I have an unlimited Howling Mine in the same condition. I bought if off a guy for dirt cheap. Every time I play it, I love thinking about the 1000's of cards that thing has probably drawn
My brother still cries to this day about all the reserve list cards he had (and I’m talking a bunch) and he forgot about them at his moms house growing up and she sold them at a garage sale. I also cry a little.
Scroll Rack is not RL. Tip: Rack and Vampiric Tutor are my 2 biggest *sell now* cards, due to 3 things - their price, demand from Commander, and not protected by RL.
By the time Urza's block came around, people had a much better grasp on the metagame and card quality. Information was becoming more readily available online. While Cradle was popular it never really appeared in many top decks outside of stompy in standard. Grim Monolith was a staple x4 in several decks from the Urza's era from Accelerated Blue to Wildfire. The creatures people needed were things like Covetous Dragon, Masticore and Morphling which were later impacted by rules changes like damage on the stack being removed. Standard and draft were by far the most popular formats what you'd see at any store you'd visit. The point is, it is easy to look back and think people were made poor evaluations of card value. But you have to consider the metagame they were playing in and what was good in that context. You also need to appreciate that there was no way to know how WOTC was going to change the game in subsequent releases many years later. EDH didn't exist as a common format. People played the literal original elder dragons with singleton decks for kicks, but no one was building seriously for such an environment. The world changes and so as a result does our perception of value.
I started playing around the time of mirage release. packs at the gaming store my brother and I went to were 2.49-2.99 each. It's crazy because I bought mirage, loving the art and the set symbol and I don't even remember LED. Sometimes I wonder how many I had but didn't know because it wasn't one of the sought after cards back then.
I had not checked prices in about a year and HOLY COW there has been some CRAZY MOVES! I have had a few cards lose value but a bunch have over doubled in value so I have been trying to find a video that goes over the overall market changes but haven't been able to find anything besides this and other similar stuff from RUDY. He is the best for a reason.
I had an incredible collection from playing “back in the days” and unfortunately it was stolen during a middle school class. I’m curious if you have ever received a ridiculous collection from Wa area (eastern wa).
I remember I threw City of Traitors right into the bulk after opening an Exodus pack. Clearly a garbage land must be sacrificed when playing a new one! So I threw it into the bulk. And then 15 years later I found it when going through the piles, luckily in perfect condition after never being played ;)
Rudy you are correct in the old days we used to rip Lions Eye Diamond and City of Traitors quite a bit we considered them garbage cards so who knows how many have been removed from existence.
True, just like every single Person in this Comment Section, especially if you're American. Just some friendly Banter from a European, no worries Prost (Cheers) from the Alps
I vividly remember taking a LED and ripping it apart. There was actually a Scrye magazine article about what a horrible card it was. These were not sought after and many many many were tossed out like Rudy said.
Sylvan library looks like all my old cards...... if you see a worn card your opponent is about to top deck it's time to start worrying chances are it's a fire card
Question :) The fact that LED, Mox D and Grim all see play in EDH means that people buy them for play. You're saying that all ships need to rise but the Power9 cards are not for play. They are "just" for collecting. I can't do jack with a mox emerald in EDH so I'm not interested in paying a premium for that card. I can however kill my opponents with a LED bomberman combo on turn 1-4 :P So the value I give to cards like LED or Grim is much higher. Idk if the "unplayable" (in commander) reserved list cards will see as big of a increase as the ones that actually fuel the format.
Rudy: "the market has spoken" regarding timetwister. Me: "it's only the commander (cEDH) market who's speaking because it's the only p9 legal card" Can you imagine how much a time walk or ancestral would be worth if they were legal in commander? Timetwister is definitly the worst p9 card.
I think it's because of cEDH that timetwister is catching up with some of the other p9. It's always been the cheapest before, I see no other reason why... so that must mean some cEDH players and maybe others would buy p9 if they were legal, which would make their price higher.
Rudy: just remember that. Me: you can call me Pepperidge farms because I will always remember that. Me 2 seconds later: wait what were we talking about. Thumbs down.
im so sad i had to sell out my OG mana crypt =/ had to sell it a few months back to take my cat to the vet =/ now im having to sell my mystery one and my visions vamp tutor and a few other cards to buy food for the month..... legit struggling out here.
Is it me or the handwriting looks always the same? lol I can imagine Rudy spending his evenings writing up the next collection's story script. Thumbing down 2 times
12:04 - What? There wasn't a time Grim Monolith wasn't a good pull. You had Tinker and Memory Jar in the same set and in Saga you had Voltaic Key and Wildfire. Then in Urza's Destiny came the Covetous Dragon and Masticore. So it was always, "Dr. G, now paging Dr. G."
