Quick—when I mention black and silver, what’s the first thing you think of?

Those guys? Okay, sure. But unless you’re from the 510 area code, there’s another set of silver and gold things that you should spend more time thinking about: commons and uncommons.

How many of you skip right to the rare slot when opening boosters? Most players I know, especially experienced ones, treat all their packs as a one-card lottery ticket. Whenever I’m at a large Limited event, I end up seeing hundreds of cards left behind on tables after having been abandoned by their careless owners.

I understand why, too. Magic cards add up quickly. I would guess that I have over 50,000 of them somewhere in my apartment, and most of them will never see play in anyone’s deck ever again. For some people, it makes sense to reduce the number of cards you own at all costs.

But that doesn’t mean those leftovers don’t have value.

When I was doing my Pack to Power project, I ‘traded’ a store manager a jank common for a small pile of draft leavings. I managed to turn those cards into $15-$20 worth of rares within a month. Not a large gain, but not that far off from the federal minimum wage either.

Commons and uncommons often trend in the opposite direction from rares. When a set is released, cards in the rare slot are at their all-time high while commons and uncommons are treated like chaff. The highest percentage of boxes are opened on the first few weeks of a set’s release, and you can generally get even the hottest commons and uncommons as throw-ins from those guys who sit in the back of your store cracking packs before and after events. These cards only go up in price as the set matures through Standard.

While there isn’t much significant money to be made in speculating on these cards, they will absolutely help you on the trading floor. It isn’t unrealistic to think that you could have gotten four copies of Diregraf Ghoul for basically nothing last season, either through drafts, throw-ins, or simply finding them in discarded piles of leftovers. It’s also not unrealistic to imagine trading a full set of them—worth $4—for an Isolated Chapel—also worth $4—over the summer. If you had made that set of hypothetical moves, you’d have ended up with a $10 card for nothing.

When people ask me how I can make a profit trading while treating people fairly and looking up prices almost all of the time, this is how. Value is everywhere if you know where to look.

The Secret to Buying Collections

Want to know the secret to buying collections? The money is in the bulk.

Most people know what their rares are worth, and it’s important to give competitive prices on staples when buying people out. These cards are easy to trade or sell, so it’s fine to operate on smaller margins. Businesses know this too—StarCityGames.com is going to offer you a larger percentage of retail value when buying your Tundra than they will on your Heritage Druids. That’s because the Tundra is stable, desirable, and pricey. It will move fast, and they’ll get a good price for it—guaranteed.

I generally offer a higher than average dollar value on bulk commons and uncommons when purchasing older collections because they can be so lucrative. After the deal is closed, the first thing I do is start to tear through these piles looking for value. If you’re lucky, you might find a Standstill or even a Wasteland hiding in there. Even though that’s a rarity, I don’t think I’ve ever purchased a collection without pulling a fat stack of dollar cards out of otherwise picked over bulk. Arcane Sanctum? High Tide? Ancient Grudge? Delver of Secrets? Mind Funeral? Sets of these cards can be easily traded for mid-level rares that have room to grow.

Mid-value commons and uncommons don’t get much press, either, so you might not even know which cards are worth money.

Did you know that Submerge is a $6 card now? Did you know Undead Warchief books for $5? Okay, sure, those cards have always been worth picking out of bulk bins, but did you know that Flickering Ward is a $2 card? So are Dissipates from Mirage and Serum Visions from Fifth Dawn. How many of those are sitting in a box in the top of your closet?

Managing Free Money

If you’re not smart about it, dealing with commons and uncommons can be an absolute drag. They are harder to sell and trade. They take up a lot of space. The good ones are generally only worth between a buck and two fifty. By all means trade what you can, but don’t be afraid to purge your collection from time to time.

Last month, I dusted off my collection of ‘not quite bulk.’ This box is a five-row that I use to store commons and uncommons that aren’t quite good enough for my trade binder but aren’t quite bulk either. Think Overrun, Lightning Bolt, Mogg Fanatic, Cultivate, Deep Analysis, Urza’s Mine level cards. I spent a few hours going through several different buylists and sorting the cards into piles. Even though none of the cards sold for over a dollar and most were in the ten and 25 cent range, I still ended up with a couple of checks totaling 500 or 600 dollars hitting my mailbox over the next few weeks. That took care of most of my holiday expenses in one big chunk. Remember—I only gave up cards that weren’t trading well at all locally.

