(
)
I've seen quite a bit of commentary on Don't buy or careful buying X card, it will rotate out of modern with the release of Chaos Legion SoonTM, and on the surface, this sounds like wise advise. Afterall, if you are a new player, modern, involving cards Untamed and newer including untamed era reward cards, is designed with you in mind. However, it's possible, even probable, that both formats can, and should, be played at the same time, and, if that is true, new players could be passing up the best time to buy beta cards that will ever be presented to them again. To evaluate this, let's consider the following:
*We are all playing wild right now, and we can expect similar varities of skill and collections just as we see now.
*It is likely that wild, using older cards, will have a more attractive payout system that will be more alluring than many realize.
*All the cards you're using right now will one day rotate out of modern. When that happens, you'll be even more incentivized to play wild to keep utility for the cards you already own. It's likely that each set will bring a few cards that become wild staples each set, and that some cards will never stop seeing play in wild. I suspect everyone will eventually play wild in the life of their account.
*Land will likely reward older cards more, but even if owning land is not something you see in your future, it's not one to discount entirely. It will impact the price of the cards you buy now, even if you never buy a plot yourself.
*Alpha and Beta cards will draw long term value and interest, as the game grows and matures. Many will simply want a piece of history even if they don't own land or play in wild. These cards have a fixed supply. Only so much history to go around here.
*Demand for them is low because players fear what will come of the new formats, and this fear is driving the prices down more compared to newer cards.
Many long term players already know the score, and they're diamond hodling their Alpha and Beta collections, but some are liquidating out of fear. Many more are simply not buying out of fear, and I would argue that this may perhaps be the best time to buy old cards that we could ever see again. Unfortunately, I left my crystal ball in my other pants, so I can't be sure of it, but it's certainly something to think about. While pushing and shoving for the millions of new Chaos Legion cards, don't forget to push and shove for the thousands of Alpha and Beta cards as well.