After sitting on piles of Flooded Strand and Polluted Delta that have done nothing for 5 years, I have long since changed my "spec" criteria. I basically never buy into anything unless I expect to play it and want to avoid having to pay the "hype tax" later on.
Remember that WOTC may see us as players, Hasbro sees us as customers. And at the end of the day Hasbro wins.
I've started to realize that spending money chasing the hype cards is a bad plan in general. Watched a seminar on hook, habit, hobby marketing strategies and realized that most of this is psychological manipulation.
The big problem is the company went full EA on the community post modern masters 2 and decided they can create artificially high prices by setting a high box price, and now they are going into making special mythic edition super limited print run boxes. I'm genuinely afraid of where the game is going.
They even introduced an arena season pass now to get the hooks in deeper on arena.
Speaking as someone who has a Magic collection that's valuable enough to outright buy a house if I wanted. I've realized that investing in Magic cards really isn't as reliable as it used to be, if you're trying to spec on certain things. Prices are too variable, and the cards that are worth a lot are too few, and too hard to move in large numbers.
The most reliable way I've found these days to invest, is to pick up cards that bypass Standard rotation depreciation. Modern Horizons is insane for that, in both singles and boxes. Also, pick up cards that are reprint resistant due to rarity. Mythic editions, MPR foil bolts (even though they did make a new full art bolt), expedition lands, and so on. As a whole, these are likely to go up over time. Don't try to invest in regular cards that you might be playing at FNM. The upside is that you save $100 on a deck. The downside is that you waste hundreds per year trying to time the market.
I just wanted to throw this out there as my own personal experience with card stock/quality.
There is a NOTICABLE difference between NA English, Euro English, and Japanese prints.
The stock between Euro/Japanese seems about the same, the saturation appears sharper on the Japanese, and the colours are by far the best on Japanese. If like me you dont just get the cards to play, but to collect or display, there is no question at all that the NA English is utter trash, and Japanese is superior.
I'll never get another card I wish to keep, that is not a Japanese print.
Actual Prowess? I believe the last would be Bloodwater Entity. Maro is on record as saying Prowess is problematic, and the closer text is from Dominaria, such as Adeliz, the Cinder Wind
Actual Prowess? I believe the last would be Bloodwater Entity. Maro is on record as saying Prowess is problematic, and the closer text is from Dominaria, such as Adeliz, the Cinder Wind
True Prowess, I dont see coming back.
I thought you were saying that after the Khans block they wouldn't do Prowess again which they did a few here and there, my bad.
No worries. I'm just looking at it from a perspective of reprint potential. As such, with the history here and Maro's comments, and the new text we see instead...it could potentially get very expensive.
Kinda makes me look dumb for not buying the foils I wanted (just 2) for $25 a while back. At least I can still play the card, as I did buy 4 non foils during Khans.
UW's all the rage. Maybe something there should get banned?
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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)
mentor blowing up like it did is a pretty good example of how volatile the market is atm. hype and speculation have grown as market forces for some time, but its particularly bad when there is a lot of uncertainty like there is in modern right now. people will bandwagon on anything that looks remotely good since they want to be sure to get copies before it catches on and becomes real and truly skyrockets.
dont get me wrong, mentor is really strong, actually probably one of the stronger creatures ever printed given how well it scales as time passes. it also hits those checkboxes like idsurge mentioned with a keyword thats been phased out and as a mythic from a small set. however the list price for mentor literally doubled overnight without results indicating the play demand is there.
funnily enough i picked up a playset at 20/per a little over a week ago after seeing esper mentor lists pop up on modo. think it posted in 2 different events. card barely budged over those 2 weeks. shows up on camera at the GP and all hell breaks loose.
i expect mentor to retract, albeit at a higher point it was at before, but probably something around 30 for NM copies. imo if you have copies and dont have serious plans to play with them in the near future, consider cashing in.
Kinda makes me look dumb for not buying the foils I wanted (just 2) for $25 a while back. At least I can still play the card, as I did buy 4 non foils during Khans.
UW's all the rage. Maybe something there should get banned?
yeah paper players really love UWx control. normally id say that the format response when it looks like a good thing to be doing has (typically) been exaggerated, but i think UW is the real deal at this point.
honestly the WAR walkers have just left a sour taste in my mouth at this point, including karn. feels like they are all just sorta the same card. cant say im pleased my main archetype has been pigeonholed so decisively by them.
as for bans? maybe one day. fair decks skewed heavily towards the reactive are usually a slow burn as it comes to being outed as 'too good' or oppressive. doesnt help the control or even 'fair' competition is lacking and its doing most of the heavy lifting to convince people you can play a slow reactive deck and succeed
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Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
After sitting on piles of Flooded Strand and Polluted Delta that have done nothing for 5 years, I have long since changed my "spec" criteria. I basically never buy into anything unless I expect to play it and want to avoid having to pay the "hype tax" later on.
