Of course you’re always welcome to go on gut feeling and as you said the more that gut feeling is honed by experience the more accurate it will be. I definitely don’t do this analysis for every card I consider speccing on, however, I think the general principle (especially having realistic values as they relate to a given format is worth doing and keeping at the back of your mind before you ever hit that buy button). I’ve found that often newer speculators have very optimistic viewpoints on card’s value and focus heavily on the upside while neglecting the downside; this type of analysis should hopefully help realign that optimism to be more realistic.

Personally I’ve been in the market for almost 20 years. I know my niches, preferences and weaknesses. I go by gut feeling and while I feel I could possibly optimize my strategies it rarely leads me wrong.

This is not to say there’s anything wrong with what is suggested in the article. If you’re relatively new it’s imperative to do these things. You need to develop this gut feeling before you can rely on it.