Best: I've bought many collections for $500-$1000 that turned out to be worth 4 or 5 times what I paid. The RIGHT collections are always a solid return on investment. Heck, just this past weekend I bought "28000 bulk MTG commons" from Craigslist for $120 and ended up finding 348 Zendikar full art lands and a bunch of gitaxian probes and lightning bolts and some nice foils (spell pierce etc) which ended up being worth probably close to a thousand bucks total. I love digging through "bulk".
When you say collections, you mean when someone's dumping all of their cards? Do you buy bulk collections online? It seems like a gamble as many people just sell off complete junk. What makes you lean toward buying a collection?
Worst Investment so far? Being involved in this game.
Hahaha! Indeed! I'm sure my little investments will never make back the money I've spent playing magic. Instead I've been seeing it as a way to trade up card value. I've had so many cards sitting around not doing anything. When Khans came out trading for as many fetchlands as possible has been a great way for me to turn cheap, unusable cards into a liquid investment.
The stories have been great so far. I feel like Default User had a very important point about not over investing. A Youtube magic investor I watch said he has seen A LOT of people spending money they shouldn't have on "investments" which had to be sold at a loss because rent was due. Step 0 to investing: Already have a savings in place that is not used for investing and a steady income.
We can count those nameless players who spent money they didn't have as worst investment stories.
I haven't yet lost money on a box, but I've been really lucky with the foils and my sample size is relatively small. I actually believe that several of the cards listed as valuable rares are underpriced, and should propably do something about it. Both Stifle and Reflecting Pool have potential to go up pretty nicely.
I just opened a Dack Fayden in draft last night!! Also I have another sealed box of Conspiracy I was planning on sitting on. However, it seems I might make my money back, or more so in trade value by opening it. (Also I want the Conspiracy cards for a cube.)
Personally I'm trying to collect fetchlands as an investment. Is it possible to get khans fetchlands on pucatrade? I would love to trade my current Dack Fayden for fetchlands.
Are there any other cards in the set worth selling now and some worth sitting on? Should I perhaps sit on all of the Brainstorms I open? Swords to Plowshares? As far as getting value out of opening a box, I don't need to recoup all of my money right away. I could save cards that might go up in value and sell or trade some into fetchlands.
<Anyone here interested in a Dack Fayden for some Khans Fetchlands? Please message me.>
Solicitation of trades outside of the Trading Post is disallowed. -Cythare
But there are some issues with boxes, and they involve low demand on the high end boxes and high shipping costs from Finland to Europe. So always make certain that you have some out for your purchases if you decide to go into boxes.
Not sure what you mean by "have some out for your purchases if you decide to go into boxes." Do you mean extra money to cover shipping costs? I've been paying shipping costs whenever I buy magic cards. Wouldn't people buying boxes from you expect to pay for shipping?
I've got a box of Khans of Tarkir and Conspiracy I'm sitting on. I chose these as they are a self-contained draft environment. Also Khans has fetchlands which will always be desired. I'm thinking perhaps I should have just gone Khans as Conspiracy seems to have almost no high cost cards. On the other hand Conspiracy is a unique set, so perhaps there will be a demand when it stops seeing circulation.
Hopefully my investment into fetchlands will be a success story for me someday. I have been trading and buying them up them in person amongst my play group. The plan is to use pucatrade or forums to sell some cards I currently have to get more fetches soon. I noticed they all have been going up slightly the last 3 weeks. Seems like a good time to buy.
Hello everyone! I've just started speculating and investing a little bit in Magic cards and sealed product. Does anyone have some stories on which investments turned out to be good or bad? If you have such details as how many cards you bought for what price and what you sold or traded them for.
Also would like to hear about which sealed booster boxes or other products people may have made or lost money on.
Ultimately, what was your reasoning behind initially choosing your investments? Why did they succeed or fail?
I searched this thread for "price" and couldn't find an answer.
When wizards started spoiling this set booster packs were set at $10 MSRP. I've been seeing boxes on Ebay for $250-$270. That is over $10 a pack. Also the Wizards website doesn't list the $10 MSRP anymore. Has the price gone up? Does anyone know what MSRP of a box is?
