So I started collecting again two years ago, legacy sets exclusively.
Looking for a place to vent my extreme nerderie with my rather expensive "hobby"
Truly it is much like gambling, gives you a thrill leading up to and opening the pack.
I ordered two packs of Alliances a few days ago for about 50 some dollars give or take.
Actually pulled a Force of Will today! Definitely got a little rush from that
My ultimate dream is to buy a pack of Legends or Arabian Nights, because I was too stupid at age 12 to buy them when they were still like 20 to 80 bucks a piece
What an idiot that kid was.
But the dark side to my hobby, when you spend that 175 on an Urza's Saga starter and best card is worth 1 dollar, that is not such a great feeling.
Also I'm curious as to why many lands are worth a dollar or so.
Anyhoo just seeing if we have any Legacy collectors here.
Thanks
Hi,
Yes magic as a hobby is crazy expensive. Good job on the force of will pull.
If you're curious why basic lands from old sets are worth $1 or more it's just because they are old. If you aren't a store then you really aren't going to get someone to buy those lands from you. Exceptions would be alpha beta lands. There are some people who only want plains number 5 for one set because they collect that plains art work for their decks.
I'm not sure where the direction of magic is going business wise. Seems to me that the market for collecting is crashing due to corona virus. At the same time one of my friends who is a heavy collector is telling me that prices are already rebounding. But he is losing interest in the game and may stop playing the game entirely. He is selling a lot of this cards. When you can't play for upwards of a year you tend to lose interest.
I've never really understood those whole collector only mind set. For me things have to have a use to be worth something. Like collecting cars to drive them.
If you've been out of the game for a long time. I'm just letting you know that counterfeiting of legacy and reserved list cards is very common place now.
You can look around on the dark web and buy a Gaea's Cradle $400 for $1. The counterfeits are getting better too. If you don't have a jewelers loop you won't be able to tell the real thing from fake.
First off, why are you encouraging the use of proxies or pointing anyone to go in that direction?
By doing that, you only upset players and undermine collectors like me who've literally spent countless hours sorting cards, meeting artists for signatures, meeting players and other collectors for trades, and many, many thousands of dollars buying sealed product, singles, and bulk lots over the course of twenty years off and on (I quit between Stronghold and M11) to acquire all (or more accurately, most of) the staples I needed or wanted for various binders, and commander, modern, standard, and pioneer decks. If certain expensive cards weren't already in commander decks and I actually had someone to play legacy or vintage with instead, I'd build those decks too. I just don't like how people who have played the game for a year or two, or five, or even as long as I have act as if they're somehow entitled to every card they want at an extremely low (or the same) price, because it shows a complete lack of understanding and appreciation for the real-world rarity of different cards (regardless of whether or not that scarcity is artificially created by design which is irrelevant because Wizards wanted to promote this game as collectible trading card game from the very beginning) and the general rules of supply and demand. Yes, it sucks! It sucks that I don't earn considerably more money at my job too which I might spend on this game among other things I enjoy because I work damn hard. Don't you think I'm still missing many cards too that I also wish I could buy for much less they they go for? Of course I am (Chains of Mephistopheles, moat, Mishra's workshops, a few dual lands, bazaar of Baghdad, candelabras, tabernacles, a lotus, etc) but you'll never hear me complain about prices or pretend as if "that's the way it should be" because I don't agree with that. By releasing and tempting us with more product than any of us can reasonably afford, Wizards always keeps us striving for something to add to our collections, and in effect forces us at times to buy cards we don't necessarily need or even want when they're low in order to trade back at a profit later for the ones we do after they appreciate over time. It may seem annoying, tedious, risky (technically it is a form of gambling), and require a lot of patience, liquidity, and storage space, but whether we like it or not, that is a big part of the game which is Magic: The Gathering, at least from my perspective.
