I guess I'll start out asking if reprints hold value at all and secondly I am in the process of starting a magic collection starting with the 1990s moving up until now. My problem is I am aware they rerelease fundamental or useful cards for tournament players to benefit set after set. However since I plan to collect it's more of a minus then a plus. I don't know much about magic in general yet so I am looking for a way to quickly identify the reprints without having to go through tons of different sets and cards to check myself through memory.
That's a pretty big question when you admittedly don't know much about Magic in general. I'm not even sure where to start. I'd try googling a few different terms. There have been plenty of Magic related investment/collection articles.
Also, as a heads up, collectors, particularly those who don't play the game at all, tend to be looked down up by the playing community, as they are one of the many forces behind price spikes, speculation, and availability of older, highly sought after cards. Don't be surprised if you get some negative feedback for even asking the question.
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Currently playing:
Standard: I, for one, welcome our new rhinoceros overlords
Modern: Pod's dead, Bob's back.
Legacy: Lands, Deathblade, Death and Taxes, Elves, MUD
Retired Legacy: Merfolk, Goblins, Jund, Delver, Reanimator
" The Magic trading card game has tremendous appeal as both a game and a collectible. For us, however, the Magic game is first and foremost a supreme game of strategy and skill. We choose to reprint cards because we believe (a) the cards we reprint make for enjoyable game play, and (b) all Magic players deserve an opportunity to play with these
cards. Any card that isn't on the reserved list may be reprinted. "
So in response to you, yes " really. " I have also found the reserve list on their website but it nor any of you have yet to answer my original question.
I want to add I am familiar with common uncommon rare and mythic, foil Etc.. I guess what I'm after is are certain reprints ever considered valuable, and how can I tell which of the current set are new and which are reprints without searching each individual card
To identify reprints, just go on Gatherer or magiccards.info and search up a card. Either will show the earliest printing of a card and all the reprints. Easy.
It's much harder to answer the question of "do reprints have an effect on card values?" because the answer is "it depends," which in turn requires that you know quite a bit about Magic culture. Sometimes reprints bring a card's value down like Thoughtseize or Steam Vents, but other times a reprint actually increases a card's price due to increased demand like Tarmogoyf or Dark Confidant. There are too many factors that go into reprints to give a general answer.
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Special thanks to Hakai Studios and SushiOtter for the sig!
Legacy:UR Sneak and Show IUBG Team America IX Metalworker MUD Modern:UBR Blue Jund IWBX Eldrazi Processors IX Affinity IWRG Nacatl Burn IGR Tron IUBR Grishoalbrand
What are you looking to collect within the realm of Magic? There are tens of thousands of cards. Some people collect Dragons or Angels, some people collect a specific card (Black Cat recently became a popular one), some people try to complete specific blocks or sets. A complete set of Beta would be astronomically expensive, but a fun hunt if you can afford it. Tracking down one of every Dragon is a pretty popular pursuit, and there'll be new ones every year. Complete sets of more current expansions are very, very easy to assemble, and might not scratch that collecting itch, especially if you order cards online.
Thank you both, and in response to stephicide I wish to collect rare cards primarily rare individual cards so the early to mid 90s cards are of interest. I suppose collecting sets would give me more direction however unless collecting the entire set significantly increased the value of each card against it's individual value it would be more hunting then it's probably worth.
I'll keep the above websites in mind when trying to identify reprints which will come in handy because I didn't know of those sites. I'll also learn more about the cards in general.
I suppose the allure I have with magic and why I want to do this is because I slowly see physical paper and cardboard dying.. Books are moving to nooks, magazines to tablets and even wizard has a digital magic card game ( disgusting ) so I want to collect individual cards now that won't be available again ( for example an original print ) I don't care if it takes 10 years or 20, or I pass them down to my children. I believe physical cards will increase in value In this evolving digital world. However I wish to seek out the gems. I'm more interesting in long term value then price spikes from current gameplay.
So I see the value in a brand new first printing of a card even if it's from 2015 and cheap or useless now because I don't care about the money but i do care about long term value. I understand nothing is set in stone but I plan to hold it for 10 or even 20+ years and beyond
EDIT: *I checked out the websites posted above, they are significant In identifying an original first printing of the individual card. However after some thought it would be easier to search by set. For example I am buying a box from the 2010 core set, is there a way to do a mass search for all the first prints or new cards throughout the entire set without looking one by one?
Thank you both, and in response to stephicide I wish to collect rare cards primarily rare individual cards so the early to mid 90s cards are of interest. I suppose collecting sets would give me more direction however unless collecting the entire set significantly increased the value of each card against it's individual value it would be more hunting then it's probably worth.
