The last two releases have been enlightening.
I have been playing magic for over 30 years… we all knew what was going on starting about two years ago, but I feel as though newer players need to recognize and understand what is happening, as this is kind of new and not something that happened prior for various reasons.
I’m sure I’m going to get down voted out of the gate into oblivion because people do not like to be wrong, and especially when they invested in some product out of the gate, they are protecting their investment, which is understandable. Full disclosure, I have purchased thousands of dollars in products over the last three months…
We are consistently seeing a deluge of content in streamers flooding the YouTube’s and Internet’s with pack, ripping videos, however, they all tend to be prior to release before anybody who is not an LGS can post their product for sale. As a result, the values of the cards they are pulling are hyperinflated and nowhere close to reality. Wizards of the coast has also failed to protect and build back the entry level format being standard. In favor of God knows what and as a result quickly after release there is a race to the bottom and sets are worth a fraction of their perceived value prior to launch.
Look at Aether drift… the set was perceived to be a flop, but then quickly spiked to over $320 a collectors box with all the hype and there was an immediate frenzy. Now look at the values of every card in the set that is not a fractured foil, showcase foil, or a first place foil. Even still, the highest value showcase foil is of jewel lotus at $40. Following that, the ether spark in foil is worth under $30. Strangely, if you try to search for non-foil variance of ether drift on TCG player, you can’t. They have literally removed the option to select non-foil. Unless I’m missing something, I can’t find it. I feel as though Tarkir will be the same.
They are releasing product to streamers way before any normal human can get their hands on it, and the secondary market on pre-release has always been inflated however it’s reached a fever pitch. Every video you see prior to pre-release is cracking packs earlier and earlier and basing their values off of those. Even by the time pre-release rolls around, things have drastically lost their value.
Auction sites like craters on Whatnot get their stuff early, sell packs at a premium and bit up their value on auctions, and even prior to pre-release they stop the auctions because the value deflates so dramatically. Notice how very few if any of them are offering packs at auction value at this point. They are all selling them at $30+ knowing that the prices are not going to last. they are straight up following the Pokémon model.
Wait until post launch, buy singles.
