Commander Buzz

April 28, 2014 Jared Yost 1 Comment

By: Jared Yost

There has been a lot of buzz going on in the Magic finance community over the past few months. It all started with Modern. Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you’ve noticed that Modern card prices have gone crazy – and will continue to go crazy throughout the summer PTQ season. Then, all of sudden everyone had an interest in Legacy cards. Starcitygames and others have been upping their buylist and sell prices on format staples like dual lands and other cards like City of Traitors, Sneak Attack, Wasteland, and Stoneforge Mystic have all increased significantly in price. Like others have pointed out, this is most likely because people saw that they could trade away or buylist their Zendikar fetchlands for a hefty credit towards the rarer Revised dual lands for Legacy or Commander and decided it was a no-brainer to pick them up.

Speaking of Commander, the most recent buzz surrounds casual cards. That’s right, cards from the very first release of the Commander products (called just Commander) are now starting to see new highs. Let’s check out the current prices on the first Commander set:

All Cards in Set (with Fair Trade Price $3 or more)

Card Name	Fair Trade Price	Best Buylist Price
Flusterstorm	$42.63	$30.0
Kaalia of the Vast	$27.86	$17.01
Stranglehold	$16.16	$9.45
Edric, Spymaster of Trest	$14.98	$9.45
Damia, Sage of Stone	$14.42	$8.82
Animar, Soul of Elements	$13.99	$9.3
Hydra Omnivore	$11.87	$8.0
Scavenging Ooze	$11.64	$7.01
Grave Pact	$11.32	$8.09
Oblivion Stone	$11.23	$6.0
Ghave, Guru of Spores	$9.48	$5.0
Chaos Warp	$9.1	$6.3
Garruk Wildspeaker	$8.98	$5.88
Path to Exile	$8.71	$4.62
Tariel, Reckoner of Souls	$8.67	$5.24
Riku of Two Reflections	$7.82	$4.7
Ghostly Prison	$7.79	$4.01
Spell Crumple	$7.14	$4.0
Sol Ring	$6.86	$4.01
Austere Command	$6.76	$4.01
Karador, Ghost Chieftain	$6.76	$3.75
Basandra, Battle Seraph	$6.74	$5.5
Skullclamp	$6.49	$3.5
Lightning Greaves	$6.33	$3.5
Mother of Runes	$6.21	$4.51
Akroma, Angel of Fury	$5.59	$3.0
The Mimeoplasm	$5.57	$4.0
Skullbriar, the Walking Grave	$5.43	$3.0
Sewer Nemesis	$5.16	$2.74
Homeward Path	$5.05	$2.41
Hornet Queen	$5.01	$3.0
Angel of Despair	$4.89	$4.63
Aura Shards	$4.82	$2.54
Champion’s Helm	$4.82	$2.62
Solemn Simulacrum	$4.32	$2.0
Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter	$3.77	$2.0
Dread Cacodemon	$3.68	$1.75
Eternal Witness	$3.52	$1.0
Command Tower	$3.49	$0.5
Mana-Charged Dragon	$3.42	$2.14
Nin, the Pain Artist	$3.23	$1.5
Avatar of Woe	$3.14	$1.51

If I would have told you one year ago that Stranglehold would be the third most valuable card from this expansion I’m pretty sure I would have been laughed out of the room. Yet, there it stands at ~$16 trade value below Kaalia and Flusterstorm.

Other recent price corrections that have occurred put Edric and Damia in the top five. Edric doesn’t seem very surprising to me because in Legacy he seems like he could provide a lot of benefit to the correct deck. But Damia? That correction was purely from casual demand.

Even cards like Ghave are not safe. Two weeks ago he was $2.50 and now has spiked up to $10. Well, spike isn’t the correct term in this case – it really is a price correction based on market demand as more casual players try to build additional Commander decks and stores have followed suit.

