So there's no MSRP, but online packs are $6.99 and boxes are sold to LGS at a price that also suggests a $6.99 pricetag to maintain their margins. The de factor $7 MSRP is of course contingent on playability and scarcity/print run size. A complete lack of impact cards will tank the price, while a short print run and highly playable modern staples will drive MM1-like markups.
I am going to go out on a limb and say that the new Lily is actually better than Liliana of the Veil in most circumstances.
Could you elaborate? As someone who primarily plays black, and primarily eternal formats, I was planning to pick up a few copies once she rotates rather than pay standard prices. If she has untapped eternal potential I may have to reconsider.
I like the fact that she protects herself for +1 instead of -2, but her creature kill is still more conditional than LotV's. Her -2 is very unlikely to be worth much card draw in most legacy decks, although it does play nicely with Brainstorm if you don't have a fetch to crack. Her ultimate is both slower to activate and less immediately devastating to the opponent.
I guess I can see where she's potentially very powerful if you build around her, but LotV is just a value engine in most any deck you put her in?
I do share the concerns many are echoing here regarding PucaPoint inflation. I've had a Sword of Body and Mind on my wants list for a few days now and I was expecting it to be fulfilled immediately. I see now that there's actually a line of people waiting for it. 6 months ago that card would have been snagged before I could refresh the page.
If people aren't in any rush to ship a $12 mythic with no constructed applications from a relatively recent set (with a second printing to boot!), PucaPoints just aren't that attractive anymore.
Pucatrade announced that they'd deduct the price difference from the sender and credit the recipient if people tried to back out of trades that spiked at the pro tour:
I think you're generally right. Colorless fatties and ways to accelerate them are already plentiful. Tron or 12 post into Karn, Wurmcoil Engine, Emrakul, etc. New ways of generating and using colorless mana were not really needed for those strategies. Now if we get something along the lines of a colorless Delver or Goblin Guide, then the eternal formats might take notice.
Stoogeslap, your experience is much like mine. Cards that I would have expected to be snatched up in seconds are sitting on my want list for weeks.
I feel like we're seeing some sort of inflation in pucapoints, such that people are getting them too easily and the incentive to send cards and stockpile points is diminishing.
Two posts in the last week saying Ugin won't drop much on rotation. This seems contradictory to the history of every other mythic that sees fringe modern play on rotation.
Ugin is a 2-of in one modern deck, and doesn't really fit in any others. He could also easily get squeezed out of Tron by a better colorless bomb, and we have OGW coming out in a couple months which is likely to contain colorless bombs.
Karn is a 4-of in the same deck, from a less opened set, and was $10 when SoM block rotated. I see no reason to believe that Ugin would stay over $20, let alone near the current price.
Isn't Ugin also an EDH bomb, though? I seem to recall that he's played more than Karn in that format.
Please note, that's a question, not an assertion of fact. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
You could very well be right. I don't know. Karn is played a lot in EDH too.
In any case, the vast majority of his current demand is standard, and the price tag will follow his standard use.
Two posts in the last week saying Ugin won't drop much on rotation. This seems contradictory to the history of every other mythic that sees fringe modern play on rotation.
Ugin is a 2-of in one modern deck, and doesn't really fit in any others. He could also easily get squeezed out of Tron by a better colorless bomb, and we have OGW coming out in a couple months which is likely to contain colorless bombs.
Karn is a 4-of in the same deck, from a less opened set, and was $10 when SoM block rotated. I see no reason to believe that Ugin would stay over $20, let alone near the current price.
This all comes down to whether the shop owner is following Pucatrade's guidelines as to what constitutes NM, or his own. If he's demanding conditions higher than Pucatrade mandates for full point value, that's his own problem and Pucatrade may not be the right channel for him to acquire cards. The fact that his customers might demand a higher standard than pucatrade does is not your problem, and you should be entitled to full point value. I think many people misunderstand the N in NM, and assume that any defect means a card is not NM.
However, if he is just holding more strictly to Pucatrade's minimum standards than most traders do, that is your problem and he should be entitled to a discount or a refund and return.
Is anyone else noticing that it's getting harder to get your Puca wants fulfilled? I've had multiple cards worth more than the price of postage sit on my want list for weeks unfulfilled lately. I'm talking about $2 cards that are neither eternal staples nor speculation targets, just fodder for new EDH decks. For example, I actually had an easier time getting a revised Taiga than an M13 Rootbound Crag last month. I ended up abandoning my search for a Crag and just buying it outright to get over the free shipping threshold on a channelfireball order instead.
In the past, $2 casual cards from recent sets would be filled faster than I could blink. I also see things on my "send a card" page for multiple days that I don't really want to trade, but would normally be gone faster than I could click send.
I'm not really sure what to attribute this to. Possibly some sort of inflation in the Puca economy that has made points less desirable? It has certainly impacted me, as I'm less motivated to send knowing that I might not be able to spend my points easily.
