Rich Hagon did a nice little summary of his articles today on Star City, and two seemed relevant to what we do here at Quiet Spec. They're about getting the most out of your money when playing Magic! Now, I've got a ton more to add to what he says within and I'll get to all that when I publish my Quiet Speculation's Ultimate Guide to Effective MtG Financial Management and World Domination, but for now, it's a good start.

I subscribe to the rule of not opening packs without playing them. I've got 2/3's of a box in draft set winnings in my desk right now. They hate staying sealed, but I -HAD- 25 packs, that is until I cracked one out of boredom. I felt so dirty. I think my rare was sideboard role-player Identity Crisis. Anyway, here are the articles:

More Bang for Your Buck Part 1 Part 2

I've gotten some interest in my Guide to Trading (and all things magic money management) so if you'd like to read a longer article on that topic, please leave a comment on the blog or on Twitter to let me know. While it's true I love the sound of my own voice, the sound of keys clicking on a keyboard lacks the same soothing baritone. Your comments help me tailor this blog to what you want to see and read, so get typin'.

Until tomorrow!

Twitter Reader "lolequalswwwww" asked me today if I covered MTGO prices, and I replied that I do not, simply because I have almost no experience trading on MTGO. I think the last deal I did was to buy a bunch of commons for 1 tix so I could play a pauper deck. Not exactly the same as what I do in paper magic.

I remembered that Jeremy Fuentes, over at ChannelFireball, does an occasional column called Market Watch. While I've got no affiliation with ChannelFireball or Mr. Fuentes, I thought I'd give a shoutout to one of the only other MtG financial columns on the web. You can check out his latest article right here. He seems to know a great deal about MTGO prices, and you can be sure I'll be keeping up with his articles! His last article was on the 21st of May, so go ahead and check it out if you're into Magic finances!

Checing Ebay prices, Swans of Bryn Argoll have doubled in price overnight. They're starting to approach 20 dollars per set of 4. Most sites are sold out of them. Seismic Assault is following suit, approaching the same mark. Looks like the time to buy low is pretty much over, kids!

Star City has upped their price on Swans to 5 bucks, and is buying them for 2. Time to go check your local game stores, loyal readers, because the Bird's the Word. You might be able to get the cards cheap because most stores don't price as often as SCG does. Seismic Assault was printed in Exodus, 7th Edition, 8th Edition and 10th Edition.

If you don't know what Twitter is, I suggest you find out.

One of the tools I use when trying to keep up with trends in MtG prices is Twitter. After seeing the TurboFog deck on the MtG.com site, I had no idea what people thought of it. Then I fired up Twitter, where I follow a bunch of Magic players. Twitterers were in a tweeting frenzy over the new deck, and I knew it would be a factor at Regionals.

Twitter is fantastic because it allows players to see realtime metagame shifts, so if you're not on Twitter already, get on! You can follow my updates by clicking the link in the sidebar. You should also be following TWITTER.COM / STARCITYBUYER, which is updated when SCG changes their buy list. I even have Twitter set to text message me on my cell phone when they post an update. Realtime market updates are a very powerful tool to have if you're serious about trading for profit, so if there are any other sites out there that do anything like this, post a comment below!

Just a short note:

SCG sold out of Swans of Bryn Argoll, almost every single version of Seismic Assault and Countryside Crusher (a SB card in the deck). Seriously - look up Seismic Assault. They have a few foils from 8th Edition but they're GONE otherwise. Seismics are selling for 10+ a set on Ebay, and we'll continue to watch the market over the next few days to see how things progress. One thing is for sure: the window to steal these low will -not- be open for long.

I was waiting until it was reported, but now after the Cascade Swans won the whole shebang, I feel it's time to issue this decree:

Buy it now. Swans, Seismic Assaults, and the uncommons you'll need. The land for the deck shouldn't see too much of a price hike since they're already expensive, but Swans of Bryn Argoll are only 10 a set on Ebay as of the writing of this post. No reason that shouldn't double as news gets out. It has all the makings of a monster. People are going to be attracted to the deck because of its newfound GP winning pedigree, and people love playing with goofy combos.

On another note, while they may not be cheap now, the answers to Swans Combo are not going to get any cheaper. Runed Halo and Pithing Needle, which both shut down the combo kill very easily, will likely continue to rise in price. Pithing Needle is criminally under-used in Standard right now, and it was only a matter of time before a Combo deck took advantage of the control-light metagame and dominated. It seems likely that control will have to evolve to beat Combo, so if you can get your hands on anything from 5-Color without paying an arm and a leg, do so.

Here's the winning deck list:

It seems like TurboFog is getting some action in Barcelona! While Day 1 decklists haven't been posted, the coverage team interviewed the on-site vendor, Troll and Toad. According to them, TurboFog cards have been selling out faster than anything else. Windbrisk Heights have also been selling well along with the rest of the Token deck, but to quote Nigel Rowledge of Troll and Toad, on Howling Mine:

That’s a card that has been around forever and which we usually can’t even give away, but we completely sold out of them at about five times it’s old price. Pretty much anything from the Turbofog deck we sold out of, like Font of Mythos – that one deck alone has sold so many cards. Pretty much any card which goes in that deck we’ve sold out of completely.

