Seeing that phyrexian negator in a slab felt very surreal. I totally agree with you guys that some old ABU era cards are still crazy undervalued as well as old foils. I think especially the painlands or premodern playable foils in 8,9,10th as the original old frame cards go up to crazy levels and become impossible to find people will 'settle' for the later new frame versions.
Subbed, I really like how you guys talked a little about the investable reserved list cards in commander! love more content like that as i am a collector but foremost a player first.
I think 8.5s might be the new 9s. As in I think that when the market realizes how hard it is to get 8.5 or better, compared to how it used to be; coupled with the new costs; 8.5s will develop premiums
Ive purchased 94 beta cards of varying conditions this year, also working on a foil set of torment. I also like to pick up sealed L5R product when available.
My first buy of the year was a showcase Vorinclex to complete my Kaldheim showcase set and a Femeref Enchantress. Personally, I love Weatherlight, Visions, Tempest.
Great stuff! I've switched mostly to collecting and just picking up whatever catches my fancy and doesn't hurt the pocket book...or bring down the wrath of the higher power. So no duals ... yet haha
Not quite! Just gonna shift priorities. Gonna be picky with standard sets, maintaining my stable of commander decks (I.e. no constant attempts to brew), and focus on things that would look nice in the collection. I found that I really like collecting things lol Paper is really the way to go. Arena has kind of lost it’s lustre outside of the occasional draft. And digital collecting is nowhere close to the feeling of having cards in hand.
This sounds like a really well thought out, stable plan. This is really what we do to a T - you don't see many deck tech videos on our channel because the collecting aspect is more appealing (especially to Paul) Sure we enjoy playing, but over the last couple years we have really tried to stick to one Pioneer deck and one Commander deck each. Pimp those out, play a couple times a month. Play draft whenever possible in person. Trade/sell everything we don't play with or collect into things we do collect! Trade those excess modern cards for RL or ABU/4 horseman sets. Following this strategy, we haven't felt burned out at all in over 3 years now, seems to be working.
@MTGNorth Aside from Alpha and Beta power 9 cards, would you recommend buying Power 9 CE’s? I see the prices are slightly lower, but wasn’t sure if it’s a good long term investment or not.
Just found your channel and am going through the videos. My best investment, so far, was a mistake. I grabbed a foil LP Intruder alarm from 8th for $2.00 USD. Its still in my binder.
I recently got into picking up some pricier playable cards, and I've been picking up the BFZ Expeditions and the KLD Inventions. Hopefully the masterpieces are never reprinted in the same forms so that they hold their value🤞
Good idea, solid choice! Even if they do get a reprint of some kind, those versions are the original and will always be the most sought after. Plus, they just look fantastic. Always wanted the Sol Ring 🤔
New sub I like your content. I was trying to find the scryfall site that you were talking about on RL top 25 commander and can't seem to find it. What's your guys take on CGC btw I've started using them now only and think their quality of grading is top notch. Nothing but RL and 4 horsemen for me in 2022 and a brothers war collector maybe
So the scryfall Advanced Search can take some learning to figure out - it's not very straightforward. So I saved you some time: scryfall.com/search?q=legal%3Acommander+is%3Areserved&order=edhrec&as=grid That should show you the most played RL Commander cards, based on EDHREC. eBay today announced they are partnering with CGC to verify any cards over $750 sold on ebay. This is a big step for CGC and really solidifies them as a quality, leading grader.
Solid take overall. I am not a fan of foils unless already graded due to the amount of people overselling conditions of those vs actual and reselling is a B$iT& if raw. I prefer sealed in that slot but think it's a solid tier approach to investing and collecting
Thanks Ed, good points. eBay and most smaller LGS do unfortunately overstate quality on foils. We've said it before, but paying a little extra to buy from a bigger retailer ensures you have a much better chance at sending it back and getting a refund if you are unhappy with the cloudiness in the foil.
If you see a big movement on Magic Online prices of a card, and you feel like you can suss out why, sometimes you can snag the paper version before it fires up. I do think about that Black Lotus that was signed by Chris Rush and The Garf Himself, that got stolen (one of a kind priceless item, impossible to publicly sell in stolen form,) and I wonder if the shop that owned it had some kind of insurance plan associated with it.
Good tip Krypt, thanks for the comment. Insurance fraud is a big deal, you never know right? I've never been to that store, can't say one way or the other.
These days, anything we order on ebay costs $30 just for shipping and then I usually get hit with random duty fees and have to drive to pick it up from who knows where. smh.
