Don't collect for money guys. Like tarmogoyf, no card in modern will stay high. Don't trick yourself. Maybe you make some money, but often you will be crushed. It is not worth
Truth. Especially when it comes to Modern staples. However, paying attention to price trends and knowing when to buy or sell are important habits to have for anyone who wants to make their hobby self-sustaining. I rarely crack sealed product, but I'll usually pick up 3-4 boosters of every Masters set; I had a Target gift card to burn + a 15% off toys/games sale they were running, so I ended up grabbing three of the UMA 3-pack blisters. My cup runneth over with luck.
damn 2 sweet mythics in 9 packs? did you go and buy a lottery ticket? (jk, i hope you didnt)
UMA is pretty loaded. boxes are holding EV so far, and are still positive with even mid level box toppers. not to say that people should just go out and buy em because its all profit all the time, but the average people out there somewhere (which may not be you) are getting their moneys worth. i imagine it will be a while before box prices start lowering (i do think they will, the print run has to be big).
i sold the karn and reanimate i pulled and am closely watching the snapcaster boxtopper prices and i plan to sell it if it gets close to 200 (or if it looks like its dropping). that mostly covers what i paid for the box, which is pretty absurd.
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Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
You guys just got lucky in your opening. From the few people (admittedly) that I talked to, most hadn't gotten their money back on their boxes, although a lot of that came down to the Box Topper. I think a big mistake people can make is selling the cards from UMA right away. Most of the cards will rebound and are already rebounding as we speak, so it's best to hold onto them.
As an example of this, I opened 2 boxes of Tempest when it was in Standard. I got 4 Intuition in the box. The card was a $1 rare at the time. I didn't sell them because I literally have no use for the $2-3 I'd get for them. Flash forward to today, they are worth $55 and probably going up soon.
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)
Sealed product = lottery ticket. I thought everybody already knew this? Hell I basically broke even on the few packs I bought with the cavern of souls at first, now its already breaching $60 because everyone bought the cheap copies that people put up from flipping boxes. As for modern retaining value long term...I mean if WOTC makes a new eternal format for Arena I maintain that some modern cards should be added to the reserved list...
You guys just got lucky in your opening. From the few people (admittedly) that I talked to, most hadn't gotten their money back on their boxes, although a lot of that came down to the Box Topper. I think a big mistake people can make is selling the cards from UMA right away. Most of the cards will rebound and are already rebounding as we speak, so it's best to hold onto them.
As an example of this, I opened 2 boxes of Tempest when it was in Standard. I got 4 Intuition in the box. The card was a $1 rare at the time. I didn't sell them because I literally have no use for the $2-3 I'd get for them. Flash forward to today, they are worth $25 and probably going up soon.
Where are you finding Intuition's for $25 and can you snag me a playset?
Sealed product = lottery ticket. I thought everybody already knew this? Hell I basically broke even on the few packs I bought with the cavern of souls at first, now its already breaching $60 because everyone bought the cheap copies that people put up from flipping boxes. As for modern retaining value long term...I mean if WOTC makes a new eternal format for Arena I maintain that some modern cards should be added to the reserved list...
ehhhhh, whats your reasoning for adding cards to the reserved list? the way i see it the creation of the reserved list was mistake of circumstance early in mtgs lifecycle. it was a different age (it was freakin 1996!), wizards tried something, it failed, and they simply didnt have the brand loyalty capital like they do now.
whenever this new format comes out i think modern has a chance of just continuing to do its own thing. a reserved list would just increase the likelihood of it being relegated to irrelevancy. so asking for it, to me, seems akin to saying 'hey other people profitted from a mistake a long time ago, therefore its only fair we get the same treatment'. why would wizards care about that type of argument?
if you think modern is going the way of the dodo, or at best the level of legacy; consider that the new format will be on arena. arena is FREE. how many players in the set of casuals, fnm heroes, and those dabbling in competitive play do you think would want to 'invest' in a format they can play for pennies on the dollar at any time?
i think as time passes there is a possibility of some real tension emerging between what is on arena and paper. the social engagement and community aspect shouldnt be understated, and paper events will still exits; however you can still have those things without playing standard or standard plus so why not make the experience more comprehensive by playing something NOT on arena (ie modern).
admittedly it could go the other way. where arena is the in-home experience and people congregate to share the common bond with one another. which is why i said modern has a chance of still thriving as it has been.
there are also the other possibilities such as the format sucking, or it doesnt get any paper support (ie it not being a sanctioned format or something).
