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Someone asked me at work the other day, “How many cards do you own? 10,000? 15,000?” I didn’t know. I sat down at my desk and opened up Excel and figured out a few quick equations and came out to approximately 175,000 cards…. That’s just based on my purchasing habits for the last few sets. That’s a lot of cards!? The crazy thing is I probably own more. In any event, today’s article is going to show you that some of those extra commons and uncommons might be worth adding to your trading inventory – because people want them and because they might be worth a lot more than some or many of the rares in your trading inventory!
Even if you don’t trade online, you will want to keep reading because there are cards in your collection that are worth as much or more than your average rare card. You can thus sell them to your local gaming store or use them for leverage in real life trading deals. Whatever the case, I think there’s some information you definitely want to check out within today’s article. On a side note, I won’t be bringing up any MDV related issues in today’s Words from the Streetz. While this series is typically reserved for website issues, it is also reserved for whatever topic I want to discuss… whether it fits within the issues and editorials of MDV or the broad topic of Magic: the Gathering in general. I hope you enjoy today’s little adventure into card values and surprise uncommons and commons from sets of yore. Before I get going, know that all prices were taken from one of MDV’s advertisers. This is based on pricing I found online on approx. 5/1/08. Pricing can fluctuate greatly from week to week and especially from site to site. If you don’t believe me on one the cards I reference and its price, double check your local or preferred (hopefully one of MDV’s advertisers) singles retailer. I’ll start off with Mirage and move my way up to the present block. I won’t be doing the CORE sets in this series (yet) and I will most likely include the latest set (like Shadowmoor) every week just for reference. I won’t be able to hit every set in just one article so expect this series to go on for several weeks.
What do I consider your average rare? $1.49. Remember I'm considering non-CORE set rares and cards from Mirage and after. If I included CORE SETS and older sets in my approximation of an average rare card value that number would surely go up. If I get a lot of feedback in the forums (or via email) about this article, I may update my findings every three months for the fun of it. Tracking cards prices can be laborious and yet rewarding all at the same time. Note that when I refer to super-star uncommons or commons I am referring to the upper echelon of uncommons. These types or uncommons are usually $3.99 and higher. Super-star commons are typically $1.99 and higher. Star commons and uncommons are somewhere below the values mentioned previously but over $0.48 for commons and $1.48 for uncommons. The super-star uncommons of the Mirage Block are below. I’ll post the card thumbnails first and then quickly sum up the card values.
I'll be honest in saying that I thought Gemstone Mine was a rare prior to writing this. And its pricing is definitely similar to a good rare’s pricing. Gemstone Mine clocks in at $6.99! Did the Timeshifted-ness of this card help it or hurt it? I'm going to assume it helped it. Of course, then there’s the DCI promo of Gemstone Mine. Typically reprinting a card will lower its value, but that appears to not be the case for Gemstone Mine. Both Enlightening Tutor and Mystical Tutor are worth $5.99! Despite being uncommons, they are sure fetching good rare pricing. Get it? Fetching!? Hahaha… Anyway, you will find throughout this article/guide that tutors in general go for rare prices. Tutors are terribly important in Magic and even more crucial in combo decks. But that’s a whole other article by itself. Buried Alive is worth $3.99. This is also like a tutor except with graveyard recursion. Demigod of Revenge REALLY likes this card. Is that why it’s so expensive? I doubt it... its all of those other graveyard shenanigan cards out there that really drives up this card’s value. That and it was only printed in two sets: Weatherlight and Odyssey. Go figure. The star uncommons of Mirage Block include the following:
Stupor and Worldly Tutor are priced at $2.99. Worldly Tutor is, well, a tutor. Funny that it is worth less than the other two tutors referenced above. What does an instant or an enchantment card have over a creature??!! Stupor is just an efficient discard card which the random-osity of it helps. Did you know Stupor was originally printed in Mirage, and then reprinted in Sixth Edition and finally Timeshifted in Time Spiral? It’s interesting that a card printed so often still holds a decent card value. I guess Birds of Paradise still fetches a pretty penny… Goblin Recruiter and Necromancy are priced at $2.49. The Goblin Recruiter is broken; especially broken when its tribe is broken and overused in general. Goblins are a force to be feared in all formats with exception to Standard at the present. Necromancy is a graveyard shenanigan with options. It’s basically an Animate Dead, just more expensive... sort of. What's this bit about substance again?? Dissipate is clocking in at $1.99 and it’s a surprise considering there are a bunch of cards that can counter a spell and remove it from the game. Cards like Liquify and Faeries Trickery come to mind. Perhaps this is an expensive uncommon because it’s old (Mirage old) and is non-restrictive. I.E. you can counter any spell, not just a non-faerie spell or a spell with converted mana cost of three or less... Gaea's Blessing is also at $1.99. I'm surprised this card isn't worth more as it’s such a great card. Perhaps that is because this card was Timeshifted in Time Spiral and they printed promos of this card. Any mill player owns two play sets of it and that’s most likely the cause for this being essentially a two-dollar card. I still think it should be more. Rounding out our Mirage uncommons is Helm of Awakening, priced at $1.75. This is another card I thought was a rare before writing this article. It has combo potential. It’s a helm. It awakens… That's all I've got. If Wizards ever functionally reprinted this card, it would be a rare just for its ability. Or would they? That’s up for debate… feel free to discuss this in the forum.