I think Pawn of Ulamog could be worked in somehow. It would be a good combo piece with Smallpox and Zealous Persecution. Every time my Bloodghast dies I get a blocker which can also create mana. How great would it be to have Pawn out with a Bloodghast. I attack with Bloodghast, opponent may be tempted to let it through rather than give me token that can block. Whether or not bloodghast is blocked, I cast Smallpox second main phase and sacrifice either the Bloodghast or token.
Though Pawn of Ulamog is a weak creature, its potential to combo with Smallpox, Bloodghast, and Zealous Persecution is great.
Not sure how to fit it into the deck however.
Remember this deck is for a casual tourney at my house. Nobody has tier 1 or 2 decks. I am so glad for the feedback. I know this deck is getting better. My mana curve has gone down quite a bit since the decks start. Also taking out Vamp. Noc. has opened up many potential new cards.
I think the Lightning Greaves may be quite useful to me. They work well with Bloodghast and can protect my most important creature from removal. Being able to give Vampire Nighthawk haste and shroud for 0 sounds good!
I've considered your concerns over blocking. This is where Smallpox shines! I almost never use Smallpox if they don't have a creature on the board. I just wait to play one of my creatures until I Smallpox one of theirs first. In the mean time I can inquisition and play Lightning Greaves.
With Swords to Plowshares for targeted removal, Zealous Persecution to clear tokens, Gatekeeper, Smallpox and Inquisition I'm hoping there is less of a need for blocking.If I do need to block, Vamp. Nighthawk to the rescue.
When my opponent sacs a land they will slow down a bit. It will be less likely they can manage to have even one creature on the board starting their turn 3, as they will be down a land. I just make sure not to mana screw myself when I play Smallpox, or have Sign in Blood in hand.
Traded Vampire Hexmage for Kalastria Highborn. Kalastria will force them to let Bloodghast through or suffer worse consequences. She also improves my position in blocking and may add some protection against burn decks. Red burn has been my worst enemy so far in play testing. Hoping the Lightning Greaves will also help bolster against this.
I appreciate the feedback. It's funny I've never considered taking out Vamp. Nocturnus as he is always so much fun. I can see how he's not as great as Bloodline Keeper who can usually make tokens. I will switch them out for the Keepers. Without Nocturnus I don't have to restrict myself to black cards! So I think I'll put in 4 Path to Exiles and that equipment you mentioned, Lashwrithe. It is a living weapon as an added bonus.
I thought I was being pretty clever with the Small Pox however. If I have Bloodghast on the field or in my hand and can cast a Small Pox I'd say that would be a pretty good advantage. Imagine turn 2 Smallpox, discard Bloodghast. Turn 3 play a land, get Bloodghast out without ever paying it's mana cost. Also I can feel free to cast Smallpox anytime I have Bloodghast in play. If my opponent is at 10 life with Bloodghast out and I play Smallpox to get rid of a blocker (and the ghast) play a land, and attack with my hasted Bloodghast despite having sacrificed it. Smallpox also works well with Lashwrithe as I can sack the germ token. Do you still think Smallpox is no good?
One more reason I like the ghast is it helps set off Bloodline Keeper's transformation ability more than any other Vampire. I'll let you know what happens after some play testing!
No suggestions yet huh? I've come up with a couple of ideas anyway. I feel like the strength of the Vampires is in the mid to late game. I have found Bloodline Keeper to be quite useful in it's evasion and token pumping. The deck now includes 3 Bloodline Keepers and 3 Captivating Vampires. It seems that both of these pair well with... every other creature I suppose! Put in more hand disruption.
I have thought up a new limited format. This is for those times when you have either not enough packs, or players to draft. Designed to get the most out of those 6 left over booster packs from a box.
You and one or more people each open 3 packs at once. You keep all the cards you open and build a 40 card deck from it. However each basic land counts as each basic land type (they all tap for 5 colors.) I've only played a couple of times but it's been fun. A great way to get rid of a few left over packs.
We decided that counting each basic land as every land type maximizes the efficiency of any card you might open. For example Nightfire Giant gets +1/+1 if you control any basic lands Seismic Strike Deals damage equal to number of basic lands you have.
Land walk becomes unblockable.
I'd be interested to hear feedback from anyone who tries it out.
I'm hosting a casual Modern Tournament at my place soon. Most likely everyone will be playing homebrews, I won't have to play any tier 1 decks with this. Any critiques on this deck I have?
