[Official] Bitching About Prices, Buyouts and Reprints Thread

[ramanujan]

All,

I would not place much faith in the automated market prices that we are seeing today. Many of them are manufactured by buying out product with a low liquidity and no playability. I fully understand the supply demand aspect, but this is not an efficient market. For every legitimate spike in price, like chalice of the void, there are 5 or more silly ones. In general, the smaller the amount of product that is available, the less faith I would put in these automated "market value" estimates.

People act as if these automated "market value" calculators are fully appropriate, as if the changes they show indicate real value. This is not the weather, we are part of the equation. In the end, stupendous spikes in the value of a card can not be created by purchasing a couple thousand dollars of a crappy card. Sure, you can cause the needle of the stupid calculator to skyrocket, but who cares. It isn't like you can offload a thousand "One with Nothing" cards for a set of power within the 13 minutes that the stupid calculator says that it is actually worth that much.

Peace

[Jamaican Zombie Legend]

Looks like Paper Pauper has become the hot, new format for speculations; Chainer's Edict is now a ~$13 dollar card, Oubliette is being bought out, and foils of many format staples are rapidly disappearing.

This secondary market in this game is wack.

[Spam]

People have realized pauper is a fun, not insanely expensive format and they just want to play. Chainer's Edict is an uncommon from like 10 years ago that goes in every deck with the color black. It's sad, but not surprising.

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[swoop]

Chainers edict? Haha don't shit me...

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

[MaximumC]

People have realized pauper is a fun, not insanely expensive format and they just want to play.

This partly explains it.

I think the full explanation goes like this:

PLAYERS: "I'm either bored with the marquee constructed formats or priced out of it. I'd like to try a format that is cheaper and requires me to think about different cards. Hey, look, Pauper is nice. Let me pick up some cards for that."
RETAILERS: "Hm, people are buying more Chainer's Edicts than usual."
SPECUALTORS/ALGORITHMS: "CHAINER'S EDIT IS SEEING MORE DEMAND. EXECUTE ORDER 66."
<<buyout and relisting commences, price settles at whatever new local maximum can be supported>>
PLAYERS: "Huh, I guess pauper is expensive now. Oh well."

WELCOME TO MAGIC FINANCE

[ESG]

This partly explains it.

I think the full explanation goes like this:

PLAYERS: "I'm either bored with the marquee constructed formats or priced out of it. I'd like to try a format that is cheaper and requires me to think about different cards. Hey, look, Pauper is nice. Let me pick up some cards for that."
RETAILERS: "Hm, people are buying more Chainer's Edicts than usual."
SPECUALTORS/ALGORITHMS: "CHAINER'S EDIT IS SEEING MORE DEMAND. EXECUTE ORDER 66."
<<buyout and relisting commences, price settles at whatever new local maximum can be supported>>
PLAYERS: "Huh, I guess pauper is expensive now. Oh well."

WELCOME TO MAGIC FINANCE

This is pretty much true except for the part about Pauper being expensive.

[CutthroatCasual]

This is pretty much true except for the part about Pauper being expensive.

If the only format you can afford is Pauper, and the cost goes up to the point where you can't afford it, it's expensive (to you.) Though this isn't Reddit so I think we're safe.

[Whippoorwill]

Just a heads up, but counterfeiters are now printing cards in foreign languages.

I thought I saw it mentioned somewhere before, but I figure I'll mention it again since I just noticed them for the first time (for multiple languages). They claim to pass most of the various tests as well.

[CutthroatCasual]

Which languages? They have a hard enough time getting ENGLISH right. I'd imagine it'll be shitshow for anything not in the Latin alphabet.

[Barook]

I'd imagine it'll be shitshow for anything not in the Latin alphabet.

Pretty much this. Also, doesn't print quality still differ between the various languages for actual Magic cards? Differences might be much harder to spot when you can't read shit.

[Whippoorwill]

Which languages? They have a hard enough time getting ENGLISH right. I'd imagine it'll be shitshow for anything not in the Latin alphabet.

The seller I saw on ebay had: Italian (Modern legal stuff), Chinese & Korean in addition to the usual English stuff. They also had proxy Guru lands, but I don't think they were able to fake the foil symbol based on the pictures.

[iamajellydonut]

Link to the listings?

[D@N]

Just a heads up, but counterfeiters are now printing cards in foreign languages.

I thought I saw it mentioned somewhere before, but I figure I'll mention it again since I just noticed them for the first time (for multiple languages). They claim to pass most of the various tests as well.

