Last week in Ben Bleiweiss Financial Value, he called Magic 2010 “the best singles set printed in the modern age of Magic.” What this means is that an opened pack of Magic 2010 is worth on average more than most other Magic sets throughout history. Magic 2010, by his calculations, should be worth between $3 and $4 a pack.
The problem is, this really is only a good value if you’re getting your packs for less than $4.29 a piece. A box of Magic 2010 yields a per-pack price of $2.22, but a lot of budget-conscious players might not be able to buy an entire box.
But I get where Ben is going with this. Let me give you a couple of examples. On Saturday, I went up to Denver to play in the big Pre-Release as usual. My entry fee was $30; the rares I opened in the pool I registered were:
Baneslayer Angel ($17.49)
Guardian Seraph ($2.49)
Ball Lightning ($7.99)
Siege-Gang Commander ($5.99)
Pithing Needle ($13.99)
Kalonian Behemoth ($1.25)
FOIL Mind Shatter ($4.99)
(All values based on Star City’s pre-order prices)
Total value: $54.19
An extreme example, no doubt, but you get the idea – somebody left with close to double their entry fee in cards, once you factor in the Overruns and the Lightning Bolts and the Duress and the other good commons and uncommons. There’s still variance but I think it still adds up even without the money rares – the sealed pool that I ended up playing was no pit of cash cards, but had the following rares:
Djinn of Wishes ($1.49)
Gargoyle Castle ($2.49)
Twincast ($6.99)
Mind Spring ($0.99)
Chandra Nalaar ($3.99)
Guardian Seraph ($2.49)
Total value: $18.44
The two pools average $36.30, which means that on average I’m getting more than my money’s worth when I open up some number of packs less than a whole box. It may prove that the best way to acquire Magic 2010 is to find a group of people to share a box.
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Tangent number one: Gargoyle Castle is the real deal. I was a little worried about sacrificing the land itself as part of the ability – Stalking Stones worked just fine by turning the land itself into the creature – but the extra toughness and the flying on the Gargoyle token more than make up for it. If you plan on playing any kind of control deck in the post-Lorwyn future, I recommend seeking these out, as I think they are going to be important in much the same way that Stalking Stones or Urza’s Factory was.
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You can probably imagine the look on my face as I was opening that pool to register. One after the other, good rare after good rare – and it wasn’t JUST the perceived value, although I have to admit that was playing a factor. Siege-Gang and Baneslayer are both legitimate powerhouses in Sealed, and it seemed like the hits just kept on coming. The pack with the Baneslayer was the one I opened first, and it also had the foil Mind Shatter and an Overrun. I remember opening one of those all-foil Prophecy packs in a draft back in the day and I still think this pack was worth more in the aftermarket.
Tangent number two: That was probably because the rares in Prophecy were junk. Can you even name one non-Avatar rare from that set? I went and looked it up and I don’t think I would have remembered that the Winds (like Plague Wind) and the super-spellshapers (like Mageta the Lion) were in that set if I hadn’t looked.
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I had a great time at the Pre-Release, as usual. Scott Marshall and the gang at Front Range Magic put on a great event.
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Tangent number three: I have the TV on as I’m writing this and it’s on a concert by post-punk-turned-natural-mysticism-hard-rock-band The Cult. It will sound weird, but it takes me back to being in high school — that’s where I was when Sonic Temple and Ceremony both came out. I still know all the words to Fire Woman, evidently. I had to break from that last paragraph to write this part. Seemed important at the time. Reliving your past pseudo-relevant to a reprint set? We’ll go with that.
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So … where was I? Oh yeah, Front Range Magic. They had brought in Steve Prescott (of Runed Halo and Shriekmaw fame) to do a little meet-and-greet, and PT Honolulu Top 4 participant and local celebrity Conley Woods made the arduous half-hour drive down to do a little gunslinging. They offered all the tournament possibilities: Sealed, Two-Headed Giant, Draft – and the ever-popular Open Dueling format.
I’m a big fan of this format at Pre-Releases. You buy one of the set’s preconstructed decks for $12, play five games against anyone, and the staff rewards you with another booster pack from the set. I played in the Open Dueling format during Alara Reborn. I chose the black/red deck with Deathbringer Thoctar in it, because by the time I got around to buying my deck, the one with Dauntless Escort had sold out. Go figure – a $12 deck with a $6-8 rare would be sold out.
