Oh I know completely. I actually started in 1994. People didn't want an Alpha card because it was often tournament illegal since the edges could be seen. Other tournaments let it slide, despite knowing that people could "know" their marked cards. For example, someone could play with all of their lands in Alpha.
I actually owned very few Alpha cards because I was mostly a player, not a collector. But even in that day, I knew that Alpha was far less common and that some day, the singles may carry a premium. It wasn't enough for me to give up the playability of Beta though. It just wasn't worth it to take a chance and wait for years, hoping that Alpha would go up in value, rather than play the Beta cards.
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
Pile B
2 x magic origins goblin piledriver ( one foil )
1 x polluted delta ktk
1 x bloodstained mire ktk
1 x wooded foothills ktk
2 x windswept heath ktk
How times change.
There was a time when Beta actually held a premium over Alpha.
The reason was that even though Alpha was the first set of Magic, Beta was the first set to feature the modern magic card shape today.
So beta was in a sense seen as the first "real" set of magic.
Let's go back 21 years: the year is 1994. There's literally 4 expansions of magic. Arabian Nights, Legends, Antiquities, and The Dark.
Revised Packs are plentiful. Shivan Dragon is $20, Royal Assassin is $16, and Dual lands (sometimes called Multi-lands) were $2-3 a piece. Paying $5 for Underground Sea was a ripoff.
There is no such thing as "Vintage" or even Legacy. "The stack" doesn't yet exist in magic.
Black Lotus is $60, moxes are $30, and people actually played for ante sometimes. Nobody sleeved up their cards yet.
You have $100 on you and you want to buy a black lotus. Do you pick the Alpha one that's funny cut and different from the rest of your magic cards, or do you get the Beta which is the same shape as the rest of your magic collection?
If you're like half the magic population and pre-OCD, paying extra money for a single that is different cut from the rest of your collection is the last thing you would want.
You pick the Beta Lotus.
Pile B:
Cryptic Command MM2
New Jace
New Chandra
New Gideon
Foil Doubling Season MM1
Cunning Wish
Mikaeus Unhallowed
Toxin Sliver
Vorinclex
Life from the Loam
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+1 Roland does 1 damage to up to 6 target creatures, players or plainswalkers.
-2 Roland twirls a bullet casing. Tap all opponents creatures.
-11 Reset life totals to 20 x the number of activations of this ability. Begin a new game shuffling all cards into owners decks except for Roland who remains in play.
Pile B
2 x magic origins goblin piledriver ( one foil )
1 x polluted delta ktk
1 x bloodstained mire ktk
1 x wooded foothills ktk
2 x windswept heath ktk
Pile A even though I don't like foils haha
Just a rarer commodity. Khans fetches are massively printed and rotate in 6 months, not the best time to be picking them up.
Pile B:
Cryptic Command MM2
New Jace
New Chandra
New Gideon
Foil Doubling Season MM1
Cunning Wish
Mikaeus Unhallowed
Toxin Sliver
Vorinclex
Life from the Loam
Even if Pile B is worth more (and it is close in either direction without doing exact math), Pile A is so much more liquid that I personally prefer it.
In summation.....Star Trek wins a prolonged naval battle against superior, yet less technologically advanced, numbers, with Picard leading the assault, while Kirk takes your soul by laying out Solo and probably his manservant Chewy as well, before impregnating and ditching your Princess.
I like Pile B, but that's mostly because a little voice in my head is telling me that Hangarback Walker will be in this winter's Clash Pack. That's just a voice in my head, though, and by no means known information.
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AFAIK Gideon and Ulamog Promos are going for about the same, so I would take Gideon thinking he's going to see major play in Standard and will retain his price tag much better than a 10-drop.
AFAIK Gideon and Ulamog Promos are going for about the same, so I would take Gideon thinking he's going to see major play in Standard and will retain his price tag much better than a 10-drop.
