Magic the Gathering Spike of the Week: Invoke Prejudice + Bonus Piece: Why I Hate Buyouts
Well, here's what will probably be known as the strongest price spike of the month.
The card in note however....is a bit of a strange pick, given it's lack of appearance in any notable format.
However, that confusion should be quickly dispelled, as once again *drumroll* ...we have another unhealthy buyout of reserve list cards!!
A few people have debated that IP should drop down to previous levels of $200, because this is a card that sees no play in any format other than EDH, since it's not a very competitive play. However, Invoke Prejudice is going through what I've decided to coin the "Drop of Honey" effect. It will spike from $150 to 4 figures, and eventually it settles down, but the new price will typically be 2-3 times higher than what it was before.
Take for example the card Bartel Runeaxe. Yet again, another random card from Legends, one far less known in fact. however, this too was subject to a random buyout, spiking from $4 to an utterly ridiculous value of $250, with sites frantically adjusting prices from $150 and even higher, before finally settling at $30.
But as you can clearly see, it's been a few months now, and that price looks to be fairly stable now, with no chance for an impending crash. Even with a lack of demand, once a RL price goes up, it will never really go back to what it used to be.
Let me make it clear, buyouts are utterly abhorrent, I do not approve of people who artificially inflate the 93/94 market to make a quick profit at the expense of other players and collectors, and it's actions like this which make me wish the Reserve List was abolished.
Side note, for those who don't know, the card Invoke Prejudice as well as the artist has....something of a very controversial history to it.
I don't want to write about this card, or Harold Arthur McNeill, as I feel an individual like him doesn't deserve to receive attention in a blog post. However, I do feel it important to highlight a dark chapter in Wizards' history when they made the decision to bring on an incredibly racist individual as a freelance artist, and as somebody who's spoken to Harold briefly, I think it necessary to explain just how problematic he was, and still is.
Still, I leave that up to others to decide, so if anybody genuinely wants me to pen an article about this, feel free to let me know.
