The Ties that Bind

Hey there, YGO Community,

Remember when I said I was going to try to post more? Sorry about that. I kind of lost my enthusiasm for the game for a while late last year and it just recently came back in the past few weeks. I think I got kind of burnt out and got tired of losing or being mad when I lost. In my absence, I've been playing a lot of Overwatch and going to the gym 4 days a week. I actually played only my 2nd regional of the year, last weekend in Philly. I played Trickstar and did better than I had anticipated at 6-3, but missing my invite because I punted a match and probably could have played better in general. I'm not sure how frequently this blog is going to be back, because of the aforementioned other hobbies, but, you're not here for any of that, so, anyway, I'm back for this week at least. 

This week's post will likely be a short one because I'm a day late to cover Super Agent's spike and Diagram's price tank combined with the fact that I only have one card to talk about as a pick-up and only two whose spike you might not be aware of.

Ties of the Brethren - This  week's spec card was only ever printed in the Legendary Decks II set that very few players, outside of the most casual bought. This card is still sub-$6 and that blows my mind since we have the release of the Counter Fairy structure deck slated for either late this year or early next year. I've always liked this card but I was trying to play it in some kind of Thunder Stun deck with Thunder King Rai-Oh, Denko Sekka, and Zap Mustang. The Fairy deck uses it so summon the board of Honest, Bountiful Artemis, and Barrier Statue of the Heavens to try to stop their opponent from doing things. They can't special summon monsters, except for Light monsters, you draw cards when you use a counter trap, and you have Honest because the deck's weakness is being run over by bigger, better monsters. If the card doesn't get a reprint in the deck, and this deck is a tier-1 strategy, I wouldn't be terribly surprised to see this card double if not triple in price overnight. If you have a few extra bucks lying around, I'd recommend picking up your set now.

Van'Dalgyon, the Dark Dragon Lord - The Secret Rare copies of this card are nearly nonexistent on TCGPlayer, with only two listings available, and none of them for NM copies. These copies drying up probably has something to do with the release of the Counter Fairy deck I mentioned. People always want the highest rarity option for their 1-of's and this is likely going to be no exception. With there being no NM copies available, it's really a seller's market and I imagine the next few listed will be $10+ as people look to flip them immediately. If you have one and want to play the deck, keep it. Otherwise, try to make a few quick bucks.

Machine Duplication - By now, I'm sure you've seen much of the Spyral stuff skyrocket in price in anticipation of the deck becoming more powerful with the upcoming Forbidden & Limited list. We don't currently know out next list, but the OCG list absolutely cleft the meta in twain, taking every meta-relevant deck down a notch and, accidentally, making Spyral a very powerful contender.  As people get more and more familiar with the deck, they keep discovering combos and Machine Duplication is involved in at least one of them, plus is just a great value card even if you don't open some nuts combo. The Super Rare copies are $7+, while Ultimate Rare copies are nonexistent in NM, and the lowest LP copy is nearly $30. I'm obviously a seller at this price point, but this is a card that goes through the roof every few years, and the set is only getting older, so this card is only getting harder to find in decent shape.

I hope you all had some fun reading this week and I hope to keep bringing you guys content when I'm able or I get a hot tip about something.

Have a card that you think deserves some consideration?
Hit me up via social media to let me know. If I write about it, I'll drop you some credit in the article.

Twitter: @SparkConfidant
Instagram: @DontKnowHow2Lose
Reddit: BigTymeJuice

Want to support the blog? 
Consider turning AdBlock off while you read. I know, ads suck and I'd be lying if I said that I never use AdBlock, and I've still not made enough to actually get anything from ad revenue, but it would still be a cool way to  help support this blog.

Keep the juice flowing,

Lyle

Legendary Weapons

Hey there, YGO Community,

I told you all that I'd try to post more frequently, so here we are. Normally I choose one card and talk about it at length, but I want to try something different today. I'm going to briefly touch on a few cards that have recently fluctuated in price. Without much further ado, let's jump right into this.

The Black Stone of Legend - This card is seeing a reprint in the Legendary Joey Deck as an Ultra, but the MSRP of the decks will probably help it maintain some semblance of value, but if I had them, I would be dumping them with the swiftness. Get the $18-20 you can now instead of the $10 that you will be getting in the future.

Book of Eclipse - Super rare copies of this card are sitting right around $6 right now, if I had to guess, it's probably because of people getting ready to fight ABC and Blue-Eyes. This card has been $10+ before for the Commons/Starfoils because of it outing the Djinn lock in Nekroz, so I wouldn't be surprised to see it being that Look at Swords of Concealing Light for example, the card went from actual beans to $8+ for the Ultra literally overnight and the Ulti went through the roof, hitting $40+ for the 1st Ed copies.

Coach King Giantrainer - This card is $8+ because of the hype surrounding the 12 Beasts deck or whatever it's called. I'm sure you all saw the Maxx "C" vs Terrortop video, so you know how explosive the deck can be. I honestly don't know exactly know all the plays, but I can't wait to get blown out by the deck when it comes out. I know that if the deck can consistently summon this card, it's probably pretty strong.

Fire Formation - Tensu - This card's price is another product of the hype surrounding the new Beast Warrior deck coming out. The card was only printed foil once and is obviously strong in that deck, so I wouldn't be surprised if it holds a price tag, not $45, but $10-20? Definitely.

The Hidden City - There are only two copies for less than $20 on TCGPlayer. I assume it's because people are expecting the new support to break the deck, since, ya know, the last two TCG-exclusive archetypes have been tier 1. The deck hasn't had any cards leaked as of me writing this article, but by the time you read this, it might. I think that at $20, if you don't have too much into them, flip them, but if you want to play the deck because it has big, smashy monsters, keep them.

SPYRAL Super Agent - See The Hidden City, except there has been a card spoiled for it, just today. I'm not a pro and you don't come here for theorioh, you come here to make a little profit, so I'll let you all to evaluate it for yourself.

The White Stone of Ancients - This card is getting a reprint in the Legendary Kaiba Deck, see The Black Stone of Legend.

Have a card that you think deserves some consideration?
Hit me up via social media to let me know. If I write about it, I'll drop you some credit in the article.

Twitter: @SparkConfidant
Instagram: @DontKnowHow2Lose
Reddit: BigTymeJuice

Want to support the blog? 
Consider turning AdBlock off while you read. I know, ads suck and I'd be lying if I said that I never use AdBlock, but the minute amount of revenue from the ads does help support this.

Keep the juice flowing,

Lyle

Glad You Came

Hey there, YGO Community,

I know, I know, it's been forever since I've posted anything and the last thing I did post wasn't great. I've been dealing with some bullshit in my personal life. I struggle with depression and it can make it pretty hard to get anything done. I had an entire article typed up about the Bunbuku spike, called Rac(Coon) Racc City, but ended up deleting it because I didn't feel like it was good enough or anyone would wanna read it. And when I woke up the next day, literally everyone had already covered it. But I'm back and I wanna try to keep bringing you guys some content. I can't promise any kind of schedule, but I do love doing this and I'll keep doing my damnedest to bring you all something you some knowledge that you can hopefully make some money from. I want to thank my friend Louie Orem for making me realize just how much I loved doing this by starting his own YugiTube channel, YGO Juice Bros. I can't make any promises, but I think there might be some sick collabs between the two of us in the future.

