By: Jared Yost

Duel Decks: Anthology was released back on December 5th and it was very exciting for me from a casual perspective. I love playing one-on-one Magic with my girlfriend and this product looked very appealing to us. What I didn’t know was that the price point was quite high for a product that is largely marketed toward the casual crowd. Not too many people are going to want to drop three figures on something that isn’t Standard legal. While I think that this product has avoided many of the pitfalls of Commander’s Arsenal and the less popular From the Vault sets, the limited release and exclusivity of the product make me question whether or not the MSRP of $99.99 is a good deal for what is in the package.

Let’s take a look at the current value of Duel Deck singles from the decks featured in the anthology:

Decks:

• Garruk vs. Liliana
• Divine vs. Demonic
• Jace vs. Chandra
• Elves vs. Goblins

Current Singles Prices

Cards are listed individually on the various MTGPrice pages for the duel decks. See the links below for prices for individual cards. In particular, take a look are the pricier cards of the decks, such as the foils , cards like Demonic Tutor, and other hard to find casual staples that are played in either sixty card kitchen table decks or Commander decks.

Garruk vs. Liliana

Divine vs. Demonic

Jace vs. Chandra

Elves vs. Goblins

These decks contain cards that appeal to all kinds of players. From Legacy staples like Daze, to Imperious Perfect for the elves players out there, even Demonic Tutor, the first four duel decks sure had some great cards in them. Based on their previous rarity, some of the cards in the decks actually were worth a decent amount of money just from the new artwork alone. The art on the duel deck versions of the cards is quite amazing and worth picking up if you favor the duel deck art over the original version.

In terms of value, adding everything up the total value based on MTGPrice Fair Trade value is $248. The total value based on TCGPlayer Median is $190 if you were to buy all the cards at retail value. Based on an MSRP of $100 this seems like a great buy in point for this product. This price is only considering the cards – the decks actually come with tokens and deck boxes to boot! When factoring in all of the flair you get along with your cards, $100 seems like a downright steal for all the product you are getting.

That is, if you can find it for $100. What have the sets actually been selling for at stores and online retailers?

eBay

TCGPlayer

Starcity – $135 on sale (normal $150)
Channelfireball – Out of Stock
ABU Games – $120
CCG House – Out of Stock
Hotsauce – Out of Stock
Strikezone – Not Listed (assumed out of stock)
Amazon – $115 and up (many shops charging between $120 to $150 for the set)
Troll & Toad – I only saw singles listed for the various decks, the deck boxes, and the dice. If I was to guess, Troll & Toad just cracked all of the anthologies they received from Wizards and is only trying to sell singles through their website. Not judging here but it is certainly an interesting business decision for them.

For the most part, if you want a deal you can get one on this product by scouring eBay or TCGPlayer. It is starting to disappear from the market as evidenced by some of the bigger name retailers being out of stock. This leads me to believe that the product can go up in price over time if enough interest is generated from casual players.

Deeper Thoughts About the Set

OK, so let’s put all the information together so you can make the best informed decision as a consumer about Duel Decks: Anthology.

1. The Best Deals are Through eBay / TCGPlayer

If you are in the market for Duel Decks: Anthology, look no further than eBay and TCGPlayer. Stores are looking to get rid of many of their products to help their end-of-year numbers in light of the upcoming Christmas holiday, and eBay / TCGPlayer is a good way to liquidate to make room after the pre-orders and reservations have been fulfilled for DD:A.

Stores know that people, particularly Magic players, are already strapped for cash based on all of the other presents and gifts that they need to pick up. After the presents, thinking about buying Magic cards for your hobby is probably a very distant thought at this point. If you’re one of the lucky people that can take advantage of this deal during the holiday season, I would snag one or two of these sets as close to MSRP as you can from the stores that can’t seem to sell them through their brick and mortar location.

2. Limited Print Run Considerations

Since the set is a limited print run it could prove to become quite expensive if many players try to pick up copies going into the new year. However, I don’t think this will be the case. This product is more expensive than a booster box, which means that many players are going to opt out of purchasing one since, well, you could just get a Khans box and be able to play with the cards in Standard.