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Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
You guys just got lucky in your opening. From the few people (admittedly) that I talked to, most hadn't gotten their money back on their boxes, although a lot of that came down to the Box Topper. I think a big mistake people can make is selling the cards from UMA right away. Most of the cards will rebound and are already rebounding as we speak, so it's best to hold onto them.
As an example of this, I opened 2 boxes of Tempest when it was in Standard. I got 4 Intuition in the box. The card was a $1 rare at the time. I didn't sell them because I literally have no use for the $2-3 I'd get for them. Flash forward to today, they are worth $25 and probably going up soon.
Where are you finding Intuition's for $25 and can you snag me a playset?
Sorry, I should have looked that up. Since I've had them so long with no possibility of selling, I didn't really check the price. I'm guessing $60? Looking at Ebay now...
EDITED my post to stop any future confusion.
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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)
damn 2 sweet mythics in 9 packs? did you go and buy a lottery ticket? (jk, i hope you didnt)
UMA is pretty loaded. boxes are holding EV so far, and are still positive with even mid level box toppers. not to say that people should just go out and buy em because its all profit all the time, but the average people out there somewhere (which may not be you) are getting their moneys worth. i imagine it will be a while before box prices start lowering (i do think they will, the print run has to be big).
i sold the karn and reanimate i pulled and am closely watching the snapcaster boxtopper prices and i plan to sell it if it gets close to 200 (or if it looks like its dropping). that mostly covers what i paid for the box, which is pretty absurd.
Right? It's hard to tell from the angle, but Lilly and Karakas are foils; the only non-foil mythic to come from those 9 boosters was Snappy and he was actually in the same pack as Lilly. Crazy *****. I was going to do the same and sell off the foils & Snap, but that plan got squashed when I started checking out eBay's recently sold listings; non-foil staples from UMA are rebounding across the board, but it appears pack-foils can still be found without a significant multiplier. I remember that being fairly common in previous Masters sets (notably, there was a period of 1-2 months post MM15 when Karn foils were being sold for only $10-15 above non-foil prices), but I'm curious how things will shake out with UMA foils, specifically those with a box topper variant. Obviously the box toppers will hold a premium, but it'll be interesting to see what the market determines is an appropriate price vs pack foils.
Also, is it just me or does anyone else have the feeling that we will see additional, not so insignificant, waves of UMA hitting the market? WotC had to have known that the ***** would sell like gangbusters, so I just find it hard to believe that they wouldn't milk it. One could argue that they likely expected strong sales from IMA/M25 as well, so they wanted to play it safe with UMA and throttle the supply. However, I'm not sold. I'm sure someone with a better understanding of the printing processes/logistics involved with distribution and the overall production timeline would be able to clear this up, but wasn't UMA printed in Japan? Assuming WotC didn't make the transition to all future sets printed in Japan, it would make sense for them to assess sales/reception following the initial UMA offering in order to make a decision on whether or not to fire up the presses again to meet demand. If whichever set currently in production is being manufactured outside Japan, pulling the trigger on another UMA run would appear to be a plausible scenario. Especially when prices are recovering at the rate that they are now, there just seems to be very few reasons why WotC wouldn't keep the gravy train flowing. Sure market stability and consumer confidence are two things that should be taken into consideration, but shareholders only see the profit margins. Thoughts/opinions? Like I said, please do correct me if there's something I'm not seeing, but after thinking it over I just don't think it'd be a surprise if there was additional product injected into the market sometime between now and mid January.
i dont know much about the manufacturing process so i dont have any insight on how easy it would be for them to switch products like that. if im not mistaken though facilities arent printing mtg exclusively, so that is another consideration.
i think its plausible that not as many boxes are being opened since the 300 dollar price tag scares people off. also, im not sure when box prices start to go down, but i think the box toppers will float them longer than usual. im sure wizards is keeping a close eye on sales figures for the boxes vs blisterpacks. if the blisters are overperforming they can keep those flowing but not the boxes (and subsequently box toppers). or maybe it is the other way around.
supply might not be outpacing demand like other sets because all the hype and wizards saying its the last masters product. people wanna get in on the ground floor, and i think those would include some that werent really engaging with previous masters sets. im an example of this happening. i bought a box and am actively looking to get the staples i want by subsidizing the cards from card i pulled that i would never have use for (im never going to use the karn or reanimate i sold).
