Collectibles: Investment, Confidence Game or Gamble?

Greetings!

I would like to announce the publishing of this WoO Page which I titled, Collectibles: Investment, Confidence Game or Gamble.

As a major part of this article, you will notice that I immediately thank Paul of Geekadrome: Games and Comics, which is located in the Brookline area of Pittsburgh, PA, so if you're reading from this area, please consider stopping by and having a look at his inventory (which is ample) if those are your interests. I also gather that there is not a question in those collectibles market segments that he couldn't answer, and even if there was, one of his employees certainly could.

Here's the webpage:

https://wizardofodds.com/online-gambling/articles/collectibles-investment-confidence-game-or-gamble/

I think I successfully defend my positions that, while perhaps not, "Gambling," such investments are a gamble. Honestly, I consider most investments to be a form of gambling as all involve the concept of EV and, in the vast majority of cases, uncertain rates of return.

I try not to toot my own horn, but I will say that I think this may be the best article I have ever written on any subject, and if it is, it's only because I had Paul's help to broaden what would have otherwise been a very narrow viewpoint.

If you have ever enjoyed my writings at all, then I would very much appreciate you giving this one a read.

In addition to talking about the article, this thread may also be used for the purpose of discussing, more generally, collectibles investing, flipping, trading or just collectibles on the whole.

Wow!!! That is a long article. I only made it through about 20% and gave up since the game is not anything that I am familiar with.

You may want to consider breaking that into multiple articles.

Quote: DRich

Wow!!! That is a long article. I only made it through about 20% and gave up since the game is not anything that I am familiar with.

You may want to consider breaking that into multiple articles.
link to original post

I might write some supplemental articles that link back to that one. If not supplemental, then more narrowly-focused ones.

The structure of the article is based largely around the interview, even though only about 25% of my writing was actually changed as a result of the interview. I appreciate you giving it a look, but from a quality standpoint, I think it works best as a single page.

Feel free to come back to it, if you choose. It doesn't necessarily have to be read in one sitting.

Farewell is a card that costs four mana of any color and two white mana specifically, for a total of six mana.

Using Farewell, you have your choice of exiling (permanently gone) all creatures, artifacts, enchantments and graveyards. You may select any combination of these, or you may choose to do all of them.

Graveyard exiles are good when it comes to an opponent who has a lot of graveyard interactions, such as bringing cards from the graveyard to the battlefield, bringing cards from the graveyard back to their hand or cards with something called, "Disturb," which enables them to be cast again. Some cards also have something called, "Blitz," and can be cast from the graveyard causing them to die again at the end of your turn (but can sometimes be cast again with the Blitz ability) and sometimes (maybe always?) using the Blitz ability comes with some other effect, such as drawing a card when the creature is sacrificed.

Anyway, that's why it is useful to exile all graveyards. Of course, you won't automatically want to do that because you might have graveyard interactions yourself, so the downside to Farewell, in that respect, is that it exiles ALL graveyards, which includes your own.

Obviously, if you have graveyard interactions and, as far as you can tell, your opponent does not, then you would not want to exile all graveyards.

This has been a gratuitous thread bump, though it added information relevant to Magic the Gathering. The link to the Collectibles: Investment, Confidence Game or Gamble page appears in the OP.

There will be more information about Farewell in another gratuitous thread bump to come this evening, possibly.

Quote:

RULE 9: No thumbtacking. Don't post one or two words just to keep a thread in the top of the list. If that is your motive, at least add something substantive to say about the topic, or at least a joke.

I have added something substantive about the topic.

No, you have not.

Quote: billryan

No, you have not.
link to original post

That's fine. They can suspend me if they want to. Have you seen the length of the article? I don't know what else I could add to that which would be directly on topic.

Just let me know if you're going to call for a Suspension so I can post this week's lines up early.

I thought this was the thread for silly arguments. My mistake- I see it is the thread down the hall.
My only comment on your long article is you should have had more sources.

Quote: billryan

I thought this was the thread for silly arguments. My mistake- I see it is the thread down the hall.
My only comment on your long article is you should have had more sources.
link to original post

That's actually a fair point.

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but aren't you into comics? Perhaps we could work on something together that gets into the actual mechanics of how collectibles gain value, but only if you want to. No need to reply in thread.

I'll be happy to discuss comics and collectibles with you or anyone. It's not my job, it's my passion.
These days, the growth in comics is mainly fueled by movies and television. An obscure character like Groot is featured in a movie, and his first appearance goes from being a $10 book to being a $1000 book almost overnite.
Most collectibles are trending downward after rising to ridiculous heights in 2021, although the ultra-high-end is still seeing growth.

Quote: billryan

I'll be happy to discuss comics and collectibles with you or anyone. It's not my job, it's my passion.
These days, the growth in comics is mainly fueled by movies and television. An obscure character like Groot is featured in a movie, and his first appearance goes from being a $10 book to being a $1000 book almost overnite.
Most collectibles are trending downward after rising to ridiculous heights in 2021, although the ultra-high-end is still seeing growth.
link to original post

That's awesome! Do you have your PM's open? If you're happy to do so, then we can do it for a supplemental article that will be published here on WoV. I've got some stuff in progress right now that I need to get done, so maybe next week if it's convenient for you?