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.

Card Name	Set	Price	Gain
Chalice of the Void	Modern Masters	$10.95	4.41
Thoughtseize	Lorwyn	$36.10	3.6
Chalice of the Void	Mirrodin	$9.46	1.98
Brimaz, King of Oreskos	Born of the Gods	$30.70	1.81
Sliver Legion	Future Sight	$49.89	1.65
Tarmogoyf	Modern Masters	$196.95	0.96
Fatestitcher	Shards of Alara	$1.25	0.95
Arid Mesa	Zendikar	$31.26	0.93
Liliana of the Veil	Innistrad	$57.51	0.88
Phyrexian Obliterator	New Phyrexia	$29.54	0.77
Eldrazi Monument	Zendikar	$9.54	0.69
Infernal Tutor	Dissension	$13.83	0.67
Minamo, School at Water's Edge	Champions of Kamigawa	$11.36	0.64
Dark Confidant	Modern Masters	$86.82	0.63
Flooded Strand	Khans of Tarkir	$17.58	0.59
Sorin Markov	Zendikar	$15.67	0.58
Quicksilver Amulet	M12	$7.74	0.57
Phantasmal Image	M12	$7.85	0.56
Dark Confidant	Ravnica	$85.15	0.55
Rhys the Redeemed	Shadowmoor	$17.54	0.55
AEther Vial	Darksteel	$23.36	0.54
Tamiyo, the Moon Sage	Avacyn Restored	$14.02	0.53
Whip of Erebos	Theros	$3.02	0.53
Painter's Servant	Shadowmoor	$10.49	0.51
Glimpse of Nature	Champions of Kamigawa	$29.39	0.5
Sorin Markov	M12	$14.58	0.47
Tezzeret the Seeker	Shards of Alara	$14.82	0.47
Furyborn Hellkite	M12	$2.99	0.46
Cascade Bluffs	Eventide	$24.39	0.46
Extraplanar Lens	Mirrodin	$10.00	0.44
Smash to Smithereens	Shadowmoor	$4.18	0.43
Mox Opal	Scars of Mirrodin	$56.30	0.42
Akroma's Memorial	M13	$9.45	0.41
Ensnaring Bridge	8th Edition	$21.05	0.41
Glimpse the Unthinkable	Ravnica	$25.02	0.41
Scalding Tarn	Zendikar	$48.56	0.41
Sword of Fire and Ice	Darksteel	$40.78	0.41
Deathbringer Liege	Eventide	$12.35	0.4
Wooded Foothills	Khans of Tarkir	$11.81	0.4
Flooded Grove	Eventide	$23.43	0.4
Steam Vents	Guildpact	$15.79	0.39
Razorfoot Grifin	M10	$0.39	0.39
City of Brass	Modern Masters	$4.02	0.39
Hero of Iroas	Born of the Gods	$2.55	0.39
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn	Rise of the Eldrazi	$55.53	0.39
Elvish Piper	9th Edition	$8.14	0.38
Glen Elendra Archmage	Eventide	$6.75	0.38
Voidslime	Dissension	$7.68	0.38
Garruk Wildspeaker	Lorwyn	$9.25	0.37
Ajani, Mentor of Heroes	Journey Into Nyx	$19.77	0.36

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: 

Aggro	#
UR Aggro	72
Red Deck Wins	33
Affinity	25
Hatebear	13
Aura Hexproof	12
Zoo	11
Merfolk	8
Junk	8
RUG Aggro	5
Jund	3
Boremandos	2
Loam	2
Tokens	1
Other – Aggro	1
Control
UWx Midrange	12
UrzaTron	10
Valakut	6
Martyr Life	5
Blue Moon	5
UW Control	4
Gift Control	2
The Rock	1
Faeries	1
Other – Control	6
Combo
Birthing Pod	38
Scapeshift	25
Twin Exarch	16
Bloom Titan	7
Jeskai Ascendancy	7
UR Storm	5
Ad Nauseam	4
Infect	2
Living End	1
Instant Reanimator	1
Other – Combo	1

 

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. 