This makes me wonder what else from the first Commander release has a lot of potential? I’ll separate my cards to watch into several categories to let you know where I think each will fall in the long term.

Most Probable for a Price Correction

Animar, Soul of Elements
Chaos Warp
Riku of Two Reflections
Karador, Ghost Chieftain
The Mimeoplasm
Nin, the Pain Artist

I think that out of all the cards that haven’t corrected in price those listed above are next in line. Most of the cards in this list are legendary creatures from the original Commander precons that were created specifically for that expansion. Outside of future Commander products these cards are very hard to reprint because their lore is so specific. Until new Commander products are released that utilize the wedge colors again I don’t foresee these cards coming down in price. In fact, I can see them continuing to go up due to the rise in popularity of Commander as a format and the fact that they haven’t seen price corrections for quite some time.

I put Chaos Warp in this list because I feel that for a removal spell this strong in red, a color that basically has no way to deal with enchantments outside of colorless spells and Chaos Warp, it really has nowhere to go but up. I especially like foils from the Commander’s Arsenal at $25. The only caveat I would give here is that this could possibly be printed in Conspiracy. Judging by the power level of the recently spoiled Dack Fayden I could totally see Chaos Warp being in that set just to get more copies out there. Nin could also be a potential inclusion as her ability is very political.

Solidly Trending Upwards

Hydra Omnivore
Grave Pact
Tariel, Reckoner of Souls
Spell Crumple
Basandra, Battle Seraph
Akroma, Angel of Fury
Skullbriar, the Walking Grave
Sewer Nemesis
Hornet Queen
Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter

Already experienced major price increases yet still apply to this category:

Flusterstorm
Kaalia of the Vast
Stranglehold
Edric, Spymaster of Trest
Damia, Sage of Stone
Ghave, Guru of Spores

The cards here have corrected in price or are already fairly pricey, though now they are at a price where I don’t think they will double up again in one shot. I think they will now slowly creep up over time.

Some cards in this category don’t scream “Price correction!” to me but I believe still have a good shot of increasing in price over a longer period. Cards like Tariel, Basandra, Skullbriar, Vish Kal, and Sewer Nemesis are good examples – these are all great casual cards yet they are on the weaker side of the card pool from the first Commander products. I think it will take them longer to reach a higher price than they are currently selling.

On the other hand, cards like Akroma, Hornet Queen, Spell Crumple, Grave Pact, and Hydra Omnivore are all solid casual cards that may not see exponential growth (outside of being featured in an eternal format top 8 decklist) yet still have some room to grow in the long run. The reason I don’t think they will price correct as fast as the first category is because Akroma has two printings, the other cards I mentioned aren’t build-around-me cards, and they all require solid commitment to their colors to be included within a deck that utilizes them. Akroma has been seeing some hype recently due to her potential Modern applications, so it could double up just based on that. In the long term though, I believe the price of these cards will have a relatively stable upward trend.

I’m also including the cards here that are the most expensive from the set because, frankly, they can certainly get even more expensive. However, due to many of them already increasing in price substantially fairly recently (or already being expensive) they’ll probably take longer than the first category to experience another shoot up in price. Be on the lookout for them to be sure, as most are fairly hard to reprint, though also keep in mind these could take longer to go up again.

Will Trend Upwards but Fear the Reprint

Scavenging Ooze
Oblivion Stone
Garruk Wildspeaker
Path to Exile
Ghostly Prison
Sol Ring
Austere Command
Skullclamp
Lightning Greaves
Mother of Runes
Homeward Path
Command Tower

All of these cards are great casual targets. They all have decent trade value because casual players love to use these in their decks. However, I would be hesitant to pick up extra copies of these cards because they all have seen at least two printings, with a few seeing several, which means that Wizards has no problem reprinting them to get more copies out there. They are also more generic than legendary creatures and can be more easily included in new casual products or future sets. I would only acquire the copies you need and not try to hold onto these in the long term.

