MTG Salvation

I never paid any attention to MTGO prices, because my laptop/ desktop machines have always been Macs and the thought of buying a Windows license to run in BootCamp in order to pay more for digital cards wasn't very appealing. Despite the convenience of digital downloads/items, I'll almost always choose the physical version if given the option, however, the last two pages of this thread were enough to convince me to finally give MTGO a go. Wanted to start off with something cheap, so I decided to build Modern Bogles and Pauper Burn. I was able to get every card I needed, save for the Bogles mana base, via those free bots; definitely a pleasant surprise. Other than trading with free bots, I'm stumped as to how I go about searching for/acquiring the remaining cards I need. I know that's veering off-topic, but if anyone would be so kind as to post/PM me a link for a resource where I can learn how to do that it'd be much appreciated. With that being said, I feel for anyone who has put a decent amount of money into the game and watched the value of their collection plummet. As I mentioned, I know very little about the MTGO economy except for the fact that card prices can (could?) significantly differ from that of their paper counterpart. Considering how Arena doesn't offer Modern/eternal formats, is there any optimism that the MTGO economy will eventually rebound to a point where things are at least somewhat stable?


On the topic of paper prices, how are ya'll approaching UMA reprints now that the set is being opened? I have play sets of Teeg (~$8/ea) and Entomb (~$4/ea) in my TCGP cart that I was going to pull the trigger on last night, but prices seem to be in free fall right now so I'm holding off to see how things shake out. I sold out of them at probably 75% of their value pre-UMA announcement, so I still couldn't complain even if I bought back in at double the current value of each card. I was just a bit surprised to see such a sizable drop upon set release; from what I recall, most playable reprints from previous Masters sets lost the majority of their value once it was known they'd be reprinted and then began the steady decline/plateau. I'm not sure if that speaks more to the supply entering the market or expectations that prices would hold despite a reprint?

Quote from Joban8 »

Other than trading with free bots, I'm stumped as to how I go about searching for/acquiring the remaining cards I need. I know that's veering off-topic, but if anyone would be so kind as to post/PM me a link for a resource where I can learn how to do that it'd be much appreciated.

I've always felt https://www.cardhoarder.com/ was very reasonable. Sign up for an account, link your MTGO account, buy online, and the bot will trade with you on MTGO. I've never needed something they didn't have.

There are many other bots you can purchase from, and others are good. You may be able to find some better prices, but I've always valued the convenience of cardhoarder over the small savings from finding the perfect deal.

Awesome, exactly what I was looking for. I was under the assumption everything had to be done/initiated in-game. Much appreciated!

The latest update messed with the chat interface, make sure you can 'initiate' the trade still, I have not bought anything from bots since this last update.

https://youtu.be/sbGUiqrUjG0

Called it months ago: now is the time to buy anything you need from this set. I exactly predicted this race to the botton... Now just to think about if I want to buy into any specific singles... I did it during MM17 and saved a bunch of money (but only bought to use). It might be a great time to pick up those top end hits to flip when they inevitably rebound.

I cant struggle through his video's, but looking at some of the cards I had in UW, or Bant, that are in this set? Huge huge huge drops.

Modern cards always have lulls and spikes. Right now, cards are going to plummet because of UMA. I don't think it has anything to do with Arena. Anyways, from what I hear, Arena will be the go to for testing Standard while MTGO is going to be used for Modern, Legacy, and other formats.

I don't play MTGO or Arena myself, but I heard this in person from a friend whose JOB is selling on MTGO and has been for the past 7 years. He is a bit upset of the panic caused by a CFB article and the incorrect stats, but at the same time he is pretty upset that he spent too much money recently on paper Magic cards like Gaea's Cradle and dual lands recently when he could have bought a bunch of Modern right now. Now is the buying time, according to him. Cards are at their absolute lowest (at least for quite a while).

I kind of wish to invest myself. I hated myself for not buying IMA Horizon Canopys when they went down to $30. They are over $50 now. I personally felt like I could make enough just off bans and unbans in Modern, but that has not been shaping up to be the case. I'm going to start having to do a lot more homework.

