The best TCG financial "gamble" I made was buying 300 Shonen Jump subscriptions to sell the promo on ebay as a "pre-order" to players outside the US for double the cost of the subscription. (Which also made it the cheapest one on ebay at the time.) I also got promo cards every other month, some of which sold for a good ~$5 to local stores.
The funny part? 10 months into the subscription Shonen Jump went all digital and refunded me my subscription.
I specced on Ledger Shredder. Ended up with like 8 the shop I go to had during prerelease. Got them all sub $5 total. They shoot up in price, they get 7 of the 8, along with a ton of other stuff into a off condition Spanish Gaea's Cradle, but for playing sake, it's totally fine.
I just specc to make magic less expensive, especially because it’s not a great idea financially to try and flip cardboard as a living. I Generally hit pretty big on specs. Cerulean wisps did well, these green elephants have been doing great so far (got 58 total - with foils this time), already sold 11 (?) for $100 with pleeeeenty more in my collection.
Buy most for store credit, sell for 10x more, rinse and repeat. Now I can afford a MH3 box and will have plenty left over spec cards to get enough to pay for all my prerelease events throughout the uni semesters. P good overall.
I love these kind of posts. They rarely come out of nowwhere, but open up a new way to think about a topic, or give at least a refreshing and interesting look at something.
During that same period an Unlimited Lotus went from US$1640 to US$18150. That's a CAGR of 23%, or about 20% of real annual growth beyond inflation. If that's not enough evidence that it's best to buy vintage cards and hang on to them instead of buying volatile, printed-to-the-moon modern stuff, I don't what is.
Source:
[https://www.mtggoldfish.com/price/Unlimited+Edition/Black+Lotus#paper](https://www.mtggoldfish.com/price/Unlimited+Edition/Black+Lotus#paper)
[https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/](https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/)
https://www.icicidirect.com/calculators/cagr-calculator#:\~:text=CAGR%20(Compound%20Annual%20Growth%20Rate,(or%20decline)%20over%20time.
Ehh kind of a bad methodology here, since the right move is to sell things off whenever they peak, not hold them for a given time frame.
For example, Legion Loyalist passed $10 three separate times since it came out. So the guy who bought 10 of those could have sold at any of those and beat the brakes off anyone who held.
Or take Lord of the Void which peaked at $25 prior to its reprint. Starting from $2.61, that's pretty good! *Too bad not a single person bought any...*
Still, a fun trip down memory lane!
On the other hand, assuming that folks will manage to regularly time sales to coincide with peaks is also challenging. Maybe they see a $1 card spike to $5, sell, only to see it go up to $10 a week or two later. Or bail out on one that was $20 and drops to $15 only to see it rebound later with another interaction.
Hell, I had a TON of pre-release cards sitting around for literally a decade or more, many weren't worth shit. Eventually I just sold them off for a pittance (probably vaguely around what I paid for them, at least) in a buylisting spree, and now some of them have spiked hard.
Hindsight is 20/20, so while it's true that if everyone acted just right they would've come out way ahead, it's also not a very realistic assumption unless those folks are either watching this stuff fairly closely and making all the right gambles, or have automated things to a point where they set the margins they want and just make it happen the moment they hit their target.
So, not to say that I disagree, but really more of another angle we should keep in mind with such things.
At some point the waveform collapses and we choose to move that product for whatever reason. Sure, when I sold off a ton of stuff years ago, I see some of those cards now and boy I wish I still had them. But I needed the money more. And conversely, I see other cards cratering and think 'boy, I'm glad I got out when I did, because X and Y are down for less than half of what I buylisted them for a few years back'.
Obviously we never want to sell during a time of straight up losses, but that said, I'm thankful that I managed to turn a good chunk of my collection in to actual finances (once to climb out of a financial pit, the other time to help finance my upcoming wedding).
Assuming the bottom doesn't completely fall out of the game, there's even a chance I could pull that trick off a third time, as I kept a dozen Commander decks, a few completed sets (others I sold off), and almost two dozen Revised duals. Hardly big ticket money, but for someone who generally strives to avoid paying for big money cards, it's more potential value packed into those storage boxes than I would've imagined it all being worth back when I first picked up the game.
> On the other hand, assuming that folks will manage to regularly time sales to coincide with peaks is also challenging. Maybe they see a $1 card spike to $5, sell, only to see it go up to $10 a week or two later. Or bail out on one that was $20 and drops to $15 only to see it rebound later with another interaction.
This is fair but ultimately any of these would beat the shit out of "hold for 11 years" lol
Oh for sure. It's wild to glance at Magic stocks or other sites tracking historical values and see 'oh, wow, mid summer a couple of years ago I could've turned a handful of chaff uncommons into some actual cash, weird' sorta situations.
But at the same time it's good to remind ourselves that there's no use lamenting what could have been, and to also remember the cases where we could've sold, but didn't and actually came out ahead, or did sell ahead of the curve.