Because of how lucrative sifting through bulk can be, I write a variant of this article every year around the winter holidays. Many of you will be stuck at home for a week looking for time to kill, and it may well be the best time to access your ‘larger’ Magic—the piles upon piles of bulk that you didn’t bring to college or when you moved into a small apartment across the country. If you have a couple of hours to yourself, bust out your bulk and start checking for value.

The 2012 Guide to Commons and Uncommons

Below, I’ve included a price guide, organized by set, which you can use when sorting cards. It includes every common and uncommon currently selling on StarCityGames.com for $1 or more. (I’m only going to go back as far as Revised because even bulk cards from the earliest Magic expansions have value and should be treated as special commodities.) All the below cards can be easily sold to a buylist, so there’s no excuse to leave them tucked between your 19th copy of Benalish Hero and your 110th Kris Mage. If you already know the sets reasonably well, you can probably just read the guide once and then use it as a reference when you’re uncertain about whether or not to pull something. In my experience, you can generally get around $5/thousand in buylist prices from bulk that you’ve already pulled the best stuff out of. What’s not to love about that?

This list has gotten much bigger since last year. A number of marginal uncommons broke through the $1 barrier and are now worth pulling out of bulk. Even though the buylist prices on these cards is generally between $0.05 and $0.10, if you’re sending in an order anyway enough of these cards will allow you to cover your shipping costs for free.

In last year’s article, I found that there were exactly zero commons and uncommons from Innistrad that sold for $1 or more. Today, there are five: Dissipate, Invisible Stalker, Diregraf Ghoul, Intangible Virtue, and Delver of Secrets. None of those cards were particularly hard to peg as breakouts either.

Return to Ravnica currently has three $1-or-greater uncommons: Azorius Charm, Selesnya Charm, and Rakdos Cackler. Syncopate, Ultimate Price, Guttersnipe, Call of the Conclave, Izzet Charm, Izzet Staticaster, Treasured Find, Dryad Militant, Judge’s Familiar, and Slitherhead all have a chance to join them on that list, not to mention any other cards that become more useful when the next few sets are released. I would keep Return to Ravnica uncommons separate for now and revisit these later in the year when the prices stabilize a bit more.

Happy hunting!

Return to Ravnica

Azorius Charm – $1
Rakdos Cackler – $1.50
Selesnya Charm – $1

Magic 2013

Augur of Bolas – $1
Knight of Glory – $1.50
Knight of Infamy – $1
Rancor – $3
Reliquary Tower – $1
Searing Spear – $1
Vampire Nighthawk – $1

Avacyn Restored

Blood Artist – $2
Pillar of Flame – $1

Dark Ascension

Lingering Souls – $2

Innistrad

Magic 2012

New Phyrexia

Beast Within – $2
Dismember – $1
Dispatch – $1
Gut Shot – $1.50
Mental Misstep – $1.50
Noxious Revival – $1

Mirrodin Besieged

Go for the Throat – $1.50

Scars of Mirrodin

Exsanguinate – $1
Memnite – $1.50
Myr Galvanizer – $1
Palladium Myr – $1

Magic 2011

Rise of the Eldrazi

Worldwake

Everflowing Chalice – $1
Tectonic Edge – $1

Zendikar

Akoum Refuge – $1
Gatekeeper of Malakir – $1
Hedron Crab – $2
Kazandu Blademaster – $1
Seijiri Refuge – $1
Spell Pierce – $1.50
Vampire Hexmage – $1
Vampire Nighthawk – $1.50

