Masterpieces/Invocations/Inventions
Economics forum
Posted on Aug. 24, 2017, 2:03 p.m. by Profet93
I apologize for all of my questions in advance. I wanted to change the cards in my deck to the Masterpieces/Invocations/Invention variants. I am just curious as to their pricing.
I don't mind spending more on these cards since they look cool and I want to upgrade my EDH deck to look even sexier. I just don't want to spend the money on them if they might lose a large portion of their value in the future.
I understand that reprints could hurt the value card, but since this is a different (more rare?) printing, I don't know how much it would, if at all affect it. Moreover, if Wizards does another type of masterpiece or whatever, then I'm assuming the price would go down?
I'm not too familiar with MTG economics so any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your input. When did Wizards say they would cut back on them? While I would love for the price to go up, I am more concerned on having it go down. Would a non-masterpiece reprint of the same card make the masterpiece counterpart decrease in value, and if so, would it be a significant or insignificant amount.
The cards from the masterpiece collection I wish to acquire are the following...
From this list, I assume Dark Ritual and No Mercy will see the least play (as they are currently the cheapest)
August 24, 2017 2:26 p.m.
Oloro_Magic says... #4
http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/metamorphosis-2-0-2017-06-12
It's under change #4 where Mark Rosewater explains they are cutting back on masterpieces.
As for your question let's use Sol Ring as an example as it is getting reprinted once again.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/price/Kaladesh+Inventions/Sol+Ring#paper
So if we look at the price history of the masterpiece Sol Ring
we see a card that is finding it's value (currently it is trending to plateau at around $185). With that said, whereas with other cards that get a reprint go down in value this is generally only in relation to the re-print.
Let's take Tarmogoyf for example:
As can be seen above, despite it's numerous reprints the original copy of Tarmogoyf retains it's value because of it's collectability. If we apply this to masterpieces, which are first and foremost collector's items, it is perfectly feasible to believe this trend to apply here as well just to a much larger scale given the rarity of said masterpieces.
Most of the cards you have listed above are already staples of EDH and as such will maintain there value indefinitely (a ban could cause a drop potentially), as the cards have massive collectability and people are always wanting to bling out there decks myself included.
August 24, 2017 2:50 p.m.
Wow. Thank you for such a detailed response. So even though Tarmogofy's price went down for each subsequent reprint, it is still a heavily used card and as such, its demand is high so his price will remain relatively high as well.
And yea, I am trying to bling out my deck. I don't want to "foil it out" yet with traditional foils as I like the feel of non-foil cards more. That being said, the artwork on these are too good to pass up.
I will keep an eye on their future price. Thank you for all of your help!
August 24, 2017 2:58 p.m.
They are more or less guaranteed to stay up in price because of people doing what you're doing. People like to take their favorite deck and bling it out. Some people also like to collect just for the sake of collecting. Because the cards are so rare and unique, the longer they are out of print the higher the price will Get. I'm expecting to see BFZ expedition lands to start climbing after they stop printing, which I'm not excited for, because I was hoping to collect them while they were on the lower side of what they will be.
August 24, 2017 4:10 p.m.
In other words, I'm not going to feel (as) guilty spending approx $850 on all the above :) I am so excited to purchase them! Me like shiny things...
August 24, 2017 4:23 p.m.
CastleSiege says... #8
There's not much for me to say that hasn't already been said. However, if it helps at all, I paid $90 for my masterpiece Mana Vault at PAX East back in April, and now the market value is around $140. But then again, this is the only foil printing of this card and it's a card that improves practically any deck it's played in. I'd probably pick this one up sooner rather than later.
August 24, 2017 10:15 p.m.
Ideally before they stop printing kaladesh block, you've got time though
August 24, 2017 11:21 p.m.
Qolorful I think you'll find that some of the Expeditions will actually drop in price, after rotation.
I bought a set of Smoldering Marsh to pimp out one of my Standard decks FOR THE SAME PRICE as it would have cost me to just buy the regular Smoldering Marsh.
I think most people didn't look at buying them because:
a) They are about to rotate out.
b) They thought they would be too expensive.
After rotation I think you will find there is a sudden drop, particularly in colours that aren't played much by Modern, Vintage, and Legacy players.
Then you can GO GIT 'EM!
August 25, 2017 12:07 a.m.
goblinguiderevealpls says... #11
Its a simple matter of supply and demand.
Id wait at LEAST a year. Because booster packs for most masterpiece sets are still widely available, meaning the supply still has plenty of room to increase, which then drops the price if the demand doesnt change
It also depends on the individual card, format staples like Force of Will, shocklands and fetchlands probably wont be dropping anytime soon, but to be most accurate, compare the cards price fluctuation to that of a different printing to fund its average demand.
