Selling Out

[Bulls on Parade]

If you're not sure that you're in the game for the long run, is now the time to sell out? I've been strongly considering it, especially since the only time I've played in about 6 months was the last Waterbury.

To me, right now looks like a pretty good time to cash out, not just for myself but for anyone who is thinking seriously about calling it quits. I'm not encouraging this action, I'm merely pointing out that prices are flat out ridiculous at the moment for a lot of cards and I really can't see the market supporting them forever. I mean, $450 for an UNL power card (besides Lotus) is crazy!

I have a pretty substantial collection with Korean Visions, Urza Block and Masques Block sets completed, as well as 2 English Drains, 4 Signed Bazaars, a LoA, and an Alpha Jet. I've also picked up random pimped out cards, like Alpha Mana Vault and Alpha Mind Twist, and a lot of Long.dec foils, and an entirely pimped out Dragon deck.

I'm not looking to sell anything through TMD, I'm just asking for advice. I'm also not hard up for cash at all, but I am a Senior in High School and while I'll probably be staying in New England for college, it's pretty doubtful that I'll be playing much more then. I know ultimately it's completely my decision and I can't ask someone else to make it for me, but I don't want to look back and feel like I made a bad choice based on an impulse. To borrow some words from Kerz, it's really not playing cards I'd miss as much as the TMD community and the quasi-friendships I've made through the game.

So all I'm asking you guys is if I knew I wanted to cash out on the game, do you think now would be the right time based on what I have?

[jpmeyer]

The crazy way prices are going up, wait as long as you can.

[Razvan]

Well, here's the thing. Even if you don't plan on playing, if you played quite a bit before, quitting is going to have one of two endings:

1) Worry-free
2) Years of nostalgia

Invariably, about 50% or so of the people that quit will try to come back in at a later date. I quit for University as well (but didn't sell my cards), and once I graduated last year, I started feeling the pull back. So, here we are.

So make sure you don't start missing the stuff you sell.

As for the time, who knows... I think most prices are starting to stabilize, more or less, at this plateau. They will continue to increase for some cards, maybe even power, but it's hard to predict a huge profit if you sell in 6 months. Or more.

Incidentally, I am interested in your Alpha Mox Jet.

But honestly, I would keep 'em, at least until you graduate University. If you still don't feel like playing at all, by then, maybe selling would be the best option.

[Azhrei]

Hobbies leave your blood when they get replaced by other hobbies. When I got to college and couldn't play Magic for a while (no car, no gaming friends), I got into FPSs pretty heavily. When I could play Magic again, I got back in because my time off wasn't voluntary. Later, when I got into the SCA more heavily, I devoted all my time and energy into that instead, and stopped playing Magic because I had something else I'd rather do.

When I sold my cards, I didn't miss them because I didn't play and hadn't wanted to in a long time (a year or so). I haven't really felt a pull to go back, mainly because to get into it heavily again I would need to cut back on my fencing, which is more fun and I am frankly much better at.

Sell your cards when you have something you'd rather do instead. Until then, you'll just want to come back to it.

[Lord of the Goats]

i'm in exactly the same situation that you are. havn't played in 8+ months, and i have several thousand dollars worth of shit. i've decided to sell now for 2 reasons.

first and foremost because i need the money right now. that's not to say that it would be nice to have the money now for other things, but that my car insurance company is fucking my over harecore (which i won't bore you with)so the money is a need rather than a want whereas magic cards are a want.

second, i go to college, work as a subway manager, have a girlfriend, and own 6 rats and 2 ferrets. magic doesn't fit there very easily at all... and even though i could fit it in if i really wanted to, i couldn't devote even an hour a week to testing, and i'd very rarely make any tournaments. thus, i couldn't keep up with the metagame and i would always be at a disadvantage. do you want to be the guy who goes to waterbury once every 8 months and has to read every other card that gets played? i don't, but you may.

also, at some point the dci may be forced to ban some big cards. a lot of people thought that shops were going to get banned a while ago. think about the people who were holding on to their shops letting them increase in value but didn't play anymore and were useing them as an investment (beacuse in a lot of ways that's what big cards are). now think about what happens if shops had been banned. eventually they could ban anything including power. this isn't to say "quick sell your crap before it gets banned" i'm saying do you really want to worry about it? i don't i'd rather tie up my loose ends so i can't get screwed later.

[rozetta]

I've "quit" M:tg 3 times in the past and every time I did that, I ended up selling all my cards. I always regretted selling up because of the fact that the card values increased and getting into the game again from scratch seemed like a massive uphill struggle.

Actually, the last time I quit, it was a case of me just not bothering to play for a long time as opposed to a conscious decision to quit. I actually kept the cards around for ages in some cupboard until I realized that I might as well get rid of them since I was moving to another country (so, not really for financial reasons). Actually, that was a 3 year break for me and when I started playing again I managed to pick up power, drains, etc. again _just_ before the prices started going up (although, for instance, the Lotus I picked up was about $50 more that it would have been if I'd bought it at the beginning of the power-buying cycle).

If I quit again, I'd just keep hold of my cards, since they've always increased in value. It's funny, because it's not just the big cards that change in value. When I previously quit, things like Demonic Tutor, Sol Ring, Wheel of Fortune, FoW were all worth only a few dollars each. Duals were also much cheaper. Remember that if the new 1.5 becomes a PT format (which is possible), some of those smaller cards like duals and FoWs may go up in value substantially. Also, with the momentum Type 1 has right now, I don't see it falling back into the "niche" status it was in for a long time. Now that even some pros illustrate knowledge about the Type 1 metagame, I can only imagine it's visibility will continue to rise. It's logical that the cards will maintain their current prices at the very least, barring some unexpected change of stance from WotC on reprints. I don't think they will ever start banning any of the power 9.

Every time I "quit" I thought I had M:tg out of my system. I stopped thinking about it and didn't miss it. But I don't think it ever leaves your system. I think it's because they keep putting new cards out. After taking some arbitrary break, you might happen upon seeing some new cards and it'll immediately make your thoughts click onto decbuilding ideas and the things you remembered and loved about the game. I think it's sometimes maybe healthier to take short breaks (a few months) every now and then when things start getting old and boring and it seems like there's just no way the game is going to get any more exciting (I know we all feel that way from time to time). That way, you won't completely burn out on it.

[thorme]

The crazy way prices are going up, wait as long as you can.

Alternatively, you could look to the stock market for reference and see how the above strategy cost folks millions when the internet bubble burst.

Buy low, sell high.  If you've made money from your investment, and don't plan on playing much...I'd say now is as good a time as any.  My only advice is this:  once you sell, be happy with the profit you've made, and don't look back.  It will only cause you frustration if you look up prices 6 months down the road and see they've continued their rise.

[walkingdude]

One of the prime drivers for prices having gone up over the past few years is the weak dollar leading to a boast in foreign demand. The way our gov is spending money I our deficit is really only getting worse and the dollar is probably going to get weaker still. I’d hold onto your cards. Hot cards like shops can be insane, but even fairly stable cards like unlimited moxes have kicked the tar out of stocks over the past 5-6 years which is a fairly long chunk of time. I’d say hold if you have no cash pressure.

[Grand Inquisitor]

fairly stable cards like unlimited moxes have kicked the tar out of stocks over the past 5-6 years which is a fairly long chunk of time

First, from what I know of the short history of power prices, they've never been 'stable', except that they continue to go up.  As for the last 5-6 years, look at where we are in the cycle for the market.

I'm not saying power might not be a better short term vehicle than stocks, its just that I wouldn't put a retirement portfolio together around them.