MTG Masters 25

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

Today, Blake Rasmussen had posted a bit of a teaser on the Wizards of the Coast Magic: the Gathering site.  Specifically product packaging as well as two cards to expect for the upcoming Modern Masters product, which releases on March 16, 2018.

This year's offering is a bit special as Magic: the Gathering celebrates its 25th anniversary.  Here is a blurb now -

Masters 25 is a booster-based compilation set that will be released on March 16, 2018.  It is designed to be drafted and celebrates twenty-five years of Magic: The Gathering.  Players will get to draft like a master as they are taken back through time to experience some of the most popular planes, mechanics, and spells in Magic's history.

Masters 25 will feature the return of Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Azusa, Lost but Seeking, including a very mysterious metal spikey character.  We suspect that this may be Platinum Emperion, but we may have to wait until the official previews, which are to start on Monday 26th February. 

What certainly caught our attention is that Blake had indicated that most of the cards in Masters 25 will have the watermark with the symbol of the set they are from.  Very cool and yes, the nostalgia is prepared to overload here.


In related news, NOW is the time to buy copies of Unstable's 'Watermarket', which when this land is tapped will produce two colourless mana to cast spells with watermarks.

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Modern Masters FULL Preview

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

Happy indeed as it is Friday and the end of the work / school week for most and later this evening, unwind with a few FNM matches of Magic: the Gathering at our local gaming store, OMG! Games.  Sounds good - more so, if the horrific winter storm clears up in time.  Here is a pic of what it is like outside right now (early afternoon) here in Barrie, Ontario, where a trailer of Georgian Bay is eliminating any kind of visibility.  In this rather murky image, there is a City and beautiful waterfront.  

Anywhoos, if we can't convince the sled dogs to go out tonight, we'll stay in and look over all the cards in the soon-to-be-relased Modern Masters 2017 set.  Today's article on MTG Realm summarises what one can expect with the new set.  For the full card image gallery, pop on over to the Wizards of the Coast site (being hosted on a server in Seattle, where is is abundantly more cheerful outside).

Big news - Damnation receives its first reprint in a set.  Also of note, is that both Snapcaster Mage and Cavern of Souls become the first cards originally printed as a rare in a standard set printed after mythic rares were introduced, to be reprinted as a mythic rare.  This set looks pretty much awesome and we're looking forward to draft and collect.  There is a total of 249 cards (101 commons, 80 uncommons, 53 rares, 15 mythic rares) to be assembled in a variety of awesome shapes 'n' forms for limited.

From today's article from WotC staffer Sam, it appears that the Modern Masters 2017 features the following limited archetypes:

White-Blue - Blink

Blue-Black - Instant Control

Black-Red - Unearth/Sacrifice

Red-Green - Token Go-Wide

Green-White - Populate

White-Blue-Black - Control (with Creatures)

Blue-Black-Red - Graveyard

Black-Red-Green - Sacrifice

Red-Gree-White - Token Aggro

Green-White-Blue - Splicers

Many Modern format gamers are quite interested in Changes in Rarity, as this does drive (to a limited point) the prices of card singles.  Here is the quick 'n' dirty summary of rarity changes -

Common to Uncommon : Compulsive Research, Molten Rain, Vithian Stinger, Terminate, Azorius Signet, Dimir Signet, Rakdos Signet, Gruul Signet, Selesnya Signet, Orzhov Signet, Izzet Signet, Golgari Signet, Boros Signet, Simic Signet

Uncommon to Common : Magma Jet, Burning-Tree Emissary, Gnawing Zombie, Augur of Bolas

Rare to Common : Mortician Beetle

Rare to Uncommon : Goblin Assault, Inquisition of Kozilek, Sedraxis Specter

Rare to Mythic : Snapcaster Mage

Mythic to Rare : Falkenrath Aristocrat, Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
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Here at MTG Realm, we are definitely interested in new illustrations provided by Wizards of the Coast.  The last Modern Masters set had about 5 new card arts if we recall correctly.  You should be quite pleased to learn that we have identified about 14 new card arts I have taken note of so far :

Abyssal Specter - Daarken
Agent of Masks - Allen Williams
Cavern of Souls - Richard Wright
Compulsive Research - Sara Winters
Goblin Guide - Filip Burburan
Might of old Krosa - Lars Grant-West
Molten Rain - Sung Choi
Past in Flames - Anna Steinbauer
Ranger of Eos - Ryan Pancoast
Serum Visions - Izzy
Snapcaster Mage - Ryan Alexander Lee
Stony Silence - Mark Poole
Terminate - Lucas Graciano

Urbis Protector - Magali Villeneuve

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Modern Masters 2017 Ultra PRO

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

If you are a fashionable and hip Magic: the Gathering player at the game table, half the effort should be the bling, which includes perhaps the Commander's Arsenal life counter (or Ultra PRO's 'Realms of Havoc' Dayoote or ShadoΦte) and of course a sweet playmat and card sleeves.  You may have noticed we did not mention a tacky Crown Royal velvet dice bag.  

