Magic: The Gathering finance

Last updated

Magic: The Gathering finance or MtG finance is the financial management and investment as it pertains to the collectibility and playability of the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game. Investments are typically made in single cards whose value are expected to rise over time such as from a shifting metagame or low quantities of cards that may or may not increase in value due to a growing playerbase and their demand. Like the stock market, cards are generally bought at a low price and/or are sold at a higher price during peak demand at a later date. [1] Speculation is common as investors seek to predict which of 20,000+ unique cards will avoid a reprint thereby creating more demand. Speculation also occurs in the selling of card assets when a reprint is expected in an effort to maximize financial gain and minimize loss. Most financing is done through the buying and selling of cards, though some investors have traded their way to cards of higher value, or expected to gain value in the future. Additionally, some speculators have gone as far as manipulating the market by buying up large quantities of a single card in order to artificially inflate a card's price.

Contents

Investments may also go beyond the acquirement of individual cards and may include booster boxes and packs or other unopened game products, complete card sets, or even original artwork featured in the game. [2]

Price memory

Price memory is the perceived value in a card based on historical prices, especially for popular cards. Even when a card is reprinted or banned, cards may retain some of their value despite indications suggesting its price should decrease. Usually this occurs because players generally hold on to their card collections regardless of its current status. Price memory may also mean that a specific card will lose its value slowly rather than suddenly. [3]

Reprint equity

Speculators have identified a phenomenon known as reprint equity, which is the amount of in-demand cards that have not been reprinted, or those cards not having a reprint after a substantial period of time. The rate at which Wizards of the Coast reprints cards affects the equity of cards without reprints. Investors have noted that in recent years equity has decreased with a surge in new products, such as the Modern Masters line. A potential avenue for increasing equity is the unbanning of cards in specific formats to increase demand and its value. [4]

Observer and bandwagon effects

The observer effect has been a tool implemented by speculators in an effort to manipulate the card market. It asserts that "you can't measure something without affecting the results of that measurement". An example of this in MtG Finance would be suggesting a certain card has unrecognised value in a public forum and having the public respond to your advice by buying that card. This would seem to prove your original advice correct as determined by the subsequent price increase of that card and is known as the bandwagon effect. [5]

Cards and formats

Reserved list

The reserved list is a finite list of cards that Wizards of the Coast has promised never to reprint again specifically to retain their value on the secondary market due to customer complaints. Two exceptions were made with revisions to the list in 2002 and 2010. [6] The list includes cards from the earliest Magic expansions. Because a promise has been made to never reprint these cards, their value is expected to rise over time and have frequently been the target of speculators. [7] [8]

Premium cards

Premium cards, also known as foils, are often a target of investment due to their increased rarity, especially those from earlier expansions. This can be exacerbated if the premium card is also on the reserved list. [9]

Counterfeits

Another issue that has been a frequent topic in the uncertainty of MtG finance are counterfeits. As individual card prices rise, Wizards of the Coast's promise not to reprint cards from the reserved list, and cards not being reprinted to demand, counterfeiters have filled this demand and are getting better with each passing year. [10] In 2015, Wizards of the Coast implemented more anti-counterfeit measures by introducing a holographic foil onto cards with specific rarities, in addition to creating a proprietary font. [11] [12]

Commander

The multiplayer format Commander is a popular target of speculation for many reasons. [13] The game as a whole has far more casual than tournament players and their currently preferred format is Commander. Because Commander also utilizes the entire library of Magic cards and has few banned cards, it becomes ideal for speculation, often relying on the casual player's unfamiliarity with Magic finance as a whole or potential metagames involving future Commander cards. Websites such as EDHREC are used to ascertain the frequency a card is used, cross-referencing that card with available inventories, and then making a possible speculation. [14]

Modern and Standard formats

The utility of cards in the metagame of specific game formats, such as Modern and Standard, either through banning, unbanning, or rotation of legal cards, has been a target for speculators. The cards that see frequent tournament play retain a higher value. [15] Cards like these, or the cards they interact with, also known as the domino effect, are speculated on usually before they become a staple of the metagame. [16] [17]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Magic: The Gathering</i> Collectible card game

Magic: The Gathering is a tabletop and digital collectible card game created by Richard Garfield. Released in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast, Magic was the first trading card game and had approximately fifty million players as of February 2023. Over twenty billion Magic cards were produced in the period from 2008 to 2016, during which time it grew in popularity. As of the 2022 fiscal year, Magic generates over $1 billion in revenue annually.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Speculation</span> Engaging in risky financial transactions

In finance, speculation is the purchase of an asset with the hope that it will become more valuable shortly. It can also refer to short sales in which the speculator hopes for a decline in value.

