It’s been slow week in Magic finance. Modern season is winding down, Standard season is right around the corner, and we’re still waiting for Modern Masters and the impending rotation of Innistrad block to shake things up in the second quarter of 2013.
With no big topic to discuss, I’ve decided to spend my time focusing on the little stuff: small nuggets of information that might get lost in the shuffle in an ordinary week. Making a profit in this game often involves working with razor-thin margins, so every little advantage is useful.
Do you know all eighty of these Magic finance tips and facts? Read on and find out.
1) Prime Speaker Zegana finally showed up in Standard, doing quite well last weekend. A couple of Prime Speaker decks made Top 8 at SCG Standard Open: Indianapolis, and the card jumped from $7 retail to $15 on StarCityGames.com.
2) I don’t recommend buying in on Prime Speaker at this price just quite yet. I’ve found it is still easy enough to get her in trade at a lower value, and I’d like to see a little more evidence before I can anoint her a format staple.
3) Restoration Angel was prominently featured in the Top 4 decks at that tournament. She’s finally hit $20 and could go even higher.
4) Restoration Angel was also a four-of in a Modern deck that won a Daily Event this week.
5) Angel of Serenity has started to show up in winning lists again. She’s up to $10 from a low of $6 and still has loads of room to grow. This is a pickup I actually like.
6) The promo pins from the last PAX tournament are worth more than you think. The Boros one, for example, sells between $15 and $25 on eBay. Simic goes between $25 and $35.
7) There’s going to be a new pin this year exclusive to PAX East. While I don’t expect it to have the same universal popularity as the guild pins, it should still sell for $20+ several months from now. Get one if you attend the event.
8) Selling cards online and need to use USPS tracking to cover your butt? Buy the postage yourself through PayPal’s shipping portal. Not only will this save you a trip, but it’s much cheaper: $1.70 for a tracked bubble mailer instead of almost $3 at the window. You can use it for items sold or traded anywhere, not just on orders where you used PayPal for the transaction.
9) Shipping via USPS bubble mailer costs the same regardless of whether you select one, two, or three total ounces for your package. Select three ounces for any orders under twenty or so cards and you’ll be covered as long as the weight isn’t over that amount.
10) If you are sending cards through the mail in a plain white envelope with a toploader and a stamp, don’t take it to the counter—plop it in the mailbox yourself. Most USPS employees will tell you that it has to be marked rigid/non-bendable because it doesn’t go through the machine and will charge you extra to ship it. Luckily, toploaders make it through their machines just fine. I have sent thousands out with just a stamp and had no problem whatsoever.
11) Regardless of how you sell your cards, make certain to consider buylists as a possible outlet. The overall amount of cash coming back may look less attractive than using private sales, but you have to factor in shipping costs, PayPal fees, whatever cut the site you’re selling on is taking, and the time it takes to list, pack, ship, and deal with unhappy customers.
12) The prices of certain Modern cards are going to go absolutely nuts once we get a full list of Modern Masters. Right now, people are focusing on the cards that are getting reprinted going down in price, but I’m more worried about what will happen to the staples that are invariably left off the list. I fully expect hordes of speculators will buy the Internet out of some of these cards in minutes, causing the price to double or triple. This, obviously, is when you sell. Don’t concern yourself with later availability—always sell into hype.
13) I’m often asked to speculate on which cards will be coming back in this set. Right now, there’s no point in doing this—just assume that no card in Modern is safe.
14) Okay, you still want me to guess? Fine. Chord of Calling seems like a staple that might get missed. I’m also doubtful they’ll reprint something like Ravager without the proper Limited support.
15) If you can buy a box or two of Modern Masters at full retail, do so.
16) People also ask me a lot when they should buy a certain card. If you can afford to wait, the right answer is "August." It doesn’t really matter what the card is.
17) Don’t worry too much about not selling certain cards before rotation because you suspect that casual or Eternal demand will keep the price high. This is a reasonable thought, but it rarely works out that way. The overall drop in set value will hit casual and Eternal staples as well—at least temporarily. In July of 2011, for example, you could pick up all the Eldrazi for $5 each. By mid-September, they had climbed back to $10+.