Quote from Joban8 »

I never paid any attention to MTGO prices, because my laptop/ desktop machines have always been Macs and the thought of buying a Windows license to run in BootCamp in order to pay more for digital cards wasn't very appealing. Despite the convenience of digital downloads/items, I'll almost always choose the physical version if given the option, however, the last two pages of this thread were enough to convince me to finally give MTGO a go. Wanted to start off with something cheap, so I decided to build Modern Bogles and Pauper Burn. I was able to get every card I needed, save for the Bogles mana base, via those free bots; definitely a pleasant surprise. Other than trading with free bots, I'm stumped as to how I go about searching for/acquiring the remaining cards I need. I know that's veering off-topic, but if anyone would be so kind as to post/PM me a link for a resource where I can learn how to do that it'd be much appreciated. With that being said, I feel for anyone who has put a decent amount of money into the game and watched the value of their collection plummet. As I mentioned, I know very little about the MTGO economy except for the fact that card prices can (could?) significantly differ from that of their paper counterpart. Considering how Arena doesn't offer Modern/eternal formats, is there any optimism that the MTGO economy will eventually rebound to a point where things are at least somewhat stable?


On the topic of paper prices, how are ya'll approaching UMA reprints now that the set is being opened? I have play sets of Teeg (~$8/ea) and Entomb (~$4/ea) in my TCGP cart that I was going to pull the trigger on last night, but prices seem to be in free fall right now so I'm holding off to see how things shake out. I sold out of them at probably 75% of their value pre-UMA announcement, so I still couldn't complain even if I bought back in at double the current value of each card. I was just a bit surprised to see such a sizable drop upon set release; from what I recall, most playable reprints from previous Masters sets lost the majority of their value once it was known they'd be reprinted and then began the steady decline/plateau. I'm not sure if that speaks more to the supply entering the market or expectations that prices would hold despite a reprint?

Well, I'm dumping my box topper to get things that actually matter. I picked up Nobles on Ebay with a 10% off deal and am just watching the free fall happen on prices at the moment. A lot of places went back on their orders of UMA because the market is crashing so hard on the cards it's crazy. No big surprise there since the people opening these boxes are really singles sellers for the most part.

I don't think anyone was expecting the prices to drop quite as hard as they did and it's catching a lot of singles sellers off guard. The most popular card people are picking up are Noble Hierarch and a bunch of small fry stuff and the sale of the other cards just isn't keeping up with the amount being opened. There's also some confidence issues in the direction and support of paper magic, which is probably going to impact prices in ways that are difficult to predict.

Hierarch being 60 cnd$ instead of 100 is not a crash. It's back to normal prices, as they were before the huge year-long modern inflation. It's not even as if it were cheap. Cards that are low are sideboard cards like gaddock teeg or kitchen finks. Plus, the dips are only temporary. Snapcaster is still higher than it was a year ago.

Quote from pierrebai »

Hierarch being 60 cnd$ instead of 100 is not a crash. It's back to normal prices, as they were before the huge year-long modern inflation. It's not even as if it were cheap. Cards that are low are sideboard cards like gaddock teeg or kitchen finks. Plus, the dips are only temporary. Snapcaster is still higher than it was a year ago.

Crashing in this case isn't in terms of the card prices going into like 1/10th of their value or something. The problem is the entirety of what is getting reprinted in the set dropped so fast in price that a lot of places got skittish on their box orders and didn't take their allocations.

I mean, you need more than a Karn, Lily, Snappy, and Noble when the price of the box is over 300 msrp. I think the EV on launch day dropped to something like 210-220 a box. Talk about an ouch situation. On the upside, maybe the drops in the prices will push wizards to put more of them into standard.

The drops are most certainly temporary. In a matter of months, all the top cards will be back, or near their pervious prices. If you need anything or want to risk an investment, NOW is the time.

Quote from cfusionpm »

The drops are most certainly temporary. In a matter of months, all the top cards will be back, or near their pervious prices. If you need anything or want to risk an investment, NOW is the time.

I bought my nobles with a 10% off ebay coupon so I'm happy. Planning on picking up the other staples and figure out the best way to unload my box topper since my LGS went under from theft.

Also, to add to the comedy, the ONE card that has increased 150% in value over the opening weekend of ultimate masters is none other than... Noble Hierarch! Meanwhile everything else is still finding it's place. Also my walmart was completely sold out of ultimate masters. Walked into the store and all that was left was an empty display shelf. I got a feeling WoTC totally underestimated how well this set would sell when broken down to more bite sized chunks. most folks wont pony up 260+ for a box, but put those packs into a 36 dollar draft pack?

Seriously, it's like a feeding frenzy.

I bought four packs after dropping from a tournament Saturday that went like so:

pack 1 - entomb (meh)
pack 2 - desolate lighthouse (oh so this is the kind of day i'm going to have)
pack 3 - ancient tomb (getting better)
pack 4 - cavern of souls (boo yah!)