Anywhoos, if you are looking forward to the upcoming Modern Masters 2017 release, go all in with some sweet artwork featuring Snappy, Gobby Guide or the Ranger (folks round here call him Strider).  Here is the Ultra PRO line-up for Modern Masters 3 being released March 17, 2017.

Modern Masters 2017 Playmats
playmats are sized approximately 24" wide x 13.5" tall, and made with a premium fabric top for a smooth, protective playing surface. The back of the playmats are lined with non-slip, textured rubber material for added grip and padding.
• Snapcaster Mage, illustrated by Ryan Alexander Lee 
• Ranger of Eos, illustrated by Ryan Pancoas
• Goblin Guide, illustrated by Filip Burburan

Modern Masters 2017 Snapcaster Mage Deck Box, illustrated by Ryan Alexander Lee Deck Boxes hold approximately 80 sleeved cards, featuring our full-view design with clean artwork presentation and include a bonus deck divider.

Modern Masters 2017 Snapcaster Mage Deck Protector, illustrated by Ryan Alexander Lee.  Limited Print Deck Protector sleeves are produced with archival-safe polypropylene materials and sized 66mm X 91mm to store and protect standard sized gaming cards.

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Modern Masters Previews 2-28

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

We need to catch up with a number of Modern Masters preview today.  Releasing on 17th March, 2017, Modern Masters 2017 is to deliver a truckload of Magic: the Gathering goodness designed for the limited environment.  Reprints from Eighth Edition through Magic 2014–including trips through Innistrad and Return to Ravnica promises to deliver some nostalgia to game with in a new, unique environment.  

This latest set in the Modern Masters series are available in booster packs only, consisting of fifteen randomly inserted game cards, including one premium card in every pack.  The Official card image gallery on the Wizards of the Coast website may be found at this link.  Here is the full list of Modern Masters 2017 previewed yet so far.

Arcane Sanctum
Arid Mesa
Azorius Guildgate
Boros Guildgate
Crumbling Necropolis
Damnation
Dimir Guildgate
Domri Rade
Goblin Assault
Goblin Guide
Golgari Guildgate
Griselbrand
Gruul Guildgate
Harmonize
Izzet Guildgate
Jungle Shrine
Marsh Flats
Misty Rainforest
Molten Rain
Orzhov Guildgate
Primal Command
Rakdos Guildgate
Ranger of Eos
Restoration Angel
Rhox War Monk
Savage Lands
Scalding Tarn
Seaside Citadel
Sedraxis Specter
Selesnya Guildgate
Simic Guildgate
Snapcaster Mage
Sprouting Thrinax
Stoic Angel
Terminate
Thragtusk
Tower Gargoyle
Vanish into Memory
Venser, Shaper Savant
Verdant Catacombs
Woolly Thoctar

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Modern Masters Rumours

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

Hope all have had a great weekend.  This weekend for us was spent on a few epic games of Settlers of Catan, not to be confused with the popular Settlers of Brooklyn.  Anywhoos, we should probably get to some Magic: teh Gathering content - specifically Modern Masters 2015 edition, which is due to be released at the end of next month.

Since this post last week, the official previews have these five cards confirmed for reprint -
Vendilion Clique
Karn Liberated
Tarmogoyf
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

Etched Champion

Three of the five card arts here are also to be featured on upcoming Ultra • PRO product offerings as well - 

Ultra • PRO Modern Masters 2015 Edition offerings
Deck Vault (Etched Champion), MSRP: $7.99, # 86256
Sleeves (Karn Liberated), MSRP: $8.99, # 86255
Play Mat (Vendilion Clique), MSRP: $21.99, # 86257

WotC has planned the Grand Prix weekend in Las Vegas, Utrecht, and Chiba to be the pivotal event for the release of Modern Masters 2015 and encourages gamers to use the hashtag #‎MakeMagicHistory to share stories 'n' pics.  As we won't be able to attend either weekend, we hope local gaming stores #‎MakeMagicHistory by keeping the price for Modern Masters to under 300% of the MRSP.

