Tag Archives: MTG finance

City of Traders, ProTrader

PROTRADER: Tribal Trials

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By: Travis Allen

Last week, I began my article by discussing the PAX spoiler show that had happened over the weekend, hosted by Wil Wheaton and Ashly Burch. I used descriptive language, partly because my goal was to be evocative in describing the broadcast, and partly because my finance content doesn’t typically allow for that style of writing. The result was a divisive article for sure, with more comments than any other article I’ve published here at MTGPrice. I’ve read all your feedback both here and on Twitter, and I thank everyone who took the time to tell me how they felt, whether you told me that you hated it or loved it. Even among those who disliked what I wrote, there was a remarkably low volume of personal attacks, an event akin to February 29th.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind my readers that at no point have I ever called myself a journalist. Neither myself or any of the other writers here can be considered journalists when writing for this website. Journalists gather and share news, typically with little analysis or value judgments. Here at MTGPrice, that is the opposite of our goal. Yes, we gather and share news, but the reason people pay for a subscription here is exactly because of the analysis and judgment we provide regarding that news. Each of us is an individual person provided with a platform to share our perspectives on a topic. We are bound together through a URL, not by editorial control or a unified message. That’s why this is the MTGPrice Blog, not the MTGPrice News Blotter or the Fox News MTG Finance Zone.

Dry recitation of data with colorless analysis may get the point across, but it doesn’t endear readers to authors. Each week, my goal is to put myself into the work. As you read my weekly article, my hope is that you hear my voice in the words and recognize my style as distinct from others. This personal touch is why readers come to enjoy specific writers. When you read Jonathan Medina’s articles on SCG years ago, you could definitely hear his voice in the words. Jason Alt carries that same heavy fingerprint today. You would be hard pressed to read one of Jason’s articles and not recognize it as his work, a quality I admire and respect. Sharing my personal experiences and opinions on events we all partake in together is my way of sharing myself with each of you every week. Even if you don’t necessarily agree with my perspective on an issue, you come to recognize me as a person within those words.

What I wrote last week was an addendum to my already full-length article. The free side was my impression of a performance; the paid content was all about the lands that were spoiled. If you are not a ProTrader member, please recognize that what you read was not a fair representation of the Magic content contained within. There were another 2,000 words regarding the news of the weekend. If you’re a ProTrader member, please recognize that I provided you with a content-packed article, and that my preface did not in any way subtract from the volume of words you expect. I hope that everyone recognizes that each half of my article last week was just that: a half, distinct from the other.

Thank you all for reading. I appreciate all the feedback. What’s say we get on with the Magic now, shall we?

Sitting down to write this, it’s the middle of round 15 at the SCG Modern Open, and there’s some definite spice in this weekend’s brew. A Slivers deck is in 14th place after having apparently taken a game loss in round one due to tardiness and having ended up short a Sedge Sliver. That a slivers deck is doing that well, even saddled with an early loss, is remarkable. Long have many of us wondered about four- and five-color tribal decks in Modern. After Mana Confluence showed up, Sam Black (and many others) spent some time brainstorming a Modern humans list. Not much came of it, but it was clear that the archetype was close. Not quite there, but close. Around the same time, there were some efforts to brew a sliver deck as well, though that ended up in the same graveyard as the humans list.

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ProTrader: Magic doesn’t have to be expensive.

Jared Yost, The Gilded Goblin

Catching up: Battle for Zendikar, Judge Promos Revealed and more!

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A Much Needed Reprint

This weekend, we got a sneak preview of one of the upcoming Judge Gift Program promos that will be handed out. This is one of the first shots we received of one of the promos:

That’s right, Rishadan Port is finally getting a much needed reprint! Rishadan Port was all but confirmed in this Tweeted picture by @TokyoMTG and this is definitely a reprint that I and many players have been waiting for.

Historically, Rishadan Port’s price has been fairly stable at around $30 since it pretty much always saw play in the Legacy Goblins deck. This was the case for several years, before decks Death and Taxes and Lands became forces in their own rights in Legacy. Death and Taxes was better able to use the mana denial effect along with all of the tax and denial creatures that go introduced like Thalia, Spirit of the Labyrinth, and most recently Vryn Wingmare. After Legacy cards started spiking around the time of the Survival of the Fittest frenzy (thanks Vengevine), Port was one of the cards that started spiking along with original dual lands, Force of Will, and other Legacy staples. Since then, the card has creeped and spiked its way up to $100 per copy – which is pretty crazy for a card that only sees play in Death and Taxes, Goblin, and Lands, which only makes up a small portion of the Legacy metagame. With this reprint, the non-foil price should come down (though by how much, I’m not sure since Judge Foils are harder to get ahold of these days – honestly maybe only 10-20% at least initially) since more copies are about to enter the market.

What is also great about this reprint is that we finally get a foil version of the card that isn’t $500+. Masque’s foils are soooo rare, and with players needing four copies to foil out Legacy decks the supply quickly dries up for each person that wants to complete a playset. Now, there is a fine replacement out there (which also has amazing artwork, in my opinion)  that will be the same price as the non-foil copy! This is definitely a reprint that has been a long time coming, so kudos to Wizards for finally getting this one out to market.