Yup. I still have my Power Artifact from back in the day, so pulling Grim was awesome. Sold off a few and still have a half dozen left, because they're incredible ramp.
I love these videos were you look at old cards. Opening packs of new garbage cards that'll most likely be you worthless in the future anyway just doesn't do it for me.
Good thing I sold one on ebay for $25 in '08 (cries). Kept the one that almost looked like that Sylvan Library at the end because I figured no one wanted it. My Urza deck is happy I kept it.
Zdenko Nouzovsky Grim Monolith wasn’t garbage but existed in standard environments with Mox Diamond, Mana Vault, Sol Ring and Basalt Monolith. In type I ( extended or legacy) you add Mana Crypt, the moxes and the Lotus to that list; that makes 11 mana rocks arguably better that the GM. Only Fellwar Stone was worse. The only nice thing about it was that it wasn’t on the Restricted List like the other 11 cards mentioned above.
Just watched the ZENDIKAR preview . If you DONT like the new flashy stuff your gonna exploded.. The Timmy’s are gonna be in heaven . Y’all check it out . It’s crazy. Also confirmed enemy fetches reprinted in modern Horizons 2 next year confirmed. It’s gonna be a helluva ride the next 12 months lol
Funny how he treats the imperial recruiter! AHAH. it was a VERY VERY expensive card, before the printing of the white imperial recruiter and the other 2 reprints.
Do you believe in history repeating, Rudy? 28 years ago we saw a boom in something that also coincidentally turned 29 that year... silver age comics. Yes, Black Lotuses are the Amazing Fantasy 15 of our times. Revised dual lands? Legends cards? Avengers #4. X-Men 1. Unfortunately, exactly like history, we're going into the foil embossed gold etched era of MtG. I hope it fares better but history repeating is merciless.
Rudy, as a finance guy, you should know that the Fed doesn't print money. The Treasury can only do that. The Fed does QE and other things, but do you remember double digits interest rates from the 80s? That was inflation. We don't have high interest rates, so we are not really seeing inflation and an increase in the money supply.
11:10 RUDY. Rudy, Rudy, Rudy... you've really taken a giant bite out of the floppy taco, haven't you? You honestly believe Lion's Eye Diamond was DESTROYED to a significant degree, and THAT is what explains its scarcity? And Gaea's Cradle... people knew it was great, so none got destroyed? NO. Of course you don't. You're just high on taco fumes. Which is not just perfectly understandable, but admirable at the same time. Here is the truth, everybody: By 1998/1999 everybody knew there was huge potential to invest in magic (and importantly, YES, also knew there was huge risk this game didn't survive longterm). Cards like Gaea's Cradle stayed in the hands of players BECAUSE THEY HAD VALUE, RIGHT OUT OF THE GATE. Buying into them deep was too risky, because the value was already relatively high. Cards like Lion's Eye Diamond got gobbled up as a longterm investment, a "what if" play for pennies on the dollar. Remember "The Lotus Petal guy"? A hundred or more people were "The Lions Eye Diamond guy"... Gaea's Cradle rises in value and swaps hands from player to player, player to store, store to player... millions of owners participate. It seems "available" because it always has been. Lion's Eye Diamond? Over half of them exist in vaults, because once upon a time they were an absurdly cheap card with huge "what if" potential. They went straight into "strong hands" and almost never leave strong hands. TLDR: Cards that started out unpopular (while reeking of potential value ) became STACKS of cards that reek of value. Those stacks are not being divested to any significant degree, as the full realization of value has barely escaped ABU thus far. Give it time. SOURCE: Did this all on MTGO in the early 2000s. The same phenomenon happened there, just a decade later. There was plenty of risk that MTGO would not continue, so anything that went out of standard was able to be bought up for NOTHING. I just stacked up 500-1000 of any "what if" rares that fell to bulk rate (even deeper for uncommons). Well, I was right, it took until 2020 for MTGO to "die". Final status: Still have over a million "digital" cards that are almost all completely unsellable at any given moment, but I already made out like a king with a soft-exit over 2015-2017, and surprisingly do still get to sell off a pile of spiked cards every month or so
The imperial seal is in traditional chinese.
Seriously though, how many cards do you think that sylvan library has drawn?!
