Category Archives: What We’re Buying

James Chillcott, Jason Alt, Travis Allen, What We're Buying

MTGFinance: What We’re Buying & Selling This Week (Nov 16/16)

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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.

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. To further illuminate our collective process, we’re running this occassional series breaking down what we’ve been buying and selling and why. These lists are meant to be both complete and transparent, leaving off only cards we bought for personal use and/or 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: Nov 1st – November 15th/2016

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

James Chillcott (@MTGCritic)

BOUGHT

Leovold, Emissary of Trest

BOUGHT (Pucatrade)

SOLD

Leovold, Emissary of Trest is a popular EDH general that happened to get printed in a set (Conspracy: Take the Crown) that was sandwiched between other major releases and wasn’t opened much, despite the ongoing print run. Speculators took a run at the card about a month ago, and I managed to snag some local copies to go along for the ride. It’s already closing in on $25 so prospects for profit are solid.

Eternal Scourge won a Modern GP recently, as a two-of in the rogue Skred Red deck. The card is interesting as a recursive threat with some degree of open ended combo potential and the price was low enough for a foil rare that I was willing to throw it in my long shots box.

Eldrazi Displacer is a card that has found multiple homes in Standard and Modern, and has a bright future as a unique role player in casual, cube and EDH. There are still foils available around $10 but the inventory is VERY low for a recent rare and I think this easily tops $20 a bit down the road.  Spell Queller is a card with a similar profile that is powerful in both Standard and Modern, and it shouldn’t be too long until the sub-$15 foils dry up and the card sets up a new plateau over $25.

Kaladesh Masterpieces are not the most likely investments given how things have gone for the argubaly more popular BFZ Expeditions, but if a few of them are going to spike down the road, they are likely to be the ones that a) look great and b) are needed as 4-ofs in Modern. Mox Opal fits this profile well, and I can see these hitting $140-150 not too far down the road. If Affinity gets Arcbound Ravager in Aether Revolt Masterpieces, more of its players might get the idea in their heads to pimp out their decks.

The Puca acquisitions were more about outing points than chasing great deals, but all of them have a solid shot at some profit down the road.

On the sales side, I mostly moved out of specs that had tripped my profit targets and were liquid enough to support some of the buys I wanted to make.


Travis Allen

BOUGHT

Panharmonicon

Travis says:

“Panharmonicon is the EDHiest EDH card to ever EDH. Foils are still sitting right around the $10 mark, which they’ve been hanging out at since the Pro Tour excitement died down. This will slot into nearly every EDH deck from here until the end of time, and regardless of how many times Wizards prints it, it will rarely show up as foil. Pair this with the release of the Commander 2016 decks this week, which have done two things. They’ve invigorated excitement in a format that doesn’t really need help, which has been noticed anecdotally by players in my local group that don’t regularly play heading out to stores to pick up their sets. C16’s release also brings with it Deepglow Skate, the second-most EDH card to ever EDH, which conveniently works alongside Panharmonicon as well as one could possibly hope. Supply on foil Panharmonicons is higher now than it basically ever will be. Pick these up at $10 today and be glad when they’re $20 in a year or two.”


Jason Alt

BOUGHT

Umbral Mantle

Jason says:

“Kydele generates infinite mana with it, and it was already creeping up before that. Low supply, difficulty in reprinting it and a new impetus for using it should all culminate in a sharper increase in price.”


Cliff Daigle

BOUGHT

Cliff says:

“Planning to hold the TKS foils for 9-12 months, targeting a $30+ exit. Panharmonicon foils should top $20 in a year or two. Taigas went into my EDH decks.”

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.

James Chillcott, What We're Buying

MTGFinance: What We’re Buying & Selling This Week (Sep13/15)

5 Comments

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. To correct this we’re 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 and/or 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: Sep 1st – 7th, 2015

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

James Chillcott (@MTGCritic)

BOUGHT

  • 10x Abbot of Keral Keep (Foil) @ $14/per: Short to Mid
  • 1x Abbot of Keral Keep (Korean Foil) @ $35: Short to Mid
  • 6x Monastery Mentor @ $14/per: Mid to Long
  • 4x Dark Petition (Foil) @ $5/per: Short to Mid
  • 1x Kabira Evangel (Foil) @ $3: Short to Mid

BOUGHT (Pucatrade)

  • 4x Evolutionary Leap (Foil) @ 1250 points: Mid to Long
  • 2x Monastery Mentor @ 1644 points: Mid to Long

SOLD

  • 12x See the Unwritten @ $7.00/per (Cost: $3/per): Bought Winter ’15

Abbot of Keral Keep is making waves in Modern, most recently on the back of Patrick Chapin’s Temur Prowess performance at GP Oklahoma this weekend. Patrick isn’t likely to make Top 8 at this point, but either way, the power of the card has been firmly established and I’m happy to be in on a pile more of these as I watch them dry up and head for $30+. Note that this is yet another of the cards on my MTG Origins list of Modern/Eternal playable rares and mythics that is breaking out. Expect an article on this topic shortly.