Also, more Judge Promos were revealed by @ahalavais.

Screen Shot 2015-09-05 at 5.49.05 PM Screen Shot 2015-09-05 at 5.49.15 PM

So here, we’re also getting Temporal Manipulation  and Shardless Agent, both of which previously didn’t exist in foil! Just like Rishadan Port, Temporal Manipulation sorely needed a reprint – the card was previously over $100 when its equivalent Time Warp was only 1/10th of that price. It was ten times the price only due to scarcity. Now, that price should be significantly reduced since Temporal Manipulation only sees play in the Commander format.

While Shardless Agent didn’t necessarily have to be reprinted, I think it was still a fine choice to include as a Judge Promo. There isn’t any way to easily slide it into regular set, so Judge Foil printings are the only easy way of getting foil copies out there for Legacy players who play Shardless Sultai. I’m actually not sure where the price of this foil is going to wind up – it’s going to be more expensive than the regular, non-foil copies but exactly how much more expensive? Two times? Three times? Four or Five times!? (probably not). The final price, after copies have saturated the market, will probably settle in the 2x-3x range since Legacy players want foil copies and this is the only foil that is out there.

The Judge Foil spoilers so far are a pleasant surprise to us after the Damnation fiasco which was a lose-lose for everyone. It was lose for casuals, since they wanted a Damnation reprint but making a Judge Foil still made it unaffordable for the vast majority of players. It was a lose for collectors and more serious Commander / Eternal players, because it devalued Planar Chaos foils since now there is a new saturation of foil Damnations out in the market with the exact same art. Plus, they also printed Wasteland again as a Judge Promo in that same wave, so that further added to the “Why bother?” many players were thinking when that particular wave of Judge promos was released earlier this year.

I really think Wizards nailed these promos this time around. They did their market research before creating this batch of Judge Foils because all of them revealed so far have been spot on to what the market needs. If only all Judge Promos could follow similarly in the future…

In Other News

     

@Rose0fthorns gave us two gems of insight over the past week. The first is that (obviously) Shaman of Forgotten Ways has spiked hard. Going from $2.50 to $9 is some serious gains, and I agree with his advice to get out now while the gettin’s good. There is a huge difference between two (Rattleclaw Mystic) and three mana, especially when it comes to creatures that enable you to ramp up into bigger threats. Plus, the Shaman’s mana can only be used on creatures – something that may not seem like a drawback at first, but then you think about spells like Crater’s Claws and that extra two mana could mean the difference between ending the game on a critical turn or having to pass without having enough mana to Fireball your opponent’s face.

I feel like See the Unwritten has much more potential than Shaman to see significant Standard play. Mostly because with See the Unwritten, you’re getting a threat that needs to be dealt with while the Shaman’s ultimate isn’t coming online until the end game and you can easily predict when your opponent is setting up to activate the Formidable. The Pro’s will try to make StU work again – Jon Finkel was casting this bad boy on camera last time, and I expect to see it on camera again since Eldrazi are going to be so awesome to get off a pseudo-Tooth and Nail.

Second, we should start taking a closer look at Rise of the Eldrazi for more opportunities for pickups. Spawnsire of Ulamog was a fine example, and getting on foils before they spiked was a good call. There are plenty of other targets out there, including the recently reprinted Emrakul and Kozilek in Modern Masters 2015, that should also see nice gains over the next year. I highly suggest you check out DJ’s article from last week as it is a good primer of what cards are starting trend and what you should be looking out for if you’re trying to find the next casual hit that synergizes with Eldrazi.

   

Also, I would be remiss not to mention that @GoingMadlem released a wonderful piece describing what we can expect with the resurfacing of the “Priceless Treasures” Expeditions that are being distributed in packs of Battle for Zendikar. While I encourage you to read the article, the core theme is that Wizards needs to be careful releasing extremely desirable promos like these in regular MTG sets because it can have lasting and detrimental effects on the secondary market if done incorrectly (cough Yugioh cough).

Finally, @shormtg wrote a great Reddit post on Friday about the macro growth of Magic as a whole. It is a compelling read which tries to answer the essential question “Is Magic in a bubble?.” Shormtg argues that we aren’t in the bubble yet, using the example of the difference between comics and Magic in terms of exchange. We have multiple exchanges, like TCGPlayer and PucaTrade, to realize value with Magic cards than we do with comics and other antiques.

Now, another interesting thing about Magic in regards to bubbles is that there is more than one way to make money from the game – the latest example of this being the Art of Zendikar book that Wizards is releasing to accompany the Battle for Zendikar set. While this is one of many ways to get existing players to spend more money on the game they love and falls into Point Two of the posting, I think it is important that we’re starting to see products like this because it tells us that Wizards is thinking outside the box and will pursue multiple alternative routes for generating dollars than simply releasing more and more card based products every year. Though many of us roll our eyes at these products as “cash grabs”, Wizards/Hasbro are a company like any other – and if profits aren’t coming in as expected than budgets are cut and its going to be felt by everyone that plays. The macro economics of Magic are definitely something to consider as we move forward – like Sig always likes to say, it is definitely a viable strategy to make sure your primary collection value is tied up in the Reserve List.

