Investing in Shocklands Questions
Economics forum
Posted on March 20, 2014, 12:37 a.m. by Magic629
I've been accumulating shock lands for when they rotate out of standard based on a friends advice, since he believes they could rise some. Which shock lands would raise the most (RTR printing)? Also, how much are foil shocks much, much more desirable, or will the price difference not be worth the extra trades it takes now? Thanks :)
The thing with Shocks is that, eventually, there will be fewer copies of them floating around, since they are no longer in print. Since they see play in almost every deck, the demand for them will stay high. With a lower supply, the price will go up. However, it is important to understand that this is a long term investment. They won't rise over night. In fact, they will probably drop some right after rotation as all of the standard players dump them. Eventually, though, they will probably climb back up to the $20+ range they were at before being reprinted in RTR.
March 20, 2014 1:04 a.m.
hermesmtz95 says... #4
The economics of standard are atrocious, which is why I don't play that format. My advice? Do what I'm gonna do. Save up all your cash and wait till RTR cycles out and then immediately begin buying a couple of playsets of each shock land. Sell them like 3-4 blocks from now. But ALWAYS keep a Playset for yourself. Do this along with other expensive cards like the planeswalkers. You'll almost never lose money. Worst case scenario is that the cards never go back up and you can sell them to get your initial investment back!
March 20, 2014 1:06 a.m.
The Doctor says... #5
Just pick them up now. Look at fetches. They were $8-$12 for a LONG time.
March 20, 2014 1:59 a.m.
JimmyJamR Scalding Tarn was not a $100 card while it was in standard. Plenty of cards dip as they are flushed into circulation around rotation and then start to march back up in value if they see play in other formats, which shock lands do. Eventually demand is going to exceed the lingering out-of-print stock. Lots of folks make good money speculating on cards, and plenty more recycle their collections to play more or for cheaper by making good trades and sells. It's hardly as random as you make it out to be.
I agree with kmcree, buying shock lands at rotation is a good long term investment. RTR was a popular block that was opened a lot, but with Modern on the rise, along with Magic in general, they will gradually increase in value over time.
As for which ones to prioritize, they all tend to be somewhat interchangeable. Sometimes you see one riding a dollar or two more than the other, but they fluctuate a bit. Weighting towards some of the classic 2-3 color pairs is not the worst idea though, BGR, RGW, UW, RG, GW, UR, UWR, and then you can balance away from some of the less popular pairings in Modern.
JimmyJamR says... #2
Let me ask this, why would a card be worth MORE when it rotates out of a format? The shock lands that are legal in standard now are legal in modern now. If anything were to happen value wise they will go down. Does that make sense? There is no way to predict values on cards... I remember a time when Nightveil Specter was worth 20 cents.... I also remember a time when kiora was going for 40
March 20, 2014 12:54 a.m.