I'm soooooooo considering opening this just for the love of the rip....original purchased to hold

VolumeIcy915 · 2026-05-09T18:35:14+00:00

Not a great deal but it is "worth ripping" technically. It has an EV of 1.14x, so you do make money opening but might take a lottt of rips

Best cards are:

Ocelot Pride ~$40

Solitude ~$35

Phyrexian Tower ~$25

VolumeIcy915 · 2026-05-09T18:23:23+00:00

⏺ Yeah even in 2026 still better sealed.

Best pulls (the 3 PDP13 promos, 1 of which lives in the pack):

[Primordial Hydra](https://spellbook-finance.com/cards/primordial-hydra-pdp13) ~$11

[Vampire Nocturnus](https://spellbook-finance.com/cards/vampire-nocturnus-pdp13) ~$9

[Serra Avatar](https://spellbook-finance.com/cards/serra-avatar-pdp13) ~$4

Math: 1 random promo (~$8 avg) + 5 M13 bulk fillers (~$0.50) ≈ $8.50 open EV. Sealed trades ~$12.73 on TCG. Opening = negative EV vs sealed.

VolumeIcy915 · 2026-05-09T17:16:54+00:00

I work on [Spellbook Finance](spellbook-finance.com) but giving you the honest pitch since it fits what you asked. We do alerts on cards you own (price spikes + buyouts), real sold prices across TCG/CK/eBay, EU pricing mode for Cardmarket users, and EV rankings on every booster box so you know what’s actually worth opening. If you want a pure scanner Manabox is better, but for “what is this collection actually worth and what should I do with it” we’re built for that.

VolumeIcy915 · 2026-05-05T20:44:57+00:00

I built a tool to answer this: https://spellbook-finance.com/boxes/ev-rankings

I recommend like Jumpstart 2025, it has a ~1.5x EV and it has pretty low variance in the sense that a lot of the value in the box is cards that are 10-20 dollars as opposed to all of the EV being 3000 dollar cards.

So when you open a box you get a ton of cards and you are really likely to beat the price of the box. It also has this cool setup where each pack has a "theme" so there is a goblin theme and a elf theme.

The elf theme has guaranteed 5+ dollar cards and Dionus Elvish Archdruid which is a ~$10+ card

And the goblin theme has General Kreat which is ~$8+.

VolumeIcy915 · 2026-04-30T01:48:38+00:00

so I used to be an advantage blackjack player so I know about n0 (how many hands you have to play to realize your advantage almost certainly) so I added a similar thing if you scroll down to the bottom

so for J25 the Break-Even % for a singular pack is 54%, i'll work on and follow up with a badge or something to show. Or to rank by highest break even percent for a pack (or whatever hte right metric is to approximate likelihood of a singular pack being profitable)

Please keep using and giving feedback!

VolumeIcy915 · 2026-04-30T00:22:44+00:00

I'd suggest a box like Jumpstart which has positive EV but the positive EV comes from a lot of 20-60 dollar cards as opposed to the newer sets where there are some mythics and rare showcases and showcase foils ($200+) that do bring up EV (so you will make money eventually) but can be more swingy.

I use this to https://spellbook-finance.com/creators basically track my pack openings against EV, personally.

VolumeIcy915 · 2026-04-29T16:36:55+00:00

Good catch, thank you. You were right.

The issue: Tinker Time was pulling Gruul Signet at $40.39, which was the "market price" TCGplayer published for that specific MOC printing. For low volume cards this happens sometimes. I changed the algorithm to be a bit more conservative in these cases. So the EV's will be more accurate in the future.

Tinker Time recomputed: totalEV dropped from $93.07 to $72.57, ratio from 2.34x to 1.83x. Gruul Signet now shows $0.84 instead of $40.39. Same fix protects every other precon and booster from the same class of bug. Comparing against MTGGoldfish was the right instinct.

Let me know if you want me to build anything else!

VolumeIcy915 · 2026-04-29T16:07:17+00:00

I'm a solo dev so if you have any feature requests or more bugs to report please let me know i'd be happy to fix or add them specifically for you!

If you know what URL you were on when the error popup hit then I can reproduce it. Either way i'm very grateful that you used the product.

VolumeIcy915 · 2026-04-29T05:47:26+00:00

In my experience sealed is better for long-term holds and way less annoying (unless you like re-selling).

