Another Pro Tour come and gone – well, sort of. What I mean to say is that although I’m writing this article Sunday morning, by the time it goes live the event will be over. Still, despite my lack of foresight to how the top 8 will unfold, I believe I can still draw enough conclusions from the event based on Friday and Saturday outcomes.
But honestly I’m not sure how deeply I can jump into the Pro Tour for two reasons. First, I actually found the event a bit boring this year. Maybe that’s just me? Looking at the Top 8, no lists really excite me and scream “opportunity”. The only deck I really found myself getting excited over was the U/B Aristocrats deck, which fell a bit short. That was a true shame, because the U/B Aristocrats represented everything I wanted to see out of the Pro Tour: innovation and money-making opportunities.
I’ll explain.
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I think Lotus Cobra is one of those kitchen table spikers. With new landfall cards people went back to old Zendikar to find ones to play in their new deck. Given that most of the landfall cards are in Red and Green it doesn’t surprise me people found Lotus Cobra to play in their Omnath deck, right?
Great point, Jim! I completely overlooked the landfall catalyst for Cobra. Makes perfect sense, I agree.
That and lotus cobra is an absolute house in edh and cube. But I’d point to casual play for the price spike as Jim Casale said above. If I had more money available I would have picked up a few liliana’s when they were only $20. I really liked this card before it spiked.
I made my first speculation picks on standard about a month ago. I was skeptical because standard isn’t my format. So I tried to keep my risk low. I bought 3 wingmate roc’s at $2.50, 4 rattleclaw mystics at $2 and one pack foil at 3.50, and 4 utter ends at $.75 and 1 promo at $2.50. The rattleclaw’s have stayed the same but the roc’s have trippled and the utter ends have doubled.
My biggest worry now is I did not set myself up with an out. I have never sold cards online so the process intimidates me. I’m sure I’ll figure it out. It’s not worth selling to a card shop and I don’t know a standard crowd to trade with (just moved and I geuss legacy is the most popular thing here), but I’m sure I’ll figure it out. Seems like tcgplayer is my best bet.
PucaTrade can be a great out. Use the points for cards you’ll use or collect, or sell points for $0.xx/100. Just a thought
Well done, I’m glad your first speculation experience was successful. Definitely look at TCG Player or eBay to out your cards. Or, you could try buy lists. Card Kingdom is paying $3 for Wingmate Roc (be careful, they are very picky on condition) so you are technically profitable there. SCG also pays $3. If you can put those together with a few more cards, you may be able to buy list your stuff and still profit. But eBay and TCG Player may be your best bet here.
I bought my playset of Lotus Cobra when BFZ was announced for 5 bucks a piece. I assumed that if they were reprinted they would be standard playable with fetches in the format. And if they dodged another reprint then they had decent long term growth potential. Not sure when i will jump out of them, but anything over 10 dollars works for me
Well played. I really missed this opportunity! And it feels like the card has been creeping higher mostly under everyone’s radar. Well, I’m glad I noticed the trend even if late to the game.
I typically do not comment on here but I did want to point out something with Liliana. She may dwindle down to a break even point for you but depending how many copies you obtained, I would hold her. I think a lot of people will be playing around with that list in months to comeas it does look like a blasr ti play. Khans will rotate while origins will remain and that could be where she shines. No more Anafenza in abzan. Just my 2 cents.
contagion engine is already a ‘hot’ card on pucatrade for some weeks. I have no idea why so many people want that card.