Magic’s structure was the very first collectible card game, commonly called a CCG or now a Trading Card Game, the TCG in TCGPlayer.
A whole lot of Magic’s value is tied up in the collectibility of these cards, in how we can get some unique or special or exotic versions of a regular card.
Interestingly, though, not all collectibles are created equal, and definitely show unequal levels of growth. Let’s dive in, shall we?
The rest of this content is only visible to ProTrader members.
To learn how ProTrader can benefit YOU, click here to watch our short video.
ProTrader: Magic doesn’t have to be expensive.
Cliff (@WordOfCommander) has been writing for MTGPrice since 2013, and is an eager Commander player, Draft enthusiast, and Cube fanatic. A high school science teacher by day, he’s also the official substitute teacher of the MTG Fast Finance podcast. If you’re ever at a GP and you see a giant flashing ‘CUBE DRAFT’ sign, go over, say hi, and be ready to draft.
I love this article since it reflects my own mindset. But I been wondering: if you talk about long-term value increase, how long do you actually mean? The UMA box toppers for example seem to stagnate or in many cases decrease in value. Even the very playables. Is one year since UMA simply not long ago enough?
I personally want to own a set of showcase foils just to look at (and some to play with in my fancy highlander deck). So I am definitely coming from the collectors side. Investing in Europe works best for nonfoil cards anyway, since collectors are not that numerous and edh is not as big as in the US. Yesterday I acquired a foil showcase brazen borrower for 55€ shipped which seems like a good deal for me, given the cards rarity (considered James analysis). The rest is strangely low, even bonecrusher giant which seems the most playable apart brazen borrower.
I think that the UMA toppers are indeed good pickups but that’s because they are already highly playable cards.
If you like showcases, grab them now. My point is that they aren’t going to appreciate in value automatically because of rarity; it’ll happen when individual cards spike.
Thanks for reading!