~ February 2022 - Mid Month Updates ~

It is that time of the month again!.

Intro - The world continues to be "jittery" and fearful. As Covid-19 levels out and "Comes to an end" we are immediately thrown into a world of "War/Russia/Recession". I remain very bullish on the future of the economy and collectibles. i believe the risk level remains high for daily swings in prices and negativity spreads fast. I expect interest rates to rise many times in the coming 1-2 years. I expect this to cause shocks to the equity markets and the collectible world. Many people remain very leveraged and higher interest rates will cause many investors to "un-wind" and reduce the leverage due to higher borrowing costs.

MTG - Kamigawa - Kamigawa is the strongest and hottest magic standard set i have seen in a long time. The collector boxes are on fire and wizards blew it out of the park with the "NEON PARALLEL" chase cards. With these NEON chase cards ranging between $100-$1000 a card, the collector boxes are going to be a very strong. I think this Collector box is going to break the "Streak" of bearish pricing on the last 3 collector box standard sets. I believe kami Collector boxes will break $300+ within 1 year due to lack of supply. Unless wotc releases additional supply they have in reserve, the demand and return of mass box openers will push the price up.

MTG - Crimson/Midnight/Adventures in Forgotten - All of these standard sets will remain weak and "rejected" by the markets for many more months. BUT...im telling you...these products will have there moment and uptick in the coming years. Literally NO ONE is going to sit on these products and due to lack of demand, i expect reduced supply on these standard sets. I wouldnt be surprise to see wizards cut off supply early. Do NOT skip these products. You will regret it.

MTG - New product - This sector of the market remains very "bearish" with stores and investors being uncomfortable with the future pricing of flashy cards and variants. I believe wizards is aware of this and we will start to see a "tightening" of variants and supply. I believe most people will miss out on the price upticks due to being negative on all new product. This is 2018 all over again.

MTG - Reserved List - I am seeing the strongest demand for Arabian Knights "COMMON" cards and other 4 horseman "common" cards i have ever seen in my life. Sets like Alliances/Arabian/The Dark are absolutly on fire with high sales data on all websites. Many individuals are moving money into these old cards. I do believe the prices will hold and continue higher in the coming years.

Pokemon Intro - The poke world has bottomed in the Q4 of 2021. All sealed products have shown upticks across the board. With the demand surging again with Brilliant Stars boxes, i expect this to flare up overall "flippers" and short term investors again. As of right now, this product remains short printed when compared to Battle/Chilling/Fusion. Prices will be volatile, but just like the past. Do not skip sets or get emotional over price swigs. All of these items will be strong in a couple years. I like the boxes.

Pokemon GRADED CARDS - Remains a firm STAY AWAY. Until i see PSA/BGS open up submissions again and offer bulk discounts and quick turn around times, i know they have insane amounts of cards in the que still. Unless you are SELLING graded modern pokemon, do NOT buy into it. The risk is too high to justify the potential returns.

Vintage Pokemon - Even with the "logan Paul" Gi-JOE scam. I still love pokemon vintage sealed boxes. If you can buy or find any under market price or beating the sold ebay prices. I like it for long term parking of capital.

metazoo - WILDERNESS - This next Metazoo 1st edition Promo kit coming in 40 days is going to be a monster release. WIth distributors already 3x over sold based on quantity request from stores. I expect a huge success and uptick for the metazoo brand and market.

Metazoo - Wilderness Patron Kits - I expect the same exact kit as the last one. 2 of every item. The patron feedback on that quantity and price point was very positive. Moving forward i expect all Metazoo Promo kits for be 2 of each item + Promo card + promo Playmat. I have upgraded the playmat again to even fancier and more exotic. I expect pricign to be simliar to the last kit in the $400-$600 range. 

Metazoo - negativitiy - A large chunk of the public continues to attack the metazoo brand and owner as a scam. The brand is continuing to be the fastest growing CCG on the market today. The walmart roll out was a huge success with 2x - 3x quantity supply increase on the next wave for big box stores. I believe the branding will continue to carry the CCG into the next level and into more mainstream channels. I would not bet against metazoo at this stage.

Flesh and Blood Intro - The player base continues to grow at a strong pace. The organzied play and pro tour continues to be a huge driver in more stores carrying the product. Investors remain bearish and unwilling to move large amounts of money into cold foils or sealed product. The problem is, if the secondary market continues to stabilize and starts to uptick, we could start seeing HUGE upticks in prices since most "whales" are now sitting on the sidelines watching.