Card	MM2 Possible Inclusion?	Reasoning	Price Thoughts
Chalice of the Void	No	Reprint in first MM	Price is inflated due to Treasure Cruise metagame shift. A banning of TC will make Chalice drop again. If you didn’t get in before the spike, then you missed the boat for profit. Only pickup now if you plan on playing Modern in the near future.
Phyrexian Obliterator	Yes	Casual favorite, Some Modern play	Expensive, but could spike again before MM2. Pick up your copies before January if you plan on playing with Obliterator in the near future – otherwise wait to see if it is in MM2.
Arid Mesa (and other ZEN fetchlands)	Yes	Modern staple, no reprint yet.	The prices of the ZEN fetches have dropped considerably upon Khans fetches being released. They will drop even more if a MM2 reprint happens. I would wait on picking up ZEN fetches unless you need them right away.
Aether Vial	No	Reprint in first MM	Aether Vial seems to be trending upwards yet does receive a reprint every now and then. I think Vial will continue to trend upwards until the next reprint, whenever that may come.
Cascade Bluffs (and other SHM filter lands)	No	As a set of ten two-color filter lands, this cycle would be better off reprinted across another block like the shocklands were reprinted in RTR block.	Prices for these lands are waaaaay overinflated. Once these are reprinted they are going to bottom out hard. I would not pick up copies of these at all unless you need them for a deck.
Smash to Smithereens	Yes	Common, easy to include and is used heavily in Modern against affinity and other artifact based decks.	Price will drop hard once the card is reprinted and it doesn’t have much room to move up. Get rid of any extra copies you have.
Mox Opal	Yes	Affinity staple.	Price will drop, but not considerably. Still be wary of holding onto Mox Opals through next summer.
Ensnaring Bridge	Yes	Hard to find. Played in Commander, Modern, and Legacy. Casuals also love this card.	Price will drop with a reprint. However, in the long run the price will go up over time until the next reprint. Wait for the bottom and then pick them up.
Steam Vents (and other RTR / GTC shocklands)	No	Just reprinted in recent block. Wizards even added extras to the market by including them in Dragon’s Maze.	Pick up shocklands now before their price starts creeping back up again once they become harder to find. I would target blue lands especially.
Minamo, School at Water’s Edge	No	Kamigawa legendary lands are sometimes seen in Modern (Eiganjo is one example) but are played a ton in Commander. I’d expect these lands in a Commander product.	Not something I would look to pick up. The card is not going to $20+ anytime soon and if reprinted next year will drop like a rock.
Sorin Markov	No	Two printings already, mainly just a casual card.	Sorin is at $15 and climbing. I don’t think he will be reprinted in MM2 but could definitely be reprinted in a Commander or casual supplementary product.
Quicksilver Amulet	No	Two printings already, mainly just a casual card.	Similar to Sorin, could easily be put in a supplementary product and is not doubling up any time soon.
Rhys the Redeemed	Yes	Only one printing and lots of casual love.	$18 is very high for Rhys. He is worth almost as much as Doubling Season, which is saying something. The price is propped up by scarcity alone. One reprint will crash it.
Extraplanar Lens	Yes	Only one printing and lots of casual love.	I would expect Wizards to skip EL over other cards for MM2 but this could be a last minute include since they did not include it in the recent C14 decks. Price will crash if a reprint happens.
Akroma’s Memorial	No	Two printings already, mainly a casual card.	Akroma’s Memorial will keep rising over time until the next reprint. I don’t think this reprint will be in MM2.
Glimpse the Unthinkable	Yes	Popular casual card with some Modern appeal for a mill deck. Only one printing.	Glimpse is a card that a ton of players love that has yet to see a reprint. MM2 is a great place for it. Price will crash when this happens since it is mainly just a casual card.