I'll keep the above websites in mind when trying to identify reprints which will come in handy because I didn't know of those sites. I'll also learn more about the cards in general.
I suppose the allure I have with magic and why I want to do this is because I slowly see physical paper and cardboard dying.. Books are moving to nooks, magazines to tablets and even wizard has a digital magic card game ( disgusting ) so I want to collect individual cards now that won't be available again ( for example an original print ) I don't care if it takes 10 years or 20, or I pass them down to my children. I believe physical cards will increase in value In this evolving digital world. However I wish to seek out the gems. I'm more interesting in long term value then price spikes from current gameplay.
The cards I think will slowly go up in value are strong foils, cards that they really can't reprint outside of the set, and rare cards. Strong foils are foils like the original lorwyn thoughtseize didn't drop in value from thoughtseize's reprint (WOTC changed the art which helped it stay up in price and the older version of say, Goyf from time spiral block will almost certainly not get the art reprint so it will maintain its value more than the MM goyf) and mostly because of how rares foils really are, to get a specific foil you would need to open 50+ boxes... Cards they can't reprint outside of a set is semi-risky because they can be reprinted in a set like modern masters, but by that I mean cards like Geist of Saint Traft where the character is specific to Innastrad. Rare cards are cards like Book Jace, it will usually be some sort of promotional card, full art cards or a judge card.
Thank you both, and in response to stephicide I wish to collect rare cards primarily rare individual cards so the early to mid 90s cards are of interest. I suppose collecting sets would give me more direction however unless collecting the entire set significantly increased the value of each card against it's individual value it would be more hunting then it's probably worth.
I'll keep the above websites in mind when trying to identify reprints which will come in handy because I didn't know of those sites. I'll also learn more about the cards in general.
I suppose the allure I have with magic and why I want to do this is because I slowly see physical paper and cardboard dying.. Books are moving to nooks, magazines to tablets and even wizard has a digital magic card game ( disgusting ) so I want to collect individual cards now that won't be available again ( for example an original print ) I don't care if it takes 10 years or 20, or I pass them down to my children. I believe physical cards will increase in value In this evolving digital world. However I wish to seek out the gems. I'm more interesting in long term value then price spikes from current gameplay.
If you're strictly wanting to own expensive, rare cards that will continue to be expensive and rare in the future, then purchase cards only from the reserve list and only the ones of the highest value. Wizards has shown no inclination towards abolishing the list thus far, and they're going to be the only cards you'll find that are guaranteed to be safe from reprints.
As for "putting up with reprints," this game continues to exist solely on the backs of players actually playing the game. If it were strictly a collector's market item with no other utility, you'd probably see it go the way of countless other collectible card games that came before it. When nobody plays, nobody wants the cards, and the values diminish. Cards don't retain high prices strictly because they're old and rare. They're valuable because they serve a function within the game. There are exceptions to that rule (Juzam Djinn comes to mind), but generally speaking, if a card isn't playable, it won't be worth much. Reprints facilitate the game's continued existence.
So I see the value in a brand new first printing of a card even if it's from 2015 and cheap or useless now because I don't care about the money but i do care about long term value. I understand nothing is set in stone but I plan to hold it for 10 or even 20+ years and beyond
Buying cards from recent sets is possibly the worst way you could go about accomplishing your goals. 90% of cards are going to be worth little to nothing, even in long-term value. In fact, many of them will have much higher short-term value due to their playability in the current Standard. The only way to determine what cards, if any, will retain significant values 10 or 20 years in the future is to know which cards will be worth playing for years to come.
Take that box of M10 you purchased. Nothing in that set is currently worth more than $15~, and each card in the set can be acquired for less than $10. None of them see significant Legacy or Modern play, and of the ones that are worth $15~, any one of them could easily be reprinted, and many already have been (one actually was just reprinted M15). Plus, it was a largely printed set, meaning there are tens of thousands of copies of those cards in circulation. Your long term value? Not much. That's assuming you even pull any of those cards from the booster box you purchased. My advice would be to simply not open the booster box, as its value will likely be higher than the contents of the booster packs themselves.
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Currently playing:
Standard: I, for one, welcome our new rhinoceros overlords
Modern: Pod's dead, Bob's back.