Now that I got that boring stuff out of the way, we can talk about the real reason you're all here: the Market Watch. So, it was recently announced that a character on Arc V would be playing Gladiator Beasts and that there was some new support. This implies that there would be more real world support for the deck and the thing that always happens when they announce legacy support happened, the existing cards went up in price. I'm aware that the deck is available in low rarities, but I specifically want to talk about the high rarity versions of cards: CP and TU holos and BATT promo Gyzarus.

Gladiator Beast Bestiari - This card is the heart and soul of the deck, is needed to summon Gyzarus, the Twin Twister on a body, and was limited to 1 for years after the deck was hit. CP7 copies have always been pricey, but now $45 is the cheapest on TCGPlayer.

Gladiator Beast Gyzarus - There are copies of the set foil and gold for beans, but if you're gonna play the deck, you know you want to play the super juice version. These were only available to winners of the Battle Pack Tournaments at YCS's, so they're super limited.

Gladiator Beast Laquari - The highest attack level 4 monster in the deck and needed to summon the strongest boss monster in the deck, Heraklinos. There is one copy from TU5 for $13, then after that, they're $40.

Gladiator Beast Heraklinos - Barkion/Beast wrapped into one big ass fusion, provided you have enough cards to discard. There is one LP copy for $9.50, and after that, they're $25.

I don't know exactly how good the deck will be, but I know that many Yugi players, myself included, will try to break the deck. Based off of this, I made a spec buy this week. I purchased many copies of the card Gladiator Taming. If the deck ends up being good, this card will absolutely destroy the mirror, snatch your dude, contact fuse, attack, tag again. The card is actually good against other matchups too because you can change the position of their guy, rumble into it, take a little damage, and get a tag into your answer. Players pay life for everything nowdays, why not to answer problematic cards? The card is also a secret rare from 5 years ago and has never been reprinted. And at like $0.55 per, you can't really neg.

Have a card that you think deserves some consideration?
Hit me up via social media to let me know. If I write about it, I'll drop you some credit in the article.

Twitter: @SparkConfidant
Instagram: @DontKnowHow2Lose
Reddit: BigTymeJuice

Want to support the blog? 
Consider turning AdBlock off while you read. I know, ads suck and I'd be lying if I said that I never use AdBlock, but the minute amount of revenue from the ads does help support this.

Keep the juice flowing,

Lyle

Scourgeboard

Hey, guys and gals. This is a quick update post to let y'all know how I'm doing and why I've been absent as of late. So, I got a warehouse job to help fund BigTymeJuice and I've been hella busy with the job. And once I got my invite, I just started focusing all my extra energy on MTG, since the new set dropped. I just dropped down to part-time so that I can focus more on BTJ and start writing again, so hopefully you'll be seeing a whole lot more of me in the next couple'a weeks. But that's enough of that boring stuff, let's get down to why you are really here, the market watch update.

I want to thank my good friend, Daniel Misner for hitting me up and letting me know about this card. This week's update is about a card that I've always loved and tried (unsuccessfully) to make work. This was not the case for a player at this weekend's YCS. That card, of course, is Sky Scourge Norleras! Super copies of that card are like $22 currently and NM Ulti copies are nonexistent, with the only listing on TCGPlayer being a LP copy for $30. This card was damn-near a bulk foil until this weekend when it shot through the roof. My advice is, as usual, if you have copies of this card, ship them now. The card is cute and super fun and powerful when it goes off, but it's a pain in the ass to set up.

I'm gonna keep this one short and sweet, but there should be more in the near future.

Have a card that you think deserves some consideration?
Hit me up via social media to let me know. If I write about it, I'll drop you some credit in the article.

Twitter: @SparkConfidant
Reddit: BigTymeJuice

Want to support the blog?
Consider turning AdBlock off while you read. I know, ads suck and I'd be lying if I said that I never use AdBlock, but the minute amount of revenue from the ads does help support this.

Keep the juice flowing,
Lyle

Til' Infinity (The Warmup)

Welcome back, YGO Community! Sorry that I didn't have an article for y'all last week, but I was lazy and a little busy getting ready for the holidays this past week, but it was mostly me being lazy though. For those of you who celebrated a holiday, I hope it was great, and for the ones who didn't celebrate anything, I hope you had a good weekend. Well, without further ado, here's this week's article.

This article will be the last one before the BOSH Sneak Peek, so I figured I'd do my best to give you ideas of two more cards that may go up as people continue to try to find answers to the most hyped card in recent memory. In the last article, I talked about XYZ Encore. This week, I wanna talk about the other options: Night Dragolich, , and Chimeratech Fortress Dragon.

1. Night Dragolich
This card's effect doesn't activate, so Infinity can't negate it, so it gets to smash over it. And the OCG sided it at 3 as a way to out Infinity. When I was first tipped off to this card by my friends Cameron and Dan, I bought Trollandtoad out for less than $0.70 per and they're already up to roughly $3.00 for the MP copies and roughly $4.00 per for the NECH copies. We've seen the way cards that OCG players tech spike in price, so I'd say that these could hit $8-10.

2. Chimeratech Fortress Dragon
This card is already reasonably high in price ($19-22) because how badly dropping a Cyber Dragon and eating your opponent's board in order to make a reasonably-sized threat can blow out Kozmo players. Well, imagine dropping it after your opponent spends resources to drop their boss monster who's going to control you out of the game. They can't negate your Cyber Dragon's summoning condition and it's cost to contact them for the fusion, so they can't stop that either. The card only has 3 printings, a Manga Promo, an old Tin, and a Battle Pack Tournament Promo, all of which are pretty difficult to come by. If people move to this strategy as their preferred way of outing it, the card becomes relevant against two or more of the top decks (Kozmo, PePe, and whatever Level 4 Pendulum Spam decks are viable). The card's limited distribution could cause it to skyrocket to $35+ easily. It could also, by extension, cause Cyber Dragon Core (currently $3-4) and higher rarity printings of Cyber Dragon ($43ish for Duel Terminal Preview,$35ish for Ulti, and $14ish for DR04 Ultras) to spike.

This Week's Trend

Dodger Dragon - Shout out to my boy Panda for putting me on to this card! Super Rare copies are $5-9 currently following a buyout because of how much potential they have in a world of infinite Counter Traps. I'm currently holding all my copies and pursuing more because I believe in them. So, if you can get them for $4-6, I think you should buy them.