All three! From a financial perspective, all of them are very solid choices and you'll be fine with whatever you pick. Will Cradle grow out of your budget if it keeps slowly going up? Should you grab it now as it's the most expensive? Or do you play paper magic and one of them would be played more (even with a proxy) than the others? Let us know which one you end up grabbing.
Yep especially if it’s near mint. We aren’t saying to go out and buy 50 devouring deep only - diversify, you never know what is going to go up in value, especially vintage. Remember when Desert was 50 cents?
I highly recommend collecting Graded LEGENDARY Creatures, since they can be played as your Commander and never (or very, very rarely) get played anywhere but the Command Zone and the Battlefield, both of which zones don't care if the Commander card is in a graded slab or not, and a BGS 9.5 of your favorite Reserved List or cool Foil Legendary creature is about as Pimptastic as you can get with your Commander card!! Been collecting Graded Legendary Creatures for this very exact reason for years now, and as a result, I completed a set of all Legendary Legends from Legends (all 55 Legendary creatures, plus the 6 Legendary Lands, 38 at BGS 9.5, most of the rest at BGS 9, one BGS 10 Pristine rare, and a couple at lower grades of 8.5 due to centering). Doing this with your Reserved List Commander or favorite Foil Legendary creature is about as Pimptastic a way to play your Commanders as you can get! Plus, Graded cards have skyrocketed in value since I began collecting, so this has definitely turned out for the best, and continues to do so as they keep growing in value!!
This is a fantastic idea again, Timothy. We love it! If you have any pics of the graded Legendary Legends, I'd like to show them in a video if you're interested. Email us mtgnorthcanada@gmail.com Thanks for the comment!
@@MTGNorth okay, I've never laid them all out for a Photo Op, but you've now given me good reason to do just that. Stay tuned.... (this will take a while to find the time to make sure the photos are good, but definitely will be doing that as my busy work schedule permits)
The best place we buy from is honestly our LGS, TableTopGiant. That's because it's a small store, we deal directly with the owner (who is a great guy), and when we buy more we generally can talk to him and save more. You can't do that with Amazon. Find an LGS near you that you can play at or even establish a relationship with the staff. If you don't have a smaller LGS to support where you live, I'd recommend watching 401games, facetoface, and fusion games if you're based in Canada. They frequently run sales - save your money until you see them. Buying MTG products at full price is like buying a mattress at full price, you should never do it lol There will always be a sale. Plan ahead before you want to buy something - get familiar with stores in your area, and their price points. If you're in the US, same thing applies, just shop around and do an hour of research before you have your sights set on something, it will save you money in the long run.
One other thing; if you're looking for good prices at release - that's very hard to find. Most stores will price match each other, and wait to see how the set does (3-4 weeks) before adjusting prices. If you have any more questions or are still stuck, drop us an email mtgnorthcanada@gmail.com
@@morganthemoustache3188 I started watching you guys after cracking a few boxes of AFR collector's. I got back into buying magic then because of the low price and I liked the set (except the showcase style). My favourite video is when you get hosed by AFR. That's the video where you call instrument of the bards instrument of financial debt. There were some good laughs and you always respond to the worst boxes with good humor. Thats what makes it fun not the suffering. Iam so sorry for those bad boxes!
Just subscribed thanks for the content.. i just opened 2 MH2 prereleases and pulled $168 in value. It was my first on camera opening. If you want to check it out just ask and ill send a link. Investing in triomes, fetches, powerful banned cards, old singles, a few slabs, and a lot of sealed to bust into…. Thanks guys for your info and opinions….
Thanks for the support Bear! Yeah you can email us mtgnorthcanada@gmail.com and we will check it out, congrats on the good pulls. I like your investment choices!
@@MTGNorth I did just order my first dual a plateau for 250 American LP…. I’m trying to get an Apology foil sheet as well…. Emailing you guys now. It’s a first go with just my iPad have a camera now so i can show my pulls better…
Reasonable question. It's a multi-million dollar industry owned by one of the largest toy makers in the world. It's also the 'original' TCG, and like Morgan said, it's been here for 30 years now. Also seems to be growing in popularity. I think it's pretty safe to say it will still be here in 10 years.
@@MTGNorth more amazon sales and restricting LGS product is a good way to drive sales from stores. If stores can't compete there will be no stores so no customers and I highly doubt mtgo and arena can carry the game. I've been playing since 95 and for the first time I'm actually buying into the game possibly dying at least in paper.
