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What I'm Selling / Playing in Modern


I would like to re-introduce myself to you all. My last article was a rant, I understand that. But this isn't a place for rants. You want statistics and numbers. I owned my own hedge fund at 18 and worked for one as recently as two months ago. When I was a kid, my family was very poor and I had to make due with the cards I had. I had to become a very good trader very quickly because it was always, "whichever kid had the most money won." It was my ability to become a good trader that got me onto the Pro Tour at the age of 13 playing a mono-blue deck with all counterspells, Rishidan Ports, Grindstone, and a singular creature. 

"Pay to Win" was the reason I quit Magic the first time. When I returned to the game it was the exact same thing, except this time I could use algorithims and the trend-watching I learned working in the stock market and easily apply it to Magic. Even to this day, people message me on Magic Online about what cards to buy and sell, and I am always happy to share with people what I know. I think I have done pretty well trading online and I hit my peak making around 5,000 tickets thanks to Bogles.

That's why I want to write articles for you guys: I want an even playing field, and I can teach people how to trade, invest, etc., and be on the same playing field as the guy who has the foiled-out Miracles deck. 

Modern Cards I'm Buying / Holding

Lately I have been selling all of my paper cards. Well not all, I am picking and choosing which specific cards to hold onto, and I do have a collection of cards from twenty years ago that I will not touch. But I am selling all my Standard cards, a good majority of my Modern cards, and I am very willing to give up my extra Legacy stuff for the insanely high prices they are commanding. 

First up, let me talk about why I am selling Modern cards. 

Modern Masters II is coming out soon, and we all saw the prices of a lot of the random Modern cards, cards like Kira, Great Glass Spinner, Arcbound Ravager, and Spell Snare to name a few. So I'm making a bet while the prices are still relatively high and selling what I have in Modern while holding onto only a few specific cards. 

The Modern cards I am holding onto:

 

Leyline of Sanctity

Leyline of Sanctity is just one of those do-all sideboard cards that I don't see them reprinting even though I believe they should. It's multi-format playable and as long as Red Deck Wins is a legitimate deck, this card will always see play in my sideboard. In Legacy it beats a number of decks (think Smallpox, Omni-Tell, RDW), and to a certain extent, it can even beat UR Delver. In Modern it beats Scapeshift, RDW, Jund (to a certain extent), and a few random Eggs-style decks that happen to be running around. 

While you may think you are paying a premium for this card, you are actually buying this card at the correct time. There is something called chartology in the stock market, and that is checking whether a stock will drop of fall based upon the chart. The chart for Leyline of Sanctity on Magic Online suggests that this card is at its middle, which might be a bottom for the card since it is coming off it's 52-week high. In paper, it is on a very consistent upward swing. I don't think they will reprint a Leyline cycle in Modern Masters 2015 because there are ten of them. This is a tier-1 card and the best sideboard card in Magic. It's worth the money and not worth selling. 

 

Scapeshift

Scapeshift is just one of those insanely resilient decks that is rarely effected by bans. It's only Modern playable, as the Legacy Scapeshift Nic-Fit deck never took off as a real deck. I don't see it getting reprinted in Modern Masters 2015 because it's a card you can't really play unless you are on a weird five color deck. Either way, I don't see this card being reprinted and the deck itself won't lose a ton of value even if Dig Through Time or Treasure Cruise is banned. Scapeshift was good before and will continue to be good after any announcements.

 

Shock Lands

I'm not going to go over any charts here for the shock lands. If you play Modern, you should have four of each, and to be honest, I see them as very cheap at the moment. Don't trade them away because you think Modern might die off as a format or because of the influx of fetches. Just own all 40 of them so don't have to scramble before a tournament and pay a premium. 

 

Fetch Lands (but only 3 of them)

$ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00

These are the three most played of the Zendikar fetch lands: Scalding Tarn, Misty Rainforest, and Verdant Catacombs are twelve cards I want to hold onto. If you notice, I also chose the two blue ones, because when all else fails, get things that are blue related. They tend to retain their value the best. 

 

Thoughtseize

 

Thoughtseize is the best (or second best) discard card in the game. It's not going anywhere, and while I can honestly see them reprinting this eventually, it's a card that any black deck will be running a playset of. You want them for Legacy and Modern. I'm not sure if it is still popular in Standard, but nothing is better than your opponent thinking he has the perfect opening hand and you just ripping it to shreds. 