I suspect this might depend quite a bit on the store in question. Channel Fireball is huge, has a well-established brand, and likely has little motivation to haggle. For one thing, they probably expect that if you don't buy from them, someone else will at their asking price. For another, their employees are part of a large company and likely have very little autonomy to negotiate prices.
A smaller operation, where you're more likely to be dealing with the owner directly, probably has more motivation to liquidate cards quickly and build customer loyalty, as well as more leeway to cut you a deal.
Edit: This wasn't intended as a criticism of CFB. I've had nothing but great experiences with them. Just saying that negotiating is likely not worth the time for them, if you even find someone who has the ability to alter prices for you. Better to look for a business where you can come to an agreement that is mutually beneficial if you don't want to pay the listed price.
I have a really hard time believing Jace will be $35+ post rotation. Voice of Resurgence wasn't half that. Monastery Mentor isn't half that today, it's still standard legal, and sees at least as much eternal play as Jace.
This is the most over-inflated card I've ever seen.
Voice never got to 75. I remember it being 50, but that was about the peak. Also, voice saw little to no legacy or vintage play and was played in pod and some fringe modern lists, and typically as a 2 of in pod, sometimes a 3 of. Voice still isn't as widely played as jace is right now.
Mentor has very little standard demand.
The fact that Voice never got beyond $50 is further evidence that Jace's price is absurdly inflated. That set had nothing whatsoever of value. Origins also has 2 other flip walkers over $20, the most expensive non-fetchland rare in standard (Hangarback Walker), a legacy staple reprint...
Fringe play as a 1-2 of in a few eternal builds is not going to keep a mythic from a recent expansion above $20, let alone $35. Batterskull, Griselbrand, Geist of Saint Traft, and Craterhoof Behemoth are Legacy staples, from sets likely opened less than Origins. All are under $20. Yes, some have had promo reprintings, but not enough to significantly affect supply of those cards.
Here's the list of mythics that have rotated from standard worth at least $35:
Bob
Clique
SoFaI
Goyf
Mox Opal
LotV
JTMS
Honorable mention for Emrakul and Karn Liberated, who would make the list if not for the MM2 reprint.
I have a hard time seeing flip Jace belonging in that list anytime soon. Given the difficulty in reprinting him, I can see it somewhere years down the line, but this is a card that will lose at least 75% of its value on rotation.
I have a really hard time believing Jace will be $35+ post rotation. Voice of Resurgence wasn't half that. Monastery Mentor isn't half that today, it's still standard legal, and sees at least as much eternal play as Jace.
This is the most over-inflated card I've ever seen.
If you got them to play modern, then the question is what deck(s) you want to play and whether they require Tarns.
The reality is that fetches are both critical to most modern decks and pretty much guaranteed to be reprinted.
That leaves you with a few choices:
1) Play a deck that doesn't require Zendikar fetches. KTK/ONS fetches are plentiful and near the low point they are likely to touch for years to come. You could trade your playset of Tarns into multiple playsets of ally fetches. If you do choose this option, I wouldn't do it through Puca though. KTK fetches are highly in demand and moving slowly. You'd be turning a highly-coveted commodity (Tarns) into puca points with no guarantee anyone would want to convert those back into more fetches for you. Better to trade on these forums, MOTL or IRL. I'm sure plenty of people would be happy to trade up their KTK fetches into tarns.
2) Dump them at a high price now and wait for a reprint. This is the safest financial option, as a Tarn reprint is certainly a matter of when and not if. You could literally be waiting years though. How many weeks, months, years are you willing to go without playing your modern deck?
3) Accept that a reprint is inevitable (and subsequent value crash) and keep them for the reason you bought them: to play. Think of the value you'll get from playing hundreds of fun modern games in the meantime, and realize that fetches will always be valuable reprint or not. Deltas went down to around $10 and are pushing $30 again. When KTK goes out of print and people still want to play modern and legacy, they'll go higher. Given enough time, they'll probably be reprinted again and drop again, and so on. Your Tarns will drop to $20 someday, and then slowly creep up again. Meanwhile other items in your collection will surely rise in value, and meanwhile you'll get to enjoy playing with them.
So there's no MSRP, but online packs are $6.99 and boxes are sold to LGS at a price that also suggests a $6.99 pricetag to maintain their margins. The de factor $7 MSRP is of course contingent on playability and scarcity/print run size. A complete lack of impact cards will tank the price, while a short print run and highly playable modern staples will drive MM1-like markups.
Could you elaborate? As someone who primarily plays black, and primarily eternal formats, I was planning to pick up a few copies once she rotates rather than pay standard prices. If she has untapped eternal potential I may have to reconsider.
I like the fact that she protects herself for +1 instead of -2, but her creature kill is still more conditional than LotV's. Her -2 is very unlikely to be worth much card draw in most legacy decks, although it does play nicely with Brainstorm if you don't have a fetch to crack. Her ultimate is both slower to activate and less immediately devastating to the opponent.
