Category: MTG Finance - Life... Successfully

Magic the Gathering Q & A: How Much Are 100 Magic Playing Cards Worth?

10/18/2017

by Phoenix Desertsong, Old School Duelist

Q: How much are 100 Magic playing cards worth?

A: This is one of the more interesting Magic the Gathering finance related questions I’ve been asked. It really comes down to what is in those 100 cards. If it’s mostly land cards, then the stack is relatively worthless. If it’s 100 commons and uncommons, typically no vendor will buy them, since typically stores buy in bulk of 1000 at a time and pay about $3-5/thousand.

If there are rares in the pile, you’re looking at least $0.08 to $0.10 per rare, and likely more depending on what the rare is. A stack of 100 rares, for example is going to get you likely $8 or more from a local game store that buys Magic cards. But it’s more likely to be a mixture.

It is true that you can buy lots of 100 Magic the Gathering cards for anywhere between $4 and $8 online. Some have more rares than others, and some will have more duplicates than others. But as far as selling them yourself, if there’s nothing of substantial value among the 100 cards, you’re probably looking at a value of between $0.25 and $1.

You can learn a lot more about what Magic cards are worth in my post: Magic Card Values: What Are My Magic the Gathering Cards Worth?

Kozilek's Return Price and Value Analysis - Magic the Gathering (MTG)

7/7/2017

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

At its peak, Kozilek’s Return was a $25 card. But after not seeing the play many people had expected it to see in Eldrazi decks, Kozilek’s Return’s price has been on a steady downward trend. With its rotation in October 2017, its market price is around $4. However, it may not go much lower than that, due to seeing Modern and Legacy play.

The Legacy play makes sense. It’s a one-of in Legacy Sneak Attack sideboards, since it is technically possible to cast Emrakul, the Aeons Torn and take advantage of Kozilek’s Return’s second effect. But most of the time this is a Pyroclasm for one more mana that also happens to be colorless - meaning it dodges things like protection from red or protection from colored spells, which can be relevant at times. We’ve also seen a side-boarded copy of Kozilek’s Return in the occasional Miracle Control or OmniTell deck.

The Modern play is a bit more confusing. Primarily, Kozilek’s Return has been seen in Grixis Death’s Shadow Aggro decks. Again, it’s basically a colorless Pyroclasm for one more mana, as there is no Eldrazi to cast in that deck. But, yet again, being colorless helps against certain creatures, such as Burrenton Forge-Tender, which sees some sideboard play.

As a one-of in Modern and Legacy sideboards, and only barely any Standard play towards the end of its Standard life, it’s hard to see this card going much lower in price. This is definitely a good card in certain Eldrazi decks to help clear the way for the Titans such as Ulamog and Emrakul. Its exile ability is certainly decent, too. Of course, the main thing helping it keep its value is that it’s a mythic rare. Plus, being an Eldrazi-themed card, its price is propped up a bit, as well.

Towards the end of its Standard life, Kozilek's Return often listed for $5, but no one paid more than $4. As Oath of the Gatewatch stock was liquidated around October 2017, it was $2.50 or less. In 2018, it was barely selling for $1, despite a much higher median price. But it's worth holding onto if you already have copies. There is a chance that this card gets adopted by more Modern and Legacy decks in the future.

Quietus Spike - A Magic the Gathering (MTG) Card Review

1/3/2017

A Solid Equipment to Consider for EDH (Commander) Decks

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

Quietus Spike is a Magic card from Shards of Alara quietly enjoyed a rise in price from around $2 to $4 over a couple of years. However, with a reprint in Commander 2017 and later in Planechase Anthology, the original printing fell under $2. Quietly, it's been a very solid Equipment for quite a long time.

Appearing first in Shards of Alara, and also included in a Planechase pre-constructed deck, Quietus Spike is a 3-drop Equipment that gives a creature deathtouch. Also, whenever that creature deals combat damage to a player, that players loses half of his or her life, rounded up.

Voltron strategies, those that involve loading up one creature with a bunch of Equipments and/or Auras, are extremely popular in Commander. This would explain why a great many Kemba, Kha Regent decks have included this equipment. A card like Quietus Spike is especially good on a Commander like Rafiq of the Many, who much of the time has double strike. That means the effect of Quietus Spike activates twice, which means a ton of life lost.

Quietus Spike is also fun on any creature that has trample or otherwise gains trample. This is because when you assign damage on a trampling creature, only 1 of that damage has to be dealt to a defending creature. Now, not only can you deal more damage, but greatly sap your opponent's overall total, as well.

Sadly, the Spike's ability doesn't trigger Gisela, Blade of Goldnight's double damage dealing ability. This is since the Spike's ability is life loss, not damage. The Spike also doesn't grant you additional combat damage when totaling the 21 Commander damage (also known as general damage) necessary for an invididual Commander to take out a player. It also doesn't double infect damage, which is a good thing, because 10 Poison Counters to kill a player is a low enough total to begin with.

The Spike was also quite good in the short-lived but massively popular Tiny Leaders format, the 50-card Commander variant in which you can only play cards with converted mana cost 3 or less. With how prevalent Voltron strategies are in that format, and the lack of lethal Commander damage, having an Equipment like this can end games quickly. Your opponent only starts with 25 life in Tiny Leaders, so it won't take much for any creature equipped with this to land a heavy blow.

