Tag Archives: ProTrader

Jason Alt, ProTrader

PROTRADER: Angel Armada

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Magic Origins has become a bit of a dry well lately. There are only so many good cards in a set. I am sure we can find some more stuff poised to move later on, but right now we don’t have any Battle for Zendikar spoilers really worth discussing. Besides, there is something else I would rather discuss:

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Boom. Angels. For all you angelphiles out there, you’re already fully aware that angels are hot right now, so pipe down while I school the rest of these nerds.

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expensive cards

ProTrader: Magic doesn’t have to be expensive.

City of Traders, ProTrader

PROTRADER: Big Boy Bets

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By: Travis Allen

If you’re the type of individual that checks in weekly to read some words written by some guy about how much children’s playing cards cost, you may have noticed I was absent last week. I was off at the Finger Lakes, enjoying copious amounts of wine and lounging about on inner tubes. You could have read Jason’s article about boats or whatever it is he writes about these days instead, I guess.

I started a new job this Monday—the first adult job I’ve had in over two years (I’ve been goofing off as a research assistant while earning my master’s degree since). As I begrudgingly head back into the 9-to-5 world, at least for the time being, my engagement with Magic finance is going to change. With a real job comes an increase in liquid funds and a decrease in time available to monkey around with big volume and small prices. One of the downsides to our hobby is that Magic doesn’t scale especially well when compared to something like the actual factual stock market. Buying 100,000 shares at $0.01 each and then selling them for $0.10 is just as easy and profitable as buying and selling a single giant share. Buying and selling 100,000 Magic cards, though, is a task best left to the folks at SCG, CFB, and the like. That means that as funds and time head off in different directions, so too does one’s methodology need to evolve.

With a new stream of income and the calendar halfway through August, now is the time to make big plays. It’s well-understood by now that this is the time of the year when cards are generally at their lowest price point they will ever be, especially those that will be surviving the coming rotation. That positions a large slew of Standard cards to be potentially valuable buys. As you browse lists of Khans of Tarkir, Fate Reforged, and Dragons of Tarkir, know that at least a handful of the card names you read will triple or quadruple in value, and several cards of currently reasonable value will find themselves with double digit price tags. Typically, we’re left trying to find the omens and figure out which flips could buy us a new Legacy deck, but my goal today is to mostly sidestep that process.

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expensive cards

ProTrader: Magic doesn’t have to be expensive.

Danny Brown, ProTrader

PROTRADER: The Mythics of Khans of Tarkir

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We’re just a couple months from Battle for Zendikar, and we’re about to see some major spikes coming on cards we’d all but forgotten about. This fact is indisputable—it’s which cards that are going to see an increase that can (and should) be argued.

Khans of Tarkir is an interesting spot with its prices. With a cycle of fetch lands in the set, the price of everything else is depressed. However, the number of drafts of Khans (and thus boxes opened) is about to sharply decrease. Since last fall, Khans singles have been priced roughly to balance the MSRP of a booster box—if singles go too high, vendors will just open boxes themselves; if singles go too low, nobody buys boxes. Once Battle for Zendikar hits, though, Khans singles will fall more in line with the reality of Standard demand (among other formats), and cards that we previously took for granted are going to get pricey.

Today, we’ll be taking a close look at the 15 mythics from Khans of Tarkir. These have remarkably depressed prices, as illustrated by the most expensive one being Sorin, Solemn Visitor—which has a Fair Trade Price of only $7.85. There’s opportunity here. Let’s find it.

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expensive cards

ProTrader: Magic doesn’t have to be expensive.

ProTrader, Sigmund Ausfresser

PROTRADER: Identifying Trends in Modern-Playable Dual Lands

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Last week, I explored everything related to fetch lands. Based on Maro’s recent announcement stating there would be no fetch lands in Battle for Zendikar, the deeper dive was merited. Hopefully everyone has their strategies in place going forward. Personally, I’ve noticed Khans of Tarkir Polluted Delta continue to climb day in and day out while Onslaught copies barely move on eBay. The gap appears to be closing between the two printings.

But enough about fetches. I want to turn my attention to a broader trend I’ve been observing: namely, when a set’s respective dual lands spike. In light of the recent movement on Scars of Mirrodin fast lands, I want to see if any trends present themselves. If so, then we can reapply these trends to future lands as well.

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expensive cards

ProTrader: Magic doesn’t have to be expensive.