The holidays are in full swing and the new year is right around the corner. And as some of you may know, the stock market has been a bit shaky in the last month or so. But it seems Magic is still doing pretty well during this slightly volatile time. I think a good portion of that has to do with the ramp up of MTG Arena and the recent esports announcement from Wizards.

This is a great thing for Magic as a whole, as it will most likely result in a lot of new players playing the game. I’m still not quite sure how and if Wizards will figure out a way to convert many of the new players who start out with MTG Arena into paper Magic players. With that said, some people have feared that paper Magic might die off a bit, causing people to start talking about potentially selling their collection. I even thought about doing this myself. But in the end, I think paper Magic still has a lot of potential for many years to come. And as a matter of fact, I think this is a good time to pick up cards that you need or want on the cheap. At least I have.

Plus, increased interest in Magic is right around the corner as we start to see even more Ravnica Allegiance spoilers.

Article Series Main Focus Points

• Cards that you should hold on to or pick up for tournaments if you need them before they rise in price. These cards are either seeing increased play in one or more formats, the supply is drying up, or they’re pretty far from the next reprint.
• Cards that you should consider selling or trading away. Their prices are pretty much at the ceiling owing to inflation from speculation, reprint inevitability in the near future, a lull in tournament play, or some combination of these.

Recent Buys

Stain the Mind - Magic 2015 Core Set (Foil)

Purchased Price
$0.98

This has been showing up a bit more in Modern Dredge and Elves recently. And there’s only one printing. But since there’s only one printing, I wouldn’t go too deep on these. We just saw Convoke in Guilds of Ravnica, so we might see more of that in Ravnica Allegiance. But if not, it could be a while before we see the mechanic show up again.

Don’t forget about Life from the Loam from article #24.

And don’t forget about Collected Company from article #21 and Damping Sphere from article #18.

Rix Maadi Reveler - Ravnica Allegiance (Non-Foil)

Purchased Price
$3

I preordered this from Star City Games. But I only ordered a playset because I think $3 is borderline too expensive. It might be good in Standard. But I’m not sure if it’s good enough for something like Modern Humans since it competes with cards like Militia Bugler, Dark Confidant, and Thraben Inspector. However, it’s a two-mana Human that can help smooth out your draws and sometimes just straight up draw you a card in rare instances. I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect casting this card for its Spectacle cost. So the question is...will the card filtering warrant a spot? Only time and testing will tell.

Mulldrifter - FNM Promos

Purchased Price
$6.25

This seems to be pretty popular in Pauper.

And the artwork on this promo is pretty sweet, which will probably never be printed again since we sadly lost Wayne England in 2016. If you need or want these, I found a pretty good deal on eBay.

Crackling Drake - Guilds of Ravnica (Non-Foil)

Purchased Price
$0.75

I was a little late to the party on this one. But I was still able to find a playset under $1 each from Miniature Market. If you need or want them, and you can still find them around $1, that’s probably still a good price to pick them up at since Izzet Phoenix is still trending upwards in Modern.

Postmortem Lunge - New Phyrexia (Non-Foil)

Purchased Price
$1.75

GWx Vizier in Modern has kind of fallen off the radar. But Postmortem Lunge started popping up in list earlier this year in September. And with Incubation // Incongruity being pretty much a strict upgrade to Commune with Nature, we could see a slight uptick in the deck’s performance in the next few months.

Not to mention, Noble Hierarch, Kitchen Finks, Devoted Druid, and Eternal Witness all got reprinted in Ultimate Masters. And Postmortem Lunge is tough to reprint owing the mistake of Phyrexian mana.

Devoted Druid - Ultimate Masters (Non-Foil)

Purchased Price
$1.10

As just mentioned above, this has taken a huge tumble from its high of over $10 last year. And rightfully so since it was badly in need of a reprint. This not only sees play in GWx Vizier, but also shows up in Elves. I think somewhere around $1 is pretty much the floor for this card unless it gets reprinted again.

Eidolon of Rhetoric - Journey into Nyx (Non-Foil)

Purchased Price
$1.08

This has already kind of spiked but has come back down just a tiny bit. I was a bit surprised at how many different decks this sees play in, so I decided to pick up a playset. It’s also a bit harder to reprint owing the unique enchantment creature card type.

Holds

Alpine Moon - Core 2019 (Foil)

Target Purchase Price
Under $5

Just like Eidolon of Rhetoric, I was also a bit surprised to see how many decks this sees play in right now.

And I also noticed that it’s been featured a lot in recent articles.

It’s a sideboard card that costs one mana, making is pretty powerful and easy to consider if you’re deck can support red. This will also just get better over time as more and more lands are printed.