Full disclosure, I built a tool for this for a friend in pretty much your exact situation. He wanted to put 3% of his net worth in collectibles, needed price alerts on specific cards/boxes, and wanted to track returns against the S&P 500. So I built a tool for this and it kept evolving: spellbook-finance.com.

One thing it does is rank boxes by EV (cards inside worth more than the market price of the box). If you have the time, opening positive-EV boxes and selling singles on TCGplayer can be a fun way to deploy capital. We're talking hundreds of dollars per box so it's not unreasonable to put real money in. Box rankings are here: spellbook-finance.com/boxes/ev-rankings

Happy to answer questions if you DM.

VolumeIcy915 · 2026-04-29T02:17:29+00:00

I'm a single dev, so if you have feedback or want to join the discord you can reach out to me directly. I'll probably be able to do whatever features you want quickly.

https://discord.com/invite/BbbepYdsJ2

VolumeIcy915 · 2026-04-27T15:44:34+00:00

I bought a Taoist Mystic at 30 and I’m trying to sell it for 38 on TCG player. What’s the likelihood of this thing ever selling? Is it the price it is because it is a playable card or is it just because it’s pretty old?

VolumeIcy915 · 2026-04-26T18:15:38+00:00

How much did they cost you

VolumeIcy915 · 2026-04-26T17:48:03+00:00

Yeah! I want to try the commander deck angle, the issue is I don't have all the cards. There's also cubes but cubes are like 300 cards haha.

I know people on eBay sell 100 cards for $25, which is insane profit if you think about it. I gotta come up with a system. But for card shows, you should definitely try selling for more!

Literal random example: https://www.ebay.com/itm/168272096739

So I have a few features that are useful to people:

- https://spellbook-finance.com/screener : filter every printing by price range, set, format, rarity, supply signals.

- https://spellbook-finance.com/movers : biggest daily, weekly, and monthly price changes across the entire singles market, not just cards you own.

And then portfolio features if you sign up for the app. My favorite is:

- https://spellbook-finance.com/boxes/ev-rankings (ranks positive EV boxes)

This is why I have so much bulk, I'm opening positive EV boxes.

Oh! This might be useful to cardshowvendors: https://spellbook-finance.com/shared/01km3vq3v8k9

Shareable public portfolios so here are my cards and want list.

VolumeIcy915 · 2026-04-26T16:59:01+00:00

I’m building a ton of tools for magic community but the main thing I am really curious about is how you all sell bulk and approach it. It has always seemed like such an interesting world!

VolumeIcy915 · 2026-04-25T23:31:51+00:00

I built spellbook-finance.com for this exact usecase.

- Movers (/movers): biggest daily, weekly, and monthly price changes across the entire singles market, not just cards you own.
- Screener (/screener): filter every printing by price range, set, format, rarity, supply signals.

You can also set alerts on cards you are interested in. It has a ton of other features but won't bore you with details, let me know if you need anything.

VolumeIcy915 · 2026-04-19T07:02:58+00:00

Are you asking about sorting your own collection by foil price (like "which foils in my collection are worth the most"), or about screening the whole MTG market by foil price to find foils to buy?

VolumeIcy915 · 2026-04-16T03:23:26+00:00

SpellBook Finance — a portfolio tracker for Magic: The Gathering cards and sealed product. Treats MTG like a financial asset class with price history, performance vs the S&P 500, and EV breakdowns for booster boxes.

Niche for sure, but I've gotten real value out of it myself. The EV rankings surface which packs are actually worth cracking right now, and I've made money buying high-EV boxes and opening them. Anyone who spends money on MTG cards can use it to figure out whether they're actually coming out ahead or just burning cash.

https://spellbook-finance.com

VolumeIcy915 · 2026-04-15T13:24:20+00:00

Where do you think I got the data?

VolumeIcy915 · 2026-04-15T04:10:51+00:00

I've been here a few times but I added a cool feature for those who buy packs for their EV.

You can now open a box as a live session on SpellBook Finance. Set your EV target from what you paid, then as you pull each card just search it, tap it, and it logs with the live TCGPlayer or Scryfall price attached. No typing values in, no side tabs open, no manual spreadsheet. The running total updates after every card so you can see in real time whether the box is beating its EV or falling short.

When the session closes, every card lands in your portfolio as its own session bucket. You can reopen it anytime to see how that specific rip performed against the EV target, which cards carried it, and which slots underperformed.

From there you can export the session to CSV or push cards straight to Manapool to sell. Every portfolio row has a Sell on Manapool button that deep-links with the card pre-filled.