Legacy: Lands, Deathblade, Death and Taxes, Elves, MUD
Retired Legacy: Merfolk, Goblins, Jund, Delver, Reanimator
To answer the original question, the best way to identify what set your card was printed in is to look for the expansion symbol, which will tell you right away which set the card is from (except for Alpha, Beta, Unlimited, Revised, and Fourth Edition, which had no expansion symbols, and some early white-bordered sets which are all reprints). Another way is to look for the copyright date on the bottom of each card (there are no copyright dates on cards from the first year of Magic; these dates began appearing in mid-1994.)
Now were cookin with gas! I will focus on buying single rares from reputable instead of boxes. Your point is valid, and most likely it would take a long while for nostalgia to kick in even in the digital age and it's no guarentee over some cardboard cut outs. I'll focus on the original 90s gems for now. Also I understand the importance of players and I do plan to play myself. I'd be better off buying rare singles mainly and a box here or there for fun. Something about the gamble of a booster pack is interesting. I realize now there are too many factors to have a single direction. I'm ok if they all turn out to have no monetary value as long as I approach with some type of plan, which I do now have. Thank you guys
I appreciate it
Edit: I also understand the perception of a players mind now, which will help me see value where I may have missed it before. I would be a liar if I said I didn't love the artwork as well. I remember as a child all the comic books in the shop, next to them their relative the original magic playing cards. I was more interested in comics back then but it's where I get this sense of value. I slowly see those type of shops dying, at least locally. I'll always be more of a collector then a player but for good reason in my mind.
@OP, sounds like we're in the same boat. I'm a player-collector myself and to answer your question on reprints, it dilutes the value of existing cards. However, the effect can be somewhat mitigated if you're collecting complete sets, feel free to pm me to discuss. To avoid unnecessary money on reprints, you should be aware that until M10, all of the core sets are pretty much reprints, so you only need 4x of Unlimited (if you want 4x Power) or 4x of Revised to basically have all the cards from 4th edition to 10th edition. This is the reason I haven't collected those sets yet either, hehe. You should consider whether or not you want to collect the 'new' core sets, there's several unique cards in them but also many reprinted planeswalkers. From a value perspective, it's probably not a great decision but from a completeness perspective, maybe
All of the expansion sets can be collected, the reprints have been minor thus far. There's additional non-core, non-expansion 'compilation' sets that exist but you can likely bypass these (i.e. battle royale, duel deck) since they're full of reprints and you're not missing anything besides different artwork by not collecting those. One particular non-core, non-expansion set comes to mind for - Portal 3 Kingdoms, this is a set with cards that are used in edh/legacy so you can decide for yourself if it's worth getting that set. Recently, they've started coming out with 'Reprint' sets with the specific goal of reprinting cards, specifically 'Modern Masters', which will likely be followed by many more iterations. If you've been collecting all of the expansion sets, you are not missing out on much by not collecting any reprint sets now and in the future.
So, long story short:
* just pick a single pre-M10 core set to collect (I suggest a set from ABUR since those are the ones with dual lands, depending on your preference for power), your choice on post-M10 core sets
* don't collect non-core, non-expansion sets
And you'll save yourself most of the reprints. Good luck!
Thanks
Also, as a heads up, collectors, particularly those who don't play the game at all, tend to be looked down up by the playing community, as they are one of the many forces behind price spikes, speculation, and availability of older, highly sought after cards. Don't be surprised if you get some negative feedback for even asking the question.
Standard: I, for one, welcome our new rhinoceros overlords
Modern: Pod's dead, Bob's back.
Legacy: Lands, Deathblade, Death and Taxes, Elves, MUD
Retired Legacy: Merfolk, Goblins, Jund, Delver, Reanimator
So you look down on actual players because they're the reason you have to put up with reprints? Really?
Legacy: Death and Taxes, U/B Reanimator
From wizard and I quote Why We Reprint Cards
" The Magic trading card game has tremendous appeal as both a game and a collectible. For us, however, the Magic game is first and foremost a supreme game of strategy and skill. We choose to reprint cards because we believe (a) the cards we reprint make for enjoyable game play, and (b) all Magic players deserve an opportunity to play with these
cards. Any card that isn't on the reserved list may be reprinted. "
So in response to you, yes " really. " I have also found the reserve list on their website but it nor any of you have yet to answer my original question.
It's much harder to answer the question of "do reprints have an effect on card values?" because the answer is "it depends," which in turn requires that you know quite a bit about Magic culture. Sometimes reprints bring a card's value down like Thoughtseize or Steam Vents, but other times a reprint actually increases a card's price due to increased demand like Tarmogoyf or Dark Confidant. There are too many factors that go into reprints to give a general answer.
Special thanks to Hakai Studios and SushiOtter for the sig!
