This weekend, there was a plethora of events for players to play in and test out new Murders at Karlov Manor cards. For qualified players, Regional Championships in Canada and the U.S. took place, allowing us to get an initial glimpse at the power of Karlov Manor cards in Modern. On Magic Online, there were a bunch of different tournaments running across a variety of formats. Two Showcase Challenges in Modern and Pioneer alongside ton of normal challenges from Standard down to Vintage were scheduled to take place as well.
Unfortunately, a lot of players had their tournaments cut short due to another round of major systematic errors on the client. Usually in cases like this, if a tournament doesn’t get to resume in traditional fashion, players in the event will be awarded compensation in some regard as a form of a refund.
This was indeed the case this weekend, but players were quick to notice something fishy about the reimbursement they received. Players were unintentionally given significantly more prize compensation than expected. So much so, that Murders at Karlov Manor cards collectively began to tank in value! Before we get to the specific cause of this market crash, it’s important to go over what stopped the events in the first place.
Draws for Everyone!
As mentioned, every weekend, there are typically a multitude of different Challenge events that players can do on Magic Online. These events include various Constructed formats as well as Limited. While many players were in the middle of different events, an error started to occur that would ultimately result in each player’s match ending in a draw. This appeared to be a recurring issue across the platform.
What’s interesting in this case, though, is that Magic Online tournaments don’t factor draws into the equation. Unlike paper tournaments, each player is given a 25-minute clock to work with. If you go over the allotted time while the match is still going, you lose the match. Additionally, there are no intentional draws. As a result, everyone’s records in tournaments on Magic Online only showcase wins and losses.
These “draws” ended up with all affected players receiving losses, as shown by the screenshot above. In the case of some events, such as the Pioneer Showcase Challenge, players ultimately continued playing. For players that were in top 8 contention, but received losses out of their control towards the end of the event, invites to the Showcase Qualifier were extended to them even if they didn’t make top 8.
Many other scheduled Challenge events ended up being canceled following these problems. For other Challenges that were already in progress, mass reimbursements to those affected were intended to be administered during the week. Unsurprisingly, players were disappointed that the Magic Online client was having issues once again, but at least players were being compensated in the correct manner…
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Free Complete Sets?
Well, or so we thought. The initial intention was to hand out booster packs as a way to make up for the downtime associated with the issues yesterday during events. However, instead of handing out booster packs, Daybreak accidently sent out a ton of Murders at Karlov Manor complete sets! These complete sets contain one copy of every card in the entire set. They are typically given to top finishers in various Challenge events and, as expected, can hold a decent chunk of value.
This would prove to be a major mistake. Many players were given a bunch of complete sets at once. While some players were quick to sell their complete sets without questioning the error, getting value out of Constructed staples like Leyline of the Guildpact, once it became evident that there were a ton of them in circulation, the value of the set online as a whole began to plummet.
There has since been a response on the Magic Online Twitter page acknowledging the situation. It appears as though these complete sets were being removed from Magic Online accounts that accidently received them. It’s unclear exactly what will happen with regards to players who quickly sold or opened their complete sets, but it’s been made clear that players that already sold complete sets and bought other cards with the currency will not be stripped of their new cards.
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Potential Affect Towards Draft Value
At first, it might seem like overcompensation, even to this magnitude, isn’t too big of a deal from a player standpoint. However, this could end up having a massive impact on players, even if they weren’t involved in this weekend’s events. While the online secondary market may stabilize over time, with enough players opening and selling cards, the value of even top tier rares and mythic rares like Cryptic Coat from Murders at Karlov Manor could tank significantly.
This obviously impacts players and their ability to buy the cards they need. More importantly, though, by removing a lot of the value of the chase cards in the set, players will likely be less incentivized to draft Murders at Karlov Manor on Magic Online moving forward. Drafts on Magic Online aren’t the cheapest, but some players enjoy trying to strike it rich.
Not only that, but prize support for drafts on Magic Online is in the form of booster packs. With nothing super valuable to open, the incentive to draft would surely be reduced significantly. Luckily, it seems like the overcompensation issue may have been caught quickly enough. The value of a Murders at Karlov Manor complete set has risen some over the course of the day, so it’ll be worth monitoring if the online secondary market continues to stabilize. This had the potential to be a massive disaster, so hopefully things continue to trend in the right direction.
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