Monastery Mentor is a Legacy and Vintage playable card with an absurd power level that hasn’t quite found it’s deck in Modern. Once it does, I fully expect the card to top $30 as a small set mythic that was supplanted by Dragons of Tarkir on shelves only 6 weeks after it debuted. As such I continue to acquire cards below $16 where I can.

Dark Petition is yet another Magic Origins rare that is making waves in both Modern and Legacy as a storm oriented tutor that can find missing combo pieces and provide the mana to keep rolling into a finale.

I mopped up one of the only foil copies of Kabira Evangel I could find after Corbin and others called it out last week as the ally most likely to pop on hype for allies in Modern.

On the sales side, I’m holding on to a lot of Modern inventory until next spring, so my sales will be mostly opportunistic this fall. That being said I’m still managing to sell sets of See the Unwritten without much issue, though the price has slid a bit as folks race to the bottom on their stashed sets. I’m well into the black on this card so I’m holding back a few sets to sell into performance hype on the assumption that this thing puts some Eldrazi or Dragons in play on camera this fall.

Travis Allen

BOUGHT

  • 70x Wheel of Fate @ $2.50
  • 9x Foil Wheel of Fate @ $6.75
  • 19x Restore Balance @ $2.00
  • 20x Foil Restore Balance @ $5.00

Travis says:

“These “free” spells are the only ones that have yet to be broken in Modern. Two others are banned, and the last one is Living End. All three legal ‘free’ spells in Modern suddenly get much better with the printing of Bring to Light in Battle for Zendikar. With the foils having displayed arbitrage opportunities in the past, and availability so low across the board, I’m confident that eventually we’ll see a strong spike out of one or both.”

Ross Lennon

BOUGHT

  • 76 TCGPlayer point cards (2016 expirations!) for $60 shipped, in negotiations for 18 more (hopefully at $15 shipped).

Ross says:

“TCGPlayer point cards are awarded at TCGPlayer tournament series events. They are transferable (unlike SCG points), and can therefore be sold. They have a 2 year shelf life (to keep them from devaluing over time), and can be applied to byes at events, swag like deckboxes, and entry into the end of year 50k event. At events like 5ks (where the byes are available), they commonly sell for $2 a point, but people don’t plan ahead, so you can often get them on eBay for less than $1 per.  I have enough points to enter the 50k as well as get two byes and a sleep-in special, although I may also just sell them for 1.5/pt at the next 5k. “

Jim Casale

BOUGHT

  • 4x Greenwarden of Murasa @ $4.50/per

SOLD

  • 4x Promo Serum Visions @ $10/per
  • 3x Cavern of Souls  @ $40/per
  • 4x Aether Vial @ $35 (Bought at $25)

PUCATRADE (SOLD)

  • 1x Serum Visions @ 1255 pts
  • 2x Wurm Token (Odyssey) @ 236 pts
  • 1x Elemental Token (DGM) @ 420 pts

Jim says:

“I’m going to be playing a See the Unwritten deck day one of the new Standard so I want to get in to Greenwarden on the cheap.

I’m selling Serum Visions because with Scry being evergreen,  we will be in perpetual “it could be in the next set” mode and any significant reprint kills the price. The tokens were acquired in a small collection so I’m happy to get a few bucks for them. Cavern of Souls also seems primed for a reprint, so I’m happy to unload them with gains. Aether Vial was just a solid flip for profit that I’m not planning on using in any decks.

Really, I’m just trying to line my wallet and Pucatrade account with points to spend in December. [Editor: IMHO] there’s not really a lot of cards worth buying right now.”

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.

James Chillcott, Uncategorized, What We're Buying

MTGFinance: What We’re Buying & Selling This Week (Sep9/15)

7 Comments

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: Sep 1st – 7th, 2015

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

James Chillcott (@MTGCritic)

BOUGHT

  • 3x Monastery Mentor @ $13

SOLD

  • 28x See the Unwritten @ $7.50/per (Cost: $3/per)

Monastery Mentor is a Legacy and Vintage playable card with an absurd power level that hasn’t quite found it’s deck in Modern. Once it does, I fully expect the card to top $30 as a small set mythic that was supplanted by Dragons of Tarkir on shelves only 6 weeks after it debuted. I’ll be acquiring more copies under $16 accordingly.

See the Unwritten was already seeing play in versions of Green/Red dragons in Standard when it spiked off late summer Battle for Zendikar Eldrazi hype. I’ve been selling through a variety of channels, and the price has been sliding but I’m still coming out up over $10/set on average, with additional upside on my remaining 20+ copies if the card finds a deck in the new standard or an obvious search target appears.

