Re: Yesterday’s predictions

Just a small post here to say my predictions on the cards I asked about yesterday and why (contained to my own market due lack of experience on the US trade meta and such). Another factor to have in mind, most of the cards evaluated here are done based on SCG prices, seeing how they are the main influence in Mexico. BlackLotusProject and MOTL prices are more accurate for the US, Canada and maybe the rest of the world.

  • SOM block Swords
Short term, I can see Body and Mind keeping its current price and War and Peace dropping a bit due lack of immediate demand. Feast and Famine is the odd one as always, as I can see it staying in its current crazy price tag during the whole PTQ season. Not sure how it is on other markets, but this one is nearly impossible to find and trade for here, I could see it rising a bit more before SOM rotates from Standard here. Long term, I expect the first two swords to rise and F&F either stabilizing or dropping a bit ($5 at most).
.
  • Spellskite
Cards is current $6 on SCG and $8 on CFB, which is a steal to me. Seeing how it can be MD in many Standard decks, and SB for Modern and Legacy decks, cards has proven itself to be a $10 rare for the foreseeable future. It’s another card that may be on high supply in the US, but totally scarce here, so that may create a bias on my part. To me, $8 would be a fair price until rotation, with the usual drop and eventual rise most cards suffer in their life cycle. Currently impossible to find here, and if it’s on a trade binder, it’s usually $8-10.
  • Elspeth, Knight Errant
The Duel Deck solved the supply issue on this one for most markets, but it’s a funny thing to look at when trading. Most people have DD copies on trade, but they rarely move seeing how most want the Alara version. DD also helped with price memory, seeing how the few copies I’ve found are valued at $15, despite it’s current SCG price being $20. Card might merit a price bump if it’s part of a Modern T1 deck, but at most it might just end as a $20 on ebay/MOTL too, seeing how DD copies stop hug changes here.
  • Knight of the Reliquary
Card has been due a price bump for a while, seeing how it’s an staple for both Legacy and Modern decks that are able to use it efficiently, the DD copy has stopped it so far, affecting price memory of KotR like it did for Elspeth. Would expect it to be $12-15 during Modern season, staying at $12 after the season ends.
  • Elesh Norn
As long as there is Standard FNM/tourneys in the area, I can see it staying as a $15 mythic with ease, at most a $20 mythic in Mexico seeing how Modern will stop Standard demand for a few months. Card is on high demand and nearly nonexistent supply so could see it at $25 here even during Modern. Might reach $25 at some point before rotation on SCG too. A $12-15 mythic post rotation.
  • Lotus Cobra

Baffled at the current prices for this one ($6 on SCG, $8 on CFB), card is poised for a spike to $10-15 the moment a Modern deck can abuse it. Seeing how the Grove/Fires combo is dead now, it might be finally the time for Cobra to shine again (no doubt people are already trying Mythic Conscription variants). Long term, will be on the $8-10 threshold.

All these cards (sans Cobra) are among the staples I trade for aggressively each weekend on the Mexican trade scene. Any local gems you have people?

Preparations for the Modern PTQ season

Hai gaiz! :P

Joining the wrongwaygoback Blog Network to reignite my writing skills and also get more hits due association (compared to a standalone blog). I’ll be writing about Magic mainly as a trader and a competitive player, with some miscellaneous stuff every now and then mixed in.

To start with some content, I would expect everyone reading this is already prepared in some fashion for the coming Modern season next year. Depending the type of player, it might mean one or many of the following things:

  • Have a Modern deck ready.
  • Have a stock of most Modern staples in your trade binder.
  • Be in the mid of brewing a full Modern gauntlet with your playgroup (including getting the cards for said gauntlet).
  • Be on the hunt of a spicy brew to take down a PTQ/FNM.
  • Looking on gatherer for wacky cards to spec on.
  • Have arranged who will be driving to the PTQs and how to divide expenses.
  • Asking for a ‘Conley’ deck to FNM during the season. (Conley deck = wacky stew of awesomeness, maybe won’t win but damn if it’s fun!)
  • Calling people ahead of time so you can borrow the deck you’ve been testing on Magic Online without rest.

Some of those are tricky (how can you have a deck ready so ahead of time for example? Unless it’s just porting old deck ideas), and show how much each type of player has to do before the start of a season.

Which cases you have to deal with?

In my case, it’s easier than most seeing the Magic community in Mexico is really friendly and small, I know most of the PTQ midbosses/bosses and traders, so trading for the right cards it’s not a big issue as long as I have a healthy stock myself, and lists are always available (if not optimal).

Other people have less luck.

For Modern, that can be seen clearly with manabases. Even if your deck needs only 5 shocklands, if you weren’t trader savvy and following the right people on twitter you missed the chance earlier in the year to snag those around $6-8 and now have to deal with lands between $12-25 each. For competitive players and traders, the window between the format announcement and the spike allowed them to either make a nice profit or get their set of lands months before they would need them, allowing them to prioritize getting cards that may rise or that performed above expectations at Worlds (last big tournament with Modern).

Sleepy here, so gonna end this for today light on content.

A question before really finishing here: How do you see the price of the following cards changing these coming months:

  • SOM block Swords
  • Spellskite
  • Elspeth, Knight Errant
  • Knight of the Reliquary
  • Elesh Norn
  • Lotus Cobra

Awaiting comments people :P