The Tiny Leaders format didn't last all that long, but a lot of people bought Quietus Spike that didn't have use for them before. The price has been on an even steadier rise since then. It took a big jump from $3 to almost $4 between February and April of 2016 and the price has been wavering between $3 and $4 since then.

Even without Tiny Leaders, Quietus Spike sees play in a wide variety of Commander decks. Interestingly, the Commander who utilizes it the most is not one with Double Strike. It's actually Olivia Voldaren. Olivia is usually a Vampire Tribal Commander who is definitely focused on life loss, so you could see the Spike fitting into that strategy quite well. Another Commander bent on life loss is Vela the Night-Clad, so it's little surprise that the Quietus Spike shows up in some of her decks, as well.

Also, both of these decks have access to an Enchantment called Wound Reflection. This card has a player-killing combo with Quietus Spike, since it causes each opponent to lose life equal to the amount of life lost that turn at the end of each turn. It's probably the best combo available with Quietus Spike.

Quietus Spike is a fairly valuable equipment in a wide range of Commander decks. While it hasn't become a staple in the format, it's widely played. You can't really go wrong picking this card up if you're fond of Equipment-based decks.

Magic the Gathering (MTG) - Story of a Price Spike - Pact of the Titan from Future Sight

10/31/2016

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

The Pact cycle from Future Sight is pretty good for the most part. Technically, they are all "free" spells. While they have a pretty big drawback of having to pay a certain amount of mana during the next upkeep or you lose the game, they are usually worth it. Pact of Negation, Slaughter Pact, and Summoner's Pact are all cards that see play in Modern and other formats.

Even Intervention Pact sees occasional play and saw a spike when Madcap Experiment decks began to be brewed. But the red Pact, Pact of the Titan, hasn't seen much play since being a part of some Hive Mind Legacy lists back in 2011 to 2013.

What Hive Mind does is make a copy each instant or sorcery spell that a player casts for each player. With the Pact spells, if you cast a Pact that the opposing player can't pay for during his or her upkeep, that player instantly loses. All the Hive Mind player had to do was cast the Pact that the opposing player had no way of being able to pay for. It's a mean way to win. While Pact of the Titan wasn't close to the best of the 5 pacts for this purpose, it did see play in some lists.

Hive Mind decks aren't really much of a part of the Legacy metagame anymore, so Pact of the Titan went by the way side. It's easily the weakest of the Pacts. While creating a 4/4 creature at instant speed for no mana sounds awesome, having to pay 4R at the next upkeep is rarely worth it. However, when Pact of Negation, Slaughter Pact and Summoner's Pact were reprinted in the original Modern Masters sets, Intervention Pact and Pact of the Titan were not. This meant that their supplies have remained relatively low.

So it was only a matter of time before Intervention Pact's price spiked. But while that spike make some sense, when Pact of the Titan was bought out on TCGplayer on 10/29/16, many heads were scratched. The TCG Player mid price hit almost $7 before falling to about $6 a couple days later. But no one is really biting at this price, which means it's pretty clear that this was an intentional buyout for speculative purposes.

Is this card ever going to be good enough to justify more than its original price of about $1? It's doubtful. This was really just a case of someone buying out a card that had low supply that may see play again at some point. This card is fine for what it does, but it's not something that most decks want. Some Commander decks will play it, but it's not something that you're going to see on a regular basis. This is one I'd sell high on if you happen to have any copies laying around. There should be a race to the bottom sooner or later, but this card will now always be worth more than it was before.

June 2017 Update: Pact of the Titan still has a market price of almost $5 on TCGPlayer. I would still recommend selling this card, as I can't see it maintaining this high of a price long-term. Although, after being at this price point for a long time, it's not anything you have to sell in a hurry.

Song of the Dryads - A Magic the Gathering Price Spike Story

10/23/2016

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

With the looming announcement of the Magic the Gathering Commander 2016 spoilers, a little Green enchantment called Song of the Dryads spiked in price. It was originally printed in the Green deck "Guided by Nature."

This Aura is an extremely popular Commander card, listed in over 9300 decks according to EDHREC. Turning any permanent into a basic Forest is pretty mean for only 3 mana. It's essentially removal for any permanent on the table that's giving you a hard time.

Is it really a $10+ card, though? It's been $5 for a little while. Then there was the massive buyout with one copy left listed for $10,000, because someone was apparently being funny. It stayed around $12 for a couple of days as the dust settled and no one really bought any copies above $6 on TCGPlayer, according to the Market Price.

With new copies incoming from the Commander Anthology in June 2017, Song of the Dryads would settle in price return to around $5 or less again before slowly growing again for a long time. There's definitely demand for this card, as pretty much any Green deck might want this. It's actually better than Beast Within, in my opinion, and why not play both?

Magic the Gathering (MTG) Stock Watch - Mental Note (C) from Judgment

10/14/2016

by ElspethFTW, Gaming Successfully Staff

Mental Note from Judgment is a common cantrip that's most often used in Commander. While it forces you to put the top 2 cards of your deck in the graveyard, this isn't always a bad thing. For example, Zombie decks actually like you dumping cards in the graveyard. It's also been seen in Legacy Jeskai Ascendancy combo lists in the past.

