Rishadan Port has consistently had a mean price of under $40. Then someone did a buy out of all the rishadan ports online from what I understand [annoyed] speculating D&T would get more popular - which it did. That explains the spike around May 7th to a degree. Then the price held steady until around December 21st when it started rising, despite that being the spike of when death & taxes was doing well. It started doing worse as more people played TNN or decks that have a way to deal with TNN (zealous persecution, supreme verdict, engineered plague, liliana, more combo, etc). It kept climbing and then exploded around February 8th having what I think it the cards largest increase in mean price ever.

What's going on, where is this going? I'm fortunate that when I got back into mtg about 11 months ago I bought 3 of these for under $30 each, then in October traded what I felt was a lot for a 4th...but now jeez.

Sees play in good legacy decks (D&T, Lands, Goblins, etc.), casual card, even see it in Vintage occasionally.

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Originally posted by AGO:
Everybody wants to play the hottest deck. People are buying at this price. Magic is growing at such a rampant rate the amount of cards that we currently have cannot sustain the need for the general public so prices rise due to that. Port was just waiting in the shadows for its moment to shine.

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Originally posted by yodadoc1234:
I see it as a bubble is about to burst. While I enjoy a lot of my cards increasing in value; I do not enjoy the aspect that others can't enjoy or get into the game at the modern or legacy level. Playing the game for me is about fifty percent of the fun; trading is the other fifty percent.However, when prices get so out of whack- and Port is the perfect example- it really ruins the game in a lot of ways.People are supposed to have fun trading,playing and socializing in this game- not wondering how much of their paycheck they will need to buy one playset of cards. I'm not saying the cards can't have value;they have to if the game is to survive. However, something has to give eventually, prices or players. I am leaning towards the loss of players.

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Take it like this. Just at the PT there were snapcasters in ~60% of the possible 32 card slots in the top 8. Just imagine how many people will run the same or similar decks. The same thing happened to legacy lands. People want to play it and need cards. Dealers don't have said cards and thus have to buy. If they buy high they sell high. And once they cannot buy at that price they raise it and sell higher. Its been covered.

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Originally posted by yodadoc1234:
You guys really love hyperbole. The game cannot sustain the drastic increases forever.

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'the game' doesnt not just mean eternal. mtg is more popular now than ever. having expensive eternal staples is fine, as long as wotc also supports other formats. Modern, Standard, and Limited are also the only things that directly make wotc money, and are doing REALLY WELL right now. you should open your eyes.

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"He fights you not because you have wronged him, but because you are there."

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Originally posted by jbark:
Stop blaming SCG, TCG, eBay, ABU... its the players that you should blame for high prices.

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Or lack of creativity/card pools.

__________________
"Message to women worldwide: Girls....we're stupid. We don't like games. We don't know games. We can't read minds. Say it like you mean or STFU." -rockondon

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Originally posted by yodadoc1234:
You guys really love hyperbole. yodadoc1234 cannot sustain the drastic increases forever.

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Originally posted by yodadoc1234:
People are supposed to have fun trading,playing and socializing in this game- not wondering how much of their paycheck they will need to buy one playset of cards.

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Then they should probably be focusing on their career rather than MtG if they can't afford the cards they want.

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Originally posted by Godswill:
Then they should probably be focusing on their career rather than MtG if they can't afford the cards they want.

Here's something interesting to think about- as the game grows older and more expensive (for the older formats) the players also grow older. Most people start off playing the game as kids, but as they grow older, they will have jobs/careers that allows them to sustain a higher level of spending on Magic. Thus, the death of a format due to prices won't be as quick as you might think. For the most part as spending power increases, your willingness to deal with high prices also increases.

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LOL. What? I get where you're going, but what you're saying is bull****.

__________________
"Message to women worldwide: Girls....we're stupid. We don't like games. We don't know games. We can't read minds. Say it like you mean or STFU." -rockondon

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Originally posted by Godswill:

Here's something interesting to think about- as the game grows older and more expensive (for the older formats) the players also grow older. Most people start off playing the game as kids, but as they grow older, they will have jobs/careers that allows them to sustain a higher level of spending on Magic. Thus, the death of a format due to prices won't be as quick as you might think. For the most part as spending power increases, your willingness to deal with high prices also increases.