@@jasonbeauregard8624 Valid points. But if Amazon sells enough boxes to shut down most LGS, that's still a lot of sales right? People will be playing somewhere! Maybe the LGS model will change in 10 years, maybe there will be new styles of events, I can't say. But I will say I think people will still be playing. With the introduction of Alchemy on Arena, it felt to me like they are trying to make two different versions of MTG. Paper, and virtual. But make them distinct from each other. It's a good idea; you can capture a broader audience. Some people hate collecting, they just want to sit down at their PC and play for an hour, then do something else. Then there's people like us. WOTC can now capture both of the audience groups. And at the end of the day, that's MORE people playing Magic. Good comments Jason, this could make for a good video discussion topic. Plus, this era still feels way better than Oath/Dragon's maze era 😀
What are you investing in to start 2022?
Reserved list and Old School 93/94 staples.
Ikoria booster boxes
A man of culture!
Almost only Alpha cards and a bit of reserve list, I do not play anymore, only collect toward my retirement :)
Love following the channel! I made my first significant MTG investment two weeks before Christmas when I purchased a LP Gaea's Cradle for $1020.
Seeing that phyrexian negator in a slab felt very surreal. I totally agree with you guys that some old ABU era cards are still crazy undervalued as well as old foils. I think especially the painlands or premodern playable foils in 8,9,10th as the original old frame cards go up to crazy levels and become impossible to find people will 'settle' for the later new frame versions.
Subbed, I really like how you guys talked a little about the investable reserved list cards in commander! love more content like that as i am a collector but foremost a player first.
Thanks for the support Nicholas, much appreciated. Commander definitely drives prices in the game, and we will continue to follow them!
Hey guys its the first time im watching one of your videos and i rly enjoyed it! Love the finance talks and pickup reveals! Cheers 🍻
Thanks Stopf, appreciate it!
Loving yalls content!--Keep it up!--🥰
Great advice. Alpha and Beta so hard to find nowadays. But I definitely pick it up whenever I see it at a decent price.
solid , month ago you said nearing 1k subs, and you’re there 🎉 new sub
Thanks arKa!
Thx guys for this vid. What I started doing is buying bulk to scan for treasures! This summer Ill be hitting all the garage sales!
Very nice Mario, good luck!
I think 8.5s might be the new 9s. As in I think that when the market realizes how hard it is to get 8.5 or better, compared to how it used to be; coupled with the new costs; 8.5s will develop premiums
So if the trend continues, invest in 8.5's now
@@MTGNorth idk but it’s starting to look like maybe
Wow! I would love to grab a sealed fifth edition deck for my collection!
Solid thoughts and completely agree with all your points. Great video guys! Stay safe!!
Thanks Robert, you too!
Thanks for the good vid guys!
Thanks for the support Jake!
I just subscribed - I’m new to collecting, so I appreciate all the great advice here. Keep up the awesome content!
Thanks for the support Jay! If you need any help, watch a few vids, leave a comment, or you can email us mtgnorthcanada@gmail.com
Enjoy and have fun!
Very solid information in this video!
Thank you for the info. Someday I'll use it hopefully😄
Someday Chester! Start with some of the cheaper old border foils or beta commons
Ive purchased 94 beta cards of varying conditions this year, also working on a foil set of torment. I also like to pick up sealed L5R product when available.
Good advice about buying early foils.
My first buy of the year was a showcase Vorinclex to complete my Kaldheim showcase set and a Femeref Enchantress. Personally, I love Weatherlight, Visions, Tempest.
Great stuff! I've switched mostly to collecting and just picking up whatever catches my fancy and doesn't hurt the pocket book...or bring down the wrath of the higher power. So no duals ... yet haha
Thanks Andy! You taking a break from paper magic?
Not quite! Just gonna shift priorities. Gonna be picky with standard sets, maintaining my stable of commander decks (I.e. no constant attempts to brew), and focus on things that would look nice in the collection. I found that I really like collecting things lol
Paper is really the way to go. Arena has kind of lost it’s lustre outside of the occasional draft. And digital collecting is nowhere close to the feeling of having cards in hand.
This sounds like a really well thought out, stable plan. This is really what we do to a T - you don't see many deck tech videos on our channel because the collecting aspect is more appealing (especially to Paul)
Sure we enjoy playing, but over the last couple years we have really tried to stick to one Pioneer deck and one Commander deck each. Pimp those out, play a couple times a month. Play draft whenever possible in person. Trade/sell everything we don't play with or collect into things we do collect! Trade those excess modern cards for RL or ABU/4 horseman sets.
Following this strategy, we haven't felt burned out at all in over 3 years now, seems to be working.
@MTGNorth Aside from Alpha and Beta power 9 cards, would you recommend buying Power 9 CE’s? I see the prices are slightly lower, but wasn’t sure if it’s a good long term investment or not.
