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Foreign Language (Cards) for Dummies

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By Guo Heng Chin

First and foremost, I have to apologise to you readers and my editors for the late publication of this article. I am currently in Tokyo with intermittent internet access. With that out of the way, let’s dive into a topic that is close to my heart: foreign language foils.

Foreign language cards and foils never used to catch my interest. I delegated them to the realms of hardcore Commander, Legacy and Modern players with wallets thicker than their decks.

Then on one fine day, my girlfriend brought back two boxes of Korean Theros from her trip to South Korea, and I opened this in one of the boxes:

It's hammer time!
It’s hammer time!

Oh my, it looked gorgeous. I grew up speaking English, Malay and Cantonese but I only wrote in English and Malay, which also used Roman alphabets. The Korean script read to me like ancient runes, fittingly on a card that summons a god, and it looked absolutely fascinating in foil. After going through two boxes of Korean Theros, I started to find myself with a thirst for foils in scripts intelligible to myself.

The Tiers of Foreign Cards

One of the first thing every foreign language cardphile learns is the rarity tier of languages and their corresponding price multipliers. This would be exceedingly familiar to many of you, and countless articles have been written about the topic, so I am going to quickly skimp through it for the new entrants and the uninitiated.

English cards are the baseline, being the default language of Magic cards. The European languages, French, Italian and Spanish have a similar or lower valuation in relative to their English counterparts. From my own experience, when I was living in London Spanish, Italian and French cards were valued slightly lower than their English counterparts, both on player-to-player trading and on magiccardmarket.eu, and for both non-foils and foils including eternal staples like Thoughtseize. German is the only exception; some cards have awesome, punny and sometimes politically incorrect names in German:

Athreos, God of Passage (German)Myr Superion

However, back in Malaysia, most European language cards command a higher price than English cards. A rule of thumb for valuing non ‘tier one’ foreign language cards and foils is that they are only worth the amount your trade partner is willing to pay for them.

Non-Roman alphabet languages generally demand a higher price for their cool factor: 

Foil Japanese Brainstorm from eBay user kidicarus.
Foil Japanese Brainstorm from eBay user kidicarus.

The cheapest of the tier one languages is Japanese, considered to be the third most expensive but most accessible of foreign language cards due to the fact that most LGSes worldwide have Japanese booster allocations.  Big Japanese stores like Saito Card Shop also have an English-friendly online presence with a large Japanese non-foil and foil inventory making it easier for anyone around the world to acquire Japanese singles.

The top two rarest languages are Korean and Russian. While most local game stores have a small allocation of Korean and Russian boxes, most stores do not stock them unless requested, or the stocks fly right off the shelves if there are demand for them due to the small allocation. Buying Korean and Russian singles online are  much harder. I tried looking for an online venue to purchase Korean singles to little avail. Even the large Korean Magic: the Gathering stores recommended to me by a Korean friend do not have English websites and Google Translate was horrible at it, especially when I tried to use the search function. I have not done as much research for Russian singles sites but a quick search did not yield any website in English.

The only way to acquire Korean or Russian boxes en masse would be to be in South Korea or Russia yourself, or hope that your LGS stocks them or is willing to order them for you using whatever limited allocation Wizards gave them.

Simplified Chinese cards are cheaper than their English counterparts due to Simplified Chinese cards being perceived to be in high supply, and while Traditional Chinese cards are scarcer, the difficulty in differentiating Simplified and Traditional Chinese for the untrained eye made it that Traditional Chinese cards do not command a significant bump in price.

Non-foil foreign language Japanese, Korean and Russian cards are only slightly more expensive than their non-foil English counterparts, even for eternal staples. As of writing, Korean Thoughtseizes are going for just about $10 more than an English one. The Japanese store I visited were selling Japanese Polluted Delta for 1950 – 2000 yen, which is just $4 – $5 more than an English one.

The foreign language price multiplier gets insane when you look at foil eternal staples, even those currently being opened. The Japanese stores I visited were selling foil Japanese Polluted Delta for 20, 000 yen, which translates into roughly $170. Completed listings on eBay for Korean foil Polluted Delta showed winning bids at around $320. The last sold Russian Polluted Delta on eBay went for slightly higher than $1000.

Pricing Foreign Foils

Foreign non-foils are pretty easy to price, the tier one languages are usually a few dollars more than English versions. Pricing foreign foils is a more arduous task.

