By James Chillcott (@MTGCritic)

One of the most common misconceptions about folks involved in MTGFinance is that we are constantly manipulating the market and feeding players misinformation to help fuel achievement of our personal goals.

It has occurred to us at MTGPrice that though we dole out a good deal of advice, most of you ultimately have very little insight into when and why our writing team actually puts our money where our collective mouths are pointing. As such running this weekly series breaking down what we’ve been buying and selling each week and why. These lists are meant to be both complete and transparent, leaving off only cards we bought for personal use without hope of profit. We’ll also try to provide some insight into our thinking behind the specs, and whether we are aiming for a short (<1 month), mid (1-12 month), or long (1 year+) term flip. Here’s what we we’ve been up to this week:

Buying Period: Aug 11th – Aug 20th, 2015

Note: All cards NM unless otherwise noted. All sell prices are net of fees unless noted.

James Chillcott (@MTGCritic)

Coming off of my tour of lovely Bulgaria and Turkey I haven’t been in buying mode, but I did pick up a few things here and there.

BOUGHT

• 1x Hangarback Walker (Foil) @ $25
• 1x Russian Magic Origins Booster Box @ $109

Hangarback Walker expanded its horizons this weekend at Eternal Weekend showing up in the finals of the Vintage Championships in a Workshop deck. The card has now demonstrated viability in almost every relevant format and I’m happy to pick up more foils anywhere under $25 since Origins will ultimately have lower sales than a major fall set and the card is often a 4-of wherever it pops up. I see this is as a mid to long term hold with a $40+ target.

The Russian Origins box is my vote of confidence that Origins may actually end up producing more than a few Modern and Eternal relevant cards (Hangarback Walker, Dark Petition, Jace, Vrynn’s Prodigy, Evolutionary Leap, etc) that may be highly desirable in Russian foil down the road. This is a long term hold, targeting $200+.

I’ll be posting my report on Magic in Bulgaria and Turkey later this week, so watch for that.

Travis Allen (@WizardBumpin)

BOUGHT

• 35x Dragon Whisperer @ $2/per
• 9x Shaman of the Forgotten Ways @ $2.25/per
• 23x Tasigur, the Golden Fang (foil) @ $30/per
• 8x Whisperwood Elemental @ $5.50/per
• 14x Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker @ $4/per
• 30x Wingmate Roc @ $1.50/per
• 8x Woodland Bellower @ $4/per

Jim Casale (@Phrost_)

BOUGHT

• 4x Anafenza, the Foremost @ $3.50/per
• 4x Tragic Arrogance (foil) @ $3.00/per
• 4x Abrupt Decay @ $8.00/per

Jim says:

Anafenza, the Foremost is down to $3.50 from $7.00 before the release of Dragons of Tarkir. It’s also 12 tickets on MTGO which is usually a good indicator of play. There are some other factors at work (mythics command a larger portion of a set’s price due to redemption online) but I think this card is going to be one of the few cards to rebound during BFZ. 

Tragic Arrogance is the real deal in standard and it is also quite powerful in EDH. I decided to grab foil copies to play with as they will likely retain more of their value as time goes on. The spread on foil and non-foil copies is closing pretty quickly so this may even see a price correction in the near future.

Regarding Abrupt Decay, I found a player that wanted to sell some cards for quick cash. I offered him more than local buylist and he accepted. Hard to pass up this kind of deal.

BOUGHT (PucaTrade)

• 4x Ghostfire Blade @ 175 Pucapoints/per

Jim says:

“The Eldrazi will probably all be “colorless” despite costing colored mana. Ghostfire Blade was pretty good with thopters so I can’t see it getting worse with more colorless creatures.”

SOLD

• 3x Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy @ $30/per
• 1x Creeping Tarpit (foil) @ $30/per

Jim says:

“Jace was sold to a local player looking to play the Majors/Cuneo mill deck this week. The price included no fees so its hard to pass up a deal this good. I think I will likely be able to buy them back in a month or two for $20 or less.”

“Creeping Tarpit was sold to a player (so no additional fees) and I’m pretty sure the manlands will be reprinted sometime in the next year or two and there is no real reason to keep this.”

SOLD (Puca)

• 8x ghostfire blade @ 112 pucapoints/copy

Danny Brown (@dbro37)

BOUGHT

• 20x Narset, Enlightened Tutor $1.24/per
• 4x Sarkhan, the Dragon Speaker @ $5.40/per
• 8x Dragon Whisperer $2.25/per
• 1x Daretti, Scrap Savant $3.44/per
• 1x Outpost Siege $1.08/per

Danny says:

“I discussed Narset in my article this week, and all 20 copies I requested were sent pretty quickly. I also discussed Sarkhan and wasn’t sold at that time, but I pulled the trigger on a playset and will probably try for another couple.”

“Dragon Whisperer is a mythic that may be forced to step up if mono red continues to be a thing in Standard. I think this has enough casual appeal that it could be a slow gainer in the long term, as well. It reminds me of Kargan Dragonlord in many ways, which is $7, so I think the risk is low. One copy will probably go in my cube.”

“Daretti is a great pick-up right now and people seem to know. I think I had 16 on my list and only one got sent.”

“The Outpost Siege is for my cube, though it’s likely starting in the on-deck binder until/if I decide to expand or switch up some strategies. Some Standard play and a spike could turn this into a (very) minor spec, though.”

 

Jared Yost

Here is my buying for this week:

• 10x Polluted Delta @ $21.00/per
• 10x Flooded Strand @ $15.78/per
• 10x Bloodstained Mire @ $18.71/per

“I found some great deals through Amazon, and using some of my Amazon points that I’ve been accumulating I thought I would put them to use by picking up some much needed Fetchlands for my portfolio. I really needed Strands and Deltas, as I’ve been steadily trading for Heaths, Foothills, and Mires over the summer to build up a nice stockpile.”

So there you have it. Now what were you guys buying and selling this week and why?

James Chillcott is the CEO of ShelfLife.net, The Future of Collecting, Senior Partner at Advoca, a designer, adventurer, toy fanatic and an avid Magic player and collector since 1994.

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