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: July10th – July 18th, 2015
Note: All cards NM unless otherwise noted. All sell prices are net of fees unless noted.
James Chillcott (@MTGCritic)
As you probably heard I bought a huge MTG collection recently. As such my purchases are likely to be pretty mellow until I get out the other side of the eventual flip. We finished cataloging the collection this week, and the total TCGLow (NM) value ended up being almost bang on $40K. Given that the cost was just over $14K, with about $250 in expenses, we’re now in very good position to make some cash. More on that in a forthcoming Part 2 to the article.
BOUGHT
- 4x Abbot of Keral Keep (Foil) @ $11
I continue to believe that the Abbot is one of the most underrated cards in the set vs. it’s eventual play value. I’ve been testing a Modern URw Delver build with Bolt, Path, Probe, Snaps, Delver, Young Pyromancer, etc, and in my experience the card almost always does what I want it to. Sometimes he’s just an early drop that’s tough to block while I’m holding removal or cantrips, and a bit later in the game, he turns into solid card advantage, that can roll right into snapping the drawn card back for a second lap. In Legacy and Vintage, there also seems to be potential. If I wasn’t all over the Super Collection I’d be all over more of these. There’s even a solid chance it won’t perform in standard, and that foils will be down to $6 or so in the next few months on low Modern activity and relatively few chances to break out.
SOLD
- 1x Aether Vial (Foil, Darksteel) @ $78
- 1x Squirrel Token (Odyssey) @ $12
- 1x Spirit Token (Planeshift) @ $8
- 1x Pyroclasm (Foil, 7th) @ $45
- 1x Defense of the Heart (Foil) @ $40
- 1x Sensei’s Divining Top (Foil) @ $100
- 1x Daze (Foil) @ $120
- 4x Wasteland @ $55/per
These are all chip shots made off of the top of the Super Collection to folks who pinged me early on Twitter. At this point the move is to try and out the entire collection to a vendor, but if the $40K value becomes an issue, we can keep carving into the stash until the collection becomes bite sized for more vendors.
Jim Casale (@Phrost_)
BOUGHT
- 26x Gilt-Leaf Winnower @ $1.30/per
Jim says:
“I bought 26 copies of Gilt-Leaf Winower for $1.30. Apparently I should have bought Thopter Spy Network. I think the winower will pick up more steam in the future because a lot of standards’ best creatures are non equal p/t and it has a relevant tribal type.”
Douglas Johnson (@roseofthorns)
BOUGHT
- 24x Ad Nauseum @ 2.60/per
Douglas says:
“I’m in on Ad Nauseam for 270 Pucapoints each, and $2.50 each from ABUgames. I have around two dozen copies. If Living End can cheese its’ way to $13, there’s no way this doesn’t hit $7-8 in the near future. All it takes is one event for it to do well, and it and/or Phyrexian Unlife will each triple in price.”
Guo Heng Chin (@theguoheng)
BOUGHT
- 4x Woodland Bellower @ $6.57/per
- 2x Narset Transcendent @$6.57/per
- 1x Abbot of Keral Keep @ $3.15/per
- 2x Dragon Whisperer @ $1.58/per
- 1x Shaman of the Great Hunt @ $1.58/per
- 2x Shaman of the Great Hunt (Foil) @ $3.29/per
Guo says:
“I do not know how many people actually buy the calls I make, but I know at least one person who does, and that’s me! I was very bullish on Woodland Bellower in my Magic Origins Mythic Review Part II and I’ve decided to pick up a playset for my own use at this price. I’m still looking to acquire more, and would continue to do so as long as the bear-stag remains under $10. You’re telling me that a 6 mana for 6/5 that comes together with a Deathmist Raptor or a Courser of Kruphix is under $10?
Narset Transcendent is another card I mentioned in one of my recent articles. The two Narset complete my playset of non-foil Narset. As I’ve mentioned in my article, I think Narset will be a key planeswalker in UWx decks post-rotation and I would like to have access to a full playset before that happens. I’m still looking to pick up more Narsets at her current price.
Abbot of Keral Keep was the first Magic Origins card I own. I was initially dismissive of Abbot but a few players I respect were bullish on it and I’ve decided to start assembling a playset for myself. You know, just in case.
The Dragon Whisperers were the only card I was missing from Dylan Hysen’s Red Devotion which top 8ed the previous SCG Open (http://sales.starcitygames.com/deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=87167). Red Devotion was the deck that I’ve had the best results with back in 2013, and it would be nice to be able to run it out again a few more times during its sunset months. That would probably be my go-to aggro deck if Mardu Dragons becomes unviable in the post-Languish meta.
Shaman of the Great Hunt was one of the cards that Corbin mentioned in his article this Thursday. I could not believe that Shaman is so cheap now. Shaman’s a pretty solid creature with multiple abilities and is a mythic from a small set, so picking up Shaman at his current price seems too good to be true. I picked up two foils as the foils are only a little bit more expensive than the non-foils. Now I just need one more foil on top of the one I have from redemption to complete my playset. Shout-out to Corbin for bringing Shaman to my attention.”
Note: The rest of the guys were quiet this week.
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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