The Melody of Awakening Dragon - This card went from a bulk foil to $3.50 with the anticipation of the new Blue-Eyes stuff. I think this card has a lot of long-term potential as a casual card. It's everything casuals like, it supports on of the biggest, smashiest, Timmyest monsters in the game, which just so happens to be a character card. And, I mean, just look at the art. Lord of D. playing a freaking guitar solo. They just did a Blue-Eyes Structure Deck in the last 2 years, so it's unlikely that Konami will do another one just for the Alternative Dragon stuff. It could easily be a $10 card in the very near future. Pick them up for $1-2 per, stash them, and profit. You're welcome.

I just wanna thank you all for the crazy love I got on the most recent post. You guys crushed anything I could have ever imagined, 2400+ views in 24 hours.

Have a card that you think deserves some consideration?
Hit me up via social media to let me know. If I write about it, I'll drop you some credit in the article.

Twitter: @SparkConfidant
Reddit: BigTymeJuice

Want to support the blog? 
Consider turning AdBlock off while you read. I know, ads suck and I'd be lying if I said that I never use AdBlock, but the minute amount of revenue from the ads does help support this.

Keep the juice flowing,

Lyle

Understanding the YGO Market 101

Hey there YGO Community,

For my first article back, I decided that I should give you guys/gals a proper explanation as to why the YGO secondary market is so hectic and how to read and hopefully make some money off of the instability. First thing's first: With the exception of a VERY select few people, you WILL NOT get rich off of hustling some cardboard, but it might help you pad your wallets a little or at least make your hobby sustainable with minimal continuous investment. The main things I'm going to talk about here are: hype, buyouts, and impulsive buyers. I know that these three things are very closely related, but they are all different in their own ways. Don't worry though, I'll give you a speculation target at the end, ya know, since that's why 90% of y'all are here.

Hype
Webster's defines hype as "extravagant or intensive publicity or promotion" or to "promote or publicize (a product or idea) intensively, often exaggerating its importance or benefits." How is this relevant to the Yugi secondary market? Well, competitive players always want to be on the cutting edge of the game and they want to have the drop on the next big thing. This often causes demand to far surpass supply on any new, sweet tech (Deck Devastation Virus, Luster Pendulum, the Dracoslayer, Brilliant Fusion, Xiangke Magician, and Storming Mirror Force) or the staples (For their time) that players slept on for too long and have to scramble to get (Upstart Goblin, Vanity's Emptiness, Twister, and Denko Sekka.) All it takes is one weird tech in a Regional/YCS-topping deck to cause a mad rush of players to buy their copies before all the reasonably-priced copies are scooped up and they have to pay the mega juice price.

Buyouts
A buyout is exactly that, either one individual or a group of likeminded people make a run on a certain card with the intent of causing the price to spike. Buyouts tend to be more of a MTG thing because the player-base tends to be older and they tend to have more disposable income, so making a run on a new, hot card in order to artificially inflate the price is more easily done. But that doesn't mean that buyouts don't happen in Yugz. There have been multiple cases of people buying up all the copies of cards only to re-list them for mega juice prices. And while I have never orchestrated a buyout, I have certainly profited from them multiple times throughout my Yugi career, the most recent occasion being Deck Devastation Virus. As I was writing this, and I had written an entire paragraph about the DDV buyout, I became aware of a buyout occurring on TCGPlayer. Every copy of Tatsunoko was bought up and copies were re-listed for $65+ before dropping to $35, and eventually to $20ish. Don't get me wrong, the card is very good and should probably be more than the $9 that it was before the buyout, but it was talk about Chris Leblanc's Synchro Fusionist deck hyping it, followed by a buyout that caused the current price spike.

Impulsive Buyers
There are a large portion of Yugi players who are incredibly impulsive, quickly jumping on the newest thing that any "pro" says is good and buying their playset. This has caused certain less reputable people in the past to say how "broken" a certain card is in a deck in order to get them up to a crazy price and let them cash in on the hype before people realize that the card isn't good after all. The most recent case that comes to mind was Spell Chronicle and how amazing it was in Shaddolls. People hyped the card up, knowing full well that it didn't trigger their effects because it was cost to send them, and when confronted about it, they called it a "social experiment" in order to justify their greed. They cost unfortunate, misinformed, impulsive players so much money for cards that were actual trash and should have been left in the bulk box. I know that I don't do these for no benefit to myself, it's not just keeping the public informed about a card. I make money off of selling cards after they go up, so before I write about a card, I make sure to buy at least a few copies, depending on how many I already have.  I may be wrong about a card, (given my track record, it is unlikely) and I might make money after they go up, but I will NEVER knowingly lead you astray. If I'm writing about a card, I believe it is the genuine article. The card might not break the game, but I genuinely believe in everything I write about as money makers.

Speculation Target
The card I want to talk about this week is XYZ Encore, as suggested by my friend Cameron. Now, it's no secret that Cyber Dragon Infinity is finally being released in BOSH. This is the most talked-about card in a long damn time, and for good reason. It steals your opponent's dudes and uses them as part of its Solemn-on-a-stick effect. I don't need to tell you how to summon it, because everyone knows how at this point. I'd rather tell you how to beat it. We've seen in the past the cards that can't be responded to tend to be worth keeping in mind, I mean, Super Polymerization got banned. We've seen XYZ Encore be played before, believe me, as a long-time Evilswarm player, the Dragon Rulers players ALWAYS had the Encore... The card is currently like $3.00 and has so much room for improvement, so if you can manage to squirrel away a few extra copies in order to deal with the incoming menace, I would advise you to do so. I'm not saying that it'll be $100, but let's not forget that the card has been $10+ in the past and most definitely has the potential to do that again.

Have a card that you think deserves some consideration?
Hit me up via social media to let me know. If I write about it, I'll drop you some credit in the article.

Twitter: @SparkConfidant
Reddit: BigTymeJuice

Want to support the blog? 
Consider turning AdBlock off while you read. I know, ads suck and I'd be lying if I said that I never use AdBlock, but the minute amount of revenue from the ads does help support this.

Keep the juice flowing,

Lyle

The Return of the YGO Market Watch!

Hey there YGO Community,

I've been thinking about it a lot recently and after having read an incredibly well-written article yesterday, I remembered just how much I truly love writing. I also remembered just how much I liked watching the cards trend upward after I talked about them, (not necessarily because I talked about them) but because I was right significantly more often than not. And, more than anything, I remembered just how much I loved hearing feedback from the community, good, bad, or indifferent. So, it is with great pleasure that I get to announce that I will be relaunching the YGO Market Watch in the next few weeks. The articles will likely be bi-weekly and should be a little more in-depth. The main reason I originally stopped was that I ran out of cards to talk about and I started focusing more on playing than buying and selling, but this new schedule should keep me busy, yet keep the work coming. I want to thank you all for all your support in this whole endeavor.

