12/21/2010 UPDATE: I have released the source code for my MTGO trading bot “ApocBot”. You can view that blog post and download the code for free here.
Well, it seems my little post on my MTGO trading bot as generated some interest, so I felt I should at least give an update on the status.
- Basic Trade functionality is completed
- Trade x for y (i.e. 4 Uncommons for 1 Rare)
- Buy/Sell x for x (i.e. 6 Rares for 1 Ticket or 1 Ticket for 6 Rares)
- Smart Bot functionality is 70% Completed
Currently ApocBot is able to correctly identify cards that are selected during a trade and quote the stored price for the cards. So far, so good!
Want some more info? 
Okay, so here’s the big announce. I’m going to open source the Basic Trade functionality. I think it’s something that’s really fundamental and should have been included in the MTGO client to begin with. To that, I think it’s stilly to charge for such a basic function after writing it.
So now to answer some obvious questions:
Q: ZOMG! You’re going to open source it?!
A: Yes. ApocBot will be the first free, open source MTGO trade bot 
Q: What license will it be released under?
A: I’m going to release it under GPL v3
Q: When?!
A: It’ll be available on this site by January 1st, 2010 I’ll need some beta testers to use it before I release the source, just to make sure I’m not going to cause more problems than good. I’ll send out a call for that within the coming weeks.
Q: What about SmartBot functionality?
A: I’m still working on SmartBot and to be honest, it has been more trouble than it’s worth. I’ll make a decision on that as soon as I think it’s at a functional point. Because I’m currently working full time, I’m only able to dedicate a couple hours a week to ApocBot so this might take a bit. Part of me open sorucing ApocBot in the first place is so the community can begin development of such a plugin or enhancement.
Q: What will I need to develop ApocBot?
A: ApocBot is written in Microsoft C# and you will need Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 (with .NET 3.5) to develop. And Magic: The Gathering Online.. of course
So that’s that! What’s funny is I was mulling this post around in my head and how to handle a MTGO bot that I knew (a) wouldn’t make a ton of money and (b) should really be free anyways.
Please feel free to e-Mail me or leave any questions you might have here on this post and I’ll be more vigilant in getting back to everyone.
Cheers!
#1 by James Elgee on December 10, 2009 - 11:19 PM
If your looking for testers or help I’d be happy to do either. I’ve got fairly extensive knowledge of C# and .NET 3.5 since its what I do all day so let me know how I can be of assistance. I think its a great plan to release the base functionality to the community I had been planning on writing a blog on how to build the base functionality but now that you’ve posted this it would be a waste of my time and since I don’t want to steal your smart bot business I’ll hold off on writing a how-to for that especially since I haven’t had the time to upgrade my own bot since the move to V3. I look forward to seeing what you’ve put together and giving it a run.
#2 by Jake on December 14, 2009 - 6:44 PM
I’m not a coder (yet), just a hardware tech, but getting into MTGO I’d LOVE to have a basic trading bot (especially on GPL).
Can’t help code but would be willing to put it through the paces and create an extra MTGO account or two to use for testing purposes.
Anyhow, looking forward to see ApocBot whenever you get it done and I’d probably be willing to pay for a SmartBot version if I get into the trading like I’m hoping to.
Jake
#3 by Rodrigo on December 15, 2009 - 3:08 PM
I’m programming a mtgo bot myself, but in ruby and autoit. I don’t know if I can help you somehow, but probably you can help me with your .NET knowledge, sincerely I don’t know anything about .NET internals and I have some doubts.
Just email me if you want, I will be eager to collaborate!
Thanks,
Rodrigo.
#4 by Mike on December 20, 2009 - 1:44 PM
Hello -
I’m looking into a bot option for a friend’s card shop. We’d definitely be interested in beta testing this software, and hopefully contributing monetarily to help get it finished. Feel free to send us an email and let me know
Feel free to contact
#5 by Robert van Poelgeest on December 28, 2009 - 5:23 PM
Hi- I program in C# (mainly webapps) since early 2000 and I just got (re)acquinted with Magic. The Online version is new for me since I have a lot of Fourth edition and earlier cards. I wanted to write my own bot or at least write a store reading program to get a list of current prices. Both buy and sell all though that last option requires a large inventory. Maybe we can discuss and share idea’s.
Hope to hear from you soon,
#6 by Daniel Kortboyer on January 12, 2010 - 8:41 AM
I’m verry intrested, in testing your bot i already have a mtgo trading bot name: dr.oi i have a collection of 35k of cards so this shoud be good for trouble shooting, in a beta test,
please contact me for infromation.
E-mail BregjeenDaniel@home.nl
#7 by Alexandru Dimitriu on February 10, 2010 - 8:55 AM
Any update on the open-source release ?
#8 by Anonymous Coward on April 9, 2010 - 2:51 PM
Exciting and stuff but I feel the bots I’ve seen in MTGO (I just started playing) seem quite primitive atleast from the buyer/new player perspective. I’m not sure if someone has already done it but my angle is to write a proxy trading interface that accesses all the bots in the marketplace and takes a cut from the proxy transactions. Of course if all the bots have shared prices then it’s less useful but I did some quick investigation and there are enough price variation to make it worthwhile.
Another benefit of proxy trade is that it overcomes the ticket division and availability issue if the volume becomes large -> everyone will start only using the proxy since it will have every card of every bot available in one place and thus all the bots only now deal with the proxy -> doesnt matter if there are fractional credits left around. Also the bots owners have no choice but to accept the situation if the proxy interface is much superior to the MTG interface. For example it could be a web service + silverlight app.
#9 by Garner Loudermilk on May 25, 2010 - 9:16 PM
Man i have scoured the net looking for even a simple trade bot. buying x rares i have less than 4x of for 1 event tix. I used to own Yatbot, but after v3 launched it was no good anymore. I REALLY wish I could get in on the beta. I would put it through its paces. I know a little C+ but i don’t know how much I would be able to help on that end. If the Basic Trade Bot works I’ll pay for it. Too help fund the cause. Email me and let me know.
#10 by Joey Mac on July 2, 2010 - 8:33 AM
Hi,
I’d be interested in trying out your bot.
Let me know how its going.
Cheers,
-Joey
#11 by eric on April 7, 2011 - 4:27 AM
I have released the source code for the MTGO bot. Please view the update at the top of this post.