I have an unlimited Howling Mine in the same condition. I bought if off a guy for dirt cheap. Every time I play it, I love thinking about the 1000's of cards that thing has probably drawn
All of them. It has drawn all of the cards.
The question is: How many games has it lost to greedy "I pay 8 life."
Oddles + || - a bunch
My favorite type of video
These are Rudy's best. That and I miss the old card sorting videos he used to do. Probably because it's harder to get older collections now...
It took me far longer than I'd care to admit to realize he was trolling about the Imperial Seal and Imperial Recruiter.
My brother still cries to this day about all the reserve list cards he had (and I’m talking a bunch) and he forgot about them at his moms house growing up and she sold them at a garage sale. I also cry a little.
I wonder how many people didn't throw it away thinking it was worthless
I need Mr. Rudy on Game Knights.
@Oliver Tineo What!? I've seen him play, old school at least.. (Vintage?)
Loved your videos from Singapore 🇸🇬
Thankfully we have high quality proxies of the grossly expensive EDH playables.
Dripping in the gloss
@@zerokidd21 Ha. Double sleeved, don't care.
@Joely7 proxy queen makes the best in my opinion
@@zerokidd21 also the bootlegs don't curl.
Imagine lacking the integrity to collect cards in a collectible card game
Rudy he might have sold you the complete Godzilla set from Ikoria. That’s pretty cool.
I can’t tell if Rudy was being sarcastic about the $500 imperial seal or not 😭😭
Oh my God same, he said five dollars and my eyes exploded out of my skull
@10:16
@@alistairetheblu Yes we know lol we just paused and said it in the xomment section before it got there lmfao
I played a black agro deck with 4 Mox diamonds and 4 city of traders. I can't tell my folks what they threw away years ago.
Just say they owe you now
Scroll Rack is not RL.
Tip: Rack and Vampiric Tutor are my 2 biggest *sell now* cards, due to 3 things - their price, demand from Commander, and not protected by RL.
I love it when you go through these old collections! My T-shirt is on the way! Thanks for shipping so quickly!
Are you really lululemon collector
Rockin yes, I am!
Shannon Vlogs my ex girlfriend used to work for that company I own 100 headbands I need them out of my house
Rockin I am low key jealous! I only have about 40 lol
Honestly that intro note hits home. This shit so fun but so fucking expensive
Bloom Tender was reprinted in Mystery
By the time Urza's block came around, people had a much better grasp on the metagame and card quality. Information was becoming more readily available online. While Cradle was popular it never really appeared in many top decks outside of stompy in standard. Grim Monolith was a staple x4 in several decks from the Urza's era from Accelerated Blue to Wildfire. The creatures people needed were things like Covetous Dragon, Masticore and Morphling which were later impacted by rules changes like damage on the stack being removed. Standard and draft were by far the most popular formats what you'd see at any store you'd visit. The point is, it is easy to look back and think people were made poor evaluations of card value. But you have to consider the metagame they were playing in and what was good in that context. You also need to appreciate that there was no way to know how WOTC was going to change the game in subsequent releases many years later. EDH didn't exist as a common format. People played the literal original elder dragons with singleton decks for kicks, but no one was building seriously for such an environment. The world changes and so as a result does our perception of value.
We use to proxy on Lion’s Eye Diamond.
I started playing around the time of mirage release. packs at the gaming store my brother and I went to were 2.49-2.99 each. It's crazy because I bought mirage, loving the art and the set symbol and I don't even remember LED. Sometimes I wonder how many I had but didn't know because it wasn't one of the sought after cards back then.
Idk if Rudy isn’t updated on the prices or if this was recorded a month ago 😬
I was thinking the same thing lol
Was he high or low
Ranger Ryley low
Lmfao Rudy's anecdotal limited edition Lion's Eye Diamond, love you Rudy keep winning
I wish I could afford a set of power, or even basic white border duals. One day I'll hopefully get there.
White border dual lands is totally where its at!!! My EDH-centric heart still breaks that own none of those amazing lands :(
Picked up a pack fresh force from alliances. Very suto reserve list. And damn that’s a sexy library. Lol nice vid rudy
Quality collection these are the cards I enjoy the most the new stuff just never feels the same
I had not checked prices in about a year and HOLY COW there has been some CRAZY MOVES! I have had a few cards lose value but a bunch have over doubled in value so I have been trying to find a video that goes over the overall market changes but haven't been able to find anything besides this and other similar stuff from RUDY. He is the best for a reason.
Wow haha when was this filmed 1:37
I had an incredible collection from playing “back in the days” and unfortunately it was stolen during a middle school class. I’m curious if you have ever received a ridiculous collection from Wa area (eastern wa).
