Total Trade Count: 206,966
Total Foil Count: 3,744
So the hype train is coming on strong with another EDH Masters set. I know, that is what others are calling it but based on the cards that are getting spoiled it does look like a really good set for us EDH players. The only thing I am not happy about is that most of the cards are first print cards, so I need to try and get a playset.
With that, it also is not a rotating set, so there will not be a lower price point at which I can plan to pick up the left over cards I need after I open my booster box. I do plan on picking up at least 4 boxes on release, but like Conspiracy and Battlebond this will be a "Print to Demand" set, which only means that if stores run out they will print more to sell to the stores.
What I have seen with these sets is that it does kick off pretty well, but then dies down quite quick. After the initial rush people move on to the next sets, but luckily WoTC is releasing this set at the right time to keep it moving through the summer. The only thing we really have to look forward to after this release is Spellbook, Core, and Commander. With those three releases in the near future it looks like Modern Horizon could have a nice 3 month runway.
Spellbook is just a lower version of From the Vault, and frankly they should have released it closer to the WAR release. Core 2020 is going to be stale because that is what it is supposed to be, and used just to support the Standard environment. It should not be a hot seller, but WoTC might make it more important by putting more power in the set, but I doubt they will go back to 2010 cards. And then Commander is Commander. That will just sell like it always does, people will speculate on it, and EDH players will pick it up no matter what, but it is nothing special.
This means that Modern Horizon has a better chance than Battlebond, Conspiracy: Take the Crown, and Conspiracy.
Conspiracy: June 2014
Going back to the first Conspiracy it was just a dud release because no one was really sure what this draft specific set was all about. It was interesting, but not as interesting as Fetch reprints in Khans of Tarkir, so most people just waited for the Khans release. I can recall my dread thinking that they were going to be releasing a new Conspiracy set every other year following each new Master set release. Boy was I fucking wrong on the Masters sets.
Conspiracy: Take the Crown: August 2016
June 2016 - Eternal Masters
July 2016 - Eldritch Moon
Aug 2016 - Conspiracy: Take the Crown
Sept 2016 - Kaladesh
This was doomed to fail as a release.
Trailing on the insane release of Wasteland, Mana Crypt, and Force of Will in Eternal Masters there was the hype of finding out that Emrakul is coming back in Eldritch Moon. Then this new Conspiracy sets hits while we are finding out about Masterpieces in the new steam punk world of Kaladesh. There is no way in the world this set was going to sell much at all.
Eldritch Moon had the same fate. I personally feel that Eldritch Moon was a great set, with great value, but considering what it had to compete with I was able to pick up booster boxes at $65 from my LGS because it was not selling at all.
I think there was some small fan fair with the second release of Conspiracy. I just know that this was one of those products that I just picked up 4 boxes on pre-order, opened up 2 boxes, and left it at that. This was also one of the sets that I picked up a playset of the first prints and right now I am very happy I did that. All in all, it was a silent release.
Battlebond: June 2018
So let's really get in-depth on this one. At the beginning of 2018, it is the 25th Anniversary of Magic the Gathering and to start off the year we are gasping for a breath because of the failed release of Iconic Masters, and we had just been smacked in the face with success of Unstable. We were all looking forward to GP Las Vegas, and everything looked rosy. We knew we were going back to Dominaria, a set that Sir Richard Garfield was heavily involved in.
By no means did we really know what we had in store for us until it exploded our minds with the pure genius of the set itself. Everyone was in the hype that was Dominaria. It was a magical set that engulfed everyone it was in contact with. To this day I still think there is hype for this set, and I am pretty sure this set will continue to live as one of the best sets ever made, but that set the tone for the entire year. It was the year of Dominaria, and that is what happened to Battlebond.
Masters 25 was released soon after, and instead of following in the footsteps of Dominaria and the aura of the 25th Anniversary, the set followed in the shadow of shitty ass Master sets. Now in reality I do not think that any of the Masters sets are crappy, but with the glory of Dominaria everything else just seemed like crap. I honestly think Masters 25 was a good Masters set, but as Masters sets go there are only 2 "poor" ones, and this is considered one of them.
Then we get hit with the last Duel Deck, and the thud was pretty quiet. There was a slight cheer when this product went away, as WoTC just failed to deliver on any value with this product. But not to worry, they were able to make it worse and came out with the first Global Series dual decks. Who would have thought that they could not possibly make the duel deck product worse, but they did.
Then the bright light of Commander was supposed to make everything better! And for some reason it did not pop, folks were still disappointed with the set. The Loyal cycle was a toilet flush away from a good poop, and there was no real lift in EDH play. The lack of an EDH chase card was a problem, and the commanders were considered less than stellar. Commander Anthology did come with some excitement, but it was quick lived. It sold out pretty quick and pretty much everyone picked up the product.
Spellbook: Jace was just a huge disappointment only from the fact that they lost a chance to really excite people about this product. They could have used some really great Jace based cards to really insure this first release product would make an impact, but instead WoTC decided to just dull us with the cards in the set. From the Vault it was not, and they sure wanted to make sure they increase the value of those FTV sets with the poor replacement product.
