My most expensive purchased card is my English Legends Rasputin Dreamweaver which clocked in around $20. I do have some more expensive cards in them, but those were mostly obtained through trade.
As for the most expensive deck, that fluctuates a bit as I like to change things up. Right now, I think it's Xira Arien, which is mostly Jund Goodstuff. Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius is another possibility. And none of my decks topple the 400 dollar mark.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
The most I've spent on a single card is probably a judge foil Flooded Strand or a Grim Tutor. Which will probably get topped by a foil Force of Will whenever I get around to buying one. Most expensive card I own is a foil Gaea's Cradle.
The most I've spent on a deck... I've been working on collecting foils for a Rafiq deck. I'm missing roughly 11 foils and among those are 5 fetch lands, 1 filter land, a brainstorm, a daze, a force of will, a wasteland, and a sword of feast and famine. So roughly another $1800 to go...
Edit: Current value for what I've got in the Rafiq list so far is about $4,400. So if I ever finish it that will bring it to about $6,200 not including inflation of future card values. Sometimes I worry about how much time and money I've invested into Magic the Gathering.
Back in the day when I played competitively 2003-2011 I had cards from 1996-99 when I played casually. Sold off an alpha underground sea and bought a played black lotus. My sea was NM. Cost me therotically nothing but there was an exchanging of a thousand dollars. This was back in 04. Black lotus sold for about $1600 Mint
I use store credits and trade to help accumulate my expensive pieces. My most expensive card I own now is Damnation, but I traded a foil Hallowed Fountain from Return to Ravnica for it, back when both were about $30. Even back when I played competitively, the most I spent on any one card was $40 for a NM Underground Sea. How I miss those days of $10 Bobs and $3 Goyfs.
On a somewhat-related topic, what's the proxy situation like in y'all's area ?
No proxies
Proxy only cards you own
Limited proxies by relative price
Unlimited Proxies
Other
Our area is fine with proxying any card you like - but proxying a really valuable obscure card might get a few jeers.
I personally proxy either cards I own or cards I plan to acquire - but I'm wondering to what extent local proxy preferences influence motivations to acquire actual cards.
If you've spent more than say, $100 on a card - did you do it because it was your only option to be able to play it ?
Or did you do so simply out of the personal desire to own the actual piece of cardboard (and reap future profits from it) ?
My take on proxies typically goes something like this:
Friend: Commander?
Me: My deck's incomplete.
Friend: You took your deck apart again?
Me: Yeah - found a good card for it on TCG.
Friend: Just proxy it.
Me: I hate proxies.
The most expensive card I own is either Damnation or Karn Liberated. Not sure which is more. My deck's current value TCG Middles for about 500, but at one point it was 700. I've probably invested 1k into it over time, with lots of mistakes and remakes.
Proxy your whole deck and play with it for 10 years, I dont care.
Whats the problem with proxies? Oh you dont have 400$US for that card/deck? Sorry you cant play it...sounds stupid. This isnt pay to win.
To answer the OP's question, I recently bought a foil Mana Crypt (It ended up being about $240) as a birthday present for my boyfriend, though I did get his non-foil Mana Crypt off of him in exchange.
On a somewhat-related topic, what's the proxy situation like in y'all's area ?
No proxies
Proxy only cards you own
Limited proxies by relative price
Unlimited Proxies
Other
Our area is fine with proxying any card you like - but proxying a really valuable obscure card might get a few jeers.
I personally proxy either cards I own or cards I plan to acquire - but I'm wondering to what extent local proxy preferences influence motivations to acquire actual cards.
My group doesn't care. There's a lot of disparity between collections in our group, and people might as well not be held back by their budget.
Personally, I only proxy cards that I'm willing to buy at some point, and typically I'll only proxy higher end cards once I've unproxied everything else in the deck and want to get an idea of whether or not more investment is going to be worth it.
If you've spent more than say, $100 on a card - did you do it because it was your only option to be able to play it?
Or did you do so simply out of the personal desire to own the actual piece of cardboard (and reap future profits from it) ?
I hate having unfinished decks, so it's mostly the second. I do play Legacy, so investments like ABUR duels or Gaea's Cradle haven't gone to waste, even if I did take the deck apart.
A few of the folks I play have been proxying almost entire decks lately. They claim they'll be getting the proper cards eventually, so they don't proxy anything ridiculously expensive. I'm all for proxies myself, though aesthetically I dislike the printout-plus-basic-land-in-a-sleeves model. I'm hoping that printed proxies indistinguishable or nearly indistinguishable from the real deal will become ubiquitous soon.
The most I have spent on one card was $160 on my mana crypt for my Ulamog/Karn/Kozilek deck. I have it pretty well optimized and now I am getting various cards altered. For example, I got my ugin altered because I really didn't like the art on it. It is still ugin, just a more bad ass and scary version of him. My Ulamog is done in a stained glass style and I am currently waiting for my Kozilek to be done the same way. I have found that getting cards altered is way more satisfying than just buying foil versions because it is more personal and unique.
