Jordan Pollack: Told Ya So
Sometimes “I told you so” just doesn’t quite cover it.
Out of the cards I listed that desperately
needed reprints I was pretty much spot-on. Now, did I pick easy targets? Maybe. But Damnation has been yelled at and told to put its nose in a corner for years. Zendikar fetches? Well, yeah, Wizards likes selling booster packs. Tarmogoyf? No choice here; just gotta do it and make it a perfect 3 for 3 in Modern Masters products. Snapcaster Mage, Liliana of the Veil and Voice of Resurgence?
I know, I’m being smug. #nailedit
Clearly we know the heavy hitters and the chase cards in the set. Let’s talk about their price points for the near future, which is the right time to jump on them.
Tarmogoyf, $90
Whoa, it’s below $100! I’m in! Hold on, little buddy. This Modern Masters reportedly has a significantly higher print run than the last two, and there is no GP to soak up hundreds of cases of product. Expect the market to flood from release day to 2-3 weeks out. We don’t even know if there will be a second wave of printings sent to distributors yet. I like Tarmogoyf going down as it makes Modern more accessible. Why is a two-mana 4/5 or a 5/6 better than my beloved two-mana Grizzly Bears? Uhhhh … sometimes you just get what you pay for.
Liliana (the good one) of the Veil, $70
About where I expected it to be right now. I expect this card will trade places with Tarmogoyf, as there will be more ‘Goyfs in the market thanks to MM2013 and MM2015. Even though Lily got the RPTQ reprint, that is no excuse. I think the demand of this card is real and it could be $80-90 if not three figures in the future. Give it time; this card is the real deal. This card is the new marquee card in Modern, thanks to Abzan, Death’s Shadow Jund, and Jund Classic.
Can you guess the next highest value card in the set? I’ll give you $5 bucks if you guess it right. (Editor’s note: This is not a legally binding offer.)
Okay this is a rare. One more time for the people in the back: normal rare, not mythic rare. Don’t expect this card to stay at $45. Even with its sky-high demand in all eternal formats (plus EDH), it can’t hold its price. Do you know how many are about to hit the market? Probably a million. I like this card a lot and I will be buying plenty of them in the future, maybe even some foils, but those are a different price trajectory. But: $45 for a rare? I know this isn’t Standard, but seriously? Your LGS is juicing you. Wait a month and then come back and buy them. Or just offer to buy them at $30 and maybe someone will bite.
Next on the list? Verdant Catacombs. See above.
Cavern of Souls/Snapcaster Mage, both $37.
Both got the mythic upgrade
as expected. These cards would be selling like hotcakes at IHOP if they were a rare. Wizards understands supply and demand; now we do, too. Both cards kind of needed a reprint based on their price, but not in the same set. Cavern could have been in a commander deck, Snapcaster could have been given another promo or judge promo reprint.
These cards being in the set means the set has a higher price point, plain and simple. Wizards was looking for more cards that were worth more than the MSRP of a booster pack. I myself opened plenty of Comet Storms in the mythic slot and no, I wasn’t drafting.
Next on this list? Misty Rainforest and Arid Mesa, see above.
This is getting old. Let’s check out some mythics near the bottom of the price chart that I really like.
I like mythics. I like burning people. I like the Miracle mechanic in draft. I like cards that are showing up in sideboards in Modern and Legacy. I am buying/trading for this card at this price point. It’s lower than the original printing with the same art. No reason to pass on these; add them as throw-ins in a trade and let them accrue value in your binder for a few months.
Not a big fan of the Miracles deck in Legacy, as I am anxious and it does too much standing around. I like this buy because it’s a mythic and it’s cheap. It doesn’t see that much Modern play, but it could if control decks come back. I also like Terminus at $1; it’s a board wipe, where my EDH players at?
Primal Command $.75
Feels out of place in this Masters set but I can get behind the price tag. I will be buying these all day. It’s a weak command, but it sees enough play to be worth $3-5 in the future.
Lingering Souls, $Draft Chaff
This is not draft chaff people. It didn’t really need a reprint but it’s fine. I like foils of these at $2, too! It easily could creep up to $5-8 foil because people like to durdle and like creating 1/1 fliers all day.
Looking for cards to rebound in price? See Advent of the Wurm. OK, that was a joke. But I really like this card and I have a lot of them. It’s a 4 mana 5/5 trample that can come in at any time. What’s bad about that? Well, 1 plus GGW. End of discussion.
Séance? No, I didn’t go there. If you haven’t heard the story about this card, it has an extensive #MTGFinance past with plenty of good stories. Some people tried to buy it out. Multiple times. Also, some guy tried to pay a player, any player, to play this in a Pro Tour. That didn’t happen. This card is bad and should stay at bulk prices.
Jordan Pollack is a Tax Accountant and Magic player from suburban Chicago. He holds an accounting degree from the University of Kansas and is currently pursuing CPA certification. He enjoys watching the Blackhawks and doing manly things such as fixing a leaky sink, grilling, and making sure his girlfriend has everything she needs (and wants).
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