Monday, September 3, 2012

Post-Toronto Market Watch

Well it has been a crazy past few days on the card value front with the past YCS- I made my eBay purchasing decisions on Saturday after reading Konami's coverage and of course DGz's Toronto thread. Some of the notable price hikes include:

1. Grandsoil
At first I was skeptical about picking up copies of this after reading Jeff Jones was 6-2 with the deck. I remember him doing about the same at a previous YCS with Nordics, and although I was going to go ham on buying up Nordic stuff, I just decided to (thankfully) pass, for what ever reason. Since he didn't end up topping, Nordic prices didn't really go anywhere. I was hoping this wouldn't be a repeat performance but I took the gamble anyway. This time around, getting 2nd place with the deck is basically just as good as when he famously won with Quickdraw back in the day. Over night, Drill Warrior's price went from like $5 to $30+. I purchased two Grandsoil @ basically $13 (hopefully the sellers actually send them lol) and currently the cheapest Buy-It-Now's are $45. Completed's have show their range from like $37-45.
Future outlook: Well chances are that we don't have to worry about a reprint any time soon, however I'm not sure if he'll keep the high value he currently has since he's rather specific in decks he can be ran in. My recommendation would be to sell while he's so high. He's good but no Tour Guide in terms of splashability.

2. Shock Master
Personally I was valuing mine at around $25 for quite a while, and my copies basically sat in my binder ever since I got them. I traded one, sold one, and purchased one for like $15. With current Wind-Ups being able to make this guy with ease (and OTK to boot), he also has seen quite the boost in value. Cheapest Buy-It-Now is hovering around $70 and Completed's range from $43 to 93 lol.
Now I hate to sound preachy and don't want to seem like I'm talking down to people, but basically since the introduction of Shonen Jump promo cards (both magazine and subscription), it has always been worth it to subscribe. In the printed days, most of the times the magazine promos you got throughout the year paid for the subscription, and when you take into consideration the subscription-only promo, it's just plusses. REDMD and Hyper Librarian saw some really high values. Ever since Shonen Jump moved to digital, it was obvious that the days where you could just walk in to your grocery store and nab up the latest promo were long gone. This should've been a huge flag for people- track record has shown that subscription promos have always paid for themselves. Would it be completely unrealistic of Konami to release a tourney-worthy promo in a digital-only magazine? Absolutely not. If you are someone that seeks to make profit off this game, subscribing to SJ for $26 a year is one of the easiest things you can do. For that price you could've had 2 Shock Masters (this may have been a slip-up on their part though, or perhaps an intentional one), rather than trying to pick them up for what they are now. I personally pay for 2 subscriptions, myself and for my sister, but realistically I should sign up for more.
The thing about Shock Master, is if you had asked anyone 3 months ago if they thought he'd see much play in anything outside of Offering Gadgets, they probably would've said no, as I would've as well. Vampire used to like going into him so much last format with Wind-Ups and I thought he was crazy for doing so - guess he stumbled onto something before the vast majority!
Future outlook: Wind-Ups aren't going anywhere unless it gets hated out on to an extreme (I'm talking beyond Maxx C and Veiler). There are some murmurings that Shonen Alpha promos may be reprinted at a faster rate than what old Shonen promos were, but nothing has been confirmed to verify that yet. Due to the nature of the source, the amount of copies of this guy are very limited and will undoubtedly stay in high-demand. Again, it may be wise to sell while it's high though due to the phenomenon known as reprints. Wave 2.5 tin perhaps?

3. Gear Gigant X
This guy was touted as the "money card" of Return of the Duelist and guess what, it is. Right after the sneak copies were dipping down to around the $45 mark, but due to the overall successful debut of Geargia, cheapest Buy-It-Now is $75. Completed's range from $55-90.
Future outlook: I am fairly confident that Machines will continue to be popular in the early part of the format. The thing about Machines though is it is easy to hate out against them in the form of Cydra+Chimera, and System Down. However Gigant X helps the various Machine variants with card advantage so much that it's basically an archetype staple and anyone running Machines will want this guy. I expect him to relatively maintain its value until a reprint. I've picked up two copies for my teammates, it is probably too late for me to hop on this moneytrain.

4. Geargiarmor
Card advantage is an understatement when it comes to Geargiarmor. Being a Super rare, he can be seen as the "Hornet" of Geargia since I believe he's also the heart of the Geargia lineup. I purchased two sets at about $7.50 per copy, and now Completeds show them at anywhere between $10 and 15. Hoping they hit that Hornet peak range of $25-30 :)
Future outlook: Anyone with an intent of running a Geargia variant will need a full playset. Usually cards that fall into this category keep a good value, especially when it belongs to a competitive archetype. I'd personally be happy to sell them at $20 a copy if it's fortunate enough that they go up that high.

Those are the cards that I've either personally picked up or seen dramatically rise in value. Pick 'em up if you can!




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