The prices will creep back up over time, but the knee jerk reaction is "******* finally!" As it should be.

Quote from cfusionpm »

The drops are most certainly temporary. In a matter of months, all the top cards will be back, or near their pervious prices. If you need anything or want to risk an investment, NOW is the time.

They are already going back up online.

I picked up a playset of Goryo's Vengeance for $9 a piece. Even if I never play a deck with it... Wow. I can't pass that up. But at least now I have the last piece needed for Esper Goryo's with Obzedat, for when I'm in the mood for more bad blue decks.

I think the prices on some cards have yet to see their bottom. People were desperate for a modern reprint set and this helped a ton.

They are definitely going to do another set like this one in the future given the strength of the sales.

just opened my UMA box. pretty much the first box of anything ive purchased. here are the highlights:

box topper: snapcaster
mythics: karn, cavern or souls, bitterblossom, temporal manipulation
rares: noble hierarch, celestial colonnade, engineered explosives, life from the loam, (foil) reanimate, (foil) maelstrom pulse

bought the box for 275 + shipping; so like 280.

Quote from tronix »

just opened my UMA box. pretty much the first box of anything ive purchased. here are the highlights:

box topper: snapcaster
mythics: karn, cavern or souls, bitterblossom, temporal manipulation
rares: noble hierarch, celestial colonnade, engineered explosives, life from the loam, (foil) reanimate, (foil) maelstrom pulse

bought the box for 275 + shipping; so like 280.

Soooo lucky. That's a really nice box!

As much as I saw many of my staples go down in value, I am super happy that at least some prices in Modern are not super exorbitant anymore. I wonder what cards are spiking because of "not being printed?"

Quote from FoodChainGoblins »

Quote from tronix »

just opened my UMA box. pretty much the first box of anything ive purchased. here are the highlights:

box topper: snapcaster
mythics: karn, cavern or souls, bitterblossom, temporal manipulation
rares: noble hierarch, celestial colonnade, engineered explosives, life from the loam, (foil) reanimate, (foil) maelstrom pulse

bought the box for 275 + shipping; so like 280.

Soooo lucky. That's a really nice box!

As much as I saw many of my staples go down in value, I am super happy that at least some prices in Modern are not super exorbitant anymore. I wonder what cards are spiking because of "not being printed?"

Pretty sure Manamorphose shouldnt be a $20 card.

My goodness... Foil Engineered Explosives are less than $40?? Seems like a good time to simply sell my Kaladesh Invention and get this.

Quote from idSurge »

Pretty sure Manamorphose shouldnt be a $20 card.

Yep, although I feel that Manamorphose is more a victim of a buyout. That's what friends tell me at least.

That feeling you get when you finally upgrade from Birds of Paradise to Noble Hierarch. I feel the power! Man, those prices stabilized way faster than I thought they would on page 2 of TCGPlayer.

Any of you folks have some decent pics of UMA foils? The prices are right, if they are decent.

Quote from FoodChainGoblins »

Quote from idSurge »

Pretty sure Manamorphose shouldnt be a $20 card.

Yep, although I feel that Manamorphose is more a victim of a buyout. That's what friends tell me at least.

Really? I could see maybe a foil buyout, but attempting a buyout on something that was printed at common/uncommon. Granted, those printings were Shadowmoor & MM13, but still a ballsy move nonetheless. I assumed that the spike was mostly organic demand until it was confirmed as a no-go in UMA; it's a 4-of in a ***** ton of established decks + the numerous flavors of phoenix brews. IMO, it would've spiked earlier than it did had it not been for uncertainty surrounding UMA; likely not to the extent that it did, but the demand is there. I was all but sure it would end up in UMA, especially once Bogle, Runed Halo, and all those random Shadowmoor reprints were being revealed; kicking myself for selling four sets of them anticipating I'd be able to pick them back up. Held onto my foils though, so that's a silver lining.

Quote from idSurge »

Any of you folks have some decent pics of UMA foils? The prices are right, if they are decent.

I cracked my customary three packs for a new set, so I'll snap some photos of the foils when I get an opportunity and link them. I'm not sure how accurate this is, but I've heard a few different people mention how UMA was printed in Japan. I'm also not sure if that's any different compared to RTRTRTRTRavnica. However, I am sure that the quality of these are terrific; I forgot what it was like to crack a pack and shuffle through cards that have a quality feel to them. The difference in quality compared to recent sets is stark.