Deathbringer Liege	No	Popular casual card yet Wizards has found ways outside of MM sets to reprint these (C13, Planechase 2012, etc.)	Lords are popular casual cards but I don’t see this one being printed in a MM set for the reasons I stated. The price will go up over time for this liege without a reprint, though I do expect a commander release to contain this or another liege next year.
Elvish Piper	No	Six reprints already. Can find another place outside MM set.	Price will continue to go up until the next reprint. Last reprint was 10th edition, so it has been quite a while since Piper has had a reprint. Maybe the next commander set?
Voidslime	Yes	Only one regular reprinting (Champs was full art). Like Glimpse the Unthinkable its a popular casual card, even if not really played in Modern.	I don’t think this card has much room to grow. Only casually popular. If included in Modern Masters the price will drop.
Young PyromancerSerum VisionsGitaxian Probe Forked Bolt Inquisition of Kozilek Remand Spell Pierce	Yes	I’m including all these cards in the same category because I feel that they are uncommons and commons that could easily get reprinted. They are overvalued in price due to being scarce.	Though not all of these uncommons / commons could be printed, I would expect a large majority of them to be on the list for MM2. I will be getting rid of any extra copies of these I have before next summer (except maybe Young Pyromancer because that is one hot uncommon!).
Goblin Guide	Yes	Hugely popular card, both casually and in Modern.	Guide will drop significantly if printed in MM2. Will continue to increase in price until reprint is announced.
Eidolon of the Great Revel	No	Standard legal card, no reason.	They could still include Eidolon in an event deck or other supplementary product. The price will continue to go up slowly until then.
Noble Hierarch	Yes	Very costly pricewise. Important piece of mana fixing and tempo in Modern and Legacy. High probability of being in MM2.	Hierarch doesn’t have much room to grow, only because most are speculating a reprint in MM2. I would trade away any extra copies you have because the risk is far greater holding.
Daybreak CoronetAven Mindcensor	Yes	Random future sight rare with one printing that is amazing in Modern. Commander also likes this card.	Like Hierarch, Daybreak Coronet would not be worth nearly as much if not for being in an older, less printed set. Aven Mindcensor is in the same camp.
Geist of Saint Traft	Yes	Popular casual, Commander, and Modern card.	I think Geist has a fair chance of being reprinted as a mythic in MM2, especially if Treasure Cruise is not banned. Very powerful, efficient beater.
Snapcaster Mage	Yes	Multi-format all star with only one printing.	Like Goyf and Bob, Snappy will probably be a mythic in MM2 to not kill the price. Should stabilize Snapcaster if this happens.
Restoration Angel	Yes	Efficient Modern beater, casual fan favorite being an Angel.	Resto-Angel has a decent chance of being in MM2. If not MM2, then certainly a commander product in the future.
Karn Liberated Grove of the Burnwillows	Yes	Karn is way pricy for a planeswalker, only due to being in NPH. Grove is similarly expensive though played in more than one Modern deck. Both need another reprint to reduce prices.	Both cards will continue to increase in price, but not substantially. Again, risk is way too high to hold extra copies.
Mythic Eldrazi (Emrakul, Kozilek, Ulamog)	Yes?	MM2 is a great place for the Eldrazi as a mythic rare cycle. Also, they are casual favorites like many cards on this list.	Slowly going up, but reprint fear will keep prices stabilized for some time.
Ranger of EosSerra Ascendant	Yes	Hard to find, only one printing.	Slowly going up, but reprint fear will keep prices stabilized for some time.
Linvala, Keeper of Silence	Yes	Hard to find, only one printing.	Slowly going up, but reprint fear will keep prices stabilized for some time.
Birthing Pod	Yes	Modern staple	Slowly going up, but reprint fear will keep prices stabilized for some time.
Splinter Twin	Yes	Modern staple	Slowly going up, but reprint fear will keep prices stabilized for some time.
Azusa, Lost but Seeking	Yes	Hard to find, only one printing.	Slowly going up, but reprint fear will keep prices stabilized for some time.