7:41 imperial scal it is a literally a vampiric tutor
I know I chocked when I saw him say 5 dollars lol
Rudy trollin hard
Imperial Seal** and yeah the English is $600
He's trolling
He said later the names
What a nice little collection. thanks for sharing.
Rudy’s advice: If it’s old, have a position in it
Lions eye diamond was a terrible pull.
💯 tossed that card out or in a bulk box.
Such a sad day.
Now the hammer was hot!
I remember I threw City of Traitors right into the bulk after opening an Exodus pack. Clearly a garbage land must be sacrificed when playing a new one! So I threw it into the bulk. And then 15 years later I found it when going through the piles, luckily in perfect condition after never being played ;)
Couple of years ago I found LED in a bulk case of cards. Unfortunately sold it before the big price spikes for about 50€ :(...
@@hermodnitter3902 I'm still going thru my bulk trying to find mine lol
@@AlphaCitizen lol, hope you find it, good luck!
@@hermodnitter3902 haha me too. Thanks!
Rudy you are correct in the old days we used to rip Lions Eye Diamond and City of Traitors quite a bit we considered them garbage cards so who knows how many have been removed from existence.
wow reading this just as he said it
Mr Rudy, Please PLEASE More Wyvern!!
I don't mind the Bertolli pasta sauce ads, Rudy.
Rudy sounds smart when he doesn't talk about anything social or cultural.
True, just like every single Person in this Comment Section, especially if you're American.
Just some friendly Banter from a European, no worries
Prost (Cheers) from the Alps
Rudy is based you are just weak
LOL @ the one War of the Spork card!
I vividly remember taking a LED and ripping it apart. There was actually a Scrye magazine article about what a horrible card it was. These were not sought after and many many many were tossed out like Rudy said.
on Lion's Eye Diamond............I was there, Rudy. I was there three thousand years ago. I was there the day the strength of Men failed.
my precious ...
I haven't clicked on something so fast since the reserved list buyout in 2020.
I'm curious how much it would cost to send in all my early 90s cards for an appraisal.
Does Dr. G give people mono?
Sylvan library looks like all my old cards...... if you see a worn card your opponent is about to top deck it's time to start worrying chances are it's a fire card
Good memory Rudy, Mox was 20.
I seem to recall 20 was a glass ceiling or sorts. Lotta high end cards rose to 20.
Question :) The fact that LED, Mox D and Grim all see play in EDH means that people buy them for play. You're saying that all ships need to rise but the Power9 cards are not for play. They are "just" for collecting. I can't do jack with a mox emerald in EDH so I'm not interested in paying a premium for that card. I can however kill my opponents with a LED bomberman combo on turn 1-4 :P So the value I give to cards like LED or Grim is much higher. Idk if the "unplayable" (in commander) reserved list cards will see as big of a increase as the ones that actually fuel the format.
i found a mox diamond in a collection a friend gave me, LP-NM
I think this is why time twister is the second most expensive card in unlimited, with lotus being #1. Time twister is the only edh legal power 9
Michael Frost it’s also pretty good in edh
MattCat11 it’s in the power 9 for a reason haha
Rudy: "the market has spoken" regarding timetwister. Me: "it's only the commander (cEDH) market who's speaking because it's the only p9 legal card" Can you imagine how much a time walk or ancestral would be worth if they were legal in commander? Timetwister is definitly the worst p9 card.
I think it's because of cEDH that timetwister is catching up with some of the other p9. It's always been the cheapest before, I see no other reason why... so that must mean some cEDH players and maybe others would buy p9 if they were legal, which would make their price higher.
My dream collection right there. Man i hate being poor
“Ikoria is the best set in mtg”
-Vaping Timmy
tbh it could have one of the better limited environments in magic history if cycling wasnt so op
Oh no it ain't tiny tim
Agrees *hits vape*
Couple of my buddies split a case of Ikoria this spring, as I bought $90 Taigas instead.
Now who's hitting their vape?
Alpha Citizen exactly my point. I’d rather have a Taiga than 540 cards that are worthless and take up too much space.
Fantastic ride in the middle of my heart...❤
I remember opening Lions Eye Diamond in those days. Hottest of garbage.
7:24
*They see me trollin'
dey hatin'!*
10:17 aw come on Rudy, don't give the game away!
7:42-- Rudy, IT'S CHINESE(probably) IMPERIAL SEAL- really expensive bad tutor.
