Trawling through the Dregs of the Reserved List
This is a Magic the Gathering Financial article, so if you are not familiar with this card game you may find what you read a whole load of gobbledegook. You have been warned.
I received two envelopes today, both from Germany and both brimming with Magic cards, all from the 'Reserved List.'
I told myself around 2 years ago that I would never buy another card from Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast as they are piling too much product on the unfortunate customers who can't keep up.
Not only that, they are reprinting many old cards that have to date seen only a single printing, thus devaluing them,
Steadily I have been selling off my personal collection, wincing every time I see yet another reprint and then thinking to myself, 'another useless card'.
The exception to the rule is the infamous ‘Reserved List’, which are cards that cannot be reprinted, and will not be reprinted.
Why so? Wizards of the Coast categorically told us so back in the late 1990s and so far have kept their word. I don't believe they will break it for fear of huge lawsuits pending by the community.
3 years ago I did just the same. I bought a stack of reserved list cards, just as they were spiking, and have recently started to try a few on the marketplace.
The response has been positive and I find myself selling cards I bought at 25c for up to $7. It's not a bad return but is hardly going to make me rich.
The reserved list is spiking again and I can no longer get those better cards at cheap prices. What is left is what I would call the dregs.
Rare cards that are around 22-24 years old, on the reserved list, but never played. I did a little homework and found I could double my money on these even if I sold them now.
That is not my plan but I figure this is my last chance to get more of these cards that will never be re-printed. The plan is to do exactly the same as I did 3 years ago and hoard them for this amount of time again.
They will never be played as they are either too weird, or suffer from a lack of power. They will be desired by collectors in years to come, due to being iconic.
I planned to not pay more than 50c per rare card, and that included shipping. I managed to source two stacks both from large german dealers which fell within my criteria.
I can’t say their shipping technique was great but all arrived untouched. They are supposed to be ‘SP’ condition which stands for ‘Slightly Played’ but I have to question this.
Who would play with these cards? Having inspected them, I was delighted to find many are in ‘NM’ (Near Mint) condition and I could easily pass them to be just that.
I have a further shipment of around 165 cards arriving next week from Germany again and that will be the end of my buying for now.
It's time to stash them away and wait. I still have around 400 from my last purchase to move, and this included some big cards like Legends which are spiking to stupid prices.
Don't take my word for it, but if you are a Magic the Gathering investor, the 'Reserved List' is your only safety net. These cards will continue to rise, as sure as we are going to keep paying taxes.
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If you found this article so invigorating that you are now a positively googly-eyed, drooling lunatic with dripping saliva or even if you liked it just a bit, then please upvote, comment, rehive, engage me or all of these things.
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Hehe. That's cool. We were big baseball card collectors back in the day. I think my old man has all the collections still.
You ever need to know any prices over here, just let me know. 🤣
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I saw all those baseball card stores in the US during the mid-90's when I lived there. They turned into Magic the Gathering ones as the game rapidly picked up pace. It was a question of right place, right time. I wish I still had my old collection. Those things are now worth thousands.
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I found this an interesting read... I did play MTG briefly when I was younger, but it was around the time the original Pokemon was first released. All my friends played Pokemon so I ultimately went with that instead.
I thought I had 'grown up' at 17 and got rid of them. And then at the ripe old age of 30 I decided I really wanted them again, made the mistake of finding old pokemon cards for sale on ebay and splurged £200 in a matter of weeks. I have mostly completed the original sets, and I still play with the newer cards now. Its a guilty pleasure, but me and my partner still enjoy playing...
I did go through a VERY brief phase of buying a full case (36?) of booster packs and opening them up and selling them individually, but the profit margins were so low that by the time I added postage costs I was barely breaking even.
When you say 36 packs, I'm guessing MtG. It's not worth doing anymore as the market is now too saturated. I still have masses to sell an it's a tidy second income for me.. though all the packing and shipping isn't so welcome. I occasionally have come across PokeMon cards but my knowledge is zero, while my MtG brain is quite vast as I started playing just as Antiquities were going out of print (April 1994).
Do you have any MtG cards still knocking about? They are still popular and will sell if you price them right.
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Sorry no, I wasn't very clear, the MtG cards are long gone. I was trying to sell the pokemon cards from the booster packs in a way that could 'fund my habit' (ie fork out £60 for the full case, keep some of the interesting cards for myself, and then flog the rest of the cards to cover the costs)
It turned out to be too much work involved for the actual reward, so I quit doing that, especially with profit margins so low.
That was also a flippin' faff.