 

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!

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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.

#	Card	Set	Buy Date	Buy Price
1	Cabal Coffers	Torment FOIL	10/28/2014	$19.48
12	Crater’s Claws	Khans of Tarkir	10/24/2014	$0.99
1	Proteus Staff	Mirrodin FOIL	10/24/2014	$7.23
3	Ajani, Mentor of Heroes	Journey into Nyx	10/12/2014	$16.94
6	See the Unwritten	Khans of Tarkir	10/10/2014	$3.10
8	Pearl Lake Ancient	Khans of Tarkir	10/10/2014	$0.99
4	Jeskai Ascendancy	Khans of Tarkir	10/10/2014	$5.08
7	Altar of the Brood	Khans of Tarkir	10/10/2014	$0.44
4	Shivan Reef	M15 FOIL	10/2/2014	$9.88
19	Doomwake Giant	Journey into Nyx	9/27/2014	$0.40
3	Elspeth, Sun’s Champion	Theros	9/26/2014	$21.86
2	Sorin, Solemn Visitor	Khans of Tarkir	9/22/2014	$15.19
1	Metalworker	Urza’s Destiny	9/12/2014	$12.06
1	Courser of Kruphix	Born of the Gods	8/31/2014	$12.48
4	Congregation at Dawn	Ravnica FOIL	8/20/2014	$2.00
3	Xenagos, the Reveler	Theros FOIL	8/15/2014	$18.99
4	Master of Waves	Theros	7/25/2014	$3.96
5	Mana Confluence	Journey into Nyx	7/25/2014	$7.94
3	True-Name Nemesis	C13	7/25/2014	$16.50
3	Hall of Triumph	Journey FOIL	7/25/2014	$2.05
12	Anger of the Gods	Theros	7/25/2014	$1.32
2	Dictate of Erebos	Journey FOIL	7/25/2014	$7.33
1	Sliver Hivelord	M15 FOIL	7/25/2014	$31.00
2	Hornet Queen	M15 FOIL	7/25/2014	$4.35
1	Erebos, God of the Dead	Theros FOIL	7/25/2014	$16.00
1	Exploration	Conspiracy FOIL	7/25/2014	$39.99
8	Hero’s Downfall	Theros	7/25/2014	$5.00
3	Swan Song	Theros FOIL	4/30/2014	$8.50
12	Soldier of the Pantheon	Theros	4/30/2014	$1.49
3	Arcbound Ravager	Modern Masters	4/30/2014	$18.99
10	Thoughtseize	Theros	4/30/2014	$16.00

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?

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By: Jared Yost

EDITOR’S NOTE: MTGPrice.com will have extensive live coverage of the #mtgfinance side of GP:NJ Friday through Sunday. This includes dealer interviews and live blogging from the floor. Be sure to check blog.mtgprice.com all weekend long!

In preparation for Grand Prix New Jersey coming up later this week I thought I might share with you some of my ideas for what to expect at the tournament.

Vendor Paradise

There are going to be twenty vendors at the event – twenty vendors! – which means there are going to be many different opportunities for buylisting and arbitrage during the weekend. Buylisting almost becomes an art rather than a science during a GP.

Of course, the best time to visit the vendors is early Friday morning if you want the best deals and most opportunities to sell to them. At the beginning of the event the vendors will be looking to stock up not only for the weekend but to increase their general inventory. However, as the weekend goes on, fewer and fewer vendors are prone to offer high buylist prices on staples.

Besides buylisting cards, GP’s are a great opportunity to pick up swag. What I mean by swag are sleeves, dice, bags, binders, and other Magic related items that aren’t the cards themselves. Lots of vendors will be looking to undercut the others for items like Dragon Shield sleeves, Ultra Pro binders, and more.

Binder Preparation

You will want to give yourself plenty of time to gather all of the Legacy staples you want to trade at the event. Prices are going to be spiking the weekend of the tournament, for at least a select few cards. If you are keeping an eye on the price changes you will be able to capitalize on cards that experience short term spikes by trading them or buylisting them to the vendors.

Beyond Legacy, you should also prepare another binder for Modern and Standard trades. There will be plenty of opportunity to trade higher valued Theros block cards during the weekend like Elspeth, Sun’s Champion, Hero’s Downfall, Kiora, the Crashing Wave, and Ajani, Mentor of Heroes. There are going to be side events for Modern and Standard plus vendors will be picking up many of the Standard staples, in addition to Legacy and Modern, to increase their inventory.

Here are some cards that will be good to have for the event. I marked the format(s) the card will be desirable in. The more formats a card is desirable in the higher the chance you will have of being able to trade it. You should be able to trade or buylist all of the Legacy cards at some point during the weekend.