Not much else in the way of previews, but loads of tantalizing images, like Magic's European community manager, Dan Barrett who just needs to let us see inside that environmentally considerate MM2015 package he just cracked in this YouTube vid.

Wrapping thingys up, we want to touch on some rumours on MTG Sally provided by a mysterious (but trustworthy) source that includes the following cards -

All is Dust
Austere Command
Cryptic Command
Dark Confidant
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Fulminator Mage
Goblin Guide
Incendiary Command
Iona, Shield of Emeria
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Mox Opal
Noble Hierarch
Primal Command
Profane Command
Splinter Twin
Tezzeret the Seeker

Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre

Again, these are rumours but since the poster proved true last time (with the previous Modern Masters spoilers), we will provide a benefit of doubt.
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Modern Masters Spoiler 4-22

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

Some delicious Magic: the Gathering spoiler news out today - another Modern Masters 2 spoiler.  Modern Masters 2015 Edition, to be released 22nd May will revisit some of the most notable planes from recent history, including Alara, Kamigawa, Lorwyn, Mirrodin, Ravnica, and Zendikar.   Each pack is to have 15 random cards including one (foil) premium as will retail for about 10 clams.  This is certainly is expected to get Modern constructed format players excited but is certainly designed to be drafted.

To celebrate the second Modern Masters set, WotC is running a triple Grand Prix weekend, so mark your calendars - May 28-31, 2015 is Modern Masters Weekdn and the format here for the tournaments is self-descriptive - Modern Masters 2015 Edition Limited.  Venues include -

Grand Prix Las Vegas - 4,760 players registered
Grand Prix Chiba - 4,000 players registered / sold out
Grand Prix Utrecht - 2,300 players registered

Anywhoos, on to today's Magic: the Gathering - Modern Masters 2 Spoiler !

Over on Channel Fireball, LSV dropped the next Modern Masters 2 preview along with the Grand Prix Vegas (May 28-31, 2015) side-event Playmat, also featuring the new art being provided to the Clique.  Vendilion Clique joins four other cards so far previewed - Etched Champion, Emarakul, Karn Liberated and Tarmogoyf.

Vendilion Clique, 1UU
Legendary Creature — Faerie Wizard
Flash
Flying
When Vendilion Clique enters the battlefield, look at target player's hand. You may choose a nonland card from it. If you do, that player reveals the chosen card, puts it on the bottom of his or her library, then draws a card.
3/1

For reference, here are the printings
Judge Promo - Illus. Jesper Ejsing
Morningtide / Modern Masters - Illus. Michael Sutfin
Modern Masters 2 - illus. Willian Murai

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Modern Masters 2015

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Happy Sunday MTG peeps,

Today, the semi-finals are starting at the 2014 World Championships and most Magic: the Gathering players are glued to their monitors to see who is victorious in this great tournament. 

A rather exciting and important announcement was made by Wizards of the Coast only about an hour ago on the streaming coverage provided by Twitch TV.  In this, the very next Modern Masters release was announced.  Although perhaps not our fav format, we've been loving tinkering with Modern format and have amassed a small collection of the staples over the past few years from MTG Mint Card. It appears that this year's set, like the previous year's will have a number of cards the designers have included which will lend itself rather well to drafting.  The biggest initial complaint from the community is that although the print run is limited, it would not be as limited as that of the the previous Modern Masters - the issue was the MSRP of $10, a solid increase from from $7.

From the previewed art, it looks like we can expect Etched Champion.  They've also previewd Emrakul (the Aeons Torn).  In fact, it appears that all cards may be reprints with an opportunity to get that hard to find card you may have been looking for.  Anywhoos - let's get to the announcement -
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Draft Like A Master

Modern Masters (2015 Edition) takes players back to some of the most remarkable planes from recent history, including Zendikar, Mirrodin, Ravnica, Lorwyn, Kamigawa, and Alara. Featuring new artwork on a number of cards, every card in Modern Masters can be added to your favorite Modern-format decks. But first, enjoy a fresh Limited experience that combines some of Magic's most iconic cards in new ways.

Every box of Modern Masters (2015 Edition) contains 24 booster packs—each with 15 randomly inserted game cards, including one premium card in every pack—making it perfect for exciting draft play.

