I'm inching closer to finishing my collection of dual lands, but I was wondering why Underground Sea ($45.95 RV, according to MOTL) was so much more expensive than even the other blue duals such as Tropical Island ($30.87), Tundra ($29.45), and Volcanic Island ($25.67). That's almost 50% more than the next most expensive dual!
Generally, things make sense from a supply/demand perspective, but in fact, according to DeckCheck's MVCs, Tropical Island (4650) and Tundra (3669) are significantly more played than Underground Sea (3070). Given that they have the same print run and rarity, I'm puzzled by this disparity.
Are Underground Seas just more sought after because they enable more archetypes? Do the popularity of Tropical Island and Tundra on MVC merely reflect the fact that UG(w) Threshold places so well in tournaments, and not their actual demand?
Underground Sea is waaay more played tha Trop. or Tundra in Vintage.
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Underground sea allows you to play both ancestral recall and yawgmoth's will, making it almost a necessecity for type 1.
Originally Posted by Parcher
Good luck finding them for that price, even. Playsets on eBay routinely go for around $200. Stores are selling them at $70 (!!!!!!!) for NM singles. It's ridiculous! I only just now managed to pick up a cheap-ish set from cardkingdom (although in VG condition rather than nm, but i'm not willing to sell a kidney to buy cards!).
I was able to pick up a playset for $160, NM condition a couple months ago. It was awesome.
But I agree with quicksilver, the Vintage community almost requires U/B to go broken; Ancestral, Demonic Tutor, Yawg's Will, etc.
Each of my 4 seas I bought within the last year (varying condition but average EX), and didn't pay more than $30 for any one. You can find resonable prices if you're not too concerned about playing with NM duals.
yeah I found NM seas for 40 a piece off of ebay within the last couple months. The value for them is definitely inflated by card stores trying to drive up prices before and after the GP. They aren't the most played dual either its just a common misconception that they are. Trops are because they can cast goyf and recall or in another format goyf and spell snare.
On this note, I'd like to say how glad I am that I bought my playset a long time ago when they were around $30 apiece.
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In Legacy, sure. In Vintage, uh, no (which was what quicksilver and myself were commenting on).
Having access to U/B is so much more important in Vintage where resolving an early Ancestral/Demonic Tutor/Necropotence/Bargain/anything else that's uber-broken in blue and/or black is far more important than having access to Tarmogoyf. Seriously, go check deckcheck.net, look at the control deck of choice right now, Tezzeret, and tell if what dual is the main one. The most prevelant combo deck, TPS, also runs a full complement of U. Seas.
Underground Sea is the most expensive dual land because competitive magic players love playing crazy amounts of money for blue cards, no matter the format. 10$ for a playset of Remands, WTF?
No. Trop and Tundra are blue producers to.
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Wow, I can't believe I totally neglected the Vintage scene, which I paid close attention to until they separated the two formats. This is probably the main reason, although I suspect that there are other (minor) factors, because I would expect Legacy to drive card prices more than Vintage, as the former seems to be the more popular format.
Vintage players will pay more for cards, so sellers have no reason to lower prices when there's demand at current price levels.
I sold my playset of Mutavaults and Chameleon Colosusses (I got both playsets in draft) when they were worth a bunch during Lorwyn block season. I bought Polluted Deltas and U Seas off ebay both nearmint and had 20 or so dollars left in my paypal. Then I got them all signed when Rob Alexander came to our Shard Prerelease. Seems like a good deal.
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Damn, just goes to show how retarded Standard gets sometimes. The chase rares of Standard rival the staples of Legacy/Vintage. $27-30 for an Elspeth? You could buy a dual for that. Or a fetchland and still have $10-12 left over. So sick.
Then again, UWb landstill runs Elspeth as well, as do some builds of Stax.
Hello friend.
Seas are expensive solely because they're the most important duals in vintage, and vintage players have the most money to drop. That being said, you can still find good prices. I paid $30 each for my revised set and an average of $95 each for my fbb set. You just have to hunt ebay and make friends on motl.
Keep in mind that casual players drive prices to. On something like an Underground Sea they aren't driving new sales, but they aren't going to trade or sell their decked Underground Sea because they know they won't see it again at a reasonable price (if you play casually without P9, and you've got your deck with Vampiric Tutor, Demonic Tutor, Counterspells and Brainstorms and were lucky enough to to get ahold of USeas at $20 a piece 7 years ago, would you trade them now at $45 a piece, or would you hold onto them?).
Blue and Black still have the most broken cards, making USea more valuable and it means people with them are less likely to trade them away (so even though the supply is theoretically the same, you have a bunch of people effectively making it smaller because they refuse to entertain offers for the supply they're holding onto, where as the same type of people with Tundras, Volcanics, and Trops would entertain offers).
I remember buying my playset for $116...
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I remember buying mine for €67,-. That's around $90,- I guess?
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