Card	Format
Force of Will	Legacy
Volcanic Island	Legacy
Misty Rainforest	Legacy / Modern
Scalding Tarn	Legacy / Modern
Wasteland	Legacy
Tropical Island	Legacy
Deathrite Shaman	Legacy
Karakas	Legacy
Jace, the Mind Sculptor	Legacy
Tundra	Legacy
Bayou	Legacy
Sensei's Divining Top	Legacy
Snapcaster Mage	Legacy / Modern
Tarmogoyf	Legacy / Modern
Umezawa's Jitte	Legacy
Stoneforge Mystic	Legacy
Batterskull	Legacy / Modern
True-Name Nemesis	Legacy
Liliana of the Veil	Legacy / Modern
Council’s Judgment	Legacy
Steam Vents	Modern
Remand	Modern
Stomping Ground	Modern
Temple Garden	Modern
Cryptic Command	Modern
Sacred Foundry	Modern
Breeding Pool	Modern
Noble Hierarch	Legacy / Modern
Restoration Angel	Modern
Abrupt Decay	Legacy / Modern
Spellskite	Modern
Marsh Flats	Legacy / Modern
Thoughtseize	Legacy / Modern
Goblin Guide	Legacy / Modern
Elspeth, Sun's Champion	Standard
Kiora, the Crashing Wave	Standard
Ajani, Mentor of Heroes	Standard
Keranos, God of Storms	Legacy / Modern / Standard
Mana Confluence	Legacy / Modern / Standard
Courser of Kruphix	Modern / Standard
Stormbreath Dragon	Standard
Sylvan Caryatid	Standard

I would also like to mention some decks that I think many different players will adopt for the Legacy main event. The decks are on the cheaper side to build and players could be looking for copies of random cards that appear in the decks. If you prepare well, you will be able to trade some of the more obscure pieces to someone looking to play the deck.

• U/R Delver
• Dredge
• Belcher
• Elves
• Death & Taxes
• Merfolk
• Affinity

I think many players will want to use these decks because they are fairly straightforward to pilot and offer a pretty simplistic game plan in order to win. Check out a few lists online and see if you have any of the pieces of the decks. If you do you can probably trade them away during the weekend if you currently aren’t using them.

Besides decks, cards that show up in sideboards will also be nice to have for trades. Some cards in this list include:

• Grafdigger’s Cage
• Pithing Needle
• Flusterstorm
• Rest in Peace
• Null Rod
• Blood Moon
• Surgical Extraction
• Sulfuric Vortex
• Wear / Tear
• Submerge
• Engineered Explosives
• Krosan Grip
• Ethersworn Canonist
• Golgari Charm
• Meddling Mage
• Cabal Therapy
• Price of Progress

By no means is this an extensive list but it does reflect many of the popular choices for sideboards.

Bulk Drop Off

Vendors are pretty happy to buy bulk at these types of events, especially bulk rares. If you have a stack of them lying around that you’ve been looking to get rid of a GP is a great place to do it. Similar to buylisting, different vendors have different goals about how they want to buy bulk. There will be plenty of pricing options available for getting rid of it. Bulk foils are also pretty desirable and you should be able to get a decent quote if you shop around.
Don’t be afraid to barter. There are plenty of other vendors at the event and most vendors will be open to reasonable offers. The place will be crowded and  the vendors are going to want to get things over as fast as possible but it doesn’t mean that you have to feel pushed into making a deal you don’t want. Feel free to walk away if you’re not comfortable. There will be plenty of opportunities throughout the weekend.

Similar to buylisting, getting rid of bulk will be much easier Friday morning compared to Saturday or Sunday. By Saturday and Sunday vendors will already be dealing with piles of cards so the chances of getting a deal will be harder and harder the further you try from Friday.

Discount Binders from Vendors

Grand Prix’s are great places for vendors to get rid of cards that they have a hard time moving locally if they don’t have a big online presence. Several vendors will have $1 Binders, $2 Binders, $5 Binders, etc. where they will put a ton of random cards into and hope to sell them during the event. Many times, staples of formats will be in these binders and you should be able to get good deals on otherwise higher prices at other stores. For example, at Grand Prix Richmond I saw cards like Scapeshift and Hero of Bladehold in these type of binders. It’s a pretty sweet deal if you take a few minutes out of your time to browse the binders.

One caveat with this plan is that if you are looking for NM condition than the discount binders may not be for you. There is usually a reason that these cards are in the binders in the first place. Foils with some scuffing, cards that are SP or even MP, and tons of cards that you probably aren’t interested in that you still have to look through will usually be prevalent. Don’t be discouraged though, if you are one to pick through bulk to find gems then browsing these binders should be a walk in the park in comparison.

