Artifacts are everywhere as the Scars of Mirrodin events are unfolding on MTGO, we see a huge crowd of players trying to get the chase cards from Magic‘s most recent release. This is usually the time where you can make (or lose) the most money with buying, selling, and trading the right or wrong cards. Card values are very volatile, and a bulk rare can quickly become an all-star.
Of course, I did my share of trading for this column during the Prerelease madness and hope that I have scored more hits then misses! The session started favorable as one fellow user was kind enough to provide some Scars of Mirrodin bulk for me without charge! Sadly, I was excited enough about it that I forget to hit the “PrtSc” button on time, so we are left without record of the transaction. It contained nothing of real value, but I found someone that was hunting down some of the “Infect” creatures from the set and was willing to pay for it.
The next trade is hard to valuate just yet, but it seemed that the SoM duals were going quite low for the newest lands on the block. I have not really made up my mind on these newer “enter the battlefield tapped, sort of” lands, but hopefully the 3 tickets I spent will not be wasted.
As with most Rags columns, I did the rounds on my favorite automated traders. My regular bot check led to a nice finding in the promo and foil section; both Goblin Guide and Plow Under appeared to be underpriced. Promos and foils have always been a weakness of mine, so I snatched up these shinies!
The next card was expensive for my budget but probably worth it; a foil SoM Sword of Body and Mind for 7 tickets. I might have to hold on to it for a while but I am pretty sure I will sell it for more.
I also grabbed 3x Scars of Mirrodin Boosters for 12 tickets. These might sell for 13 during the early Draft events, and if not, it will be very easy to get rid of them without a loss.
Finally, I finished this session with a promo and a dual for 3 tickets. The promos usually go very low during the prerelease events and rise in value when they are done (if the card is playable in tournaments). The Wurmcoil Engine is a pretty strong card, so we hope for the best with this foily purchase. 
With so much action in the classifieds, this week was quick and drained our ticket account pretty much to dry- selling is our priority again. I don’t think it makes a lot of sense to post values of the collection as the Scars cards will most likely fluctuate a lot and I would rather wait until I can sell some of them to see the value in “hard coin.”
I am curious what you believe will be the sleepers of the set. Is there anything that is bulk right now you think will be a rising star? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Until then,
Plejades
he paid a ticket for 4 infect creatures >_>
Players that advertise such buy offers during prerelease events are very much aware that they are overpaying. They just want the cards NOW and not later and therefore pay a premium.
Many people paid several tickets for a Wall of Omens when RoE was released and some do the same right now for Memnite.
I have had a good time reading your articles. I have read others, but I enjoy following you on your journey. You inspired me to start speculating to great success so far.
As SOM came out I bought:
10x pyromancer ascension @ 1 each == just sold for 36 tix total
1x memoricide @ 1 == just sold for 5.5 tix
1x argentum armor @ 1 == just sold for 3.5
2x ezuri @ 2 each == just sold for 3.75 each
2x Frost titan @ 8 == just checked the price, can sell for 11.3 to bots (holding onto these)
4x Foil Archive trap @ 1.4 each == am holding onto these in case I play this deck, but their value is up from 1.4 for sure
2x Stoneforge Mystic @ 4.5 each == slight profit on these so far, I am holding onto them too
But as you can see, even if I make no more sales and keep the cards I have left, I am still way over in terms of profit. Honestly, this is just a start of what I have actually sold. So far in the last seven days I have made > 75 tixs.
I wanted to thank you for inspiring me and I wanted to let people know that if they study trends and trust their instincts; this can really work.
In one trade say like ” I only have 3 Tix…” Was that the truth?
@Sukottosan
Did you buy all those before or after the paper version was released? Thats alot of tixs in just one week.
I’ve always heard of people paying premiums for cards but, never had any proof of it my self cause for some weird reason I’m always busy during these release events.
@Anonymous: Yes, that was the truth. I spend nearly all my tix during that last session and will have to sell mostly next time.
@Neros: I bought them after the paper release.
Hi, I’ve been following this series for a while and I alway wondered how is it that you find good deals on bots. Do you scroll through every bot in mtgo or do you have a list of bots or some organized way to do it? Keep up the good work and gl on reching the FoW.
That was after the paper release; I don’t follow what happens with in the paper world at all, parallels exist, but I find that online and paper trading are really different.
I bought the pyros after seeing the pyromancer ascension archive trap deck and saw how it functioned against the top decks; vs titans, valaramp, u/w control.
Even if this deck isn’t necessarily the best, people were always looking to try and make a good pyro deck anyway, this just opened the doors back up.
I don’t expect to make another 75 tix anytime soon, after release is the optimal time to buy.
here’s how I see it:
rares after release of a set go up quickly, buy the ones that seem useful
for example:
memoricide works against the biggest issue you have lately (getting rid of emrakul or other eldrazi)
the elves deck has been hyped lately, ezuri is obviously going to fit in
mimic vat has been hyped and is awesome in so many ways, they were selling for 1 last weekend, 7 now
But they will drop soon after due to the fact that they are just rares and drafters will flood the market over the next few weeks. Mythics that are good, should stay up longer, however, high priced mythics tend to drop because they tend to start at an overpriced cost.
Also, frost titan showed up so consistently in good decks that the price continues to climb.
Anyway, let me apologize, I have learned much of this from Plejades and other who write market articles, it is good to have a strong background and you can do a lot.