One factor that adds value to the set is that it only contains a select few foils. Casual players, which the product is marketed towards, are the type of players that just don’t enjoy playing with foils or think that foils are ugly and want nothing to do with them. Since DD:A only contains a few foils and is mainly a non-foil set, casual players that hate playing with foils might later decide that they want to pick one up since they can easily play with the cards.

3. Collector’s Items in a Reprint World

Could it become a collector’s item that always retains its value? Honestly, I’m not sure due to reprints being able to happen at any time. Hardcore collectors are going to want the original Duel Decks from the anthology since those are the first printing and will retain value based on the original sealed printings of the products. The only thing that this product offers is for casual players that wanted to buy the decks a cheaper way of picking them up. In a way, these are two opposing forces – casual players and collector items.

I’ve usually found that casual players want to play the game as cheap as possible but this set is $100 while trying to market itself towards the casual crowd. It is a set made up completely of reprints with the sole purpose of satiating the demand of casual players that wanted to pick up the original duel decks though couldn’t because they were too expensive. Yet need to spend at minimum $100 anyways… ? I’m not sure if the best way to do that was with a collector’s box of reprints.

At the same time though, SDCC planeswalkers have been a huge success and this product aligns with products like From the Vault that usually sell well as long as there are popular cards in the product that players identify with. To me, this set seems like a combination of Modern Masters and From the Vault – it contains a full set of cards that can be played together but at the same time contains cards way overpowered cards that couldn’t be reprinted in Standard without breaking the format.

What to Do?

At the end of the day, if you’re looking for a great way to start a collection, boost a collection, have a good time with your best friend, and yet still retain value for other formats (mainly Commander) where you can still play with the cards once you’re done, then this Duel Deck is a great option.

While the obvious play is to pick it up as close to MSRP value as possible, even if you buy it for $150 through Star City Games you are still making out well. As mentioned before, the TCGPlayer Median value of the decks is $190 without considering the tokens and deck boxes that come with the product. So if you are trading in cards for store credit or have additional store credit with a big retailer, feel free to use it to get this product.

Last Thoughts

Look no further than Duel Decks: Anthology whether you’re looking to pick up a ton of new decks to play with or if you’re filling out the remainder of your casual / Commander collection. For the price, it is much cheaper to buy this package then buy the singles online. While it may not be for everyone, if you do decide to pick one up many of the pricier and premium cards of the set will retain their price for quite some time.

ADVERTISEMENT: Looking for a deck box to match your play style and personality? Look no further! Check out the Grimoire Beta Edition – a spell book looking deck box with stylish cover art that fits you

By: Jared Yost

That is the question. First I should probably explain why.

Today I’d like to compare two cards to each other that are eerily similar but at the same time vastly different – Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker and Stormbreath Dragon. I have a feeling that one of these cards could be a breakout mythic that reaches heights of $30+ over its Standard life. The question is, which one?

How They’re Similar

Just look at how similar these two cards are on the surface:

• Exact same mana cost (3RR)
• The number 4 is everywhere on these cards. Sarkhan becomes a 4/4 on the first ability, Stormbreath is a 4/4. Sarkhan even has four loyalty to start with and deals four damage with his second ability! So many fours.
• Both have haste, flying, and are dragons
• Both are mythic rares from the first set in their respective blocks

If you would have told me that there would be two cards in Standard that are this similar on the surface I would have told you that Wizards R&D would never do that, it is too lazy even for them. Now that it actually has happened, I can actually prove that they’re getting lazy! Yeah, let’s make sure to have that awesome mythic rare hasty dragon in every set that can appeal to spikes and casuals… At least its not a titan!

Wait though, let’s point out the differences before we start saying that Wizards has been getting really lazy.

The Differences

Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker

• Indestructible as a creature
• Provides creature removal
• Planeswalkers get around sorcery speed spells / abilities

Stormbreath Dragon

• Has protection from white
• Monstrosity ability can provide extra reach
• Also creates a bigger dragon, for a more explosive ability that can finish a game faster than Sarkhan

Looking at the differences the two cards operate entirely different from each other. Sarkhan can perform the role of both control and aggro when needed, whereas Stormbreath is the definition of a midrange card and can only provide that role due to the linearity of it being a creature.

Based on the differences lets delve into the specific good and bad things about each card.