Legacy: UR Sneak and Show I UBG Team America I X Metalworker MUD
Modern: UBR Blue Jund I WBX Eldrazi Processors I X Affinity I WRG Nacatl Burn I GR Tron I UBR Grishoalbrand
Krark Clan Eggs
Affinity
Legacy
BUG Delver
Miracles
Sneak'n'Show
Elves
Mono-Red Burn
EDH
Thraximundar
I'll keep the above websites in mind when trying to identify reprints which will come in handy because I didn't know of those sites. I'll also learn more about the cards in general.
I suppose the allure I have with magic and why I want to do this is because I slowly see physical paper and cardboard dying.. Books are moving to nooks, magazines to tablets and even wizard has a digital magic card game ( disgusting ) so I want to collect individual cards now that won't be available again ( for example an original print ) I don't care if it takes 10 years or 20, or I pass them down to my children. I believe physical cards will increase in value In this evolving digital world. However I wish to seek out the gems. I'm more interesting in long term value then price spikes from current gameplay.
EDIT: *I checked out the websites posted above, they are significant In identifying an original first printing of the individual card. However after some thought it would be easier to search by set. For example I am buying a box from the 2010 core set, is there a way to do a mass search for all the first prints or new cards throughout the entire set without looking one by one?
If you're strictly wanting to own expensive, rare cards that will continue to be expensive and rare in the future, then purchase cards only from the reserve list and only the ones of the highest value. Wizards has shown no inclination towards abolishing the list thus far, and they're going to be the only cards you'll find that are guaranteed to be safe from reprints.
As for "putting up with reprints," this game continues to exist solely on the backs of players actually playing the game. If it were strictly a collector's market item with no other utility, you'd probably see it go the way of countless other collectible card games that came before it. When nobody plays, nobody wants the cards, and the values diminish. Cards don't retain high prices strictly because they're old and rare. They're valuable because they serve a function within the game. There are exceptions to that rule (Juzam Djinn comes to mind), but generally speaking, if a card isn't playable, it won't be worth much. Reprints facilitate the game's continued existence.
Buying cards from recent sets is possibly the worst way you could go about accomplishing your goals. 90% of cards are going to be worth little to nothing, even in long-term value. In fact, many of them will have much higher short-term value due to their playability in the current Standard. The only way to determine what cards, if any, will retain significant values 10 or 20 years in the future is to know which cards will be worth playing for years to come.
Take that box of M10 you purchased. Nothing in that set is currently worth more than $15~, and each card in the set can be acquired for less than $10. None of them see significant Legacy or Modern play, and of the ones that are worth $15~, any one of them could easily be reprinted, and many already have been (one actually was just reprinted M15). Plus, it was a largely printed set, meaning there are tens of thousands of copies of those cards in circulation. Your long term value? Not much. That's assuming you even pull any of those cards from the booster box you purchased. My advice would be to simply not open the booster box, as its value will likely be higher than the contents of the booster packs themselves.
Standard: I, for one, welcome our new rhinoceros overlords
Modern: Pod's dead, Bob's back.
Legacy: Lands, Deathblade, Death and Taxes, Elves, MUD
Retired Legacy: Merfolk, Goblins, Jund, Delver, Reanimator
I appreciate it
Edit: I also understand the perception of a players mind now, which will help me see value where I may have missed it before. I would be a liar if I said I didn't love the artwork as well. I remember as a child all the comic books in the shop, next to them their relative the original magic playing cards. I was more interested in comics back then but it's where I get this sense of value. I slowly see those type of shops dying, at least locally. I'll always be more of a collector then a player but for good reason in my mind.
All of the expansion sets can be collected, the reprints have been minor thus far. There's additional non-core, non-expansion 'compilation' sets that exist but you can likely bypass these (i.e. battle royale, duel deck) since they're full of reprints and you're not missing anything besides different artwork by not collecting those. One particular non-core, non-expansion set comes to mind for - Portal 3 Kingdoms, this is a set with cards that are used in edh/legacy so you can decide for yourself if it's worth getting that set. Recently, they've started coming out with 'Reprint' sets with the specific goal of reprinting cards, specifically 'Modern Masters', which will likely be followed by many more iterations. If you've been collecting all of the expansion sets, you are not missing out on much by not collecting any reprint sets now and in the future.
So, long story short:
* just pick a single pre-M10 core set to collect (I suggest a set from ABUR since those are the ones with dual lands, depending on your preference for power), your choice on post-M10 core sets
* don't collect non-core, non-expansion sets
And you'll save yourself most of the reprints. Good luck!