Imperial Seal (Traditional Chinese) sure worth more than USD 5.00
haha omg yes i rem. when LED sucks so bad i had so many of it and it was kept in a shoe box along with all the bulk cards back in the day.
Rudy: just remember that.
Me: you can call me Pepperidge farms because I will always remember that.
Me 2 seconds later: wait what were we talking about.
Thumbs down.
im so sad i had to sell out my OG mana crypt =/ had to sell it a few months back to take my cat to the vet =/ now im having to sell my mystery one and my visions vamp tutor and a few other cards to buy food for the month..... legit struggling out here.
Is it me or the handwriting looks always the same? lol I can imagine Rudy spending his evenings writing up the next collection's story script. Thumbing down 2 times
All his hand written notes are fantastic. Computer age makes everyone’s handwriting like 3rd graders
@@floatinghandsmtg9360 me: looks at my own writing.
You know what, you're on to something lol
People are looking to divest from stocks into other assets. Vintage cards aren't a bad option. Good luck everybody.
Jackson Farmer Stocks will be hot garbage this time next year.
@@Steve-gn4hk Why?
My position is likely really small... like under 50 copies of Gaea's Cradle...
12:04 - What? There wasn't a time Grim Monolith wasn't a good pull. You had Tinker and Memory Jar in the same set and in Saga you had Voltaic Key and Wildfire. Then in Urza's Destiny came the Covetous Dragon and Masticore.
So it was always, "Dr. G, now paging Dr. G."
Yup. I still have my Power Artifact from back in the day, so pulling Grim was awesome. Sold off a few and still have a half dozen left, because they're incredible ramp.
Still buying all the wheel of fortunes ! Headed for 400+
I love these videos were you look at old cards. Opening packs of new garbage cards that'll most likely be you worthless in the future anyway just doesn't do it for me.
imperial recruiter is $200 in english.
Unlimited Icy and Volcanic Island are the best
Super cool 😎
Imperial Seal gave me a chuckle
Dear Uncle Creepy Rudy in your own basement, stalking the 4% of women. My taco is so floppy that I can't even eat it without spilling all the sauce.
Authentically worn cards are gonna age like vintage jeans.
Imperial seal and Imperial recruiter. Bulk cards :D
Rudy sell alpha commons for 5$ on ebay for one day only but don't tell nobody see how many people bite for 24 hours
damn, still no pokemon
Should I buy a Mox Diamond for a $1000 or a Power 9 for $1500... oh wait just watched the end of video. Nevermind.
you cannot get a power 9 for 1500$
@@michaeledwards1644 someone didn't watch til the end of the video.
@@michaeledwards1644 and also yes you can. HP Moxes going for $1400
@@floatinghandsmtg9360 yes Rudy is late on the upload then since Mox Diamond and Monolith already 800$ cards and unlimited Mox are now over 2500$
Michael Edwards if you believe they are $2500 then good for you. I’m able to get heavy played for $1400 still.
Always love these videos. Just waiting on Rudy's " I told you so!" Video on the announced box topper reprint of fetchlands later this year
Mox Diamond was $25 on release, after the boom in 2017 it hit $250,
who knows where it will settle in 2021.
Good thing I sold one on ebay for $25 in '08 (cries).
Kept the one that almost looked like that Sylvan Library at the end because I figured no one wanted it.
My Urza deck is happy I kept it.
Spirit Rudy stuck in the top loaders
7:44 that's a Imperial Seal RUDY!!!!! Definitely not a 5 dollars card
I know. That was painful.
10:17 He knows!
It was a joke
@@lucascogman2985 i hope so
This dude had some nice cards.
Imperial Seal is traditional Chinese.
I stopped buying mirage because I kept pulling LED
Grim Monolith, Liions Eye, and freaking common Rhystic Studies were hot garbage when they first came out!! Drives me nuts now.
Monolith was never garbage mate...
Zdenko Nouzovsky Grim Monolith wasn’t garbage but existed in standard environments with Mox Diamond, Mana Vault, Sol Ring and Basalt Monolith. In type I ( extended or legacy) you add Mana Crypt, the moxes and the Lotus to that list; that makes 11 mana rocks arguably better that the GM. Only Fellwar Stone was worse. The only nice thing about it was that it wasn’t on the Restricted List like the other 11 cards mentioned above.
The recruiter as a bulk card😂😂😂
Rudy with the small stock of a couple of thousands rare cards.
Scroll Rack actually isn't reserved list
Yup, will probably be reprinted as a mythic in a ridiculously expensive VIP product soon.