Pros and Cons of Each

Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker

• Pros of being a Planeswalker
  • Planeswalkers are hugely popular with the casual crowd, much more so than dragons by themselves generally speaking. Financially, this means that they will retain a good amount of their value even through rotation and could cause the Planeswalker to spike if it is played regularly in Standard.
  • Planeswalkers also cater to spike if they do… well, spikey things. Generally speaking, if a Planeswalker is good at protecting itself (the classic case being Elspeth, Knight-Errant with the token generating ability) then it has a good chance of being a Standard all-star. Other abilities in this category include removal and card advantage abilities.
    • Sarkhan has removal, but at great cost to his loyalty. His ultimate can go off and provide “card advantage” in the late game but that is a best case scenario that will not happen most of the time. His only loyalty increasing ability is becoming the 4/4 with haste until end of turn, which doesn’t provide any of the extra spike abilities to take him over the edge. Thus why he is only played as a two-of in decks right now.
  • As mentioned in the differences section, he can play the role of aggro or control when needed. Versatility generally speaking means that card has a higher chance of seeing play than a more linear card that can fall out of a favor if the metagame changes.

• Cons of being a Planeswalker
  • Legendary permanent. Can only have one Sarkhan out at the same time.
  • Becoming a 4/4 only lasts until end of turn. Thus, he cannot block.
  • Cannot become greater than 4/4 without additional cards / synergies. Strombreath’s Monstrosity ability is all part of the same midrange package.

Stormbreath Dragon

• Pros of being a creature
  • Protection from white can be much more relevant than indestructible in the current Standard.
    • Since indestructible only lasts while Sarkhan is a creature, it matters much less than protection from white that is always on.
    • Three out of five clans have white in them, so if you play Stormbreath odds are the protection from white is going to matter in your matchup.
  • Monstrosity can provide the extra reach to finish the game that turn
    • Sarkhan generally cannot provide extra reach, except through his ultimate ability. This ability can go off but odds are when you play Sarkhan your opponent will be gunning for him and it will be harder to do this than monstrifying Stormbreath.
      • Strombreath you can monstrify two turns after you play it if on curve, Sarkhan needs a minimum of three turns to ultimate no matter what.

• Cons of being a creature
  • The old argument “dies to removal” – much easier to remove this card than Sarkhan generally speaking.
  • Only really fits into midrange strategies.
  • Monstrosity only hits players, not creatures.

Other Considerations

• Theros vs Khans of Tarkir
  • Theros we can all agree was much less popular than Khans due to the fetchland reprint hype. Therefore, I believe that over the life of Khans players will be cracking significantly more packs than Theros.
    • However, In terms of Sarkhan himself, I’m not sure if cracking additional packs will necessarily affect his price all that much. He has many more areas of interest than Stormbreath Dragon from players due to being a Planeswalker and his price will reflect that over time.
• Price point entry is fairly low for both cards
  • Stormbreath’s lowest price to date was around $11 in August and Sarkhan’s lowest price to date is the current price of $17. Stormbreath is currently $15.50, up $4.50 from the low.
    • Being up $4.50 means that Stormbreath is already starting to see some a price increase due to being played in Standard since the release of both cards.

Past Similar Card Performance

Thundermaw Hellkite would be the closest comparison to Stormbreath and Sarkhan that we’ve seen in the past. Below is the chart noting its progress from Oct 2012 through Jan of 2013.

Notice that December is the month that the card started seeing a price increase, and it finally spiked in the middle of December to $40. Stormbreath and Sarkhan will not follow a similar pattern because they are from the fall sets, which means that more packs were opened due to drafting and higher print runs. Since Hellkite was in a core set the price increase was more pronounced based on demand.

What we can conclude from the graph is that around the middle of December, the point we’re at now, is when cards are going to start spiking for Standard play going into next year. Yet Strombreath already experienced a spike and decline in October from $25 to the current price.

What happened?

Well, players were picking up their copies due to the hype of Mardu as deck. Then, since the clans are generally well balanced, stores weren’t selling as many after the new Khans Standard hype and had to lower the price. This trend isn’t something we’ve seen before which is why I’m interested in tracking Strombreath’s price over the next few months. Will one clan become more dominant and make this card better?

Final Thoughts

Based on the current price trend, Stormbreath appears to be in a lull and continuing downward. It hasn’t reach its lowest point again yet which means that it could just as well swing back up if more players find it powerful in Standard. Fate Reforged could make or break this dragon.