Scavenging Ooze may be the only exception to this rule as it sees heavy Modern play. Though it is played in 30% of the decks in Modern, it usually only averages about two copies per deck so that could stabilize the price a bit. I thought picking up Scavenging Ooze at around $11 was a good idea and have yet to recover from that (thankfully, I also picked up a ton of Mutavaults at $11 so I guess I’ll take the bad with the good.) I still have hope that Scavenging Ooze can trend upwards in the summer. I will wait until then to see if I can get a better price. If I can, that’s good and I will sell out of my stock. If not, I still plan to sell out because if they don’t rise for Modern this summer it is going to take a while for them to reach $15 or higher. In that time, Wizards could decide that the ooze needs another reprint in Modern Masters 2 or a supplementary product. I want to minimize that risk as much as I can.

Final Thoughts

Looking at the highest priced cards from the first Commander precon set we can see there are a lot of cards that deserve further analysis for future price trends. Trying to predict casual all stars can be hard at times, as casual players usually like cards that I as a spike can sometimes overlook. (Consuming Aberration was pointed out recently to me by Travis.) Who would have thought Stranglehold would be so valuable? I try not to get frazzled by these sometimes capricious prices for casual staples but that is something I am looking to improve upon by writing articles like this. Think I’ve got something completely wrong? Think I’ve missed anything that is less than $3 retail that is poised to go up over time from the original Commander set? Please, leave me a comment. The more we all know the better we can get at seeing what exactly casual players desire from their cards.

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Weekend Recap 4/26/14

April 26, 2014 4 Comments

By: Jim Marsh

Every week, some cards from Magic the Gathering increase and decease in value based upon a number of factors.

Let’s take a look at some of the cards whose values have changed the most and the factors behind why those changes have occurred.

10 Big Winners of the Week

10. The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
$555.27 to $680.00 (22.5%)

Did you pick yours up last week for $550?

Just as I predicted, it went on sale before bouncing right back to nearly $700.

It is a rare from Legends on the reserve list. It is being used in multiple Legacy decks to keep creatures and mana under control.

I would not by them at $680 but if you want to play with them I would still try to see if any copies exist in the $550 range before that omission is corrected.

9. Akroma, Angel of Fury
$4.00 to $4.93 (23.3%)

Can I say how much I love this card? She is powerful, evasive and has protection from pesky cards like Path to Exile, Detention Sphere and Remand.

She is used in Commander, Casual formats and has been showing up recently in Modern decklists.

Play her morphed. For the small price of a Cloudshift, Flickerwisp or Restoration Angel (remember she is not an angel while morphed) you get a 6/6 monster in the air. She can block Archangel of Thune all day long and not trigger any lifegain or counters.

She is being experimented with in Birthing Pod and Death and Taxes variants.

I would trade for her before Modern season gets going. I could easily see her getting to $10 if the decks perform well.

She has only been printed twice: in Planar Chaos and the original Commander decks. For flavor and mechanical reasons I don’t think she will ever be printed again outside of a supplemental product.

8. Teferi’s Puzzle Box
$1.96 to $2.50 (29.6%)

Wizards of the Coast printed the Mind Seize Commander deck with two money cards in it. True-Name Nemesis was worth more than the retail price of the deck and Baleful Strix was just icing on the cake.

This left a lot of financiers with ninety eight cards needing a home. Nekusar, the Mindrazer was an interesting card with a powerful effect that was included.

A little tweaking was needed and Nekusar decks have been causing price increases in Forced Fruition, Winds of Change, and even the innocuous Teferi’s Puzzle Box has become a powerful win condition.

This card is spiking despite five printings and the support of a format where one copy is all a deck needs. Every copy of this card is being sought out to complete Nekusar decks.

Trade for them if you can get them for under $2. Your local game store may even have some in their bulk rare boxes.

7. Apocalypse
$1.99 to $2.58 (29.7%)

This rare from Tempest is on the Reserved List. For five mana it lets a red deck exile the entire board.

