Snapcaster Mage
Economics forum
Posted on May 1, 2015, 7:28 a.m. by JexInfinite
As most of you would be aware, Snapcaster Mage has been going up in price within the last couple months due to banlist update at the start of the year.
As we can see know, Snappy has reached an all time high. 
What are we going to do about this? Investors are holding him tight, and he's likely not going to drop in value any time soon. Powerhouse in legacy and modern.
I predict he'll reach Dark Confidant within the next 1.5-2 years before getting a reprint. Is now the time to hoard those Snappies, or do you unload them while you can? Brian Rowe from Mythic MTG Tech suggests that you should buy Snapcasters now, because he will go up another $20-$25 before a reprint. Even after a reprint, I don't see him going below $35.
Discuss your opinions, and if you have a degree in economics, please join in.
slovakattack says... #3
He is a key player in the decks that he's played, and is played in literally every single eternal format in existence. He's not going down.
This wasn't a matter of 'why is he so pricey', but more a matter of 'how did it take so long?'
It was inevitable.
May 1, 2015 7:43 a.m.
fluffybunnypants says... #4
I don't understand why this is coming as a surprise to everyone.
May 1, 2015 7:57 a.m.
JexInfinite says... #5
I'm not surprised at all, I just want to know whether buying a playset is right or not.
May 1, 2015 8:01 a.m.
I think Snapcaster Mage will soon hit 70$ plus. Here is why: he won't be included in MM2015. He will never be reprinted in a Standard-legal-Set again, as he is way too powerful for Standard. This means the earliest we can expect a reprint is MM2017 (?). With MM2015 we will see another increase in Modern-players. This means especially staples printed after SOM-cycle will rise tremendously in price as they won't be reprinted too soon (this is escpecially true for the big 3 from Innistrad).
Even at 50$ Snapcaster Mage is still a good spec for a mid-term investment (1-2 years). My verdict: buy while he is still 50$.
May 1, 2015 8:02 a.m.
Will there be a modern masters 3? I mean the symbol for the second one came out nicely, but I can't imagine a symbol for modern masters 3 going along the same lines.
May 1, 2015 8:12 a.m.
JexInfinite says... #8
kameenook They called it MM15, implying that it will be every 2 years. Snapcaster will obviously be reprinted, and likely at rare, unless WotC decide to be dicks.
May 1, 2015 8:13 a.m.
fluffybunnypants, I totally agree. It was a consensus from day 1 that Snapcaster would boast a huge price tag one day, and speculators who stuck to their guns would be rewarded for that. That's why I bought two last July and why I'll be using them and not trading them for a while.
May 1, 2015 8:45 a.m.
He will continue to rise. If you're going to buy at all then you might as well do it now.
May 1, 2015 9 a.m.
It is post like these that make me happy I bought mine at $30.
May 1, 2015 9:06 a.m.
I'm with LioAME3, I got mine at $25 a pop. Feels pretty good right now.
May 1, 2015 9:13 a.m.
Mark Rosewater has stated that Snapcaster Mage should have been red. I often wonder how that would have affected the card's playability, but I don't think it would have a large one because many decks that run him are U/R, anyway.
May 1, 2015 9:22 a.m.
I feel like red Snapcaster Mage would have been way better. It would make blue that much worse and red that much more relevant in legacy, but overall a much more fair card. Too late to change that now though.
May 1, 2015 9:37 a.m.
Just imagine, Young Pyromancer along side 
Snapcaster in mono Red tempo... so beautiful.
May 1, 2015 9:39 a.m.
TheAnnihilator says... #16
@JWiley129 Ah, the feels. I got mine through store credit by winning with my Esper Control build (RTR-Theros standard). I got about 3 of them at 25ea, and the last at ~30ea.
Also, thank goodness Snappy is blue, and NOT red.
May 1, 2015 9:46 a.m.
Yah if snappy was red then I wouldn't be able to play him in every blue deck I have and that is no fun
May 1, 2015 9:59 a.m.
The effect is very much red, just look at Past in Flames from the same set.
May 1, 2015 10:18 a.m.
meecht: " I don't think it would have a large one because many decks that run him are U/R, anyway."
My thoughts exactly.Yeah, his ability makes more sense in than in 
, but who cares? Twin would still play him with zero change to the manabase. So would Grixis control, Scapeshift, pre-TC ban Delver... and I don't know what Legacy decks play him, but they probably splash red too. U/R is just that good a color combination.