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Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
Bought a couple of blister packs while shopping last night, ultimately came out slightly ahead with a noble hierarch, emrakul, and foil fulminator mage just barely putting me over the $80-ish I paid. In general? I think instead of selling and worrying about prices, I'd rather trade the stuff I got for other cards I'd rather have, with the expectation of similar increases. I mean, if I trade Hierarch for Snapcaster, I'm confident those two will be fairly close together for the forseeable future.
Bought a couple of blister packs while shopping last night, ultimately came out slightly ahead with a noble hierarch, emrakul, and foil fulminator mage just barely putting me over the $80-ish I paid. In general? I think instead of selling and worrying about prices, I'd rather trade the stuff I got for other cards I'd rather have, with the expectation of similar increases. I mean, if I trade Hierarch for Snapcaster, I'm confident those two will be fairly close together for the forseeable future.
exactly. i sold my karn, reanimate and colonnade (already have a set) and picked up 2 hierarchs to add to the one i opened. i dont need them for anything atm, but its more likely somewhere down the line than me picking up tron or playing legacy.
its not like we are alone in this mindset, which is why you see the multi-deck/format staples failing to go down as much as everything else (to an unusual degree).
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Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
FYI, don't know why I missed it, but anyone who was looking to pick up a cheap copy of Angrath, the Flame Chained, you might need to hold off for a while. It looks like Rakdos spoilers already got people buying up the 5 dollar copies. I actually used it as a two of in a few brews as a way to swing the game late, but the builds I've been working with are legendary creature builds that get a boost from using Mox Amber and a healthy amount of "kill everything at instant speed with fire and brimstone".
I'm not sure if the other mechanics really do anything for modern from the spoilers, yet. Honestly, money is probably better spent on picking up ultimate masters singles, still, unless you've got most of the big named cards already and are looking to flesh things out with some niche stuff.
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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!
Don't collect for money guys. Like tarmogoyf, no card in modern will stay high. Don't trick yourself. Maybe you make some money, but often you will be crushed. It is not worth
Truth. Especially when it comes to Modern staples. However, paying attention to price trends and knowing when to buy or sell are important habits to have for anyone who wants to make their hobby self-sustaining. I rarely crack sealed product, but I'll usually pick up 3-4 boosters of every Masters set; I had a Target gift card to burn + a 15% off toys/games sale they were running, so I ended up grabbing three of the UMA 3-pack blisters. My cup runneth over with luck.
The draft pack I picked up at target had two Dawnbringers and a Back to Basics. I wish I could make that up, but the two Reya Dawnbringer staring me in the face wont let me forget. How the heck is that even possible?!
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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!
Draft packs, like prerelease packs, really have no intentional sequencing whatsoever so the rares are uncorrelated (unlike a booster box that is deliberately sequenced to specifically reduce duplication).
Reminds me of my Dominaria prerelease kit. Two sets of twin dud rares.
i think my take on the UMA prices situation is a bit different than most. imo unless you are in it for the long haul on UMA rares is a fine time to sell. the market is duping itself into believing what is going on is business as usual for a masters set.
the (extra) premium price tag with the box toppers and hype for it having unparalleled value within puts buyers and sellers, particularly of boxes, at a standoff. id also posit there is a larger base of people who got into the product than usual; its nature certainly got me to. some amount of people sell off right away, but at this point its conventional wisdom that riding it out will pay off. nobody wants to be the fool who missed out because they were impatient.
box supply has been increasing at outlets where they never sold out to begin with. in some cases box prices have actually increased. less than a month after release, prices for singles shot down, and the moment they stop and or maybe go up a little everyone breaths a collective sigh of relief - for rares. in less than a month
there is also a very big unknown: how many blisterpacks are being sold?
so yeah i think its a standoff. if true prices will spike up and down based on very small starting movement; resulting in them staying in a fixed range for longer than they would have otherwise. id think mythics, especially the choice ones in high demand, wouldnt budge as easily.
im not big into mtg finance, but that is my take on it. time will tell if im just being stupid.
also its noteworthy that there should be a dip after GP vancouver next weekend. if it sparks additional panic selling any 'rebounding' that has occurred would just reset.
