TCGplayer released its March 2022 data for sealed TCG products sold on their site as well as the price shifts for these products. This newly released data may have indicated a few trends forming in the TCG market.
This time around on the chart (see “TCGplayer Top 25 Sealed TCG Products“), Magic: The Gathering may have entered what could the very beginning of an uptrend in sales for their Standard set sealed products. One line item that clearly stands out on this list is that the Kaldheim Collector Booster Display hit #6 on the chart and their value barely increased (went from $157.91 to $158.09). This set is over a year old (see “‘Magic: The Gathering’ ‘Kaldheim’“) and the very small bump in value indicates that a large quantity of this product may have changed hands in a short period of time before the price could adjust upward to accomodate demand.
So, why Kaldhiem?
Kaldhiem, aside from having a few solid Commander cards, features the cycle of Pathway lands that are a big part of both the Pioneer and Standard-legal land base. WotC recently announced that Magic: The Gathering’s Pro Tour will make a return and feature FLGS Regional Qualifier tabletop events (see “Tabletop Events“). The first Regional Championships will feature Pioneer events (see “‘Magic: The Gathering’“), a format that was launched in 2019 and then more or less derailed, as far as tabletop play went, by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, with the Regional Championships coming and OP returning to stores, competitive players will likely need to go back and get some of the Pioneer staple cards they missed from 2020 through 2022 to use in tabletop play. The Kaldheim Collector Booster Displays offer great value in that regard, as this products contains the full-art Pathway lands as well as the added bonus of being able to pull Vorinclex, Goldspan Dragon, or some of the Gods out of packs. However, the recent, heavy purchases of Kaldhiem products may only be the tip of the proverbial iceberg for this sales uptrend. Ikiora, Battle for Zendikar, and Crimson Vow all have solid Pioneer cards in them and could be next as older sealed product acquisition targets.
On another note, the March sealed sales chart had a significant lack of smaller publishers. WotC, Bandai, Konami, and The Pokemon Company International dominated the chart from top to bottom. This indicates one of two things that has occurred here. One possibility is that the smaller publishers didn’t have too many new releases in March, as is the case with Legend Story Studios that released its big Q1 product in February (see “‘Everfest’“). The other possibility is that consumers are consolidating their spending behind the legacy TCG titles, and are taking less risks on purchasing newer games. April and May will provide a better indicator of the health of smaller games in the TCG market, as it is traditionally the time frame consumers get their tax returns and spend a little more.
Source: ICV2