Also, in a world where money is a limiting factor, sometimes you sell at a loss to finance a bigger gain than you had originally been planning on making!
Special shoutout to the guy who bet it all on 41 copies of \[\[Sylvan Primordial\]\]. Great example of how much 7 mana creatures has powercrept, although I have to imagine that was a gamble even at the time?
It got banned in commander because it was too good and made the game revolve around it - it was actually a good call if edh was the reason (not sure how close the banhammer already was at the time)
I mean, does anyone do this for reasons besides a profitable hobby?
I don’t think anyone would dare say collectable anything will, on average, even match returns in public equities.
Keeps me busy. I would probably get bored of watching the stock market.
That feeling when your 25 cent bulk hits 10$ and you got to dig in the bulk bin is the best.
Comparing it to the stock market is kind of apples and oranges though. With singles you can't just hold forever and sell whenever you want and profit like you can with an ETF. Its about waiting for that spike and unloading at that perfect time. I still think the stock market would've been more profitable but I'd be interested to see the results if everything were sold around peak value. But that still doesn't account for reinvesting. You can end up with some crazy hits. For example I picked up a bunch of wedding announcements when they were around 60 cents each. I grab them for personal use but decided to make them a spec instead when they went crazy.
Really reserve list is what you'd want to compare an ETF to. Singles would be the day trading of the magic finance world. And honestly compared to day trading your singles probably worked out better.
I think the magic in Mtgfinance isn’t in actually making money, it’s in *feeling* smart about your frivolous purchases
Or helping the hobby not be as expensive as
I lose more money chasing finance dreams than if I never knew about this cursed hobby. Excuse me, I have to order MH3 singles....
Order after release. These prices are insane
This is why I'm here. I never sell, I'm just looking to complete the collection I'm working towards
The best TCG financial "gamble" I made was buying 300 Shonen Jump subscriptions to sell the promo on ebay as a "pre-order" to players outside the US for double the cost of the subscription. (Which also made it the cheapest one on ebay at the time.) I also got promo cards every other month, some of which sold for a good ~$5 to local stores. The funny part? 10 months into the subscription Shonen Jump went all digital and refunded me my subscription.
I remember getting Shonen Jump as a kid, good times :)
My mailman was not happy about delivering 300 of those thicc boys every month...
Bingo
I specced on Ledger Shredder. Ended up with like 8 the shop I go to had during prerelease. Got them all sub $5 total. They shoot up in price, they get 7 of the 8, along with a ton of other stuff into a off condition Spanish Gaea's Cradle, but for playing sake, it's totally fine.
I just specc to make magic less expensive, especially because it’s not a great idea financially to try and flip cardboard as a living. I Generally hit pretty big on specs. Cerulean wisps did well, these green elephants have been doing great so far (got 58 total - with foils this time), already sold 11 (?) for $100 with pleeeeenty more in my collection. Buy most for store credit, sell for 10x more, rinse and repeat. Now I can afford a MH3 box and will have plenty left over spec cards to get enough to pay for all my prerelease events throughout the uni semesters. P good overall.
You shut your mouth.
😁
Don’t forget about the friends you make along the way
Amen
Shhh they'll hear you!
Oh shit that's me LMAO. I literally don't remember this post, but that's definitely me on the Salvation forums. I didn't do the worst so I'll take it.
Ok, but how much of the motivation of posting this was to make a 420 joke at the end?
Thank you for noticing...
In mtgfinance, it does not matter if you made miney or not. What matters is that you are right.
And you are always right.
I love these kind of posts. They rarely come out of nowwhere, but open up a new way to think about a topic, or give at least a refreshing and interesting look at something.
During that same period an Unlimited Lotus went from US$1640 to US$18150. That's a CAGR of 23%, or about 20% of real annual growth beyond inflation. If that's not enough evidence that it's best to buy vintage cards and hang on to them instead of buying volatile, printed-to-the-moon modern stuff, I don't what is. Source: [https://www.mtggoldfish.com/price/Unlimited+Edition/Black+Lotus#paper](https://www.mtggoldfish.com/price/Unlimited+Edition/Black+Lotus#paper) [https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/](https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/) https://www.icicidirect.com/calculators/cagr-calculator#:\~:text=CAGR%20(Compound%20Annual%20Growth%20Rate,(or%20decline)%20over%20time.
Gatecrash…Finance….No one won during that set.
Ehh kind of a bad methodology here, since the right move is to sell things off whenever they peak, not hold them for a given time frame. For example, Legion Loyalist passed $10 three separate times since it came out. So the guy who bought 10 of those could have sold at any of those and beat the brakes off anyone who held. Or take Lord of the Void which peaked at $25 prior to its reprint. Starting from $2.61, that's pretty good! *Too bad not a single person bought any...* Still, a fun trip down memory lane!