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Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
i think my take on the UMA prices situation is a bit different than most. imo unless you are in it for the long haul on UMA rares is a fine time to sell. the market is duping itself into believing what is going on is business as usual for a masters set.
the (extra) premium price tag with the box toppers and hype for it having unparalleled value within puts buyers and sellers, particularly of boxes, at a standoff. id also posit there is a larger base of people who got into the product than usual; its nature certainly got me to. some amount of people sell off right away, but at this point its conventional wisdom that riding it out will pay off. nobody wants to be the fool who missed out because they were impatient.
box supply has been increasing at outlets where they never sold out to begin with. in some cases box prices have actually increased. less than a month after release, prices for singles shot down, and the moment they stop and or maybe go up a little everyone breaths a collective sigh of relief - for rares. in less than a month
there is also a very big unknown: how many blisterpacks are being sold?
so yeah i think its a standoff. if true prices will spike up and down based on very small starting movement; resulting in them staying in a fixed range for longer than they would have otherwise. id think mythics, especially the choice ones in high demand, wouldnt budge as easily.
im not big into mtg finance, but that is my take on it. time will tell if im just being stupid.
also its noteworthy that there should be a dip after GP vancouver next weekend. if it sparks additional panic selling any 'rebounding' that has occurred would just reset.
I'm probably not buying much for a while, that is for sure. 210 dollars set aside for the next Force of Will set and probably about 400 dollars going into getting a Nintendo Switch this season. Well, that and the physical labor and pain I'm going through making a freaking mince meat pie and brownies. Not just normal brownies, but Smore Brownies with fudge, marshmallow fluff, hand crushed graham crackers, more marshmallows, and then even more fudge. I'm convinced I can climb the wall of my house like a gecko with how sticky my hands are right now.
... I'm typing on this keyboard... what have I done?!
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!
funny you mention buying a switch. its a tradition/ritual/whatever for me to play every zelda game to completion. im into other console games, old and new; but the zelda series holds a special place in my heart. anywho, i bought a switch last year for the sole purpose of playing breath of the wild. put my 80+ or whatever hours in, and havent touched the console since. i was gonna gift it to my nephew, but he has one.
the thought of selling it has me looking at using ebay for real for the first time ever. its weird because im a huge nerd who majored in computer science and closely followed the birth of the service, along with paypal. it just never appealed to me.
bring it full circle to magic: selling anything of substance on ebay is better done with some sort of base of reviews/history so i was just searching for relatively low price stuff i could throw up there. plenty of fodder from my UMA box, so i figured id start with that lol.
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Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
funny you mention buying a switch. its a tradition/ritual/whatever for me to play every zelda game to completion. im into other console games, old and new; but the zelda series holds a special place in my heart. anywho, i bought a switch last year for the sole purpose of playing breath of the wild. put my 80+ or whatever hours in, and havent touched the console since. i was gonna gift it to my nephew, but he has one.
the thought of selling it has me looking at using ebay for real for the first time ever. its weird because im a huge nerd who majored in computer science and closely followed the birth of the service, along with paypal. it just never appealed to me.
bring it full circle to magic: selling anything of substance on ebay is better done with some sort of base of reviews/history so i was just searching for relatively low price stuff i could throw up there. plenty of fodder from my UMA box, so i figured id start with that lol.
I'd say that is one big difference between Magic the Gathering and other TCGs like Force of Will. In Force of Will, players are the majority of secondary market sellers because we all get what we need from the booster boxes and are just correcting for variance. In MtG the selling of singles is mostly done through the "Gamestop" of Magic the Gathering, composed of Card Kingdom, Channel Fireball, and Star City Games. While there are a ton of small stores also selling singles, the big three control the price through aggressive buylists and resale. Card Sphere has been the only true trade hub I've seen that works after Puca-trade basically nuked themselves with too much promotion.
I mean, in an alternate universe if MtG was run by some company with the sensibilities of FoW Co. Liliana of the Veil would likely be a 30-40 dollar card all day simply because the sets are focused on keeping constructed play alive. Not to mention the card quality would be better and foils would probably all be full art.
Oddly enough, despite better supply the foils still have one hell of a multiplier on super sought after cards. I'm pretty sure even with that other version of the game model a foil Cavern of Souls would be worth clear over 100 dollars.