18) Even the Scars block cards that we all had pegged for casual or Eternal play—Batterskull, the fastlands, the Swords, Green Sun’s Zenith, Blightsteel Colossus, Inkmoth Nexus, Spellskite, Birthing Pod, Mox Opal, and more—dropped in price between May 2012 and January 2013. Seriously, which card from that block would you have been happy to keep through rotation?
19) I still love many of those cards—especially the Swords—to gain value over the next few years.
20) Some of the better Commander cards from Scars block—staples like Vorinclex and Consecrated Sphinx—should keep rising as well.
21) There are a few exceptions to the rule of selling everything before rotation: low value causal gems like Asceticism and Darksteel Plate that won’t go any lower. When sets rotate out of Standard, the cheaper casual stuff disappears from binders. This is when they make a move. Of course, these cards were in the sub-$1 range to begin with, so they couldn’t drop much further when the block rotated.
22) Looking for a casual card that might jump from $0.50 to $3-$4 out of Innistrad block? How about Harvester of Souls? I also love Gavony Township and Parallel Lives over the long term, but those two have been ticking up for months already.
23) The best time to sell out of Standard is between now and the end of April. By early May, people will start to worry about the post-rotation price drop. It happens earlier and earlier every year.
24) Whatever cards make up Standard’s very best decks over the next few weeks will continue to trend up, not down, thanks to Standard PTQ season. Look at the Jund and Bant lists that are winning right now.
25) Some Innistrad block Standard staples that have fallen out of favor in recent days may start to drop immediately, as players feel they won’t have any more application until after rotation. Cards like Gravecrawler and Geralf’s Messenger may follow this pattern.
26) Cards like Huntmaster of the Fells, Snapcaster Mage, and Geist of Saint Traft will see Modern play. No, they won’t maintain their current value in the transition from Standard to Eternal staple.
27) I wouldn’t be shocked if Huntmaster peaks at some insane price at a single GP or something over the next month and a half. It’s a mythic from a short-opened set that sees play in many of the best decks.
28) Full art foil Unhinged Islands peaked at $60 and are down to $45. Several years from now, you’re going to wish you had stocked up on the full art Zendikar Islands for ~$10-$15.
29) Non-foil Zendikar lands will likely make a move at some point soon as well. This is probably the last year these will be reasonably affordable. Thanks to Zendikar’s popularity, I don’t see them hitting more than $2-$3, but that’s still very high for a basic land.
30) Between those and the fetchlands, expect the price for sealed Zendikar boxes to rise as well.
31) Assemble the Legion is starting to see tournament play as a way to win control mirrors. It’s also an amazingly popular casual rare. I don’t know when this card will hit $5, but I’m fairly certain it will happen at some point over the next couple of years.
32) Did you know that Storm Entity is a two-of in one of the first place Modern Daily Lists from last week? Four copies of Priest of Urabrask were featured as well. Storm Entity is $0.50, and the Priest is just $0.25.
33) Of course, the deck also runs Tarmogoyf, so the price bottleneck might be elsewhere. Still, it’s time to pull these cards out of your bulk uncommons.
34) Don’t ever assume paper Magic tips, prices, or pickups apply to Magic Online. It’s a whole different world online, where casual cards need not apply and prices fluctuate wildly depending on events currently in progress. The biggest difference between paper and online? In paper, a Standard staple that’s currently slightly out of favor can coast for a few weeks on price memory. Online, that card can drop like a rock in hours.
35) Amulet of Vigor is back up to $3. If you still have some from speculation during the 12 Post era of Modern, now is a fine time to sell them.
36) Sorin, Lord of Innistrad will not be able to maintain its current price. Sorin vs. Tibalt is slowly flooding the market, and he doesn’t see much competitive play right now. Koth of the Hammer was also in the $20 range when his Duel Deck came out. He’s just $4 now.
37) The card I was the most wrong about during the Gatecrash preseason? Duskmantle Seer. This powerful Vampire is down to just $5 and hasn’t broken through at all. In some ways, he reminds me of Falkenrath Aristocrat—another 4CC gold mythic flier that debuted at $9 and dropped to $3 last summer. Now, she’s one of the defining creatures in Standard. I’m not recommending moving in on Duskmantle Seer right now, but he certainly still has untapped potential. Keep an eye out.