How's about a grid for the commons?
Mind Stone just isn’t that good of a card. It can generate colorless mana or sacrifice itself to draw a card. I would much rather play a Signet from Ravnica or a skeleton part from Masques over this not so good artifact. But that’s just me and I don’t decide the card prices, do I? Funeral Charm is instant-speed discard which is most likely the reason for its uncommon pricing for a common. The reprinting of it in Time Spiral spiked the price for a bit and leveled it out at $0.99. Combined with the options it has I see this card staying at this price for a while. The other cards are really not a surprise. Fireblast is an amazing surprise finisher, and Wall of Roots fuels speedy combos worldwide. Incinerate is an all-star burn spell and the Phyrexian Walker is a zero casting artifact -- infinity much? Where's my Enduring Renewal when I need it... Tempest Block has a few more impressive uncommons than the Mirage block before it. That and it has a lot more valued commons. Here’s a thumbnail list of the super-star uncommons from Tempest Block:
One thing you will come to see throughout this series is that lands that can kill lands are valued highly. Remember Strip Mine? Wasteland was an attempt to neuter the power of the Strip Mine and yet the pricing for this uncommon land is still $11.49. Looks like the neutering didn’t go so well. Wasteland is an all around great land and as Magic keeps printing more good nonbasic lands, this card will continue to see high card values. Crystalline Sliver is yet another card I thought was rare for a long time. It was, in fact, an uncommon. One that rings in $8.99! Given the power of Slivers and the recent additions to the Sliver tribe, I’m surprised Crystalline Sliver isn’t more expensive. In a White-Blue Sliver control build Crystalline Sliver makes the deck… Battering Sliver does the same thing that Horned Sliver does, except for twice the cost. Battering Sliver is a $0.15 common and Horned Sliver is a $5.49 uncommon. Should I go on? Ancient Tomb is $4.99 and it’s no surprise. This card fueled some evil first turn combos back in the day and still is a mean land. To generate two mana on the first turn without a very painful drawback (2 life is nothing at the beginning of the game), this card is almost better than dual lands. A balanced version of this card would make you return a land you control to your hand for this card to stay in play. However, that’s not how this card was printed and thus it gets rare pricing. Did I mention I thought this was a rare too? That wraps up the super-star uncommons from Tempest Block. Now brace yourself for other star uncommons from the block as there are nine of them. Thumbnails first…
Propaganda is $3.49 and considering it's an almost an automatic in for any combo or Blue-aligned control deck, it's no wonder it’s so expensive for an uncommon. When we get to the Kamigawa block you'll see that this cards White counterpart is almost as expensive (Ghostly Prison). For the record this is a card I won't be trading away any time soon because I literally use all 16 copies of it that I own. I like Blue. And apparently I like propaganda… You'd think that Soltari Priest and Soltari Monk would cost the same. But that's not the case. The Pro:Red side of this pair (the Priest) is $3.49 while the Pro:Black side is $1.99. Could it be because the Priest was Timeshifted? Or could it be that Red is more powerful for Black or that Pro:Red is better than Pro:Black? I'll let you decide that. Reanimate($2.99) is a graveyard shenanigan, Megrim($1.75) is a discard-mages best friend, Overrun($1.99) is a green deck's best friend and Wall of Blossoms($2.49) is just a plain good card. And then there's Wall of Souls. At $1.75 it's just evil. We can now move on. Oh wait, I can’t forget about the surprise card in the list: Shifting Wall. Shifting Wall is an X artifact creature wall that comes into play with +1/+1 Counters. If it weren't for Mirrodin Block's +1/+1 counter love I don't think this card would be valued like it is. I'll dismantle the Wall and move the counters onto my Darksteel Reactor and call it a game...
Jumping straight into the grid...