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Like stated above, I understand where you are going, but this is spewing pure garbage.

Just because I make more money, or get older and thus get a better job, does NOT mean I nor anyone else is willing to fork over more money.

Just to poke a hole in that argument...you didn't factor in marriage, mortgage, kids, etc etc etc....You might make more in your 40's than you do in your 20's...but your bills might be a hell of a lot higher, too.

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Originally posted by daner:
Like stated above, I understand where you are going, but this is spewing pure garbage.

Just because I make more money, or get older and thus get a better job, does NOT mean I nor anyone else is willing to fork over more money.

Just to poke a hole in that argument...you didn't factor in marriage, mortgage, kids, etc etc etc....You might make more in your 40's than you do in your 20's...but your bills might be a hell of a lot higher, too.

Simply..."I make more money so I can afford to pay higher prices" is not a good argument.

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Originally posted by daner:
Like stated above, I understand where you are going, but this is spewing pure garbage.

Just because I make more money, or get older and thus get a better job, does NOT mean I nor anyone else is willing to fork over more money.

Just to poke a hole in that argument...you didn't factor in marriage, mortgage, kids, etc etc etc....You might make more in your 40's than you do in your 20's...but your bills might be a hell of a lot higher, too.

Simply..."I make more money so I can afford to pay higher prices" is not a good argument.

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I'll try to put this in economic terms then.

Let's assume Magic is a normal good, you'll buy more as your income increases. If you're not an idiot, then chances are your income increases at a higher rate than card prices increase.

Yes, there will be substitution effects that prevent you from buying as many Magic cards as you would without price increases, BUT given an higher income, you CAN and probably WILL buy more cards because it increases your overall happiness (i.e. utility). I am of course assuming here that the income effect is in total greater than the substitution effect, but I think it's a safe assumption unless you have absolutely NO earning power.

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Originally posted by Godswill:
Sure kids and mortgage will lower your effective income, but marriage should effectively INCREASE your income. How does it make any sense that you lose income by getting married?

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You're still missing the point. Let's say I make more money when I do get married. That doesn't necessarily change my willingness to drop $100s on Polluted Deltas, dual lands or whatever happens to be hot right now.

For instance, just because I can buy a Playstation 4 doesn't mean I will.

BTW, you made a huge supposition in your attempt to relate to economic terms.

__________________
"Message to women worldwide: Girls....we're stupid. We don't like games. We don't know games. We can't read minds. Say it like you mean or STFU." -rockondon

Take it like this. Just at the PT there were snapcasters in ~60% of the possible 32 card slots in the top 8. Just imagine how many people will run the same or similar decks. The same thing happened to legacy lands. People want to play it and need cards. Dealers don't have said cards and thus have to buy. If they buy high they sell high. And once they cannot buy at that price they raise it and sell higher. Its been covered.

So basically most of you expect the price to keep going up, but nobody has indicated how quickly. I think it's interesting how big of a jump legacy staples have been making over the last year.

I personally think Port will stay around its current price point b/c I don't expect D&T to get more popular than it was before TNN was printed UNLESS Brimaz and Spirit make an impact that gets through the Zealous Persecution hate etc right now. I could be wrong.

A little note in reference to some of the comments I'm seeing. Just because your income increases doesn't mean you are willing to spend more on Magic. When I first joined this site I was in college and used all my extra money to get into this game buying Moxen, Lotus, etc. Now I make EDIT *enough* a year and am about to be engaged to a doctor yet I refuse to play Elves in legacy b/c I refuse to spend the going rate on a set Gaea's cradles.

As you make more money, your priorities and expenses go up. I have a mortgage, a car, I'll have to pay for a wedding, I am trying to increase savings. One thing you didn't state is that usually as ADULTs make more money they increase their contributions to 401k, Roth IRA by a corresponding amount/increase. Also, your wife may be ok with you spending money on your hobby with your combined income...but don't assume when you get married you're suddenly making more money and will spend your wife's money on your hobby. She should have hobbys too. You don't sound like you're in a successful marriage (guessing never been married).

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Originally posted by James_Hetfield2:
Yeah I don't expect regular versions to go up too much more.

Its not on the Reserved list either, cmon reprint of some kind

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