Well, I'm poor, so I rarely splurge, and I love cracking packs, so I rarely buy singles. But the most money I've dropped for a sealed deck, or a single card that I can think of was $30 for a Tempest tournament pack last year. You know, the random 3 rares, 10 uncommons, 25 commons and basic lands. I knew without a doubt that a Lotus Petal would be in it (and I was right), but I was really spinning the Wasteland roulette wheel, and lost. Didn't even get a consolation Ancient Tomb.
Most expensive card I have bought was a revised Tundra a few months back. That hurt, considering I traded one for a shivan back in '95 when I was 10. Most expensive deck is the Xiahou Dun in my sig, which has gotten out of control.
About half of the cards I play against now are proxies and I admire my friends with better money management/life skills than me who play them. I, on the other hand, have a brain problem and like collecting magic cards. Hope I grow out of it some day and start saving for retirement.
I paid $450 for a NM English Tabernacle, and about $400 each for an Unlimited Mox Ruby, an Unlimited Mox Pearl, and a Mishra's Workshop. I've spent a lot more buying collections.
My most valuable deck is 90-95% foiled mono-white Hokori, Dust Drinker Artifacts/Stax, worth just under $6000. I'm trying to upgrade to Japanese foils, but I only have ten or so now, all of which are fairly inexpensive; getting the higher value ones is proving to be not so viable since it's almost impossible to trade for them, and I really don't want to drop almost a thousand for a Japanese foil Port :/
Most expensive I've purchased using cash money is $512 for a foil Rishadan Port. It's part of my (nearly) foiled out Kozilek deck, which is probably worth about $3500-$4000. It still needs another $450 over 9 cards to be finished. My most expensive deck though would be my foiled out Kaalia deck, which is in the $5500-$6000 neighborhood.
Most expensive card I own is a recent acquisition of a Judge foil Force of Will, which I picked up on Pucatrade about a month ago for 82,500 points, the equivalent of $825.00.
90 bucks on JTMS. Most expensive deck... oh boy... um probably superfriends, easily racking up over 300 bucks on the PWs.
Though the PWs were not bought specifically for that deck. They were just used. I mean I want a copy every PW printed. So if i use them in a deck does that count towards spending money on it?
The most I spent on a single card was a Regal Force because those guys are so hard to find. Everything else with a high price tag I get through trading.
Hazezon Tamar sort of counts, but I used up store credit (25$ at the time) to purchase him.
I do not remember exactly what the most I spent on any one card was. Some I remember:
Mana Drain, English legends, played ~$100
Loyal Retainers, Japanese, (before Com.Arsenal) $110
Diamond Valley, lightly played ~$87
Dual Lands, Tundra and Underground Sea, don't remember exactly but maybe $100 or less
Got most of my duals in the $40-$80 range few years back when I played more.
On another note: Does anyone know what a Russian Guildpact Foil Godless Shrine would cost? I got one like 7-8 yrs ago before foils were "all that" and have no idea what it could be worth. Just curious. Probably impossible to get a hard value, but worth a shot. It could very well be my most expensive card.
best deal I think I made was a 4 set of Goyfs for $100 before Modern was invented. I don't get to play much any more, so a buddy of mine is using them for Modern right now. I was an Extended Player before modern, so I got many of the high priced modern staples for much less then they go for now. Too bad I don't get to use them at all really.
As for the most expensive deck, that fluctuates a bit as I like to change things up. Right now, I think it's Xira Arien, which is mostly Jund Goodstuff. Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius is another possibility. And none of my decks topple the 400 dollar mark.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
The most I've spent on a deck... I've been working on collecting foils for a Rafiq deck. I'm missing roughly 11 foils and among those are 5 fetch lands, 1 filter land, a brainstorm, a daze, a force of will, a wasteland, and a sword of feast and famine. So roughly another $1800 to go...
Edit: Current value for what I've got in the Rafiq list so far is about $4,400. So if I ever finish it that will bring it to about $6,200 not including inflation of future card values. Sometimes I worry about how much time and money I've invested into Magic the Gathering.
Back in the day when I played competitively 2003-2011 I had cards from 1996-99 when I played casually. Sold off an alpha underground sea and bought a played black lotus. My sea was NM. Cost me therotically nothing but there was an exchanging of a thousand dollars. This was back in 04. Black lotus sold for about $1600 Mint
The Mimeoplasm || Karador, Ghost Chieftain
Prossh, Skyraider of Kher || Vial Smasher/Tymna Group Slug
Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief || Talrand, Sky Summoner
Yidris - Unblockable Saboteurs || Kiki-Jiki, ETB breaker
Kess, Dissident Mage
Our area is fine with proxying any card you like - but proxying a really valuable obscure card might get a few jeers.
