standard foils and grading questions
Economics forum
Posted on Dec. 8, 2014, 11:30 a.m. by vance3
I know I'm hanging onto my foils like Thoughtseize, fetches, Dig and Treasure Cruise but how about these next few foils? Monastery Swiftspear, Courser of Kruphix, Brimaz, Rakshasa Deathdealer, See the Unwritten, Despise, Murderous Cut, are any of these worth holding until or after rotation or will they sink like a rock? I know there are thread's on Brimaz and Courser, most seem to think Brimaz will drop quite a bit while Courser is a little trickier, but I'm specifically wondering about Foil cards only. The second part of my question is about grading. Is it foolish to waste money grading modren (ie current) cards like Foil fetch land's? Ive had quite a few sport's card's graded so I'm familiar with the process but strictly for collector purposes would that be weird to grade foil fetches?
lemmingllama says... #3
Monastery Swiftspear and Courser of Kruphix foils are likely to go up in the future, although they will take a hit come rotation time. The others don't see as much play, and will probably stay the same or drop a little.
Grading is ok, but I wouldn't spend money on it. You can normally tell just by looking at the card in good lighting if there is any damage, and most people are understanding if you tell them that their cards are SP due to some wear around the boarders or scratches on the cards.
December 8, 2014 11:47 a.m.
mathimus55 says... #4
The podcast Brainstorm Brewery did an awesome segment about grading foils/high end cards. I can't remember which podcast it was on but it was fairly recent, the past 5 or so casts. In short, unless it's a card that's word $200+ long term, it's not really worth getting graded from a financial standpoint. Most of the time spending the $40 to get a card graded at a high point like that isn't going to making a $40 different in the card value long term.
Ultimately it's up to you but financially 99.9% of standard isn't worth grading
December 8, 2014 12:06 p.m.
I was actually thinking foil Courser would be one that will hold or increase in value more so than Brimaz but that why I asked the expert's! If I did send a group of card's in for grading it would be 1 of each foil ktk fetch and 1 of each foil Zendikar fetches when/if they get reprinted. Even if it didn't add value for a LONG time it would look pretty cool to have all 5/10 slabbed. That being said I can't recall seeing other graded modren cards so it could be just too weird.
December 8, 2014 12:09 p.m.
ThisIsBullshit says... #6
I don't think the grading is necessary, most people don't require cards to be professionally graded.
As for foils, Monastery Swiftspear is played in both Modern and Legacy (to my knowledge) and it probably won't drop too much after rotation, if at all. Same with Courser of Kruphix.
Rakshasa Deathdealer probably drop, along with Brimaz, King of Oreskos. Murderous Cut isn't played much in commander, there are better removal spells, but I'm not sure if it sees play anywhere else. See the Unwritten is great for mono-green stompy decks, played a ton in commander (that I've seen so far) and I imagine it'll keep a fairly decent foil price.
December 8, 2014 12:14 p.m.
My buddy owns a local sports card shop and we regularly do group submissions to Beckett for grading. With a large enough order you can usually pay about $5-$7 a card so it's not all that big of a hit. The idea of only grading high value cards makes sense but surely foil ktk fetches should end up in the $100-$200 range eventually? I was originally just planning on collecting a playset of each foil fetch but in 3 months I've only been able to collect 9 (2 personal pulls) so I'm sort of changing my plan. Idk,
December 8, 2014 12:16 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #8
Grading is a waste of time for ANYTHING that isn't $300+.
Never grade Modern or Standard cards. Use them. Trade them. Sell them. Don't waste your money paying for them to be locked into a hard case.
December 8, 2014 12:18 p.m.
I don't play with foils. This is strictly from a collectors standpoint and eventually they will be sold or traded but I'm looking 5+ year's down the road. I have 30 something regular fetches to play with..
December 8, 2014 1:25 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #10
Even from a collector's standpoint, it's pointless. When people truly collect Magic cards, they typically go for very old, very valuable cards. They don't bother with Modern stuff. The vast majority of players interested in Modern cards intend to use those cards to play. Grading them effectively means they'll never be used for gameplay again, so you lose a very large market. The cost and scarcity of interested parties make the grading process pointless unless you're dealing with very specific cards.
December 8, 2014 1:36 p.m.
fluffybunnypants says... #11
Having things graded has always seemed sort of like a waste to me... unless you're talking about alpha or beta duals/power/super expensive old cards (Bazaar of Baghdad, Library of Alexandria, etc.)..... Cards fluctuate in price so often and cards of lower power levels that see play in Standard and Modern typically don't hold value. I mean, if you have a miscut Juzam Djinn please, get that shit graded and seal it up, but a miscut foil Sphinx's Revelation or even a foil Birthing Pod..... I'm actually not even sure I'd get a promo foil Mana Crypt graded.
December 8, 2014 1:53 p.m.
murderous cut sees play in legacy sometimes depending on player as its essentially a 1 mana removal spell, but with the adaption of treasure cruse across the board now its pretty much stuck in that 1 of spot if that
gufymike says... #2
Swiftspear foil will hold value. Not sure on the others. brimaz might/should. The rest not so much.
As for grading, modern cards you rarely see graded. I doubt the grading would increase the value over all, like it does for the older cards. I can see it happening, in quite a few years, But not as much as you might expect, considering the number of reprints that we're getting for the modern cards currently. I expect this trend to continue, so the demand will go down.
With all that said, If I was going to get modern cards graded, I would get the whole set graded. That would make it a nice unique collectible item to see around.
December 8, 2014 11:45 a.m.