Just found your channel and am going through the videos. My best investment, so far, was a mistake. I grabbed a foil LP Intruder alarm from 8th for $2.00 USD. Its still in my binder.
I recently got into picking up some pricier playable cards, and I've been picking up the BFZ Expeditions and the KLD Inventions. Hopefully the masterpieces are never reprinted in the same forms so that they hold their value🤞
Good idea, solid choice! Even if they do get a reprint of some kind, those versions are the original and will always be the most sought after. Plus, they just look fantastic. Always wanted the Sol Ring 🤔
my first buy was a big pile of unlimited a very small pile of beta and 4 alpha commons 😁
New sub I like your content. I was trying to find the scryfall site that you were talking about on RL top 25 commander and can't seem to find it. What's your guys take on CGC btw I've started using them now only and think their quality of grading is top notch. Nothing but RL and 4 horsemen for me in 2022 and a brothers war collector maybe
So the scryfall Advanced Search can take some learning to figure out - it's not very straightforward. So I saved you some time:
scryfall.com/search?q=legal%3Acommander+is%3Areserved&order=edhrec&as=grid
That should show you the most played RL Commander cards, based on EDHREC.
eBay today announced they are partnering with CGC to verify any cards over $750 sold on ebay. This is a big step for CGC and really solidifies them as a quality, leading grader.
Oh, and thanks for the sub, much appreciated!
@@MTGNorth much thx !
Solid take overall. I am not a fan of foils unless already graded due to the amount of people overselling conditions of those vs actual and reselling is a B$iT& if raw. I prefer sealed in that slot but think it's a solid tier approach to investing and collecting
Thanks Ed, good points. eBay and most smaller LGS do unfortunately overstate quality on foils. We've said it before, but paying a little extra to buy from a bigger retailer ensures you have a much better chance at sending it back and getting a refund if you are unhappy with the cloudiness in the foil.
If you see a big movement on Magic Online prices of a card, and you feel like you can suss out why, sometimes you can snag the paper version before it fires up.
I do think about that Black Lotus that was signed by Chris Rush and The Garf Himself, that got stolen (one of a kind priceless item, impossible to publicly sell in stolen form,) and I wonder if the shop that owned it had some kind of insurance plan associated with it.
Good tip Krypt, thanks for the comment.
Insurance fraud is a big deal, you never know right? I've never been to that store, can't say one way or the other.
thoughts on grading serialized ?
Go for it - just hope for more than a 9!
These days, anything we order on ebay costs $30 just for shipping and then I usually get hit with random duty fees and have to drive to pick it up from who knows where. smh.
I feel ya, 95% of our purchases stay in Canada for these reasons
Thinking of getting NM copies of either a Gaeas Cradle, Wheel of Fortune, or Mox Diamond. Any advise? hehe
All three! From a financial perspective, all of them are very solid choices and you'll be fine with whatever you pick. Will Cradle grow out of your budget if it keeps slowly going up? Should you grab it now as it's the most expensive? Or do you play paper magic and one of them would be played more (even with a proxy) than the others? Let us know which one you end up grabbing.
You said, “whatever 4 Horseman you can find under $5, get’em..” are you referring to all commons as well? Commons like Devouring Deep for $.50?
Yep especially if it’s near mint. We aren’t saying to go out and buy 50 devouring deep only - diversify, you never know what is going to go up in value, especially vintage. Remember when Desert was 50 cents?
@@MTGNorth absolutely
I highly recommend collecting Graded LEGENDARY Creatures, since they can be played as your Commander and never (or very, very rarely) get played anywhere but the Command Zone and the Battlefield, both of which zones don't care if the Commander card is in a graded slab or not, and a BGS 9.5 of your favorite Reserved List or cool Foil Legendary creature is about as Pimptastic as you can get with your Commander card!! Been collecting Graded Legendary Creatures for this very exact reason for years now, and as a result, I completed a set of all Legendary Legends from Legends (all 55 Legendary creatures, plus the 6 Legendary Lands, 38 at BGS 9.5, most of the rest at BGS 9, one BGS 10 Pristine rare, and a couple at lower grades of 8.5 due to centering). Doing this with your Reserved List Commander or favorite Foil Legendary creature is about as Pimptastic a way to play your Commanders as you can get! Plus, Graded cards have skyrocketed in value since I began collecting, so this has definitely turned out for the best, and continues to do so as they keep growing in value!!
This is a fantastic idea again, Timothy. We love it!
If you have any pics of the graded Legendary Legends, I'd like to show them in a video if you're interested. Email us mtgnorthcanada@gmail.com
Thanks for the comment!