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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!
Oddly enough, despite better supply the foils still have one hell of a multiplier on super sought after cards. I'm pretty sure even with that other version of the game model a foil Cavern of Souls would be worth clear over 100 dollars.
which do you mean by 'other version of the game model'? if you mean the box topper, the way i understand it regular foil mythics are more rare. but that is just with boxes, depending on the volume of supply from blisterpacks that could change. in either case box toppers are more sought after though, especially the ones that look really damn good; such as cavern.
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Modern: UWGSnow-Bant Control BURGrixis Death's Shadow GWBCoCo Elves WCDeath and Taxes (sold)
Oddly enough, despite better supply the foils still have one hell of a multiplier on super sought after cards. I'm pretty sure even with that other version of the game model a foil Cavern of Souls would be worth clear over 100 dollars.
which do you mean by 'other version of the game model'? if you mean the box topper, the way i understand it regular foil mythics are more rare. but that is just with boxes, depending on the volume of supply from blisterpacks that could change. in either case box toppers are more sought after though, especially the ones that look really damn good; such as cavern.
I think colt is describing an alternate reality in which magic’s reprint attitude was more in line with that of the game Force of Will, where (as I understand it) tournament staples are printed and released to actually meet demand, not made scarce and in premium priced packs so as to actually guard against substantial price redecution on the singles market.
Some friends told me that Absorb is nearly $20 after the reprint. Seems like a good time to sell if anyone has any.
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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)
Some friends told me that Absorb is nearly $20 after the reprint. Seems like a good time to sell if anyone has any.
That's just insane. Time to see if I can sell my Invasion copies into that. Settle the Wreckage isn't even $10 and is way better than Absorb. Search for Azcanta is just $14ish and that's a multi-format all-star. Plus Ixalan won't have nearly as much product opened as the insanely popular RNA with its chase shocklands and high Limited appeal. Pre-sale economics really favor knowledgeable investors over the masses...
I am seeing Mythic Edition Teferi now sitting handily and steadily at $200 on eBay. As much as I love foil special edition cards, holy crap. I don't know if I can justify keeping these around... especially when I'm not even playing UW/Jeskai anymore, and have no interest of going back without massive shifts in the "non-meta" meta. The hard question though, is do I pick up regular copies just in case to replace? Feeling conflicted.
Truth. Especially when it comes to Modern staples. However, paying attention to price trends and knowing when to buy or sell are important habits to have for anyone who wants to make their hobby self-sustaining. I rarely crack sealed product, but I'll usually pick up 3-4 boosters of every Masters set; I had a Target gift card to burn + a 15% off toys/games sale they were running, so I ended up grabbing three of the UMA 3-pack blisters. My cup runneth over with luck.
Link to Discord server where anybody from MTGS can keep up with thread topics while everything is being sorted out with the new site.
UMA is pretty loaded. boxes are holding EV so far, and are still positive with even mid level box toppers. not to say that people should just go out and buy em because its all profit all the time, but the average people out there somewhere (which may not be you) are getting their moneys worth. i imagine it will be a while before box prices start lowering (i do think they will, the print run has to be big).
i sold the karn and reanimate i pulled and am closely watching the snapcaster boxtopper prices and i plan to sell it if it gets close to 200 (or if it looks like its dropping). that mostly covers what i paid for the box, which is pretty absurd.
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)As an example of this, I opened 2 boxes of Tempest when it was in Standard. I got 4 Intuition in the box. The card was a $1 rare at the time. I didn't sell them because I literally have no use for the $2-3 I'd get for them. Flash forward to today, they are worth $55 and probably going up soon.
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)Where are you finding Intuition's for $25 and can you snag me a playset?
ehhhhh, whats your reasoning for adding cards to the reserved list? the way i see it the creation of the reserved list was mistake of circumstance early in mtgs lifecycle. it was a different age (it was freakin 1996!), wizards tried something, it failed, and they simply didnt have the brand loyalty capital like they do now.
whenever this new format comes out i think modern has a chance of just continuing to do its own thing. a reserved list would just increase the likelihood of it being relegated to irrelevancy. so asking for it, to me, seems akin to saying 'hey other people profitted from a mistake a long time ago, therefore its only fair we get the same treatment'. why would wizards care about that type of argument?
