I'm curious... Do many among you buy packs or boxes of UNsets in lieu of, or in addition to other sets?
Enlighten me... Why not spend that disposable income on Masters set packs or singles of tournament-legal staples instead?
I suppose each time one of these UNsets is announced, I just fail to comprehend why they don't retail for 20-60% less than the price of other new (Standard) sets upon release simply by virtue of the fact that the cards themselves are essentially parody cards, and almost certainly have less inherent demand among the player base since they aren't even legal for sanctioned play. Is it because the print run is very low and limited compared to others? Have consumers convinced themselves that they're good as investments? It's rather perplexing for me since I spend a lot on cards in general and don't see the benefit or purpose.
What's the appeal of these cards beyond simply being collectible, and who wanted or requested them in the first place when there was no shortage of products being printed before they were added to the mix? I realize not every product is printed for the competitive player archetype, and I'm sorry if this is confusing to me, but I can't understand why people would spend money on these sets at all when the cards have little to no utility value outside of casual play at kitchen tables. Do those among you who buy them already have so many optimized decks for other formats that you just want to pay for the humor of such cards? Even though I play for fun first and foremost, realistically, they only two cards I would ever consider including in a cube are ashnod's coupon and booster tutor. I just think it's ridiculous to buy a booster box of Unfinity when I could get a box of a Dominaria United or Commander Legends: BFBG at the same price instead. Am I missing something?
I bought a case of Unstable and made $200 off it after two years entirely by selling the basic lands. That's why.
Fair enough, but now that full-art basic lands show up quite often in regular sets, surely that can't still be the primary allure and motivation for buying such sets anymore, can it?
Full-arts were around before Unstable. I trust they'll continue to please, and since the basics are from a set that does poorly, there's your scarcity. That probably is the motivation for buying, the other being its intended purpose which is a fun draft experience.
Edit: you seen the basics for this? They're a homage to, and better than, Unglued. They'll sell just fine. This is actually the soundest investment idea I can offer to you (not legal advice).
I see money spent on magic as an expense, I dont sell cards so never really consider it an investment. I am however a financial adviser with actual investments.
I will happily buy unset packs for the unique experience.
Well you're not invited to Thanksgiving! I've always had to tell my relatives that it's an investment, in that I can get money out by quitting same as I put money into it. I can't just go with "cracking packs feels and smells good".
Edit: if you're a financial advisor why the ***** are you not telling people these lands will appreciate, of ******* course they will it's 3/3 for doing that
Well you're not invited to Thanksgiving! I've always had to tell my relatives that it's an investment, in that I can get money out by quitting same as I put money into it. I can't just go with "cracking packs feels and smells good".
Edit: if you're a financial advisor why the ***** are you not telling people these lands will appreciate, of ******* course they will it's 3/3 for doing that
Magic cards are too illiquid, you can't really sell $50k etc easily without a huge loss, they don't pay you any income and people who justify leaving it for relatives. I can tell you unless you're going to deal with selling them or the person you leave them to is also a fan they will get likely sold en-masse to the first bidder.
Well you're not invited to Thanksgiving! I've always had to tell my relatives that it's an investment, in that I can get money out by quitting same as I put money into it. I can't just go with "cracking packs feels and smells good".
Edit: if you're a financial advisor why the ***** are you not telling people these lands will appreciate, of ******* course they will it's 3/3 for doing that
Since he can't guarantee a strong return on investment and he doesn't do it himself, recommending it to others would violate his fiduciary duty.
Personally, I see the "value" in full-art basics as I like some too (albeit not all), but I suppose I still seem to underestimate the market demand or resale value of such lands since even the fanciest or shiniest basics never satisfied me nearly as much as acquiring more utility lands, or non-land cards which I was actually missing or wanted to improve the functionality of decks. The logic is that if I'm going to "invest" in full-art lands, I'm going to "go big or go home" and buy or trade into Expeditions (especially fetchlands) because I'd rather have one more of those than several fancy islands. That seems to be a more sound "investment" as far as presumed/expected appreciation ratios over time is concerned whereas basic lands are functionally-speaking "a dime a dozen". Maybe I just look at "Magic investment" through a different lens. When I think of what Magic products to purchase as investment (beyond what I'm buying just to play with), I think of Commander staple foils, Reserved List cards, Secret Lairs, and artist signatures (even if the latter has much lesser demand and a very niche market). Perhaps this is because I've never been a short-term flipper and focus on higher rarities. Nevertheless, I obviously missed the boat on potential opportunities over the years which seemingly went under my radar because I lacked foresight (like Beta basics and Arabian Nights Mountains which are priced ridiculously high now).
