With a new set on the horizon and quite possibly the most powerful set since War of Light, I thought I would take the time to talk to you guys about what I would consider the economy of Heroclix.

THE NEW HOTNESS

Every new set brings us either a really cool character or some really powerful figures that everyone says is a “must have”. If you have a keen eye for competitive play, you can often identify things that will be good in competitive play and if you are an avid collector, you will have a good idea of what characters people will like to collect. These are the things you need to think about when determining “value” of a figure. Most often, the competitive figures will start off mid to high value and will increase. For example, SR Wolverine sold for $25 when X-Men: Xavier’s School released. It now fetches between 60-90 dollars consistently because it goes on nearly every team. I accrued these early on because I “knew” with ID cards it would be a competitive staple. Conversely, Mr. Sinister, a fan favorite character which is a chase, started off around $50 and now can be found very cheap ($15 even). Because he does not play well in competitive play. So if you want to make money flipping Heroclix, you need to identify the “must play” figures. If you need help with this part of it, stay tuned to podcasts like ours or Married with Clix where we often discuss these sorts of things and suggest which figures to be on the look out for.

If you have been living under a rock, the new Avengers: Black Panther and the Illuminati set has both of these key aspects. There are Infinity Gems, Infinity Gauntlets, Cosmic Cubes and even an Ultra Chase Thanos! WOW! So what is a must have from this set? Well, that really depends on the way you want to play the game. For competitive play, you are looking at things like The Collector, Chase Black Panther, and any and all characters that come with equipment objects. For collection, there are some nice figures in the upper rarities that will be valuable. Now that we have identified these figures, how do we obtain them?

OLDIES BUT GOODIES

There are two resources we can consistently count on when trying to acquire new Heroclix. They are cash and chases. Of course we can always go out and buy things with cash whenever we want (assuming we have it), but that’s not really what this is about. Let’s talk about trading.

Almost without fail whenever a new set releases, there is a flood of chases in the market from previous sets. This can be a good opportunity to swoop up on figures you missed out on by trading the hot new super rares and chases for the good but cheap figures like Earth X SR Iron Man. He is about a $10 figure. Upon release, and especially during pre-release, you can realistically sell or trade super rares for between $25 and $45 in value depending on which they are. So you can trade one Super Rare figure for two or three, or possibly even trade them straight across for older chase figures.

On the other side of that coin, if you are sitting on some chases and super rares that you acquired because you thought you would play them and just never got around to it, why not use them to get that figure you really wanted to get from the new set? I have multiples of Captain Venom, Wolverine, Sheriff Strange, and more. Of these, the only ones I have played like I thought is Captain Venom, but it was something I don’t need to play twice. For this reason, these will be some of the main figures I will try to use to obtain the highly valuable figures I want. Personally, Ultra Chase Thanos is something I must have as Annihilation is my favorite Marvel Story and this figure is modeled off of Annihilation #4 (not whatever his card says). For many, they will seek out the Gauntlets and Cubes for their obvious competitive play viability. I will tell you that quite possibly the “best” figure in the set is either Collector or Chase Black Panther. So these are figures I suggest tracking down, but be careful what you give for them. Collector you don’t need more than one of so, much like Earth X Daredevil, expect his price to start high and then drop low.

SINGLES OR PACKS?

A question I get all the time is “Should I buy singles, or a brick/case?” The answer is almost always “What can you afford?” But for once, I will address this question directly. To do so, you must decide what you want out of the set.

If you just want to get some cool new figures to play at your local monthly organized play events, you might consider just getting some singles and a few packs here and there. If you are a completionist, a case is usually the best place to start. This is especially true when sets have extra items like ID cards and Equipment. You will generally get in a case 5-6 Super Rares, 1-2 Chases, and 1-2 primes (nothing is guaranteed, but those are the most common variations of rarities). Most people can get a case for around $180-$200. That is essentially $2 per figure. This is also a decent way to get some extra trade fodder and get a chase or two (possibly even the ones you want).

If you take a look at a set and decide, the only figure I want is Super Rare Deathstroke, wait til pre-release is over and the set is “out in the wild” and buy that figure for a reasonable $15. Sure, you aren’t getting that bulk of new figures to play, but you didn’t want them anyway, right?

ALTERNATIVE INCOMES

If you aren’t a fan of Facebook or other popular trade pages, or you simply just hate dealing with other people, there are other options that exist to ease your pocketbook’s pain a little. Many people will begin playing in pre-release events tomorrow and will get awesome pulls that they just do not care about. eBay is probably the best place to go with these figures if you don’t want the stress of haggling trades. People generally pay more on eBay because they feel more secure with their purchase and there is less nonsense to deal with. You just pay and get what you want. If you do not plan to keep your high rarity figures, get rid of them during pre-release, as prices are usually at their peak at this time.

Alternatively, if you are collecting a clutter of CURSR pieces at home and you are tired of looking at them, submit a bulk buy list to major sites like Troll and Toad or Cool Stuff Inc. Get some trade credit and use that “money” to buy the figures you really want. You can also go to stores like Majestix or Lucky Dice, but these are more niche markets and your credit will largely depend on what you can make a deal with.

THE GOLDEN RULE

The last thing I want to discuss with you is what I call the golden rule of economics. It seems pretty simple, but it is kind of hard to grasp at first. The first lesson I learned about selling things came from my father long ago. He told me, “Nothing has an actual value, it is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.”

Why does this matter? Well, there are two ways to look at it. The first is that you can’t always hold out for top dollar and expect to get it. People will always look for the better deal and as long as there is product on the market, you are going to have to be willing to wiggle a little on price. There is a reason that when I sell clix and I really want to move them, I list them below what the current market value is. I want them to sell now. Just because there is one person out there willing to pay $100 for a Wolverine doesn’t mean I want to sit and wait for him to show up. I would rather sell the Wolverine for $90 and get less than what I could than sit on it and chance his value going down.

The second way to look at that statement is this. There are times where you are going to have to “over-pay” for what you want. When I first traded for my Captain Venom, I traded Sheriff Strange, Sam Cap, Medusa, Tangent Green Lantern, and Earth X Iron Man, and people told me I was crazy. I got what I wanted because I had the best offer and it turns out that while I may have over-traded at the time, Captain Venom’s value has nearly doubled since his initial release. So it was worth it to me to get what I wanted while supply was short and demand was high. So don’t be afraid to put out an “absurd” offer because it might just favor you in the long run.

In the words of Forest Gump, that’s all I have to say about that. I hope you all enjoyed reading about my thoughts on trading and selling and hopefully you picked up a tip or two. AJ will be back at it with his Clix Fix blog next week, so be on the look out for that. Also, shout-out to Paradise Clix for pretty much being the best in the business at Heroclix Memes.

Thanks for reading and until next time, remember, the real fun begins when you’re Two Clicks from KO.