The Whatnot promotion has been spreading across MTG’s fanbase over the past few weeks. Post Malone announced he would team up with Whatnot to battle one MTG fan for $100,000! The event was spectacular, with multiple MTG personalities appearing out of the woodworks. The Command Zone, Tolarian Community College, and others made this a fantastic show to watch! At the end of the day, our MTG challenger managed to take away the prize pool with an incredibly powerful deck of cards!
The Biggest Battle Ever?
Perhaps the most shocking thing about winning $100,000 in this MTG match is that Whatnot User Kyle is now on the leaderboard for All-Time Money Leaders in Professional MTG. PleasantKenobi’s tweet outlines how much was riding on this one set compared to competitive MTG. Asking for the next competitive Pro Tour to be Pro Tour Malone may be more realistic than people think.
A Long Duel of Wits
The games played by Kyle and Post Malone continued for hours. Between giveaways and games, the Whatnot event continued late into the night. For whatever reason, Whatnot has not posted a recording of these sets, as their platform promotes Livestreams. Tons of expensive cards were given away throughout the stream, like a set of Zendikar Expeditions.
Most of the decks played in this event have been seen on the Command Zone. We saw Ashlen Rose’s Kozilek, the Great Distortion deck, Jimmy Wong‘s Magda list, and more. These games were incredibly high-power, with early Blightsteel Colossus plays and substantial mana rocks like Grim Monolith accelerating play heavily.
Was The Event Beginner-Friendly?
A big selling point of the Whatnot event was that this event was beginner-friendly. With hall-of-fame player Reid Duke offering an exclusive training session, many MTG players should be prepared to battle Posty in a B03 Commander set. Unfortunately, these Commander cards were high-power, which means there will be a lot of confusing mechanics and interactions going on. Some members of the Livestream cheat observed that Kyle didn’t seem to know what exactly everything did. The Whatnot crew, alongside Command Zone hosts Josh and Jimmy, were there to help Kyle navigate some of the more confusing MTG mechanics. Even for a player who has a basic grasp of the game, there are so many different types of rules and keywords that it can take quite a long time to learn everything. Either way, using the Shadowborne Apostle deck premiered on the Command Zone, Kyle managed to take Post Malone down in a thrilling Game 3 match and win!
Post Malone MTG Marketplace Effects?
For MTG Finance market watchers like myself, this is the first question that may come to their minds. With recent EDH underused cards highlights from the Command Zone and similar highlights from other Commander personalities, it has become clear that there is a vast media influence on the Secondary Market for MTG. This event may reach out to many newer players exposed to the game through celebrities like Post Malone and Cassius Marsh. Both MTG all-stars promote Commander significantly, so breakout cards that do well at these events may see a price increase from other newer players.
Blightsteel Colossus, in particular, had a very flashy entrance, killing Post Malone from nowhere. It also sees some play in a unique Modern deck using Shape Anew to cheat it out. I may start to watch the price of this card as a result. I would not expect a massive movement, but the MTG community may expect a slight increase.
