I have noticed price of CE/ICE has been slowing coming up. Was wondering if it is worthwhile to invest in a box now? Amazon and abugames currently has it listed as 3000+.
What is your opinion on the future value of these items? (Assuming that every current WOC policy stays the same.)
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Note that the print run for the CE was twice as big as that of the ICE, so they're not the same thing for collectors or in value. They've been steadily gaining value over the past few years, so the two big questions are 1) Are you getting a good deal for $3K and 2) how easy do you think it'll be to sell this later?
First, $3000+ sounds expensive, you could probably find it cheaper if you "shop around" a little. As for selling it? If you're getting an unopened box it's a hardcore collector's item, as in, only hardcore collectors will even want it. People who want CE cards for cube, proxy vintage, etc would probably not pay a premium for the box being unopened. As with all collector's items it comes down to finding the right buyer.
It looks like a lot of the value in those sets is centered on vintage playable cards. The relative increase for e.g. collector's edition Volcanic Island the last few years has been twice that of collector's edition Tropical Island. By comparison, the relative increase of the beta edition of the same lands has been about the same. This is most likely because vintage tournaments often allow proxies, while many legacy tournaments don't. Volcanic Island is a staple in vintage and legacy, Tropical Island is only really a staple in legacy (33% of legacy decks, 10% of vintage decks on MTGgoldfish). So, do you think proxy vintage will stay popular? Do you think proxy legacy might become more popular? The answer to those questions will determine how good Collector's edition will do in the future, and also if it'll be worth it to buy a complete set and possibly split it up later or if you're stuck with having to sell it as a full set if you want to profit.
Btw. Discussing values on the secondary market is usually done in the Market Street Cafe subforum. Don't be suprised if a mod moves the thread.
Hi I didn't know about the subsection. Will take note in the future. Thanks for the detailed reply.
Welcome to Market Street
I'd say that CE and ICE are not great investments. If you buy a sealed box, that's wicked cool, but like SquadronHawk mentioned your target audience is really, really narrow. You're looking at hardcore collectors who have $5k to drop on a purchase (because you need to make some profit, right?), AND who haven't done so already.
You also need the set to continue to gain value, and most critically, to outperform whatever else you might have chosen as an investment vehicle. If you're buying a sealed set, it's not like you're going to be able to play with the cards, so it might as well not even be a Magic investment. Check out index funds, or pay off your mortgage early or something.
Personally, I've given up on finishing my CE/ICE sets (as I've given up on so many Magic things lately). They're cool, but it's not really worth it to have cards that I can't play with. I've also been unable to move any of my spares - mostly nonblue dual lands (I was going to say that I don't have spare Power, but I do, I just don't bring it anywhere). The prices are high, but the market is still quite small. I think that I was able to trade away a Forcefield once, and that was to a friend who probably felt bad for me.
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I'll chime in also, you are late to invest in sealed CE or ICE sets. The ship has sailed several years back. I still remember when these went past 1k and opened sets missing one card (Animate Wall, or something. A guy who bought and sold picked those out for himself to keep track how many sets he had moved.) were 499$, and even then buying sealed boxes would have made you the same profits in much shorter time period. At 3k I just cannot see organic growth. As the others have stated the demand just isn't there.
What you might be able to do is to lurk eBay and message boards and buy partial set from people. There's still some money to be made from those, if you just pick your purchases, as lot of the sellers want to sell as one sale. The big trouble is how hard the singles are to sell, but this is usually the easiest way to get a full set, as buying two of these quite often leave you missing only few cards, which can be bought as singles. The bad part is the extra 100+ cards you cannot move easily...
So cool sets, and I still might finish my set one day too... Just don't want to buy ICE power I won't use for anything.
As an investment they are low risk low yield. I purchased a CE for use in a power cube, and besides the cards used in that the set is undesirable. As a tool to play high dollar cards without the prohibitive cost of entry they are fantastic.
What is your opinion on the future value of these items? (Assuming that every current WOC policy stays the same.)
First, $3000+ sounds expensive, you could probably find it cheaper if you "shop around" a little. As for selling it? If you're getting an unopened box it's a hardcore collector's item, as in, only hardcore collectors will even want it. People who want CE cards for cube, proxy vintage, etc would probably not pay a premium for the box being unopened. As with all collector's items it comes down to finding the right buyer.
It looks like a lot of the value in those sets is centered on vintage playable cards. The relative increase for e.g. collector's edition Volcanic Island the last few years has been twice that of collector's edition Tropical Island. By comparison, the relative increase of the beta edition of the same lands has been about the same. This is most likely because vintage tournaments often allow proxies, while many legacy tournaments don't. Volcanic Island is a staple in vintage and legacy, Tropical Island is only really a staple in legacy (33% of legacy decks, 10% of vintage decks on MTGgoldfish). So, do you think proxy vintage will stay popular? Do you think proxy legacy might become more popular? The answer to those questions will determine how good Collector's edition will do in the future, and also if it'll be worth it to buy a complete set and possibly split it up later or if you're stuck with having to sell it as a full set if you want to profit.
Btw. Discussing values on the secondary market is usually done in the Market Street Cafe subforum. Don't be suprised if a mod moves the thread.
Welcome to Market Street
I'd say that CE and ICE are not great investments. If you buy a sealed box, that's wicked cool, but like SquadronHawk mentioned your target audience is really, really narrow. You're looking at hardcore collectors who have $5k to drop on a purchase (because you need to make some profit, right?), AND who haven't done so already.
You also need the set to continue to gain value, and most critically, to outperform whatever else you might have chosen as an investment vehicle. If you're buying a sealed set, it's not like you're going to be able to play with the cards, so it might as well not even be a Magic investment. Check out index funds, or pay off your mortgage early or something.
Personally, I've given up on finishing my CE/ICE sets (as I've given up on so many Magic things lately). They're cool, but it's not really worth it to have cards that I can't play with. I've also been unable to move any of my spares - mostly nonblue dual lands (I was going to say that I don't have spare Power, but I do, I just don't bring it anywhere). The prices are high, but the market is still quite small. I think that I was able to trade away a Forcefield once, and that was to a friend who probably felt bad for me.
What you might be able to do is to lurk eBay and message boards and buy partial set from people. There's still some money to be made from those, if you just pick your purchases, as lot of the sellers want to sell as one sale. The big trouble is how hard the singles are to sell, but this is usually the easiest way to get a full set, as buying two of these quite often leave you missing only few cards, which can be bought as singles. The bad part is the extra 100+ cards you cannot move easily...
So cool sets, and I still might finish my set one day too... Just don't want to buy ICE power I won't use for anything.
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