While Mental Note is classified as "jank" by Metamox, this is actually a playable common, and there aren't a lot of them left for sale online. There are also relatively cheap foils of Mental Note still available, but most are in played condition. If you happen to be combing through old bulk boxes with commons from the Judgment era, this is a good one to pick out, as these are actually sought after by some buylists.

MTG Stock Watch - Pillar of the Paruns from Dissension

10/10/2016

by Richard Rowell, Gaming Successfully Staff

Pillar of the Paruns is an interesting land from Dissension that can tap for any color of mana, but it has to be used to cast a multicolored spell. It's seen some play in Commander over the years, but back in September it popped up in a Modern Zoo list. Indeed, Pillar's price jumped from around $3 to almost $5 from early August '16 to late September '16.

What makes this card particularly interesting is the four-color Commander decks being released in November 2016. There will be a ton of multi-colored spells in that deck. However, what is to say that this land won't be reprinted? It's a very low supply land at this point. If you can find any reasonably priced copy under $5, it's probably a good idea to stash it away, especially if you plan on playing a 4 or 5 color deck in the future.

Intervention Pact - A Magic the Gathering (MTG) Price Spike Story

9/28/2016

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

Intervention Pact is one of the cycle of five (mostly) powerful Pacts from Magic the Gathering's Future Sight set. Pact of Negation, Slaughter Pact, and Summoner's Pact are the ones that many Magic players know about. There's the also unplayably bad Pact of the Titan in Red, but Intervention Pact is actually playable. It has seen occasional pay in Modern Eldrazi & Taxes and in Commander. However, in late September of 2016, Intervention Pact went from being a $1 rare to having a TCGPlayer Mid price of nearly $12! What happened!?

Many price spikes occur due to what are known as "price corrections" meaning that the card's price relative to its demand finally normalizes as supply diminishes. However, many other price spikes occur to the dreaded buyout, as in one or a few speculators buy out the internet of a particular card with low supply that may or may not actually have future demand. In the case of Intervention Pact, it doesn't seem that many people were willing to actually pay more than $5 for this card when the price spike occurred. So in this case, we can assume this was a buyout target.

October 2016's Kaladesh release could have been a major factor in the buyout's occurrence. Two cards from the set involve taking damage in order to gain a great effect.

The first card is a powerful Sorcery called Madcap Experiment. The Experiment involves flipping over cards from the top of your card until you reveal an artifact card. Then, Madcap Experiment deals damage equal to the number of revealed cards. Intervention Pact literally not only prevents that damage, but actually gains you that much life. Yes, you have to pay 1WW at your next upkeep or you'll lose the game. However, as a Madcap Experiment deck will likely be playing both Red and White, the latter for other damage prevention spells such as Angel's Grace and Hallow, this is not a bad cost to pay.

The other card from Kaladesh making people consider Intervention Pact is Aetherflux Reservoir. This card allows you to pay 50 life in order to deal 50 damage to a target player. This is one of a Madcap Experiment deck's main win conditions, sometimes along with Blightsteel Colossus and its indestructible 11/11 body with infect or beating down with Serra Ascendants. Notably, the Reservoir can come down on turn 4, so you may never need to even play Madcap Experiment in order to get it into play.

Here are two examples from Tappedout.net of Madcap Experiment combo decks in modern: Aetherflux Experiment and Madpact Experiment. Notably, another card that has seen considerable price gains around Madcap Experiment speculation, Platinum Emperion, is not included in these two examples. However, an 8/8 creature that makes sure your life total never changes is pretty significant, although not in and of itself a win condition. You'd rather hit the Reservoir or the Colossus, I would think.

Whether this Madcap Experiment strategy actually pays off in Modern is going to be a big factor in if Intervention Pact becomes a truly $10+ card. While the brewing has been intense around this Red sorcery, there hasn't been a truly optimized list just yet. Personally, I would stay away from Intervention Pact at anything over $5. It is a low-supply card being from Future Sight, the Tarmogoyf (and Horizon Canopy) set.

What about the other damage preventers? Hallow is a common from Darksteel and Angel's Grace is a rare from Time Spiral and Modern Masters. Angel's Grace is definitely a safer investment as it is part of a known competitive combo in Ad Nauseam decks in Modern. Hallow can be found in bulk boxes everywhere. However, Intervention Pact is essentially free, and the drawback doesn't matter if you hit the Reservoir and deal 50 damage to your opponent and win. It allows you to potentially win on turn 4 by just having a copy of Madcap Experiment in hand. Anecdotal playtesting has allegedly proved this to be true.

Intervention Pact is definitely a wait-and-see card. Considering that Angel's Grace is an $8 card, it's fair to say that the Pact could be north of $10 if it's truly a four-of in a Madcap Experiment deck. But it's hard to say how competitive the archetype will be. It's definitely a fun combo deck to try out, and if you add in Blue mana to play disruption such as Remand and card selection spells such as Serum Visions, there is a shot that it can do some work in Modern. There is real potential here, but don't throw your money into the ring just yet.

MTG Buylist Watch - Gilt-Leaf Archdruid from Morningtide

8/23/2016

by Richard Rowell, Gaming Successfully Staff

Gilt-Leaf Archdruid has been a part of Elf decks in Commander for quite sometime. He's even popped up in competitive formats once in awhile as part of a combo deck built around his second ability: the one to gain control of all lands a target player controls.