Final Thoughts

Most of all, have fun at the event. Since there are tons of people be aware of your surroundings and keep a close watch on anything you bring to the event. I’ll be thinking carefully about what exactly I want to bring to an event of this size and so should you. I find that bringing less is much less stressful (barring bulk, of course) and helps me focus on other activities like playing, participating in events, and bargain hunting through the various vendors.

GP’s are pretty much the best place to find deals at and unfortunately there are hardly any Legacy GP’s anymore. This is going to be the best opportunity for many of us in some time to sell off any unused Legacy staples, or pick up those remaining staples we’ve been looking for to complete a deck or add to our collection.

Good luck to any playing in the main event, and safe travels to those flying in and driving four or more hours. Your dedication is what makes Magic great!

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By: Jared Yost

The first time I brought my girlfriend Em over to my friend Nic’s house to introduce her to Magic beyond the realm of our own kitchen table, my other friend Matt had brought his cube and we were ready to play with it. I’ve fondly named it the “Matt’s Greatest Hits” cube since there isn’t any goal or overarching theme with the cube (at least that I can see). It is simply his personal favorite cards along with solid roleplayers to create archetypes to play with. Anyways, we’re trying to get people involved to get some awesome cube action going and he’s asking everyone “Are you cubin’? Are you cubin’?” clearly leaving off that oh so important ‘g’ at the end of the verb ‘cubing’. When Em was asked this question she responded “From the country of Cuba?” fully believing his question was “Are you Cuban?” We all had a good laugh, and after I explained this misinterpretation we were soon underway.

Besides the “Matt’s Greatest Hits” cube, Matt also has put together an Innistrad cube and a Return to Ravnica cube. These are definitely more theme and goal oriented, as he is focusing on specific limited environments for these cubes in addition to trying to foil out as many cards as he can. These cubes also better reflect the draft environments of the sets because he includes multiple copies of commons and usually two of every uncommon from the sets.

Drawing inspiration from my friend’s ventures into the cubing world, I’ve made it a goal to refine my own cube. I’ve had a “Jared’s Greatest Hits” cube for quite a long time myself, which I created for something to do with my brother when I go back home to PA and we want to play Magic together. However, I’m thinking about upgrading it and making it deeper and more interactive. I currently modify it here and there but I feel like it could use more cohesiveness.

Of course, being a financier I want to know approximately how much it is going to cost me to create an updated cube. I’ll be looking at cubes that span the financial spectrums, from the ones that include Moxes to the peasant cubes that are much more limiting in the cards you can include. I will even show you some price quotes that include proxying anything $50 or more. For the calculations, I’m going to assume I’m starting from scratch with zero cards so that others who may want to build a cube for the first time know the cost of all cards.

In order to help with this effort, I am drawing upon the power of Cube Tutor and their average cubes list to get the best picture about the costs of a cube. The website’s average cubes use the most popular cube cards. Odds are that players are going to want to include most cards on the list with slight modifications based on personal preference. I think this is a good starting point for determining approximate cube values because the Cube Tutor website draws these averages from all the cubes posted on the site.

Budgeting for a Cube

The average cubes tracked are:

• Cube Tutor 360
• Cube Tutor 360 Peasant
• Cube Tutor 360 Pauper
• Cube Tutor 450
• Cube Tutor 450 Peasant
• Cube Tutor 450 Pauper
• Cube Tutor 720
• Cube Tutor 720 Peasant
• Cube Tutor 720 Pauper

Briefly looking over the cubes, they range in size from small to large according to your budget or tastes. For example, even though you might have the budget to get almost anything you want, maybe you don’t have a very large group that you cube with so you only need the bare minimum 360 cards to have a well rounded cube.

One aspect of the lower card count cubes that I noticed right away was that they did not contain cards like the Power 9, Mana Crypt, Mana Drain, Yawgmoth’s Will, Aether Vial, etc. The lower cube counts opted to play more straightforward cards since cubes with lower card counts will be more linear in their strategies. This leads to the super powerful cards like Black Lotus becoming unbeatable powerhouses. To avoid this, the cube average aggregator decided not to include them in the smaller cube lists. Expensive cards are still in the smaller cubes, like Revised dual lands, Karn Liberated, Cryptic Command, and Jace, the Mind Sculptor – it’s just that the extremely broken cards like Black Lotus tend to only be balanced out by including a majority of the old broken cards. This will greatly affect the overall price of the smaller cubes if we can expect extremely rare cards like Black Lotus to be absent from them.