They have been printing in foreign languages since at least christmas. So far the languages I've seen are Japanese, chinese, korean, and Italian. They have been making guru since September-ish. 3 or 4 packs I've gotten from zhang have been pretty close but still easily distinguishable so no real worry about getting screwed. Just be aware they exist.

[CutthroatCasual]

Differences might be much harder to spot when you can't read shit.

Good thing I can read Japanese ;)

Yes, card stock is different (I know most Japanese cards are glossier–and I think newer French cards are the same) but the counterfeiters can barely match English card-feel. No way their technology is advanced enough to match the feel of every other language.

[Ephemeron]

Yes please!

[mini1337s]

SCG has finally gained confidence in Swedish Magic 94; large price increases across the board on playable Unlimited Rares/Uncommons. I compiled a small list:

Card Name | Retail (NM) | Buylist (NM)
Armageddon | $29.99 | $15
Balance | $29.99 | $15
Braingeyser | $29.99 | $15
Copy Artifact | $59.99 | $30
Counterspell | $20 | $10
Disrupting Scepter | $30 | $15
Earthquake | $20 | $10
Elvish Archers | $24.99 | $12.50
Fastbond | $24.99 | $12.50
Fork | $24.99 | $12.50
Howling Mine | $40 | $20
Icy Manipulator | $24.99 | $12.50
Jayemdae Tome | $79.99 | $40
Mana Vault | $99.99 | $60
Meekstone | $24.99 | $12.50
Mind Twist | $49.99 | $25
Nevinyrral's Disk | $69.99 | $15
Sol Ring | $29.99 | $15
Stasis | $29.99 | $15
Swords to Plowshares | $24.99 | $12.50
Wheel of Fortune | $49.99 | $25
Winter Orb | $69.99 | $35

When people start to gain wind, I think we are going to see two major things happen:
1. I expect buyouts on "missed" tech and massive price "increases" on sites like eBay or High-End.
2. As the former starts, a lot of people are going to say that Swedish 94 set restrictions are no longer worth it. "Finite" supply suddenly starts to become a whole lot more available.

So, my advice to everyone who currently follows Swedish restrictions to really think about why they do it. Do you do it because it's the closest thing to something "offical"? Do you do it because you enjoy the pre-Revised look and the prestige that comes with it? There is nothing wrong with following Swedish restrictions; honestly, looking at a field of ABU decks is pimp, but do you get more out of the play or do you get more out of showing off collectibles? Neither is wrong, and a combination is fine too, but have a good long think.

If you do decide to stick with the Swedes, I caution you on your future purchases. I anticipate a lot of people are going to "leave the 10% for the last guy" so make sure you are comfortable paying more for a card than it will potentially be worth in a year. Some stuff I anticipate to remain sticky price-wise for the long-term, but I'm not bullish on $25 Unlimited Elvish Archers or $60 Copy Artifacts, even having sold both those cards for more than that in the past month.

Personally, I've made the decision to stick with Swedish rules, but I'm offing everything but 1 deck (BWR Juzam Masterrace) and using the profits from my excess Unlimited to Beta out that bad-boy. I imagine there will be other people in my boat too, so maybe buy those Beta Hippies sooner than later.

[chemicalstylez]

We used revised in our area for 93-94. But I have like 6 unlimited elvish archers I may dump now lol.

[Mr.C]

Sweet, gonna be able to dump my Unlimited cards that nobody ever wanted now.

[chemicalstylez]

Sweet, gonna be able to dump my Unlimited cards that nobody ever wanted now.

Its just certain ones. Savannah Lions has become extremely rare, along with Elvish Archers. Even silly cards from Legends like Time Elemental and Land's Edge are washing up. Glad I've been playing this format for a few years now, but now when i want to pick up something stupid i have to pay a premium.

Let's add whirling dervish to that list lol. People are asking $50+ for play sets.

[Stan]

I won't touch that format, but after I managed to get my unlimited power and one of each dual two years ago, I decided I had already gotten the most expensive stuff, and began collecting the full set. Still about 90 cards to go (Wheel of Fortune may be the most expensive card missing, still missing Armageddon, Savannah Lions, Copy Artifact, Jayemdae Tome, Neninyrral's Disk, Winter Orb,...), and then those damn swedes and their hipster crap doubled the prizes on everything that was ever playable at some point in the last two decades. Aaaaaaaaargh.