Example:
Original damnation price chart
As you can see here, the price dropped significantly due to a reprint in MM17, and again slightly with the invocation.
Invocation damnation price chart
This chart shows that the hype of invocations saw a high price on release, but it then dropped and now is at a steady low.
I would get damnation soon, a non foil planar chaos was 80$ until it finally got a reprint, and the only chance of it and any other masterpiece dropping significantly is if it gets reprinted or cycled out of standard/banned in formats, since rotation and bans both drastically decrease the demand
In short, its best to wait until more masterpiece are opened in packs and the sets arent on shelves anymore, thats when supply is lowest and when the demand (and therefore price) will increase, so in the case of BFZ/OATH, Just wait a year or so until the packs arent widely available, then the prices will be at their lowest ans start to rise
August 25, 2017 11:12 a.m.
Well the standard cycles printed will obviously drop, because they are only the price they are because they are the best in standard. they are subpar for other formats, so once they aren't in standard they will be low demand. Cards like Scalding Tarn, however, will likely see a slight increase post BFZ printing
August 25, 2017 11:21 a.m.
goblinguiderevealpls says... #13
Im also trying to bling out my Competitive nekusar primer deck and i cant say any of the expeditions im lacking have dropped
In some cases, its not worth it, for example i have a Dark Ritual and it blings out my deck for much cheaper than the invocation, so im not super motivated to buy it
But yea, masterpiece are mostly foil reprints of popular high usage cards, and the only demand they have is people like you and myself who already own the cards but want to collect shiny versions, so you probably wont see any price drops after standard rotation except for the tango lands exclusively
August 25, 2017 11:23 a.m.
goblinguiderevealpls says... #14
And the gearhulks/anything else in standard i missed
August 25, 2017 11:27 a.m.
the gods from the invocations as well. Though the grixis gods seem to be popular in edh and might not drop much.
August 25, 2017 11:29 a.m.
I picked up Damnation quite cheaply.
I think that could go off the hook, due to its popularity with EDH Players.
August 25, 2017 7:20 p.m.
goblinguiderevealpls says... #17
Damnation is only going up in price. It was 80$+ till like 2 months ago for the last 8 years and is a modern staple as much as it is edh, its only so low because it got its first reprint in modern masters recently, it will never be this low again without another reprint which is unlikely.
August 25, 2017 7:23 p.m.
goblinguiderevealpls says... #19
Paper magic is literally a stock market, you have to keep track each individual cards worth to know when its cheapest to buy and highest to sell, if you want to know what time is best to buy masterpiece, just track the price history like you would for the best time to buy any other magic card :)
August 25, 2017 7:29 p.m.
PhiliasCornHole says... #20
Here's a question. I pulled a Mox Opal at a chaos sealed event and have been wondering what to do with it. I have no need for it because I don't normally play artifact heavy decks. I don't wanna sell it now because it's price might go up, but I also don't want it's price to fall to far and for it to lose it's value. What should I do?
May 24, 2018 3:51 p.m.
Oloro_Magic says... #21
PhiliasCornHole So Mox Opal is an interesting and one of the few that may be worth moving now, that said keep in mind that because of collectability it will likely always go up. Mox Opal is simply one of the best cards ever printed. period. It sees play in multiple formats and rightfully so, the problem it faces is there are serious rumblings of a potential ban in modern, this will hurt the value greatly in the short term as players no longer need them for their modern decks, it will be a long time until it fully recovers but the collectability once again should preserve the masterpiece series printing. It may be wise to move it now if you don't plan on waiting 10 years then.
May 24, 2018 7:57 p.m.
DankStompy says... #22
its pretty unlikely Mox Opal will be banned in modern.
May 24, 2018 8:19 p.m.
DankStompy says... #23
PhiliasCornHole its unlikely Mox Opal will be banned. but if you find a singles vendor that is willing to give you a decent % of its value and has cards you want, then you might as well sell it. no sense in holding onto it forever waiting for its price to "peak", considering you have no way of knowing when that is.
May 24, 2018 8:24 p.m.
PhiliasCornHole says... #24
Thanks for the help. I really appreciate it because I was getting conflicting advice all over the place.
Oloro_Magic says... #2
Because these types of cards haven't been around for a very long time it's difficult to give you a definitive answer. In my opinion, most if not all (the playable cards especially) will gradually go up in value, though it may be years before they do. The rarity of the cards, coupled with wizards decision to cut back on the frequency in which masterpiece collections are printed support this. Basically, if the card sees play it will be pretty safe, if it is a card that only sees fringe play then it may be a couple years before we see the price start to go up unless for some reason masterpieces are something collectors don't want which is very unlikely.
August 24, 2017 2:17 p.m.