
Welcome back to another edition of the Rare Drafter where I bring you all the draft-able cards currently at $3 or above. The cards that fall below the $3 mark will be listed this month and then removed in next month's article unless they claw their way back up. All prices taken from www.mtgotraders.com on 25th of July 2010.
The paper prices for M11 were taken from www.capefeargames.com as of the 25th of July 2010.
There are lots of interesting things going on in the world of prices this month. M11 is just round the corner, I've taken the paper prices from Cape Fear Games this month so you have a rough idea of what's hot and what's not. I'll not go into the details as you can see them in the M11 section but I will say Baneslayer Angel has lost her place as the most valuable card in the set, can you guess which card has taken her place....nah I'm not going to tell you, you will have to have a look.
As we are now under the new Extended format you will be able to see the pain its caused Ravnica block which is the worst set affected by rotation, the Mirrodin cards stood off better as they are also staples in a lot of Legacy decks. Elspeth, Knight-Errant has fallen by nearly 50% from last months prices due to her rotating in October and it's not helped that she is also starring in a duel deck due sometime towards the start of September. I fear she will fall even further at that point taking the whole block with her.
From the Vault Relics is just round the corner and it's near enough confirmed which cards will be in the set, from a post on MTGSalvation.
The contents are
Karn, Silver Golem
Ivory Tower
AEther Vial
Sword of Body and Mind
Mox Diamond
Isochron Scepter
Mirari
Nevinyrral's Disk
Jester's Cap
Sundering Titan
Zuran Orb
Masticore
Black Vise
Sol Ring
Memory Jar
Nine cards (Ivory Tower, AEther Vial, Mox Diamond, Isochron Scepter, Nevinyrral's Disk, Zuran Orb, Masticore, Black Vise, and Sol Ring) have new art. Mox Diamond is already feeling the pressure and the price is dropping very fast. I expect Sol Ring will be the most wanted card in the box online, I know it will be restricted and only playable in classic but every casual player will want one of these. Sword of Body and Mind is the new card from Scars of Mirrodin and I have a picture to go with it as well from MTGSalvation, oh it looks so good.

For your info I've included this month the current schedule with the current release dates of sets for the rest of the year to give you something to add to your calendars.
On to drafting news this week is CAW week and we have $9 NIXPAX's for Shards of Alara (Block) to really crush any prices that are left before the set rotates.
If you added a comment to one of the community posts for the community cup you should now have your MD5 draft set and if you were not so lucky you may have already drafted it in the special event queue this week and received sub optimal prizes. If on the other hand you kept your packs you will get to use them in the NIXTIX events at the start of September for better prize support. On the other hand you may have kept them for the Coalition League's second season, shameless plug on my part but it's not a bad idea to be honest.
Here's the current schedule for NIXTIX events for the next few months.
| Product(s) |
Week* |
| M10 |
Jul 21 – 28 |
| MD5 |
Sep 1 - 8 |
| OLS |
Sep 8 – 15 |
| OTJ |
Sep 15 - 22 |
| IPA |
Sep 22 - 29 |
| 7E |
Sep 29 – Oct 6 |
*Both Nix Pax and Nix Tix queues will be set up for these products.
Now onto the prices.
Packs
Some strange things happening this month with the pack prices. Time Spiral prices have gone up due to the recent NIXTIX events at the start of July and haven't managed to go back to their original price before the events, which is the same for Ravnica packs.
Conflux packs have gone up in price and I do not have a clue why, there is no point in buying them as you can't use them in drafts. Another dramatic price increase is the cost of Apocalypse boosters which jumped from $6.50 to $10 which I wasn't happy about as I intended on using these packs for my league pool, the only reason I can see for the price of the packs to go up is due to the price increase of Pernicious Deed.
Next week its NIXTIX Lorwyn/Morningtide so the price of those boosters has increased for now.
Core Sets
7th Edition 110 rares
Birds of Paradise are on the up and have made an imprint on every set they have been printed in. I guess we have a new standard deck using them at the moment.