Sarkhan, on the other hand, feels like the safer long term bet for me. If they don’t create another dragon-type card like Sarkhan or Stormbreath in the next few blocks then he will be the go-to card for you five casting cost hasty beats. Being a planeswalker also makes him safer from huge price swings like other mythics that tend to be more flash-in-the-pan.

In summary, Sarkhan feels like the longer term safe bet for Standard while Stormbreath has the highest chance to spike from Theros being out of print and its protection from white which can help it against the white clan decks that have dominating Standard. If the right help is given to red decks in Fate Reforged, expect to see more of Stormbreath after January of next year. It already spiked based on a format shakeup and could just as easily spike again.

By: Jared Yost

For the Modern fans among us, I feel like it’s time to give some serious thought to the upcoming Modern Masters II now that Khans has been out for a few months. Gathering inspiration from some of the awesome deck’s I’ve been seeing last week at the Magic World Championships, I’ve decided to see what Modern looks like now that Khans has been in the format for several months. Knowing where the format is heading will be important in determining what cards have the highest chance of being in MM2.

Modern Masters Two will not only reduce prices, thereby allowing newer players to more easily enter the format, but it will also provide us with opportunities for picking up previously expensive casual and Commander cards that just happened to be included in the set because someone at Wizards R&D really liked them. Thinking about them now will give us plenty of time to consider whether or not we would like to trade them or buylist them for other potential value cards.

Current Day Values

Let’s see what the most current price swings for cards over the last week have been in Modern according to MTGPrice’s 50 Biggest Gainers of the Week.

Chalice of the Void is the clear winner. Treasure Cruise has arguably done the most damage in Modern than any other format. For now though, many players are fighting through all the TC decks with their cheap cantrips by maindecking or sideboarding Chalice of the Void. Chalice for one charge counter stops a large majority of the spells and will slow them down considerably.

I think the boat has passed on Chalice of the Void for now due to the recent spike. It has spiked to $15 TCG Median and will be sitting there for quite some time – at least until Treasure Cruise is banned. (maybe?)

Another notable high up on the list is Phyrexian Obliterator, which seems to still be hovering around the $30 threshold. It spiked to $30 back in January of this year and hasn’t moved since then. It is played in Modern but isn’t a staple of the format like Tarmogoyf or Dark Confidant. This leads me to believe that the majority of its demand comes from the casual crowd. Casuals love the effect of this horror which makes it seem like a good pickup. The price could easily spike again January of 2015 since it hasn’t moved for a year.

Now that we know which cards seem to be trending upwards in value, let’s take a look at the current metagame and most played cards.

Current Metagame and Most Played Cards

The MTGTop8 recorded metagame over the last two months includes the following: 

UR Aggro has become the most dominant deck in the format, representing 20% of the Top 8 appearances. UWx is still the most popular control deck and Birthing Pod is still the most popular combo deck through Khans.

Scapeshift has started outpacing Twin Exarch lists as a favorite combo choice since it is much harder to disrupt land drops than creatures in order to execute your instant-win combo. Jeskai Ascendency has become a successful deck in Modern but it is not quite as dominant as everyone thought it would become.

One deck that is falling out of favor is UrzaTron, due to the speed of the UR Aggro decks in the format. Martyr Life seems to be a deck that is taking its place since gaining a huge amount of life in addition will help outpace all of the UR and Burn decks floating around.

Another deck falling out of favor is Living End. With only one Top 8 placement in the last two months, it appears that Living End is falling out of favor for the faster combo decks.

What Does It All Mean?

After reviewing both MTGPrice’s 50 Biggest Gainers of the Week and the MTG Top 8 results over the last two months, I would like to make some observations about several of the cards identified in the first section that I think have a surprising price. In addition, I would like to address the more expensive parts of the decks in the MTG Top 8 results that did not appear in the recently trending cards. My thoughts pertain to the non-foil version of the card for all cases. 

These are my brief thoughts on various cards for inclusion in MM2. Do you think I’ve missed anything important for this list? What curveballs do you think Wizards will throw into MM2? (Remember Ryusei, the Falling Star and other CHK dragon’s in the first MM? Eww.) What types of mechanic themes do you think the set will have?

