Burn is about $100 and that's pretty much the top of the price pack. Tron is over $50 and a few sit right around $50, but that's it for competitive decks. I think my most expensive deck ($100+) is some horse***** 1-land Spy combo deck that's fun to play but terrible against most match-ups. For $100 I think you could get yourself the best aggro, control, and midrange decks as a format starter pack and get a lot more out of those than a new release box of garbage filled landfill fodder.
And while the budget is my focus in this thread because I've been watching the value of my Pauper collection go up up up, you are right... it's just a fun format.
(I don't own an Oubliette and can't really see how it's that good. But oh well)
Oubliette is just an O-Ring for mono black. Nothing more, but it's a very unique effect from the smallest expansion in magic.
I think it's one of the cards likely to keep going up---I would be interested in what other commons people think have a chance to move further upward.
I'd never seen non-online pauper until the past few months where I've seen it at multiple SoCal LGSs.
I think it could be becoming a thing, especially as other format prices rise (Modern, Standard).
That's my thought too. Imagine a player sitting down to create a shopping list for MTG.
() I can afford to play.
() The cards don't rotate out every 12 months.
() The format is powerful enough and varied enough to keep my interest.
EDH has been the king of casual for almost a decade, but the cost has gone so far up that new players can't afford to optimize their decks without dumping hundred of dollars into them. Yes, I know EDH is still cheaper than Vintage and Legacy, but a well made 3 color EDH deck will compete for wallet space with a well made Modern deck and trounce Standard. But when you take some guy/girl who wants to compete even a little, it's really hard to do on a normal budget. The days of trading away a Maze of Ith for half an EDH deck loaded with staples are dead.
Related to that, I know a ton of EDH players out here who want variety in their game and get tired of slogging along with 2 hour games, and the cheapest fast format to get into it Pauper.
Pauper also appeals to the competitive crowd. I'm building a pauper list, and I never play EDH or Tiny Leaders or other casual formats. I have multiple tier 1 decks for Legacy and Modern, and pauper still appeals to me, because it's a fun format.
It's a non-rotating lower power level format, almost like a non-rotating standard, AND it's inexpensive for all the decks. I was able to pick up most of pauper affinity and mono-black on Pucatrade for a song (even Oubliette's only cost as much as a standard playable mythic or rare), and I could probably build Mono-U and the delver variants with cards I already own.
I think the "rare" cards have an opportunity to go up. At sub $50 for whole decks, there will be lots of interest if people start playing.
Chromatic Lantern seems to be creeping upwards. Last I looked it was under $5, but now I'm seeing them for $7 and all the sudden a bunch of people want them on Puca.
I've been on Pucatrade for almost a year now. I have a dozen or so KTK fetches I'd like to send out in the near future. I have noticed many users offer bounties for them. Unfortunately, I have thousands of trade matches for them and sorting through user IDs and profiles is aggravating. Is there a short cut to find the best bounties available?
Assuming I do find someone offering a bounty, what is the protocol? Should I expect them to send the extra points after I deliver? Is there anyway to guarantee I get the bounty? I have already seen at least two users complain about other users not honoring their bounty offers.
No way I know of to guarantee a bounty and there really isn't a systematic way of finding them besides browsing through. Usually people (myself included) pay bounties when the card is received...I've never had a problem being paid a bounty. Usually I'll send a message to the user I'm sending to if I'm claiming a bounty when I agree to send, that way it's in the record, and can serve as a reminder if they don't send.
It's not rude to negotiate for anything. In fact, Americans overwhelmingly think it's rude, and don't have any concept of what's negotiable. Sometimes just asking the question is enough to lower the price.
Sometimes the price is the price, but many many times stores will give people a break to move some type of product.
That said, if you ask and the store declines, then you should likely move on. I wouldn't get offended if the store declined my offer, but I would still be happy to make other offers to that store.
Probably preaching to the choir here - but seriously, don't use certified mail for shipping trades. It's so annoying to get cards this way. Second time I've had someone ship me a card certified, and second time I've had to go across town at rush hour to the post office because I'm not home to sign for it. Tracking + insurance is good enough on the high-value stuff.
/rant
While I can certainly understand the inconvenience and frustration of having to deal with signing for a package and having to deal with going down to the post office and such. Unfortunately when it comes to full protection for more valuable items, some form of signature tracking is necessary, due to the risks associated with mail theft, or USPS screwing up and putting the package in the wrong box, or other such issues. The signature requirement covers any and all issues that could come up no matter who could be the cause of the issue. With signature tracking and insurance if the post office damages the package in transit, or it doesn't make it there, then they will cover it.