Magic cards are too illiquid, you can't really sell $50k etc easily without a huge loss, they don't pay you any income and people who justify leaving it for relatives. I can tell you unless you're going to deal with selling them or the person you leave them to is also a fan they will get likely sold en-masse to the first bidder.
I feel this is too generalized a statement.
Auctioning off $50k work of "bulk" ($1-$20 market value) rares is very different from auctioning off $50k in Power pieces regardless of their condition (so long as they're not damaged)
Magic cards are too illiquid, you can't really sell $50k etc easily without a huge loss, they don't pay you any income and people who justify leaving it for relatives. I can tell you unless you're going to deal with selling them or the person you leave them to is also a fan they will get likely sold en-masse to the first bidder.
I feel this is too generalized a statement.
Auctioning off $50k work of "bulk" ($1-$20 market value) rares is very different from auctioning off $50k in Power pieces regardless of their condition (so long as they're not damaged)
Hey it's a hobby, I'm not going to argue with people on the internet but if I was giving advice to someone around MTG as an investment it would be to stick to managed funds.
Not all people who buy Magic products do so with the idea of recouping costs. Some of us just love to play and collect the game. I am a serious-ish collector of Un sets. I love them, they are great fun to play and are good reprieve from serious Magi. Especially when you have a regular group of multi-player going on. The idea that these sets are just filled with "parody cards" is misinformed. These sets contain many cards that would function perfectly well in "normal" Magic. Indeed silver bordered sets are a testing ground for new mechanics/cards that seem off for regular Magic.
While us Un fans are a minority of Magic players, we are a big enough audience to market to. I own a descent selection of Unglued cards, bought a box and a half of Unhinged when it came out, and three boxes of Unstable. Unglued and Unsanctioned basics are my absolute favorite. And all those lands I cracked open from Unstable I was able to trade in for a nice chunk of credit.
Now as to why they aren't any cheaper, the basic lands. Especially with Unstable and Unsanctioned. When Unstable dropped the card quality of Standard sets was at an all time low. The card quality of Unstable was amazing by contrast. Unsets do tend to have lower print runs(except for Unhinged), which also contributes to their cost.
Thanks for your insights.
I hate to say it, but one thing just became abundantly clear to me...
WoTC only cares about their financial bottom line, and doesn't design these sets to improve gameplay whatsoever or with any consideration for what players actually want.
Why is this new UNset not silver bordered?
The cards will be legal in eternal formats!?
Who in their right mind actually thought this was a good idea?
Stickers in legacy, pauper, commander, and vintage?! Wow. That's terrible.
So now we can't even opt in to uncards or avoid playing against them in other formats!?
I don't even know if I should be more angry or confused, but this is a terrible idea, even worse than the companion mechanic which was so bad that literally none of the cards even function as printed!
I hope everyone in my local area boycotts this set entirely or has enough common sense and respect for others not to include them in their legacy and commander decks, because I for one certainly don't want to see stickers! If I do, I'm literally getting up, forfeiting, and blacklisting that player from ever being my opponent again.
Am I wrong for thinking stickers in sanctioned play should at the very least be errataed as counters?
Unbelievable. I'm honestly thinking after 28 years of being a loyal consumer that it may finally be time to cash out before they jump the shark even more and ruin the game beyond repair with additional similar nonsense invading the battlefield. Why wait for the bubble to burst?
Stickers in legacy!? What a joke!
I wouldn’t get too upset just yet. Stickers are such a gawd awful idea I can see them getting the “acorn” treatment in a year or so. People in general seem to hate the idea fairly universally. It’s also highly likely that venues will “highly disincentivize” them in events.
Stickers are just a stupid gimmick put into a set who’s only selling point is fancy shock lands. They’ll fade into obscurity, IMHO.
