Crazy Value Steals?
Economics forum
Posted on March 3, 2015, 1:08 a.m. by Sparda1127
If you're anything like me, then you're a sucker for deals. I wanna know everyones' stories about deals and steals they've gotten through they're time in Magic!
I remember that there was a time when I was really in the market for a playset of Counterspell for a casual deck. One day, at my LGS, there was a guy that was getting rid of his older cards because he had fallen out of play and wanted to get back into Standard.
As I was looking through his cards, I noticed a couple of Counterspells, and asked him what he was wanting for them. After trading him some junk rares he was wanting for his Standard build, I eagerly sleeved them and used them for quite some time.
I eventually found out the price of some of the printings of Counterspell and eagerly started to decide what printing they where. These two cards, of which I had traded maybe $40 worth of cards for, ended up being Beta. I've since had them BGS rated at 9, and they sit on a shelf in prominent display.
TL;DR - Traded junk rares for two Counterspells that ended up being around $200.
What crazy deal have you guys gotten and what stories follow them, if any?
There is a gamestore in my town that doesn't focus on MTG, but it has a pretty sizable collection. Every once in a while I can find a card that is worth way more than its price in the store. My two most recent grabs were a Promo Tasigur, the Golden Fang - bought for $11, valued at $26 - and a Liliana of the Veil - bought for $60, valued at $85. Nothing too crazy here, but its still pretty sweet :D
March 3, 2015 1:16 a.m.
I guess my best buy was a unlimited Underground Sea being sold on ebay as revised. It was listed as moderately played for like 215, when in reality it is actually NM. There was some sticky black gunk on the back which is why it was listed at Mod Played, but I was able to easily get it off. Card's in fantastic condition and I basically got it for more than half off.
March 3, 2015 1:23 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #5
Moved to Economics.
Did Pack to Power starting with an Elvish Archdruid. Didn't actually pick up Power, but I ended up with a FBB Italian Volcanic Island.
March 3, 2015 1:27 a.m.
My personal best buy/ trade would have been a Courser of Kruphix for a M 14/15 Wall of Frost. So like... a 20 cent card for a what was at the time 15$ card. And yes, I wasn't a dick and made sure he realized what he was trading before he did. He was just one of those people who value use of cash, which I can understand but yea.
March 3, 2015 1:39 a.m.
Traded 2 Thragtusk for 2 lilies back in ISD/RTR when both were 30 bucks.
March 3, 2015 1:42 a.m.
Servo_Token says... #8
I bought a box of cards from a garage sale that had 2 NM pieces of power in it, NBD.
Aside from that though, I've traded someone who is super big into speculation - though is absolute trash at it - my 40 copies of Reverent Hunter and 10 copies of Prophet of Kruphix for a foil Thoughtseize from theros. Seemed worth it. This guy is my usual go to when I want to make some sick deals.
March 3, 2015 2:04 a.m.
I'm an old fart (by that I mean my stories are from 1994 and likely wouldn't happen today anymore), so how about 3 Revised Islands for a Revised Tundra? This was one of the first trades I've ever done, unfortunately it was me how gave the Tundra away. Revised Edition was new and basic lands were scarce, so it felt like a good deal to me.
I also remember trading a Candelabra of Tawnos for a Lord of the Pit and an Urza's Avenger. And again it was me who traded the Candelabra. Lord of the Pit was simply so cool.
To be fair neither the Candelabra nor the Tundra were super expensive (or even expensive) cards back then. But it's still funny from today's perspective.
March 3, 2015 2:06 a.m.
The Doctor says... #10
Got a foil Elspeth, Sun's Champion for roughly $5 worth of junk rares.
March 3, 2015 2:07 a.m.
KnightsBattlecry001 says... #11
Got a promo Wurmcoil Engine for 8 bucks and a Mox Opal for 12 bucks. The guy selling them just wanted to get rid of them, and didn't care what he priced them at. The mox I knew was worth a lot more, but the wurmcoil I wasn't sure what the price was. I check the prices when I got home and I couldn't believe it. The Wurmcoil Engine is going for 20 and the Mox Opal going for 50. I was like wow I got one hell of a deal for these. They both were in excellent condition too.
March 3, 2015 2:13 a.m.
Bought a set of NM chinese Avacyn, Angel of Hopes for 25$ from ebay. It was an auction and I couldn't believe the price stayed so low. I ended up selling them all for about 25$ a piece.
March 3, 2015 3:26 a.m.
2x Volcanic Island, 2x Scrubland and 2x Badlands all unlimited all NM $15 total. This was back in 97. The garlands and scrublands still haven't seen play.