Set Name: Modern Masters (2015 Edition)
Number of Cards: 249
Release Date: May 22, 2015
Twitter Hashtag: #MTGMM2015 

Initial Concept and Game Design: Erik Lauer (lead), Ben Hayes, and Ken Nagle
Final Game Design and Development: Tom LaPille (lead), Ben Hayes, Max McCall, and Adam Prosak
Languages: English, Japanese, Chinese Simplified
MSRP: $9.99
 
Modern Masters (2015 Edition) will be releasing on Magic Online May 29. The digital MSRP will be $6.99. It will not be available for redemption.

Additionally, to celebrate the second Modern Masters set, we're running a triple Grand Prix weekend, May 30–31, 2015, in the following cities:

Las Vegas, Nevada
Chiba, Japan
Utrecht, Netherlands
All three Grand Prix will run Modern Masters Limited, with Sealed on Days One and Two and a Top 8 Draft.

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Modern Metagame

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

Since the release of Modern Masters, the resultant 'Modern Week' on the mothership, and the Grand Prix Los Vegas over the weekend, most Magic: the Gathering players have their heads in Modern format.  Before we get any further, we ant to congratulate Neal Oliver who had won with a UWr build at GP Vegas. GP Vegas was a Modern Masters sealed tournament and although attendance was capped at 4,500, it was no problem sending this tournament into the record books as the largest trading card tournament ever held.  Kudos to the event organizer, Cascade Games as well as the small army of MTG Judges who made everything run smoothly.  We suggest you check out this post to the mothership by Nate Price and our buddy James Arnold.

Anywhoos, onto today's topic - the Modern Format Metagame.  We don't play modern nearly enough as we would likely to but we can offer up some general observations of what we consider to be the next most fun format right after EDH / Commander.  There's a great variety of very kewl builds out there that we've seen and have played against at our kitchen table as well as our local gaming shop, OMG! Games, but we can probably take a stab at nailing down the top five more popular builds we've seen as shown here:

Melira Pod, WBG : Featuring cards such as Birthing Pod, Kitchen Finks, and Birds of Paradise

Jund, BRG: Featuring cards such as Liliana of the Veil, Dark Confidant and Thoughtseize

UWR Control, WUR : Featuring cards such as Snapcaster Mage, Electrolyze and Lightning Helix

Gruul Zoo, RG : Featuring cards such as Kird Ape, Goblin Guide, and Tarmogoyf

RG Tron, RG : Featuring cards such as Chromatic Star, Chromatic Sphere and Sylvan Scrying

We here at MTG Realm have a few different builds going in our playgroup with RStomp usually playing an Infect build, JD playing BW tokens, RetroTech playing Combo-Elves, and yours truly (CopySix) playing a G/W hexproof or mono-white Soul Sisters.  Drop us a line in the comment thingy - what Modern tech are you playing?
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GP Vegas

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

As it is Friday, look for us at OMG! Games here in Barrie this evening to take in a Friday Night Magic event.  This month's FNM promo is a very lovely looking foil Izzet Charm with art from Zoltan Boros.  Speaking of promos, OMG! Games will be giving away to one lucky FNM player a chance to win a booster box of the latest Magic: the Gathering expansion set, Dragon's Maze, so be sure to hang around until the start of the third match for this sweet random draw.
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Images from @Gaming_Pit, @HipstersoftheCoast, ‏@RevEnFuego and ‏@MagicJudges.

Anywhoos, the big MTG news this weekend is of course Grand Prix Las Vegas.  GP Vegas 
format is Modern Masters sealed deck / booster draft and is being organized by Cascade Games.  What caught some gamers off guard in the announcement yesterday about capping the registration at approximately 4,500 players.  

This means that unless you have already registered, you're chances of getting into the GP are slim to none, and Slim just left town.  Right now at the Cashman Center in Lost Wages, players are in line ups around the block to to get into the Friday Events.  For the Main event on Saturday / Sunday, be sure to catch the latest on Twitch TV as well as post to the mothersite.

We'll sign off right now with some pretty amazing GP Vegas facts 'n' details from Nocturnal Nightingale - 

If all 4500 players show up, GP: Vegas will become the largest Magic tournament of all time, beating GP: Charlotte’s record by nearly 2000 players.  If they had not capped the event, at the previous rate of sign-ups, around 7000 players would have preregistered by Saturday morning.