Douglas Johnson (@roseofthorns)

BOUGHT (Pucatrade)

  • 15x Spawnsire of Ulamog via Pucatrade at 329 points each

SOLD

  • 3x Shaman of Forgotten Ways at $6/per

Douglas says:

“At only $3, I really like Spawnsire of Ulamog as a pickup. It has dodged being reprinted so far, it makes a lot of mana dorks, and the last activated ability is perfect for both Timmys and Johnnys to get excited about. The annihilator 1 is pretty irrelevant, but who cares? We’re casting every Eldrazi ever. Spawnsire gets a whole lot of new tools with this set, and I don’t think he needs to see competitive or EDH play to get up to $6 or $7 on casual demand alone. SCG is out of stock on NM copies at the moment, but has plenty of SP/MP. eBay is practically dried up of non-foil copies, and there are still quite a few on TCGplayer. Maybe this doesn’t pick up until casual players start cracking packs and building decks, but this is a card I’m very bullish on. You don’t see me pick out spec targets very often, but this is one of them.”

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.

James Chillcott, What We're Buying

MTGFinance: What We’re Buying & Selling This Week (Aug 31/15)

12 Comments

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 21st – Aug 31st, 2015

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

James Chillcott (@MTGCritic)

After completing the research for my new series, MTG Finance Growth Stocks, I put my money where my mouth is and dove in on a few of the specs that seemed most likely to pop sooner or later. Some of these cards were already on the move, but the exposure this week seems to have helped push foil Jace and Hangarback up to the next plateau.

BOUGHT

  • 1x Hangarback Walker (Foil) @ $25
  • 4x Hangarback Walker (Foil) @ $30
  • 2x Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy (Foil) @ $50

BOUGHT (PucaTrade)

  • 11x Hangarback Walker @ 1793 points
  • 2x Hangarback Walker (Foil) @ 3050 points
  • 3x Evolutionary Leap (Foil) @ 1200 points

Hangarback Walker is exhibiting many of the early signs of a multi-format superstar, showing up in a myriad of Standard decks and enjoying early experimentation in Modern, Legacy and even Vintage. As a colorless creature with a flexible casting cost and synergies with +1/+1 counters, artifacts, sweepers and resiliency against point removal, the card has the potential to show up in a ton of decks moving forward. A strong role player with little reason to ever be banned, Hangarback was one of my top picks for Modern foils likely to gain value ahead of the market average. The card has now gone through a buyout and seems to be settling between $40-50 for the time being.

Like Walker, Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy has taken the Magic world largely by surprise and it has proven value in both Standard and Modern with hints that it may even see play in Legacy or Vintage. As a summer set mythic that is exceeding expectations, targeting the foils was a no-brainer from my perspective. Now that the card has spiked feel free to unload for value if you can, or simply hang around for a year and hope for further gains.

Evolutionary Leap foils are a pet card I expect to end up in the $30-40 range within a year or two when someone figures out how to break the card in Modern or Legacy and wins a tournament with it.

 

Danny Brown (@dbro37)

BOUGHT

  • 4x Whisperwood Elemental @ 653 PucaPoints each = $4.57 each
  • 3x Sarkhan the Dragonspeaker @ 519 PucaPoints each = $3.63 each
  • 8x Wingmate Roc @ 282 PucaPoints each = $1.97 each
  • 2x Gilt-Leaf Winnower @ 103 PucaPoints each = $0.72 each
  • 1x Monastery Mentory @ 1606 PucaPoints = $11.24
  • 1x Soul Fire Grandmaster @ 899 PucaPoints = $6.29

Danny says:

“Whisperwood Elemental was the most promising mythic I found in my review of Fate Reforged this week. I tend to like buying cards even less expensive than this, but I like the card enough to speculate on a playset.

Getting additional Sarkhans is representative of my ever-increasing belief that this card will get somewhere above $10 this fall. There are still more on my list and I hope they get sent.

I was on the fence about Wingmate Roc, but Travis’s commitment to the card this week convinced me to pick up a couple sets. Thanks, Travis.

I only discovered Gilt-Leaf Winnower wasn’t $5 like ten minutes ago. I threw a playset up and two were committed before I even finished drafting my section of this article, so there’s some additional content for you. Supply of Magic Origins won’t be high and this is a really good card. I like it quite a bit at under a dollar and may go deeper.

Monastery Mentor and Soul Fire Grandmaster are both cards that are a little too expensive for my speculative tastes, but I needed these both for my cube. Now, if they spike significantly next season, which is not outside the realm of possibility, I’m certainly willing to turn them into profit and wait until rotation to make them a permanent part of my list.”

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.