The first thing I did after cracking foil Korean Purphoros was to check if I have struck gold.  While I easily looked up the prices for my English foils on MTGPrice.com, attempting to pin a value on foreign cards required more digging, and the fact that Korean was the second rarest language made it felt like trudging through a wild west of card price. When I first looked up on completed sales of foil Korean Purphoros, God of the Forge on eBay, I was estatic to see one sold for $120, which was six times the price of a foil English Purphoros, God of the Forge at that time (January 2014). A few months later, a Korean-based seller was relisting a foil Korean Purphoros for $80 multiple times and no one bought it.

Japanese cards are easier to price thanks to Saito’s Card Shop.  Without any English-friendly online Korean or Russian stores to check for prices (and assuming that like me, you do not speak Korean or Russian), your best bet would be either eBay or the High End Magic Stuff for Sale Facebook Group. While eBay shows you the price at which a card was sold at, it is not often that you can find a card you are looking for and eBay archives old listings, making it more difficult to research. More often than not, you would find no recent sold listings for foils that are not in high demand. The High End Magic Stuff for Sale have a larger listing for you to search through, the prices listed there may not be the price at which the card was bought, and many posters are open to best offers.

Keep in mind that foreign foils, especially the high end ones are only worth as much as the party on the other end of the transaction is willing to pay. The price for foil Korean Purphoros, God of the Forge is a good example. The listing that sold when I first looked it up early this year so happened to meet a buyer willing to fog up $120 for it (Purphoros is popular in Commander I hear), but later listings struggled to find even someone willing to pay $80 for it. As for my own foil Korean Purphoros, I probably will not part with it even for a foil Korean Polluted Delta. The sentimental value attached to it is worth much more to me than a foil Korean Polluted Delta.

I hope you have gleaned some useful information on foreign cards and foils pricing tiers and  how to find out how much they are worth. Join me next week as a recount my Magic adventures in Tokyo.

Edit: The price for foil Japanese Polluted Delta was corrected from 200, 000 yen to 20, 000 yen.  The author would like to thank reader Ben Q who pointed out the extra zero typo.

 

The Gilded Goblin

To Sarkhan or Not to Sarkhan?

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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.
Capture

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.

Capture2

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.

 

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WEEKEND MTGPRICE UPDATE: DEC 12/14

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By James Chillcott (@MTGCritic)

Here’s your weekly update on what’s been shifting around in price in the world of paper Magic: The Gathering this week. This week, we’re staring at a set of subtle shifts as we hit the seasonal lows for KTK rares and mythics:

5 Winners of the Week

1. Fatestitcher (Shards of Alara, Uncommon): $1.33 to $2.42 (+82%)

Fatestitcher shot up after showing up in Sam Black’s innovative update to the Jeskai Ascendancy combo deck in Modern at Worlds 2014 last weekend. It’s also showing up in Legacy. The card allows Ascendancy players to access the “untap a permanent” part of their combo without dipping into green for mana elves, immediately improving the consistency of the deck. Foils have also been on the move, jumping from $2 to $10 this week. There’s not much juice left here, but if you managed to snag some of those cheap foils, you should almost certainly be selling into the hype.

Format(s): Modern/Legacy

Verdict: Sell 

2. Whip of Erebos (Theros, Rare): $3.15 to $3.73 (+18%)

Whip decks are a major component of the vibrant Standard metagame at present, and good showings at several big tournaments lately have demonstrated the importance of the Whip as a multiple in any deck trying to harness this strategy alongside Sidisi and company. There isn’t much upside left here, with the max price on Whip likely being somewhere in the $5-6 range given upcoming rotation and a lack of play in older formats.

Format(s): Standard

Verdict: Sell

3. Soul of Theros (M15, Mythic): $1.58 to $1.81 (+15%)

This powerful late game card is enjoying a small boost after showing up in the winning mid-range Abzan Standard deck at GP Santiago as a 3-of alongside 3 Hornet Queens for massive late game value. It will need some more big finishes and wider adoption, preferably across multiple decks, to keep moving up, but as a “small set” mythic, Soul of Theros has the potential to hit $5 in the right metagame. It also has longer term casual/EDH applications though a double-up is only likely via Standard success this winter/spring.

Format(s): Standard/Casual

Verdict: Hold/Buy

4. Sliver Hive (M15, Rare): $1.79 to $2.02 (+13%)

The slight bump in price here is purely a result of the increasing casual demand for Slivers in the face of additional additions to the tribe in M15 and some fringe play in Legacy via Counter-Slivers. I’m pretty deep on these, with about 50 copies in the long-term box, as I see it as an easy $5-6 card within a couple of years. Also see foils of Sliver Hivelord if you’re investing in the tribe.