Regardless of how my predictions turn out, I think that Modern Masters II will be a fun set!

ADVERTISEMENT: Save up to 46% off retail prices during the CheapCardSleeves Cyber Monday sale, now extended through this week! Enjoy huge discounts on Ultra Pro, KMC, and Dragon Shield sleeves. If you’re looking to stock up on card sleeves, now is the time!

By: Jared Yost

Time to put my money where my mouth is. This is where you get to find out exactly what I’ve purchased, the amount I purchased, and at what price. I’m going back a whole seven months to show you which cards I’ve been picking up this year. At the end, we’ll see whether or not they worked out in my favor and what I’ve learn about my pickups.

My Therosian Manifesto

One thing I’ve really wanted to nail down when it comes to my forays into the Magic financial realm are goals. Yes, one of the most generic terms for success also applies here when trying to purchase Magic cards for value. At the beginning of the year my goals for enhancing my collection included the following:

1. Focus on Foils Over Non-Foils

Why this goal? Because I’ve been burned in the past, and also very recently, on cards where I decided to go the non-foil route over the foil. Since my past mistakes are too numerous to list here, my most recent example of why I crafted this goal was because of Griselbrand. Guess who was announced this year as the GP Promo for the following year? That’s right, my boy Griselbrand who I had acquired during 2013 at $8 per copy. I had accumulated twelve copies by the time of this announcement. Let’s just say I was lucky to buylist them for the price I paid.

The only exceptions I allow myself to this rule are for Standard and reserve list picks. I tried to stick to this this goal as close as possible but didn’t adhere to it every time I picked up something.

Another reason I like foils is because they are especially good targets for Commander staples, which have proven to be good Magic financial gainers. A great example of this was when foil Chromatic Lanterns were everywhere and I was picking them up for $7.50 or cheaper. Now they’re $15 and rising as time goes on.

2. Avoid the Booster Box / Booster Pack Money Hole

Booster boxes and packs are really fun to purchase though are a losing proposition in the long run. There are way too many bulk rares out there these days to make flipping boxes into a profit for guys like me that don’t own a store but want their collection to steadily rise in value. This is a lesson that took me way too long to learn. Now that I finally have, I try to avoid buying boxes and packs for pleasure.

3. Choose Bulk Rares Carefully

When I first started experimenting with Magic finance I would pick up any bulk rare that I thought was cool, expecting it to eventually go up to the price that I thought it should be at. Several years later and I still have a box of failed specs that haven’t gone anywhere. Even worse, some have dropped considerably in price based on my whimsical logic. This was certainly the most expensive lesson for me to learn, even more so than buying random boxes and packs for “value”. At least packs sometimes produce cards people want that you can use to salvage some of your costs. Bulk rares can stick around for years without moving. It’s not technically a loss on paper because I haven’t gotten rid of them, yet I’ve come to realize that opportunity cost is a real thing. What I spent on bulk rares and questionable cards I could have put into staples that I knew were going to be fine in the long run. My most glaring example of this is I should have just picked up more shock lands rather than try to find “undervalued” RTR and GTC bulk rares and mythics.

Now I’ve made it a point to pick up higher cost format staples that are undervalued either due to being in Standard or having a recent reprint. Rare lands that provide mana fixing from Standard like Mana Confluence is a recent example of this.

Let’s See How I Did

Now that you know my goals for this year, I’ll provide you what I’ve purchased from now back until April 30th. The reason I picked this date to start is because I started formulating my goals mid-April and wanted to see the results of those goals from then on out.

Here’s the breakdown of purchases and the estimated date of the purchase. All buy prices were TCG Median.

Total spent from April 30th until now – $909.65

Total current retail value of cards TCG Median – $1,152.10

% Gain / Loss – 21% retail (before accounting for shipping)

Accounting for shipping at estimated $1.50 per order, if each single card was an order:

31 separate cards * $1.50 = $46.50. This brings the total spent up to $956.15.

% Gain / Loss including shipping = 17% Retail

Buylist – How much can I get if I buylist all the cards right now?

Using MTGPrice’s My Collection tool I’ve determined that the cash value of my collection when sold to vendors is $649.95.

