Are you a Quiet Speculation member?
If not, now is a perfect time to join up! Our powerful tools, breaking-news analysis, and exclusive Discord channel will make sure you stay up to date and ahead of the curve.
Once again this week as we examine the world of Magic Buy Lists I’m attempting to narrow in on some useful and usable information. The last few times we’ve looked at this data I’ve displayed the top cards, the movers and shakers. I had hoped that the information would be interesting and useful. To some degree it was, but it wasn’t enough. As I have been doing with the other data points I’ve been showing you I’ve reformatted all the Buy Lists as well.
If something you read here looks confusing you may wish to check out some of my processes and explanations here. The Nutt Draw: Primers and Glossary
In addition to all these revisions and display changes I’ve been adding online stores to the lists. As of writing I am tracking Starcity Games, Cool Stuff Inc, Channel Fireball, Troll and Toad, BlackBorder, Strike Zone and White Lion Games. I plan on adding in six more, and possibly replacing one or two depending on how complete and competitive they are. Once I have analyzed them all for performance I’ll know who to cut.
The first revised list I would like to show you is the list for the cards in standard. On the top of this spreadsheet you’ll notice I have highlighted the top 30 cards sorted by the highest offered buy price. This is good trivia, but unless you’re trying to get rid of one or more of those cards, it’s just fun to look at. However, below that list you’ll find a list of all the cards in standard that appear on the any of the tracked buy lists that have a high buy price of $0.10 or more. I’m hoping that this more complete list will be more of a tool then just pretty.
[iframe https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0AukC5EWiTvOpdHNRbzVoSEEzRFdKM0l6NkZXUGFKOHc&hl=en&single=true&gid=15&output=html&widget=false 100% 600px]
Next up we have the same treatment as above, but for Extended. The staples of Standard from two or three years ago, Mutavault, Thoughtseize and Bitterblossom top out the chart. No surprises here really. As with the Standard list I’ve included a list of all the cards on the buy lists, though this time it’s the cards above $0.25. The $0.10 cut off for Standard, the $0.25 cut off for Extended and the following $1.00 cut off for the Eternal formats are all because of some limitation to what I can upload and calculate online with Google spreadsheets. I’ve mentioned this many times before, but I am planning on moving to a new platform that is more in my control and won’t have these limitations.
[iframe https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0AukC5EWiTvOpdHNRbzVoSEEzRFdKM0l6NkZXUGFKOHc&hl=en&single=true&gid=16&output=html&widget=false 100% 600px]
Since it would be so top heavy with Power 9, I decided not to show the top 30 Eternal cards and instead went with the largest list of cards I was able to upload and still calculate.
[iframe https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0AukC5EWiTvOpdHNRbzVoSEEzRFdKM0l6NkZXUGFKOHc&hl=en&single=true&gid=17&output=html&widget=false 100% 600px]
The Eternal list has about 1000 cards on it and highlight anything that has an offer of $1.00 or more on it. If you have some old cards and want to get some cash, look over this list. I’m sure you’ll find what you’re looking for.
I’ve also spent some time updating the list rst introduced last month. The Womby list has been split into three different lists, one for Standard, one for Extended, and one for the Eternal cards. The Womby lists highlight any cards that are sold on eBay for a price (average price) lower than what they appear at on the tracked buy lists. First up is Standard.
[iframe https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0AukC5EWiTvOpdHNRbzVoSEEzRFdKM0l6NkZXUGFKOHc&hl=en&single=true&gid=18&output=html&widget=false 100% 600px]
Nothing too surprising there, and most likely none of them have enough margins at the prices listed to really be interesting, but if you can get some good buys or trades on these cards, you certainly have room to gain.
[iframe https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0AukC5EWiTvOpdHNRbzVoSEEzRFdKM0l6NkZXUGFKOHc&hl=en&single=true&gid=19&output=html&widget=false 100% 600px]
The Extended list gives us a few cards that we might be able to make some cash on if we can get good deals. Baneslayer Angels have been trading pretty low these days in my geography, and a savy trader could easily make some money based on some of the buy prices listed here. If you can get people to toss in some Siege-Gang Commanders with your trades you should be able to clean up on those as well.
[iframe https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0AukC5EWiTvOpdHNRbzVoSEEzRFdKM0l6NkZXUGFKOHc&hl=en&single=true&gid=20&output=html&widget=false 100% 600px]
There is always magin to be made on the Power 9 if you get a good deal, but there is lots of gold on the Eternal list. Dig out those old cards you’re not using any more and send them on in. Remember to keep in mind that all the prices listed are for cards in Near Mint condition and you’ll get less if the quality isn’t there. Check on each of the buyers web sites for details and instructions.