Truthfully, I actually like the challenge of watching cards go up and down on the market, speculating, considering their synergies, buying them when I feel they're underpriced, and selling or trading them when I believe they've plateaued or may get reprinted soon (sometimes it's even more fun than playing the game itself which lately has too many bans primarily due to obviously rushed product development with pushed pieces and insufficient balance testing). Truth be told, I just traded my two spare (modern masters) craterhoof behemoths less than a week ago at $62 ea which I specifically bought at $13 when reprinted a few years back in order to flip when the time was right, which evidently was now. Did I have a crystal ball to predict it would go up from then or get reprinted now? No, but I have experience, intuition, know what commander players value, and approximately how often reprint patterns of certain staples occur. Ironically, I anticipated it would probably get reprinted in Double Masters or the Commander Collection: Green product later this year, not in Jump/Start. Who knows? Perhaps it'll be in one of those as well! I'd love it if it were, it'll tank back to 15, and I can get them right back). Note: This goes both ways and I make mistakes. I bought many Saheelis when pioneer was announced and then felidar guardian got banned before I could trade them. I also bought several foil paradox engines and didn't let them go before they got banned in commander. It happens. Don't like playing that game (the market)? Play Arena or Cockatrice for free! But please don't advocate that you, me, or anyone else should be able to get $1 Cradles or use fakes because apparently it's easy to find them. That's just outright insulting, offensive, and it's unfortunate you (and many among us) didn't have the opportunity to buy certain cards years ago, but that's just the way time-sensitive limited printings work, and such items should cost much more many years later if they remain popular. that's the only way to truly know which collectibles hold value and stand the test of time. I bought all three of mine after my hiatus for $85 CAD apiece. At the time some people said I was crazy, but guess what? I also bought my playset of underground seas and a gauntlet of might around the same time for the same price, so who is laughing now?! (For the record, I would've bought a fourth cradle but couldn't find it so I settled for three). This isn't to brag (trust me...if I wanted to I'd tell you how many copies of wheel of fortune, inspiration, time spiral, snapcaster mage, and liliana of the veil I bought for under $20 when the opportunities presented themselves), and I sympathize if people didn't have the foresight or budget to get these cards earlier when they were more affordable, but we all have to to appreciate the purpose of the reserved list (both why it was originally created and why it needs to be upheld and maintained forever), and the nature of markets involving rare, older, often out of print items. The secondary Magic market is even heavily influenced by newly printed cards which can also impact or improve the playability of others, so if we want to stay ahead, we all have a responsibility to keep up with spoilers, follow archetype trends, price graphs, play statistics, and react accordingly). Should I be able to buy old painting on canvas for cheap just because the same image can be printed on laminated paper at Staples? Of course not!
The bottom line is... Magic is a trading collectible card game, and if we want physical cards to play with we always have to trade cards with varying abilities for cash values of varying denominations.
Anyway, your friend is correct.
The market has already rebounded, albeit in some ways more than others.
As a long time player who is invested, I make it my duty to keep an eye on certain aspects of it regularly.
From what I can tell many previously valuable Modern cards still seem to be losing popularity and value, some even bottoming out to all-time lows, but legacy and commander staples are mostly climbing.
This is likely due to three major factors:
1. Without any live events being hosted, people have fewer opportunities to play modern and have lost interest. Some are playing on MTGO or Cockatrice (I'm not among them), but most Magic players are likely only playing standard and historic on Arena, or Cube, Brawl, and Commander with family and/or roommates at their kitchen tables. Given the current situation and lack of live events, it's likely this trend will continue for awhile, something Wizards seems to realize and is supporting with the influx of commander products, and strong commander cards which are also being printed in other supplemental products such as Mystery Boosters, Secret Lairs, and Jump/Start, in addition to the current core set (if you ever wanted foil Azusas, now is the time to get em). This may have been purely coincidental and perhaps these cards were all slated to be reprinted regardless (I honestly have no clue how they keep track of what "needs" to be reprinted logistically which must be a difficult job on it's own), but the timing for some cards being reprinted this year was good because commander was already becoming more popular regardless before the lockdowns began.
2. Pioneer has become very popular lately because it's the newest non-rotating format (As such, people are anxious to "solve it" as it evolves without having to worry about the established faster meta of modern or legacy which include much bigger card pools). This is obviously fun for players who haven't been playing for very long but want to use their recently rotated-out-of-standard cards for a more complex format without having to worry about acquiring various cards from a decade or two prior to when they began playing. Even though pioneer also can't be played live for now, it's reasonable to assume that many simply migrated to this format as their alternate 60-card constructed format when they don't want to play Standard. Perhaps this is temporary, but I suspect Pioneer will cannibalize the Modern player demographic more as time goes on.