Keep the juice flowing,
Lyle

Djinn and Juice

Hey there YGO Community,

We did it, we broke 2500 views. And I can't thank you guys enough. You guys/gals make it all worth it. The support I get from y'all far exceeds the hate. And if you've been part of the YGO Community for any real amount of time, you know how much hate, salt, and shade gets thrown around constantly. Without you all, I'd be talking to the walls about what cards to buy. Or worse, talking my friends' ears off. But that's enough. I know I say it a lot, but you guys rock.

1. The Current Trend
With people continuing to prepare for the drop of Nekroz and the hype around the BA Ritual Monster, there are two cards that are going through the roof. They are Djinn Releaser of Rituals and Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands.
Djinn is a rare that when used to make a Ritual Monster, your opponent can't Special Summon. Emptiness is a pretty strong card I guess. Not to mention it's a Level 3 Fiend, so it's Tour Guide-able. That's pretty good if I do say so myself. The card is averaging $9 on TCGPlayer with unlimited copies available for $5+.
Manju has been a staple in Ritual decks since their inception and up until now, they've been pretty cheap. Now the cheapest copy is $5+ on TCGPlayer with DT copies fetching $20+. I'm a seller at $20. Actually, I was a seller at $15, when I moved all of mine. The card is legitimately good, as most tutor cards are, and it shows a lot of promise in Nekroz. But unless you love having the most expensive copies of cards in your deck and plan on playing the deck, I'd stay away from the DT versions.

2. Speculation Targets
This week I'm going to talk briefly about two cards that I consider fine targets to pick up.
A. Mirror of the Ice Barrier
When I first decided on this card, it was $2, two days later, they're $2.50.
Let's start with the good:
It's fairly cheap currently as it's a common.
It's from the legendary Starstrike Blast set, you know the never reprinted set?
It has applications against the boogie man (Nekroz).
Now for the bad:
It's a common that isn't the blow-out against every deck that Vanity's Emptiness is.

I think that at $2.50 though, this card has a lot of potential as a gainer if for no other reason than hype.

B. Royal Command
For those of you who don't know, Royal Command is getting an Errata in AP06 so that its text will match that of its OCG counterpart. Why is that relevant you ask? Because it now negates all effects of Flip monsters, including their effects in grave. For example: the card now stops the Shaddoll “sent to the graveyard by a card effect" effect. That seems really strong if you ask me. I think that if you're going to get yours, now is the time. Ultras are already $9, but commons and rares are still available for $1-3. I like this card if Shaddolls ever become the best deck again. It's another floodgate that they have to answer.

3. What to Dump
It was brought to my attention that the Inzektor Exa-Beetles that I wrote about a few weeks back did in fact spike. I think that if you're not going to play them you should move them to someone who will for a nice little profit.

Shoutout to Jeff Walker for letting me know about the spike.

Keep the juice flowing,
Lyle

(Night Beam)er, Benz, or Bentley

Hey there YGO Community,

I didn't post last week because of ORAS and the Philly Regional. But I'm back this week with your YGO finance fix. Philly was great. I got to see so many friends, eat great food, meet a couple of fans, and make a few potential business connections. More importantly than that, my brother, Jon Blank got 7th with BA. I'm not here to write a tournament report though, so let's get to it.

1. The Current Trend
In the last article I wrote, I said Denko Sekka was one event away from going up. Well, that happened last week. They are now roughly $25 after reaching $30 for a few days. I still think this card is a good investment. And how could we forget Majesty's Fiend hitting $45 before settling right around $35? I predicted the card to hit $50 at the NAWCQ, I was right that it would increase in value, just four months later. I still kind of count it as a win.

2. Speculation Targets
The card I want to talk about this week is, you guessed it, Night Beam. This card has always been worth $5+ and has been a strong sidedeck card since its release. But now it's beginning to be played in some quantities in the maindeck. If Dust Tornado is good enough to be played, I think the normal spell that doesn't let them chain to its activation is probably playable. The card is still relatively cheap with BP03 copies available for roughly $3, while Ultras can be picked up for $5 and Ulti's for $9. If this card continues to be played, I could see this card reaching the $15 that it used to be if not hitting $20-25.

3. What to Dump
This section continues to be the weakest part of the article. It's just that except for Forbidden/Limited List predictions, I don't really see anything I'd want to run a fire sale on.

Keep the juice flowing,
Lyle

P.S. Thanks to my close friend Richard “Panda" Perez for today's topic. If you want a shout out, submit possible topics and if I use it, you'll get your name in my article.

The Arc Light Rises

Hey there YGO Community,

You guys continue to show so much love with every post. Even more than love, you keep giving me feedback to improve every facet of these articles. I'm just so thankful that I'm doing something so many people enjoy being a part of. Whether it's just reading the articles, commenting on them, suggesting topics/cards for me to talk about, even telling me that you don't like this or that about my article series. It all helps and I'm so thankful for each and every one of you who reads. We're so close to 2,000 views, so if you like this week's article, please feel free to send the link to your friends or share it on your preferred social media outlet.

1. The Current Trend
It looks like people are starting to realize how good Denko Sekka is. This newfound appreciation for the pseudo Cold Wave on a stick has caused the demand for the card to rise and the price along with it. The card is now averaging $25+ after being $15-18 since release. I think the card has a lot of potential as an OTK-enabler. But you don't come here to see what I think about a card as far as playability goes. You read to see what I think about a card as an investment. Ib think that $30 is about the the ceiling for this card, that is until it puts up a major event top being played in triplicate. If that happens, expect the card to jump to $40+.

2. Speculation Targets
This week's target is Herald of the Arc Light.
The card reads:
1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters
Any monster sent from the hand or Main Deck to the Graveyard is banished instead. During either player's turn, when a Spell Card, Trap Card or monster effect is activated: You can Tribute this card; negate the activation, and if you do, destroy that card. If this card is sent to the Graveyard: You can add 1 Ritual Monster or 1 Ritual Spell Card from your Deck to your hand.

As with last week's speculation on Exa-Beetle, this card is exciting because of the impending release of the Nekroz archetype, specifically the card Nekroz Kaleidomirror. You activate it to summon the card The Nekroz of Unicore, sending Herald of the Arc Light to the grave and you get to search for your next ritual monster or the spell with which to summon the one you already have in hand. The card is currently $2-3 and I've been targeting them as throw-ins and in deals where my trade partner just wants cards out of my smalls($8 or so and under) binders. I think the card has a lot of room to grow and is a very safe pick up at a mere $3, not to mention the reprint in the Special Edition should keep their price low for quite a while.

3. What to Dump
As I just referenced, and you should probably know by now, all of the cards printed Super Rare are going to be reprinted in the Special Edition boxes for this set. If you have copies of Supers that are more than $5, now's probably the time to move them so you can pick them up in the very near future at a significantly decreased price.

As always, I look forward to hearing from you guys and gals.