But for the most part, the Archdruid is a role player in Elf decks like Ezuri, Renegade Leader, Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury, and Rhys the Redeemed. They run enough Druids that the draw a card ability on the Archdruid is enough reason to run him. The Archdruid is also part of the win condition for the ultimate Druid Tribal Commander, Seton, Krosan Protector. The ability to steal all those lands is just a bonus in an Elf deck. With a dedicated Druid build, this creature becomes very un-fun to play against very quickly.

The interesting thing about this card is that its sell price seems to hover between $3 and $4 depending on who you ask. It's a card with only one printing, Morningtide, but since most people are only picking up a copy at a time, the price has never really taken off. But recently, buylists have jumped from $2 to $2.50 and even $3.50. It's really just a case of supply finally running low on this card.

This card is definitely a strong pick-up right now. It's hard to say where this card's price goes. But as it hasn't been above $4 for years, Gilt-Leaf Archdruid is definitely due for some price growth. Definitely watch the buylist prices on this card, as soon there may be some chances to buy these at arbitrage prices (as in buy them from one vendor and sell them to another for a profit).

MTG Buylist Watch - Twilight Shepherd from Shadowmoor

8/23/2016

by Richard Rowell, Gaming Successfully Staff

Twilight Shepherd is a useful Angel originally printed in Shadowmoor. She has seen three other printings including the Duel Decks: Divine vs Demonic and the subsequent reprint in the Duel Decks Anthology, plus in Commander 2014 and the Forged in Stone Commander deck featuring Nahiri, the Lithomancer. Considering that this is pretty much a card you can get for under $0.50 due to the Commander 2014 printing, you'd be surprised to discover that the Shadowmoor printing has been on buylists recently for as much as $1!

Before the C14 reprint, Twilight Shepherd actually was a $2.50-$3 card due to her usefulness in Commander. In particular, she's seen a lot of play in Kaalia of the Vast and Avacyn, Angel of Hope Commander decks. Her ability to return cards to your hand that died that turn is very useful, especially for only six mana. Having Persist means that she can do it once again, as well. Plus a 5/5 vigilant flying body is definitely nothing to laugh at. This is a solid Angel, albeit best at home in Commander.

But being reprinted in a popular Commander deck, plus the second (albeit limited) reprint in the Duel Decks Anthology really hurt her value. However, the Shadowmoor version is still sought after due to being the rarest version. Still, unless you really want the original printing, sending your Shadowmoor copies off for $1 and rebuying the C14 ones at $0.50 seems like a solid plan. If you're going to invest in Twilight Shepherd, the cheaper Duel Deck Anthology and Commander 2014 versions seem to be the way to go.

Typically, cards like this that do have real demand, but only a limited audience, tend to see all of their printings eventually find some sort of price equilibrium. So if the Shadowmoor copies eventually crawl back up towards $3, then expect the cheaper copies to steadily follow suit.

MTG Buylist Watch - Dictate of Erebos from Journey into Nyx

8/23/2016

by Richard Rowell, Gaming Successfully Staff

Dictate of Erebos has been a hit among Commander players in Magic the Gathering since its release in Journey into Nyx. It hit an all-time low price of about $0.50 in January 2015 and has been on the rise ever since. In late July 2016, it reached $3. Meanwhile, store buylists have remained around $1 cash for the card. For a card with the casual demand of a functionally better version of Grave Pact, this seems like an awfully large spread.

Recently, one buylist posted a buy price of $2.25 for Dictate of Erebos. This is quite a jump, but it should not be surprising. Unless this card gets reprinted, this card could easily be selling for $5 or more in the near future. The card that this is most similar to, Grave Pact, has 4 different printings and is $12!

While Grave Pact only costs 4 mana to cast, 3 of that has to be Black. Dictate of Erebos costs 5 mana, but only 2 needs to be Black. Plus, Dictate of Erebos and the other Dictate enchantments from Journey into Nyx have Flash. This means you can actually cast it on your opponent's turn at a time that would be advantageous to you. Perhaps your opponent plays In Garruk's Wake, which only destroys opponent's creatures. If you cast this in response, that player will have to sacrifice as many creatures as yours were destroyed. It's also just fun to cast this if you had mana open anyway.

Dictate of Erebos has never been, and probably never will be, a Constructed staple. However, this enchantment is so good in Commander that pretty much every deck that has some sort of sacrifice theme - and plays Black - in it will include it. Our recommendation is to hold this Enchantment as long as possible, as the buylist price should only rise with time. If you're looking to buy, you're probably never going to get this cheaper. It's not a card with an obvious place to reprint. Even if it gets reprinted in some supplemental product, as we've seen with Grave Pact, the limited new supply won't hold down its price for long.

Magic the Gathering (MTG) Stock Watch - Nettle Sentinel from Eventide

8/7/2016

by Richard Rowell, Gaming Successfully Staff

Nettle Sentinel from Eventide has long been a highly sought after common due to just how good it is in Elf decks. It was strong in Standard, and is still played often in Modern and Legacy in top 8 finishing Elf decks. On Magic Online, it’s a staple in one of the best decks in the Pauper (all-common) format, Stompy. A 2/2 for one mana that is easily untapped in an Elf deck is solid enough. But there are other shenanigans that involve tapping down Elves, such as the mana ramping abilities of Heritage Druid and Birchlore Rangers. Since ramping into a Craterhoof Behemoth as quickly as possible is the primary win condition of many Elf decks, Nettle Sentinel is a very valuable piece to their overall strategy.