Actually, I'd flip that - I'd take Ulamog, since he'll see play in EDH, probably more so than Gideon. Once Standard is done, Gideon won't be in as much demand. But that's the long-term view.
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@drewlearee Pile b on both for sure .
@kZhang foil jades probably because foils tend to hold their value and he sees play on a lot of cubes and places outside of standard to help that price. I really don't see any potential for lily to go up any dramatic amount anytime soon.
Value is good. But Dredgevine isn't supposed to be about value. It's supposed to be about V-8; 2000 pounds of nitro boosted war vegetables. The more velocity, the better.
Modern:
DredgeVine EDH:
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Anima Standard:
Foil jaces are now worth Lili money? I guess I traded mine too soon and lost about $40 haha.
I would take the Lilis. Even if she is reprinted there is a price dance done with everything in Modern Masters so the big ticket cards don't actually drop much.
Value is good. But Dredgevine isn't supposed to be about value. It's supposed to be about V-8; 2000 pounds of nitro boosted war vegetables. The more velocity, the better.
Modern:
DredgeVine EDH:
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Anima Standard:
not sure on which side is better since the prices on Thalia vary so much since they are out of stock most places
I don't understand the Thalia price. It's a nice promo but it isn't exactly the format staple in 2x tier 1 modern decks that Inkmoth is.
I get that Thalia sees play in legacy D&T but that's not a top deck. Pimp factor is driving the price hard but if you have the money to pimp why play D&T?
not sure on which side is better since the prices on Thalia vary so much since they are out of stock most places
I don't understand the Thalia price. It's a nice promo but it isn't exactly the format staple in 2x tier 1 modern decks that Inkmoth is.
I get that Thalia sees play in legacy D&T but that's not a top deck. Pimp factor is driving the price hard but if you have the money to pimp why play D&T?
The Thalia promo price is driven mostly by scarcity. There simply aren't a lot of them out there.
I'd go with Thalia, just because a reprint won't crash her price, and Inkmoth is pretty likely to get a reprint at some point down the road.
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Most people project the Expedition fetches to see a drop as many more are opened over the course of the next few weeks/months. Those FoWs are only going to get harder to find.
That being said, at current prices that's about $200 in favor of the guy getting the fetches based on TCGPlayer's prices.
URGImperial AnimarGRU BRGProssh, Tokenmaker of KherGRB WURNarset NostalgicRUW UBR"I like your deck better" JelevaRBU UBlue BraidsU GAzusa, Lost but RampingG
WUHanna, Pillowfort's NavigatorUW WBRAleshacratsBRW UBRGrixis Pew PewRBU URGYasova the ThreateningGRU BGGlissa the ArticiferGB WUSygg MerfolkUW RSquee, Value NabobR
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I actually owned very few Alpha cards because I was mostly a player, not a collector. But even in that day, I knew that Alpha was far less common and that some day, the singles may carry a premium. It wasn't enough for me to give up the playability of Beta though. It just wasn't worth it to take a chance and wait for years, hoping that Alpha would go up in value, rather than play the Beta cards.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)Polluted delta KTK Japanese
Pile B
2x Steam vents RTR one is SP
2 x RTR foil steam vents
Pile B
2 x magic origins goblin piledriver ( one foil )
1 x polluted delta ktk
1 x bloodstained mire ktk
1 x wooded foothills ktk
2 x windswept heath ktk
Pile A:
My entire collection
Pile B:
Time Machine
3 Goblin Guides
1 Karn Liberated MM2
2 Wooded Foothills KTK
3 Windswept Heath KTK
Pile B:
Cryptic Command MM2
New Jace
New Chandra
New Gideon
Foil Doubling Season MM1
Cunning Wish
Mikaeus Unhallowed
Toxin Sliver
Vorinclex
Life from the Loam
-2 Roland twirls a bullet casing. Tap all opponents creatures.
-11 Reset life totals to 20 x the number of activations of this ability. Begin a new game shuffling all cards into owners decks except for Roland who remains in play.
Is pile B.. safe??
