It's the same pricing structure as tcg-mid vs tcg-low. Some cards have an incredibly high mid/low ratio, some don't, so trade the cards you don't want with high ratios for the cards you do, with low ratios - same thing applies to most trades on the forums when ppl go by tcg-mid. Correspondingly, if you know you have cards with low ratios that ppl will want, don't list/trade them. One thing is for sure though - low-$ cards will always always have incredibly high ratios so if you want a lot of those, you will get more bang for your buck selling say, your lotus on eBay and buying these via cash.
@LandBoySteve: Mmm I just want to point out that your opening statement qualifying you as a non-jealous hater of RL doesn't quite have the impact you may be thinking. You are in favor of abolishing the RL in part b/c you "bought a playset of every dual land when they were selling for $12 a piece" (sic). That's only a $480 cost basis. If you bought a playset of every dual for $5k or however much it costs today, you may feel differently. The level of what constitutes a large amount of money at risk varies from person to person but in general, regarding this entire conversation of the RL it's easy to just view it as a straightforward comparison of people's cost basis, people who have a low cost basis want the RL to be abolished and people who have a high cost basis are in favor of it staying. There are, of course exceptions but in general that's the way I've seen it.
In any case, I'll patiently wait for the complainers in this thread to accumulate income over the next few years, buy the cards they've always wanted and observe how they quietly stop complaining once they have a larger amount of $ at risk
@towishimp: Modern allows players to participate in a format where there is more of an emphasis on newly-printed cards. It fits the niche of players who have realized that playing Standard is just burning money and want to shift to something that seems more long-term With Modern, Wotc keeps this segment of players engaged in the game and still buying packs/cards, albeit at a lesser rate instead of switching to some other game entirely. Same with Legacy, same with Vintage. It's a good idea to keep your customers, even the ones who will no longer provide a large revenue stream by maintaining consumer engagement and Wotc has suceeded to this end with these formats.
I realize that paper Legacy Masters would be pretty popular but the one-time or few-time benefit of selling these boxes is far, far less than Wotc makes with Standard. That would essentially convert the revenue model to selling a one-off game where you can buy most of the pieces in one go (4x everything), albeit costing more than a regular boardgame, vs the constant revenue stream model of Standard. From a purely economic viewpoint, Wotc should certainly choose what makes the most financial sense and that is what they have done. The reserved list is a bonus It keeps another segment of their consumer population happy and helps consumers stay engaged (i.e. I want to get to the point where I can play Legacy/Vintage) by having a target to shoot for.
A solid concrete economic argument for why Wotc complies with the Reserved List? It is simple - rotating formats generate a continuous revenue stream. From the company's viewpoint - why would they want to allow access to presumably cheap copies of cards so that you and everybody else can easily indulge in the non-rotating formats of Vintage and Legacy, minimize your spending by cherry-picking a couple of cards from each new set (translation: drastically less income)? Instead, the company wisely makes the choice of sticking to the reserved list, focusing on rotating formats like Standard and allowing for a never-ending revenue stream:)
That FOUR is indeed pretty nice. Given the price-tag though, not as hot I've gotten used to counting off cards in sets by 3's at this point, looks like I'll just have to stick with the regular binders unless I ever see a liquidation sale on these...
Been traveling a bit man, was over in Australia for a bit, toured the unofficial 51st state for the first time - really trying to avoid the winter! Have not played much mtg these days, going to have to wait until I relocate for that
Nice going on the jobs guys, glad to hear about the good news. I myself am moving due to a job change, will soon come time to update my MTGS state of residence
What he said I will say though that from a risk-reward perspective, there is some risk in Vintage and Reserved cards specifically, being counterfeited with ever-increasing perfection so it'd be good to keep that in mind since the price decreases in that type of scenario may be fairly large. One good thing about commodities is that you can always test to see if they're pure, for stocks you're outta luck. At least with Mtg you can still play with the cards even if there are perfect counterfeits...
Mmm $200 per set (based on 800 for a playset) is a pretty high price, even for a new set. Also, sets via MOL cards tend to be cheaper so those sellers may be banking on these as well. For a consumer interested in buying a playset of a current set, purchase via MOL and redemption is usually the cheapest option.
Hm, from what I've been reading it seems that it's a good site for people wanting to trade up. Trading down via puccatrade seems like a losing proposition on a pure-value basis. People looking for hard to find oddities and/or niche cards can likely utilize a more efficient method of transaction - buy these cards from stores, i.e. tcg low and selling higher end cards on eBay (~tcglow or lower). This is a much more efficient means of getting multiple jank cards than puccatrade (selling high-end cards at virtual-tcg-mid and buying low-end cards at virtual-tcg-mid), no?
Love the article, pretty comprehensive! One thing not discussed, however is why Wizards would or should tweak formats to benefit players. Players also need to know that as with all companies, Wizards has long-term financial gains as a key driver - whether that 'benefits' a particular group of players who seek to have fun or profit is a distant concern. Magic's primary consumers are the consumers who continuously buy packs. Thus, prices are here to stay, PostModern will likely be a thing. In the meantime, players should diversify their collection to avoid price shocks and like the writer said, just say no to being exploited!
In any case, I'll patiently wait for the complainers in this thread to accumulate income over the next few years, buy the cards they've always wanted and observe how they quietly stop complaining once they have a larger amount of $ at risk
I realize that paper Legacy Masters would be pretty popular but the one-time or few-time benefit of selling these boxes is far, far less than Wotc makes with Standard. That would essentially convert the revenue model to selling a one-off game where you can buy most of the pieces in one go (4x everything), albeit costing more than a regular boardgame, vs the constant revenue stream model of Standard. From a purely economic viewpoint, Wotc should certainly choose what makes the most financial sense and that is what they have done. The reserved list is a bonus