Long a $2 common, Nettle Sentinel has been on a slow, steady rise towards its current price of $2.50. To keep up with the steady increase, a couple of buylists have risen from the typical $0.50 buy price to over $1. Channel Fireball is offering $0.75 cash a piece. While you don’t have to rush out and buy Sentinels in preparation for a sudden price spike, it’s good to keep this card in mind when sifting through old boxes and as equalizers in trades. Having a card that you need 4 of in a top Eternal deck with only printing that shows steady price gains is always a good target in trade. It's also a solid pick-up for when you need a couple extra dollars to get free shipping from a vendor or a use for small amounts of store credit.

Magic the Gathering (MTG) Stock Watch - Cabal Therapy from Eternal Masters

8/7/2016

by Richard Rowell, Gaming Successfully Staff

Recently, popular Magic the Gathering card vendor Channel Fireball increased their buy price for Cabal Therapy from Eternal Masters to $2.50 cash, $3.25 store credit. Both the original Judgment printing and the Premium Deck Graveborn foil printing run about $10 a copy. Considering those prices, it’s not surprising that there’s a lot of demand for this Legacy staple when the Eternal Masters version is only $5 to $6.

Considering this buylist increase, it’s very possible that this printing, with its relatively low supply compared to other sets, will eventually hit $10. So now is as good a time as any to pick up your playset. It’s always going to be a good card, and is widely played in Legacy Grixis Delver and Storm, plus some Vintage decks, too. Eternal Masters foils of Cabal Therapy are also a solid buy at $11. This is definitely a card to invest in sooner than later.

Magic the Gathering (MTG) Reserved List Rarities - Koskun Falls from Homelands

7/25/2016

by R.A. Rowell; Co-Owner of Intent-sive Nature & the Brand Shamans network

Homelands has never been considered a very good set, but it seems that there is a card in the set with some value. With pretty much every card on Magic’s Reserved List a target, Koskun Falls has become yet another card that speculators are eating up. What makes this Black Enchantment so special?

Koskun Falls is basically very similar to Propaganda in Blue and Windborn Muse in White. The Blue Enchantment and White creature both offer the ability to protect you from opponent’s attacks by forcing your opponent to pay 2 colorless mana for each creature he or she attacks you with. Koskun Falls does just that, but for 4 mana instead of 3 and with an upkeep cost of tapping down one of your creatures.

Are there any decks that actually play this? In Commander, Daxos the Returned decks have taken advantage of its ability, especially since that deck has no trouble producing a token to tap down on a regular basis. It’s not an ability you usually expect from black, and while the upkeep cost can be annoying, it’s actually a pretty useful card in a deck that doesn’t ordinarily play Windborn Muse and can’t play Propaganda.

As a reserved list card, there aren’t any more of these being printed, so you can feel safe picking up any reasonably priced copies that you find.

Story of a Price Spike (MTG) - Gleeful Sabotage

7/3/2016

by Richard Rowell, Gaming Successfully Staff

Gleeful Sabotage has been a good card in Pauper on Magic Online for quite some time. Recently, despite not seeing much in the way of other competitive play, this Shadowmoor common went from being $0.25 to $0.50 in late April 2016 on TCGPlayer. It continued to steadily rise towards $1 until doubling up to nearly $2 in early July 2016. What’s the story of this price spike?

There aren’t many $2 commons in Magic, but Shadowmoor is a set that has a few valuable commons. Gleeful Sabotage is also a fairly underrated card. The fact that it can easily destroy two targets quite easily for only 2 mana, due to its Conspire effect, makes it pretty efficient. It can be even better with the more creatures you control. Honestly, it’s a bit of a surprise that it doesn’t see much Modern play, but maximizing its usefulness requires you to run a lot of green creatures. Mono-Green Aggro is a real deck in Modern, but not one that has made great waves.

Obviously, there’s enough demand for Gleeful Sabotage, though, that it’s close to selling out just about everywhere. There’s another printing, albeit quite limited, from one of the Archenemy decks. This is a common that could be reprinted in the future, but having the Conspire mechanic limits where exactly it could be printed. Whatever you do, don’t pass these by if you happen about them in some random box of commons. I wouldn’t go out and pay $8 for a playset of these, though. Regular vendors still see this as well under $1. But it’s good to know that this is a card worth watching.

MTG Weekly Losers - July 1st, 2016

7/1/2016

by Richard Rowell, Gaming Successfully Staff

This week on Weekly Losers, we take a look at three Modern playables, one of which is a card whose price seems to be driven by pure speculation. Notable price drops in Standard, however, are Pyromancer’s Goggles (-7.5%) and Deathmist Raptor (-6%). I wouldn’t expect either card to rebound with the upcoming October 2016 rotation, so if you want these cards, they probably may fall a bit further before they hit their all-time low.

Onto the Weekly Losers:

Sakura-Tribe Scout (-7%)

There’s pretty low supply on this common and it’s been over $1 for a bit. Besides being a decent card in EDH, the Scout has seen some play as a replacement for the banned Summer Bloom in Modern Amulet Bloom decks. I haven’t seen this strategy pay off, as one extra land versus three is quite a big difference. However, I wouldn’t mind picking these up under $1 in trade or if you happen to find them among bulk commons at your local game shop.