Remember that WOTC may see us as players, Hasbro sees us as customers. And at the end of the day Hasbro wins.
I do the same thing w/r/t my buying, but it was easy to tell from the start that the Khans fetches weren't going to balloon in price. They've followed a similar trajectory as the RTR block shocks, which is what most people thought would happen.
Well considering Looting is not going away, I'm cataloging my stuff. I'll probably work with Card Kingdom to liquidate, as I've had good interaction with their Support/Sales staff before.
What is the price line on Force of Negation looking like? I'm not really expecting it to go down anytime soon, but I'm not sure if it's worth waiting a month or two or if it's only going to keep climbing.
What is the price line on Force of Negation looking like? I'm not really expecting it to go down anytime soon, but I'm not sure if it's worth waiting a month or two or if it's only going to keep climbing.
I think FoN keeps climbing. Some people are reporting success just running it main deck as 2 or 4 instead of the 2 Side right now. Then again its already at $42 on CK, can it really be a $50 card??
imo just buy forces now if you foresee playing them at all. could the card go down a bit in 4-6 months? maybe, but id give it an equal if not higher chance for the card to go up. regardless of the outcome purchasing now incurs very little risk.
the same can be said for any of the horizon cards imo. if they go into your decks and you plan to play with them, just get em now. the set is proving to defy most conventional wisdom on how the market will play out, and i dont think its worth the time or effort trying to predict such volatile price movements.
Well considering Looting is not going away, I'm cataloging my stuff. I'll probably work with Card Kingdom to liquidate, as I've had good interaction with their Support/Sales staff before.
Will let you know how it goes.
yeah ive had nothing but positive dealings buylisting to them. they wont cut you much slack on grading, but its never been unfair or shady from my experience.
if i remember correctly you have a lot of foil cards, so i would temper my expectations on how those end up graded. foils are held to a higher standard, and the percentage scale for each downgrade is more steep.
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Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
Yeah I got rid of a number of the foils a few years ago, most of UWR was foil, but I had back up copies. I think I dumped a bunch of the foils when someone got a game/match loss because one of the foils had curled, like 8 months ago? Something like that.
Tarns, Snaps, Jace, Teferi's, Colonnades, Phoenix, plenty of Dredge and NeoForm (was Grishoalbrand) stuff, most anything in UWR or UW Control's wheelhouse, stuff like that.
I would also get Force of Negation now and not later. I got 2 for my UW deck but Im thinking about getting another 2 just in case. Currently I don't need them but you never know what might happen later on and if that happens the price of these certainly will shoot through the roof. Better to swallow the pill now than having to pay double later.
I also didn't noticed the price move on Gravecrawler, it's now what triple what it was for like forever? Time to dig some of those up from my boxes.
I need a playset for my casual/FNM Zombies deck. Any chance it goes down in price after the Bridge ban? Or should I just get them now?
I would wait if I were you. Hoogvine is technically still a deck but now it has to compete with Dredge and it could very well lose that comparison so people will leave it in droves. In that case Gravecrawler most certainly will fall.
I think the market is pretty strong right now so selling out should work in your favor.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
you should be able to find copies of FoN in the 30-35 range still.
im fairly certain that the price of FoN and some other mh1 cards are inflated. the question is how much, and when it will cool off and begin to settle. the steady climb since release indicates that demand is outpacing the influx of supply (the market being saturated but supply drying up makes less sense).
we are about a month and a half into mh1's print run. i think there are arguments that mh1 won't be opened as much as people thought it might, but what we are seeing is still only a fraction of the total supply that will eventually hit the market in the 6-12 months wizards continues to fulfill orders. this also includes i believe 1 if not 2 mh1 limited GPs which isnt an insignificant amount of packs/boxes being opened.
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Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
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Remember that WOTC may see us as players, Hasbro sees us as customers. And at the end of the day Hasbro wins.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Speaking as someone who has a Magic collection that's valuable enough to outright buy a house if I wanted. I've realized that investing in Magic cards really isn't as reliable as it used to be, if you're trying to spec on certain things. Prices are too variable, and the cards that are worth a lot are too few, and too hard to move in large numbers.
The most reliable way I've found these days to invest, is to pick up cards that bypass Standard rotation depreciation. Modern Horizons is insane for that, in both singles and boxes. Also, pick up cards that are reprint resistant due to rarity. Mythic editions, MPR foil bolts (even though they did make a new full art bolt), expedition lands, and so on. As a whole, these are likely to go up over time. Don't try to invest in regular cards that you might be playing at FNM. The upside is that you save $100 on a deck. The downside is that you waste hundreds per year trying to time the market.
There is a NOTICABLE difference between NA English, Euro English, and Japanese prints.