I doubt that the kind of casual player who would play these will be showing up at your Legacy or Modern event. Much less Vintage.
This is the same kerfuffle that the Commander community had over the Walking Dead Secret Lair, and here we are today with that being a non issue. So to it will go with the stickers.
I wouldn’t get too upset just yet. Stickers are such a gawd awful idea I can see them getting the “acorn” treatment in a year or so. People in general seem to hate the idea fairly universally. It’s also highly likely that venues will “highly disincentivize” them in events.
Stickers are just a stupid gimmick put into a set who’s only selling point is fancy shock lands. They’ll fade into obscurity, IMHO.
I doubt that the kind of casual player who would play these will be showing up at your Legacy or Modern event. Much less Vintage.
This is the same kerfuffle that the Commander community had over the Walking Dead Secret Lair, and here we are today with that being a non issue. So to it will go with the stickers.
I think people are a bit overworked about stickers, realistically they don't have to function much differently to counters.
I wouldn’t get too upset just yet. Stickers are such a gawd awful idea I can see them getting the “acorn” treatment in a year or so. People in general seem to hate the idea fairly universally. It’s also highly likely that venues will “highly disincentivize” them in events.
Stickers are just a stupid gimmick put into a set who’s only selling point is fancy shock lands. They’ll fade into obscurity, IMHO.
I doubt that the kind of casual player who would play these will be showing up at your Legacy or Modern event. Much less Vintage.
This is the same kerfuffle that the Commander community had over the Walking Dead Secret Lair, and here we are today with that being a non issue. So to it will go with the stickers.
I think people are a bit overworked about stickers, realistically they don't have to function much differently to counters.
Exactly. In all reality you can use whatever you want to represent a token (within reason). I have some friends who love using all sorts of crazy things as tokens, including live animals. He could keep his cat on the table well enough until he had to tap it, LOL.
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Enlighten me... Why not spend that disposable income on Masters set packs or singles of tournament-legal staples instead?
I suppose each time one of these UNsets is announced, I just fail to comprehend why they don't retail for 20-60% less than the price of other new (Standard) sets upon release simply by virtue of the fact that the cards themselves are essentially parody cards, and almost certainly have less inherent demand among the player base since they aren't even legal for sanctioned play. Is it because the print run is very low and limited compared to others? Have consumers convinced themselves that they're good as investments? It's rather perplexing for me since I spend a lot on cards in general and don't see the benefit or purpose.
What's the appeal of these cards beyond simply being collectible, and who wanted or requested them in the first place when there was no shortage of products being printed before they were added to the mix? I realize not every product is printed for the competitive player archetype, and I'm sorry if this is confusing to me, but I can't understand why people would spend money on these sets at all when the cards have little to no utility value outside of casual play at kitchen tables. Do those among you who buy them already have so many optimized decks for other formats that you just want to pay for the humor of such cards? Even though I play for fun first and foremost, realistically, they only two cards I would ever consider including in a cube are ashnod's coupon and booster tutor. I just think it's ridiculous to buy a booster box of Unfinity when I could get a box of a Dominaria United or Commander Legends: BFBG at the same price instead. Am I missing something?
I used to be a demigod, but now I'm an omnimage
Fair enough, but now that full-art basic lands show up quite often in regular sets, surely that can't still be the primary allure and motivation for buying such sets anymore, can it?
I used to be a demigod, but now I'm an omnimage
Edit: you seen the basics for this? They're a homage to, and better than, Unglued. They'll sell just fine. This is actually the soundest investment idea I can offer to you (not legal advice).
I will happily buy unset packs for the unique experience.
https://archidekt.com/user/71716
Edit: if you're a financial advisor why the ***** are you not telling people these lands will appreciate, of ******* course they will it's 3/3 for doing that
Magic cards are too illiquid, you can't really sell $50k etc easily without a huge loss, they don't pay you any income and people who justify leaving it for relatives. I can tell you unless you're going to deal with selling them or the person you leave them to is also a fan they will get likely sold en-masse to the first bidder.
https://archidekt.com/user/71716
Since he can't guarantee a strong return on investment and he doesn't do it himself, recommending it to others would violate his fiduciary duty.
