The reserved list hype looks like past its peak, and as Battlebond spoilers are pouring in we can report a few very interesting spikes this week!
#1 Krark's Thumb $9.99 (+422.39) ALL TIME HIGH
Battlebond has given us interesting and surprising new cards to tinker with. And like every time when new mechanics and keywords are announced, this causes some interesting movements on the markets since people try to find cards that have synergy with new printed toys.
The partner mechanic is (together with assist) the most interesting in the set. It allows you to draw into one of the two partners, but you are allowed to search your library for the other partner and put it into your hand. And of all the partner cards in Battlebond one dynamic duo in particular seems to have caught the eye of players and speculators: Zndrsplt, Eye of Wisdom
and Okaun, Eye of Chaos.
Cards that let you flip a coin always have an attraction to people who like to test their luck and bet on the best outcome. When you win flips the results are great. But when you are in bad luck, your strategy instantly fails or disappoints. If you want to have a stable and consistent deck, it is better to avoid all cards that don't give you a guaranteed good outcome. Gamble being one of the cards that has become popular and sees tournament play despite it being a real and actual Gamble to play it.
But Magic would not be Magic if somewhere in its history an obscure card was printed that helps you out with that. Lets go 15 years back into the future, to a simpler time, without smartphones, tablets and privacy policy updates. In 2003 Krark's Thumb
was printed. And behold: the 2003 solution to your 2018 Battlebond problems. By playing Krark's Thumb you can greatly improve your chances for good results with your dynamic coin flipping duo.
Krark's Thumb's spike is not only driven by organic demand. Speculators have moved on the card as well. Krark's Thumb is one of those cards you just know is going to at least $5 or maybe even $10 at a certain point. You just have to wait until something is printed that makes the card worthwhile enough to put into a deck. It took 15 years, but here we are.
#2 Chance Encounter $14.97 (+287.82%) ALL TIME HIGH
Let us go back into time another 2 years, for another card that exploits coin flipping in a completely different way: Chance Encounter. There are not that many alternative wins in Magic, and Chance Encounter is one of the more obscure ones to be sure. Since its printing its price has been slowly creeping up since every Magic card that has the words "you win the game" printed on it is more collectable than cards that don't say that. Everyone that cracks a booster with an alternative win card in it will ask him/herself: can I make this work?.
Over the years people have of course tried to make Chance Encounter work. But with the printing of Zndrsplt, Eye of Wisdom and Okaun, Eye of Chaos a whole new range of possibilities has opened up for this alternative win to really work consistently. And even better: it works well with Krark's Thumb too. If you have both partners on the battlefield plus Krark's Thumb, you flip 4 coins per turn. Add some other tricks/ cards to either flip some more coins or add counters and you have a fun, but elaborate way to win some games of Magic.
Another interesting observation with both Krark's Thumb and Chance Encounter is that the European prices lag far behind the US prices. Krark's Thumb is only €0.73 versus its $9.99 price tag. And Chance Encounter is only €1.76 verus the $14.97 in the US. Many people ask us why these differences are so big. This is one of the reasons: we index the MagicCardMarket.eu (MKM). MKM is a site where individuals can buy and sell their cards. On MKM it is much harder to buyout all cards since you have to buy from a great number of individuals that each have a small stock of cards. On MKM it is not so easy to just buy 40 copies of a single card from a single vendor. It can happen, but it is far less common. Therefore, the European prices react slower and are less vulnerable to spikes and buyouts. Especially with Krark's Thumb and Chance Encounter you instantly see the difference.
#3 Underground Sea $600.43 (+15.27%) ALL TIME HIGH
Dual lands are among the most iconic cards in Magic, and they are the fundament on which Legacy and Vintage are built. As both formats keep being popular and even getting more popular over time we know that duals will never be reprinted since they are on the reserved list.
The current reserved list mayhem was first visible with dual lands. A few months back all of them started showing up in our daily and weekly interest lists. Something that normally doesn't happen. Well, it did not stop there. With some up and downs all duals keep trending up, with Underground Sea as the leader of the pack.
This week, Underground Sea broke a new record as it passed the $600 mark. Do note that the market price has not been influenced yet, which holds steady around $470 - $480. European prices are much lower for this card as well with a €296 price tag.
An end to this price increase doesn't seem in sight as of yet. Other reserved list cards might form a bubble, since many of them are not good, don't see tournament play or even don't have any collectors' value outside being on the reserved list, which makes their price quite a paradox. But duals are not a bubble. You need them if you want to play Legacy and/ or Vintage. There is real demand for them, and that demand won't go away any time soon.