Magic 2010

Fabricate – $1
Lightning Bolt – $1
Ponder – $1.50
Relentless Rats – $2

Alara Reborn

Conflux

Shards of Alara

Arcane Sanctum – $2
Bant Charm – $1
Blightning – $1.50
Crumbling Necropolis – $1.50
Esper Charm – $1
Etherium Sculptor – $2
Jungle Shrine – $1.50
Oblivion Ring – $1
Relic of Progenitus – $2
Savage Lands – $1.50
Seaside Citadel – $2
Sigiled Paladin – $1
Tidehollow Sculler – $1
Wooly Thoctar – $1

Eventide

Crumbling Ashes – $1
Flickerwisp – $2
Gilder Bairn – $2
Quillspike – $1
Unmake – $1

Shadowmoor

Morningtide

Lorwyn

Crib Swap – $1
Elvish Harbinger – $2.50
Elvish Promenade – $4
Flamekin Harbinger – $2
Imperious Perfect – $5
Jagged-Scar Archers – $3
Knight of Meadowgrain – $3
Merrow Commerce – $1
Merrow Reejery – $3.50
Oblivion Ring – $1.50
Ponder – $2
Shriekmaw – $1
Silvergill Adept – $1.50
Spellstutter Sprite – $1.50
Springleaf Drum – $2
Treefolk Harbinger – $2
Vivid Crag – $1
Vivid Creek – $1
Vivid Grove – $1
Vivid Marsh – $1
Vivid Meadow -$1
Wren’s Run Vanquisher – $1.50

Tenth Edition

Aura of Silence – $3
Blanchwood Armor – $1
Chromatic Star – $1
Condemn – $1
Cruel Edict – $1.50
Diabolic Tutor – $1.50
Faerie Conclave – $2
Flashfreeze – $1
Forbidding Watchtower – $1
Incinerate – $1
Megrim – $1
Mind Stone – $2
Mogg Fanatic – $2
Ornithopter – $1.50
Overrun – $1
Primal Rage – $2
Pyroclasm – $1
Rain of Tears – $1
Relentless Rats – $2
Rule of Law – $2
Shatterstorm – $1
Soul Warden – $1
Spark Elemental – $1
Spawning Pool – $1
Spellbook – $1
Sylvan Scrying – $2
Telling Time – $1
Treetop Village – $2
Vedalken Mastermind – $1
Whispersilk Cloak – $1
Yavimaya Enchantress – $1

Future Sight

Aven Mindcensor – $4
Dakmor Salvage – $1
Dryad Arbor – $3
Llanowar Reborn – $1
Lost Auramancers – $1
Narcomoeba – $2
Snake Cult Initiation – $1
Street Wrath – $2.50
Sword of the Meek – $2.50
Tolaria West – $2.50
Utopia Mycon – $2.50

Planar Chaos

Big Game Hunter – $1
Dash Hopes – $1
Essence Warden – $1.50
Harmonize – $2.50
Kavu Predator – $2
Necrotic Sliver – $2
Pongify – $1
Psychotrope Thallid – $1
Pyrohemia – $1
Rebuff the Wicked – $2
Rough / Tumble – $1
Simian Spirit Guide – $1
Stonecloaker – $1
Sulfur Elemental – $1

Time Spiral

Celestial Crusader – $1
Chromatic Star – $1
Dread Return – $1
Empty the Warrens – $1.50
Gemhide Sliver – $1
Grapeshot – $1
Harmonic Sliver – $1
Krosan Grip – $3
Might Sliver – $1
Might of Old Krosa – $1.50
Mogg War Marshal – $1
Paradox Haze – $1.50
Return to Dust – $1
Rift Bolt – $2
Scryb Ranger – $1
Smallpox – $1
Sporesower Thallid – $1
Voidmage Husher – $1

Coldsnap

Dissension

Guildpact

Ravnica: City of Guilds

Congregation at Dawn – $1
Darkblast – $1
Golgari Thug – $2.50
Lightning Helix – $3.50
Putrefy – $2
Remand – $6
Stinkweed Imp – $1
Watchwolf – $1