Format(s): Casual/Legacy

Verdict: Buy/Hold

5. Counterbalance (Coldsnap, Rare): $9.94 to $10.80 (+9%)

Miracles continues to put up solid results in Legacy and this pillar of the deck is slowing building value on the low possibility of reprinting and the deck’s lack of ban-able cards. It’s not a good spec target however,  mostly due to limited applications in other formats and it’s usage in but a single deck in competitive play.

Format(s): Legacy

Verdict: Hold

 

5 Top Losers of the Week

1. Glittering Wish (Future Sight, Rare): $16.40 to $13.53 (-18%)

Glittering Wish earned a large price bump this fall when it showed up in early Jeskai Ascendancy builds in Modern. With the deck now moving away from green mana, Wish is seeing less demand. It’s still on my radar as a potential gainer, as it’s unlikely to see a reprint in MM2 and is the kind of card that just gets better as more targets and decks appear. That being said, I’ve been selling into the hype as early as eight weeks ago, with the margins from the recently sub-$5 copies being too good to get greedy on.

Format(s): Modern/Legacy

Verdict: Sell

2. Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker (KTK, Mythic): $19.95 to $17.08 (-14%)

Nothing against the big guy. He’s putting up great numbers, winning tourneys and showing up in plenty of Top 8’s. The simple fact remains that Khans of Tarkir has been opened a ton, and we’re now in the December part of the season where fall standard cards hit their lows. I’ve been scooping these up anywhere I find them under $15, on the bet that Sarkhan finds a $25+ spike somewhere in the next year, possibly in September 2015. Even if you don’t cash them out later, there are few better places to stash some trade value.

Format(s): Standard/Casual

Verdict: Buy/Hold

 

3. Wurmcoil Engine (Scars of Mirrodin, Mythic): $15.57 to $13.44 (-14%)

This card was headed up until it’s recent Commander 2014 reprinting, and I’d stay away until it finds a final bottom in the $10 range later this spring.

Format(s): Modern/Casual/EDH

Verdict: Sell/Trade

 

4. Wingmate Roc (KTK, Mythic) 11.27 to 10.25 (-9%)

As with Sarkhan, the flying wonder twins are only getting more tempting, as copies have been ending south of $10 on Ebay and TCGPlayer lately, and could easily top $15-20 by fall 2015, with two quick hit winter sets, followed quickly by MM2 in late May.

Verdict: Hold/Buy

 

5. Kozilek, Butcher of Truth (Rise of the Eldrazi, Mythic) $56.46 to $52.82 (-6%)

If you see an Eldrazi coming, you are best off running as fast as possible in the opposite direction. Likewise, if you see Modern Masters 2 (2015 Edition) coming in May, and it’s already confirmed to include Eldrazi (via Emrakul), getting out of the big lugs before reprints kill their value is also a pretty great idea.

Verdict: Sell

Quick Hits:

  • Greg Hatch showed up to the Legacy SCG Invitational this weekend with an ultra-sexy new combo deck making use of Artificer’s Intuition, Altar of the Brood, Salvage Titan, Locket of Yesterday’s, Divining Top and other cheap artifacts to force opponent’s to draw their entire deck in a hurry. Related foils have been experiencing upward pressure despite the deck only amassing an average record. That being said, many of these cards have possible bright futures as similar combos are refined.
  • With MM2 (2015 Edition) confirmed, there are plenty of cards you should likely be dumping (Mox Opal, Emrakul, Phyrexian Obliterator, Goblin Guide) and others that you are now safe to pursue (Snapcaster Mage, Restoration Angel, Cavern of Souls, Abrupt Decay).

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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Casual Fridays

At Their Peak

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By: Cliff Daigle

It’s the end of the year, and while rotation for what’s currently legal is more than nine months away, I want to be thinking about what to keep and what to move.

I’m comfortable getting out of a card if the value has gone up and I can get my profit, either in cash or in trade. I’m not going to sweat Standard cards gaining a little more, I’d rather keep hitting my singles and doubles than always swinging for the fences.

The cards I want to trade or sell right now are cards that are going to lose value at rotation, and I want to be ahead of that trend. I might keep a playset for decks (these are good cards after all) but these are cards that are not seeing enough Modern/Legacy play to justify holding their price in a few months. These cards are at their peak value, or already trending down from the peak, and I don’t want to wait until they hit the floor.