Howling Mines have been difficult to come by locally as well, so it seems safe to say that this is a buy-low if there is an opportunity. Even if Fog is not a big winner at the GP, the sheer quantity of people playing the deck throughout the summer PTQ season should keep it in demand. It seems a relatively low-risk acquisition, along with the rest of the Fog deck. Jace Beleren, who is around $10 right now, could very well start to see some price increase if Fog starts to gain more support.

If you're reading this blog, you're probably interested in Magic finance. http://blacklotusproject.com is a site recommended to me by one of my readers, routlaw. The site seems to have copied the Google Finance style. You can look up individual cards and see their daily price trends, as well as take a peek at the top selling items and the cards which have lost the most value. A quick review of the site shows that the most popular cards by volume are Maelstrom Pulse, Meddling Mage and Dauntless Escort, while the biggest "winners" ( % change in price) were Howling Mine, Lord of the Undead and Ancient Tomb. The biggest losers were a trio of Conflux rares in Maelstrom Archangel, Child of Alara and Thornling. Check out Noble Hierarch's chart below!

I'm going to have to do some more poking around and learning about the site before I start using it as a reference point, but it seems like it could be a great complement to CardShark and StarCityGames' Sales Trends. An aside - is this a new offering by SCG? I've only just noticed it today.

Noble Hierarch

Ebay: $ 60-70/set
StarCityGames: $70/set

Wow, the Bant deck's surge of popularity has fueled this card's price above that of the iconic Rafiq of the Many. It seems the Exalted Birds of Paradise have finally hit the dollar value many people expected. StarCity keeps upping their prices and can't keep any in stock, and the Ebay price reflects this demand, with the low end being 60 bucks for a playset. Your local area may not have felt this price change yet, so if you can still pick them up for 10-12 at your local store, it might be prudent to do so. The price is sustainable because Bant is one of the few archetypes that will not lose any major players after Lorwyn-Shadowmoor rotate out of Standard. If they do indeed stabilize at around 60-70 a set, there's no reason they can't maintain that level.

Lord of Extinction
Review the last post about Lord of Exctinction here.

StarCityGames:$15 per card
Ebay:$5-6 per card

Yes, Lord of Extinction is still a good card. No, he is not worth the $15 at which Star City has priced him. Lord of Extinction just hasn't found a home in Standard, the only format in which he is really good. A dealer at Regionals, where it seemed the card did not even cross the minds of deckbuilders, was buying them for $8. For most cards, a lack of strength on Ebay is usually indicative of low demand. Ebay's prices are often more accurate and evolve to match the current metagame far faster than online stores that stock singles and the card's irrelevance at Regionals will keep the price down. If you can get $15 for this guy, do so, because like just the rest of the Mythics from Alara Reborn, he's just not seeing any real play. Based on this information, the prediction is being revised:

Target: $7-9

The rest of the Mythics are just as unexciting. The only others that currently exceed the price of a booster pack are Jenara, Asura of War, Sen Triplets, Sphinx of the Steel Wind and Uril, the Miststalker. Although Sen Triplets is one of the most amusing cards in Magic today, just about every Mythic from Alara Reborn is a crap rare. Jenara has some promise as a late-game option in Bant decks, but better cards seem to exist. She'd probably hold more value if there was a Block Constructed PTQ season this year. Depending on what M10 and Zendikar bring this summer and fall, the ARB Mythics may become important. While Lorwyn and Shadowmoor blocks are in Standard though, it might be prudent to get book value for these if you can.

Click here for the original Focus: Runed Halo.

Just a quick check-in to let you all know that I compared today's Completed Ebay price averages to the May 9th posting of $6 per set of 4. Today's Ebay average shows that Runed Halo's price has doubled on Ebay, up to $15 a set. The Japanese Turbo Fog list that seemed popular pre-Regionals was running 4 copies in its 75. However, the chatter going on after Regionals is showing an absurd dominance of B-W and G-W decks in the format. With Anathemancer not finding a home in either of the top archetypes, I think that it's reasonable to lower the target price a bit.

New Target: Ebay - $20/set, StarCityGames: $30/set

I've had an idea in my head for a while about a short series of articles designed to help readers get the most out of their card collection. Magic can be an expensive hobby if you let it, so now more than ever, it's important to get the most out of the money you choose to put in. I figure that people who read this are probably fairly savvy traders, but there might be a few who could use some help. If you're a reader of Quiet Speculation and would be interested in a brief series on trading and acquiring cards, post a comment and let me know that it's worth my time. I've been very successful at bootstrapping a collection out of few cards and little money, so I feel well-qualified to dole out advice on the subject.

Just a quick note post-Regionals:

One of my teammates played Hallowed Burial alongside Wrath of God, and said that the extra mana was absolutely worth it against Reveillark decks and Persist creatures. They're considered crap rares by just about everyone, so consider grabbing a set next time you're out trading or buying. I doubt it'll see any real value spike, but if it starts seeing more play, it might stop being such a crap rare.