Ninth Edition

Blackmail – $1
Cruel Edict – $1
Gift of Estates – $3
Index– $1
Kird Ape – $2
Ornithopter – $1
Mana Leak – $1
Rewind – $1.50
Seething Song – $2
Serra’s Blessing – $2
Sleight of Hand – $1.50
Summer Bloom – $1
Urza’s Mine – $1
Urza’s Power Plant – $1
Urza’s Tower – $1
Yavimaya Enchantress – $1
Zombify – $1

Saviors of Kamigawa

Hand of Honor – $1
Manriki-Gusari – $2.50

Betrayers of Kamigawa

Champions of Kamigawa

Dampen Thought – $1
Desperate Ritual – $2
Ghostly Prison – $4
Hinder – $1
Kodama’s Reach – $1.50
Konda’s Hatamoto – $1
Lava Spike – $3.50
Nagao, Bound by Honor – $1
Nezumi Graverobber – $1
Peer Through Depths – $1
Petals of Insight – $1
Sakura Tribe-Elder – $1
Samurai of the Pale Curtain – $1
Sensei’s Divining Top – $19
Time of Need – $2

Fifth Dawn

Darksteel

Aether Vial – $18
Arcbound Crusher – $1.50
Arcbound Slith – $1
Coretapper – $2
Darksteel Citadel – $1.50
Darksteel Ingot – $1
Echoing Truth – $1.50
Genesis Chamber – $1
Mirrodin’s Core – $1
Skullclamp – $2.50

Mirrodin

Ancient Den – $2
Barter in Blood – $1
Cloudpost – $2
Crystal Shard – $1
Fabricate – $1
Great Furnace – $1.50
Isochron Scepter – $6
Lightning Greaves – $2.50
Myr Retriever – $2
Ornithopter – $1
Seat of the Synod – $2
Seething Song – $1.25
Shrapnel Blast – $2
Sun Droplet – $1
Sylvan Scrying – $1.50
Thirst for Knowledge – $1
Thoughtcast – $1
Vault of Whispers – $1

Eighth Edition

Ambition’s Cost – $1
Blanchwood Armor – $1
Choke – $2
Coastal Tower – $1
Curiosity – $1
Elfhame Palace – $1
Fecundity – $1.50
Mana Leak – $1
Merchant Scroll – $1.50
Rewind – $1.50
Salt Marsh – $1
Silverback Ape – $1
Urza’s Mine – $1
Urza’s Tower – $1
Urza’s Power Plant – $1
Yavimaya Enchantress – $1
Zombify – $1

Scourge

Legions

Onslaught

Aphetto Alchemist – $1
Chain of Vapor – $2
Explosive Vegetation – $1
Heedless One – $4
Reckless One – $1.50
Soulless One – $2
Starlit Sanctum – $1
Wellwisher – $1.50
Wirewood Lodge – $3

Judgment

Anger – $1.50
Browbeat – $2.50
Cabal Therapy – $7
Dwarven Driller – $1
Filth – $1
Krosan Verge – $1
Soulcatcher’s Aerie – $1
Stitch Together – $1
Unquestioned Authority – $1
Wonder – $1

Torment

Arrogant Wurm – $1
Basking Rootwalla – $1
Breakthrough – $2.50
Cabal Coffers – $8
Cabal Ritual – $1.50
Chainer’s Edict – $2
Circular Logic – $2
Cleansing Meditation – $1
Deep Analysis – $1
Putrid Imp – $1
Tainted Field – $2
Tainted Isle – $2
Tainted Peak – $2
Tainted Wood – $2
Zombie Trailblazer – $1.50

Odyssey

Barbarian Ring – $1
Beloved Chaplain – $1
Buried Alive – $2
Careful Study – $2
Cephalid Coliseum – $5
Diabolic Tutor – $1
Druid’s Call – $1.50
Innocent Blood – $2.50
Nimble Mongoose – $3.50
Price of Glory – $1
Psychatog – $1
Roar of the Wurm – $1
Sadistic Hypnotist – $1
Skeletal Scrying – $1
Soulcatcher – $1
Squirrel Nest – $4
Standstill – $8
Zombie Infestation – $1
Zombify – $1