Keep the juice flowing,
Lyle

Ambitionz Az A (Shared) Ridah

Hey there YGO Community,

Well, this past weekend was the debut for NECH cards and things went about like everyone expected. Qliphort, Shaddoll, and Burning Abyss were the decks that put up the best numbers. But something else happened this weekend as well. Yang Zing won their first confirmed Regional, causing the deck to rise slightly in price. The addition of Yazi, Jiaotu, and Brutality seemed to be exactly what the deck needed to put up some numbers. Also, the Grave of the Super Ancient Organism buyout is over and copies are between $10-15 like I predicted. Hopefully you got your hands on a couple and can flip them for a profit. If you're reading this, I believe you definitely have the business sense to do so. But I know you're not here for another “I told you so", so let's get into it.

1. The Current Trend
It's the week following release, so prices on all cards not currently in a Tier 1 deck continue to trend downwards. If there are cards you want for yourself, pick them up. Obviously, cards that did show up in winning decklists are either rising or staying where they are with no real signs of depreciation.

2. Speculation Targets
I have two cards that I'd like to talk about this week since last week wasn't really in depth and instead I just played the part of news correspondent. The first card is Inzektor Exa-Beetle. This Secret Rare from Order of Chaos reads:
DARK
Rank: 6
Insect/Xyz/Effect
2 Level 6 monsters
When this card is Xyz Summoned: You can target 1 monster in either player's Graveyard; equip that target to this card. This card gains ATK and DEF equal to half the original ATK and DEF of the monster equipped by this effect. Once per turn: You can detach 1 Xyz Material from this card to target 1 face-up card on each side of the field; send those targets to the Graveyard.
1000 ATK/1000 DEF
This card has been around for a long time and hasn't really done all that much since the Chaos Dragon Format when you'd go mega plus from Light Pulsar Dragon or Sangan. Well, the idea is kind of the same with the deck it's going to be played in: Nekroz. The play goes:
Activate Nekroz Kaleidomirror sending Shooting Quasar Dragon to Ritual Summon 2 Nekroz of Brionac
Overlay for Inzektor Exa-Beetle
Activate effect targeting Quasar on summon
Activate effect to send two cards to the grave, target Quasar and whatever card your opponent has that you want gone
Effect of Quasar to Special Summon Shooting Star Dragon from your Extra Deck for free.
This card is currently approximately $4 and has been played before. If it's played again, I can't help but feel it'll reach $15-20 again.

The second card is Shared Ride. I've been stocking up on this card for a while now. Getting them out of peoples' dollar binders, pulling them out of crap foils that I've bought, you know, just setting them back for a rainy day. It looks like the sky is about to open up. It's good against every Tier 1 deck and can absolutely break the mirror of any of them. It can cause Qliphort to skip their entire turn the same way as Maxx “C" can cause BA to end their turn. Even if you just cycle the card in response to their search effect, it is a quick-play Upstart Goblin that doesn't gain your opponent life. At best, it's a Time Walk, setting your opponent back an entire turn. And we all know how important tempo is in YuGiOh these days. Copies are between $4-7 and if you're going to get them, I'd say do it now before there's another buyout.

3. What to Dump
I'm finding less and less to try to move each week. I think that this section is going to stay a little slow for the foreseeable future.

If you have any suggestions for topics or even just ways to make the articles better, feel free to let me know on social media.
Twitter: @SparkConfidant
Reddit: BigTymeJuice

Keep the juice flowing,
Lyle

Grave News

Hey YGO Community,

Sorry I didn't post last week. I was just incredibly busy getting things ready for the big Sneak Peek weekend. So I figured I'd make it up to you by posting some breaking news type stuff today. Without further ado, let's get into it.

1. The Current Trend
With the release if New Challengers this coming Friday, forums and Facebook groups are buzzing with questions of how to beat them or how to slow them down. There is a card that I've been considering boarding against the deck. It's Grave of the Super Ancient Organism, an Ultra Rare from Raging Battle. The card reads:
Continuous Trap
While this card is face-up on the field, Level 6 or higher Special Summoned monsters cannot attack or activate their effect(s).
Apparently I'm not the only one who thought this card was a good side choice because TCGPlayer.com experienced a buyout on the card mere hours after I bought my playset. Buyouts have long been a thing in MTG, but they are just starting to creep into YGO and this will undoubtedly drive the price of this card to $10+ when the buyers re-list them later this week.

2. Speculation Targets
I was actually going to write about this card as a Spec target today, but it seems like I may be a little late to my own party. If you can get copies for $5 or less, they are a must buy even if you just wanna flip them for the quick come-up. This card has so much potential. Think about it, it's Fiendish Chain for all Level 6 or higher monsters. It stops Qliphort in their tracks. Think about all the decks that are currently or will be relevant in the near future and how this card interacts with them:
Qliphort
Shaddolls (Only the Fusions, I know)
Yang Zing (Synchros)
Nekroz (the new hotness that everyone is hyping)
Spirit Beasts (More new hotness)
If you can get these copies, do so. If you already have yours, good job.

3. What to Dump
I'm still not sure what I'd dump. If you have $40+ cards from the Sneak Peek that you're not going to play, those are my suggestions as to what I'd move (to the highest bidder of course).

It's good to be back.
Keep the juice flowing,
Lyle

The Legion of Doom(star)

Hey YGO Community,

The support I continue to get on my article series is incredible. I'm glad you guys didn't lose interest after a few weeks. If you think of anything you'd like me to talk about or that you think I missed, let me know. You can contact me via social media on
Twitter: @SparkConfidant
Instagram: @DontKnowHow2Lose
Facebook: Lyle BigTyme Bumbaugh
Or you can leave a comment right on my article.

1. The Current Trend
Nothing really groundbreaking happened this week, save for LC5D's rarities being leaked(either correctly or incorrectly). I did notice a few prices being higher than I had anticipated this week. Artifact Sanctum is $40+ with the advent of Shaddoll Artifacts finally being recognized as the best version of the deck(I told y'all over a month ago), Satellarknight Artifacts, and 50+ Card Control.
And we all knew that copies of Skill Drain were on the rise, but I didn't know that the Ultra from Turbo Pack had reached $45. It shouldn't be terribly surprising since Yang Zing plays it in triplicate, as well as the Qliphort deck that is being released in NECH.
Other than what I write about and what people post in Facebook YGO Groups under the headline “Why is X card $Y?", it can be very hard to find out that cards are trending up in price.

2. Speculation Targets
This week I want to talk about another card from DUEA, Doomstar Magician. This card is one that people are already hesitant to move for its current price of $2.50. This card feels like a gainer to me. It has a lot going for it for both competitive and casual players:
It's Dark - Players know that traditionally, Light and Dark Attribute monsters tend to be the most powerful.
It's Level 4 - This opens up XYZ plays in almost every archetype.
It's a Spellcaster - Casual players love any card that reminds them of the Dark Magician and Yugi.
It works against Pendulum Summoning - It kills one of their Pendulum Zones, rendering it impossible to perform a Pendulum Summon.
It replaces it's cost - You have to discard a card, but it replaces itself. It's fine even it it's used only as a reverse looter effect.
It's an anti-meta card - Cards that fight against new mechanics often prove themselves incredibly valuable.
I don't know that this card will be $20, but this card has a lot going for it and I will be ready if it is.

