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Main » Articles » Standard Pick List

Standard Pick List

Ryan Bushard
Posted on July 13, 2012
 Reddit

For the past few weeks, people have been asking for bulk-pick lists so they can have an easier time picking their own collection or collections they have managed to obtain. This week, I am finally able to provide just that! When you are looking to pick bulk, it is important to know what you are looking for out of that bulk before you ever touch a single card. If you are looking to dive deep into picking and pulling every nickel, you can you will approach this very differently than someone just looking to pick out the worthwhile cards to either trade or sell. I don’t suggest picking out anything less than dimes unless you have a reliable out for them because it is unlikely that someone needs enough of any of these cards to make it worth picking them in any reasonable quantity.

Artful Dodge
So, where do we begin this long list? For this week, I am going to stick to Standard-legal cards since those will be the most common cards you will see, and over the next few weeks, I will cover the older sets and explain some of the less-known tricks for picking bulk, including how to sort it and where to unload it. Before we dive too deep, though, be sure to go back and read my last few articles in which I discuss how to ogre boxes. This is a crucial step in this process and should be done before you start amounting stacks of bulk in your living room.

Once you have boxes made and have your bulk ready, it’s time to start the picking. Since everyone seems to want a full list, I am going to use the same list I use, which shows cards that have been on the buy list for more than a dime recently. Some people use a list that shows every card that has reached that point, but considering some cards such as Artful Dodge that have hit that point at random times on one list for a week, I think it is pointless to keep and provide that kind of information. If you pick three hundred copies of Artful Dodge and put it in the dime or even nickel section, most people are going to look through your box and dismiss your picks as bulk not worth their time, so instead, I like to concentrate on cards that are actually sought after. This list only contains commons and uncommons since you should be picking rares and foils regardless. I am not going to price these cards since a lot of the cards can fluctuate week to week, but this list should give you a good starting point to pick from—then, you can price on your own.

Avacyn Restored

Abundant Growth

Seraph Sanctuary
As you can see, some of the cards on this list are very unexpected. Cards such as Favorable Winds that have never seen competitive play make the cut, so don’t just rely on your knowledge of the metagame when making pick choices. It is also important to note that you should always pick nonbasic lands. Cards such as Seraph Sanctuary may not be worth much, but a lot of buy lists will pay bulk prices on nonbasic lands, so keeping them aside—even ones you wouldn’t normally pick—is a wise move. There are more tips like this to come, but I will cover those over the next few weeks as we come to them.

It is also important to note that some of the cards listed may currently be on buy lists for less than a dime and although they may reach a dime again if you are just looking to move them there is no reason not to just list them at a nickel. If there is one thing I have learned about bulk it is that it is abundant. Holding out for five or ten cents more really doesn’t matter in the long wrong. As long as you are making money don’t get to picky, after all a card is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

Dark Ascension

Diregraf Captain

Dark Ascension is among the harder sets to keep track of due to the sheer number of cards that have seen fringe play. These cards keep coming on and off the buy lists, so I have included them. If you miss a few Loyal Cathars, don’t fear—they typically don’t come up in huge quantities on buy lists, but they are still worth picking. I can see this set’s commons and uncommons soaring in price over the next year since it was a fairly unpopular set among the competitive crowd. In addition to its popularity problems, it also was drafted for a very short time, meaning any cards that have value from that set should inflate in the next year of Standard.

Innistrad

Desperate Ravings

That’s all for Innistrad block, but as I mentioned, these are only the cards that are at least a dime some of the times and always at least a nickel somewhere. There are more cards that are fringe buy list cards but that typically only show up for a nickel at most and will probably just clutter your boxes.

Magic 2012

Acidic Slime

Manic Vandal

 

Core sets typically provide a great deal of playable commons and uncommons, and although most of these are reprints, they still hold some value because they have become Standard staples. Keep in mind that with each new core set, the reprints do lose value, so although this list is current, it may become slightly shorter given that some of the lower-end buy cards are in Magic 2013 as well.

New Phyrexia

Darksteel Relic

Pristine Talisman

 

New Phyrexia has proven to be among the best sets for the financial market in a long time. Not only is this a huge pick list for a small set, but a lot of these cards are also a quarter or more at times. New Phyrexia packs have become scarce and expensive for this reason, and I don’t see them becoming any cheaper after rotation. The fact that this is the third set in the block and was therefore drafted for such a short time only lends to the future value of these cards in both the casual and Eternal formats.

Mirrodin Besieged

Accorder Paladin

Unlike New Phyrexia, Mirrodin Besieged was a fairly weak set for common and uncommon picks. Even with cards such as Go for the Throat, that value is still pretty poor since the best cards from this set have already been reprinted as promos or contained within event decks. Although some cards such as Steel Sabotage are played in Eternal formats, a lot of this set’s value is in Standard cards, which does not bode well for its future.

Scars of Mirrodin

Bellowing Tanglewurm

Skinrender

 

That’s all I have for this week in Kentucky. I will work on a Modern pick list next, hopefully finishing within a few weeks’ time. I will be returning home this week, so I will be back on my usual writing schedule with more of the hard-hitting financial information next week. I hope to have enough time to really review the Magic 2013 spoiler more in depth and provide some upcoming insight as to where I think the market is going, so stay tuned for that information next week!

Thanks for reading as always, and I hope this list helps you get well on your way to properly picking your bulk.

Ryan Bushard

@CryppleCommand

TAGS articles, analysis, bulk, financial, finance, ryan bushard, picking

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