I play this deck aggressively. Generally I'm playing pretty hard offense with creatures while letting my removal play defense. I do my best to keep as many vampires on the board. If I get a turn 4 Vampire Nocturnus out with a black card up it sometimes ends games then.
What do you think about keeping all 4 Fetchlands in? I feel it's worth it as one fetchland can potentially bring a Bloodghast back from the graveyard twice. On the downside I'm already paying life for spells like Thoughtseize and Read the Bones. The Fetches along with Read the Bones can give a chance to potentially move a land card away from the top of my library if Vamp. Noc. is out. Also I'm not sure if I should mainboard blade of the bloodchief. It does great things for me sometimes. Other times it's on top of my library and keeping me from killing my opponent (via Vamp. Noc. buff.) I'm interested to see what you all think.
When you say collections, you mean when someone's dumping all of their cards? Do you buy bulk collections online? It seems like a gamble as many people just sell off complete junk. What makes you lean toward buying a collection?
Hahaha! Indeed! I'm sure my little investments will never make back the money I've spent playing magic. Instead I've been seeing it as a way to trade up card value. I've had so many cards sitting around not doing anything. When Khans came out trading for as many fetchlands as possible has been a great way for me to turn cheap, unusable cards into a liquid investment.
The stories have been great so far. I feel like Default User had a very important point about not over investing. A Youtube magic investor I watch said he has seen A LOT of people spending money they shouldn't have on "investments" which had to be sold at a loss because rent was due. Step 0 to investing: Already have a savings in place that is not used for investing and a steady income.
We can count those nameless players who spent money they didn't have as worst investment stories.
I just opened a Dack Fayden in draft last night!! Also I have another sealed box of Conspiracy I was planning on sitting on. However, it seems I might make my money back, or more so in trade value by opening it. (Also I want the Conspiracy cards for a cube.)
Personally I'm trying to collect fetchlands as an investment. Is it possible to get khans fetchlands on pucatrade? I would love to trade my current Dack Fayden for fetchlands.
Are there any other cards in the set worth selling now and some worth sitting on? Should I perhaps sit on all of the Brainstorms I open? Swords to Plowshares? As far as getting value out of opening a box, I don't need to recoup all of my money right away. I could save cards that might go up in value and sell or trade some into fetchlands.
<Anyone here interested in a Dack Fayden for some Khans Fetchlands? Please message me.>
Solicitation of trades outside of the Trading Post is disallowed. -Cythare
Not sure what you mean by "have some out for your purchases if you decide to go into boxes." Do you mean extra money to cover shipping costs? I've been paying shipping costs whenever I buy magic cards. Wouldn't people buying boxes from you expect to pay for shipping?
I've got a box of Khans of Tarkir and Conspiracy I'm sitting on. I chose these as they are a self-contained draft environment. Also Khans has fetchlands which will always be desired. I'm thinking perhaps I should have just gone Khans as Conspiracy seems to have almost no high cost cards. On the other hand Conspiracy is a unique set, so perhaps there will be a demand when it stops seeing circulation.
Hopefully my investment into fetchlands will be a success story for me someday. I have been trading and buying them up them in person amongst my play group. The plan is to use pucatrade or forums to sell some cards I currently have to get more fetches soon. I noticed they all have been going up slightly the last 3 weeks. Seems like a good time to buy.
Thanks for the stories and ideas everyone!
Also would like to hear about which sealed booster boxes or other products people may have made or lost money on.
Ultimately, what was your reasoning behind initially choosing your investments? Why did they succeed or fail?
Thanks in advance!
When wizards started spoiling this set booster packs were set at $10 MSRP. I've been seeing boxes on Ebay for $250-$270. That is over $10 a pack. Also the Wizards website doesn't list the $10 MSRP anymore. Has the price gone up? Does anyone know what MSRP of a box is?
Though Pawn of Ulamog is a weak creature, its potential to combo with Smallpox, Bloodghast, and Zealous Persecution is great.
Not sure how to fit it into the deck however.
I found this primer on BW Smallpox, Bloodghast control
www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/deck-creation-modern/221762-b-w-smallpox-control]
Newest version:
3 Kalastria Highborn
4 Vampire Nighthawk
3 Gatekeeper of Malakir
3 Bloodline Keeper
2 Lightning Greaves
Sorceries
4 Smallpox
2 Sign in Blood
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
Instants
3 Swords to Plowshares
3 Zealous Persecution
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Land
4 Isolated Chapel
2 Godless Shrine
2 Orzhov Basilica
13 Swamp
I think the Lightning Greaves may be quite useful to me. They work well with Bloodghast and can protect my most important creature from removal. Being able to give Vampire Nighthawk haste and shroud for 0 sounds good!