As I mentioned previously Counterspell and Dark Ritual are both expensive commons mainly because Wizards of the Coast will never reprint them again. Combined with the fact that they are powerful cards (both from Alpha) they are way above the typical $.05 to $.015 common card. Newer players that don’t have access to these old goodies make for a higher demand and lower availability which drives up the pricing. You’ll notice two more Slivers within the common list. In the uncommons there were Horned Sliver and Crystalline Sliver. This list contains Muscle Sliver and Winged Sliver. Due to the overwhelming popularity of Slivers and the raw power of these commons they are valued highly. Note that Muscle Sliver was Timeshifted into Sinew Sliver (White) in Planar Chaos and even that common is worth $0.49.
Moving along I see Mogg Fanatic($2.49) and Lotus Petal($3.49) fetching a really good price for a common, almost super-star pricing. Diabolic Edict is also up there at $1.99. All three of these cards are powerful cards with Mogg Fanatic being the best one-drop in Sligh, Lotus Petal being like a one-shot mox important to many first turn combo decks and Diabolic Edict being the original instant for “Target player sacrifices a creature.” The majority of the other Edicts are all sorceries. Dauthi Slayer is a popular card in both pauper decks and casual decks featuring the mechanic shadow. The reappearance of shadow as a mechanic in Time Spiral block most likely raised the demand for this card causing its price to jump up to $0.79. Mana Leak is a popular and good counter spell, and much like good tutors, good counterspells always fetch a decent price whether rare, uncommon or common like Mana Leak was in Stronghold. Note that Mana Leak was worth more before they reprinted it as a promo, in the Battle Royale set, Eighth Edition and Ninth Edition. It is good to know, though, that the Stronghold version of Mana Leak is the highest valued version of the card being the original and all.
I think the Tempest block had a really good showing for both uncommons and commons. Combined with some solid rares within the block if you ever run across a box of unopened product from Tempest, Stronghold or Exodus, buy it and crack open the packs. If the rares don’t give your investment some worth, the uncommons and commons most certainly will. I wonder was a booster box of Tempest costs nowadays… If you aren’t pulling out some of your commons and extra uncommons boxes at this point, you are either already well informed or lacking extra commons and uncommons. Find your extras of the cards mentioned above and add them to your trade inventory. You’ll be surprised as people will start offering more trades with you because of some of these cards. The funny thing about these commons and uncommons is that most people won’t add them to their WANTS LIST. Why? Because they aren’t rare. A good majority of traders are so focused on getting or trading the rares that they completely forget about the star commons and uncommons. Join me next week when I get through two or three more blocks. As promised and without any discussion from me, here are the current highly priced uncommons and commons from Shadowmoor. I’ll update this list as well next week to see if there are any major changes.
The Shadowmoor pricing listed above was noted on 5/10/08 @ 1:05PM. Keep your eyes on Kitchen Finks, Flame Javelin, Tattermunge Maniac and Beseech the Queen as they will certainly go up in price. I would also expect to see Guttural Response, Murderous Redcap, Firespout and even Flourish Defenses (currently only $0.15) to get an increase in pricing. Some commons to watch for (to exceed the $0.25 common barrier in the near future) include Faerie Macabre, Manamorphose, Memory Sluice and Shield of the Oversoul.
Thank for taking the time to read through this and I hope you obtained some information from this you previously didn’t know. Whether it’s a card value or one of my useless facts, take it and use it to your advantage. Let me know in the forum how you like this adventure and if there is any way to improve it. John Streetz
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Articles
Spotlights from 2008: |
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I’ve recently been trading cards through
In each section I will try to approximate why the card is
valued highly, make some silly comment or open it up for discussion. I’ll be
honest in saying there are some cards, like Breakthrough from Odyssey block,
where I have NO CLUE why the card is worth more than your average rare.
EDIT: Now I know...
it's that Ichorid Recursion deck from Extended that gives Breakthrough the
advantage.
There
really aren't any super-star commons in the Mirage block but there definitely
are a few surprises. The surprises for me are in Mind Stone and Dark Ritual. I
suppose I'm spoiled since I've been collecting since The Dark and thus have TONS
of Dark Rituals. But $0.99 for a common card like Dark Ritual? After thinking
about it, maybe it isn’t such a surprise. Much like Counterspell, the fact that
Wizards won’t reprint this card anymore drives up the price.
Finishing up the Tempest commons is Soul Warden. Despite
being printed four times (Exodus, Battle Royale, Ninth Edition and Tenth
Edition) this card’s Exodus version is still valued at $1.25. Note that it is
now an uncommon in the CORE sets and that alone should prove that this is a
solid card. Whether its for a Test of Endurance deck or just to curb some of
that early damage with life gain, this card is a solid one drop.