3. What to Dump
This is always the weakest part of my articles, I know. But I really have no idea what I'd be trying to dump this week. Just the stuff I've been telling you to dump for weeks.

Keep the juice flowing,
Lyle

Catching a Cold Wave

Hey there YGO Community,

I got sick at the Frederick Regional on Sunday, so I haven't been able to write anything until today. That's why today's article didn't go up on Monday like usual. I had one weird interaction at the Regional that I want to talk about today, after the financial advice, obviously.

1. The Current Trend
Billy Brake's 60 Card Control list was spoiled this week, causing The Beginning of the End to shoot up to over $10 before settling at $8+. Now, I've played my fair share of this card before, both when I first started playing again and this past winter when I played Jeff Jones's REDRUM deck, so I know just how good this card can be. Cheap card advantage is always good, but I don't think this particular card is quite good enough to warrant the lofty price tag. I'll talk about it more in What to Dump.

2. Speculation Targets
I've recently been picking up the original versions of cards that have been or will be reprinted in the near future. People always think that a reprint will kill the price of their card, so they dump it immediately for a fraction of its original price, only to need the card a month down the road. It happens like clockwork, the reprint is announced and people dump their cards with the intent of picking them back up later for what they think will be a lower price. That's fine, but players tend to want the original printing of cards more than the reprint unless they're on a strict budget. I've been targeting the original versions of cards that were reprinted in the Mega Tins(ARK, Exciton, Dracossack, Mistake, Dichotomy, etc) that were worth $15+ prior to the reprint. The market is currently flooded with the cards and they're still holding some amount of value. Think about this: Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack was a $50+ card prior to the Mega Tins and is currently worth right about $25 with tin versions fetching $15-20. I can't help but feel like Dracossack is too good to never be played again, and when it is, its price will shoot back up, the same thing goes for any of the other cards that I've mentioned. I'll address future reprints affecting prices in next week's article.

3. What to Dump
The Beginning of the End. Billy Brake made a very good meta choice with his 60 Card Control deck. Now, everyone and their mother is jumping on the deck. Neat. Time to plus from this herd mentality. Dump your copies to them or to the internet for a quick profit before the card goes back down to $2-3 where it belongs.

Now I want to talk about an interaction I had at Frederick Regional this past Sunday. Now, I'm a pretty recognizable guy. I'm 6'2, almost 300 lbs, and I'm pretty well-known in the NY-VA region as far as TCG tournaments go. But Sunday, I was trading and hanging out with a group of friends when a player approached me and wanted to trade. I told him I was a little busy at the moment and I'd get to him as soon as I was able. I didn't want to blow the guy off or tell him to F-O, but I was legitimately busy. He must think pretty highly of himself as a trader, probably considering himself a Shark, so he told me that “My time is worth money, I can't stand in line to work with you". Before I tell you all what I told the guy, I'd like to clarify that I do not consider myself a “Shark", I'm above that. A friend jokingly referred to me as an “Apex Predator" after watching the movie, Chronicle and we all had a laugh, but the more I thought about it, the more it fit. My friends and I prey upon the self-proclaimed “Sharks" and work with the actual vendors, meaning that nothing preys on us, making us, by definition, Apex Predators. Anyway, back to the story; I tell the guy “If your time is worth money, then any trade you make with me is going to be a poor investment". He looks offended and leaves. He probably had a nice book with decent cards, but he didn't get to trade with me because of his attitude. Moral of the story is that if you wanna trade with people and potentially make a profit, don't be an asshole and especially don't talk down to people. I guess that goes for life in general though. Let me know what you think. And as always,

Keep the juice flowing,
Lyle

Knocking on Heaven's Horn

Hello YGO Community,

This week has been awesome and I even had my first fan add me on Facebook. I'll be at the Frederick Regional on Sunday, October 12. If you're there and you're a fan or you have some advice or a request for a topic, or you just want to say hi, feel free to. I'm pretty recognizable, I'll be the tall, bearded guy in a backwards baseball cap and some sort of button-down shirt. But without further ado, let's get into this week's article.

1. The Current Trend
This week was the first one under the new Limited/Forbidden list, so obviously some prices were still crazy high (Raigeki and Glow-Up Bulb) while just about everything else stayed the same. All the cards in the Big Three stayed right where they were and those decks continued to do as well as they had been.

2. Speculation Targets
I wanna talk about the card Black Horn of Heaven. This card was THE CARD of Geargia format, so you obviously know what it does. The card kind of died this format due to the fact that it can't stop Shaddoll Fusion and if you do stop Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss, he gets his effect. But there is this mechanic called Pendulum Summoning that you might have heard about and they happen to be Inherent Summons, the same kind that Black Horn stops. “But Lyle, Black Horn says 'a monster.' I'll only stop one of them and the others will live." False. Until recently, I thought the same thing, but then I read in the Judge Forum that since Inherent Summons could only happen one at a time when Black Horn was printed, it says “a monster", not “one monster". It was ruled that it would stop the entire Pendulum Summon. At least until they release a new printing or errata for the card. That's pretty good if you ask me. And with the exception of Ultimate Rare copies, the average price for them across the board is $7-10 in a format in which they're not played. Remember how high they got when they were a 3-of in nearly every 55? Even if they do errata the card, the card won't go down in price. And if there's ever another XYZ-centric format, the card is guaranteed to go back through the roof. Have I ever steered you wrong before?

3. What to Dump
I personally think people should be moving all their extra copies of Raigeki right now. They're still fetching a good price and people are still buying them. You don't want to be stuck with 20 copies when the price goes down. Personally, the only copies I'd want to own would be LOB 1/e or RP01 Ultra.

Keep the juice flowing,
Lyle

The Yang Zing Twins

Hey guys and gals,

You all continue to crush my expectations when I check how many views these articles/blogs/whatever get and I can't thank you enough. But let's get into this week's article!

1. The Current Trend
The Banlist caused Raigeki and Glow-Up Bulb to skyrocket in price. You already know this.
This week, Dante, Traveler of the Burning Abyss jumped from its already high price of $60 to the astronomical price of $90 because of the Burning Abyss Tuner being spoiled. The new Tuner is crazy, as most of you know already. I really think BA is going to be able to compete with Shaddoll and Qliphort after New Challengers.

2. Speculation Targets
I've spent the past week picking up the Yang Zing monsters. With the exception of Chiwen and Baxia, none of them are more than $2 and in case you weren't aware, the deck is getting three new monsters in New Challengers.

Let's start with the least impressive of the three:
Taotie, Shadow of the Yang Zing
Level 5
Dark
Wyrm/Effect
2200 ATK/0 DEF

When this card you control is destroyed by battle or card effect and sent to your Graveyard: You can Special Summon 1 "Yang Zing" monster from your Deck in Defense Position, except "Taotie, Shadow of the Yang Zing". You can only use this effect of "Taotie, Shadow of the Yang Zing" once per turn. Once per turn, during your opponent's Main Phase or Battle Phase, you can: Immediately after this effect resolves, Synchro Summon 1 Synchro Monster using only "Yang Zing" monsters you control (this is a Quick Effect). Control of a face-up Synchro Monster that used this card as a Synchro Material cannot switch.