Personally, I see the "value" in full-art basics as I like some too (albeit not all), but I suppose I still seem to underestimate the market demand or resale value of such lands since even the fanciest or shiniest basics never satisfied me nearly as much as acquiring more utility lands, or non-land cards which I was actually missing or wanted to improve the functionality of decks. The logic is that if I'm going to "invest" in full-art lands, I'm going to "go big or go home" and buy or trade into Expeditions (especially fetchlands) because I'd rather have one more of those than several fancy islands. That seems to be a more sound "investment" as far as presumed/expected appreciation ratios over time is concerned whereas basic lands are functionally-speaking "a dime a dozen". Maybe I just look at "Magic investment" through a different lens. When I think of what Magic products to purchase as investment (beyond what I'm buying just to play with), I think of Commander staple foils, Reserved List cards, Secret Lairs, and artist signatures (even if the latter has much lesser demand and a very niche market). Perhaps this is because I've never been a short-term flipper and focus on higher rarities. Nevertheless, I obviously missed the boat on potential opportunities over the years which seemingly went under my radar because I lacked foresight (like Beta basics and Arabian Nights Mountains which are priced ridiculously high now).
I used to be a demigod, but now I'm an omnimage
I feel this is too generalized a statement.
Auctioning off $50k work of "bulk" ($1-$20 market value) rares is very different from auctioning off $50k in Power pieces regardless of their condition (so long as they're not damaged)
I used to be a demigod, but now I'm an omnimage
Hey it's a hobby, I'm not going to argue with people on the internet but if I was giving advice to someone around MTG as an investment it would be to stick to managed funds.
https://archidekt.com/user/71716
While us Un fans are a minority of Magic players, we are a big enough audience to market to. I own a descent selection of Unglued cards, bought a box and a half of Unhinged when it came out, and three boxes of Unstable. Unglued and Unsanctioned basics are my absolute favorite. And all those lands I cracked open from Unstable I was able to trade in for a nice chunk of credit.
Now as to why they aren't any cheaper, the basic lands. Especially with Unstable and Unsanctioned. When Unstable dropped the card quality of Standard sets was at an all time low. The card quality of Unstable was amazing by contrast. Unsets do tend to have lower print runs(except for Unhinged), which also contributes to their cost.
I hate to say it, but one thing just became abundantly clear to me...
WoTC only cares about their financial bottom line, and doesn't design these sets to improve gameplay whatsoever or with any consideration for what players actually want.
Why is this new UNset not silver bordered?
The cards will be legal in eternal formats!?
Who in their right mind actually thought this was a good idea?
Stickers in legacy, pauper, commander, and vintage?! Wow. That's terrible.
So now we can't even opt in to uncards or avoid playing against them in other formats!?
I don't even know if I should be more angry or confused, but this is a terrible idea, even worse than the companion mechanic which was so bad that literally none of the cards even function as printed!
I hope everyone in my local area boycotts this set entirely or has enough common sense and respect for others not to include them in their legacy and commander decks, because I for one certainly don't want to see stickers! If I do, I'm literally getting up, forfeiting, and blacklisting that player from ever being my opponent again.
Am I wrong for thinking stickers in sanctioned play should at the very least be errataed as counters?
Unbelievable. I'm honestly thinking after 28 years of being a loyal consumer that it may finally be time to cash out before they jump the shark even more and ruin the game beyond repair with additional similar nonsense invading the battlefield. Why wait for the bubble to burst?
Stickers in legacy!? What a joke!
I used to be a demigod, but now I'm an omnimage
Stickers are just a stupid gimmick put into a set who’s only selling point is fancy shock lands. They’ll fade into obscurity, IMHO.
I doubt that the kind of casual player who would play these will be showing up at your Legacy or Modern event. Much less Vintage.
This is the same kerfuffle that the Commander community had over the Walking Dead Secret Lair, and here we are today with that being a non issue. So to it will go with the stickers.
I think people are a bit overworked about stickers, realistically they don't have to function much differently to counters.
https://archidekt.com/user/71716
Exactly. In all reality you can use whatever you want to represent a token (within reason). I have some friends who love using all sorts of crazy things as tokens, including live animals. He could keep his cat on the table well enough until he had to tap it, LOL.