Mtg Secondary Market...Knock Offs Come close to Real Thing...

So for a while now I've only bought authentic Mtg cards from Wizards of the Coast, but now the knock offs are a simple substitute for cards you won't otherwise get to play with. So compromise and play, or choose genuine and play a slightly different game. My first impulse, which is usually right, is to just play budget vintage with the cards I have and stay away from the secondary market. I'm not even sure if the secondary market is legal, it seems like it shouldn't be. But the prices are reasonable and the art is pretty good, with exactly the same rules text as the great cards, it makes for a tempting option. I think I still have the software to print my own cards too but budget vintage seems like it's working for now.

Timely reprint of Berserk is a Welcome Addition

Looks like they reprinted Berserk the Magic the Gathering card in the latest Conspiracy 2 set and it's sitting around $10 on the online market. This is great news as this highly sought after card used to be around $40 per copy and way out of the range of the average player. Now you can beef up green decks with this prized card. It's nice to find a niche that has been reprinted for the benefit of the Magic the Gathering community, namely my Mom and I.

There is a sweet combo deck that I was just reading about that uses Infect or Myr Superion along with Berserk and Assault Strobe to win turn 2. They were saying that countermagic and possible removal and blockers could easily stand in the way of the deck, but it's a fun idea for dining table magic. I think if I construct the deck I'll let Mom play it and I'll try to find ways around it. I said I wasn't going to build anything faster than the Gond combination and Dragon combination, but with the price of Berserk coming down it looks like a real possibility. I wonder if I could cook part of the combo into the current Gond Mom deck. With the current rates of cards it would probably go for less than a C-note for a possible turn 2 win, definitely worth looking into.

This is definitely encouraging, many reprints of good old fashioned cards and many newer cards with lots of versatility. It just makes Magic the Gathering a fun game to keep up with. Now I just have to get my forum account back and maybe learn the new search on cards. It reminds me of the days when Duelist magazine was still in publication and you could learn about new cards and broken strategies in there.

This is a good way to keep the cost of Magic the Gathering down. Simply reprint the cards that make sense, and keep a flow of new-old cards coming on the market. It's kind of like printing old ball players on modern stock for the baseball card market bringing interest to the sets. If you work the market, the market works for you...but you have to do it if you want results.

I don't like spending more than $10 per Mtg card...if that...

Many people think collecting Mtg cards is crazy to begin with, and when prices go up I tend to agree. I already have a list of cards that I would go crazy on, but the most I would spend on a card, and most likely any collectible is about $250. That means crystal chandelier two fifty, Black Lotus magic card two fifty, I just can't see spending more than that on anything that has already saw a lot of wear and tear. Machines like snowmobiles and cars would obviously be valued higher than that, but that's another post. Something that was on TV and is being resold would be higher. As far as regular rare cards go that I could use in my deck are about $10. It's about an hours worth of work and that already makes me wonder if it's worth a single 2 dimensional card. But in the land of milk and honey I think I can pay about $10 if the card is really good. Recently I turned down a deal for 4 cards coming to about $50 even though I could have spent gift money. I just don't like spending that much on a board game. I may be able to find cards to replace it, maybe, maybe not, but at least I'll be happy with the cash in my pocket. When you can buy 2 fully functional decks for $20, it's hard to spend over $100 on a custom deck that may or may not see much play. But that said, I really do enjoy customizing Mtg decks for House Rules, Comic Shop, and Tournament play.

As prices go up on vintage deck staples I may have to go into hibernate mode on the cards until the market crashes again. Obviously, as a collector and player of old fashioned Mtg cards it benefits me when I can buy the old fashioned cards at a low price, but this isn't always the case.