Put yourself in my shoes: time to get out of Zendikar?
Economics forum
Posted on Nov. 13, 2015, 11:43 p.m. by KB2187
Ok, just so you can get a little background about me. I'm a high school teacher and the boys varsity basketball coach at a 800 student school. I play on the side when I can. I'm in Modern (Near complete Naya Burn) and Standard when I can build the deck (currently Atarka Red)
I've been drafting BFZ pretty heavily and got a box too. Here are my numbers:
One Box at $100 for 36 packs.Eleven swiss drafts at $10 each for 50 packs ($110 for 50 packs) - Win you get a pack. That's how our store runs.My trophy card is my Scalding Tarn which I'm keeping :)
So here's my dilemma. I personally know that time will be tight for me. (First day of tryouts is tomorrow actually and season goes out until Feb/March). If I sell the BFZ I'm not using (notably several battle lands and an Ulamog), I can make back about $40-50 in trades. Do I do it and put the money toward a Fetch Expedition? I personally would like it to go toward an Arid Mesa so I can complete my Modern burn and I feel that the investment would be better in the long run as BFZ continues to get open and we wait for Khans to rotate out. I currently have a complete Atarka Red deck so I can play standard if I ever find time. I'm leaning toward doing this because mathematically if I skip 5 more drafts (at $10 so on average 22.5 packs), I'm guaranteeing myself a Fetch. Then I would have spent approximately $260 on the 2 expeditions, ideally Scalding Tarn and Arid Mesa...
Thoughts?
baseballguy says... #3
I may not be the most trustworthy source of data, but I would sell my bfz and buy a regular Arid Mesa to complete the burn deck.
November 14, 2015 12:06 a.m.
If by "sell" you mean "sell on craigs list or facebook" then sure. If you mean "trade them into a shop for 40-50% of whatever cards current market price" then the answer is no.
Also I really agree with what TheDevicer said: "Since you're looking to complete your deck, I say go for it if you can. It's not like the cards are doing all that much for you while they sit inside a binder." Still I insist that you sell them via a public facebook group, Craigs list, or a similar venue.
November 14, 2015 12:25 a.m.
Or just sell through here using paypal. I've traded and bought tons on TO and I've been scammed twice, both times by users with low referrals and ranking. Lost a total of 10 bucks. Everything else has been great. People here regs to buy cards somewhere between tcg mid and low depending on the transaction total.
November 14, 2015 12:31 a.m.
Thanks for the comments guys. At both stores I go to I can get 70% credit of TCG mid. Still taking opinions please!
kengiczar, my rationale for going for an expedition over the normal Arid Mesa would be that even barring a reprint the value of the expedition should hold longer and higher whereas a reprint would have a bigger negative drop on the normal Arid Mesa.
November 14, 2015 12:37 a.m.
I agree with that, it was baseballguy who suggested getting a regular.
70% credit is pretty good. I would still prefer to sell my cards for their worth in cash but 70% is rare in some places. I guess it comes down to do you have the time. If you're to busy I understand going for 70% is nice. Just remember aside from the store needing to make a profit on trade ins they are also providing a service. If you don't need that service there is no reason to give them a profit. Just trade in to the shop for 70% if there isn't enough interest in your area. All in all you're trading money for convenience.
November 14, 2015 12:47 a.m.
Ali_from_cairo says... #8
Never sell to a shop unless you don't have the time to piece it out over Puca Trade, a trading league, ebay, or a selling venue of some sort like a facebook page. If you arn't going to be playing with standard cards and will pickup standard again after they have already rotated, dump the cards. Standard cards depreciate like economy cars, even sitting around will mean that the value of the good is going up in smoke. Trade into what would be the ferraris of magic. Fetches are a good example of this. Keep $100 of fetches in your binder, come back and have $125-$150 in your binder. Keep $100 worth of standard stuff past rotation in your binder? You'll come back to $30. TL;DR: SELL STANDARD STUFF. BUY BLUE CHIP MTG CARDS LIKE FETCHES.
Would you rather have two Dragonlord Atarka in 6 months or one Flooded Strand?
November 14, 2015 2:42 a.m.
@ Ali_from_cairo I just watched the first half of Wolf of Wall Street. Then I see you say Blue Chip MTG Cards. What are the chances that I had never heard the expression before today and now I see it twice in 1 hour.
November 14, 2015 2:47 a.m.
Ali_from_cairo says... #10
Well it is a very good piece of vocabulary to understand in the finance world. You are also on an Economics board too so that helps improve your chances of seeing it lol
November 14, 2015 2:55 a.m.
lemmingllama says... #12
The battlelands will go the way of the checklands; expensive in Standard and then dirt cheap afterwards, especially when they get reprinted. I'd get rid of them whenever possible, you'll get a better investment out of it.
Edit: Forgot to mention it, but battlelands are actually tangolands. I just used the same wording to avoid confusion.
Arvail says... #2
A good rule of thumb when it comes to MtG economics is invest in what you use or want. If you have no immediate value for something, don't stress too heavily about liquidating or trading it. In all honesty, we're talking about relatively small amounts on money in the grand scheme of things. Since you're looking to complete your deck, I say go for it if you can. It's not like the cards are doing all that much for you while they sit inside a binder.
November 13, 2015 11:48 p.m.