Seventh Edition

Aether Flash – $1
Arcane Laboratory – $1.50
Blanchwood Armor – $1
Breath of Life – $1
Counterspell – $1.50
Crypt Rats – $1
Engineered Plague – $2
Goblin Matron – $2
Longbow Archer – $1
Megrim – $1
Pillage – $1
Sleight of Hand – $.150
Yavimaya Enchantress – $1

Apocalypse

Dragon Arch – $3
Fire / Ice – $1.50
Gerrard’s Verdict – $1
Goblin Ringleader – $3.50
Grave Defiler – $1
Sylvan Messenger – $2

Planeshift

Invasion

Armadillo Cloak – $1
Aura Shards – $2.50
Coastal Tower – $1
Elfhame Sanctuary – $1
Fact or Fiction – $2.50
Fires of Yavimaya – $2
Hero’s Reunion – $1
Salt Marsh – $1
Scouting Trek – $1
Sterling Grove – $6
Tangle – $2
Wash Out – $2

Prophecy

Chimeric Idol – $1
Foil – $1
Rhystic Study – $2.50

Nemesis

Accumulated Knowledge – $1
Daze – $4
Flame Rift – $2
Skyshroud Claim – $1
Submerge – $6
Terrain Generator – $1

Mercadian Masques

Brainstorm – $2.50
Counterspell – $1.50
Dark Ritual – $1
Gush – $1
Haunted Crossroads – $1
Invigorate – $2
Land Grant – $1
Soothsaying – $1.50
Story Circle – $1.50
Thwart – $2

Sixth Edition

Aether Flash – $1
Ashnod’s Altar – $1
Blight – $1
Chill – $1
Counterspell – $1.50
Crystal Vein – $1
Dread of Night – $1
Enlightened Tutor – $16
Goblin Recruiter – $2
Longbow Archer – $1
Mystical Tutor – $5
Ornithopter – $1
Perish – $5
Pillage– $1.50
Prosperity – $1
River Boa – $1
Serra’s Blessing – $2
Summer Bloom – $1
Worldly Tutor – $6

Urza’s Destiny

Urza’s Legacy

Avalanche Riders – $1
Cloud of Faeries – $1
Crop Rotation – $1
Engineered Plague – $1.50
Mother of Runes – $6
Phyrexian Reclamation – $1
Rancor – $3.50
Snap – $1
Tinker – $4
Treetop Village – $1
Unearth – $1.50
Viashino Heretic – $1

Urza’s Saga

Absolute Law – $1
Arcane Laboratory – $1.50
Argothian Elder – $1
Blanchwood Armor – $1
Blasted Landscape – $1
Carpet of Flowers – $2
Exhume – $1.50
Fecundity – $1.50
Fog Bank – $2
Gaea’s Embrace – $1.50
Goblin Lackey – $10
Goblin Offensive – $1
Goblin Matron – $1.50
Planar Void – $1
Priest of Gix – $1
Priest of Titania – $3.50
Rain of Filth – $1
Rewind – $1.50
Thran Turbine – $1
Titania’s Chosen – $2
Turnabout – $3
Victimize – $2
Voltaic Key – $2
Windfall – $1.50
Worn Powerstone – $1.50

Exodus

Carnophage – $1
Culling the Weak – $1
Curiosity – $1
Dauthi Warlord – $1
Forbid – $1.50
Price of Progress – $5

Stronghold

Crystalline Sliver – $3
Mana Leak – $1
Mogg Maniac – $1.50
Primal Rage – $1.50
Shifting Wall – $1
Wall of Blossoms – $2.50
Wall of Souls – $2

Tempest

Ancient Tomb – $12
Capsize – $1
Chill – $1
Choke – $2
Counterspell – $1
Dark Ritual – $1
Dauthi Embrace – $1
Dauthi Ghoul – $1
Diabolic Edict – $2
Dismiss – $1
Dread of Night – $1
Flickering Ward – $2
Goblin Bombardment – $2.50
Heart Sliver – $1
Horned Sliver – $3
Lotus Petal – $4
Muscle Sliver – $1
Overrun – $1
Propaganda – $2
Reanimate – $5
Soltari Monk – $1
Soltari Priest – $1
Wasteland – $55
Winged Sliver – $1
Winter’s Grasp – $1