Think about what that means in a casual game. Hexproof and Indestructible permanents make you laugh. Undying and Persist creatures mean nothing to you. Even Gods and Planeswalkers must leave at your command.

All it costs is your hand.

This is a sweeper worth having.

I would actively trade for these. I can only see these continuing to grow slowly over time due to casual appeal.

6. Marton Stromgald
$2.42 to $3.16 (30.6%)

Did you remember that this card exists? I had to look it up. It is a budget Commander with an interesting effect.

It is a rare from Ice Age which means there are not a lot of copies lying around. He is on the Reserved List so it will never be reprinted.

Last summer it shot up from $2 to $10. It sat around $8 for over a month before slumping back to $2. It is a pretty cheap spec with some interesting potential.

I would try to trade for these if you see them in binders. They will probably be sitting with the bulk rares.

5. Mimic Vat
$2.05 to $3.00 (46.3%)

This Commander all star card has been inching up recently. It is not hard to see why. It can be played in any deck since it has no color requirement.

It can exile a problematic creature that you don’t want your opponent to reanimate. It can be a steady stream of card advantage. Even something as mundane as exiling an opponent’s evoked Mulldrifter will give you a Divination you can cast over and over again. You can chump block forever and keep reaping the benefits.

The best part is that if something better comes along like Thragtusk or It That Betrays you can upgrade.

If you want to play with it, I would pick mine up sooner rather than later.

The Imprint mechanic makes it difficult to reprint outside of a supplemental product. This will probably be a slow grower a long time to come.

4. Shadowborn Demon
$4.00 to $5.99 (49.8%)

Standard has been experimenting with Reanimator decks in Golgari and Junk configurations. The decks have been playing well and one of the best targets to reanimate in Standard is Shadowborn Demon.

It kills an opposing creature like Master of Waves or Stormbreath Dragon and then swings in for five in the air.

If you used Whip of Erebos to bring it back you do not even need to worry about the upkeep trigger.

If you are playing with them then by all means enjoy them. Otherwise I would try to trade them for some Scrylands or gods. Rotation is just a few short months away. Fall will see Shadowborn Demon as a bulk rare that will clutter your binder for years to come. Get something with a longer shelf life.

3. Sneak Attack
$49.98 to $78.26 (56.6%)

Did you grab your Judge Promo yet? Sneak Attack was briefly $85 for both the regular version and the Judge Promo. This should never happen for a card that is used as a full play set main deck in a Legacy deck.

I honestly have no idea how this happened.

I would not get into Sneak Attack now. I think this price adjustment has been coming but the time to get it for less than $50 has passed.

Through the Breach is $10 and sometimes gets played as additional copies of Sneak Attack. It was under $5 for a long time so price memory can help you when picking up copies.

2. Sigil of the Empty Throne
$3.29 to $6.26 (90.3%)

Sigil of the Empty Throne just keeps picking up steam! Monowhite and Azorius Prison decks like to hide behind Porphyry Nodes and Detention Spheres until they can land a Sigil of the Empty Throne.

Weekly results of MTGO Modern tournaments have not seen these decks place very competitively recently.

Modern season is coming soon and a lot of people are probably brewing with these as a budget deck. They are fun to play with but the price is not supported by results.

I would trade these away. I do like Detention Spheres and Chalice of the Voids from these decklists though. Both are cheap and relatively easy to pick up. They are both used in multiple formats as four ofs in multiple decklists. They are criminally underpriced.

1. Ghave, Guru of Spores
$2.70 to $9.51 (252.2%)

This Junk (Green / Black / White) Commander has only been printed once. It was available as part of the original Commander decks.

There has been a lot of interest recently in obtaining these Commanders. Supply is low and interest in the Commander format is at an all time high.

This cheap pick up was suggested by myself (and much more significantly Jason Alt) last week.

The price shot straight from $2 to $12 in an instant. It is coming down but I think it will settle around $7 to $8.