Just a heads-up: These are going to look a lot like some lists from earlier this year, about things to trade for.

Hero’s Downfall

I told anyone who would listen to get in at $5 and now I’m telling you to get out at anything like $10. It is a fantastically versatile spell, with no restrictions or problems, aside from costing three mana, and double black at that. It’s not good enough for eternal formats and you should not be keeping yours much longer.

There is a chance that this card makes it to $12 or $13 if a series of decks win with it, but it’s already in very wide use. Simply put, there’s a lot in circulation even as there are a lot of decks using it. It’s the 5th most valuable card in Theros, and will not stay there forever. In fact, it’s already started to decline to $9, and it might go lower. Get out now.

Stormbreath Dragon

It’s played in less decks but it’s a very good card in a range of strategies. It’s also a mythic, as compared to a rare. This dragon is good enough to be featured in assorted casual decks, but the price trajectory is more like Thundermaw Hellkite. I’ll be expecting this to drop to under $10 as rotation approaches.

Elspeth, Sun’s Champion

If you have any spares, get out soon. Her Duel Deck is landing in late February, which is when thoughts of rotation start appearing all over, and you want to be ahead of that trend. I think her price will get to $15-$20 even at that point, and may even hit $10 at rotation, which is when I’d want to pick her up. Elspeth’s third card is outstanding in a range of casual decks (Soldiers, tokens, planeswalkers) and getting her at her lowest is going to be a winner.

Sylvan Caryatid

It’s seeing a little Modern play in Jeskai Ascendancy combo decks, but not enough to stay at $10, especially with a Buy-A-Box promo version out there. Keep your playset for your deck, and move the rest.

Kiora, the Crashing Wave

Everything that is true of Elspeth is true of her, except that she sees far less play. Her abilities are also much harder to use in Commander games, so I have trouble seeing her getting any higher in price than she is now.

Courser of Kruphix

This is seeing some Modern play and I find that intriguing, especially in a Scapeshift list. It’s $12 now, despite being in the Clash Pack, and I don’t expect it will dip very far even at rotation. It’s very good in casual green decks that want to keep the land flowing, though it won’t compete with Oracle of Mul Daya for value. Still, I’d move it out now and take the profit, instead of holding it and hoping.

Temples (especially Malady!)

The temples pop up occasionally in Modern decks and never as a four-of. Malady is the most expensive right now at $12, a price which is mostly due to the relative scarcity of the set it was in. All of the temples are likely to drop at rotation, as they are just too slow for the Eternal formats.

Keranos, God of Storms

The most expensive by far of the Gods at $15, Keranos is a fun singleton in a lot of Modern sideboards. It’s all for his ability, not the creature side. While I do think that this will keep making appearances in sideboards, I think his price will settle to around $10.

Nissa, Worldwaker

I don’t argue the power of her 4/4 land ability, but I also don’t think her $25 price tag will stay much longer. It’s been on a steady decline for the last couple of months as she’s seen fringe play in Standard:

nissa

I have trouble seeing her price as going up, since she’s five mana and is an awkward draw in multiples. Most of the decks she’s used in have her as a one-of in the sideboard, which makes her price trajectory even sadder.

Goblin Rabblemaster

I admit, I thought this was a player in Modern, given how ubiquitous it is in Standard decks that play red. But the numbers simply aren’t there yet, so while this might find a home in Modern, for now, it’s time to back away from him. When this rotates, it’ll drop to $7 or so, and that might be a better pickup. Remember that this was the Buy-a-Box promo, and that adds price pressure to the casual appeal.

Stoke the Flames

Speaking of not-quite-good-enough-for-Modern! This is an uncommon at $5, because it’s really good with creatures and cards like Hordeling Outburst. Stoke is all over the place in Standard, but hasn’t made a Modern impact. It seems unlikely to, given the one- and two-mana spells that deal three damage. Four mana to deal four damage seems unlikely, even with a discount available. Warleader’s Helix has seen more play in Modern so far. I would not be sitting on any spare copies of this right now.

You might disagree with me about wanting to get out of these cards right now. I would understand if you wanted to wait, maybe to trade these for Fate Reforged goodies. I’m warning you, though, that the longer you wait, the worse it might go. The drop at rotation is happening earlier and earlier, so I’m trying to be ahead of the curve.

 

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