if you think modern is going the way of the dodo, or at best the level of legacy; consider that the new format will be on arena. arena is FREE. how many players in the set of casuals, fnm heroes, and those dabbling in competitive play do you think would want to 'invest' in a format they can play for pennies on the dollar at any time?
i think as time passes there is a possibility of some real tension emerging between what is on arena and paper. the social engagement and community aspect shouldnt be understated, and paper events will still exits; however you can still have those things without playing standard or standard plus so why not make the experience more comprehensive by playing something NOT on arena (ie modern).
admittedly it could go the other way. where arena is the in-home experience and people congregate to share the common bond with one another. which is why i said modern has a chance of still thriving as it has been.
there are also the other possibilities such as the format sucking, or it doesnt get any paper support (ie it not being a sanctioned format or something).
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)Sorry, I should have looked that up. Since I've had them so long with no possibility of selling, I didn't really check the price. I'm guessing $60? Looking at Ebay now...
EDITED my post to stop any future confusion.
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)Right? It's hard to tell from the angle, but Lilly and Karakas are foils; the only non-foil mythic to come from those 9 boosters was Snappy and he was actually in the same pack as Lilly. Crazy *****. I was going to do the same and sell off the foils & Snap, but that plan got squashed when I started checking out eBay's recently sold listings; non-foil staples from UMA are rebounding across the board, but it appears pack-foils can still be found without a significant multiplier. I remember that being fairly common in previous Masters sets (notably, there was a period of 1-2 months post MM15 when Karn foils were being sold for only $10-15 above non-foil prices), but I'm curious how things will shake out with UMA foils, specifically those with a box topper variant. Obviously the box toppers will hold a premium, but it'll be interesting to see what the market determines is an appropriate price vs pack foils.
Also, is it just me or does anyone else have the feeling that we will see additional, not so insignificant, waves of UMA hitting the market? WotC had to have known that the ***** would sell like gangbusters, so I just find it hard to believe that they wouldn't milk it. One could argue that they likely expected strong sales from IMA/M25 as well, so they wanted to play it safe with UMA and throttle the supply. However, I'm not sold. I'm sure someone with a better understanding of the printing processes/logistics involved with distribution and the overall production timeline would be able to clear this up, but wasn't UMA printed in Japan? Assuming WotC didn't make the transition to all future sets printed in Japan, it would make sense for them to assess sales/reception following the initial UMA offering in order to make a decision on whether or not to fire up the presses again to meet demand. If whichever set currently in production is being manufactured outside Japan, pulling the trigger on another UMA run would appear to be a plausible scenario. Especially when prices are recovering at the rate that they are now, there just seems to be very few reasons why WotC wouldn't keep the gravy train flowing. Sure market stability and consumer confidence are two things that should be taken into consideration, but shareholders only see the profit margins. Thoughts/opinions? Like I said, please do correct me if there's something I'm not seeing, but after thinking it over I just don't think it'd be a surprise if there was additional product injected into the market sometime between now and mid January.
Link to Discord server where anybody from MTGS can keep up with thread topics while everything is being sorted out with the new site.
i think its plausible that not as many boxes are being opened since the 300 dollar price tag scares people off. also, im not sure when box prices start to go down, but i think the box toppers will float them longer than usual. im sure wizards is keeping a close eye on sales figures for the boxes vs blisterpacks. if the blisters are overperforming they can keep those flowing but not the boxes (and subsequently box toppers). or maybe it is the other way around.
supply might not be outpacing demand like other sets because all the hype and wizards saying its the last masters product. people wanna get in on the ground floor, and i think those would include some that werent really engaging with previous masters sets. im an example of this happening. i bought a box and am actively looking to get the staples i want by subsidizing the cards from card i pulled that i would never have use for (im never going to use the karn or reanimate i sold).
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)exactly. i sold my karn, reanimate and colonnade (already have a set) and picked up 2 hierarchs to add to the one i opened. i dont need them for anything atm, but its more likely somewhere down the line than me picking up tron or playing legacy.
its not like we are alone in this mindset, which is why you see the multi-deck/format staples failing to go down as much as everything else (to an unusual degree).
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)I'm not sure if the other mechanics really do anything for modern from the spoilers, yet. Honestly, money is probably better spent on picking up ultimate masters singles, still, unless you've got most of the big named cards already and are looking to flesh things out with some niche stuff.