Investment is traditionally defined as the "commitment of resources to achieve later benefits". If an investment involves money, then it can be defined as a "commitment of money to receive more money later". From a broader viewpoint, an investment can be defined as "to tailor the pattern of expenditure and receipt of resources to optimise the desirable patterns of these flows". When expenditures and receipts are defined in terms of money, then the net monetary receipt in a time period is termed cash flow, while money received in a series of several time periods is termed cash flow stream.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vs. System</span> System used for collectible card games

Vs. System, also written as VS System and abbreviated as VS, is a collectible card game designed by Upper Deck Entertainment (UDE). In the game, players build and play a deck of Vs. System cards in an attempt to win a game against their opponent. It was first published in 2004 and is set in the superhero genre. The game was discontinued by Upper Deck Entertainment in January 2009.

<i>Magic: The Gathering Online</i> Video game adaptation of Magic: The Gathering

Magic: The Gathering Online is a video game adaptation of Magic: The Gathering, utilizing the concept of a virtual economy to preserve the collectible aspect of the card game. It is played through an Internet service operated by Wizards of the Coast, which went live on June 24, 2002. The game does not run on mobile as Magic: the Gathering Arena does, since it is only available for Microsoft Windows. Users can play the game or trade cards with other users.

The collectible card game Magic: The Gathering published seven expansion sets from 1993–1995, and one compilation set. These sets contained new cards that "expanded" on the base sets of Magic with their own mechanical theme and setting; these new cards could be played on their own, or mixed in with decks created from cards in the base sets. With Magic's runaway success, many of the printings of these early sets were too small to satisfy the rapidly growing fanbase. Cards from them became rare, hard to find, and expensive. It was not until Fallen Empires and Homelands that Wizards of the Coast was able to print enough cards to meet demand; additionally, Wizards of the Coast published Chronicles, a reprint set that helped fix many of the scarcity issues with the earliest sets.

Ice Age is a block of three expansion sets in Magic: The Gathering, consisting of the Ice Age, Alliances and Coldsnap sets. It is also the titular first set in the block. The Ice Age set is the eleventh set and the sixth expansion set, previewed at the Canadian Card and Comics Spectacular in early June 1995, and released later that month. Set in the years from 450 to 2934 AR, the set describes a world set in perpetual winter due to the events in Antiquities. Ice Age was followed up June 1996 with Alliances, the fourteenth Magic: The Gathering set and eighth expansion set.; and on July 21, 2006 with Coldsnap. The time period between Alliances and Coldsnap was the longest period of time between the beginning and the completion of a full block in Magic. Originally, the set Homelands, released in October 1995, was the second set in the Ice Age block, but following the release of Coldsnap, Homelands was removed from the block in favor of Coldsnap.

In Magic: The Gathering, Power Nine is a set of nine cards that were printed in the game's early core sets, consisting of Black Lotus, Ancestral Recall, Time Walk, Mox Pearl, Mox Sapphire, Mox Jet, Mox Ruby, Mox Emerald, and Timetwister. These nine cards were printed in the first sets of Magic: The Gathering, starting in 1993. They are considered among the most powerful cards in the game. Owing to their power, they were banned from being played in most competitive settings.

The collectible card game Magic: The Gathering has released compilation sets, reprint sets, and box sets over its history. These are distinct from core sets and expansion sets, the most heavily marketed sources of new cards. With the exception of Chronicles, reprint sets generally do not affect tournament legality in supported formats; for example, cards reprinted in the Modern Masters reprint set, while legal for tournament play, did not necessarily cause the card to be included in the "Standard" environment.

Magic: The Gathering formats are various ways in which the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game can be played. Each format provides rules for deck construction and gameplay, with many confining the pool of permitted cards to those released in a specified group of Magic card sets. The Wizards Play Network, the governing body that oversees official Magic competitive play, categorizes its tournament formats into Constructed and Limited. Additionally, there are many casual formats with the Commander format being one of the most popular formats of the game.

The Lorwyn block is a Magic: The Gathering expert-level block consisting of two sets: Lorwyn and Morningtide. A third set, codenamed "Jelly", was originally planned as part of the Lorwyn block, but partway into the design of Lorwyn, it was split into a two-set block. Jelly was revealed as Shadowmoor, the first set of the new two-set block. The two blocks were linked together and rotated through the official tournament formats as a single, four-expansion unit. The primary theme of the Lorwyn block is tribalism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">T206 Honus Wagner</span> Baseball card issued 1909–1911

The T206 Honus Wagner baseball card depicts the Pittsburgh Pirates' Honus Wagner, known as "The Flying Dutchman,” a dead-ball era baseball player who is widely considered to be one of the best players of all time. The card was designed and issued by the American Tobacco Company (ATC) from 1909 to 1911 as part of its T206 series. Wagner refused to allow production of his baseball card to continue, either because he did not want children to buy cigarette packs to get his card, or because he wanted more compensation from the ATC. The ATC ended production of the Wagner card, and a total of only 50 to 200 cards were ever distributed to the public, as compared to the "tens or hundreds of thousands" of T206 cards, over three years in sixteen brands of cigarettes, for any other player. In 1933, the card was first listed at a price value of US$50 in Jefferson Burdick's The American Card Catalog, making it the most expensive baseball card in the world at the time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Collectible card game</span> Game played using specialized playing cards

A collectible card game (CCG), also called a trading card game (TCG) among other names, is a type of card game that mixes strategic deck building elements with features of trading cards. It was introduced with Magic: The Gathering in 1993.