Adarkar Wastes - Ice Age

Target Purchase Price
Under $5-6

This is the only version that comes in a black border with the old card frame unless you go for 7th Edition foils. But those will cost you over $90 each. If I had the money, I would get those. But I don’t, so I’ll stick with my Ice Age ones for now.

This already sees a tiny bit of play in Modern.

But with the printing of Lavinia, Azorius Renegade, we could see an uptick in play with Adarkar Wastes since it helps you more easily cast Lavinia and Spell Queller on curve.

Eternal Scourge - Eldritch Moon (Foil)

Target Purchase Price
Under $3

This mainly sees play in Colorless Eldrazi in Modern. And as more colorless cards get printed, the higher the chances this deck gets more powerful. So it’s a deck to keep an eye on.

And don’t forget about Serum Powder from article #18.

Shalai, Voice of Plenty - Dominaria (Foil)

Target Purchase Price
Under $10

Foil copies have finally sunk to it’s all-time low, so I think now is the time to pick them up since it sees play in various decks. And I don’t think we’ll see a tutorable Leyline of Sanctity like this for quite a while, if at all.

Twisted Image - Scars of Mirrodin & Masters 25 (Foil)

Target Purchase Price
Under $1

Infect in Modern is still around, especially after Aaron Barich won the SCG Invitational back in June. His list didn’t run Twisted Image. But it still shows up in lists as it’s a pretty clean way to deal with Spellskite, which is one of the tougher cards the deck has to deal with. And it’s a very popular card since it can fit into almost any deck.

It’s also a nice way to deal with Noble Hierarch and Phantasmal Image, which are also extremely popular.

Noble Hierarch

Phantasmal Image

Watchlist

Putrefy - Magic Player Rewards

Observed Price
$4

I highlighted Mortify in article #24, and that was a bit too late if you only read the article when it was published instead of checking in on the public MTG Metagame Finance Spreadsheet or keeping a close ear to the Discord channel if you have a membership.

Now, I don’t think Putrefy will get reprinted in Ravnica Allegiance since there’s already Mortify and Golgari was a guild that was part of Guilds of Ravnica. However, this is a promo that will probably never get printed again. But the card will most likely show up in Standard again at some point in the future.

It’s also highly played in EDH/Commander, showing up in over 22,000 decks.

Office Hours

Office Hours #4 is coming up, and I’ll be co-hosting it with Sigmund Ausfresser. You can catch the audio of Office Hours #3 with Sigmund Ausfresser and me here in case you missed it.

Office Hours #4 is set for Thursday, December 27 at 8p Central, so mark your calendars and join us in the Discord channel if you have a Quiet Speculation membership subscription.

Office Hours

• When: Thursday, December 27 at 8p Central
• Where: Quiet Speculation Discord Channel
• Who: Sigmund Ausfresser & Edward Eng
• Why: Increase Community Engagement
• What: Anything Goes

Public Spreadsheet

Stay up to the minute on what I’m looking at on a daily basis via the MTG Metagame Finance Spreadsheet. Don’t forget to bookmark it, because I update it on the fly. This way you can see what’s going on as the market moves and before articles about certain cards are published.

Recent Buys

• Stain the Mind - Magic 2015 Core Set (Non-Foil)
• Rix Maadi Reveler - Ravnica Allegiance (Non-Foil)
• Mulldrifter - FNM Promos
• Crackling Drake - Guilds of Ravnica (Non-Foil)
• Postmortem Lunge - New Phyrexia (Non-Foil)
• Devoted Druid - Ultimate Masters (Non-Foil)
• Eidolon of Rhetoric - Journey into Nyx (Non-Foil)

Holds

• Alpine Moon - Core Set 2019 (Foil)
• Adarkar Wastes - Ice Age
• Eternal Scourge - Eldritch Moon (Foil)
• Shalai, Voice of Plenty - Dominaria (Foil)
• Twisted Image - Scars of Mirrodin & Masters 25 (Foil)

Watchlist

• Putrefy - Magic Player Rewards

Office Hours

• When: Thursday, December 27 at 8p Central
• Where: Quiet Speculation Discord Channel
• Who: Sigmund Ausfresser & Edward Eng
• Why: Increase Community Engagement
• What: Anything Goes

Public Spreadsheet

MTG Metagame Finance Spreadsheet

Let me know what you think in the comments below. Agree? Disagree? Why? You can also connect with me on Twitter at @edwardeng. I’m also open to suggestions on how to make this series more valuable. Hit me up.

Have fun,
Eddie