Commander 2013 Purchases

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Happy Monday MTG peeps,

Over the course of the weekend, we had the opportunity to yatter to a few Magic: the Gathering players - more specifically, Commander (EDH) fans.  The topic on everyone's list is the pricing of of the soon-to-be released Commander 2013 product on Friday 1st November.  The Commander 2013 product consists of five tri-color 'shard' decks reflecting the colors of the old Shards of Alara set, each with 100 cards that are ready-to-play right out of the box.  Each box has the option of choosing one of the three legendary tri-colored creatures each deck includes as the commander.

Anywhoos - the manufacturer's suggested retail price for each deck was pegged at $29.99 with the price for getting the set of five decks at $149.95 - which, considering the contents delivers fairly decent.  Then something rather odd happened on 14th October - an on-line retailed produced a comment on their FaceBook page indicating that distribution of Commander 2013 would be 'allocated'.  Essentially, a commercial strategy used in distibution of a limited volume of product, which infers a limited printing run.  This concern was put to WotC staffer, Mark Rosewater on 18th October who had replied "Absolutely not. We will reprint Commander 2013 if the current supply does not meet demand" which of course is a bit of a relief.  Having said that, on-line retailers who may have adjusted initial pre-order prices from $35 / $40 to $55 / $60 have been sluggish to correct and may not likely re-adjust pricing until after the second print and distribution wave.

A few players we've talked to indicate that they may simply pick up Commander 2013 at a big box retailer like Walmart or Target which ultimately has an adverse effect on the local brick 'n' mortar gaming stores.  Here in Canada as is the case in most places around the globe are not able to order sealed product across borders.  To this end, we checked out Canadian on-line retailer Face to Face Games in Verdun, Québec who can ship sealed (French and English language) product across Canada.  Their page does list all the Commander 2013 product at MSRP for the moment but had completely sold out with pre-orders.  They indicate that when they re-stock, they will make all attempts to be as close to the MSRP as possible - very decent!

Personally we were planning on picking up at least two decks at OMG! Games here in Barrie and then grab a handful of Commander 2013 singles from MTG Mint Card.  We may now just pick up one deck and wait until the second wave to pick to get the other.
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For reference, here is a snap-shot of what prices are for some selected 'money cards' and sealed product as of Monday morning - this may very well change by this afternoon, so take note.

True-Name Nemesis ~ $30
Unexpectedly Absent ~ $15
Baleful Strix ~ $15
Toxic Deluge ~ $12
Goblin Sharpshooter ~ $10

Retailers
SCG - StarCity Games
CSI - Cool Stuff Inc.
CF - Channel Fireball
TnT - Troll and Toad

• Evasive Maneuvers (bant - white / blue / green)
SCG - $59.99
CSI - $41.99
CF - $49.99
TnT - $54.99

• Eternal Bargain (esper - white / blue / black)
SCG - $49.99
CSI - $49.99
CF - $49.99
TnT - $49.99

• Mind Seize (grixis - blue / black / red)
SCG - $69.99
CSI - $59.99
CF - $69.99
TnT - $54.99

• Power Hungry (jund - black / red / green)
SCG - $49.99
CSI - $41.99
CF - $49.99
TnT - $44.99

• Nature of the Beast (naya - white / red / green)
SCG - $59.99
CSI - $39.99
CF - $49.99
TnT - $49.99

All five decks
SCG - $199.99
CSI - $189.99
CF - $199.99
TnT - $199.99
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