This card has the standard Yang Zing floater effect, but it's level 5 and it has 2200 ATK, the same attack as Shaddoll Winda. It's secondary effect of not letting the control of the Synchro it's used to make change seems pretty good too in case Number 11: Big Eye or Evilswarm Bahamut are relevant.

Then we have the new Tuner monster:
Jiaotu, Darkness of the Yang Zing
Level 2
Dark
Wyrm/Tuner/Effect
0 ATK/2000 DEF
When this card you control is destroyed by battle or card effect and sent to your Graveyard: You can Special Summon 1 "Yang Zing" monster from your Deck in Attack Position, except "Jiaotu, Darkness of the Yang Zing". If you control no other monsters: You can send 2 "Yang Zing" cards from your hand to the Graveyard; Special Summon 1 "Yang Zing" monster with 0 ATK and 1 "Yang Zing" monster with 0 DEF from your Deck, but banish them during the End Phase. You can only use 1 "Jiaotu, Darkness of the Yang Zing" effect per turn, and only once that turn.

It lets you drop additional monsters to make easier Synchro plays so that you can make the following monster.

Now, let's talk about the card that you should care about:
Yazi, Wickedness of the Yang Zing
Level 7
Dark
Wyrm/Synchro/Effect
2600 ATK/2100 DEF

1 Tuner + 1 or more non-Tuner monsters
Your opponent cannot target this card with card effects. You can target 1 "Yang Zing" monster you control and 1 card your opponent controls; destroy them. You can only use this effect of "Yazi, Wickedness of the Yang Zing" once per turn. When this card you control is destroyed by battle or card effect and sent to your Graveyard: You can Special Summon 1 Wyrm-Type monster from your Deck in Defense Position. You can only use this effect of "Yazi, Wickedness of the Yang Zing" once per turn.

This card is bananas! Level 7 untargetable Scrap Dragon! Oh my! Now think about this. You make it using Chiwen, Bixi, and Suanni. It's got 3100 ATK, your opponent can't target it, it's unaffected by Traps, and it's SCRAP DRAGON! Why would you ever make Leo? I'm not saying that Yang Zing will be Tier 0 or anything, merely that people will want to play this deck and the Hype Train is a real thing. I'm currently staying away from Path though, because at $25ish, there's not much money to make, but if you can buy the baby Yang Zings for $.50 or $1.00, do it. It's not like they can go down in price.

3. What to Dump
For the second week in a row, I don't really have any cards that I would want to move except for Raigeki, unless you have Dante's and don't plan on playing the deck or you think they will drop. I personally don't think they'll drop too hard.

I want to do a little bit of a progress report to see how well I've been providing you all with advice on what to buy/sell.

Week 1
Buy: Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon
Sell: Batteryman cards
Odd-Eyes were $15 at the time across the board. Now the Secret Rare copies are $23+ and the Ultimate Rare versions are $35+. I think we did alright.
Batteryman commons have gone down in the meantime with Micro-Cell averaging $2.50 and Fuel Cell hovering around $5.50.
Week 2
Buy: Volcanic Shell Ultimate Rare
Sell: Outstanding Dog Marron
Shells were right around $4.50 and are now just under $10 per.
Marron was $7-8 and now it's less than $5 from DR1.
Week 3
Buy: Mistake
Sell: Nothing really
Mistake was $5 for the Shadow Spectres version and $3 for the Mega Pack version. The SHSP copy gained $3 in the past week while the MP14 stayed the same.

Please continue to tell me what you think, what you like, or how you think these articles could improve.

Keep the juice flowing,
Lyle

Don't Make a Mistake

Hey guys and gals

You all continue to amaze me with the number of views I see every week. I can't explain how much this support means. Anyway, here's today's article, so enjoy.

1. The Current Trend
It's that time of year again, banlist time. And you all know what it brings with it, weird card prices, salt-filled banlist predictions, and worst of all, Facebook feeds full of fake banlist links. But that's not why we're here. I'm only here to make you all money. So here's the trend: banned cards that may come back trend up while cards that may be touched on the banlist trend down this time of year. One of the cards going through the roof is Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier, with Secret Rare copies fetching $30 and DT Ultra Rare copies bringing in a whopping $150 per on TCGPlayer.com

2. Speculation Targets
This week's spec target is Mistake, the anti-meta Secret Rare from Shadow Spectres. This card was $25 on set release and quickly shot up to $50 when Spellbook was the deck to beat, before dropping to its current price of $5 and MP14 copies are $3.
I've always been a bit if a control player, so this card is right up my alley as a sideboard card.
This card has already been $50 and people remember that. Price memory is always a factor when it comes to cards going back up in price.
Everyone is hyped to play/beat Qliphort and this card gives you a good chance to catch them off guard because it's chainable to their cards.
It's also really good against Shaddoll because it stops both sides of Hedgehog, Thunder Dragon, and Volcanic Shell if it's played like I think it will.
It's good against both of the Knight archetypes, both Noble and Stellar.
Against Noble Knights, it stops ROTA as well as Borz from using his effect to search for the most important part of the deck, the equip spells. And in case you don't know, Konami has all but confirmed that Noble Knights will be Tier 1 in the TCG.
And against Stellarknights, it stops ROTA and the most expensive card in the deck, Deneb from adding anything. As well as the Pot of Duality's that they're all playing.
Not to mention that it hurts Burning Abyss from searching Tour Guide every turn with Scarm.

3. What to Dump
I don't really see anything that I would 100% advise anyone to dump. Things are pretty stable right now and it's really nice. Just the things I've said before.

Keep the juice flowing,
Lyle

A Shell of a Life

Hey, guys and gals

This week's been pretty crazy and I want to thank you all for the incredible amount of support and feedback that I've received on my first post. It's been humbling to say the least, and for those of you who really know me, I'm anything but.

But I digress, let's get right to it.

1. The Current Trend
YCS Toronto decklists were released this past week, one Shaddoll list in particular played an interesting choice for their Light monster, causing an old common to spike to $7+. Of course, I'm referring to Outstanding Dog Marron. Now, I admit that it's cute, and it's neat to never run out of Light targets for Shaddoll Fusion. That being said, I prefer the use of monsters that do something, whether it be the Lightsworn engine, the Artifacts (my personal preference), or the Thunder Dragon route. I'll be addressing my opinion on Marron from a financial standpoint later in this article.