 

 

 

 

Accumulated Knowledge, ProTrader

PROTRADER: What to Expect When You’re Expeditioning

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The one thing that stinks about my articles going up on Friday is that a lot of Magic‘s news cycle typically happens on weekends (since that’s when all of the meaningful tournaments happen), with the news dumps occurring on Monday. The reason why this article isn’t all about the Expedition lands is because you’ve probably spent the last four days reading articles about them. Because we really haven’t learned too much about them between PAX and my writing this, I don’t have too much to offer that you haven’t heard already, which stinks because I need pageviews to feed my family it’s a really interesting topic to discuss.

All I can say right now is that while I remain convinced that most players should look at these as free gift cards for your local game store (rather than “now I need three more Steam Vents like this?!”), I will very likely fall incredibly hard for the eventual Verdant Catacombs and Overgrown Tomb copies, and attempt to get a set of each. In fact, you should probably just send me yours. Please? I NEED THEM.

Today is going to be one of those days where we hit a bunch of different topics at once, because this is probably our last chance until after BFZ releases. It will be a delightful mix of finance insight, tournament results (!), and mirth.

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City of Traders, ProTrader

PROTRADER: Fire Wil Wheaton, and the Rest of PAX 2015

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By: Travis Allen

The Shame of Seattle

Seriously. Did you watch the Saturday night PAX preview show? Juvenile actor turned soulless coalescence of toothless and vapid internet culture Wil Wheaton was joined by Ashly Burch—voice actor for a Borderlands 2 throwaway NPC, pedo-magnet, and 2012’s instance of companion cube Tiny Tina—to ham-fistedly bumble through skin-crawlingly awkward and forced dialogue that never missed an opportunity to remind the crowd that hey, we’re nerds just like you, we read Reddit and also know what memes are.

Within seconds, Wil had made an out-of-place and inappropriate “tap the police” joke, immediately followed by a slow, obvious explanation of the joke, attempting to wring any semblance of humor out of the flat reception. Within two minutes, we were treated twice to Wil regurgitating the tired cultural expression “that’s a thing,” met with near complete silence from an audience collectively wishing an aneurysm would free them from this violation of the Geneva Conventions.

For the entire rest of the hour-long presentation, every single time an Eldrazi appeared on screen, or someone said Eldrazi, or someone made the mistake of talking to him, Wil made a point of explaining how much of a fan he was of the Eldrazi and how much he hated allies, a fact that nobody cared about whatsoever before he said it once, much less the fifth or sixth time.

While every second he was on stage I was forced to weigh the excitement of new spoilers with the torture that was his continued presence, there were two moments that stood as shining beacons of his worthlessness, and I’m unsure which was more excruciating. The first was when he mistakenly said “buying” instead of “earning” in reference to acquiring coins in Magic Duels. He made a point to correct himself, and in the process referred to the clenching butthole of the legal department. And then the butthole of corporate. And then the collective buttholes of all of Seattle. It was a machine gun comedy of errors, and at any point in time he could have recovered by simply moving beyond his childish and immature butthole-oriented diatribe. Instead, he chose to make everyone in the room squirm at what they knew would result in a dressing down by whichever highest-ranking Wizards employee happened to be standing nearby the next time he walked off stage.

Or perhaps it was when he slipped “not all Eldrazi” into his inane “look at me, you’ve seen me on the internet before” drivel, quickly and casually normalizing the structure of “not all men,” a misogynistic hashtag that sought to marginalize the domestic abuse and violence suffered by women, which was shared through #YesAllWomen. Using this hashtag structure in such an offhanded way, aside from being yet another attempt to remind you that HEY I READ THINGS ON THE INTERNET JUST LIKE YOU SO YOU SHOULD CONSIDER ME RELATABLE, reveals how flippantly he regards vile, toxic attitudes.

Wil Wheaton, and to a lesser extent Ashly Burch, managed to make every single person in that room uncomfortable with his insistence that we like him simply because he browses the front page of Reddit every morning from the computer he bought with money earned while poorly performing as an ironically liked character from a science fiction show more than twenty years old. That Wizards continues to use him in its media campaigns is an insult to Magic fans everywhere. Such blatant pandering, and with such a poor tool, comes across painfully clearly as nothing more than a blunt, flailing attempt by marketing to connect with a demographic they’re having trouble understanding, even as that demographic continues to shower them with money. Do you think anyone in the top four of the World Championships, set to take place less than a day later, enjoyed his presence on that stage? Wizards, please stop using fleshy homunculuses stuffed with lame internet culture to sell us a product we’re already eager to buy. Treat us as people rather than a subreddit.

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