Pile A even though I don't like foils haha
Just a rarer commodity. Khans fetches are massively printed and rotate in 6 months, not the best time to be picking them up.
Even if Pile B is worth more (and it is close in either direction without doing exact math), Pile A is so much more liquid that I personally prefer it.
Hangarback Walker
Pile B
Kessig Wolf Run
Monastery Mentor
I like Pile B, but that's mostly because a little voice in my head is telling me that Hangarback Walker will be in this winter's Clash Pack. That's just a voice in my head, though, and by no means known information.
PROMO Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
Pile B
PROMO Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
GX Tron XG
UR Phoenix RU
GG Freyalise High Tide GG
UR Parun Counterspells RU
BB Yawgmoth Token Storm BB
WB Pestilence BW
AFAIK Gideon and Ulamog Promos are going for about the same, so I would take Gideon thinking he's going to see major play in Standard and will retain his price tag much better than a 10-drop.
Actually, I'd flip that - I'd take Ulamog, since he'll see play in EDH, probably more so than Gideon. Once Standard is done, Gideon won't be in as much demand. But that's the long-term view.
Pile A
3 Birds of Paradise (M12)
Copperhorn Scout (Foil)
Shivan Reef (Origins)
Shivan Reef (Foil Origins)
Pile B
Spellskite (NPH)
Cyclonic Rift (RtR)
Pile A
Seeker of the Way (Clash Pack)
Ruinous Path
Birds of Paradise (M12)
Pile B
Drana, Liberator of Malakir
Credit to Heroes of the Plane Studios for the Avatar & Miraculous Recovery for the Banner.
My 540 Card Cube (WIP)
4 x Liliana of the Veil (Inn)
Pile B
4 x FOIL Jace, Vyrn Prodigy (Ori)
Which pile would you prefer?
@kZhang foil jades probably because foils tend to hold their value and he sees play on a lot of cubes and places outside of standard to help that price. I really don't see any potential for lily to go up any dramatic amount anytime soon.
Modern:
DredgeVine
EDH:
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Anima
Standard:
I would take the Lilis. Even if she is reprinted there is a price dance done with everything in Modern Masters so the big ticket cards don't actually drop much.
x2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben WMCQ Promo
Pile B
x4 Inkmoth Nexus
not sure on which side is better since the prices on Thalia vary so much since they are out of stock most places
Modern:
DredgeVine
EDH:
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Anima
Standard:
I don't understand the Thalia price. It's a nice promo but it isn't exactly the format staple in 2x tier 1 modern decks that Inkmoth is.
I get that Thalia sees play in legacy D&T but that's not a top deck. Pimp factor is driving the price hard but if you have the money to pimp why play D&T?
The Thalia promo price is driven mostly by scarcity. There simply aren't a lot of them out there.
I'd go with Thalia, just because a reprint won't crash her price, and Inkmoth is pretty likely to get a reprint at some point down the road.
1x Arid Mesa Expedition
for
2x Bloodstained Mire
2x Wooded Foothills
3x Flooded Strand
2x Windswept Heath
It looks ok but not great. I'd probably want one more blue fetch in place of a Bloodstained or Windswept myself.
EDIT: Original title: 2 pomo force of will for 4 full art scalding tarn and 3 full art polluted delta ?
I got that offer today. Seems like a good deal to me. Should I do it ?
That being said, at current prices that's about $200 in favor of the guy getting the fetches based on TCGPlayer's prices.
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Rules Advisor
Modern: BRGLiving EndGRB
Legacy: UBGShardless BUGGBU
BRGProssh, Tokenmaker of KherGRB
WURNarset NostalgicRUW
UBR"I like your deck better" JelevaRBU
UBlue BraidsU
GAzusa, Lost but RampingG
WBRAleshacratsBRW
UBRGrixis Pew PewRBU
URGYasova the ThreateningGRU
BGGlissa the ArticiferGB
WUSygg MerfolkUW
RSquee, Value NabobR