38) Considering how much play Obzedat, Ghost Council doesn’t see, aren’t you a little surprised he’s still tied for the most expensive mythic rare?
39) Speaking of expensive Gatecrash cards, Boros Reckoner is down to $25 and dropping like a rock. Sell ’em if you’ve got ’em.
40) Are you of the opinion that Standard is going to slow down at some point soon? If so, Rakdos’s Return might be a nice speculation target for you. It’s a mythic rare, so the ceiling is quite high.
41) It’s not a large forum yet, but if you are a Redditor I suggest subscribing to r/mtgfinance. People post interesting articles, questions, and good deals from time to time. The standard Magic subreddit, r/magictcg, is a mostly casual community but a fun one. It’s a good secondary source next to Twitter for finding out what’s hot in the community.
42) If you read these articles and you’re not on Twitter, you are missing out on the platform where Magic finance moves in real time. Follow me @ChasAndres and check out the #mtgfinance hashtag for all the prolific folks you should be getting your news from. Sometimes, information disseminates live from the floor of major events.
43) If you do follow the #mtgfinance hashtag on Twitter, understand that it is often a hype machine that speculators use to trump up the latest bubble. More information is never a bad thing, but don’t invest in a card unless you have a good, tangible reason to think it will go up. It’s a double-edged sword.
44) My recent experiments with "bulk box" trading have been outstandingly successful. The past few weeks, I’ve gone to FNM and traded exclusively out of $0.50, $1, and $2 boxes. People love not having to worry about what my cards will cost them in trade, and pawing through boxes is a great way to get people to splurge on cards they might never pull out of a binder. The majority of competitive players won’t waste their time on boxes, of course, but if a good number of casual players trade at your FNM, I highly recommend it.
45) Getting frustrated with trading lately? Try being less strict about adhering to the dollar values of cards. If you are trying to get a hard to find card or something you think is about to jump in price, don’t stress about paying a little more from it. You’ll regret the opportunity lost more than the value you had to give up.
46) On the other hand, be aware of your own strengths and weaknesses as a player before speculating on a card. Just because you only play Mono-Red Aggro doesn’t mean you should go all in on Ash Zealots right now.
47) Make sure that all of your trades have purpose. Are you trading for a card because you need it for a deck? To fill a hole in your collection? As a long-term hold? As a short-term flip? "Value" can be fleeting, so making a trade that nets you a couple of fake dollars doesn’t help if the card you get in return sits around until it loses all of its value.
48) In that same vein, if you have a trader in your shop who is nuts about gaining value, congratulations! You now have a new trading partner for everything that’s hard to move anywhere else. Try to stick this guy with your falling Modern cards next week.
49) I read once that the best way to organize your closet is to turn all of the hangers backwards once every year. Every time you hang a piece of clothing up, turn the hanger around. Anything still hanging backwards after a year should be purged and donated. If you have a large trade binder, the same rule should apply. If you’re still staring at the same pile of mid-level rares for months at a time with no prospective trading partner ever appearing, sell them.
50) If you’re looking for a can’t-miss gainer over the long term, pick up some sealed boxes. They’re like mutual funds: unsexy but safe.
51) Box mapping—using known print runs to predict where mythics and certain rares might fall in a given box—should be a thing of the past thanks to modern collation techniques. Unfortunately, it is not. Some people released a box-mapping app for Gatecrash, and as far as I can tell it is rather effective. Until Wizards of the Coast does something about this, do not buy loose packs from online sources or anyone you suspect of box mapping.
52) Please don’t do any box mapping yourself. The crime isn’t victimless—the people buying these packs are often newer players who may leave the game if they open three dozen packs and never crack a mythic.
53) Yesterday, March 17th, was the final day of Modern PTQ season. Modern has nowhere to go but down (except for the speculative chaos that Modern Masters will unleash).
54) This coming Saturday, March 26th, is the first day of Standard PTQ season.
55) Next year, there will be four PTQ seasons. This should keep prices a little higher year-round.
56) The next Legacy Grand Prix is on April 13th. Because the format has been dipping in popularity, expect this tournament to help define the metagame for most of the rest of the year.