I gave up and had a sort through all of my cards. I kept the original cards (Base set, Jungle, Fossil, Team Rocket) and the newest cards (printed in the last 2 years). The 20 years worth of dross inbetween those 2 periods was shoved into a job lot and sold.
I just stick to playing with them now.
[Thanks for the inspiration - there will be a couple of Pokemon posts appearing soon!]
I wouldn't know one from another. Hope there are some people on here who know what you're talking about... I have had problems doing MtG posts before.. they read like greek to some.
reminds me of the basketball card collection I have. I wasn't into mtg which maybe would have done well if I did :)
You are aware of them though, that's better than most people. I generally get, 'what', followed by a scratching of the head!
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Maybe I should finally check that list ;) Won't be a surprise if I threw away a card or two from it.
You should, people are looking at alternative investments in these dire times. Some of them have 10x in value.
Hmmm, a Femeref Enchantress and a Lotus Vale are gone for sure, pretty cheap in the second case. I think I got one Soraya, The Falconer somewhere...
Soraya, The Falconer is from Homelands.. a less than desirable set ... but that card again is gaining some ground. Will we ever get a Falcons theme in a future set.. if so...
Its Magic!
I post last week a bit of my collection and investments in Magic. It looks like we are many
There are few players and even fewer investors of MtG on HIVE. I rarely post about it as the audience generally doesn't understand all the jargon.
I see from your post, you have some of the old good stuff. I have one Revised Plateau left. It's not even NM, but it's real!
Nice, thats awesome. I think i should have some too :) Most revised cards for me are bulk. Never got big on them. Bought some more 10 years with some good cards in it :)
In the last time i looking for old tournament displays. Because there are super easy to flip and its also fun to play with them :D
Revised are getting like the new Unlimited... ie. sought after. Old tournament displays.. like the preset ones from Lorwyn etc..?
tournament with 75 cards up from 2000 and pre-constructed decks.
Revised sealed products i think they will skyrocked some times. I think they will be like today the little brother from unlimited.
What i really like to collect ( personal not for investing) is foreign limited.
These markets are interesting. If the better buyers are in the US then I guess you have to spend more on shipping. Is it worth doing bulk deals with people there? Have fun.
I feel for the US buyers as where I purchase my old stuff from, they can't as they need a EU address. We do have an advantage in terms of insight of what is going to be hot next, but due to the reprint policy I'm now cold on everything but the reserved list.
These are today's movers and shakers. Anything with an '*' is on the reserved list. It tells a story and you have to consider reserved list cards make up a tiny fraction of ALL the cards. Legends are doing well, but too expensive now. ALL those cards below are from OLD sets, most printed in the 90's
Very interesting. I wish I had been more involved in MTG from the beginning, but it sounds like it is more of a play for fun type thing now unless you are able to hold or get some of the cards like you are talking about.
I don't play anymore, haven't in years.. I just deal in them as they provide me with a small secondary income. It helps to have been involved in it the game from it's roots.
Upvoted and scrolled on ;-)
I know... too niche.. but it won't stop me writing more about it.
In all seriousness, that's why we need the 'mass adoption'...... try writing posts about trains lol ;-) Have a good weekend mate!
I couldn't agree more..., too much 'Tales of the Urban Explorer' lately... I feel like a one track writer!
Been a while since I said hello.. Hope your well. I know nothing of these cards, but can appreciate buying something for fun and then later selling it or them for a small profit. That's always kinda cool no matter how insignificant.
What??!! You should have seen this coming and made a BIGGER investment. haha. That's a pretty good return on investment though. Maybe not a huge cumulative return, but a return non the less.
Talk to ya again soon!! Have a great weekend sorting through those cards :D
Hello again, it has been a while.
Well I did, I have perhaps a couple of hundred of these but not all made it to $7. Some are $2-$3 but still it's not bad. If I wait longer they will go up more.. it's a case of how long and when do you want the return.
haha.. yes the story of my life. I usually am left holding the infamous "Bag"
Either way, It looks and sounds like fun. I have a ton of old Pokemon Cards and Vintage D&D cards.. I should really go through them before their value is in the toilet.
Some of these could be valuable, @dannnewton knows more about them.. I don't know of there is any equivalent of the reserved list.
I think the idea of having to look through each and every one of them and look them each up, is the part that keeps them in the box packed away. My interest in them is not what it was from so long ago. One day, I'll get them out and peak through them.. maybe when we get our first heavy snowfall.
@slobberchops - I like the panther/tiger one with the big boobs.