AuthorBen Bleiweiss

Thursday, October 23rd – In lieu of giving out money as prizes, Wizards hands out Promotional Cards for any number of occasions. Attend the Shards of Alara Prerelease, get a foil Ajani Vengeant! Judge a high level event and Wizards will compensate you with shiny Yawgmoth’s Wills and Decree of Justices! Heck, just by playing in enough matches you get a textless foil Cryptic Command! If Wizards is picking all of the right cards, why are the values of these cards going all wrong? Find out in today’s Insider Trading!

Thursday, October 16th – In today’s edition of Insider Trading, Ben takes a look at the unfortunate reality of card theft. How can you prevent your cards from being stolen? What steps should you take to protect your collection? Read today’s article for tips on how to protect your Magic investment!

Wednesday, October 8th – Following up last week’s article, Ben takes a look at eight different Foreign Magic Misprints, Rarities and Oddities throughout Magic’s history. From rules cards to magazine inserts, and from Forest Plains to Serra Elementals, find out some of the weirdest foreign cards out there!

Wednesday, October 1st – Magic is truly a global game! Cards are printed in multiple languages each set release, from English to Russian to Japanese. Ever wondered what your non-English card are worth? Do non-Americans value certain language cards over others? In today’s edition of Insider Trading, Ben takes a look at the history of the foreign card, and gives some advice about their values!

Friday, September 26th – Want to know which cards will be hot at your prerelease this weekend? Which cards should you pick up now while they are undervalued, and which should you trade away while they are overhyped? Is this the greatest set ever printed for cubes and Type 4 (answer: Yes!) If you want to be informed at your prerelease, you must read Ben’s analysis of the Financial Value of Shards of Alara!

Wednesday, September 17th – In part one of Ben’s two-part Extended rotation critique, Ben discussed the changes in value of cards from Invasion, Planeshift, and Apocalypse. In the second part of this series, see which cards will be affected in value from Odyssey, Torment, Judgment, and 7th Edition!

Tuesday, September 2nd – From the Vault: Dragons was initially released at Gen Con, and immediately began selling for well above MSRP. Why did this happen, and will the price increase last? PLUS: How will the September 1st B&R changes affect card prices?

Wednesday, August 27th – Magic Online is one of the most important aspects of the Magic Brand. Wizards of the Coast stands to make great profits off of this program. The current Magic Online economy is on a downward spiral – not for the game itself, but for the value of cards in-game. In today’s edition of Insider Trading, Ben talks about why now is a good time to build up your Magic Online collection, and the potential ramifications of the current downturn in Magic Online card pricing.

Wednesday, August 20th – Tarmogoyf rose from bulk rare to $50 Standard powerhouse over the course of a few months, and stayed there for nearly a year. How did this Rare break all Standard-price records and end up the most expensive Standard-legal card in Magic’s history? Will there be another like it in the future? In the latest edition of Insider Trading, Ben examines the Tarmogoyf phenomenon from beginning to end.

Wednesday, August 6th – Ben’s back from the U.S. National Championships in Chicago, and he’s got the goods on which cards were hot, and which were not! Which Vintage cards are on the rise? And what is the hottest block tech right now? Read today’s article to find out!

Tuesday, July 29th – Are you familiar with the innovations pioneered by the World of Warcraft TCG? I’m not talking about gameplay or mechanics – I’m speaking of the bonus cards inserted into packs that add value to the product line. Could Wizards adopt some of these ideas to improve Magic? Ben says yes! Read on for Ben’s thoughts about the value that could be added to Magic’s booster packs…

Tuesday, July 22nd – In June, Wizards of the Coast announced some major changes for the rarity breakdown for upcoming sets – instead of the Rares, Uncommons, and Commons we were used to, they added a new rarity level known as Mythic Rares. How do these new types of rares affect the value of your cards? In this week’s edition of Insider Trading, Ben tackles the issue of Mythic Rares and gets down to the nitty gritty of the situation!

Tuesday, July 15th – U.S. Nationals is coming, and what does that mean for Ben? The last huzzah of several Time Spiral block (and Coldsnap) cards! Find out which cards Ben thinks you should trade off now, and which cards will hold their value after they’ve rotated out of Standard!