MTG Finance Primer v1.01

MTG Finance Primer v1.01
by sleekbrah


The following will cover a few ways for you to get the most value out of your money (and time) when it comes to Magic the Gathering Trading/Finance.  We all know how much WotC charges for sealed product, but the expected value of the cards you open is always less than what you will pay for them.  Yes, if you are lucky you might open the chase mythic/rare of the set and make more money, but most times this won't happen.  Furthermore, when it comes to competitive tournament Magic, it becomes clear how ridiculous some of the card prices can become ($200 Tarmogoyf anyone?).  In summary, there is the potential for alot of money to be made (and lost) in Magic cards.  Whether you just want to spend your money wisely in getting the the cards you want, or if you want to try buying/selling for profit, then this guide can offer some advice for getting started.

-Firstly, know the prices of the cards you are interested in!  (http://www.mtggoldfish.com/)
Doesn't matter whether you play Modern, Legacy, Standard, EDH, Tiny Leaders or even causal kitchen table magic, you can still benefit from knowing the value of the cards you have and the cards you want.  If you are more into the speculation aspect of Magic finance, then continue reading below.

-Get PUCATRADE (https://pucatrade.com/invite/gift/37775)
Pucatrade is a free and unique trading website where instead of directly trading your cards for other users' (thus requiring a specific match), instead you exchange your cards to people that want them for their currency (points).  When you sign up, you receive about $7 worth of currency which you can exchange for cards immediately.  Be aware that as soon as you add a card to your want list, as long as you have enough points, someone will probably commit that they will send it to you within 5-30 mins, so don't add cards you don't actually want on there.  You can also choose to only send/receive cards from certain countries, and the site is well populated (and continues to grow).  At the moment, only NM cards are accepted, unless you message the trading partner beforehand to check it is okay with them.  A good way to get cheap spec targets, and you don't have to pay shipping (sender pays for postage, normally 50c). Highly recommend.


-Being able to spot an underpriced card when a new set comes out is a valuable skill.
For example Jace, the Mind Sculptor, preordered for $15-20, but later rose to over $100 during it's time in standard, more recently Courser of Kruphix preordered for around $5, but ended up going for around $17 at it's peak.  Similar stories for numerous cards including Goblin Rabblemaster from M15 ($1 bulk rare to $20) and Dig Through Time ($2 to $15 at one point).  The point is, if you are able to spot these cards and invest into them early, you stand to make a nice profit.  And even then, maybe you aren't good at picking good specs (speculation targets), but you can still use the information around you to make informed decisions (see below).  If you can buy a hyped card when it just starts to spike and before everyone else, you have good chances at improving your value.  I like to use http://www.mtggoldfish.com/movers/paper/all to see which cards are fluctuating most across different formats.  I recommend you do the same.

-Check decklists of competitive tournaments (http://www.mtgtop8.com/).
This can be helpful in picking cards that might be on the rise (spike).  If you see an new underplayed card showing up in certain decks or sideboards as a metagame shift to answer another popular strategy, you could be onto something and should probably investigate further.  Some things to consider:
		-The card's current price relative to other more frequently played cards of the same set (and therefore typically same print run, though this is not always the case)
	-Check if there are other printings of the card in different sets or supplemental product that might mean more copies are available. (I find it easiest to search http://www.starcitygames.com or http://www.mtggoldfish.com to check for other editions, since unlike Gatherer those sites list full art/FNM/special promo versions of cards)

More tips for trading in real life

-Use psychology to your advantage (and I don't mean blantantly rip people off, although that is an strategy some people use when it comes to inexperienced players), see http://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/three-weapons-of-influence-in-magic-finance for a basic article about using principles of reciprocity and cognitive bias (there are more psychological aspects to trading than just these, but it is a good starting point)