The Golden Era!
So, now we get to the funner stuff. Lapis cluster. It had 4 solid sets, the first heavy multi-color sets and some of the best starters EVAR!!!!
The whole execution with this cluster was pretty solid. Even the limited was fun. One of the major issues was the over production of a couple of sets. Though we got our first really nice boxes here, they are great for storage, even if second printings went back to the cheap ones. Needless to say, it is easy as heck to tell the difference between 1st and 2nd editions for Legacy Lost and Echoes. Shall we begin?
The Starters
| Set | Abr | TCG L | TCG H | Ebay L | Ebay H | Amz L | Amz H | Avg |
| Fairy Tale Force | SDL1 | 23.80 | 42.89 | 19.30 | 29.98 | 17.74 | 17.74 | 25.24 |
| Rage of R’lyeh | SDL2 | 29.96 | 29.96 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29.96 |
| Malefic Ice | SDL3 | 22.96 | 34.99 | 27.99 | 84.99 | 0 | 0 | 42.73 |
| Swarming Elves | SDL4 | 0 | 0 | 99.95 | 99.95 | 0 | 0 | 99.95 |
| Vampiric Hunger | SDL5 | 24.96 | 24.99 | 25.99 | 64.99 | 21.75 | 29.99 | 32.11 |
When the set dropped, 5 starters came with it. These were the pinicle of starters in the minds of a lot of players. They came with the deck, 2 packs of the set and 2 dice of the corresponding color. These things are still sought after and they’re handy as heck, with the Force logo in place of the 1.
These decks were printed in good amounts, as you can see by our little chart, they are still quite reasonable, aside from the Elf one, SDL4. This one has the ever popular Fiethsing, Six Sage of Wind (SDL4-002) // Fiethsing, Master Magus of Holy Wind (SDL4-002J) as the ruler and was degenerate for a while, she still fetches between 10 and 20 by herself. The other decks are good to nab at $25 or less and will likely go up in value slowly over time. Occasionally, you can even find them all together as a lot. If you can get the set for around $100, do so. I give them all B-, but the Wind one is a solid B+.
The Sets
| Set | Abr | TCG L | TCG H | Ebay L | Ebay H | Amz L | Amz H | Avg |
| Curse of the Frozen Casket | CFC | 32.74 | 67.95 | 27.69 | 54.95 | 36.37 | 41.99 | 41.95 |
| Legacy Lost | LEL | 159.99 | 197.11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 178.55 |
| Return o.t. Dragon Emperor | RDE | 134.99 | 145.00 | 55.00 | 109.98 | 0 | 0 | 111.24 |
| Echoes of the New World | ENW | 29.99 | 68.99 | 45.00 | 95.99 | 59.99 | 63.59 | 60.61 |
Lie in your Casket!!
Yes, those bags. We all loved them. They were the buy 3 box reward. Funny thing is, people still try to sell them for $10 and up, and they are pretty worthless. So, avoid those unless you can get them free. But they are durable and handy to drag stuff around. The set itself on the other hand is not really investable. I mean it’s almost 5 years old and only averages $42. It should be a lot higher if it was worth it. But the set itself isn’t too bad, it was just printed into oblivion.
There are wholesalers still sitting on cases of it. I give it a C at $40 or less. Maybe someday it will go up, but not for a while, and even then, not by a lot. The Zero, Six Sage of Light (CFC-015) // Zero, Master of the Magic Saber (CFC-015J) ruler is solid value as she would pay for half the box on her own. The rest of the rulers though are meh at best. There are a lot of handy cards too. For new players looking to get into wanderer, this is a great deal for cracking.
Legacy Lost is a whole different story. This is the money set in Lapis cluster. Most Cluster have a money set when it comes to sealed and this is it here. The cards are solid, so it sold well and now it’s hard to find any boxes, hard cased or soft. With an average of $178 a box, I think it gets a B at that price. It should be going for $200+ a box. Even if not now, it will go up over time. Lumia, the Fated Rebirth (LEL-071) // Lumia, Saint of the Crimson Lotus (LEL-071J) is $25+ on her own and Lilias Petal, Agent of Salvation (LEL-069) // The Nine-Tailed Fox (LEL-069J) is going up as well.
The set has most of the major Fox support. Invading Demon of Water, Valentina (LEL-065) // Valentina, Released Terror (LEL-065J) and Glorius, Masked Crusader (LEL-058) // Faria, Ruler of Divine Beasts (LEL-058J) are not too bad either. Cards like this help the price stay up as the secondary market loves those cards and their helper cards, though not all high price, are solid movers.
This was a strong set that helped other cards get banned, Captain Hook, the Pirate (CFC-037), Demonic Dead (ENW-074), etc. The stones are the only other true dual stones making them a must for two color decks. Again, they don’t command too high a price on their own, but they move. It’s also just fun to crack these packs. You might not be getting a lot of money cards, but you will get good cards at the least.
Return of the Dragon Emperor is kind of a weird set. It has some degenerate cards, the first colossal ruler and some more dual stones. But overall, it wasn’t a powerhouse like LEL. It averages $111 on the price scale and at that level I give it a C+. If it can be found in the wild at $100 or less, it bumps up to a C. This will have a steady growth, faster than most, since the Pricia, True Beastmaster (RDE-076) // Reincarnated Maiden of Flame, Pricia (RDE-076J) and Gill (both of them) rulers are still popular and/or expensive. Most of the rest of the cards though, are kind of under whelming with a gem here or there.
Echoes of the New World is a fun set. Yggdrasil, Malefic Verdant Tree (ENW-068) was a winner, and not of just events. This set has a lot of goodness. But this was at a time when the game was taking a slight downturn due to slow changes to the ban list as well as stores realizing that carrying singles was a bust. With players leaving and not a lot of use in cracking packs, stores stopped supporting the game.
A bigger exodus was yet to come, but at this point it meant a lot of product was sitting around. With an average of $60 a box right now, it is the second lowest of the cluster. But unlike the others, 3 of its rulers are just bad. Evil Tree and Dragon Shrine Maiden (ENW-041) // Flute, Time Altering Priestess (ENW-041J) are the shiny ones here. The books aren’t even going for $1. But it had more than a few handy cards, and adorable ones at that. Flute’s Water Dragon (ENW-043) wins the cute award in my Book of Dark (see what I did there?).
I’d say at $55 to $60 this is a B- as it is showing signs of life. About a year ago I was seeing it for around $40 to $50 in places online. This doesn’t mean it will explode soon, but that it is on the move, which is more than even some older sets (looking at you Alice Cluster).
Overall, I think Lapis cluster has value in sets 2 and 3 and set 4 is showing life. CFC will be a long time coming to increase, but it is cheap enough to have fun with.
The largest cluster is up next…… by that I mean the most cards. That time when Force of Will wanted to add so much filler that not even a Twinkie could hold it.
Dan Rowland
Top Scrub
Owner CCGPrime.com
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