Fifth Edition

Animate Dead – $1.50
Ashnod’s Altar – $1
Blight – $1
Brainstorm – $2
Counterspell – $1.50
Dark Ritual – $1.50
Feldon’s Cane – $1
Hydroblast – $1
Nature’s Lore – $1
Ornithopter – $1
Pyroblast – $1.50
Urza’s Mine – $1
Urza’s Power Plant – $1
Urza’s Tower – $1

Weatherlight

Visions

Crypt Rats – $1
Elephant Grass – $1.50
Fireblast – $1.50
Goblin Recruiter – $2
Helm of Awakening – $1.50
Impulse – $1
Longbow Archer – $1
Miraculous Recovery – $1
Necromancy – $3
Summer Bloom – $1
Quirion Ranger – $1

Mirage

Crystal Vein – $1
Dark Ritual – $1
Dissipate – $2
Enlightened Tutor – $16
Incinerate – $1
Mind Harness – $2
Mystical Tutor – $5
Worldly Tutor – $5

Alliances

Arcane Denial – $1
Contagion – $1
Elvish Spirit Guide – $5
Force of Will – $70
Lim-Dul’s Vault – $2
Pillage – $1.50
Pyrokinesis – $2
Shield Sphere – $2.50

Ice Age

Anarchy – $1
Brainstorm – $2
Counterspell – $1.50
Dance of the Dead – $1.50
Dark Ritual – $1
Demonic Consultation – $1.50
Diabolic Vision – $1
Fyndhorn Elves – $1.50
Icy Manipulator – $1
Incinerate – $1
Krovikan Vampire – $1
Nature’s Lore – $1
Pyroblast – $1.50
Pyroclasm – $1
Snow-Covered Forest – $1
Snow-Covered Island – $1.50
Snow-Covered Mountain – $1
Snow-Covered Plains – $1
Snow-Covered Swamp – $1
Swords to Plowshares – $4
Zuran Orb – $1.50

Fourth Edition

Animate Dead – $1.50
Black Vise – $1
Blight – $1
Control Magic – $1.50
Counterspell – $1.50
Dark Ritual – $1
Hypnotic Specter – $2
Lightning Bolt – $1
Mishra’s Factory – $3
Strip Mine – $4
Swords to Plowshares – $4
The Rack – $2

Homelands

Merchant Scroll – $1.50

Fallen Empires

High Tide – $1.50
Hymn to Tourach – $2

The Dark

Amnesia – $2
Dark Sphere – $1.50
Eater of the Dead – $1
Elves of Deep Shadow – $1.50
Fellwar Stone – $2
Gaea’s Touch – $1.50
Maze of Ith – $40
Merfolk Assassin – $1
Skull of Orm – $1
Tivadar’s Crusade – $1
Tormod’s Crypt – $5
Uncle Istvan – $1
Wand of Ith – $1

Third Edition/Revised

Animate Dead – $1.50
Basalt Monolith – $2
Black Vise – $1.50
Channel – $1
Control Magic – $2
Counterspell – $2
Demonic Tutor – $12
Hypnotic Specter – $2
Kird Ape – $1
Lightning Bolt – $1
Ornithopter – $1
Regrowth – $2
Sol Ring – $8
Swords to Plowshares – $4
The Rack – $2

Final Thoughts

Quite a few surprises on that list, no? I’m pretty sure I’ve already pulled the Counterspells and Dark Rituals out of all my bulk, but there are plenty of Ornithopters, Incinerates, Black Vises, and Racks to go after. After you paw through your own collection, if your local game store has a disorganized singles section, it might be worth asking to look at their bulk cards and digging through those as well. Chances are you’ll be able to snag a bunch of one-two dollar cards for ten or fifteen cents each.

If you decide to go treasure hunting through your commons and uncommons this holiday season, drop a note in the comments section with your best find. The last time I did this for a friend, I uncovered a NM Mishra’s Workshop. What will you turn up?

Until next time–

–Chas Andres