Stoneforge mystic didnt just rise 473%, right?
Economics forum
Posted on Jan. 19, 2015, 12:45 p.m. by smackjack
So whats up with Stoneforge Mystic? Last time i checked it didn't cost $150. Now TCG player says "12 Total Prices As low as $149.99". MTGGoldfish says it increased 473% today. Whats up with this? Probably a bug somewhere, right?
Epochalyptik says... #3
It's likely just fallout from stores speccing on ban list changes. Some stores will OOS their listings on favored or suspected unbannings so they don't get screwed by vultures looking to scoop up all the cards the second the news drops. Other stores just jack the price way up and lower it accordingly later.
January 19, 2015 12:48 p.m.
EndStepTop says... #4
A mock-up ban lisg that floated around said she was un-banned that combined with speculation probably made the jump. She only went up 4 bucks on SCG however.
January 19, 2015 12:48 p.m.
hmm.. $150 is for the foil version. There are no non-foils anymore (thats probably why the foil price showed up on MTGGoldfish). Did someone (SCG perhaps) buy ALL non foils believing they were unbanned? Thats hilarious :D
January 19, 2015 1:19 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #6
See comment #2. It isn't necessitated that someone bought all the available copies. Many savvy stores will list their cards as out of stock, then relist them when they're more confident about their value. The logic to this is that they don't want to lose potential revenue from people buying out on speculations and from delayed price spikes following ban list announcements.
January 19, 2015 1:23 p.m.
Cobthecobbler says... #7
SCG definitely bought all of them like they did with Zendikar fetches a few years back to increase their profits by artificially increasing the value of the cards.
They buy them all up, wait a little while to see what happens, and then they jack up the price to make their money back and end up setting that cards price at a ridiculously high amount that stays with it for too long.
I'm still convinced this is why Zendi fetches were >$50 at one point.
January 19, 2015 1:37 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #8
There are no definites. SCG may have bought them, but we can't legitimately do anything more than admit the possibility. If we see SCG stocking tons of them for an increased price, we can then propose that they bought them.
January 19, 2015 1:39 p.m.
EndStepTop says... #9
Scg has frequently been out of stock on SFM since u/w/r delver ran it. Not only that but it's been run a lot more requently in legacy all around. I wouldn't push the SCG runs the ptices theory that hard.
January 19, 2015 1:41 p.m.
Cobthecobbler says... #10
Okay, maybe not definite, but it's still possible.
January 19, 2015 1:43 p.m.
Cobthecobbler says... #11
Well, if its out of stock, that doesn't necessarily mean they dont have them. The fetches weren't listed on their site for a while before they put all of them on and jacked them up.
January 19, 2015 1:44 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #12
Basically that (post #10).
What I'm trying to tell people here is that OOS isn't always an honest reflection of a store's inventory. If you're a good businessperson, you know that it's also a useful tool for microing prices and minimizing losses due to market instability.
January 19, 2015 1:46 p.m.
I heard several rumors that Wizards was looking at banning Batterskull and unbanning Stoneforge Mystic. The stores probably just pulled their stock to avoid ban list shenanigans.
January 19, 2015 2:15 p.m.
fluffybunnypants says... #16
That was actually a foil that was listed at $149.99.
I should note that they have a restock alert up on Star City as well. I'm assuming that we're about to see a nice price spike.
Servo_Token says... #2
Dat buyout doe. With TC gone, Stoneforge decks are set to be pretty good in the coming months, and someone with enough money probably thought the same.
January 19, 2015 12:47 p.m.