3. Reprints, Saturation, and Power-Creep. Some recent cards have been strong to say the least. By printing such cards (in both standard and supplemental products like modern horizons), older staples will be outclassed and more easily replaced in deck lists. Reprinting those same older cards as well has also flooded the market with many more copies than people need or want, causing crashes which can take awhile to rebound if ever. Have you seen how low goblin guide and spellskite are now compared to what they were at not long ago?! Anyway, you get the point... If you look carefully, the patterns will appear more easily and you can stay ahead of the curve. Good luck!
Looking for a place to vent my extreme nerderie with my rather expensive "hobby"
Truly it is much like gambling, gives you a thrill leading up to and opening the pack.
I ordered two packs of Alliances a few days ago for about 50 some dollars give or take.
Actually pulled a Force of Will today! Definitely got a little rush from that
My ultimate dream is to buy a pack of Legends or Arabian Nights, because I was too stupid at age 12 to buy them when they were still like 20 to 80 bucks a piece
What an idiot that kid was.
But the dark side to my hobby, when you spend that 175 on an Urza's Saga starter and best card is worth 1 dollar, that is not such a great feeling.
Also I'm curious as to why many lands are worth a dollar or so.
Anyhoo just seeing if we have any Legacy collectors here.
Thanks
First off, why are you encouraging the use of proxies or pointing anyone to go in that direction?
By doing that, you only upset players and undermine collectors like me who've literally spent countless hours sorting cards, meeting artists for signatures, meeting players and other collectors for trades, and many, many thousands of dollars buying sealed product, singles, and bulk lots over the course of twenty years off and on (I quit between Stronghold and M11) to acquire all (or more accurately, most of) the staples I needed or wanted for various binders, and commander, modern, standard, and pioneer decks. If certain expensive cards weren't already in commander decks and I actually had someone to play legacy or vintage with instead, I'd build those decks too. I just don't like how people who have played the game for a year or two, or five, or even as long as I have act as if they're somehow entitled to every card they want at an extremely low (or the same) price, because it shows a complete lack of understanding and appreciation for the real-world rarity of different cards (regardless of whether or not that scarcity is artificially created by design which is irrelevant because Wizards wanted to promote this game as collectible trading card game from the very beginning) and the general rules of supply and demand. Yes, it sucks! It sucks that I don't earn considerably more money at my job too which I might spend on this game among other things I enjoy because I work damn hard. Don't you think I'm still missing many cards too that I also wish I could buy for much less they they go for? Of course I am (Chains of Mephistopheles, moat, Mishra's workshops, a few dual lands, bazaar of Baghdad, candelabras, tabernacles, a lotus, etc) but you'll never hear me complain about prices or pretend as if "that's the way it should be" because I don't agree with that. By releasing and tempting us with more product than any of us can reasonably afford, Wizards always keeps us striving for something to add to our collections, and in effect forces us at times to buy cards we don't necessarily need or even want when they're low in order to trade back at a profit later for the ones we do after they appreciate over time. It may seem annoying, tedious, risky (technically it is a form of gambling), and require a lot of patience, liquidity, and storage space, but whether we like it or not, that is a big part of the game which is Magic: The Gathering, at least from my perspective.