57) Boros Charm is $3.50. Burning-Tree Emissary is $2. I’ve been saying for a few weeks now that I wouldn’t be shocked if Emissary outpaces Charm at some point. I stand by that.
58) When trading, people tend to value Boros Charm at $4 and Burning-Tree Emissary at $1.
59) Did you know that Mind Grind still books for $3? Most people assume it dropped to bulk or near bulk along with most of the rest of the Gatecrash rares. I suspect this one will hold casual value for a long time, so target these as throw-ins in trade.
60) However expensive you think high-end foils (Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Polluted Delta, etc.) sell for, they sell for more. Seriously, foil Jace, the Mind Sculptors have been selling—not listing—for $500 and up. StarCityGames.com is sold out of them at $600.
61) You know what high-end cards haven’t really gone up in years? The Power Nine.
62) Never forget to check the prices in the case at your local game store often. Chances are many people who play there use these prices as the benchmark for most of their trading. You should know these prices cold.
63) You should also make friends with the owner/buyer at your local store. One store I play at allows me to trade cards in, often at amazing rates, as long as I take store credit. I can then use that credit for higher-value cards or even tournament entry.
64) It’s a good idea for every speculator to have a "long term spec" box in their closet. This is where you put stuff that hasn’t matured yet and want to hold off selling.
65) My box is mostly filled with near-bulk rares that I knew would have casual appeal. There are dozens of copies of cards like Mimic Vat (now $1.50) and Lurking Predators (now $2.50).
66) Lotus Cobra is in the box as well, along with Rite of Replication, Solemn Simulacrum, Nivmagus Elemental, and almost all of my Scars block rares and mythics.
67) Thespian’s Stage just keeps dropping. If it hits $1, I’m picking up a bunch and stuffing them in that box too.
68) If you ever decide to quit Magic, be sure to keep a couple of decks together and a small binder filled with cards you don’t want to reacquire. You can always sell them later, but getting them back a few years down the line may prove financially impossible.
69) This applies to casual and Eternal players only, of course—if you quit Magic, selling your Standard cards should be your first order of business.
70) I just recently downgraded my casual Magic collection from a binder covering each set to a binder covering each color. Not only have I had a blast trading and selling all the extras, but it’s much easier to build Commander decks. I’ve also made about $3,000 selling cards I don’t use.
71) Please be careful when buying or trading massively altered cards from individuals. It pains me when I see "proxies" selling for $80+ because someone forgot to read an auction listing correctly or got blinded by something cool in a silly trade. If a card is altered to the point where the original thing is entirely obscured, treat it exclusively as a piece of art, not the card you think might be underneath.
72) Four-Color Loam finished third in the SCG Legacy Open last weekend. The deck contains multiple maindeck copies of Devastating Dreams. It might be worth pulling these out of your bulk boxes.
73) Elves finished fourth in the same event. Natural Order, which has been dropping for months now, might start to tick up again.
74) The winning U/W/R Miracles list ran Detention Sphere, Rest in Peace, and Supreme Verdict—all Standard cards that should make great long-term buys this summer.
75) Worth considering for all of you hoarding shocklands: what if they are reprinted in M14 as well?
76) Stop kicking yourself over specs that you didn’t buy right before they shot up. Value the process over the results, and think about why you didn’t pull the trigger. Was your reasoning sound? If not, can you improve it for the future?
77) The great deals you passed up on tend feel far worse than the mediocre deals you made that actually cost you money. For every $4 card that went to $20 that you missed out on, there were probably a dozen $4 cards that fell to $2 that you also would have bought had you been more aggressive.
78) At this point, the price increase in set redemptions doesn’t seem to be affecting the price of Gatecrash cards in paper—even the mythics are following standard historical trends. This is still worth monitoring, though, as the supply of some of these mythics might dry out fast.
79) Older fat pack boxes can sometimes sell in the $10-$15 range, which is shocking considering how many I have lying around from random collections I’ve purchased. Worldwake seems to be the most popular. In general, though, these sell for about $2-$3.
80) Never forget that the main function of Magic finance is to help make the game you love a little more affordable. If you don’t like trading, focus on speculation. If you hate speculation, hit the tables. If all you want to do is make a ton of money, go learn the stocks or commodities market. Magic is supposed to be fun—even the finance side.
– Chas Andres