Pricing the various cubes, we arrive at the approximate values without proxies:

No Proxies

Cube	Price
Cube Tutor 360	$4,502.14
Cube Tutor 360 Peasant	$191.75
Cube Tutor 360 Pauper	$121.71
Cube Tutor 450	$5,008.29
Cube Tutor 450 Peasant	$236.13
Cube Tutor 450 Pauper	$142.19
Cube Tutor 720	$18,316.41
Cube Tutor 720 Peasant	$396.97
Cube Tutor 720 Pauper	$229.77

*TCG Mid

Well, if we’re talking about a 720 card cube with Black Lotus and Moxen in it, that $18,000 price tag doesn’t really surprise me. It certainly is a ton a money to invest in a cube, and if you have a cube like this more power to you. Just please get insurance. We all hate seeing those reddit posts saying that someone “forgot” to hand back in all their cards when cube drafting…

For more reasonable options, the Peasant and Pauper cubes for 720 cards are much more affordable. If you’re looking to build a large cube on a budget that can accommodate lots of players and a plethora of archetypes I think it would be a good idea to start with a Peasant or Pauper cube and modify it from there.

Myself, I only need the 360 card cube. I think I’m going to start with the 360 Peasant and modify it to my tastes from there.

Hooray for Proxies

If you’re a person that just has to play all those powerful cards and don’t care if you have real copies, then proxying everything over a certain price point makes sense. This way you can have the best of both worlds and also have a goal to work towards – to one day own a cube that has all the real copies of the cards you want in it. When accounting for proxies of cards that are $50 or more, these are the updated cube prices for the regular cubes. I didn’t bother with the Peasant and Pauper options because they are already heavily discounted.

Proxies ($50 or more)

Cube	Price
Cube Tutor 720	$4,939.03
Cube Tutor 450	$2,221.65
Cube Tutor 360	$1,803.95

As would be expected, the price with proxies drops considerably. It didn’t drop as much as I thought it would, however you could always lower the limit to $30, $20, or even $10 as the threshold for proxying. Your startup costs will keep decreasing with the limit you set yourself until you can build something that is affordable and work up from there.

Since I set the proxy limit at $50 or more, the prices show that there are still plenty of $30-$45 cards that can be included with a cube to bolster the price. Even the lower cards that range from $5-$15 can add up quickly.

Oooh, Shiny!

Just for fun, let’s see how much these cubes are on average are if your goal is to ultimately foil them out.

FOIL Cubes

Cube	Price
Cube Tutor 360	$9,738.61
Cube Tutor 360 Peasant	$1,045.71
Cube Tutor 360 Pauper	$789.90
Cube Tutor 450	$10,847.83
Cube Tutor 450 Peasant	$1,230.37
Cube Tutor 450 Pauper	$928.39
Cube Tutor 720	$26,303.03
Cube Tutor 720 Peasant	$1,794.67
Cube Tutor 720 Pauper	$1,210.16

 

So if I wanted a foil 360 card Peasant cube, I could expect to pay around $1,000 for it. This is about what I expected in terms of pricing for foils. Clearly the the 720 card powered cube was going to be absurdly expensive, there is not denying that – if your goal is to foil out a powered cube it is quite a lofty goal.

Time to Play

Once you’ve decided where your budget lies and how big you want to make your cube, all I can say is go for it! Know that I too will be working on my cube now that I have a goal in mind and know where I want it to fall on my budget. Even if I have to proxy a few cards initially and then pick them up over time, I at least have a starting point for how much it will cost me – especially if I want to foil out my cube down the road.

Some final thoughts:

What have you guys spent on creating your cubes? Do the averages match what you think you’ve spent?

Do you procure expensive proxies to fill the slots of Black Lotus, the Moxen, Time Walk, and other powerful old cards that are hard to find? This can be a good compromise to purchasing the real card, in addition to having a fully foiled cube if the proxy is foil. I’m curious to know how much it costs to create these premium proxy cards for those who play with them.

Also, do you like to build cubes on a budget and add some spicy bulk/cheaper rares when the urge strikes you? Are you picking up multiple copies of cards to make set themed or more linear cubes? It would be good to know if Cube Tutor is hits or misses the mark in terms of what a typical player’s cube looks like.

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