Conspiracy (-7%)

This Enchantment is Modern Legal due to its Timeshifted printing in Time Spiral. The recent success of this card comes purely from EDH demand. In particular, Reaper King decks are rather fond of it, making every creature a Scarecrow. Reaper King makes each Scarecrow that comes into play destroy any permanent you like. There are other applications, too. Falling about 7 percent in TCGPlayer median price isn’t a concern. If you need a copy for EDH, now’s as good a time to get it.

Hell’s Caretaker (-11%)

This 9th edition Horror has seen some serious peaks and valleys in his price chart. Years ago, he was part of a rather janky combo in the now defunct Extended format. But the interest in him now is due to the number of Horrors that exist now because of Shadows Over Innistrad and Eldritch Moon. It’s pretty much all speculative. Caretaker is also good in Old School Magic, a format that includes only cards printed in 1994 and before. But this would only affect the Legends printing, not the 9th edition one. This is one of those weird specs. I’m not sure I’d buy into it, but the demand is real. The market price on TCGPlayer is consistently beating the median, meaning the price will be trending upwards.

Like all of the Weekly Losers so far, these three cards seem safe to buy if you need them for any reason. While they don’t look like huge investments, Hell’s Caretaker is at least intriguing.

Story of a Price Spike - Allosaurus Rider and the First Turn Kill Modern Combo Deck

6/30/2016

by R.A. Rowell; Co-Owner of Intent-sive Nature & the Brand Shamans network

Allosaurus Rider was the victim of one of the strangest buyouts seen in Magic the Gathering for some time. Pretty much every copy of the Elf Warrior, including the Coldsnap Prerelease and Duel Deck: Elves vs Goblins printings, disappeared from the internet. While this is a card that’s been popular among casual players for years, it seems extremely odd for a 7-mana Elf to suddenly be bought out. How could this possibly happen?

Allosaurus Rider isn’t a bad card. Yes, it costs 7 mana to cast. But, it can have pretty high power and toughness, due to the fact they are based on how many lands you control. That’s OK. But you can also put the Rider into play by exiling 2 cards from your hand instead of paying its mana cost. That’s all well and good. It’s pretty awesome in a casual game, right?

Well, not only would it be bought out once, but in fact, it would become bought out a second time, as well. The reasoning behind the second price spike would be clearer than the first. We will first look at the reasons for why Allosaurus Rider became a $15 card suddenly overnight the first time.

Eldritch Moon and Allosaurus Rider

Eldritch Moon spoilers held a couple of answers to the first price spike. The first is a mythic rare from the set with a mechanic new to the set.

Decimator of the Provinces (10)
Creature - Boar
Emerge 6GGG
When you cast Decimator of Provinces, creatures you control get +2/+2 and gain trample until end of turn.
Trample, haste
7/7

Basically, this was a “fixed” Craterhoof Behemoth. In some ways, though, this card is better. It’s all about Emerge. What Emerge essentially does is let you sacrifice a creature and reduce the Decimator’s casting cost by the converted mana cost of the sacrificed creature.

By “casting” Allosaurus Rider with removing two 2 Green cards from your hand, you then only have to pay 3 Green Mana to Emerge a Decimator of Provinces. That’s pretty nasty.

But there was an even better one, and it's yet another Eldritch Moon card.

There’s an awesome Modern combo with Eldritch Evolution. Essentially, you to play a land on turn one and cast a Birds of Paradise or another one-drop mana dork. You can then easily cast an Allosaurus Rider as long as you have two other Green cards to exile. Then on the next turn, you play another land, cast Eldritch Evolution, sacrificing Allosaurus Rider.

Because you can search out a creature with converted mana cost X or less, you can get any creature of converted mana cost 9 or less and put it straight onto the battlefield. And in Modern, what better choice is there to get than…

GRISELBRAND!

That’s right. A turn two Griselbrand.

Now how consistent is this combo? I have no clue. But that is, well, pretty good. Obviously, there are other things you can do with Eldritch Evolution. Still, you can't imagine too many people beating a turn 2 Griselbrand.

If an entire deck around this strategy emerged and became relevant, it would be pretty awesome. Grishoalbrand, a Modern deck built around Goryo’s Vengeance, Nourishing Shoal, and the Through the Breach, has been a fairly consistent winner in Modern. But Eldritch Evolution gives a whole new engine to build around. Allosaurus Rider seems like a silly target, and you probably won’t always have a copy in hand at the beginning of the game, or by turn two. As with any combo deck, there’s going to be variance. But this is the beginning of what could be a new archetype.

Of course, Allosaurus Rider didn't remain a $15 card. Decimator of the Provinces ended up being a pretty fringe card, sadly. Other Emerge cards did fare better, though. On the other hand, Eldritch Evolution has proven to be pretty useful in Modern. But despite the obvious combo with Allosaurus Rider and Eldritch Evolution, the seven-mana Elf just proved to be too inconsistent to be worth running in the deck. After a reprinting in the Duel Decks Anthology and falling from grace as soon as people realized he just didn't belong in Modern competition, Allosaurus Rider fell back to being a $2 casual card once again. However, things would not stay that way.