I guess I can see where she's potentially very powerful if you build around her, but LotV is just a value engine in most any deck you put her in?
If people aren't in any rush to ship a $12 mythic with no constructed applications from a relatively recent set (with a second printing to boot!), PucaPoints just aren't that attractive anymore.
https://pucatrade.com/blog/2016/pro_tour_oath_of_the_gatewatch
If someone pulled this on you, you should be able to get credit for the difference.
In that scenario, other cards to watch would be Mishra's Factory, Ancient Tomb, and City of Traitors.
Utility lands that already see a ton of play, like Rishadan Port and Wasteland also get even better.
I feel like we're seeing some sort of inflation in pucapoints, such that people are getting them too easily and the incentive to send cards and stockpile points is diminishing.
You could very well be right. I don't know. Karn is played a lot in EDH too.
In any case, the vast majority of his current demand is standard, and the price tag will follow his standard use.
Ugin is a 2-of in one modern deck, and doesn't really fit in any others. He could also easily get squeezed out of Tron by a better colorless bomb, and we have OGW coming out in a couple months which is likely to contain colorless bombs.
Karn is a 4-of in the same deck, from a less opened set, and was $10 when SoM block rotated. I see no reason to believe that Ugin would stay over $20, let alone near the current price.
However, if he is just holding more strictly to Pucatrade's minimum standards than most traders do, that is your problem and he should be entitled to a discount or a refund and return.
In the past, $2 casual cards from recent sets would be filled faster than I could blink. I also see things on my "send a card" page for multiple days that I don't really want to trade, but would normally be gone faster than I could click send.
I'm not really sure what to attribute this to. Possibly some sort of inflation in the Puca economy that has made points less desirable? It has certainly impacted me, as I'm less motivated to send knowing that I might not be able to spend my points easily.
A smaller operation, where you're more likely to be dealing with the owner directly, probably has more motivation to liquidate cards quickly and build customer loyalty, as well as more leeway to cut you a deal.
Edit: This wasn't intended as a criticism of CFB. I've had nothing but great experiences with them. Just saying that negotiating is likely not worth the time for them, if you even find someone who has the ability to alter prices for you. Better to look for a business where you can come to an agreement that is mutually beneficial if you don't want to pay the listed price.
The fact that Voice never got beyond $50 is further evidence that Jace's price is absurdly inflated. That set had nothing whatsoever of value. Origins also has 2 other flip walkers over $20, the most expensive non-fetchland rare in standard (Hangarback Walker), a legacy staple reprint...
Fringe play as a 1-2 of in a few eternal builds is not going to keep a mythic from a recent expansion above $20, let alone $35. Batterskull, Griselbrand, Geist of Saint Traft, and Craterhoof Behemoth are Legacy staples, from sets likely opened less than Origins. All are under $20. Yes, some have had promo reprintings, but not enough to significantly affect supply of those cards.
Here's the list of mythics that have rotated from standard worth at least $35:
Bob
Clique
SoFaI
Goyf
Mox Opal
LotV
JTMS
Honorable mention for Emrakul and Karn Liberated, who would make the list if not for the MM2 reprint.
I have a hard time seeing flip Jace belonging in that list anytime soon. Given the difficulty in reprinting him, I can see it somewhere years down the line, but this is a card that will lose at least 75% of its value on rotation.
This is the most over-inflated card I've ever seen.
The reality is that fetches are both critical to most modern decks and pretty much guaranteed to be reprinted.
That leaves you with a few choices:
1) Play a deck that doesn't require Zendikar fetches. KTK/ONS fetches are plentiful and near the low point they are likely to touch for years to come. You could trade your playset of Tarns into multiple playsets of ally fetches. If you do choose this option, I wouldn't do it through Puca though. KTK fetches are highly in demand and moving slowly. You'd be turning a highly-coveted commodity (Tarns) into puca points with no guarantee anyone would want to convert those back into more fetches for you. Better to trade on these forums, MOTL or IRL. I'm sure plenty of people would be happy to trade up their KTK fetches into tarns.
2) Dump them at a high price now and wait for a reprint. This is the safest financial option, as a Tarn reprint is certainly a matter of when and not if. You could literally be waiting years though. How many weeks, months, years are you willing to go without playing your modern deck?
3) Accept that a reprint is inevitable (and subsequent value crash) and keep them for the reason you bought them: to play. Think of the value you'll get from playing hundreds of fun modern games in the meantime, and realize that fetches will always be valuable reprint or not. Deltas went down to around $10 and are pushing $30 again. When KTK goes out of print and people still want to play modern and legacy, they'll go higher. Given enough time, they'll probably be reprinted again and drop again, and so on. Your Tarns will drop to $20 someday, and then slowly creep up again. Meanwhile other items in your collection will surely rise in value, and meanwhile you'll get to enjoy playing with them.