menu

Your Mom Thinks Speculators Are Ruining Magic

Are you a Quiet Speculation member?

If not, now is a perfect time to join up! Our powerful tools, breaking-news analysis, and exclusive Discord channel will make sure you stay up to date and ahead of the curve.

This appeared in Scrye Magazine in 1994, and dug out of the Time Vault by a redditor.

A letter from a concerned mother says it all.

Screenshot 2014-03-21 10.06.48

Those damned computer markets with their high frequency trading and their robot algorithms. Ā In all seriousness, however, Magic is both a gameĀ and a commodity. Ā If only 1994 Mom knew what was to come in the commodities market, she might stop Riding the Dilu Horse of self-righteousness, pony up the allowance money to her kids, and let them buy some $15 Legends packs. Ā If the little brats had the discipline to keep them sealed ( or at least do that thing where you push the cards up with your thumb to find all the Magus of the Moats and Mana Drains in old cellophane packs ), maybe they'd be rich enough to afford a decent retirement home for their dear old mother.

For reference, our friends at Star City Games wouldĀ love to sell you a sealed box of Legends for $5000. Ā You know, if they could find one. Ā That's right, the most powerful men in Magic's secondary (computer?) marketĀ can't even sell you one.

Ironically, if I had saved my $5 allowance each week for 20 years, I'd have just about enough to buy one of these non-existent booster boxes. Ā The hard part would be convincing my mom to give a 30 year old an allowance. Ā Whatever. Ā I'm asking Dad.

Speculators, En Guard!
Speculators, En Guard!

Kelly Reid

Founder & Product Manager

View More By Kelly Reid

Posted in Free, Sealed, VintageTagged , , ,

Have you joined the Quiet Speculation Discord?

If you haven't, you're leaving value on the table! Join our community of experts, enthusiasts, entertainers, and educators and enjoy exclusive podcasts, questions asked and answered, trades, sales, and everything else Discord has to offer.

Want to create content with Quiet Speculation?

All you need to succeed is a passion for Magic: The Gathering, and the ability to write coherently. Share your knowledge of MTG and how you leverage it to win games, get value from your cards ā€“ or even turn a profit.

12 thoughts on “Your Mom Thinks Speculators Are Ruining Magic

  1. This is great. Reminds me of what Chas Andres wrote in his article a few weeks back on regret:

    “The time to buy most cards was years ago, and the time to sell them is never.”

    I’m just going to print out copies of that Scrye excerpt and hand them off whenever I hear a random at my LGS complain about “speculators ruining the game.”

  2. I remember riding my bicycle all over Manhattan just to find early expansion packs in 1994-95. It is ludicrous to think that I would have kept those packs sealed back then, I just wanted to *play* the game. “Searching” packs was not a reasonable proposition; some shop keepers pulled the packs out for you, others let you put your hand in the box to select your own packs, but it is again ludicrous to think that shop keepers would let you take the time to “search” the packs using that method (maybe if I hadn’t been in Manhattan…)

    Anyway, here we are 20 yrs later and The Wizards Cupboard currently has a box going for $5,500. It seems like just yesterday that Legends bboxes were “only” $3,500: kinda wish I had grabbed one at that price to hold on to, but then again, knowing me, I would have been too tempted to crack the box because I get a such a rush from opening old product (followed by crushing disappointment when I realize that I should have kept it sealed).

Join the conversation

Want Prices?

Browse thousands of prices with the first and most comprehensive MTG Finance tool around.


Trader Tools lists both buylist and retail prices for every MTG card, going back a decade.

Quiet Speculation