Jordan Pollack: Year-end Finance Thoughts

Despite the universe’s best efforts to convince us that 2016 will be the end of the world, I would like to remind everyone that Magic: the Gathering will be continuing on into 2017.

If you love to play the game, 2017 is going to be a special year. Lots of exciting new sets plus huge Grand Prix this year will make for an exciting hobby. But before we move on to 2017, I would like to touch on a few topics to wrap up 2016.

The first one must be year-end tax planning, as this is what I tell my clients at this time of year. What kind of income are you going to have in 2016, and did you withhold enough on your W2 for Federal and State? If not, discuss with a tax professional your options for what 2016 looks like. Did you contribute to a retirement account? It’s not too late! It locks up the money for a while but can greatly benefit you for 2016. Are you self-employed? Look to push any additional income into 2017 and prepay any expenses in 2016. President-elect Donald Trump’s platform included having lower income tax rates in 2017, so tax planning accordingly can save you a good bit of money. For more on this topic, see my last article. If you don’t have any money, then keep reading!

The holiday season and most of December is a lull for pricing for Magic singles. Sure we will still see the occasional price spike such as Ydwen Efreet from Arabian Nights or Ajani Steadfast from M15. Many big sites have sales to wrap up the year and you should take advantage. Dual lands and shocklands are a big target for me. The duals are expensive individually, but most places want cash at year-end, and you can get them for a good price.

Shocklands are criminally low, and I don’t think they will be in Modern Masters 2017. It’s too early for them to have a reprint. If you like sealed product, Return to Ravnica boxes can be had for $80. That’s dirt cheap, and they won’t get cheaper in the future. It’s a good set for singles, it has shocklands, staple EDH cards such as Chromatic Lantern and Cyclonic Rift, and it has some decent speculation cards in Supreme Verdict, Deathrite Shaman, and Rest in Peace. Buy now and come back to me in a year or two for at least 20 percent gains.

Commander sets are still on shelves, and I would look to purchase a set to either play with, or keep sealed. They are fantastic products, and Wizards did a great job with them this year. The art is amazing, there are enough reprints to satisfy collectors, and they aren’t too pricey.

Sniping Ebay auctions is super fun and easy. Know your target market people! Everyone needs cash to buy their gifts or pay off their debts from Christmas, so they need to sell stuff quick. Know what you want to pay, and study the completed listings in order to get the best price.

The large fall set always bottoms out in December, so I would be looking at Kaladesh singles as well. The set has a lot of supply right now, so it’s a race to the bottom on pricing. Remember when Collected Company was $8 last year? It peaked at $25 in the spring of 2016.

For other individual cards, look to Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy or Eldrazi Displacer. Both are near their floor point in price, and they see Eternal play. Both are mana efficient and can be played in many formats in many different decklists. I also like Call the Gatewatch because it’s a bulk rare. Can’t go wrong there. Grab a stack and put them under your bed for a year or so. Watch your money work for you!

Lastly, I love spoiler season! The two new planeswalkers — Tezzeret the Schemer and Ajani Unyielding — are sweet. Tezzeret comes in with 5 loyalty at 4 mana, which is always a plus. (See what I did there?) His abilities are ok, not the best, but could see Standard play if there are enough artifacts. His ultimate you can get to in two turns, which is still rare for planeswalkers. The sweet spot for standard is turn 4-6 right now, so he comes in right on time.

As for Ajani, I really want to like him more. His abilities are fair, his loyalty count is a bit low, and he is expensive. I would like him better at 3 mana or 4, but exiling 2 creatures for 6 mana isn’t the worst rate, so that’s what I could see him being used for. Standard removal spells are getting worse and worse. We don’t see Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares or Dromoka’s Command in Standard anymore, so this is what we have to work with. I really like his ultimate with other planeswalkers. Superfriends is always a middle-tier Standard deck, and super fun to play at FNMs.

 

Could Heart of Kiran be the next Smuggler’s Copter? Maybe! I really like vigilance in Standard, as attacking is the primary win condition. In other formats you have mill, burn, or just straight up winning the games by Prisoning your opponent and making them forfeit.

Vigilance makes combat easier, as you don’t have to worry about dying on the crackback by your opponent. I really think he could spike if we see some lower cost planeswalkers. If we have a good three-drop walker (Liliana of the Veil please!! (Editor’s Note: Clearly Jordan has gotten into the eggnog)) then we could be in for a fast Standard.

Heart of Kiran’s ability is very unique and hard to judge without seeing the rest of the set. Money wise, it’s $13 right now, which is a bit steep for a Standard card. It is a mythic that could see play as a four-of, though. I could see the price go up in the future if it makes it in more than one top tier Standard deck.

As we wrap up 2016, I would like to kindly remind everyone to have fun playing the game. Have fun making new friends, taking road trips, and driving all night. Ordering late night pizza on Saturday nights to draft is much cheaper than going downtown for a theater show, or blowing your money on alcohol and drugs (the legal kind of course).

When I initially got into Magic my mom saw that I was hanging out with a good group of kids and young adults, and she trusted me. She let some random person kidnap me at 4 a.m. to drive to Des Moines for an early Magic event on a Saturday morning. She even bought me Magic stuff to keep me immersed in the game. It helps your math skills way more than figuring out how much to tip at a restaurant. Remember to support your local game stores because the electricity bills don’t pay themselves.

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 like fixing a leaky sink, grilling, and making sure his girlfriend has everything she needs (and wants).

 

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Jordan Pollack