Making Coin From My Magic Collection

[Faustus5]

So back in the '90's, I was into Magic the Gathering just as it was beginning to blow up. I knew that some of the early cards were broken and worth a ton of money, but I assumed that the stuff I was buying at the time would never really be "collectible" in the sense of me making money off of them. I was there to play, not collect.

My gaming group got bored with it after a few years of regular play so I haven't even looked at the cards for decades. Well, I'm running into some money trouble after having been laid off, so I thought I'd look into the possibility of selling cards for cash, and holy crap am I in luck.

Early on I recognized the play value of the dual lands, so I made sure to acquire a full set of four copies of each version (there are ten different types) through trades. And now I see that the least valued of those is still $200 per card, with most of the others being much more. I even managed get Mishra's Workshop into my collection (through dumb luck) and that sucker could net me over $2,000 alone. And this is only after quickly looking through just one of six or seven ring binders of cards.

Sold two cards over the last week and a half and netted over $700, and I've just begun. Thank you, Wizards of the Coast!

[Gendo]

Sorry about the job, but awesome about the cards! I play Magic, but I've never collected it. I don't personally own any cards, though I sort of have "joint ownership" of a decent-sized collection of mostly crap from 10 years ago when my play group decided to start playing Magic.

[Raxivace]

I knew these card games can get really collectible, but I'm a little surprised they're going for THAT much for single cards.

Like is this purely a rarity thing or do old cards still give you an advantage in the game?

[Faustus5]

I knew these card games can get really collectible, but I'm a little surprised they're going for THAT much for single cards.

Like is this purely a rarity thing or do old cards still give you an advantage in the game?

It is a combination of rarity and the cards being also extremely powerful. Some/most of these cards aren't even allowed in tournament play any more.If you are playing an artifact heavy deck and get Mishra's Workshop out in the first few turns, it is your game to lose.

[Gendo]

The "advantage in the game" thing is a very complicated question in Magic, because Magic games are all about the format you're playing. There's what's known as "kitchen table Magic", in which case you can use whatever cards you and your friends agree to use. In those cases, yeah these old overpowered cards will give you a considerable advantage.

But when you're playing Official Magic Games, as sanctioned by Wizards themselves, you're playing one of a number of possible formats. The most prestigious of which is called "Standard", which allows for a limits set of cards to be used, which rotate out when new sets are released. RIght now that means you can only use cards that were printed in a specific 11 recent sets, but some of those sets will rotate out and others will rotate in. Also among those sets, certain cards may be banned because they found after releasing them that they were too warping for the meta. In this format these old cards don't help you at all.

Then there's several other official formats that do allow the old cards... some formats which only allow old cards going back to a certain point, and some that allow any old cards at all (again, except for banned cards). In addition to being banned, a card can be restricted, meaning you can only use 1 of them in your deck instead of the normal limit of 4.

[Faustus5]

The "advantage in the game" thing is a very complicated question in Magic, because Magic games are all about the format you're playing. There's what's known as "kitchen table Magic", in which case you can use whatever cards you and your friends agree to use. In those cases, yeah these old overpowered cards will give you a considerable advantage.

But when you're playing Official Magic Games, as sanctioned by Wizards themselves, you're playing one of a number of possible formats. The most prestigious of which is called "Standard", which allows for a limits set of cards to be used, which rotate out when new sets are released. RIght now that means you can only use cards that were printed in a specific 11 recent sets, but some of those sets will rotate out and others will rotate in. Also among those sets, certain cards may be banned because they found after releasing them that they were too warping for the meta. In this format these old cards don't help you at all.

Then there's several other official formats that do allow the old cards... some formats which only allow old cards going back to a certain point, and some that allow any old cards at all (again, except for banned cards). In addition to being banned, a card can be restricted, meaning you can only use 1 of them in your deck instead of the normal limit of 4.

Yeah, we were playing early on just as they were realizing how many restrictions they needed to introduce. In researching what I could sell my cards for I did come across a vast and confusing landscape of tournament types and levels of restrictions that just left me chuckling--I had no idea what a pretzel they were turning the game into.

The thing that cracks me up the most is that time and time again, the designers consistently underestimate the intelligence and ingenuity of the gaming community, who will absolutely find any and every combination that will possibly break the game, no matter how much playtesting they do ahead of time. That is really cool. Finding the surprise combo in new cards and shocking your friends at the table was always a lot of fun, and I do miss it. But I do not miss the amount of money I was spending on each new installment in order to win the arms race.

[Raxivace]

Hmm okay. I assumed Magic was just like other card games I've heard about where "power creep" meant new cards were just inherently better than old cards but this is all way more complicated than I was expecting.