8th Edition 110 rares
Not much going on here 8th Edition usually follows what ever 7th Edition does.
9th Edition 110 rares
Wow only one card left holding the entire set above water.
| Set |
Card Name |
July |
June |
May |
April |
Rarity |
Movement |
| 9th |
Wrath of God |
3.25 |
3.25 |
3.50 |
4.00 |
Rare |
= |
10th Edition 121 rares
M10
Baneslayer Angel is still on her way down in price with her being re-printed in M11, I expect her price will fall a bit further before it recovers again but I don't think she will ever reach $50 again. Time Warp, Vampire Nocturnus and Master of the Wild Hunt have been cut in half as they will be rotating in October. There is a rumour that Vampires will be in Scars of Mirrodin so Nocturnus could make a comeback in Extended.
M11
A lot of you I expect will have gone straight here to see who has beaten Baneslayer as the most wanted card in M11, I expect you thought it would be one of the giant's and you are right. It's Primeval Titan taking first price and Grave Titan taking third with Baneslayer snugly in the middle. The card I least expected to see near the top was Steel Overseer at this moment in time and the card which I expected to be up near the top wasn't even above the $3 mark which is Dark Tutelage.
I've highlighted all the cards that are not online yet in green so they are easy to spot.
Rise of the Eldrazi
There's not much exciting here this month Gideon Jura and Vengevine have swapped places and I think Vengevine will stabilize at this price.
| |
Rares |
Mythics |
| Rise of the Eldrazi |
53 |
15 |
Zendikar
Lotus Cobra is still on the up with Eldrazi Monument which are both sometimes played in the same deck. There are a few new cards joining us this month Felidar Sovereign and also Basilisk Collar which I've expected to be on here for a while, it's just taken it's time to find the right deck. All of the pain lands and duals are falling at the moment with the exception of Scalding Tarn.
Stoneforge Mystic keeps popping her head up, I've seen her in a few white weenie and Kor decks recently in the tournament practice room.
| |
Rares |
Mythics |
| Zendikar |
53 |
15 |
| Worldwake |
35 |
10 |
Shards of Alara
As you can see poor Elspeth is really getting hammered on the price front at the moment and with the dual deck on the way things will only get worse. On the rumour side there may be a new version of Elspeth in Scars of Mirrodin. If Ajani goes down any lower I might consider purchasing a few as he could be very deadly in tribal decks. Hell's Thunder is on the increase even though the set is due for rotation but it's a staple for red deck wins which I expect to see all the way up to October in Standard events.
Maelstrom Pulse is also taking a dive I'm not sure where it will settle as its used in a lot of Legacy decks.
| |
Rares |
Mythics |
| Shards of Alara |
53 |
15 |
| Conflux |
35 |
10 |
| Alara Reborn |
35 |
10 |
Lorwyn
There's a few small price increases this month in Lorwyn/Morningtide. Mutavault is still trying to catch Bitterblossom and it's not doing a bad job of it. Cryptic Command over shot its value and is coming back down. It might take another month to see if the prices settle as they are currently.
| |
Rares |
| Lorwyn |
80 |
| Morningtide |
50 |
Shadowmoor
Now again we have some interesting activity with this half block. I think elves are on the up in Extended with Wilt-Leaf Liege coming in to the chart along with Regal Force, Bloom Tender and Talara's Battalion. The dual lands are still on the rise and I expect they will creep up a bit more over the next few weeks.
Figure of Destiny and Glen Elendra Archmage are the cards to watch out for both jumping up by $3 from last month.
| |
Rares |
| Shadowmoor |
80 |
| Eventide |
60 |
Time Spiral
As expected everything is dropping still in this block Goyf is hanging on at $30 but he's going to get hit hard on the run up to October.
| |
Rares |
| Time Spiral |
80 |
| Time Shifted |
46 |
| Planar Chaos |
50 |
| Future Sight |
60 |
Ravnica
Abandon ship comes to mind when you look at the prices of the cards in this block this month and they are going to continue to fall. It's all good news if you are a casual player though.