… and here is where another example of the value of individual cards in Magic 2010 rears its head. Once it got around that the white preconstructed M10 deck had Honor of the Pure in it, copies of it were gobbled up at a record pace. Star City is currently pre-selling Honor of the Pure at $11.99, which means that for a penny you got the rest of the deck PLUS the booster pack you got as a reward for finishing Open Dueling. The value of this set is running away from even the MSRP on the preconstructed decks, evidently. It’s kinda like the Betrayers of Kamigawa precon deck that had Jitte in it. If you are a White Weenie player, buying some of these white precon decks will not only get you towards a playset of Honor of the Pure, but will also get you started on playsets of Elite Vanguard (the new Savannah Lions), Harm’s Way, and Lightning Bolt.
The Black one has no Sign in Bloods in it. Disappointing.
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Another example of the value of Magic 2010. I went to a local place this afternoon and drafted M10 as part of their pre-release festivities. The rares in the three packs I opened: Ant Queen ($1.49), Honor of the Pure ($11.99), and Rootbound Crag ($9.99). If I was a savage rare-drafter — and aren’t we all on pre-release days? — I would have easily made back the value of my draft.
We may have finally found a set where, over time, it may actually be cheaper to buy packs in your local store rather than to buy the cards you need as singles.
And that blows my mind.
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To demonstrate the likelihood of cracking open a rare worth more than what you paid for the pack, I thought I’d do a little research here in the Star City catalog.
There are 68 rares and mythics in Magic 2010. Of those, currently 40 are listed on Star City below the $4.29 MSRP of a pack of Magic 2010. I’m also going to take out the 6 cards that are listed at $3.99, because if you can’t get thirty cents of value from your commons and uncommons, you aren’t looking hard enough.
That leaves 36 cards where it would actually make better sense to buy them online or in a store as singles, rather than open packs and collect them “naturally.”
Since we’ve been doing “Top X” lists the last couple of weeks, I’ll roll with it:
Top 5 Rares Worth Less Than The MSRP of a Pack of M10
5. Earthquake ($1.99) – probably due to the amount of times this card has been reprinted, as well as the available numbers of red sweepers. If you’re looking for a way to do two damage to all creatures, you still have Volcanic Fallout and Pyroclasm in Standard. It’s scalable and might end up being the best option to replace Wrath of God. I played against a Red/White Planeswalker Control deck in the last PTQ and I bet it would love Earthquake, not only as a mass removal spell, but another way to deal with opposing planeswalkers.
4. Merfolk Sovereign ($2.99) – lords are always going to be relevant. Merfolk are an acceptable tribal deck still thanks to Lorwyn, and then we’ll all wait to see what Zendikar brings. I’m thinking these will go up around where Goblin Chieftain is ($3.99), which means it’s going to be closing in on that pack price.
3. Planar Cleansing ($2.49) – I think people will come around on Planar Cleansing. Planeswalkers aren’t going anywhere and are seemingly just getting more powerful, and we’re going to need ways to deal with them. Not everyone is equipped to run Maelstrom Pulse.
2. Gargoyle Castle ($2.49) – I’ve already expounded a little bit on this guy, but an uncounterable flyer still seems really good to me, especially one that survives Lightning Bolt. Yes, I remember about Flame Javelin.
1. Magma Phoenix ($1.49) – I think control decks are going to go towards blue-red to fill that board-sweeping role that blue traditionally likes to pair with, and Magma Phoenix is a great recurring threat that sweeps the board when necessary. There are very few creatures that survive this, and fewer still that survive having to attack into it and letting it block. You’ll have to protect it from Path, of course, but everything else can hit it and you can just recur it.
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A lot of thoughts to come down to one point: It looks like taking your allowance and buying packs of Magic 2010 will yield more value for your buck. Sure, you aren’t guaranteed to pick up the playset of the rare you’re hunting for, but it will give you more buying power in trading as well.
Next week, let’s get into what Magic 2010 offers us in terms of deckbuilding and decks as we turn the corner away from Tenth Edition and move forward into the new Standard!
Dave
dave dot massive at gmail and davemassive at twitter and facebook