I've considered your concerns over blocking. This is where Smallpox shines! I almost never use Smallpox if they don't have a creature on the board. I just wait to play one of my creatures until I Smallpox one of theirs first. In the mean time I can inquisition and play Lightning Greaves.
With Swords to Plowshares for targeted removal, Zealous Persecution to clear tokens, Gatekeeper, Smallpox and Inquisition I'm hoping there is less of a need for blocking.If I do need to block, Vamp. Nighthawk to the rescue.
When my opponent sacs a land they will slow down a bit. It will be less likely they can manage to have even one creature on the board starting their turn 3, as they will be down a land. I just make sure not to mana screw myself when I play Smallpox, or have Sign in Blood in hand.
Traded Vampire Hexmage for Kalastria Highborn. Kalastria will force them to let Bloodghast through or suffer worse consequences. She also improves my position in blocking and may add some protection against burn decks. Red burn has been my worst enemy so far in play testing. Hoping the Lightning Greaves will also help bolster against this.
Thanks again!
I thought I was being pretty clever with the Small Pox however. If I have Bloodghast on the field or in my hand and can cast a Small Pox I'd say that would be a pretty good advantage. Imagine turn 2 Smallpox, discard Bloodghast. Turn 3 play a land, get Bloodghast out without ever paying it's mana cost. Also I can feel free to cast Smallpox anytime I have Bloodghast in play. If my opponent is at 10 life with Bloodghast out and I play Smallpox to get rid of a blocker (and the ghast) play a land, and attack with my hasted Bloodghast despite having sacrificed it. Smallpox also works well with Lashwrithe as I can sack the germ token. Do you still think Smallpox is no good?
One more reason I like the ghast is it helps set off Bloodline Keeper's transformation ability more than any other Vampire. I'll let you know what happens after some play testing!
4 Bloodghast
4 Vampire Hexmage
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Vampire Nocturnus
Sorceries
4 Small Pox
3 Sign in Blood
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Urge to Feed
2 Zealous Persecution
Planeswalkers
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Land
4 Isolated Chapel
4 Godless Shrine
15 Swamp
4 Wrench Mind
4 Mortify
2 zealous persecution
3 Bile Blight
4 Bloodghast
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
3 Captivating Vampire
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Vampire Nocturnus
3 Bloodline Keeper
3 Thoughtseize
2 Read the Bones
3 Urge to feed
2 Feast of Blood
4 Bloodstained Mire
Sideboard so far:
Any suggestions? Do you think Bloodchief Ascension, Smallpox, or Go for the Throat might work better than some of the current cards? Thanks!
You and one or more people each open 3 packs at once. You keep all the cards you open and build a 40 card deck from it. However each basic land counts as each basic land type (they all tap for 5 colors.) I've only played a couple of times but it's been fun. A great way to get rid of a few left over packs.
We decided that counting each basic land as every land type maximizes the efficiency of any card you might open. For example Nightfire Giant gets +1/+1 if you control any basic lands
Seismic Strike Deals damage equal to number of basic lands you have.
Land walk becomes unblockable.
I'd be interested to hear feedback from anyone who tries it out.
I'm hosting a casual Modern Tournament at my place soon. Most likely everyone will be playing homebrews, I won't have to play any tier 1 decks with this. Any critiques on this deck I have?
Sideboard:
I play this deck aggressively. Generally I'm playing pretty hard offense with creatures while letting my removal play defense. I do my best to keep as many vampires on the board. If I get a turn 4 Vampire Nocturnus out with a black card up it sometimes ends games then.
What do you think about keeping all 4 Fetchlands in? I feel it's worth it as one fetchland can potentially bring a Bloodghast back from the graveyard twice. On the downside I'm already paying life for spells like Thoughtseize and Read the Bones. The Fetches along with Read the Bones can give a chance to potentially move a land card away from the top of my library if Vamp. Noc. is out. Also I'm not sure if I should mainboard blade of the bloodchief. It does great things for me sometimes. Other times it's on top of my library and keeping me from killing my opponent (via Vamp. Noc. buff.) I'm interested to see what you all think.