the Top 10 decks in Standard is $324, per MTGgoldfish.
That compares favorably with previous average Top 10 prices:
- May 2014: $366
- May 2015: $300
- May 2016: $388
- May 2017: $275
Please note I'm not saying Standard isn't expensive ... I personally saved up for a few sets, and bought into Modern. But it's certainly been more expensive.
Icbrgr says... #2
I do overall like the format as a whole; particularly because it encourages players to try out new cards and mechanics and see them in action like sagas for example.
But yeah unless I played professionally I can't imagine justifying paying what I paid for my modern deck to be "competitive" in standard.
November 15, 2018 midnight