I personally proxy either cards I own or cards I plan to acquire - but I'm wondering to what extent local proxy preferences influence motivations to acquire actual cards.
If you've spent more than say, $100 on a card - did you do it because it was your only option to be able to play it ?
Or did you do so simply out of the personal desire to own the actual piece of cardboard (and reap future profits from it) ?
Friend: Commander?
Me: My deck's incomplete.
Friend: You took your deck apart again?
Me: Yeah - found a good card for it on TCG.
Friend: Just proxy it.
Me: I hate proxies.
The most expensive card I own is either Damnation or Karn Liberated. Not sure which is more. My deck's current value TCG Middles for about 500, but at one point it was 700. I've probably invested 1k into it over time, with lots of mistakes and remakes.
Whats the problem with proxies? Oh you dont have 400$US for that card/deck? Sorry you cant play it...sounds stupid. This isnt pay to win.
*edit: just make sure to use a good printer.
EDH Decks
Thanks To DarkNightCavalier For the Sig!!!
My group doesn't care. There's a lot of disparity between collections in our group, and people might as well not be held back by their budget.
Personally, I only proxy cards that I'm willing to buy at some point, and typically I'll only proxy higher end cards once I've unproxied everything else in the deck and want to get an idea of whether or not more investment is going to be worth it.
I hate having unfinished decks, so it's mostly the second. I do play Legacy, so investments like ABUR duels or Gaea's Cradle haven't gone to waste, even if I did take the deck apart.
My Helpdesk
[Pr] Marath | [Pr] Lovisa | Jodah | Saskia | Najeela | Yisan | Lord Windgrace | Atraxa | Meren | Gisa and Geralf
Just a Scabland, Mawcor and tears.
EDIT: Oh yeah, I did spend like the $35 for the Kaalia, Prossh, Nahiri, and Daretti EDH precons. I suppose those do count.
Single card - $400 on a Mishra's Workshop.
URGAnimar, Soul of Elements
WBRKaalia of the Vast
GGGFreyalise, Llanowar's Fury
WUBSharuum the Hegemon
RGWHazezon Tamar
RUWNarset, Enlightened Master
BGBVarolz, the Scar-Striped
BWBAthreos, God of Passage
RRRDaretti, Scrap Savant
My 450 Unpowered Cube
My cube on CubeTutor
About half of the cards I play against now are proxies and I admire my friends with better money management/life skills than me who play them. I, on the other hand, have a brain problem and like collecting magic cards. Hope I grow out of it some day and start saving for retirement.
UGUPrime Speaker Seamonster RampUGU
WUGDerevi Does NothingWUG
RRRFeldon's Lovely LadiesRRR
My most valuable deck is 90-95% foiled mono-white Hokori, Dust Drinker Artifacts/Stax, worth just under $6000. I'm trying to upgrade to Japanese foils, but I only have ten or so now, all of which are fairly inexpensive; getting the higher value ones is proving to be not so viable since it's almost impossible to trade for them, and I really don't want to drop almost a thousand for a Japanese foil Port :/
Most expensive single purchase of a single card was a Gaea's Cradle (non-foil), $160. I've done that twice now.
Most expensive purchase of cards all up was 7 of the power 9 for $450 circa 1999.
Most expensive card I own is a recent acquisition of a Judge foil Force of Will, which I picked up on Pucatrade about a month ago for 82,500 points, the equivalent of $825.00.
Though the PWs were not bought specifically for that deck. They were just used. I mean I want a copy every PW printed. So if i use them in a deck does that count towards spending money on it?
UB Vela the Night-Clad BUDecklist
WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores GBW
WUBRGThe Ur-DragonWUBRGDecklist
Hazezon Tamar sort of counts, but I used up store credit (25$ at the time) to purchase him.
Ux Whirza
Rb Goblins
Legacy
U Urza Stompy
Duel Commander
Sai, Master Thopterist
Mana Drain, English legends, played ~$100
Loyal Retainers, Japanese, (before Com.Arsenal) $110
Diamond Valley, lightly played ~$87
Dual Lands, Tundra and Underground Sea, don't remember exactly but maybe $100 or less
Got most of my duals in the $40-$80 range few years back when I played more.
On another note: Does anyone know what a Russian Guildpact Foil Godless Shrine would cost? I got one like 7-8 yrs ago before foils were "all that" and have no idea what it could be worth. Just curious. Probably impossible to get a hard value, but worth a shot. It could very well be my most expensive card.
best deal I think I made was a 4 set of Goyfs for $100 before Modern was invented. I don't get to play much any more, so a buddy of mine is using them for Modern right now. I was an Extended Player before modern, so I got many of the high priced modern staples for much less then they go for now. Too bad I don't get to use them at all really.