I don’t think of it as a matter of risk vs. reward with the uncommons – the risk is generally minimal. It’s more that the more copies you have, the smaller the rate of return will be because you can’t move all your copies at peak prices. I’ve generally been happy investing in about 100 copies of any given uncommon.

Large sets are generally more unforgiving than small sets regarding the quality of sell window. While I think the quality of sell window for a card like Supreme Will would be high regardless of set, I’m unsure I would have invested in 100 copies of Doomfall had it been in a large fall set (I might have opted for 50-75 copies instead).

Dealing with rares at bulk prices is a bit different as those cards increase in value more sporadically and less frequently. I’m still trying to learn about this facet of MTGO finance, and some price trajectories I find interesting are Bomat Courier, Baral’s Expertise, Aetherwind Basilisk, Lifecrafter’s Bestiary, Key to the City, and Metalwork Colossus. I have yet to commit more than 30 copies to any of these sorts of cards, indicating a hesitancy and a lack of faith in them. It’s not easy to have faith in a $0.01 rare.

Just curious with uncommons and other close to bulk price standard cards, how many copies do you usuaully go after? Is there sweet spot between risk and reward? Ive generally maxed out around 100 on things like stasis snare, stormchaser mage, and reflector mage. Just wondering if you had any limits on quantity.

Thanks for the requests George. I’ll be sure to cover those cards in my next article.

Regarding speculating this week – the PT is very unpredictable, and I think there is a decent amount of room for surprise at the tournament. There is definitely a lot of money to be made if you predict the metagame correctly or correctly predict a breakout performance for a certain card. If I were to go to Vegas to wager on a surprise, I’d place my money on a Ruin Raider – Glint Sleeve Siphoner shell or on a Search for Azcanta and Champion of Wits value deck. A Sunbird deck would be my third choice. I don’t normally try to play the PT Finance Speculation game, and I don’t think I will be doing that this go around either.

Let me also say that I don’t think it’s essential to make your Ixalan investments this week – if anything, I think the ideal period during which to buy Ixalan cards will extend through Christmas. I do think that Ixalan more or less has bottomed out in price, so I think you’ve begun investing in Ixalan at the right time 🙂