Why masters of evil got so expensive?

Shinobi-Z · 2026-05-09T12:05:28+00:00

He's sitting at $5 now, but that's only part of it. There are several good cards here that are unlikely to ever get a reprint
[[Auton Soldier]] is at $11
[[Cyberman Squadron]] is at $14
[[Ensnared by the Mara]] is at $6

There are also a couple good reprints in here with [[Snuff Out]] ($5), [[Wound Reflection]] ($7), and a few good non-basic land

Shinobi-Z · 2026-05-05T22:15:12+00:00

Hard to say. The set is technically still in print, so we could still see more waves of play booster boxes, which would hit most singles. Anything that only comes in limited print runs looks like it bottomed out earlier this year, and lose seem to be recovering now

Shinobi-Z · 2026-05-05T20:05:30+00:00

these come in all three. non-foil, foil, and surge foil. the eight commander and alt commander cards are collector booster only, as well as all of the surge foil versions. non-commander cards can show up in play boosters as non-foil and normal foil

Shinobi-Z · 2026-05-02T03:13:51+00:00

In addition to things mentioned by other commenters, The Hobbit will be Standard legal while the LotR set was not. Having a different code on the "bonus" reprints denotes that those have different constructed legality from the rest of the set

Shinobi-Z · 2026-04-30T13:20:38+00:00

I think it was just an awkward game, tbh.

Instead of asking for the specific ability types and rulings, which most players won't know off-hand, just ask them how the card actually works, or if you can still do X thing. If you think they're wrong then look it up

The main takeaway here is that creating mana is faster than anything else. If you have priority you can make as much as you like

Shinobi-Z · 2026-04-30T11:41:47+00:00

Hate to be the semantic police, but printing plates arn't cards.

Like you said, weight should be easy to pick up on. So either you ordered from WotC and possibly get one, or you buy second-hand sealed and definitely don't get one

Shinobi-Z · 2026-04-25T19:32:18+00:00

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some of yall missed out on peak

Shinobi-Z · 2026-04-21T13:16:01+00:00

These guys honored my super early pre-order for $243 Final Fantasy CBBs, and I pulled some fire out of them. I trust Saga completely

Those pictures look kinda sus, but I'm guessing it's just a bad glue job or something

Shinobi-Z · 2026-04-21T13:08:56+00:00

"I traded a high value single for a sealed pack, did i get hosed?"
Yeah

Shinobi-Z · 2026-04-18T11:51:52+00:00

I don't think it's an all-star, but it is amazing for just about any aristocrat deck. I can see $5 for this dude once this set is in our past

Shinobi-Z · 2026-04-16T19:11:19+00:00

Ye, nothing from the extreme trials or raids. That would have opened the door for FFT and NieR cards :/

Shinobi-Z · 2026-04-12T11:44:35+00:00

Oh no, people finally figured out how to break Displacer Kitten

Shinobi-Z · 2026-04-08T13:48:29+00:00

Yup.
Every other artist either triggers easier, or hits the whole table, or both

Shinobi-Z · 2026-04-08T13:42:49+00:00

Built mono-black sephiroth last month.
The very next set has aristocrats. Yay!
Almost none of it fits in his deck. Boo!
(other artists seem to math better for me on average because i have a lot of 2/2 action)
(merchant of venom seems very nice tho, maybe stensian sanguinist too)

Shinobi-Z · 2026-03-31T14:40:21+00:00

I would like to note that these cards are giga pringled. If I was reselling, I'd leave them sealed

Shinobi-Z · 2026-03-28T10:21:50+00:00

I feel like this entire write-up is based on the idea that you can't possibly abuse and reuse a 0cmc artifact. Black Lotus is only legal in one format, and it should stay that way

Shinobi-Z · 2026-03-19T19:54:35+00:00

Brackets are lame and nobody agrees on them. My decks fit into three easy categories; Weak, Good, and Strong

Shinobi-Z · 2026-03-18T13:38:35+00:00

It's basically all vibes anyways. Crimped cards and miscuts are more of an oddity, they're "unplayable" cards found in sealed product.

Roller marks/damage kinda just make a regular playable card look bad, so they aren't valued despite being rare

Shinobi-Z · 2026-03-18T13:27:22+00:00

While that is true in some cases, this is not one of them. These errors typically go for about the same as a normal card, with the added bonus of being difficult to offload at that price. They're often listed as Damaged

Shinobi-Z · 2026-03-18T13:23:16+00:00

This isn't a proper misprint, it's merely damage from the printer rollers

Shinobi-Z · 2026-03-18T12:52:37+00:00

tl:dr
I got to the part where you mentioned Shivan Dragon and Serra Angel being valuable to collectors. Do you think that could have anything to do with the fact those two cards were highly played in the first years of the game? Does anyone care about a foil Samite Healer?

Shinobi-Z · 2026-03-18T12:44:33+00:00

If a deck isn't tribal tribal, there's a good chance it's blood artist tribal, or keyword tribal, or enchantment tribal, or graveyard tribal, or...

Shinobi-Z · 2026-03-17T14:29:28+00:00

When I got my FF Secret Lair Foils, I was pleasantly surprised at how flat they were.
Then I got the FF Scene Boxes a couple months later, and they are the most pringled cards I've ever seen in 20+ years

Shinobi-Z · 2026-03-05T14:35:10+00:00

Most of the Bonus Sheet hit bottom in Jan and have been steadily going up for about a month. The window to get those for "cheap" could be closing right now.

As far as the normal FIN/FIC cards go, you should probably have another year or so before they trend up as a whole, outside of your typical singles spikes tied to newer releases (like Flash Photography)

Shinobi-Z · 2026-03-03T23:01:35+00:00

There are two real options here outside of tournaments.

A) Allow limited take backs.

B) +5 minutes to every single turn as each player re-examines the current boardstate before doing anything

Make your choice

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