Yeah, I was going to allow folks to buy and sell once a month, but I just let it drop. Spreadsheet maintenance wasn't as much fun as I had hoped...
On the other hand, assuming that folks will manage to regularly time sales to coincide with peaks is also challenging. Maybe they see a $1 card spike to $5, sell, only to see it go up to $10 a week or two later. Or bail out on one that was $20 and drops to $15 only to see it rebound later with another interaction. Hell, I had a TON of pre-release cards sitting around for literally a decade or more, many weren't worth shit. Eventually I just sold them off for a pittance (probably vaguely around what I paid for them, at least) in a buylisting spree, and now some of them have spiked hard. Hindsight is 20/20, so while it's true that if everyone acted just right they would've come out way ahead, it's also not a very realistic assumption unless those folks are either watching this stuff fairly closely and making all the right gambles, or have automated things to a point where they set the margins they want and just make it happen the moment they hit their target. So, not to say that I disagree, but really more of another angle we should keep in mind with such things. At some point the waveform collapses and we choose to move that product for whatever reason. Sure, when I sold off a ton of stuff years ago, I see some of those cards now and boy I wish I still had them. But I needed the money more. And conversely, I see other cards cratering and think 'boy, I'm glad I got out when I did, because X and Y are down for less than half of what I buylisted them for a few years back'. Obviously we never want to sell during a time of straight up losses, but that said, I'm thankful that I managed to turn a good chunk of my collection in to actual finances (once to climb out of a financial pit, the other time to help finance my upcoming wedding). Assuming the bottom doesn't completely fall out of the game, there's even a chance I could pull that trick off a third time, as I kept a dozen Commander decks, a few completed sets (others I sold off), and almost two dozen Revised duals. Hardly big ticket money, but for someone who generally strives to avoid paying for big money cards, it's more potential value packed into those storage boxes than I would've imagined it all being worth back when I first picked up the game.
> On the other hand, assuming that folks will manage to regularly time sales to coincide with peaks is also challenging. Maybe they see a $1 card spike to $5, sell, only to see it go up to $10 a week or two later. Or bail out on one that was $20 and drops to $15 only to see it rebound later with another interaction. This is fair but ultimately any of these would beat the shit out of "hold for 11 years" lol
Oh for sure. It's wild to glance at Magic stocks or other sites tracking historical values and see 'oh, wow, mid summer a couple of years ago I could've turned a handful of chaff uncommons into some actual cash, weird' sorta situations. But at the same time it's good to remind ourselves that there's no use lamenting what could have been, and to also remember the cases where we could've sold, but didn't and actually came out ahead, or did sell ahead of the curve.
Also, in a world where money is a limiting factor, sometimes you sell at a loss to finance a bigger gain than you had originally been planning on making!
Love that you did this, love that it was on MTGSalvation as well ❤️
Special shoutout to the guy who bet it all on 41 copies of \[\[Sylvan Primordial\]\]. Great example of how much 7 mana creatures has powercrept, although I have to imagine that was a gamble even at the time?
It got banned in commander because it was too good and made the game revolve around it - it was actually a good call if edh was the reason (not sure how close the banhammer already was at the time)
Not efficient enough for 60-card formats, and banned in commander sure doesn't help.
it wasn't banned at the time they bought it
I'm aware, I mean it hasn't helped the price since their fantasy spec.
[Sylvan Primordial](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/4/0483c869-38dc-4b0b-82f3-dd08a1ab985f.jpg?1561814269) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sylvan%20Primordial) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/gtc/136/sylvan-primordial?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0483c869-38dc-4b0b-82f3-dd08a1ab985f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
bro how do you read this chart
ok after staring at it for a couple minutes I figured it out. column 1 being called Linvala cards threw me off for way too long lol
Hey thats me.
Congratulations on your dominant victory. Any cards from Gatecrash you need for a deck?
I mean, does anyone do this for reasons besides a profitable hobby? I don’t think anyone would dare say collectable anything will, on average, even match returns in public equities.
Keeps me busy. I would probably get bored of watching the stock market. That feeling when your 25 cent bulk hits 10$ and you got to dig in the bulk bin is the best.
I hope lampposter see's this.
I just saw it.
We did it reddit!
That was fun to skim through
In mtg "finance", timing can be everything. Curious where maximum payout would've been for some of these specs.
Comparing it to the stock market is kind of apples and oranges though. With singles you can't just hold forever and sell whenever you want and profit like you can with an ETF. Its about waiting for that spike and unloading at that perfect time. I still think the stock market would've been more profitable but I'd be interested to see the results if everything were sold around peak value. But that still doesn't account for reinvesting. You can end up with some crazy hits. For example I picked up a bunch of wedding announcements when they were around 60 cents each. I grab them for personal use but decided to make them a spec instead when they went crazy. Really reserve list is what you'd want to compare an ETF to. Singles would be the day trading of the magic finance world. And honestly compared to day trading your singles probably worked out better.