March 3, 2015 3:52 a.m.
quesobueno123 says... #16
My yisan for his courser or my mox opal for his foil theros thoughtseize
March 3, 2015 6:21 a.m.
slovakattack says... #17
I got a foil Abrupt Decay for 45 bucks off Ebay, due to the fact that the guy claimed that there was slight crimping in the corner, but it was unseeable with the naked eye. I decided to take a gamble, and sure enough, it's almost impossible to see. It is there, but I don't mind. I consider it a win.
I recently dropped 80 bucks at a store for 2 foil Godless Shrine. One of them was the original printing, and the person working at the store didn't seem to notice... xD
March 3, 2015 7:57 a.m.
Some misprints, such as package crimping, can increase the value of cards (for collectors). - This tends to hold true for more sought after cards... it's possible that you have a bigger win than you think. - Though it would require finding someone who is interested in misprints, which tends to be the hardest part.
March 3, 2015 8:13 a.m.
I got a Serum Visions for $0.50 not too long ago from a bulk box in a music store.
March 3, 2015 8:16 a.m.
slovakattack says... #20
Rayenous: Interesting. I have 0 clue where the crimping came from. It's an odd, circular shape in the upper-left corner. Not sure how that would be from a package.
March 3, 2015 8:16 a.m.
Ahhh.... I was assuming the crimping was caused by the original packaging.
Damage caused after the fact will likely not make it worth more.
Still a good deal for a foil Abrupt Decay.
March 3, 2015 8:22 a.m.
I pulled a foil Brainstorm from Conspiracy and traded it for a Force of Will. I know foil Brainstorm is worth a ton, but i still find the fact that i traded Brainstorm for Force of Will pretty funny :)
March 3, 2015 8:56 a.m.
aeonstoremyliver says... #23
One of the best trades I did was my Phantasmal Image for a Sensei's Divining Top. They were worth about the same at the time.
Best buy was an Italian Karakas, NM, for $85.00 on EBay.
March 3, 2015 9:09 a.m.
I regularly trade EDH and standard trashy $1 rares for shocklands and fetchlands. Ah deckbox <3
March 3, 2015 10:48 a.m.
notamardybum says... #25
Found a foil pack rat when the mbd was the only deck being played for $0.50, when it was going for $20
Also when fatestitcher went up to like $5 I found 9 for $0.50 at another lgs
March 3, 2015 11:53 a.m.
gnarlicide says... #26
I make great deals off of pre orders.
Example: bonfire of the damned. Pre order, 3 bucks. A few weeks later? 60.
Ordered 4 of that gate crash Minotaur for 2 bucks a piece, sold them for 30.
Born of the gods, bought 10 coursers for 2.50 each. Sold 6 at 20.
I hit at least one good card every set. Except fate reforged, since I have been out of town since the spoilers. So now I am meta spec-ing.
March 3, 2015 12:56 p.m.
GeminiSpartanX says... #27
I bought a foil Treasure Cruise for .50 at set release (store sells foil commons for that much every set release), traded it at $18 value. Traded for Snapcasters when they were $15, now they're $40. Bought 2 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn from a guy for $25 for the pair of them, since he needed the cash and that was what I had on me (they were $40+). I traded a bunch of small white weenie cards (like 80 cards) for 2 Lion's Eye Diamonds and an old Blood Moon.
I do better speccing on uncommons/commons. Got my sets of Stoke the Flames, Monastery Swiftspear, Valorous Stance, Banishing Light all at the 8/$1 rate my store sells them at on set-release day.
March 3, 2015 1:53 p.m.
insertcleverid says... #28
Traded a Rishadan Port for Thragtusk and some random standard bulk in fall 2012. I think Trag was the only rare I gave up.
"It's good to own land." -Stewie Griffin
March 3, 2015 6:44 p.m.
Everytime I see an abrupt decay or hear them talked about I have the urge to buy more. I, and everybody else, knows the damn things are going to shoot up to 20-30 dollars in a year or two. Still, three playsets is probably enough. Gotta fight the urge!
March 3, 2015 6:54 p.m.
Oh, I guess buying two Wasteland off a friend who needed some cash for 25 dollars each counts as a good deal, yea? Yea.
March 3, 2015 7:01 p.m.
Traded away my Koth of the Hammer duel deck promo for a foil Polukranos, World Eater
March 3, 2015 8:27 p.m.
TheGrayMerchant says... #32
Traded my 3 Deflecting Palms for a Sage of Hours, Galerider Sliver, and a Monastery Siege. Not much, but it's probably the best trade I've made ever.
Tata says... #2
Traded Ugin for Grove of the Burnwillows the other day.
March 3, 2015 1:12 a.m.