Core 2019 is released and Core sets are back......... I for one was super happy they brought this set back, only to say that there is a product I do not need to go out and buy a lot of. It is pretty sad when I hope they release crap products because then I can just spend a little bit of money on. This product needs to be there, but in no sense did this make an impact on the value of product being released in 2018. It is one of those products I can try and pick up slowly.
Nuzzed in there was the release of Battlebond. Another set that was considered Commander Masters, with a wicked good land cycle. Some first print cards that really looked good, but the big call up was the reprints that were sorely needed for EDH. Marketed as a 2 Headed Giant sealed set, it was not sought after at all. Just another dud for the years of duds. No one cared about this product.
Except for me!
https://dogonsiereht-mtg.blogspot.com/2018/06/and-then-there-are-weekends-like-these.html
Not that I went into great detail of what I thought of the set, but I did point out what I really wanted with this set, and reasons why I went and picked up more than I normally pick up. Right now I am sitting on 8 extra booster boxes of this set and I plan on holding them for quite some time.
But as you can see, I am trying to point out the feel of 2018, and that Dominaria pretty much ruled the entire year, and that Battlebond got caught up in the hype cycle that I still feel to this day. Dominaria had such a positive effect on the MTG community, it was hard to let go. Everything that followed it was just fodder to those feels.
Even now in 2019, I get the feeling that come fall time, there will be a nostalgic feeling for what Dominaria did. It brought in new players to feel what the old MTG players used to feel. It brought the feels to the older players, back to the day on how it once was. And it forced players that left, to come back just to catch a glimmer of what they fell in love with so long ago.
Modern Horizon
Enter this set and there are a lot of things going for this set. Most first print cards, with some juicy adds to the Modern Meta with older reprints, a very good land cycle, and the return of Slivers! Not only with the long runway with only this product being in the hype cycle, it could sell a lot of packs and not get over shadowed with more releases.
Now you could say that what I am writing is opposite of what I am saying will happen, and the success for the set will not really be the success for MTG collectors. With a good runway like it has, more people will be interested in this set, and will have the opportunity to pick up some packs, while in the other 3 sets I mentioned did not get the runway and folks just seemed to forget about them. In turn, that is what is driving the value up because of scarcity.
This is all true, but what I am saying is that Modern Horizon will be a hit because of this runway. It will not be a hidden gem, but a successful release of a new MTG product. Does that mean it is less valuable? I do not think so. It just means more people will have the product in hand, and therefore there will be other opportunities to make collecting this product easier. I am saying that the timing of the release of this product will make this a more popular set because players will be able to actually enjoy this product. WoTC is doing a good job with this product and giving it a nice runway to be able to pick up product and open.
But also with that being said, I do not think it will be like the Conspiracy and Battlebond sets. Those were lost releases that no one paid attention to. MH1 will be different, and there will be funds thrown at this product without any other hype taking away from it. So it might be in between a Masters set and a set like Battlebond, but it will see some play. Not to mention that it is a Modern product so folks will like it. And like I mentioned before, it is shaping up to be a good EDH product, so that alone will make it a hit.
Having that higher price tag and only getting 24 packs per booster box makes it feel like a Masters set, but with the print to demand policy we get the Conspiracy feel. And since it is for a non-rotating Meta we could be seeing this set for quite some time, and with nothing else in the hopper for a while we could see a lot of this set in the marketplace.
Honestly my plan is to sit on the sealed product I will grab on release, and only open the single Booster Box. I could pick up more sealed product later on if I find a lot of joy in the set, but for now I am making very slow moves with this set. I am looking forward to the singles market 60 days after release, and hope to finish up my playsets pretty quick. Then I expect after two years the sealed prices to increase when the supply dries up, and the singles will start to go up even further after four years.
The demand is higher so you cannot think of this set like the other non-rotating sets, but you cannot think of this product like a limited supply Masters set. The value exists in the set, and there is some good Hype for it. In the end, my money is on War of the Spark but Modern Horizon is something I will pick up and I have no fear of it losing too much value.
Now that is over, let's see what I pulled in!
Ok these are some cards that I was very happy to get in, not for the cards, but for what I did to get them in. In CardSphere you are able to set the price, and then you can just wait for someone to send you the cards at the price you want. I added these to my Want list back on release and I set the price to post rotation pricing. My goal was to sit back and wait to see how accurate I was in my pricing the cards I wanted. That way, someone could send me the cards earlier than rotation, but I was really trying to force my insight at what I valued the cards at, and then see how accurate I was. So my pleasure was the fact that it worked!
Two more! Only two to go and I am done with my Guild Pack basic land sets!
Just finishing up my Player Promos!
This one is interesting just from the fact that USPS does not lose mail. It just took quite some time, and the sender reached out to me questioning my address. After some back and forth, it ended up getting returned to him and he sent it out again. I am not saying they never lose mail, but it happens very rarely.
No comments:
Post a Comment