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!
The draft pack I picked up at target had two Dawnbringers and a Back to Basics. I wish I could make that up, but the two Reya Dawnbringer staring me in the face wont let me forget. How the heck is that even possible?!
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!
Reminds me of my Dominaria prerelease kit. Two sets of twin dud rares.
the (extra) premium price tag with the box toppers and hype for it having unparalleled value within puts buyers and sellers, particularly of boxes, at a standoff. id also posit there is a larger base of people who got into the product than usual; its nature certainly got me to. some amount of people sell off right away, but at this point its conventional wisdom that riding it out will pay off. nobody wants to be the fool who missed out because they were impatient.
box supply has been increasing at outlets where they never sold out to begin with. in some cases box prices have actually increased. less than a month after release, prices for singles shot down, and the moment they stop and or maybe go up a little everyone breaths a collective sigh of relief - for rares. in less than a month
there is also a very big unknown: how many blisterpacks are being sold?
so yeah i think its a standoff. if true prices will spike up and down based on very small starting movement; resulting in them staying in a fixed range for longer than they would have otherwise. id think mythics, especially the choice ones in high demand, wouldnt budge as easily.
im not big into mtg finance, but that is my take on it. time will tell if im just being stupid.
also its noteworthy that there should be a dip after GP vancouver next weekend. if it sparks additional panic selling any 'rebounding' that has occurred would just reset.
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)I'm probably not buying much for a while, that is for sure. 210 dollars set aside for the next Force of Will set and probably about 400 dollars going into getting a Nintendo Switch this season. Well, that and the physical labor and pain I'm going through making a freaking mince meat pie and brownies. Not just normal brownies, but Smore Brownies with fudge, marshmallow fluff, hand crushed graham crackers, more marshmallows, and then even more fudge. I'm convinced I can climb the wall of my house like a gecko with how sticky my hands are right now.
... I'm typing on this keyboard... what have I done?!
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!
the thought of selling it has me looking at using ebay for real for the first time ever. its weird because im a huge nerd who majored in computer science and closely followed the birth of the service, along with paypal. it just never appealed to me.
bring it full circle to magic: selling anything of substance on ebay is better done with some sort of base of reviews/history so i was just searching for relatively low price stuff i could throw up there. plenty of fodder from my UMA box, so i figured id start with that lol.
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)I'd say that is one big difference between Magic the Gathering and other TCGs like Force of Will. In Force of Will, players are the majority of secondary market sellers because we all get what we need from the booster boxes and are just correcting for variance. In MtG the selling of singles is mostly done through the "Gamestop" of Magic the Gathering, composed of Card Kingdom, Channel Fireball, and Star City Games. While there are a ton of small stores also selling singles, the big three control the price through aggressive buylists and resale. Card Sphere has been the only true trade hub I've seen that works after Puca-trade basically nuked themselves with too much promotion.
I mean, in an alternate universe if MtG was run by some company with the sensibilities of FoW Co. Liliana of the Veil would likely be a 30-40 dollar card all day simply because the sets are focused on keeping constructed play alive. Not to mention the card quality would be better and foils would probably all be full art.
Oddly enough, despite better supply the foils still have one hell of a multiplier on super sought after cards. I'm pretty sure even with that other version of the game model a foil Cavern of Souls would be worth clear over 100 dollars.
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!
which do you mean by 'other version of the game model'? if you mean the box topper, the way i understand it regular foil mythics are more rare. but that is just with boxes, depending on the volume of supply from blisterpacks that could change. in either case box toppers are more sought after though, especially the ones that look really damn good; such as cavern.
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)I think colt is describing an alternate reality in which magic’s reprint attitude was more in line with that of the game Force of Will, where (as I understand it) tournament staples are printed and released to actually meet demand, not made scarce and in premium priced packs so as to actually guard against substantial price redecution on the singles market.
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)Going to be $5 in no time. I feel bad for anyone actually paying that.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Spirits
That's just insane. Time to see if I can sell my Invasion copies into that. Settle the Wreckage isn't even $10 and is way better than Absorb. Search for Azcanta is just $14ish and that's a multi-format all-star. Plus Ixalan won't have nearly as much product opened as the insanely popular RNA with its chase shocklands and high Limited appeal. Pre-sale economics really favor knowledgeable investors over the masses...
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate