This would be the first Blog i am writing concerning MTG. i am in no way a literary artist . and english is/was my worse subject. what i can do is argue a point and share my thoughts/experience.
the first thing i wanted to
write type about is card investment. this will be fairly brief and trivial to some people. other people who are relatively new to magic could find this helpful.
-Magic is more than a card game. it is the bread to its own butter. much like baseball cards. magic is a collectors hobby as much as it is a tcg. if you find yourself addicted and involved much more than you think. its best to plot out your long term "Goals" for the cards. i have only been playing for one year now. And while i am a very modest person, i know the game a lot better than some people who have been playing 2x-6x times as long. its more of a question of how deeply you immerse yourself. i digress .(always wanted to say that). the thing is if you know your into magic and will be always its good to budget for necessary cards. there are certain cards that will provide you with universal uses and will always be good to have around. for example
Sensei's Divining Top
-this card is used in every format it can be in and is in almost every single EDH/Commander deck you can pick up on the internet.
-this gives the card a face value that is more than just the dollars .the likely hood that wizards would release a card thats "better" than top is very unlikely. this is a card you will always want
"
HEY! wait a second good sir! what about Legacy!? its really expensive to get into i would rather play standard!"
easy now champ. your looking at things narrow minded. im going to say something that is going to blow your mind.
"
Standard is a more expensive format than Legacy"
hows that so? well ill tell you . you see, when cards that are in standard go up in price. its because standard is the mostly universally play format in magic. the market "your friends and fellow players" drive the price up because they want that card in there deck. because its good. "good" in terms of standard. but what happens when that certain card is no longer played in standard? its price plummets. if its good enough it will retain value in extended and trinket down through the tiers.for example
cryptic command
AWESOME card when it was in standard and still is awesome in extended . they go for about $15 at the time i type this. but what happens when it rotates out? its price will drop. it now belongs in Legacy's Territory and its competition makes it almost unplayable .
im telling you this to get to my original point that standard is more costly than legacy.what makes legacy expensive? i can tell you now its mostly the dual lands. because they are GOOD and will always be good which is why they have "true value". there prices will remain the same for a LONG LONG time.
the thing about legacy is you can buy all the "staples" and lets say that equals $1000 dollars. -that is $1000 for the entirety that magic will exist
if you buy a playset of lets say
Jace, the mind sculptor for $400.
it will not be $400 worth of cards forever. the card price will slowly shrink as he rotates out of popular formats. in jace's case he will still be considerably high because he is played in all formats. but cards like
Lotus Cobra and
Primeval Titan will not hold there value because in Legacy world there not playable. so the question is
invest in a playset of oh say
lotus cobra
or playset of
dark confidant
well if money is an obstacle and your looking to get your money's worth. it would be the BOB (confidant) .
standard drives your bill up because whats allowed in the format changes every year and the good cards lose value every year and than youll have to op for the next best card while legacy you "invest" in all the good cards and your set for the whole format.forever.they will always be good.so if your interested in legacy.selling your expensive standard format cards for some dual lands or
Tarmogoyf is not a bad idea. especially right before the standard legal cards go out of style.
-this does not apply to everyone that reads it. everyone is on a different path in the world of Magic the Gathering.
one last thing to know weather a card is truly valuable or just temporary is ask your self this.
is it played in legacy or vintage? if it is and its its going to hold value.dont confuse value with rarity's .thanks for reading i look forward to your thoughts.