Comments on: The Nutt Draw: Set EV Matrix

By: Jimbo

Jimbo — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 08:28:32 +0000

Coool chart. I haven't touched a paper booster in about a decade yet spent a good fifteen minutes scrolling around through the chart comparing data just out of curiousity 🙂

Here's something I think could be interesting to see possibly, though I'm not too sure how telling it would be, and it might be a considerable amount of work depending on whether or not you maintain a timeline of prices…
Total singles value based on the highest prices each single has ever been at. Because everything starts extraordinarily high, you would need a cutoff such as 6-8 weeks after set release to begin "counting" high prices – whenever "settling" seems to somewhat finish, otherwise almost every card would simply go by it's release price.

The idea would be to get a gauge of "power" in the set, though there's a good chance this isn't the result…I have no idea what it'd end up showing, and no idea how this would be used… I'd just be curious to see the results lol. It might be interesting to find that the total of peak-values for any set is roughly proportional to the totals for current values, or to find that a set with high peak values ends up maintaining a higher % of that value, or a lower % perhaps due to attracting people to buy into that set more heavily.

This might be a really terrible idea, not sure… I guess it largely depends on how easy it is to throw together.

By: RedBluePlayer

RedBluePlayer — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:05:55 +0000

This was pretty cool. Hopefully it will be useful to me in the next few weeks,

By: Corbin Hosler

Corbin Hosler — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:27:50 +0000

Another awesome article! I love numbers. The one thing I think would be great to add is pricing out the top 5 Standard cards over a longer period of time. I think there could be some really great comparisons and trends to see if we looked at the price graph of cards through their Standard life.
Obviously the charts likely began just a few months ago, but even in that time it would be very interesting.

By: Chris McNutt

Chris McNutt — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:29:47 +0000

In reply to Womby. Those are both really great uses. I'll see if I can tweak the results sorting to be a bit more readable for these purposes.

By: Womby

Womby — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:06:14 +0000

To provide some feedback on how a random commenter uses our matrices . . .

I've been using the Singles Demand Matrix to find discrepancies and similarities in values over different areas. For example, I try to find a card that has a huge variance between the eBay price, the store buy price, and what I know the average person at my local game shop will most likely value something at. I then try to find something with a very low variance (Vengevine, Fauna Shaman, etc). When I trade, I try to trade the high variance card for the low variance card.

When someone pulls out the smart phone or decides to go by Starcity prices in a trade, the numbers come out much more even. However, I can restock a high variance card that I trade away cheaply through eBay. It's the version of "trading up" that I've decided to embrace.

As for the Pack EV Matrix, I'm actually using it to help me determine if I should draft at FNM, or play Standard. I'm much more inclined to draft if the EV of a pack is higher, as I have a chance to open some decent cards even if I do poorly in the draft itself. It also helps me determine which packs to select for my winnings if I do perform well.

I'm really liking these matrices! Keep up the great work!