The MTG Community - Prerelease Foils Should Be Worth More than Pack Foils [Edward Eng - Battlemage, Level 41]
Just recently I bought two Pia and Kiran Nalaar pack foils. Now I have four foil copies of the card. But two of them are prerelease foil versions that I traded two pack foils for. So now I have two of each. And some of you know that annoys me. I also know that it annoys Brian 'The Dragonmaster' Kibler.
The reason it annoys me is probably the same reason it annoys Brian. You don't want to give away free extra information to your opponent by playing different versions of the same card. If he or she Duresses or Gitaxian Probes you and then you play a second copy of a card that was already in your hand, then you just gave away free info. It should be pretty obvious that the card you played is the card you just drew. Small details like this cause you to lose games, matches, and tournaments.
But you know what's even more annoying? The value of pack foil versions of cards are higher than prerelease foils. Statistically, I'm not sure this makes any sense. For example, people are STILL pulling Pia and Kiran Nalaar foils out of packs. But there are close to ZERO people opening prerelease foil versions.
I doubt that the market will correct this incidence of flawed pricing. I definitely wouldn't complain if it did though since I prefer prerelease foils over pack foils. Not to mention, they're rarer. I also think the date stamp of prerelease foils is special. It adds character and strikes memories of the card. After all, it's why we play the game. Right? Magic is about the memories the game fosters.
But for now, I guess I'll just keep hoarding prerelease foils.
What are your thoughts? How do we fix this?
Related Reading
1. The MTG Community - The Best Non-English Magic Language, Traditional Chinese [Edward Eng]
2. The MTG Community - 2015 Yearly Review [Edward Eng]
Peace, love, and have fun…
Eddie
A Little Bit about Eddie
He started playing Magic around December of 1994 then hit the sanctioned competitive tournament scene in 1997. He played till about 2000 and was on the cusp of making the Pro Tour but stopped to focus on school. He found his old teammate on Facebook in 2009 and got back into the game in 2010. Since then he's played in two Nationals, top 16ed an SCG Invitational, and day 2ed multiple Grand Prix.
Edward Eng
Galactic Treasures
