Throughout Magic: the Gathering’s nearly 30 years of existence, it has been no secret that the game can be expensive. Thanks to the Reserved List not going anywhere, some of the game’s oldest cards can easily sell for thousands. Remarkably, in the world of MTG, even the money spent on The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale can seem like a pittance. After all, it wasn’t long ago that a single MTG card sold for upwards of $800,000 to Post Malone. Thankfully, for non-celebrity players, not every MTG card costs as much as a house. That being said. However, there are a vast number of reasons why MTG cards can be expensive. Comical and surprisingly lucrative MTG meme cards being just one of them.
The Seance Meme
When first released in 2012’s Dark Ascension, many MTG players completely passed by Séance. In theory, the card’s temporary resurrection effect was undeniably powerful, especially in Limited, however, it ultimately faded into obscurity. Sitting on the cusp of playability for Modern at the time, ultimately, Séance was never good enough to be viable. That small detail, however, didn’t stop some players from trying their damndest to make it work.
Three years after the card’s launch, “the Séance guy” started making waves online. Known across Reddit as u/jobs141910, the Séance guy took the MTG community by storm thanks to their love, or perhaps it was hated, of Séance. Posting eight years ago to the r/Jobs4Bitcoins subreddit, u/jobs141910 put a bounty on Séance’s head. Making several posts hiring “anyone to purchase and destroy Magic: the Gathering cards,” Séance quickly became an infamous and surprisingly lucrative card. At the time, u/jobs141910 never explained their reasoning, despite spending several thousand dollars on this baffling venture.
Remarkably, the story didn’t end with just a few destroyed cards. In December 2015, u/jobs141910 set in motion a plan to make Séance the next big thing. Posting to Reddit to hire a professional MTG player, u/jobs141910 wanted a Pro Tour won by a Séance deck. To make sure this happened, the Séance guy offered an impressive 90.5 Bitcoin bounty. At the time, this was worth roughly $38,000, which is obviously no small amount of money. Fast forward to today, however, that amount of Bitcoin is now worth around 2 million dollars. Sadly for u/jobs141910, ultimately, they’d never get their Séance Pro Tour deck, as the offers would be pulled over legal concerns.
The Legend Continues
Despite never getting their Pro Tour winning deck, u/jobs141910 wouldn’t stop there, as eventually, Séance would be reprinted. Once the card reappeared in Modern Masters 2017, the Séance did, too, offering Reddit Gold to players who destroyed cards. Unfortunately, there was still no word on why u/jobs141910 was doing, or why Séance was being targeted. Before too long, however, there would be another twist in this tale, as over 10,000 copies of Séance were listed for sale. Highlighted by u/BornFromLegend, it was believed this was the work of the Séance guy. While this was unconfirmed, it certainly seemed like a sensible suggestion, after all, why else would someone be so invested in Séance? In the listing, however, the seller dismissed this connection.
“Acquired from a store that went out of business. I am sorry I do not understand the memes you are all sending me.”
Unnamed Facebook Marketplace Seller
Regardless of this strange collection’s actual owner, it would soon get a new one in the form of YouTuber 8thPlaceDave. Revealing their haul in a recent video titled “I have acquired the Seance meme,” 8thPlaceDave explained how they purchased the collection for $1500. This is a surprisingly good deal considering that on TCGplayer, at least, a single copy of Séance currently costs $0.20. Getting 10,000 copies of the card, along with artist-proof cards, is, therefore, certainly quite the deal, even despite the price tag. “Yes, that is a lot of money… But, this is also a lot of Séances,” 8thPlaceDave explained.
Continuing their explanation, 8thPlaceDave highlighted how they just wanted to own a piece of MTG history. “As I said, I watched this Séance thing unfold as it was happening, so, to me, it’s kind of a piece of Magic history. So to be able to own that, I thought would be pretty cool and kind of worth the price.”
A Comical Collection
Ultimately, despite the heritage of the Séance meme, the MTG card is still surprisingly cheap. As we noted earlier, the card currently costs just $0.20 on TCGplayer on average. With over a thousand copies of the card available for sale, it appears the market isn’t going to dry up anytime soon. Thanks to the card actually being rather good, however, there is always the possibility for prices to climb. Due to the availability, this would undoubtedly take a lot. However, it’s not impossible this could happen in the future should the right supportive card be printed. For now, however, 8thPlaceDave’s new collection is merely a nice piece of MTG history that will continue to live on, even if the cards didn’t once belong to the Séance guy themselves.
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