The stock between Euro/Japanese seems about the same, the saturation appears sharper on the Japanese, and the colours are by far the best on Japanese. If like me you dont just get the cards to play, but to collect or display, there is no question at all that the NA English is utter trash, and Japanese is superior.
I'll never get another card I wish to keep, that is not a Japanese print.
Spirits
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Awesome. I hope it holds.
Was not opened much, was a small set I believe, Prowess is not going to be printed again, and its above curve, and its a Mythic.
Better hope for another Eternal Set, or its going to stay up there.
Spirits
There have been quite a few Prowess creatures in the last sets you know?
True Prowess, I dont see coming back.
Spirits
I thought you were saying that after the Khans block they wouldn't do Prowess again which they did a few here and there, my bad.
Spirits
Kinda makes me look dumb for not buying the foils I wanted (just 2) for $25 a while back. At least I can still play the card, as I did buy 4 non foils during Khans.
UW's all the rage. Maybe something there should get banned?
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)dont get me wrong, mentor is really strong, actually probably one of the stronger creatures ever printed given how well it scales as time passes. it also hits those checkboxes like idsurge mentioned with a keyword thats been phased out and as a mythic from a small set. however the list price for mentor literally doubled overnight without results indicating the play demand is there.
funnily enough i picked up a playset at 20/per a little over a week ago after seeing esper mentor lists pop up on modo. think it posted in 2 different events. card barely budged over those 2 weeks. shows up on camera at the GP and all hell breaks loose.
i expect mentor to retract, albeit at a higher point it was at before, but probably something around 30 for NM copies. imo if you have copies and dont have serious plans to play with them in the near future, consider cashing in.
yeah paper players really love UWx control. normally id say that the format response when it looks like a good thing to be doing has (typically) been exaggerated, but i think UW is the real deal at this point.
honestly the WAR walkers have just left a sour taste in my mouth at this point, including karn. feels like they are all just sorta the same card. cant say im pleased my main archetype has been pigeonholed so decisively by them.
as for bans? maybe one day. fair decks skewed heavily towards the reactive are usually a slow burn as it comes to being outed as 'too good' or oppressive. doesnt help the control or even 'fair' competition is lacking and its doing most of the heavy lifting to convince people you can play a slow reactive deck and succeed
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)Yeah I was not happy to see the increase on that one, I sold mine some time ago. :[
Spirits
Standard: lol no
Modern: BG/x, UR/x, Burn, Merfolk, Zoo, Storm
Legacy: Shardless BUG, Delver (BUG, RUG, Grixis), Landstill, Depths Combo, Merfolk
Vintage: Dark Times, BUG Fish, Merfolk
EDH: Teysa, Orzhov Scion / Krenko, Mob Boss / Stonebrow, Krosan Hero
Will let you know how it goes.
Spirits
What is the price line on Force of Negation looking like? I'm not really expecting it to go down anytime soon, but I'm not sure if it's worth waiting a month or two or if it's only going to keep climbing.
I think FoN keeps climbing. Some people are reporting success just running it main deck as 2 or 4 instead of the 2 Side right now. Then again its already at $42 on CK, can it really be a $50 card??
EDIT: And only 3 Available?!
Spirits
the same can be said for any of the horizon cards imo. if they go into your decks and you plan to play with them, just get em now. the set is proving to defy most conventional wisdom on how the market will play out, and i dont think its worth the time or effort trying to predict such volatile price movements.yeah ive had nothing but positive dealings buylisting to them. they wont cut you much slack on grading, but its never been unfair or shady from my experience.
if i remember correctly you have a lot of foil cards, so i would temper my expectations on how those end up graded. foils are held to a higher standard, and the percentage scale for each downgrade is more steep.
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)Tarns, Snaps, Jace, Teferi's, Colonnades, Phoenix, plenty of Dredge and NeoForm (was Grishoalbrand) stuff, most anything in UWR or UW Control's wheelhouse, stuff like that.
Spirits
I need a playset for my casual/FNM Zombies deck. Any chance it goes down in price after the Bridge ban? Or should I just get them now?
I would wait if I were you. Hoogvine is technically still a deck but now it has to compete with Dredge and it could very well lose that comparison so people will leave it in droves. In that case Gravecrawler most certainly will fall.
Spirits
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
im fairly certain that the price of FoN and some other mh1 cards are inflated. the question is how much, and when it will cool off and begin to settle. the steady climb since release indicates that demand is outpacing the influx of supply (the market being saturated but supply drying up makes less sense).
we are about a month and a half into mh1's print run. i think there are arguments that mh1 won't be opened as much as people thought it might, but what we are seeing is still only a fraction of the total supply that will eventually hit the market in the 6-12 months wizards continues to fulfill orders. this also includes i believe 1 if not 2 mh1 limited GPs which isnt an insignificant amount of packs/boxes being opened.
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)