| |
Rares |
| Ravnica |
88 |
| Guildpact |
55 |
| Dissension |
65 |
Coldsnap
Yep it's all about Dark Depths again this month and will continue to be until it drops under $3.
| Set |
Card Name |
July |
June |
May |
April |
Rarity |
Movement |
| Coldsnap |
Dark Depths |
13.50 |
20.00 |
24.00 |
26.00 |
Rare |
- |
Champions of Kamigawa
Well the funny thing is that there are no longer any cards in the main block above the $3 mark. If you like playing elves now is the time to pick up your playset of Glimpse of Nature's currently selling for $1.75
| |
Rares |
| Champions of Kamigawa |
88 |
| Betrayers of Kamigawa |
55 |
| Saviors of Kamigawa |
55 |
| Set |
Card Name |
July |
June |
May |
April |
Rarity |
Movement |
| Betrayers of Kamigawa |
Umezawa's Jitte |
5.75 |
6.50 |
8.50 |
9.00 |
Rare |
- |
| Saviors of Kamigawa |
Pithing Needle |
4.00 |
4.00 |
3.50 |
3.50 |
Rare |
= |
| Saviors of Kamigawa |
Twincast |
3.50 |
4.00 |
4.00 |
4.00 |
Rare |
- |
Mirrodin
To be honest considering the set has rotated it's not really doing that badly. A lot of the cards below are used in Legacy which is keeping the prices up. The swords are a different matter though I don't know why they are going up in price, it could be demand from casual players.
Onslaught
All the fetch lands are going up in price the only answer is Legacy is starting to take off big time. This would also explain why the price of Stifle has doubled.
| |
Rares |
| Onslaught |
110 |
| Legions |
44 |
| Scourge |
44 |
Odyssey
Entomb has lost a lot of value since last month which is due to Mystical Tutor being banned in Legacy, I expect it to fall even further though in the days to come. Nantuko Shade is on the increase due to it being re-printed in M11.
| |
Rares |
| Odyssey |
110 |
| Torment |
44 |
| Judgment |
44 |
Invasion
Orim's Chant falls this month while Pernicious Deed climbs into it's shoes as one of the top Legacy cards.
| |
Rares |
| Invasion |
110 |
| Planeshift |
44 |
| Apocalypse |
44 |
Urza's Saga
Grim Monolith is shooting upwards at this moment in time currently just breaking the $20 barrier. The master of squirrels Deranged Hermit finds he's not as popular as he thought he was and is falling in price. Other than that it's the normal price fall of a new set online.
| |
Rares |
| Urza's Saga |
110 |
| Urza's Legacy |
44 |
Tempest
I think Tempest must have the most expensive uncommon and common cards of all time with Wasteland and Meditate leading the way. Time Warp hasn't had the price change of M10 reflected on it yet so expect it to drop soon.
Another card which has gained lots of popularity in Legacy is Aluren which has gone from $3.50 to $10.00 this month.
| |
Rares |
| Tempest |
110 |
| Stronghold |
44 |
| Exodus |
44 |
Mirage
Phyrexian Dreadnought is back on track now in the $20 range after the Nix Tix events. The really interesting thing this month is to see Crypt Rats fall for the first time in ages down to $2.50.
| |
Rares |
| Mirage |
110 |
| Visions |
50 |
| Weatherlight |
50 |
Masters Edition
You can never tell what to expect with ME prices as they chop and change every month. This month duals are in demand so the prices have gone up a few tickets on most of them. Other than this FoW is holding steady in the eighty range.