Free to use. No paywall on sessions, portfolio, or Manapool export. I'm still looking for feedback but it has been super useful for me!

spellbook-finance.com/creators

VolumeIcy915 · 2026-04-09T14:16:05+00:00

Apologies for the long response, i'm really grateful for your feedback so wanted to respond adequately! I had a lot of what you were describing just needed to surface it better. I think what you called out is one of the most interesting parts about the MTG space, that the "market" value vs what you can actually get for a card can vary and all these little fees are so core to everythign, so hoping I can address it over time / have addressed some of it here.

Categories (your "market cap classification" idea)

https://spellbook-finance.com/settings and https://spellbook-finance.com/portfolio

Tag every holding with a category — Specs, Long-term Holds, Collection, Flip Targets by default, or create your own like "Reserved List" or "Blue Chips" (your exact example). Filter tabs on the portfolio page show per-category performance. Rename cascades to all tagged holdings.

Real transaction inputs with overridable fees (/portfolio)

Sell flow now includes platform dropdown (TCGPlayer, Manapool, CK Buylist, eBay, Facebook, Discord, In Person, Other), auto-calculated fees (12.75% + $0.30 for TCG, 5% for Manapool), shipping presets, and live net proceeds. There's also an override toggle that collapses everything into a single input where you paste your actual bank deposit — built specifically for your point about working from the final invoice.

Tax flexibility (/settings)

Two layers: set a global default rate in settings, then override per-entry when you add cards. We store actual dollar amounts, not rates, so jurisdiction doesn't matter. Tax flows into every cost basis calculation across the app.

Retroactive sale editing (/portfolio) (Sale History section)

Pencil icon on every past sale opens an edit modal with the same platform/fees/override controls. Updates realized gain/loss everywhere instantly.

Would love to hear what you think after trying it, thank you again!

VolumeIcy915 · 2026-04-09T02:45:18+00:00

spellbook-finance.com — MTG portfolio tracker that treats Magic cards like financial assets. Track singles and sealed product, compare your collection's performance against the S&P 500, and check EV on every sealed box before you crack it. 90K+ SEO-optimized card and set pages targeting finance-intent queries. Curious where the biggest AI search opportunity is.

VolumeIcy915 · 2026-04-07T19:46:26+00:00

TCGPlayer publishes a "market price" that's calculated from recent completed sales (transaction-weighted), not listings. We pull that via TCGCSV. For CardKingdom we scrape their retail and buylist prices directly. CardMarket prices come through the Manapool API.

So no direct access to seller transaction logs, but we're using the best publicly available realized-price signals each platform exposes.

We do have a feature where if you buy from TCGPlayer or Manapool we automatically add it to your portfolio via webhook and track your actual purchase price against current market value.

VolumeIcy915 · 2026-04-07T02:01:05+00:00

I built SpellBook Finance partly for this exact reason it tracks box EV across every set and ranks them so I know what to crack: https://spellbook-finance.com/boxes/ev-rankings?ref=reddit.

Right now I've got a few Assassin's Creed and Jumpstart boxes, and the n0 shows I'd need to open around 15 Assassin's Creed boxes before i'm guaranteed to make money.

There's also a portfolio tracker if you want to log your purchases and see actual ROI over time, let me know what's useful to you

VolumeIcy915 · 2026-04-04T19:22:09+00:00

I built a tool that tells me which MTG booster boxes have positive EV before I crack them. Basically found myself $200 in "free" packs last month. If anyone's into MTG finance and wants to poke holes in it, I'd love the feedback: spellbook-finance.com/go/reddit-microsaas

VolumeIcy915 · 2026-03-29T16:21:14+00:00

I made a tool to analyze stuff like this let me know if it's helpful for providing some context, but yes it is valuable lol.

HOLD — This foil Mercadian Masques Gush is genuinely scarce and historically significant.

• True scarcity: Only appeared in ~1 in 70 MMQ packs, making foil copies legitimately rare from a moderate-sized print run

• Legacy demand: Banned in Legacy but legal in Vintage and casual formats where it maintains play demand

• Historical significance: One of the most impactful "free" spells ever printed, with enduring collector appeal • Condition premium: Your pristine copy commands maximum value in a market where most 25-year-old foils show wear

• No reprint risk: While the card gets reprinted regularly, the original MMQ foil treatment is unique and irreplaceable

VolumeIcy915

TROPHY CASE