• Around 70,000 packs will be given out total as prize and product.
• That number, plus basic lands, means that roughly 1.4 million cards will be given out.
• If you laid those cards end to end they would be 78 miles long.
• If you laid those cards out they would cover 1 1/2 standard football fields.
• That number is over half the original print run of Alpha.
• Assuming perfect math and foil/mythic distribution, 16 foil Tarmogoyfs will be opened. Somewhere around 400 regular Goyfs will be opened.
• One third of all L3 judges in the world will be there.
• One third of all L4 judges in the world will be there.
• Half of the L5 judges in the world will be there.
• Every single L2 in the southwestern US is on staff, roughly 40% of all judges L2 and up in the US.
• The event was capped at 4500 players.

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Wallpaper Wednesday

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

We have a bunch of Magic: the Gathering wallpapers from the mothersite to catch up with today.  The theme, as you can see is Modern Masters.  These four cards all received epic new arts which you may now enjoy on your desktop or mobile device.  Speaking of beautiful things, MTG Mint Card now has a lovely selection of Modern Masters foils to pimp out your stack.  Anywhoos - onto the MTG wallpapers. 
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Tarmogoyf, Modern Masters Mythic Rare, illustrated by Ryan Barger

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Sword of Fire and Ice, Modern Masters Rare, illustrated by Chris Rahn

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Dark Confidant, Modern Masters Rare, illustrated by Scott M. Fischer

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City of Brass, Modern Masters Rare, illustrated by Jung Park

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Friday MTG Miscellany

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Happy Friday MTG peeps,

Some very cool things going on this weekend.  First off, our local card shop, OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario, Canada-Land is dropping an incredible random prize giveaway of a Dragon's Maze Booster Box for each Friday Night Magic event for the month of June, 2013.  This is certainly worth the 45 minute drive north of Toronto.

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This weekend, if you are in Providence state-side, or in Gothenburg, Sweden, then you are in for some great Magic: the Gatherting Grand Prix action.
• Grand Prix Providence - Return to Ravnica Block Team Sealed/Draft
• Grand Prix Gothenburg - Return to Ravnica Block Sealed/Draft  
 

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Of course, the other big news this weekend is the release of Modern Masters.  Whether you are an avid Modern format player, a collector or just nostalgic for some of the older cards, you'll likely be very very pleased with this product release.  We here at MTG Realm don't have the money to pick up a box right now but will likely make a few strategic singles purchases from MTG Mint Card to upgrade some of our Modern builds.

 

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Finally, we suggest you check out TJ's Magic Arcana post on the mothersite today.  Trick has a great summary of the 24 or so Modern Masters cards which received new kick-butt art.

 

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Modern Masters Sealed

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Happy Wednesday MTG peeps,

The latest special Magic: the Gathering set, Modern Masters will be hitting store shelves this weekend and we are definitely excited.  We here at MTG Realm don't really draft all that much as our fav format is constructed and dang!, do we ever want to get our paws on some of these crazy-awesome good cards and into a Modern build.

Anywhoos - we can't offer many tips for draft other than this - if you pull a Tarmogoyf, don't pass it as it's worth about $100 or Dark Confidant (aka 'Bob') as it's worth about $60.  What we can suggest is to get to another Magic: the Gathering fan site with less derp than us and more strategy.

Our local store, OMG! Games here in Barrie, Ontario, Canada-Land will be running some events this weekend - here's the 4.1.1 -

Modern Masters Sealed
Saturday 8th June, 2013
Registration opens at 11:00am, play starts at 12:30pm
OMG! Games - 130 Bellfarm Rd., Barrie, ON. (705) 721-4263
Cost: $70.00
Prizes: 1st will receive a box of modern masters.  All players recieve $5 off their first Modern Masters Booster Draft.
Format: Six Boosters of Modern Masters Sealed. Modified Swiss pairings with 50 minute timed rounds.

Side Events: Booster Drafts - Draft Queues will be open Saturday June 8th 3pm until 7:30pm and Sunday June 9th 11an until 4pm
Cost: $35
Prizes: 1st - 3 boosters of Modern Masters, 2nd - 1 booster of Modern Masters
Format: Sanctioned 8 player Modern Masters booster draft

Remaining Product will be available for sale Sunday after the start of the final draft.  Last time we checked boxes (24 booster packs each) are going for a reasonable  $275 box + tax, or $15 for a booster.  You could also get 3 boosters for $40 (taxes in)
 

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