| |
Rares |
| Masters Edition1 |
60 |
| Masters Edition2 |
80 |
| Masters Edition3 |
70 |
| Set |
Card Name |
July |
June |
May |
April |
Rarity |
Movement |
| Masters Edition 1 |
Force of Will |
84.00 |
80.00 |
105.00 |
100.00 |
Rare |
+ |
| Masters Edition 1 |
Sylvan Library |
10.00 |
10.00 |
13.00 |
13.00 |
Rare |
= |
| Masters Edition 1 |
Nevinyrral's Disk |
6.00 |
7.00 |
8.00 |
8.00 |
Rare |
- |
| Masters Edition 1 |
Moat |
4.50 |
5.00 |
6.00 |
6.00 |
Rare |
- |
| Masters Edition 1 |
Armageddon |
4.50 |
4.50 |
5.00 |
5.00 |
Rare |
= |
| Masters Edition 1 |
Eureka |
4.00 |
4.50 |
7.00 |
5.00 |
Rare |
- |
| Masters Edition 1 |
Winter Orb |
4.00 |
4.50 |
5.00 |
5.00 |
Rare |
- |
| Masters Edition 1 |
Ball Lightning |
4.00 |
3.00 |
4.00 |
4.00 |
Rare |
+ |
| Masters Edition 1 |
Hymn to Tourach |
3.50 |
4.00 |
4.50 |
4.50 |
Uncommon |
- |
| Masters Edition 1 |
Thawing Glaciers |
3.00 |
3.00 |
3.00 |
3.00 |
Rare |
= |
| Masters Edition 1 |
Berserk |
2.85 |
3.00 |
4.00 |
4.00 |
Rare |
- |
| Masters Edition 2 |
Underground Sea |
54.00 |
50.00 |
58.00 |
57.00 |
Rare |
+ |
| Masters Edition 2 |
Taiga |
34.00 |
28.00 |
34.00 |
34.00 |
Rare |
+ |
| Masters Edition 2 |
Tundra |
33.00 |
30.00 |
38.00 |
37.00 |
Rare |
+ |
| Masters Edition 2 |
Savannah |
24.00 |
25.00 |
29.00 |
28.00 |
Rare |
- |
| Masters Edition 2 |
Badlands |
21.00 |
20.00 |
24.00 |
22.00 |
Rare |
+ |
| Masters Edition 2 |
Imperial Recruiter |
4.00 |
2.75 |
3.00 |
3.00 |
Rare |
+ |
| Masters Edition 3 |
Tropical Island |
30.00 |
28.00 |
36.00 |
36.00 |
Rare |
+ |
| Masters Edition 3 |
Plateau |
19.00 |
14.50 |
19.00 |
18.00 |
Rare |
+ |
| Masters Edition 3 |
Volcanic Island |
18.50 |
17.00 |
21.00 |
20.00 |
Rare |
+ |
| Masters Edition 3 |
Bayou |
17.00 |
19.00 |
24.00 |
23.00 |
Rare |
- |
| Masters Edition 3 |
Scrubland |
15.00 |
15.00 |
19.00 |
18.00 |
Rare |
= |
| Masters Edition 3 |
Mana Drain |
10.00 |
10.00 |
10.00 |
12.00 |
Rare |
= |
| Masters Edition 3 |
The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale |
5.50 |
6.00 |
7.50 |
8.50 |
Rare |
- |
| Masters Edition 3 |
Bazaar of Baghdad |
4.25 |
4.25 |
6.00 |
6.50 |
Rare |
= |
| Masters Edition 3 |
Karakas |
4.00 |
4.00 |
5.50 |
4.50 |
Rare |
= |
| Masters Edition 3 |
Land Tax |
2.85 |
3.00 |
3.00 |
3.00 |
Rare |
- |
18 Comments
"The card I least expected to see near the top was Steel Overseer"
Don't be so suprised, as you used the price of the Foil version in your survey.
The non-foil version is only at $5.95 (which shows, by the way, that the card may be overestimated, even with the forthcoming - supposed - artifact block).
Sorry about that I usually pick up on any mistakes in prices, it's not easy going through all the cards in this many sets in a day. I tend to want to remove my eyes afterwards.
Such a mistake from time to time is perfectly understandable :-)
Awesome article, I really enjoyed it. Also extremely informative, something that I am always interested in finding, and I am happy I came across it. How often do you post this article?
Meditate, btw, is a rare. Kinda takes away from the surprising factor in its value.