Flesh and Blood - NEGATIVITY - Overall, the attacks from the first 2 years are over with. I no longer see the threats and comments about "no one plays the game" its just "investors selling back and worth". All of these initial attacks appear to be gone now that FaB is in its 3rd year of existence. Essentially Everfest is the 6th release of FaB and every LGS carries the product or has heard of the product and asked a distributor.

Flesh and Blood - 2.0 - While LSS has been very quiet about the details, and i firmly believe 1st edition and unlimited edition is over with. I dont think they are happy with the business model and the behavior of distributors/stores on handling the product. I expect LSS to announce a duplication of the Magic the Gathering release model. Single product.....allocatin period....print to demand....out of print. I dont know the long term impact on a change this big. I have no idea what that means for future cold foils prices and chase cards.

FLesh and Blood - SEALED PRODUCT - Similiar to Pokemon, i noticed prices appears to have bottomed in Q4 of 2021. The biggest shift i have seen is in Monarch 1st edition boxes. THose bottomed at $150 each and have been slowely upticking in price for the last 5 weeks.

Flesh and Blood - Everfest - I believe this will be the 1st modern FaB box that starts out at $78 a box and slowely climbs over the next 1-2 years. I know it sounds crazy, but i expect Everfest to be $150 a box in 12 months. My biggest rationale is, the stores are dumping everything and no one wants to sit on FaB boxes anymore. What you see on the open market is essentially 99% of the supply. I dont expect any major surprises with supply. Based on that thesis, this product has already bottomed.

Weiss - INTRO - I noticed the quantity of stores carrying weiss has leveled off now. It spiked in the last year and now appears to be stable. Simliar to Force of Will, sealed boxes of weiss are tough to get and annoying to manage. There are usually...no restocks and everything is a one time shot and you have to guess months in advance. I believe this is why sealed boxes age so well. They are very very tough to located when they age.

Weiss - CHASE CARDS - I expect Bushiroad to insert more chase/serialized cards into the future sets. I think this is very bullish for future sealed weiss boxes. I think this remains one of the most underappreciated CCG's on the market. I continue to build a position in every release and have been trying to offer patrons a shot at most releases.

Force of Will - Same as always....no growth...no price crashed. Just stable and moving sideways. The game has a loyal following, but a limited single card market due to a flat player base. I continue to carry the sealed products becuase i love the products and the flavor of the game.

Force of WIll - game of gods reloaded - I will be carrying this new set next week. I believe i have aroudn 320 boxes, not much...but it is the best i could get. The print runs are so low now-a-days its dumb. It anything major or positive ever happens, prices could swing overnight.

Kickstarter - NEW CCGS - I remain very bearish and concerned over the amount of money being thrown into 100's of new CCGs with no long term business model.....no longer term distribution....no long term access to capital....no player base. Use extreme caution.

~ Upcoming Scheduled Sales ~

- Pokemon Brilliant Stars booster boxes - (Feb)

- Weiss Booster Boxes - (Feb/March)

- Modern Horizons 2 Draft Boxes/Cases - (March)

- Metazoo Wilderness 1st edition Bundles - (March)

- Magic - Prerelease kit by the Case - (March)

- Force of will game of gods reloaded booster box - (Feb)

- Alpha Investments 6.9 Year Anniv - "From The Vault" Black Box - (April)

- Commander Legends 2: Battle for Baldur’s Gate - (April/May)

- Fab 2.0 - (June)

Overall Outlook - I remain very optomistic about 2022+. I believe we are still in a golden age of Collectibles and the world. As we leave the Covid-19 era behind, i believe the opportunities for collectors/players is huge in this market. I believe many people will miss out due to "fear" of a market crash....recession.....bubble.....inflation....politics.....media....etc.

Life is ironic. In order to understand how good/bad an "era" is...you have to wait for it to end and look back on it. By the time you realize a good moment in life it is over and too late.

Technology is faster. People are the same.

It is ok to lose and be wrong.

It is NOT ok to live with regrets because you were too scared to be wrong.

Beautiful World.

-Rudy 🐈

Never, Ever Give up. 

Here is a High School Rudy Throwback