I would sell or trade your while it is still high.

There are still some cheap Commanders from the set that have room to grow.

Karador, Ghost Chieftain and The Mimeoplasm can both be had for $5 to $6.

Ruhan of the Fomori and Zedruu the Greathearted are both bulk rares at this point! You could probably get both as toss ins on trades.

5 Big Losers of the Week

5. Edric, Spymaster of Trest
$16.00 to $12.99 (-18.8%)

Edric was a surprise inclusion in a successful 4 Color Delver Legacy deck a couple of weeks ago.

The problem is that the deck only wants one copy of him. The deck made a Top 8 appearance in Detroit last week but that alone is not enough to support the card’s sudden jump from $4 to $20.

It is still a strong card with low supply. It has only been printed twice: Commander and Commander’s Arsenal.

I think it will settle around $12.

4. Keranos, God of Storms
$16.41 to $12.97 (-21.0%)

You will notice a trend for the losers of the week.

Pre-order prices for Journey into Nyx gods have all been adjusted.

What happened? Deicide.

It is what happens when you combine Erase and Lobotomy.

Now when someone asks Chameleon Colossus if it is a god it will be afraid to answer “Yes.”

Keep in mind that this does not mean the gods are bad cards. Keranos is fantastic in a Grixis control strategy.

I would still first pick just about any of the gods over a Deicide in a draft.

The Journey into Nyx gods have all will have to settle after they are released and Standard has a chance to play with them. They are third set mythic rares so they should settle higher in price than the gods from Theros or Born of the Gods.

3. Iroas, God of Victory
$16.76 to $13.19 (-21.3%)

See above.

2. Ghostly Prison
$9.00 to $6.98 (-22.4%)

This one surprises me. I am cautiously optimistic. It is not only used in (and names) the White Prison decks mentioned before but it is used in many control variants in Modern.

The thing that keeps this down is the fact that it was printed as an uncommon and it has been printed four times. I would target the FNM Promos. I think that it will recover. The card should be significantly higher in price than Sigil of the Empty Throne.

1. Kruphix, God of Horizons
$12.31 to $8.93 (-27.5%)

This one saddens me but it now makes Kruphix the one god who I think will hold its prerelease price for its duration in Standard. This is sure to be a favorite Commander for a long time to come. I would gladly trade for these at $9 this weekend.

Casual Fridays

Prerelease Trading

April 25, 2014 Cliff Daigle 1 Comment

By: Cliff Daigle

I’ve told you to trade everything away at prereleases. Journey into Nyx is making me reconsider that advice.

Four times a year, I’ve had a simple mantra: trade everything you open at the prerelease. The reasoning is this: nothing is bulk yet. Everything has a higher value due to scarcity. Buylist prices are never higher, trade values are never greater. Nearly every card from the set will go down in price over the next three months, and it’s rare for a card to have a value higher than its preorder price during its run in Standard.

Picking out the cards that will go up requires laser-like focus and a healthy amount of luck. I’ve never been that lucky, and I’ve made consistent gains in value just by trading things away before they’ve had a chance to tank.

However, as I’ve covered, things from Journey into Nyx are going to be rarer than cards from Theros and Born of the Gods. That scarcity is part of why I’ll be hesitant to trade some things away after my Prerelease is over, cards that will fall into three categories of hesitation.

#1: Keranos and Kruphix

Most of the mythics I’ll be happy to let go. Flamespeaker Prophet doesn’t actually cast the card, it just does the pseudo-draw that red has gotten lately. Godsend is interesting but not big long-term. The other mythics are not singing to me, and I’m especially eager to move the new Ajani before his price lowers.

I will be tempted to hold onto these two Gods, though. The other three are more likely to decline in price. I think that Keranos has a chance in Standard (Especially when paired with Thassa!) and Kruphix’s casual demand will keep the price high for a while. This is a long-term hold, until at least Halloween. That’s when I see Keranos’s value being highest, and I suspect Kruphix will just steadily increase over time.