Thanks for that I dont know where I picked Meditate up as a common.
The article comes out once a month usually around the 25th.
I just noticed that Urza's legacy is listed at 4.35.... Pretty sure they are readily availabe at 2.5 or lower.
This is a problem for me as I go by MTGOTraders for prices and they have them for 4.35 which I expect is due to to the value when purchased from the store.
Going by the value in classifieds is not really possible as the prices are so inconsistent due to bots and drafters selling packs at different values.
I just looked and some are buying at 3 and selling at 4 while others are selling at 3.
Hell's Thunder is going down not up. It peaked at $5 between your sample points and has been on the decline since.
If I was you I'd never buy cards from that paper source you quoted. Unless its another FOIL issue $3.75 for Cyclops Gladiator is ridiculous. My preferred store has them for $0.65 (that one stood out as way wrong because I just bought a play set).
Otherwise good work... I really appreciate the effort it must take to summarize all of that data.
Funny how local economies change the way we look at Paper prices eh? I mean where YOU live the cyclops may be going for 20% of what it apparently is going for in NC. Or do you also live in North Carolina?
I buy from their online store front. If I remember right the physical location of the store is Florida some where and I'm in San Diego. Booster boxes I buy from a store in Washington. Its all about cheap prices, free shipping and no sales tax!
EDIT: Just for the record it is another issue with a foil price. Cape Fear has the non-foil Cyclops for $1.49 which isn't that bad.
Cape Fear is Heath's store which because he lives in North Carolina and he runs it personally is 99% likely to be in North Carolina. Not sure how Florida got involved. (Must be a bad ballot.) I am guessing the mailing route goes through florida maybe? Anyway glad to know it isn't all THAT high. :p
But you get my point right? Economics vary from place to place and so do card economics.
I recently got back into paper magic doing the FNM thing like most people. I decided to build the cheapest deck I could think of that would be competitive. I went to capefeargames.com and bought all the RDW goodies. I am amazed at how cheap Heath's prices are vs the 3 other stores I checked out. Every card I bought from him was cheaper than starcity, there wasn't one card higher which I find amazing. While I don't know the paper prices like I do online, I did research 2 other online stores and still his prices were cheaper.
As far as I'm concerned, unless he doesn't have the card I need in stock, I will always be buying from Heath and the rest of the awesome staff at capefear. One thing I would like to see Heath make available (plug plug) is allowing us to use credits for our articles at capefear games as well as mtgotraders. This would help curb both my digital and paper addictions!
I think there must have been something a bit strange going on when I took my paper prices as I seem to have captured foil prices for a lot of cards which is something I would have noticed if there were multiple choices for each version.
I also agree Cape Fear is the cheapest place I have found online that sell Magic paper singles and I've looked at a lot of sites.
its all about volume,
good article, but as we all know, the selling price and buying price is way different, i dont think anyone will buy your digital cards for less than 75% real value, well for the most part, i try to play the trends, but its not easy by any means.
I'm surprised no one else has commented on this very strange card. Not only does it have protection from two colours, it also has abilities that belong to those same colours. Seems kind of conflicted. I wonder if this is a hint towards the character of the new set.
What does everyone else think?
It works in the same way as the current two swords where it has protection from two colours and a related ability of each colour.
I'll tell you whats odd about it though, unlike the other two swords the abilities on this one don't really seem to compliment each other. I mean if you're milling why would you want to generate critters? and vice-versa? Seems a little quirky to me.
Also, if you are milling, you don't play creatures at all (okay maybe a few walls here and there). A mill deck doesn't bother to play a creature, play this equipment, equip the creature, attack, mill etc... Way too slow and way too much effort for just 10 cards.
Nemesis of Reason does that all by itself and yet no one plays it.
AND there is the fact that protection from Green and Blue are very unimportant things considering the fact that Red, Black and White are actually the colors that can hurt creatures.
The sword as a whole doesn't make sense at all but of course we don't know anything about Scars yet. Maybe after we see the set we will all realize how awesome this new sword is.
LE