<i>Magic: The Gathering Commander</i> Series of supplemental Magic: the Gathering card game products

Commander is a series of supplemental Magic: the Gathering card game products. Its mechanics are derived from a fan-created format known as "Elder Dragon Highlander (EDH)". The official Commander format is "the only sanctioned format maintained by an outside entity" other than Wizards of the Coast.

<i>BattleTech Trading Card Game</i>

The BattleTech Trading Card Game is an out-of-print collectible card game (CCG) set in the BattleTech universe. The game was developed by Wizards of the Coast (WotC) for FASA and released in 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Masques block</span> Block of expansion sets in Magic: The Gathering

The Masquerade Cycle, sometimes incorrectly referred to as the "Masques block", is a Magic: The Gathering cycle that is set on the planes of Mercadia, Rath, and plane of Dominaria. It consists of the expansion sets Mercadian Masques, Nemesis, and Prophecy. Mercadian Masques was the first set that is not subject to the Wizards of the Coast Reprint Policy, meaning that none of its cards appear on its Reserved List.

Singles are individual trading or game cards sold by hobby stores, online stores, or by individual collectors. These individual cards are usually of higher value than contemporary cards which are often sold as "bulk" or as a personal collection. Ordinary collectible cards serve little function beyond memorabilia, but CCGs are also used in game tournaments. Generally, collectible card games (CCG) fetch initial higher prices than trading cards because of the dual nature of being both a game and a collectible. Prices will fluctuate for CCGs as cards become legal or illegal to play in certain game formats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flesh and Blood (card game)</span> Trading card game by Legend Story Studios

Flesh and Blood is a trading card game published by Legend Story Studios (LSS), an independent design studio based in Auckland, New Zealand. It was designed by James White, who had previously played Magic: The Gathering professionally. The game is based on elements of fantasy and, to some extent, science fiction. The name of the game is derived from the phrase "flesh and blood", meaning that the game was designed to be played in person instead of as an online game.

TCGPlayer is an online trading card marketplace started in 2008 in Syracuse, New York, it sells Pokémon, Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Lorcana, Flesh and Blood, and MetaZoo products.

References

  1. ↑ Massak, Shawn (2014-03-05). "MTG Finance/Speculation Review". Hipsters of the Coast. Retrieved 2019-01-22.
  2. ↑ Mike, Vorthos (2019-01-29). "Top Ten Reserved List Cards That Haven't Spiked Yet". CoolStuffInc.com. Retrieved 2019-01-22.
  3. ↑ Johnson, DJ (2018-07-10). "Price Memory and How it Affects the Market". TCGPlayer.com. Retrieved 2019-01-22.
  4. ↑ SaffronOlive (2018-02-26). "Reprint Equity, Masters Sets and Booster Pricing". mtggoldfish.com. Retrieved 2019-01-22.
  5. ↑ Madlem, Derek (2015-04-29). "Going Mad - The Observer Effect". MTGPrice.com. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
  6. ↑ EchoMtG, "Magic Reserve List", Echomtg.com, retrieved 2019-01-22
  7. ↑ Sargent, Abe (2018-02-13). "Top Ten Reserved List Cards That Haven't Spiked Yet". CoolStuffInc.com. Retrieved 2019-01-22.
  8. ↑ Bernard, Zoe (2017-08-07). "People are paying close to $100,000 for rare 'Magic: The Gathering' cards that they compare to early bitcoin investments and predict will one day be worth millions". businessinsider.com. Retrieved 2019-01-22.
  9. ↑ Daigle, Cliff (2018-10-25). "The Basics of MTG Finance". cardsphere.com. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
  10. ↑ Daigle, Cliff (2018-08-22). "Commanding Finance". Cardsphere.com. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  11. ↑ Andres, Chas (2014-01-13), Counterfeit Cards, archived from the original on 2015-05-02, retrieved 2017-09-04
  12. ↑ Styborski, Adam (2014-01-06), New Card Frame Coming in Magic 2015 , retrieved 2017-09-06
  13. ↑ Andres, Chas (2011-01-04). "Traderous Instinct - A Financial Review of Commander". ChannelFireBall. Retrieved 2019-01-22.
  14. ↑ Casale, Jim (2018-05-03). "Commanding Finance". CoolStuffInc.com. Retrieved 2019-01-22.
  15. ↑ Johnson, DJ (2017-08-01). "An Introduction to Magic Finance". TCGPlayer.com. Retrieved 2019-01-22.
  16. ↑ Winkie, Luke (2017-12-28). "Forget Bitcoin-These Guys Invest in Magic Cards". Kotaku.com. Retrieved 2019-01-22.
  17. ↑ Johnson, DJ (2018-07-03). "The Domino Effect - How to Stay Ahead of Future Banlist Announcements". TCGPlayer.com. Retrieved 2019-01-24.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.