I am not suggesting to get them now at $20, but I am suggesting the rise is real and could have been expected at some point. I expect it might dip a bit, but will otherwise hold steady.

What I am doing is challenging the “scam” conclusion and trying to explain what I see as the main driver.

Wow, very thorough response. Your arguments that these are casual staples and merit higher prices are not unfounded. I don’t mean to disagree. But now that prices have spiked dramatically, it’s much more difficult for me to tell people to buy them. In my opinion, it’s mostly too late. If you need them, you could try to find them cheaply or you could wait. You are suggesting not to wait, and that you think prices are stabilized now at this elevated level. This is perhaps true, but I am skeptical.

We’ve seen these price spikes many times before – some of them stick (Legends Legends) and some don’t so much (Aluren, Rishadan Port to a lesser extent). These higher prices should motivate players to dig their Medallions and Earthcrafts out and back into trade binders. Now that these cards have spiked, they’re on people’s radar again. So maybe you’ll see more supply now that price is much higher. That’s generally how the market works – price rises and supply rises as a result. More people are willing to sell at higher prices. The invisible hand should prevail eventually…I think. 🙂

*not = now

(Being able to edit your comments would be such a nice addition to the site).

In general I think casual hits from long ago that still have potential today are great pickups, especially if they are on the reserved list. You might have to wait for a while, but I think their eventual increase can be counted on.

I would include any great land, like Volrath’s Stronghold or Yavimaya Hollow, cards that can be played in many decks, like Memory Jar, and anything that works well with newer cards (though those tend to go from bulk to expensive overnight), it’s harder to predict these, but I kinda like Oath of Ghouls and Oversold Cemetery, that keep getting better now that we have the creature power creep thing going on (which would also be a nice argument in favor of Spike Weaver not that I think about it). I am sure other candidates can be found when you review the reserved list from a casual perspective (in fact something I should maybe do some day, if only I can find time).

It’s a rare card to find in binders, it was played a lot when it was still fairly new and available when Odyssey block came out and introduced Squirrel’s Nest. I reckon the card is more likely than most to have been lost to the Magic community as a whole because of casual players/moms thrashing collections or otherwise keeping them away from the general public. I haven’t seen one in trade binders since forever (I was looking to pick up a reasonably priced set for years). While it always had some value the price memory for those older casual players who had them at the time would have been a couple of dollars at most, not the kind of card you make sure to sell when you stop playing.

I am not advocating to get them now, unless you manage to find them at the old price, but, I am saying that this is not a rise that surprises me.

In a similar vein, I am a believer as far as the Medallion rise is concerned. They are great casual cards and equally old. Much of the same reasoning applies, particularly to the non-blue ones as they saw little tournament play. (Casual players have loved playing them even if competitive players haven’t). I wouldn’t be surprised if we see those eventually climb towards $20 too. I am in the progress of making sure I have at least a playset of these too.

It’s not that I don’t think Earthcraft can be a $20 card…I just thought it would be $20 post-unbanning (after the original ridiculous spike). Now that Earthcraft has already jumped, I wouldn’t want to rush to buy a dozen copies should it become unbanned. It became a much more risky prospect.

I’ve never seen Earthcraft played casually, but it’s possible I don’t play enough these days to see that.

Lol. I think upside is limited in the short term. Do you really think this card is going to break Standard?

Star City Games started with lower preordre prices, but enough sold such that they increased the price. I don’t think this is SCG being SCG necessarily…but I’m not paying $300 that’s for sure.

Thanks!!!

For RtR, I see 2 of the 3 criteria being met. The set has many worthwhile Eternal staples, as you’ve called out. Also, the set is somewhat fun to draft I believe (though I think the jury is still out on DGR draft). Problem here is that the supply is HUGE! Best selling set of all time = most printed set of all time.

That being said, I do own 4 boxes of RtR, and I like getting them in the $85 range if possible. I think these will appreciate nicely IF Magic remains uber popular in the coming years. This is necessary in order to keep demand high so that these boxes are bought up. At this point it’s your call on whether or not this is likely.

Nice! You likely got a better price than I did. I believe there is 1 or 2 boxes on eBay for less than $170 and that’s it. This will be a $200 box by 2014 unless Liliana and Snapcaster are reprinted before then…not likely.

What’s your opinion Sig on RtR sealed boxes? It has less attractive mythics but way more inter-format (even legacy and classic) rares + a half of shock lands.

A reprint is more likely for Liliana than for Jace, I’ll give you that much! But think about all those players who paid $150 for their foil Lilianas. How would they feel? 😛

I concur with Alex, this was a good article with expostulation of your investments. I purchased 8 boxes of INN a month ago.

I think her reprint chances are fairly high. Maybe not this core set as Liliana of the Dark Realms has just had one year and so far they have been giving the newer ones 2 yrs. She is not broken like JTMS was. Maybe next summer..

I agree 100% with that. I actually don’t see her dropping a whole lot @ rotation (maybe 5-10% max) given her obvious eternal playability and the fact that her current high price does NOT seem to be due much to standard (judging by the lack of decks I see her in..only ever really jund)

Thanks for your comment, Alex! Hope it was helpful 🙂