Allosaurus Rider and Neoform

The second price spike of Allosaurus Rider came much later in May 2019. This time, the spike went as high as $20! While it would settle fairly quickly, to a TCGPlayer market price around $7, the card that caused the Allosaurus Rider to become a buyout target was much, much better. A sorcery spell called Neoform from War of the Spark would prove so good that it spawned an entire competitive Modern deck called Neobrand!

Neoform is a two-mana sorcery (1 Blue, 1 Green) that has an additional cost of sacrificing a creature. But, when you sacrifice that creature, you search your library for a creature with a converted mana cost of one higher than the creature you sacrificed. This means if you put an Allosaurus Rider into play, then cast this on it, you can go search your library for Griselbrand. It’s actually just like Eldritch Evolution, but a bit more restrictive in what it can search. The trade-off is that creature gets an additional +1/+1 counter placed onto it when it hits the battlefield.

What makes Neoform better than Eldritch Evolution is actually two-fold. First, Eldritch Evolution is three mana and Neoform is only two. So, Neoform can be played much easier and more quickly. Also, the +1/+1 counter is actually quite relevant when it comes to Griselbrand. Because Griselbrand has the Pay 7 life ability to draw seven cards, you can actually swing for 8 damage with lifelink, gaining back that 7 life plus one. The actual key to winning with this deck is to keep your life total up with Samut’s Sprint and Nourishing Shoal to keep up your life total. This way you can draw out your deck, which is why Laboratory Maniac is in the deck. But, you can also starting beating down with Griselbrand as early as turn one, which is what makes this deck so scary. It also helps that the deck plays a copy of Lightning Storm, which can finish off your opponent. Technically, the deck can win on turn one, which is what makes it so scary.

The Neobrand deck can be surprisingly consistent thanks to a few tricky mana producers. The deck plays 4 Chancellor of the Tangle in the deck to try to consistently start your first turn with at least one green mana in your mana pool. It also has 4 Simian Spirit Guide to get you free red mana. Manamorphose helps you mana fix - and draw a card - and one Wild Cantor gives you a way to get that one color of mana you need in a pinch.

The Neobrand deck is actually good enough that it became a 5-0 deck on Magic Online and even made second place at a Star City Games Modern Invitational Qualifier. Will this combo deck last in the Modern format? It’s hard to say if one or more pieces - such as Simian Spirit Guide - will eventually be banned, but as of this writing, Neobrand a viable combo deck in Modern. Allosaurus Rider is a key part of the deck’s combo, too, so it will maintain some value as long as the deck is viable.

What we can learn from price spikes like this is that you just never know when a card will be printed that will make some obscure card sell out across the internet. Basically, if a card has any way that it can be abused, like with the alternate casting cost of Allosaurus Rider, it will eventually get its day in the sun. Sometimes, the spike is short lived, but other times, there is a viable interaction that permanently lifts the card’s value. In the case of Allosaurus Rider, Neoform suddenly made the card Modern-relevant, and for that, this Elf Warrior will not be soon forgotten.

Story of a Price Spike - Petrified Field from Odyssey

6/28/2016

by Richard Rowell, Gaming Successfully Staff

Some time ago, I wrote a bit about Petrified Field, a utility land from Odyssey. While it's hardly a staple in any deck, Petrified Field has seen play in Legacy and Vintage. It also sees a fair amount of play in Commander, as well. Land-based decks such as Titania, Protector of Argoth, in particular, really like to have it. What makes it good is that you can sacrifice it and return a land card from your graveyard to your hand. There are plenty of lands such as Wasteland that you'd like to reuse. It also provides colorless mana, which is more relevant than ever with the pure colorless mana requirements of cards from Oath of the Gatewatch.

Being an older card, there aren't many copies of Petrified Field still in circulation. Back in October 2015, I picked this card as a long-term investment, especially the extremely rare foils. It was only $4 a copy at the time. My target price was $8-10. As of March 2, 2016, the price jumped from $5 and hit $12. I expected foil copies to hit $20, and they are now over an average of $35. This wasn’t really a buyout. It was more of a price correction for a fairly under-appreciated card.

This is definitely a card that could be reprinted at some point, as it's not on the Reserved List. So keep that in mind when deciding what to do with any copies you may already have in your possession. Now that the price has settled around $10, however, you’re safe to pick any copies that you’d like.

Magic the Gathering Penny Stock - Sadistic Sacrament

5/22/2016

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

Sadistic Sacrament is a rare from Zendikar that has graced many sideboards in the past. In late 2010, this card was worth as much as 0.8 event tickets on Magic Online. It’s consistently been a $1 rare for years in paper, reaching as high as $1.50 recently. Being a rare from a now long out-of-print set, and being a card with kicker that isn’t likely to be reprinted, it can’t hurt to buy a few copies of Sacrament at 0.03 tix a piece online. In paper, it’s not a bad investment either. It has been listed on eBay for $3 or more recently.

On the surface, Sadistic Sacrament is an efficient way to deprive your opponent of 3 cards for only 3 mana. But the kicker which costs 7 extra mana lets you absolutely ruin your opponent’s deck, by allowing you to exile up to 15 cards of your choice from their library. While that’s a lot of mana, having that option in the late game is pretty sweet.

Most recently, Sadistic Sacrament has seen play as a two-of in some decently competitive Vintage lists on Magic Online. While it’s hard to say if Sacrament will ever find itself in a Modern Mono-Black control list is hard to say. But a big winner in a major Magic Online Vintage tournament using it could cause a bunch of copies to be bought up in a hurry.