It's actually funny, because I agree with both of you. It's very annoying to have to drive to the post office to pick up a magic trade. HOWEVER, I just received an expensive package shipped with tracking and insurance, and it was placed in the apartment complex "unclaimed" mail pile, on the ground. It had almost $200 in cards that were shipped with tracking and insurance, and I didn't see it for 3 days, because I would have assumed it would be placed in my mailbox! And this is for a package that cost $6 to ship in a small bubble mailer with tracking and insurance! I would have rather had to go to the post office, than to deal with the fallout of the package getting accidentally thrown away....that would have been the end of my puca trade career.
It's not a thing. Someone is just playing with the market. If Old School Magic/94 was a thing, people would buy out City of Brass, which is a 4-of in most decks, but the price hasn't moved much.
Right now, the format is smaller than Vintage.
You're forgetting that the bottlenecks are also smaller for this 93/94 format. If it even reaches fringe play the level of VIntage, you'll see a strong upswing in price for the new demand. ALSO, CoB has been printed a bajillion times. Cards like Juzaaam Djinn have not. I need to get a Juzaam soon. I always wanted one as a kid and they're not getting cheaper.
The only printing of City of Brass legal in 93/94 is Arabian Nights.
It's definitely 93/94, because the Unlimited cards are spiking too....those only are going up because of 93/94, because legacy players will just as soon used Revised, and the rarity of UL has long not been a significant driver of the price of those cards because of the white border.
Endless One
Eldrazi Mimic
Reality Smasher
Thought-Knot Seer
Matter Reshaper
I am more likely to use Pucatrade, and less likely to sell on ebay for small, under $50 cards.
Oubliette is just an O-Ring for mono black. Nothing more, but it's a very unique effect from the smallest expansion in magic.
I think it's one of the cards likely to keep going up---I would be interested in what other commons people think have a chance to move further upward.
Pauper also appeals to the competitive crowd. I'm building a pauper list, and I never play EDH or Tiny Leaders or other casual formats. I have multiple tier 1 decks for Legacy and Modern, and pauper still appeals to me, because it's a fun format.
It's a non-rotating lower power level format, almost like a non-rotating standard, AND it's inexpensive for all the decks. I was able to pick up most of pauper affinity and mono-black on Pucatrade for a song (even Oubliette's only cost as much as a standard playable mythic or rare), and I could probably build Mono-U and the delver variants with cards I already own.
I think the "rare" cards have an opportunity to go up. At sub $50 for whole decks, there will be lots of interest if people start playing.
I think it could be becoming a thing, especially as other format prices rise (Modern, Standard).
My most recent order was $2.60...I thought it was $1.94 or $2.04 or something.
Pretty sure there is....it's so they are received by Christmas.
No way I know of to guarantee a bounty and there really isn't a systematic way of finding them besides browsing through. Usually people (myself included) pay bounties when the card is received...I've never had a problem being paid a bounty. Usually I'll send a message to the user I'm sending to if I'm claiming a bounty when I agree to send, that way it's in the record, and can serve as a reminder if they don't send.
Sometimes the price is the price, but many many times stores will give people a break to move some type of product.
That said, if you ask and the store declines, then you should likely move on. I wouldn't get offended if the store declined my offer, but I would still be happy to make other offers to that store.
Local craigslist, garage sales, or partnering with your LGS to move bulk is probably your best bet.
It's actually funny, because I agree with both of you. It's very annoying to have to drive to the post office to pick up a magic trade. HOWEVER, I just received an expensive package shipped with tracking and insurance, and it was placed in the apartment complex "unclaimed" mail pile, on the ground. It had almost $200 in cards that were shipped with tracking and insurance, and I didn't see it for 3 days, because I would have assumed it would be placed in my mailbox! And this is for a package that cost $6 to ship in a small bubble mailer with tracking and insurance! I would have rather had to go to the post office, than to deal with the fallout of the package getting accidentally thrown away....that would have been the end of my puca trade career.
The only printing of City of Brass legal in 93/94 is Arabian Nights.
It's definitely 93/94, because the Unlimited cards are spiking too....those only are going up because of 93/94, because legacy players will just as soon used Revised, and the rarity of UL has long not been a significant driver of the price of those cards because of the white border.