First, I just HAVE to make a snarky comment about this little gem recently said by a spokesman for Activision:

"In [calendar year] 2010, Activision Publishing is expected to release strong, innovative new titles," Activision Publishing president Mike Griffith told analysts. "The diversified lineup will include titles based on the best selling franchises including Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, Shrek, [and] Spider-Man."

"Innovative new titles?" "Diverse lineup?" Have the people working at Activision become delusional to the point of retardation? How is releasing new titles in your two most saturated franchises, indeed two of the ONLY franchises you EVER support anymore, and some crappy half-hearted movie tie-ins either innovative or diverse? The next Guitar Hero games will be EXACTLY like EVERY SINGLE GAME ever made in the franchise: A new collection of random songs that should be a ****ing DLC pack released as a brand new $60 game. Likewise the next Call of Duty is going to be made by Treyarch, which means it will be nothing more than a $60 mod of MW2 reskinned into a new setting.

Ugh...It seems like every time someone from Activision opens their mouth they say something that is a total wallbanger.

Now, the point of this post. It is a rant involving Magic: The Gathering. If you don't know anything about Magic, chances are you won't understand anything beyond this point.

So when I got back into Magic about a month ago I sold off some of the more valuable rares I don't use to get some extra cash to buy boosters from the newer sets I missed. One card was Dark Depths, a nonbasic land from Coldsnap. I never cared for the set; I bought a single fat pack from it and ended up pulling the only cards that I really cared about getting in those first few boosters, so I never bought anything else from the set.

Anyway, Dark Depths is one of those cards that is awesome in a flashy yet totally useless sort of way. It is a land that produces no mana. It's only purpose is that it can summon an uber-powerful creature, but it takes a crapton of mana and turns, to the point that 9.9 out of 10 games the battle will be over by the time you finally actually summon the creature. See, the land comes into play with 10 ice counters on it, and it takes 3 generic mana to remove just one counter. When there are no more counters on the land, you sacrifice it and get a massive 20/20 legendary Avatar that is indestructible and has flying. But, it takes 30 mana to actually summon it.

I always thought it was an awesome, albeit completely useless card. I decided to sell my only copy at the local hobby shop for $7 (It was only worth about $10 at the most at the time).

Well...A bit over a week ago some genius at a tournament used a combo to summon the 20/20 avatar for no mana and as early as turn THREE. He did this by using the Vampire Hexmage, an uncommon new card that came out in the most recent set. By using the Hexmage's sacrifice ability he can remove all of Dark Depths' ice counters and get the creature it summons for basically free. Or, if you count the Hexmage's mana cost, for only two black.

Suddenly, demand for Dark Depths has SKYROCKETED. The hobby shop owner ended up selling my very copy of Dark Depths for $60. The days following this combo surfacing on the Internet the card was selling for HUNDREDS on eBay. Things are slowing down now, but you can still find the card going for $25-$50 on eBay.

Had I just waited a few more weeks I could have sold this card for A LOT more money! DAMMIT!! gnu53netbye5ntrnrtj46nebhghr45uy3nhebhtehnjrsmjntbhebhtnetjem5netbh I HATE it when junk rares I've gotten rid of for a low price suddenly become a LOT more useful and worth tons of money because of a new set!

Now...I'm waiting for the set that suddenly makes the king of junk rares, One With Nothing, worth craploads of cash. I pulled FIVE of that bastard when I collected Saviors!