Editor's note: This article advocates exploiting a flaw in the PucaTrade system to sell spiking cards before buyers have a chance to remove them from their Want List. While awareness of this flaw is important, exploiting it for gain is controversial and may be unethical. Quiet Speculation does not endorse this activity.

Ultimately, it will be up to PucaTrade themselves to remedy this loophole. In the meantime, readers must weigh their own ethical considerations regarding this matter.

Welcome to another in a series of articles on advanced PucaTrade techniques. Today we're going to learn about real world examples regarding cards that spike suddenly, plateau, then crater---and how best to position yourself on PucaTrade to take advantage.

Reserved List Cards Taking Crazy Pills

It's a volatile time for Reserved List cards. We all know the ABU Duals have been spiking hard the last few years, with no end in sight. Recently, though, with signals from Wizards that the Reserved List isn't going anywhere, even obscure cards that might not see play except in casual formats are climbing up the charts.

Numerous enterprising fools are buying up all available copies of cards like Meditate, hoping for a big spike so they can empty their dollar boxes. You're a Quiet Speculation Insider, so you are not an enterprising fool, but you can take advantage of these artificial spikes all the same.

Peacekeeper, Meditate and Scorched Ruins

Take a look at a card like Peacekeeper. This card is now up huge percentage points in the past few days, simply by virtue of being on the Reserved List. It has the side benefit of being a terrific Commander card, as it stops attacks altogether. There are likely numerous Commander players on PucaTrade who are looking for Peacekeeper, and a quick scan of the site reveals four people looking for one as of March 1.

Note that by March 2, all four of these wants were filled by other traders. This could have been you, if you were paying attention!

So what was once a rare card that you might throw in to a PucaTrade to get it out of your box can now be shipped to someone for 1169 PucaPoints (the equivalent of $12), but only for the few days the card is spiking. There's nothing unethical about this. You're not creating the spike yourself, just keeping a savvy eye on volatile cards on an unchanging Reserved List.

The aforementioned Meditate has already started crashing down, but is still worth 1297 PucaPoints. However, nobody with points has it on their Want List. So you've got to get in quicker than that. Similarly, Scorched Ruins is stuck at 1187 PucaPoints, but nobody has it on their Want List. These are cards that were once worth less than a dollar.

Note that someone might add one of these cards to their Want List at any time, but someone else will fulfill the trade in a matter of seconds unless you use a tool like Pucauto.

What Else Might Spike on the Reserved List?

Here are a few Reserved List cards that are fun in casual formats and could see a serious spike as market manipulators explore the dark depths of cards that will never be reprinted.

Mirage

Bazaar of Wonders
Forsaken Wastes
Hall of Gemstone

Visions

City of Solitude
Equipoise
Sands of Time

Weatherlight

Liege of the Hollows
Lotus Vale
Pendrell Mists

Tempest

Apocalypse
Recycle
Sarcomancy

Stronghold

Crovax the Cursed
Silver Wyvern
Volrath's Stronghold

Exodus

Ertai, Wizard Adept
Hatred
Oath of Ghouls

Urza's Saga

Barrin, Master Wizard
Lifeline
Temporal Aperture

Urza's Legacy

Radiant, Archangel
Ring of Gix
Second Chance

Urza's Destiny

Donate
Opalescence
Powder Keg

Setting Up Pricing Alerts

Setting up pricing alerts is a good way to track cards like this that might present short windows of opportunity. This way we'll receive an email whenever one starts to rise, and can start acquiring it in PucaTrade to turn around and ship them to people when the card peaks.

One site that does this for free is MTGGoldfish. Register the free account, add Reserved List cards to your collection, and click on Price Alerts. From there, set up a pricing threshold. Then when the card hits that number, you'll get an e-mail, which signals that it's time to act.

Everyone's Happy

The Reserved List is going to cause some old cards to seesaw around the pricing table, but players that have the points on PucaTrade will want these cards regardless. Collecting them when they're low and shipping them out at their peak is a great way to build up PucaPoints for something you really want.