2. Speculation Targets
My target for this week is an older card, Volcanic Shell, I'm only talking about the Ultimate Rare versions though.
This card seems like a good bet because of the November release of The New Challengers and with that, the release of El Shaddoll Egrystal. The card reads:
Level 7
Fire
Rock/Fusion/Effect
ATK 2450 DEF 1950
1 "Shaddoll" monster + 1 FIRE monster
Must first be Fusion Summoned. During either player's turn, when your opponent would Special Summon a monster(s), if you have a "Shaddoll" card in your hand: You can negate the Summon, and if you do, destroy that monster(s), then send 1 "Shaddoll" card from your hand to the Graveyard. You can only use this effect of "El Shaddoll Egrystal" once per turn. If this card is sent to the Graveyard: You can target 1 "Shaddoll" Spell/Trap Card in your Graveyard; add it to your hand.
With this card added to the already powerful Shaddoll deck, you're going to need consistent access to Fire monsters. Volcanic Shell gives you that, because once you get one to your grave, for the cost of 500 LP, you have one per turn. This card reminds me of Thunder Dragon, a card that Patrick Hoban has already praised, in the way that it fetches more copies of itself to guarantee that you'll have a fat hand full of fusion material.
This card seems like a safe bet because it's from Force of the Breaker, a set that was released over 7 years ago and has already had Ultimates spike to crazy prices at the mention of future support. (Remember Gravekeeper's Commandant, Harpie's Queen, and Archfiend General?)
You can get playsets of 1st ed. Ultimates for roughly $14 currently and when's the last time you saw one in a binder?

3. What to Dump
You guessed it, this is where I'm addressing my opinion on Outstanding Dog Marron. Like I said, it's cute, but $7+ for a common played as a one-of in one version of a deck that I have to imagine topped on the back of the deck itself and not its pilot's tech choice. But Lyle, what about Vanity's Emptiness, that's a common that's worth upwards of $30? Vanity's is played as at least a two-of in each of the Big Three this format. As I said before, Marron is a one-of. Keep one for yourself if you really feel like playing it. Dump the rest. Immediately.

Keep the juice flowing,
Lyle

My First Post

Hey there, YGO Community

My name is Lyle and I'm a floor buyer in both Yu-Gi-Oh and Magic: The Gathering. I noticed that there are a fair number of MTG finance writers, but there are no real YGO finance writers, so I decided that I should bring some of my knowledge and insight to the rest of the Yu-Gi-Oh community. This is why I'm writing this series called “YGO Market Watch". In this series, I will be discussing current trends in the Yu-Gi-Oh secondary market along with what is causing said trends. I will also be discussing what cards I am picking up as speculation targets and what cards I am dumping to the hype train-following masses.

But before I go headfirst into what to buy/sell, I want to explain a few things about how the secondary market works. The TCG secondary market in general works the same way as any other market. There are suppliers, the people who make it their business to have the desirable items and to get them to their customers. There are the customers, the players and collectors, the people who keep the whole game going. But with a Trading Card Game, there are many other pieces of the equation:
There are the completely casual players, you know, what we all started as. They sit around their kitchen table with their unsleeved decks playing for the love of the game. These players keep the demand for cards like Blue-Eyes White Dragon high.
Then there are semi-competitive players, they play at local tournaments and win a few matches here and there, but at the end of the day, they'd rather play their gimmicky, fun, magical Christmas land decks or decks that were expensive when they first started playing than the new hotness. These players keep up the demand for wonky combo cards like Exodia pieces as well as past decks like Gladiator Beasts, X-Sabers, and Junk Doppel.
Then we have the competitive players, these are your players who travel for events, crush their locals, read articles, buy the newest decks, these are the primary customers of people like myself.

Then we have the different types of buyers/sellers:
Let's start with the small fish, these are the people, usually younger players, who are on a much more limited income and therefore buy or trade just to make a quick buck because the other guy/gal didn't know their card recently jumped in price. They then try to dump it immediately for any type of small come-up. These players are the type to make one huge juice, then once the other person finds out, they won't do business ever again.
Next we have the big fish, these players tend to have pretty nice binders filled with mid-tier and a few high-tier cards they juiced from small fish. These players tend to negotiate less on their prices because they think they're smarter than you are. This even applies when they're selling to a vendor.
Then there are the sharks, the players with the thick binders filled with high-tier cards. These players get a bad reputation with most of the smaller fish because they tend to only want the newest, shiniest cards. A lot of these players pay less than vendors so they can just ship to actual vendors for a profit. There are actually a fair number of “sharks" who are reputable because this is how they make their living and they know if they juice too often, people won't do business with them. They know that it's better to make $5 profit over 30 trades than to make $100 profit in one trade. One or two of these players at your local game store can actually be a good thing because they can bring an influx of cards back into the shop after bigger events because they have the means /connections to get the cards.
Lastly, we have the actual vendors, the  people with booths at regionals buying cards to take back to their brick and mortar stores or online shops. Examples are: Face to Face Games, CoreTCG, Brothers Grim CCG, Alter Reality Games, Strikezone, and Hotsauce Games. These stores tend to have public buylists so they can try to guarantee the best prices for their customers. One of the best things you can do is to become friends with people working/running their booths at events. These people have a lot of say with players and other vendors and can open doors to a lot of opportunities for you if you treat them with respect.

I'm going to keep this first blog short and only talk about one card per section so that I don't overwhelm any people who are new to this aspect of the game.

1. Current Trends
Over the past few weeks, weird cards have spiked in price, most of them immediately dropped back down to around their original price, maybe a little higher. IE: Mischief of the Yokai
But there were a few bad apples who decided to lie about a card and hype it through the roof as what they're calling a “social experiment" when it was clearly an excuse to take advantage of a few unfortunate people. By now, you've probably guessed that I'm talking about the card Spell Chronicle.

2. Speculation Targets
I've been targeting copies of Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. This card has done nothing but drop since its release last month. You can get copies for roughly $15, and I'm a buyer at that price. This card has so much going for it that it's all but a sure bet.
It's a character card and unless they're reprinted ad infinitum, these kinds of cards stay expensive, especially if it's even borderline playable.
It's a secret from the first set of a new block. This card has so much time to grow in value.
It's the first real Pendulum support card.
It's a Dragon and we all know casual players love dragons.
It's level 7, which makes it relevant if Dragon Rulers make a resurgence. Plus it can be used for Sacred Sword of Seven Stars.
It fits into the first real Pendulum archetype, Qliphorts, which everyone is already proclaiming to be the best deck as soon as it drops.
Lastly, and probably most importantly, it facilitates a new strategy by letting you search for your specific need. Think about other Secret Rare cards that helped the newest decks: Tour Guide from the Underworld broke $200 and how could we omit Rescue Rabbit, another $100+ card. I feel like Odd-Eyes is just waiting to go through the roof, and when it does, I'll be ready.

3. What to Dump
Every Batteryman card. The deck hasn't put up any results despite the hype around it driving the prices of commons and rares to $5-10. This seems to be the height of their price, I'm a seller right now.

Thanks again for reading. If you liked this first report or have any ideas on cards you want me to address, just let me know.

Keep the juice flowing,
Lyle