May 1, 2015 10:45 a.m.
id rather not get snapcaster-price of progressed in legacy, plus then blue wouldnt have a boss 2 drop where young pyromancer is the last of the 5, but the price rise i was just surprised it took so long
May 1, 2015 10:46 a.m.
fluffybunnypants - Maro has said that Yawgmoth's Will is either a black or green effect. Red gets to give flashback to instants/sorceries more leaning towards sorceries e.g. Recoup.
As per Snappy almost being Red, he WAS red for most of design, but then the designer of the card (Snappy was an invitational card in case you forgot) wanted it blue. So it became blue.
May 1, 2015 10:59 a.m.
mckin, well blue can't have everything. It already has FoW in legacy so I think red Snapcaster is fair.
May 1, 2015 11 a.m.
JexInfinite says... #25
Stay on topic. This is the economics sub-forum, not the colour-pie sub-forum. You can talk about how the price of Snappy may differ if it were red, though.
May 1, 2015 11:10 a.m.
Without a reprint, Snappy will continue to rise. He's just too good in formats able to use super-cheap removal like Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares, and Lightning Bolt. Also, any deck that runs him will likely want 3-4 copies which also drives up demand.
He could surpass Liliana of the Veil at some point because she will likely get reprinted first.
May 1, 2015 11:22 a.m.
TheAnnihilator says... #27
How would the price of Snappy change if he was still blue, but changed the cost of the flashback card to include red mana symbols instead of the other colored symbols? (Aka, Geth's Verdict would cost and Sphinx's Revelation would be 
)
May 1, 2015 11:25 a.m.
TheAnnihilator says... #29
I'm not so sure. I mean, in UWR, Path'ing for , Remanding for , ect, isn't too bad at all. However, Cryptic Command makes alternate Snappy a bit worse.
May 1, 2015 11:35 a.m.
Snapcaster Mage just being Red would impact his price considerably, but just so much that he can't be pitched to Force of Will. He'd still be quite a pack of change.
May 1, 2015 12:04 p.m.
He'd still see a ton of play as well. And I don't understand how this discussion is irrelevant it's an interesting conversation about the card in question.
May 1, 2015 12:13 p.m.
Serendipitous_Hummingbird says... #32
snappy should have been . 'Goyf should have been 
. Lili should be banned in modern. But none of those things are the case. So we work with the meta we have.
May 1, 2015 12:16 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #33
Discussing how Snapcaster would be valued if it were different is kind of irrelevant. It has no bearing on the actual price trend.
Also, it's not worth discussing errata that would never happen.
May 1, 2015 12:17 p.m.
Is it generally believed that in the long run snappy will be more expensive than LotV? Because I need both...
May 1, 2015 12:18 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #35
I'd say that it's equally unlikely that either will be printed outside of a Modern Masters release, which appears to mean that the soonest they could be reprinted would be in 2017 (if R&D alternates Masters products with other special releases annually).
As for value, Snapcaster is more widely available than LotV. That said, demand is also higher. I think it's unlikely that the price will radically surpass that of LotV unless a reprint does not occur. Even then, LotV is likely to hold an edge by virtue of being 12.5% as available, numerically.
May 1, 2015 12:22 p.m.
Epochalyptik - we came close to having LotV in M15 so I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility to see her in a non-supplemental set. That is her "current form" in the overall story, and we have yet to see what she plans to do with the Chain Veil.
However, due to the ability, Snapcaster Mage can only fit into a set that contains flashback. Since we just had flashback a few blocks ago, we may not see it anytime soon outside of a supplemental set or a Modern event deck.
May 1, 2015 1:39 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #38
I think the likeliest option for R&D would be to develop the character and add another version to the game unless they really want to drive sales with a reprint (which would also mean halting her story progression). But yes, it's theoretically possible.
May 1, 2015 1:55 p.m.
I agree that Lili is unlikely to see a straight reprint in a standard set because it wouldn't go along with the story line.
But I don't think a Snapcaster reprint is out of the question. He really isn't all that powerful on his own. His power derives from the instants and sorceries you surround him with. In modern he's amazing, because you can flashback Lightning Bolt, Path to Exile, Mana Leak, Lightning Helix, etc. In standard, you'd be flashing back something like Lightning Strike or Dissolve. It's still not a bad play, but it's certainly not overpowered. As previously mentioned though, it would probably have to come in a set containing flashback, which may not be for another couple years.
Ixidron says... #2
Deckbuilding used to be fun, now we have market speculators hoarding cards to make them rise in price, I hope wizards of the coast reprints all cards above 20 dollars in modern masters 3 just to screw with those guys.
May 1, 2015 7:40 a.m.