Fun and Useful Magic Sites

With Magic's continued growth, more and more sites are popping up that are devoted to one aspect or another of Magic. Whether it's collecting the cards, building decks, playing games, practicing drafts, or watching the business side of things, Magic has become a robust topic across the Internet.

We all know about Channel Fireball and Gatherer (and if you don't, boy, I'm just giving you all the goods today), but there are plenty of other sites out there that have a ton of useful resources for Magic players. Here are a couple I've found that I enjoy.

SupernovaBots - http://www.supernovabots.com
Online card pricing

SupernovaBots is a straightforward site that offers a quick reference for determining the potential sale (and purchase) price of a card. It's a nice thing to have open during a draft, to make sure you don't misjudge the resale value of a card. You'd feel silly if you passed on a foil Prime Speaker Zegana because you didn't realize it sells for 14 tickets (aka a whole draft). Plus, the site is in plain text, so it's easily searchable using Ctrl+F. Nice little utility.

MTGO Traders - http://www.mtgotraders.com
Online card pricing

When I was putting together my commander deck, MTGO Traders was a godsend. It was a quick, searchable reference that let me find out if a card was in my price range (generally under $0.10). Between it and Gatherer, I was able to assemble a fun deck for less than eight bucks. Turns out it was outmatched a lot of the time, but regardless, the site was a great resource. It's still a great way to find out what cards are selling for.

TappedOut.net - http://tappedout.net
Deck building, cube building, paper card pricing, mock drafts

TappedOut.net is a site that I still haven't gotten all I can get out of it yet. You can create an account and save decks, posting them for review for your friends or strangers. For any deck you create, there's a link on side that gives you an estimate on the cost of your deck, and offers a link to a custom shopping cart that already includes the cards from the deck. Granted, the link you get is way overpriced, but it's a nice enough feature at least as a quick reference.

You can also do simulated solo drafts of any set you like, as well as host drafts for other visitors of the site to join and draft. This can give you a better sense of how a real draft might go. The site is a real plethora of deck-building and practice utilities, and it's the kind of site an avid Magic player can get lost for several hours. You're welcome.

Bestiaire - http://draft.bestiaire.org/index.php
Mock drafts, card rankings

There used to be another website I used for mock drafts, but Wizards put the screws to whatever site that was. Now I use Bestiaire, and I'm enjoying it. It's super easy to start a mock draft, and the AI that's been developed for the mock drafts seems to be pretty effective. Additionally, the site accumulates draft data from each mock draft that takes place on the site, and holds a running ranking of each card in each set. You can go all the way back to Alpha and they've got draft ratings (though the ratings for newer sets are a little more current).

My one complaint about the system is that it doesn't let you see your drafted cards during each pick, only in between packs. So sometimes, if you can't remember all your picks, you can make small errors, especially early on when your deck doesn't yet have an identity. Still, the mocks are super fast, so you can get a bunch of practice in a short period of time.

MTG Goldfish - http://www.mtggoldfish.com
Card prices and tracking, deck building

I just recently discovered MTGO Goldfish, and I'm just blown away by it. The site tracks card prices across all sets for both online and paper Magic cards. And by tracks, I mean that it has data for the past several years on the progression of card prices. It's an amazing tool for those of us who are interested in the economic aspect of the game. And I absolutely, absolutely am.

The site also offers comprehensive reports on the decks that people are playing in large events. For example, you can click here to see the decks that found success in a recent Pauper event. It's also got lists of the most common decks, and the variances that people play. You can check out a sample here, where the site shows the card choices made for "Bant Hexproof" decks.

If you've got any further suggestions, post a comment son.

Anniversary Show - Today!

We're finally here. Today's the day that, one year ago, these three bros started streaming pedestrian Magic and next-level jokes. Okay, it's actually tomorrow, but we're sticking with our normal Friday plan. Sue us.

Please don't sue us, we're broke.

So what do we have in store for you tonight? Well, I don't want to give everything away, but here are some highlights you can expect from tonight's show, starting at 8:00 Eastern Time:

1. Three drafts, each by a different bro!
2. Giveaways!
3. Trivia!
4. WWYD!

So come out tonight and join us, it should be a blast!