Modern Cards I'm Selling

Now that is all I am holding onto from Modern. I have a scapeshift deck, a few scattered Modern cards, and about one thousand Lingering Souls. Everyone has a card or two they really really like; I have binders of Lingering Souls and Restoration Angel, the best art in the game. I wish Restoration Angel saw more play, but that doesn't mean I will stop liking it.   

So this is what you guys really want to hear. What am I unloading from Modern? It's a chunk, but I'll stick to the biggest stuff, or the cards I think people are going to get hosed on. 

Noble Hierarch

If you want to pick one up, it seems like this card is on a huge downward swing. Now saying a $64.99 card is on the downswing seems a little weird, but based on chartology, it seems that on Magic Online this card hit a top of 44.70 tickets and then hit a bottom of 23.60 tickets. Chartology would suggest this card attempted to reach its high again when it hit 42.40 tickets, and then immediately took a downswing. It seems like it can't reach its high and will drop back down into the 20 ticket range. Now it could be dropping because this is almost a guarantee to be reprinted in Modern Masters 2015, or it could be dropping because people maindeck so much burn nowadays that cards like Birds of Paradise are seeing less play in Birthing Pod. This will go from a 3-of to most likely a 2-of. And if people start playing Sylvan Caryatid in Pod (something I have been suggesting for a while), then this might fade off into nothing. I was happy to unload my four to my local store. I just don't see good things for the price of this card in the future. 

 

Linvala, Keeper of Silence

Linvala, Keeper of Silence was already only a 1-of in every deck it saw play in. If Treasure Cruise is banned, this will be a card in demand. However, I can see this getting a reprint in Modern Masters 2015. This would be the perfect card for all the people who would move from UR Delver to Splinter Twin. But it's still a 1-of, and if you look at Modern PTQ season, it didn't break the $50 mark and I don't see it doing so anytime in the near future. I was glad to sell my extras for around $45-ish.        

 

Damnation

Damnation is such a weird card. Everyone was saying this would definitely be reprinted in Modern Masters. Now everyone is saying it will be reprinted in Modern Masters 2015. People even thought it would be the card reprinted in THS that eventually turned out to be Thoughtseize. To be honest, it's a pointless card in most respects since it is a powerful effect that has no home in any competitive format. It's a card that I really never traded and people didn't want to trade for it due to its $40 price tag. Just based on the speculation that it could be in Modern Masters 2015, I got rid of this card because it was burning a hole in my binder and I had no need for it. I took the money and ran. I think you should too because if there is even the slightest hint of a reprint, it will drop to the $15-$20 area and you will lose $15-20 just based on speculation. Now if you want to buy, wait for it to drop to the $15 range based on speculation.

 

Dark Confidant

Yeah, I am jumping off the Jund train in Legacy. I also just don't like the card right now. It has taken a massive drop on Magic Online since it no longer seeing play, and as long as burn is popular, this card will be unpopular. I don't see a place for this card in any format at the moment. I have turned my Legacy Jund deck into BUG because I like Baleful Strix more than Dark Confidant to go along with Tarmogoyf, and it allows me to play both Lilianna of the Veil and Jace, the Mind Sculptor. I suggest you try playing these cards together, it's fun.

Mono Black Smallpox

Next time I'll talk about other formats. I wanted to cover Modern first since it's the format with the most movement due to the influx of news for Modern Masters 2015, the reprinting of fetch lands, and the release of Ugin, the Spirit Dragon (which could see playing in a slight resurgence of Tron). 

Before I go, I want to mention two things:

1. I think you should have a playset of:

$ 0.00 $ 0.00   $ 0.00 $ 0.00 .

If you don't already own them, I'm not sure why. These are the two best cards in the current Standard format that will see a lot of play moving forward. My team is testing decks incase Dig Through Time is banned, and Keranos, God of Storms has been amazing as a 2-of in Scapeshift. It has even been a win condition and is constant damage/draw which Scapeshift desperately needs. 

2. This is my fun Modern deck. I play it when I want to ruin people's days. I have friends who refuse to play me when I play this deck because it's frustrating to play against. 

The sideboard consists of an extra ensnaring bridge, Buried Ruin, Leyline of Sanctity, Relic of Progenitus, and the two best ones:

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

This is a great card for decks where discard is good against. But it works amazingly with my favorite card:

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

This card will ruin the day for everyone you play. 

 

I suggest you give this deck a try. It's fairly cheap and it wins a lot. I have won way too many 8-mans with this deck, and you can port this deck very easily to Legacy. 

Until next time, check out my twitch stream TERROl2. I will be playing Merfolk in both Modern and Legacy. It's so amazingly good that it just has to be fattening. 

  



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