This is part three of my Inventory Management series. Two weeks ago, I led with an introduction talking about the purpose of inventory as well as some common mistakes. In short, inventory is there to support your sales which is how you make money. Last week, I talked about tracking your inventory and calculating your…
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Last week, I started my Inventory Management series by discussing some basic concepts and common mistakes. Today we’re going to get down into the weeds—we’ll start with tracking and then briefly touch on some metrics you can use to evaluate your performance. I’ll talk more about metrics in my next article, but accurately tracking your…
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Hello, fellow speculators! After the biggest Constructed grand prix ever, GP Richmond, we’ve been a whole lot of winding down from card spikes. The market seems to be returning to the regular world of value investing. It sure has quieted down around here in the MTG finance world. But the slower pace really gives us…
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Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. -Thomas A. Edison I’m going to take a bit of a break this week and shift into getting L.U.C.K.y while playing the game. In a game such as Magic, where there are sixty randomized cards built from thousands of…
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“Well that was fast,” is something I’ve never heard before. Vidianto Wijaya, on the other hand, likely heard that exact phrase entirely too frequently in the last few days. Vidianto ran Red-White Burn this weekend to a fourth-place finish. The burn list is a pseudo-budget list, as most burn lists tend to be, but is also…
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Today I want to talk about inventory management. Others here at Brainstorm Brewery have touched on this subject, but I don’t feel like it’s been explored in enough depth. I think inventory management is a glaring weakness for many financiers, so much so that I am going to dedicate a series of articles to it….
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This is a headline that makes me chuckle every single time I read it: “Apple posted quarterly results that beat estimates Monday … shares dropped more than 5%.” For those who don’t follow non-Magic finance, the reason this happens (and it happens all the time to all kinds of companies) has to do with expectations….
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Welcome back to Serum Visions, everyone! I am writing a finance article this week! After a couple of months of process articles that weren’t particularly inspired by MTG, I think it’s time to take it back a little. With our favorite green creature reaching a very upsetting $200, and [card]Misty Rainforest[/card]s and [card]Scalding Tarn[/card]s both…
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Two weeks ago, in The Unwilling Speculators, I wrote about the Modern format and how its affordability (or lack thereof) is quickly spiraling out of control. The article got some good discussion going—thank you to all the commenters who contributed. The article wasn’t intended to be another “blame Wizards” piece. I can only fit so…
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Three things I think I know: 1. Modern has had a barrier-to-entry problem since its inception. It used to be (incorrectly) attributed to things like copies of [card]Hallowed Fountain[/card] being $40, but as the format has grown in popularity, very real scarcity issues have caused staples to spike at a rate far beyond anything most…
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Buying season for Modern is here. Or long past, as some would like to say, as prices of perceived staples have already quadripled or more. To say that there has been a cataclysmic shift in the Modern metagame due to the B&R announcements would be an understatement. Modern prices are shooting through the roof as speculation…
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This weekend marked the first in the tenure of Born of the Gods in Standard. That being said, every Standard deck that managed a top-eight finish this weekend belonged to a preexisting archetype. While I have no doubt that Born of the Gods will have a significant impact on the Standard landscape, it seems that one…
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Welcome back, readers, to [card]Conjured Currency[/card]! Until now, this series hasn’t had a name, but thanks to my roommate and good friend, Sean, that is no longer the case. Although my articles won’t always have an extremely specific common topic, everything I write for this website does deal with specific goals. I always want to…
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There has been a lot said and written about the spikes in Modern card prices over the past few months, and much of it has been aimed at speculators. I completely understand the frustration with ever-increasing Modern card prices—I am a player and I feel it too. Until last weekend, I would have told you…
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Hello, fellow speculators! Are you all looking forward to the prerelease this weekend? I know I’m not, as Born of the Gods has close to zero implications for Modern. As if it wasn’t bad enough that the prerelease is on Super Bowl weekend. What everyone does care about is the upcoming Modern banned and restricted list…
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Magic specs are like steaks – the rarer the better. The fewer copies of a card on the market, the bigger payoff if a spec hits. Simple enough. Sometimes, though, the color of the expansion symbol doesn’t tell you everything you need to know about supply. Sometimes you have to consider other factors. A few…
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I know what you might be thinking. Why talk about multicolored creatures in regard to devotion? High devotion needs to be built up in the first three of four turns, right? You’re not wrong. All that extra mana can enable a hand-barf, but why not play a powerful creatures earlier than intended? Even better, what…
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I don’t think I would be alone if I said that the MTG finance world is surrounded by a lot of misconceptions, especially as of late. With the recent [card]Splinter Twin[/card] and [card]Phyrexian Obliterator[/card] price spikes, speculators are pointed at maliciously. Casuals and grinders alike believe that those of us who want to make money…
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Go big or go home. Two wrongs don’t make a right, but three rights do make a left. I am never going to see a merman, ever! The Dow is up due to speculators. Oil is down due to speculators. These are common phrases in today’s investment world. One would think that speculators are responsible…
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I am not really one for the called shot in Magic finance. Aside from the fact that there is no accountability whatsoever, I’m not the type to deploy my capital based on one person’s opinion (unless that person is me). I read two or three Magic finance articles each week that use this methodology for…
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Over the holiday break, on New Year’s Eve, I was fortunate enough to get married to a beautiful woman I love very much, who has been supportive and encouraging, and without whom I would not be writing this article. Nika was the one who suggested that I take the opportunity to write for Brainstorm Brewery…
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True Cost: The lowest amount of real cash needed to acquire a card. All Magic Has a Price J. Graves Tampa, FL Let me know your thoughts at [email protected] Follow @jwgravesFL About AMHaP All Magic Has a Price focuses on Magic: The Gathering finance from the player’s point of view. AMHaP discusses the…
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Hello and welcome everyone! This is Sander and today we are going to take a look at the viability of turning a box of product into a profitable venture. Or rather, what you have to do to not make it a straight-up loss of value. The price of a sealed box is often more than…
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Editor’s note: We here at Brainstorm Brewery are taking the holiday off. Enjoy the below article from earlier this year and have a great holiday! I’d like to discuss the rise in price of Modern staples over the past few years and why I believe that more recently printed Modern staples – [card]Deathrite Shaman[/card]…
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Editor’s note: We here at Brainstorm Brewery are taking the holiday off. Enjoy the below article from earlier this year and have a great holiday! Today I want to do something a little different. With a Standard metagame that’s offering fewer and fewer opportunities for the next month or two and Modern still a…
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