Truthfully, I actually like the challenge of watching cards go up and down on the market, speculating, considering their synergies, buying them when I feel they're underpriced, and selling or trading them when I believe they've plateaued or may get reprinted soon (sometimes it's even more fun than playing the game itself which lately has too many bans primarily due to obviously rushed product development with pushed pieces and insufficient balance testing). Truth be told, I just traded my two spare (modern masters) craterhoof behemoths less than a week ago at $62 ea which I specifically bought at $13 when reprinted a few years back in order to flip when the time was right, which evidently was now. Did I have a crystal ball to predict it would go up from then or get reprinted now? No, but I have experience, intuition, know what commander players value, and approximately how often reprint patterns of certain staples occur. Ironically, I anticipated it would probably get reprinted in Double Masters or the Commander Collection: Green product later this year, not in Jump/Start. Who knows? Perhaps it'll be in one of those as well! I'd love it if it were, it'll tank back to 15, and I can get them right back). Note: This goes both ways and I make mistakes. I bought many Saheelis when pioneer was announced and then felidar guardian got banned before I could trade them. I also bought several foil paradox engines and didn't let them go before they got banned in commander. It happens. Don't like playing that game (the market)? Play Arena or Cockatrice for free! But please don't advocate that you, me, or anyone else should be able to get $1 Cradles or use fakes because apparently it's easy to find them. That's just outright insulting, offensive, and it's unfortunate you (and many among us) didn't have the opportunity to buy certain cards years ago, but that's just the way time-sensitive limited printings work, and such items should cost much more many years later if they remain popular. that's the only way to truly know which collectibles hold value and stand the test of time. I bought all three of mine after my hiatus for $85 CAD apiece. At the time some people said I was crazy, but guess what? I also bought my playset of underground seas and a gauntlet of might around the same time for the same price, so who is laughing now?! (For the record, I would've bought a fourth cradle but couldn't find it so I settled for three). This isn't to brag (trust me...if I wanted to I'd tell you how many copies of wheel of fortune, inspiration, time spiral, snapcaster mage, and liliana of the veil I bought for under $20 when the opportunities presented themselves), and I sympathize if people didn't have the foresight or budget to get these cards earlier when they were more affordable, but we all have to to appreciate the purpose of the reserved list (both why it was originally created and why it needs to be upheld and maintained forever), and the nature of markets involving rare, older, often out of print items. The secondary Magic market is even heavily influenced by newly printed cards which can also impact or improve the playability of others, so if we want to stay ahead, we all have a responsibility to keep up with spoilers, follow archetype trends, price graphs, play statistics, and react accordingly). Should I be able to buy old painting on canvas for cheap just because the same image can be printed on laminated paper at Staples? Of course not!
The bottom line is... Magic is a trading collectible card game, and if we want physical cards to play with we always have to trade cards with varying abilities for cash values of varying denominations.
Anyway, your friend is correct.
The market has already rebounded, albeit in some ways more than others.
As a long time player who is invested, I make it my duty to keep an eye on certain aspects of it regularly.
From what I can tell many previously valuable Modern cards still seem to be losing popularity and value, some even bottoming out to all-time lows, but legacy and commander staples are mostly climbing.
This is likely due to three major factors:
1. Without any live events being hosted, people have fewer opportunities to play modern and have lost interest. Some are playing on MTGO or Cockatrice (I'm not among them), but most Magic players are likely only playing standard and historic on Arena, or Cube, Brawl, and Commander with family and/or roommates at their kitchen tables. Given the current situation and lack of live events, it's likely this trend will continue for awhile, something Wizards seems to realize and is supporting with the influx of commander products, and strong commander cards which are also being printed in other supplemental products such as Mystery Boosters, Secret Lairs, and Jump/Start, in addition to the current core set (if you ever wanted foil Azusas, now is the time to get em). This may have been purely coincidental and perhaps these cards were all slated to be reprinted regardless (I honestly have no clue how they keep track of what "needs" to be reprinted logistically which must be a difficult job on it's own), but the timing for some cards being reprinted this year was good because commander was already becoming more popular regardless before the lockdowns began.
2. Pioneer has become very popular lately because it's the newest non-rotating format (As such, people are anxious to "solve it" as it evolves without having to worry about the established faster meta of modern or legacy which include much bigger card pools). This is obviously fun for players who haven't been playing for very long but want to use their recently rotated-out-of-standard cards for a more complex format without having to worry about acquiring various cards from a decade or two prior to when they began playing. Even though pioneer also can't be played live for now, it's reasonable to assume that many simply migrated to this format as their alternate 60-card constructed format when they don't want to play Standard. Perhaps this is temporary, but I suspect Pioneer will cannibalize the Modern player demographic more as time goes on.
3. Reprints, Saturation, and Power-Creep. Some recent cards have been strong to say the least. By printing such cards (in both standard and supplemental products like modern horizons), older staples will be outclassed and more easily replaced in deck lists. Reprinting those same older cards as well has also flooded the market with many more copies than people need or want, causing crashes which can take awhile to rebound if ever. Have you seen how low goblin guide and spellskite are now compared to what they were at not long ago?! Anyway, you get the point... If you look carefully, the patterns will appear more easily and you can stay ahead of the curve. Good luck!
I used to be a demigod, but now I'm an omnimage