% Gain / Loss of Buylisting = –29% Buylist

There seems to be some conflicting information here. I’ve gained in terms of retail but lost in terms of buylist? Let me explain further why the numbers resulted this way.

Retail and Buylist – Why You Shouldn’t Value at Retail

Based on my calculations in the previous section, you can see that I thought I was erroneously ahead based on the retail value of the cards – in reality I am set back about 30% based on the pickups I’ve made this year. Seems like I’m doing bad right? Well, only if I decided to cash out this very second. Many of the cards I plan on holding for a while longer yet. You can can put pretty much everything from Khans into this category, including Jeskai Ascendency when I bought in during the hype of Pro Tour Kahns at $5. Retrospectively, it was a bad decision to buy into the hype and I need to restrain myself in the future of buying based on immediate fluctuation.

Another reason that buylist seems so miserable right now is because the more expensive purchases, such as foil Conspiracy Exploration and foil M15 Sliver Hivelord, haven’t moved in price at all since I picked them up earlier this year. These would be examples of the long term holds I mentioned. I’m not planning on selling these at a loss simply because I know with time they are bound to go up due to causal and Commander demand. It happened for Chromatic Lantern and it will happen again here.

In order to get the maximum amount from buylisting this year, I would have needed all of my speculations to double up or more – in seven months this was not going to happen to everything I was choosing. It just goes to show that mtgfinance is the ultimate waiting game if you’re looking to get the most out of future buylisting.

Many of these cards I plan on keeping for personal use and I don’t care what the current prices are, buylist or otherwise. I expect to have them for a long time and can cash them out later when I know I’m not using them.

Valuing at retail looks pretty sweet for cards like Hero’s Downfall and Doomwake Giant – if I can find someone to trade these to, I can really come out ahead if I pick up Modern staples or other casual format gainers like cards from the new Commander 2014 set. This would be the only benefit of a retail price increase.

Lessons Learned – Additional Goals for Next Year

Now that the year is wrapping up and I’ve determined how I did, I want to add a few more goals to my list for next year.

4. Ask myself “can this card double up, and if it does will the buylist reflect that?”

This is going to save me a few heartaches when I realize that those Doomwake Giants, even though doubling in retail, actually haven’t moved much at all on the buylist.

5. Continue to Find Avenues for Trading such as Puca Trade

Having more ways to trade cards away for retail value is essential for failed buylist specs like Doomwake Giant. By trading them at retail, you can ignore the abysmal buylist price and instead pick up a long term staple like Snapcaster Mage that will continue to be around for years to come.

6. Avoid the Hype – The Window is Too Short

As soon as Pro Tour Khans was over, the prices went back down to almost where they started and have leveled off since then. Avoiding the hype is hard to do when the numbers are telling you different, but look no further than my own speculations to see that hype is gone in a flash and then you are stuck waiting a while longer for value that may not even arrive.

Final Thoughts

2014 has certainly been a learning experience for me. I’ve had success, but at the price of terrible buylisting options. I’ll need to either trade more aggressively once retail prices go up for cards I’m interested in or I will need to pass on the more aggressive spiking cards and instead aim for more stable long term gainers.

Right now, my buylist loss of 30% is pretty big without even considering the shipping costs that would further add to that loss. However, I still believe the future is very promising for some of the cards I’ve acquired. Foil Chromatic Lantern, a card that by every means had to go up in price based on the popularity in Commander, still took eleven months to double up in price from $7.50 to $15.00. The fact that many of the cards I picked up increased in retail price is also a good sign because this means if the cards continue to stay popular the buylist will have to increase in order to match the demand.

The conflicting gains and losses that I discovered for my pickups is acceptable to me at this point yet there is certainly room for improvement. Since my loss would be so great from buylisting, I’m going to have to take the risk that the retail prices will continue to rise rather than getting 70% of the cash value of the cards right now and taking a 30% loss. Many of the cards I picked up are casual and Commander gainers so I expect them to retain their value for quite a while yet. I picked up a fair amount of foils that I believe will gain in the long term, limited my booster box / pack purchases, and severely restricted the amount of bulk rares I bought. I followed my goals closely but not close enough in some cases. There are still plenty of takeaways from this year.

What does everyone think of my selections? Do you think I’m in trouble or do you think I’m doing well? What do you think my worst and best pickups were?