My ‘position’ in each one of those cards is much less than that of Rudy ;)
He is a reserve list card sink.
That guy is right. Crap is to expensive and is obserd. More power to the Timmy’s
Collection of Artifacts
Just watched the ZENDIKAR preview . If you DONT like the new flashy stuff your gonna exploded.. The Timmy’s are gonna be in heaven . Y’all check it out . It’s crazy. Also confirmed enemy fetches reprinted in modern Horizons 2 next year confirmed. It’s gonna be a helluva ride the next 12 months lol
I like ( and predicted many years ago) the release of the new flip dual lands.
Enemy fetches in MH2? Sauce?
Funny how he treats the imperial recruiter! AHAH. it was a VERY VERY expensive card, before the printing of the white imperial recruiter and the other 2 reprints.
TACOS PLEASE THE RECIPE
Yavimaya Hollow is like $80 right now
oh and Null Rod is $70 lmao
Timetwister is still the worst power 9 by far, it's just the only legal one in EDH and THAT is why it's now the second most expensive power card.
"People were not going crazy for Grim Monolith" ....nah I think Grim Monolith was always good Chief.
It was a 4x in both of the decks that won Worlds while it was Standard legal. We all knew.
7:50 LMAOOOOOOO
Hello!
Hi!
Beware of he who smelt it, for they are the ones who dealt it.
Who are you so wise in the ways of flatulence?
Three roller lines on that time twister, but overall great card
Isaac Miller nowadays these roller lines are your certificate of authenticity. :)
@@Polmax2312 yes they are. Find me a foil metal worker without a roller mark, if you do it's fake.
Do you believe in history repeating, Rudy? 28 years ago we saw a boom in something that also coincidentally turned 29 that year... silver age comics.
Yes, Black Lotuses are the Amazing Fantasy 15 of our times. Revised dual lands? Legends cards? Avengers #4. X-Men 1.
Unfortunately, exactly like history, we're going into the foil embossed gold etched era of MtG. I hope it fares better but history repeating is merciless.
17:29 shit you right
Rudy, as a finance guy, you should know that the Fed doesn't print money. The Treasury can only do that. The Fed does QE and other things, but do you remember double digits interest rates from the 80s? That was inflation. We don't have high interest rates, so we are not really seeing inflation and an increase in the money supply.
What do you think Rudy paid for this collection?
Five tacos
@@hermodnitter3902 The kind of answer I like
Hi there
11:10 RUDY. Rudy, Rudy, Rudy... you've really taken a giant bite out of the floppy taco, haven't you?
You honestly believe Lion's Eye Diamond was DESTROYED to a significant degree, and THAT is what explains its scarcity?
And Gaea's Cradle... people knew it was great, so none got destroyed?
NO. Of course you don't. You're just high on taco fumes. Which is not just perfectly understandable, but admirable at the same time.
Here is the truth, everybody:
By 1998/1999 everybody knew there was huge potential to invest in magic (and importantly, YES, also knew there was huge risk this game didn't survive longterm). Cards like Gaea's Cradle stayed in the hands of players BECAUSE THEY HAD VALUE, RIGHT OUT OF THE GATE. Buying into them deep was too risky, because the value was already relatively high. Cards like Lion's Eye Diamond got gobbled up as a longterm investment, a "what if" play for pennies on the dollar. Remember "The Lotus Petal guy"? A hundred or more people were "The Lions Eye Diamond guy"...
Gaea's Cradle rises in value and swaps hands from player to player, player to store, store to player... millions of owners participate. It seems "available" because it always has been.
Lion's Eye Diamond? Over half of them exist in vaults, because once upon a time they were an absurdly cheap card with huge "what if" potential. They went straight into "strong hands" and almost never leave strong hands.
TLDR: Cards that started out unpopular (while reeking of potential value ) became STACKS of cards that reek of value. Those stacks are not being divested to any significant degree, as the full realization of value has barely escaped ABU thus far. Give it time.
SOURCE: Did this all on MTGO in the early 2000s. The same phenomenon happened there, just a decade later. There was plenty of risk that MTGO would not continue, so anything that went out of standard was able to be bought up for NOTHING. I just stacked up 500-1000 of any "what if" rares that fell to bulk rate (even deeper for uncommons). Well, I was right, it took until 2020 for MTGO to "die". Final status: Still have over a million "digital" cards that are almost all completely unsellable at any given moment, but I already made out like a king with a soft-exit over 2015-2017, and surprisingly do still get to sell off a pile of spiked cards every month or so