#2: Foils

As a player who is mostly in Commander games, I see a lot of people who like to trade for that which is shiny. I’m one of those people who, when given the chance, will always try to trade for the foil ‘upgrade’ for a deck. With that in mind, I’ll be asking a real premium on foils I open at the prerelease. People who want shiny cards understand that it’s tough to give up those new and shiny cards.

Should I crack open a foil God, I’ll be keeping it for the long-term appeal. Eventually, I’ll find someone that’s been dying to have that foil and then I’ll be happy to let it go…for the right price.

#3: Temples

While there aren’t many Black/Green or Red/Blue decks running around at the moment, the fact remains that these temples will be the hardest to find for the next year and a half. We’ve seen three-color decks use the full twelve Temples because they are just that good! A free scry, even if attached to a enters-play-tapped land, is a powerful effect in any format, though it seems to be too slow for Modern or Legacy. I can vouch for their effectiveness in EDH!

Again, to repeat myself: I’m probably going to trade it all away. This is a guess about what I think will go up in value over the long term. I have had good luck with this mindset over the past few years. The scarcity and the power of these cards are making me question a few examples, but I know that even if I trade it all away, I’m possibly giving up some value if I need to get some of these back.

Think Twice

The Future of Modern

April 24, 2014 Camden Clark 4 Comments

By: Camden Clark

I talked two weeks ago about the picks I made and how the Pro Tour set the metagame that will go into the Pro Tour Qualifier season.

I was and still am really optimistic about the future of Modern in both the short and long terms. There are a lot of people who really enjoy this format. Wizards has been throwing so much at this format to make it work that Modern will not fail.

With Modern there are so many more copies of each card in print than, say, Revised. There are simply more copies of Verdant Catacombs than Bayou out there. Herein lies the genius and the pitfall of Modern. Wizards could decide to reprint a popular Modern playable, crashing the price but significantly increasing accessibility. As the reserved list prevents Wizards from printing more copies of Bayou there will be no room for more players to get in and the floor will only get higher and higher.

Although there is the potential for these pitfalls (see Remand) overall the trend for Modern has been up. This will only continue into the summer and beyond.

I want to avoid proselytizing the death of Legacy. However, the huge Modern GPs show the inevitable adoption of the Modern format as a semi-eternal format that has higher accessibility. Star City Games has a LOT invested in Legacy cards. They will not stop doing major Legacy events. The recent spikes of dual lands worries me for the future of the format. There are quite a few people who have their Legacy card collection from buying the cards years ago. These players do not grow the format unfortunately. The players that grow the format are ones who buy into the format. If decks cost six thousand dollars or more, who will pay that just to play one event a year?

Decks that are $1,000 to $2,000 are much more reasonable.

This is the main reason why I like investing in Modern in the short term and long term. There are huge opportunities to make money on commons, uncommons, rares, and mythic rares. I would like to elaborate on the short term picks that should rise going into the summer.

Electrolyze

I am a huge fan of this card right now. It has a major role in most URx decks that are not Storm. Lots of spikes who will play in the PTQs love to play their control decks. Many of them will choose these decks. Electrolyze is really strong against almost every deck in the format. It even has utility against Storm as it draws a card while killing one of their enablers, Goblin Electromancer.

The effect on this card gives it major utility even in matchups where it is dead. If you are leaving up a counterspell, and they pass the turn, you can play Electrolyze to draw a card. This makes a huge difference in the playability of this card. I can’t see this not going up and it will be a major staple of trade binders going into the summer.

All of the Fetchlands

Players will pay ANYTHING for the fetchlands.

Most everything has been leading to my belief that there will be no fetchlands in M15 or Conspiracy. M15 will still have shocklands for a brief period of time. Wizards is not going to let fetches and shocks in at the same time in Standard. It’s pretty clear Conspiracy was designed to be a beginners set at this point and it is quite unlikely that fetches will be in that set.

