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Daily Stock Watch – Lightning Bolt

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Hello, readers and welcome to the second day of the Masters 25 special edition of the Daily Stock Watch! The excitement for the upcoming set has somehow died down, and a lot of the people that I know who pre-ordered boxes and cases aren't as stoked with it anymore as they were prior to the completion of the spoilers. If WoTC will keep their word on how the Masters series will be handled in the foreseeable future, then it is indeed a sad thing that they didn't go out with a bang. With all these in mind, we shouldn't fret much on the financial gains that we could get from M25, as there are tons of opportunity out there for us to take advantage of. Today, I will be featuring  a card that I shouldn't even be talking about here (if the Magic Gods could have it their way, I suppose) as one of my fave specs from the set.

There was an error retrieving a chart for Lightning Bolt

Did I just touch sacred ground by picking Lightning Bolt as one of the best spec targets from M25? Maybe. Maybe not. I've been buying and selling Magic cards for more than a decade now and if there's one thing I've learned about buying budget specs, buy the ones that players from all formats and ages will recognize. We'll be seeing a lot of those cards in this set, but I'd go for the one with the highest usage rate. Lightning Bolt is used in every format, and is arguably one of the best one mana spells in the game that's not actually broken (like Ancestral Recall).

There are hundreds of decks out there that could feature bolt in its list, but let's highlight one that makes this card a superstar at all times. Let's choose an old school one for size.

Vintage RDW

Creatures

3 Eidolon of the Great Revel
2 Gorilla Shaman
4 Ingot Chewer
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Manic Vandal
3 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Simian Spirit Guide

Instants and Sorceries

2 Dead//Gone
4 Lightning Bolt

Other Spells

3 Blood Moon
4 Null Rod
3 Thorn of Amethyst

Lands

4 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
12 Mountain

Sideboard

2 By Force
2 Dismember
3 Grafdigger's Cage
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Pyroclasm
2 Red Elemental Blast

Out of countless possible high damage spells to include in this deck, Lightning Bolt still wins the spell slot of choice for the red player. The casual audience's familiarity with the card will also help in its bid to remain relevant financially in the years to come. Now might be the best time to hoard our copies for the future, as it might take another while before it gets mass reprinted in this extent.

Nostalgia Cards in M25

There's a plethora of good commons and uncommons from the set, and there will be tons of value in them especially if they are foils. The good thing about M25 is that more people will be focused on the chase rares and mythics from the set in the short term, and this gives us the opportunity to keep our eyes on our other spec targets such as Lightning Bolt.

At the moment, online stores such as StarCityGames, ChannelFireball, CardKingdom, and TCGPlayer are all pre-selling Lightning bolt for $2.50 up to $2.99. The foil copies are pegged to be in the $12-$15 range, but I'm guessing that there will be some down time once the packs opened hits its peak. It will be safe to buy them at $2 or less if that's possible, and I would go all in on them at that price. I've always sold my bolts to random customers at prices of my desire, and I see myself continuing to do so in the future. If you're all up for it, I'd say that it would be good to pick up as many as you can now. The foils should be good pick ups if they go below $10, but I wouldn't be as aggressive in getting them as I would be on the normal ones.

And that’s it for the Tuesday edition of the Daily Stock Watch! See you again tomorrow, as I continue to preview more cards from Masters 25. As always, feel free to share your opinion in the comments section below. And if you want to keep up with all the market movement, be sure to check in with the QS Discord Channel for real time market information, and stay ahead of the hottest specs!

4 thoughts on “Daily Stock Watch – Lightning Bolt

  1. Something to consider is that core sets return this year. I doubt they would reprint lightning bolt so soon after A25, but it isn’t impossible.

  2. I can’t really say that it’s likely, although it won’t affect just bolt but every other spell that deals direct damage to the opposing player. Perhaps, 3 damage will always be 3 damage to the dome. This rule change will barely affect it in my opinion.

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