Lastly, here is an update of the application of the Demand Index values to the buy list. This gives us an indication of the cards that have the least demand, but are still desired by online stores.
[iframe https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0AukC5EWiTvOpdEFHeTFFNEN5OGpfcC1pNk5abFYzckE&hl=en&single=true&gid=3&output=html&widget=false 100% 635px]
As per Jason's request, here are links to the printable copies of all these lists.
Buy List - Standard
Buy List - Extended
Buy List - Eternal
Womby List - Standard
Womby List - Extended
Womby List - Eternal
Demand Matrix Buy List
I’ll keep working to make this data usable. If you have any suggestions or ideas, please let me know.
Chris McNutt
Magic Analyst
Level 1 Judge
@fatecreatr on twitter
<3 the womby list
great article, very interesting data
Great article. Thanks for all the information. My one complaint however…Last time I think you had a link to the google docs so that we could print them off. Is there a way to get that information again?
Great point. I've added in links for printing. I'm not sure how printer friendly they are, that will be something I work on though.
Could you add "womby" to your glossary? I'm still not getting what that is.
Thank you for the reminder. I've added it. If it's still unclear, please let me know.
Just to clarify, I meant to say, "Not getting where 'Womby' comes from" I assumed it was an acronym. Your new entry explains it just fine. Thanks! 🙂
I'm curious how you acquire the buylist data.
From the stores web sites.
Chris,
Where's Skithiryx, the blight dragon. Saw it above Sword of B & M at Cool Stuff inc @ $11. That's got to be a good sell.
THanks.
@jc-mtg
Right you are. It's going to take some time to calculate everything, but I think I know where the error is. The data there is all accurate, but there are some cards missing. I'm on it.
Womby List Standard not going to the right list.
Thank you. Got it updated.
I love these articles. Pretty much the highlight of the week. Numbers make me happy inside
I appreciate all the work you're doing, but you're getting sell prices rather than buy prices for some older cards from StrikeZone. Also, for eternal cards condition is a very big deal. You're ignoring condition from eBay, while using the NM buy price, so it's not exactly an apt comparison.
I see what you mean on Strike Zone. Their Fallen Empires and Homelands lists got swapped. I've corrected it on the back end and added a filter to catch it if it happens again. Thank for you pointing that out,I'll re-upload that fix and another one other shortly. I'm rebuilding the Channel Fireball list (it's over 70 different download maps) and building in some error correction.
I did mention that these prices are all for near mint. It should go without saying that stores aren't going to accept cards in poor condition at the same price but I'll be more explicit about that in the future.
I apologize for not being clear.
The Ebay prices are for cards that sold and don't take into account condition. For new cards, it's safe to assume they are all NM, and it doesn't matter, but for RV cards and earlier condition is crucial. You are comparing the value of played cards (Ebay) to NM cards (store buylists).
Regardless, it's an incredibly valuable service that you perform.
I hear ya. It's all a work in progress. I don't know of anyone else that has gone to the effort of collecting and posting all the information that I am. It's pretty complex and it will take an community to build out. It's complex enough that I won't catch everything.
Chris
You are a god among men.
Each week this gets better and more refined. The Womby list finally makes sense to me. OVerall your lists are a great asset to arm ourselves as we head out to FNMs and local tournaments – both to protect ourselves from devaluing our cards as well as sharpening our skills as we trade for value.
Keep up the good work!
Thank you much! I'll keep working on it!
Over the last week, I have kept coming back to this article when determining which cards to sell. I was glad to hear that you are getting notice from the folks in Renton!
It is a shame that eBay prices can get warped by card condition, especially for older cards. Just got to take it with a grain of salt. If there were any easy workarounds, I'd imagine sites like blacklotusproject.com would employ them, but none come to mind.
Phenomenal article. Keep 'em coming!
This buy list feature is one of the best on any Magic site out there. Your other lists are very useful, as well.
Eventually some site is going to get the bright idea to automate this buy list and list it similar to TCGPlayer or Blackborder, complete with an easy checkout feature. I'm hoping that comes soon, so you don't have to do all this work. Maybe this very site will be the ones to come up with this system . . .
One feature to this system would be to figure out the best store for you to make your entire sale to. In other words, it would have to figure out whether you should break up the lot and sell to every store that is listing the best price for individual cards, or it would pick the store with the best overall price to save you money on shipping and possibly insurance. An automated comparison to the most recent MOTL list would be nice, but that may be asking for too much. Buy lists are getting pretty close to eBay these days, anyway.