On the paper side of things, this is a card that’s been worth $1-$1.50 for a very long time. They simply aren’t printing more of these. It sees a fair amount of play in EDH, as well. While Vintage isn’t really a big deal in paper Magic anymore, if it even sees a hint of play in Modern at top tables, speculation could cause it to potentially spike in price. Otherwise, it's just a nice rare card to have in your Magic collection.

MTG Finance - Stock Watch - Swamp #238 from Shards of Alara

9/18/2015

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

Today, we'll be taking a look at a commonly played land from Shards of Alara: Swamp #238... Wait, what?

One of the most important things about Magic: the Gathering is having lands to play your spells. This is why full art basics from Zendikar, Unglued, Unhinged, and now Battle for Zendikar are such good investments. It's why foils are even more so. It's why fetchlands fetch such a premium. Shock lands retain good value because they're the best nonbasic mana-producing lands in Modern. But remember that some decks are mono-color and therefore need a crap-ton of basic lands.

Enter Swamp #238 from Shards of Alara.

Kudos to MTG Goldfish tracking the trending price winners and catching this one. Turns out this has been a fairly "expensive" basic swamp for a bit, though. It was about $1 before a couple of recent price jumps.

How about the foil?

Admittedly Chippy does some awesome artwork on basic land arts, and it's not unusual to see some players buy up basic lands of particular arts. Turns out this already gorgeous art is already popular in foil, and has been for quite some time. It hasn't dropped below a TCG Player mid of $4.31 since Goldfish started tracking cards!

If you think this is interesting, check out this Swamp from New Phyrexia:

The non-foil doesn't nearly approach the foil here, but notice that this has been over $3.50 for some time, too. Because foil basics apparently are bought in bunches to fill up mono-colored decks, you tend to see some interesting price fluctuations.

There are a handful more over $2, and this is just looking at Swamps! I'll say one thing: I can never look at basic lands the same again! Some players really, really like particular arts on their basic lands. While I don't necessarily suggest raiding your local game store for the non-foil basics over $1, it's just a good idea to watch what basic lands are actually worth some money. Most buylists don't consider them, but you can always EBay them, Heck, you can even try to trade them off on PucaTrade!

So remember, if a particular land art looks super sweet in foil, look up the pric.e. It may be worth more than you'd ever expect.

Bosium Strip from Weatherlight - A Magic the Gathering Card Review

4/2/2015

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

Back in April 2015, Bosium Strip was one of several speculation targets that saw an absolute explosion in price. Being a rare from Weatherlight, an old set that has many cards on the reserve list (meaning they can't be reprinted), the supply of this unique artifact is drying up quickly. It was a bulk rare as recently as the last week of March 2015, and as of April 2nd approached $8 a copy if you're looking for it in a lightly played or near-mint condition.

So is Bosium Strip any good? It could be, as what it does is pretty unique. The Strip has a casting cost of 3 colorless mana and has a tap ability that costs 3 colorless mana. Until the end of the turn, if at any time the top card in your graveayrd is an instant or sorcery card, you can play it as if it were in your hand. If you decide to do so, you exile that card from the game. It's a sort of flashback, similar to what the highly popular Snapcaster Mage does.

Three mana for that ability isn't really that bad when you consider Snapcaster Mage costs 1U (1 colorless, 1 Blue) to cast. Also, because it's colorless, you can play it in any color. While there isn't any Commander deck that plays it on a regular basis, it can fit into a wide variety of combo strategies in red, blue, and black. If you have any way to untap artifacts every turn (something very familiar in Commander with cards like Voltaic Key) then Bosium Strip can help you to recycle cards that would otherwise never have a chance to be recast.

With an infinite mana combo, the Strip becomes extremely powerful. It's even better when an Enchantment like Omniscience is involved, reducing all of your casting costs to zero.. While the Strip itself doesn't immediately lend itself to combos, it can serve as a useful utility piece to do things you may not have otherwise had the chance to do. Just keep in mind that the order of your graveyard is extremely important. With all of the Delve cards that exist in the game now, however, selecting what to keep in your graveyard is easier than ever..

Will Bosium Strip soon become one of the most valuable cards in Weatherlight? There are plenty of damaged and heavily played copies still available for fairly cheap if you're looking to play it in a deck. But as it's on the Reserved List, finding a very good condition copy is going to become harder and harder with the recent buyout. If you happen to have any copies or can find them in bulk rare binders or bins, definitely pick them up as they should have at least some Commander value in the future.

Also, Weatherlight is not one of the most valuable sets in Magic. The most expensive card in the set until Bosium Strip's sudden spike was Winding Canyons at about $7. Null Rod, Gemstone Mine (which was reprinted in Time Spiral), and Firestorm, were the only others over $5. Lotus Vale and Mana Web are about $3-5. The Strip is one of a handful of rares from this set to see a sudden leap in price, but ended up settling around the $3 mark long-term. It shouldn't ever see massive demand unless it sees play in an extremely popular Commander deck.

There are some Commander decks that have played with it, including some led by Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, Melek, Izzet Paragon, and Mizzix of the Izmagnus. But it's a staple for none of those Commanders. It will keep some value simply due to the fact it should never see a reprint because of its unusual mechanic (concerning graveyard order) and of course being on the Reserve List.