If you love it go out and buy it!!!

by Tony Guo

Today I talk about the trades or speculations you could have made but decided against at the last moment.  For me two cards come in mind, Thalia and Deathrite Shaman.  

 
Thalia:

When I first saw Thalia in the previews I immediately knew she would be an amazing card for modern and legacy.  Pre-orders were around 2 dollars at several websites at the time.  As a side note, one of the things I stay away from are pre-orders.  Too little knowledge means too much risk.  For a very long time Thalia could be brought at 3 dollars.  I knew this was an excellent price.  I knew this for two reasons.  Demand for her was high at my local store, and I consistently traded her at 6-8 dollars when she was only SCG 5.  

The vendor I focused on was wagical world.  They had 15-20 Thalias for 3.00 dollars piece.  I was ready to buy... but when I checked again, they raised the price to 3.50.  While this absolutely should not have deterred me, it did.  I'm not clear what the pyschological term is, but I felt like I had been slighted(when in fact I knew it was still a great buy).  I waited... the next week Thalias were gone.  

I learned an important life lesson, if you love something go for it.  Even something unexpected happens (in this case a minor price hike), if you know something is valuable GO FOR IT.  

Deathrite Shaman

I will be the first to say, I thought this card was crappy. Originally I compared it to birds of paradise and thought they just should have reprinted birds.  I am not sure when I fell in love with the card. My best guess is when I started collecting loleth trolls.  This card was readily available and people were more than happy to trade them to me at 7 dollars.  Eventually I obtained a pile of them along with my trolls.  

I began collecting as many of them as I could because I saw it as a modern staple and fringe playable in legacy.  Well it did a lot better than I predicted.  Right now they are sold out on SCG for 15, they ebay for 20, and some websites like legitmtg have them for 20 dollars each.  Needless to say, wow did not see that coming.

Summary

If you love something go after it.  Simple.  I now own 13 Thalias but I own over 30 Shamans. 

I will leave you with one last piece of advice, it is never to late to go after something you love.  :)