@@MTGNorth okay, I've never laid them all out for a Photo Op, but you've now given me good reason to do just that. Stay tuned.... (this will take a while to find the time to make sure the photos are good, but definitely will be doing that as my busy work schedule permits)
No problem, take your time! I appreciate it, can’t wait to see them
I can't believe I didn't notice this sooner but the MTG logo kind of looks like someone giving the middle finger :s
haha, only if you open a bad box. If it's a good box, it's just a high-5, right?
@@MTGNorth hahaha. luckily I only opened a couple bundle boxes because it was definitely the first one for me.
Where do you guys go to buy sealed mtg? im having a hard time finding good prices
The best place we buy from is honestly our LGS, TableTopGiant. That's because it's a small store, we deal directly with the owner (who is a great guy), and when we buy more we generally can talk to him and save more. You can't do that with Amazon. Find an LGS near you that you can play at or even establish a relationship with the staff. If you don't have a smaller LGS to support where you live, I'd recommend watching 401games, facetoface, and fusion games if you're based in Canada. They frequently run sales - save your money until you see them. Buying MTG products at full price is like buying a mattress at full price, you should never do it lol There will always be a sale. Plan ahead before you want to buy something - get familiar with stores in your area, and their price points. If you're in the US, same thing applies, just shop around and do an hour of research before you have your sights set on something, it will save you money in the long run.
One other thing; if you're looking for good prices at release - that's very hard to find. Most stores will price match each other, and wait to see how the set does (3-4 weeks) before adjusting prices. If you have any more questions or are still stuck, drop us an email mtgnorthcanada@gmail.com
@@MTGNorth this is above and beyond, thanks so much! Really appreciate the info!
morgan looks very sad when paul said "no pack openins today"
I love opening packs ! I can’t get enough
@@morganthemoustache3188 I started watching you guys after cracking a few boxes of AFR collector's. I got back into buying magic then because of the low price and I liked the set (except the showcase style). My favourite video is when you get hosed by AFR. That's the video where you call instrument of the bards instrument of financial debt. There were some good laughs and you always respond to the worst boxes with good humor. Thats what makes it fun not the suffering. Iam so sorry for those bad boxes!
@@mattiasbystedt1332 thanks ! We appreciate the support !
Just subscribed thanks for the content.. i just opened 2 MH2 prereleases and pulled $168 in value. It was my first on camera opening. If you want to check it out just ask and ill send a link. Investing in triomes, fetches, powerful banned cards, old singles, a few slabs, and a lot of sealed to bust into…. Thanks guys for your info and opinions….
Thanks for the support Bear! Yeah you can email us mtgnorthcanada@gmail.com and we will check it out, congrats on the good pulls.
I like your investment choices!
@@MTGNorth I did just order my first dual a plateau for 250 American LP…. I’m trying to get an Apology foil sheet as well…. Emailing you guys now. It’s a first go with just my iPad have a camera now so i can show my pulls better…
Right on, you gotta start somewhere! Congrats on the dual land. We consider all the duals to be pretty much the safest investment in MTG, great pickup
Will Magic still be a thing in 5-10 years
Well it’s been a thing for almost 30 years so I’m going to be inclined to say yes. But you never know I guess
Reasonable question. It's a multi-million dollar industry owned by one of the largest toy makers in the world. It's also the 'original' TCG, and like Morgan said, it's been here for 30 years now. Also seems to be growing in popularity. I think it's pretty safe to say it will still be here in 10 years.
@@MTGNorth more amazon sales and restricting LGS product is a good way to drive sales from stores. If stores can't compete there will be no stores so no customers and I highly doubt mtgo and arena can carry the game. I've been playing since 95 and for the first time I'm actually buying into the game possibly dying at least in paper.
@@jasonbeauregard8624 Valid points. But if Amazon sells enough boxes to shut down most LGS, that's still a lot of sales right? People will be playing somewhere! Maybe the LGS model will change in 10 years, maybe there will be new styles of events, I can't say. But I will say I think people will still be playing.
With the introduction of Alchemy on Arena, it felt to me like they are trying to make two different versions of MTG. Paper, and virtual. But make them distinct from each other. It's a good idea; you can capture a broader audience. Some people hate collecting, they just want to sit down at their PC and play for an hour, then do something else. Then there's people like us. WOTC can now capture both of the audience groups. And at the end of the day, that's MORE people playing Magic. Good comments Jason, this could make for a good video discussion topic. Plus, this era still feels way better than Oath/Dragon's maze era 😀
Why not just open more MH2 or boxes with Vega’s in them
Next week my friend ;)
"It's an alpha card"
Amusing👑! Do what the pros do = Promo-SM !