All this means is that our investments are secure through the summer. There is only an infinitely small chance of a reprint before “Huey.”

With that confidence, if you want to play with or invest in fetches, buy as soon as you can. You will never get a better opportunity than the one that has been presented right now.

I especially like Scalding Tarn as a choice. This card will probably reach one hundred and fifty dollars in the height of PTQ season. As I said earlier, the people who need these cards REALLY need them. And they want a playset. Stock up on these. You can sell them for hilarious premiums on eBay later in the summer. If you just want to play with them, you won’t get a lower price than now heading into PTQ season. After you play with them, you sell out again. Fairly straightforward.

The other fetchlands have not dropped in price as much. However, they are still great pickups. If you have the money or trade, put it into fetchlands. There is little risk here going into the summer.

The only fetchland you should be concerned about is Marsh Flats. This one might be getting a reprint in a pre-con. Be wary. Do your research.

Gifts Ungiven

Lots of players have been trying to make this card work. There are quite a few Gifts decks out there. 4c Gifts and UW Tron are playing this and use it for massive value. There aren’t too many copies of this card out there. There will be people who want to play this in casual formats and Modern. I do not see this going any lower especially since it was in Modern Masters. This is an easy card to move in on.

Rest in Peace

This one will probably stay stagnant until someone decides it is too low and buys it out. After it is bought out, the price will double or triple. I would not want to miss out on this spike. There would be no warning. It seems almost inevitable at some point.

Let’s move on to more long term picks.

Thoughtseize

As PTQ season and Standard winds down, there will be a massive dropoff in demand for Thoughtseize. The price of the card will drop off immensely. That’s the time to pick it up. It will still have a year in Standard and an infinite time in Modern. This card is a pillar of the Modern format and will rise to the unreal prices it had before the reprint. Look to move in on these after selling out of your Modern picks.

Shocklands

The price of these will also dramatically decrease in the double loss of cycling out of Standard and PTQ season ending. Your window here will be very small. Moving in on this one would get you some nearly assured profit in a year or two. Trade for these, buy them on eBay, whatever you have to do. You will not regret this decision when the PTQ season far in the future hits.

It is worth mentioning the power of foils here. Many will be very interested in foiling out their decks. Take a look at the graph for foil Stoneforge:

I predict the exact same thing will happen with Modern. People will want to invest into making their decks look awesome. In one year the price quadrupled.

The price graph of foil Steam Vents is shown below:

Bold prediction: next year, in April, a foil Steam Vents will be 90 dollars. There is very little to stop the price of these from skyrocketing. I would trade for and buy these aggressively. If your bankroll can handle it these cards are amazing.

I now want to talk generally about the future of Modern and its relationship to Legacy.

Three things could happen:

Modern could fail and Legacy remains the major eternal format
Modern and Legacy coexist
Modern becomes the major eternal format and Legacy goes the way of Vintage

The first option won’t happen. Wizards has invested too much into this format for it to die. Modern Masters’ popularity showed the interest in the format. The Pro Tour and GPs have cemented that interest and proved that Modern is here to stay.

Three is quite unlikely in the near future. Star City Games will support the card market for Legacy. They have quite a bit invested into this specific market. There will continue to be Legacy events ran all around the country.

Two is the most likely. Modern does not spell the end of Legacy necessarily and will merely substitute it for less serious newer players.

What this does mean is that Modern is here to stay. There is no ceiling on the cards in this format anymore. Who could have predicted hundreds of dollars for a dual land? If you did, you’d probably be rich. Now, we have empirics for how eternal formats can drive prices sky high. Foils are even crazier. Modern is where the money is and will be for the next two years at least. Buy in cheap while you still can.

What do you think the relationship between Legacy and Modern will be going into the future? Hit me up on twitter: http://twitter.com/CamdenClarkMTG

Thanks for reading.

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