Byron Harmon

Trading Cards and Marxs Theory of Money

Table of Contents
Background: Marxs Theory of Money.........................................................................1
Background: Magic: the gathering..............................................................................3
Preliminary Data......................................................................................................... 5
Experiment design................................................................................................... 13
Hypothesis............................................................................................................ 13
Procedure.............................................................................................................. 13
Discussion............................................................................................................. 14
Trading Overview............................................................................................... 14
Tournament and Confiscation............................................................................. 14
Barter Economy Analogue..................................................................................14
Assessing the Outcome......................................................................................... 15
Shortcomings, limitations, and theoretical considerations....................................15

Background: Marxs Theory of Money

Marx offers a distinct theory of money. Like many theories of its time, it is a
quasi-historical narrative that posited certain current behavioral assumptions as
trans-historical in order to explain the current social relation embodied in a current
institution. It is not a historical nor anthropological account of money. It is an
explanation of the development of money based on behavioral assumptions
grounded in the logic of expanding commodity exchange.
Marx outlines this expansion of exchange as a progression through four forms
of value: 1. The Elementary or Accidental Form of Value, 2. Total or Expanded Form
of Value, 3. The General Form of Value, and 4. The Money-Form.
The first form in the progression is the Accidental Form of Value. In this first
form the value of a commodity is found in its commensuration with another
particular commodity e.g. x commodity A is worth y commodity B. It is called the
Accidental Form, because the equating of two particular commodities does not
establish a system of such equations. Rather, it is akin to a particular exchange
occurring by chance or infrequently. We might understand it in terms of two traders
who do not consider intermediary exchange, but only look to trade directly and only
for particular goods that they desire for their use value; as such they seldom find
means to realize the value of their goods in the acquisition of their desired good.
The next progression is the Total Form of Value. In this second form the value
of a commodity is found in its commensuration with all other commodities e.g. z

Byron Harmon
Trading Cards and Marxs Theory of Money
Com. A = u Com. B or v Com. C or = w Com. D or = Com. E or = &c. What
differentiates the Total Form from the Accidental is that the value that is being
realized is not the utility of the good to the particular traders, rather the value of the
good stands in relation to the other commodities. In the Total Form we have the
equating of values with a kind of indifference to the particular use value. The
particular form, appearance or use value of the commodity now becomes accidental
to its value. The Total Form is equating the magnitudes of value to determine the
exchange proportions.
The third progression is the General Form of Value. The General Form of Value
functions by having all commodities find their value in a single commodity. That is,
instead of a market-wide system of equivalences between all types of commodities
based on their value, all commodities are compared to a single commodity. The
comparison to a single commodity as intermediary to all others solidifies the
consistency of the system of exchanges. Marx states that there is no fundamental
distinction between the third and fourth forms except that the commodity by which
all other commodities find their value is assumed by gold. Gold as Marx notes later
that gold and silver have the property of representing quantitative differences
through their divisibility and ability to be reunited. Put differently, the divisibility of
precious metals allows them exacting resolution in comparing quantity, that a
discrete commodity would not offer.
In the following chapter Marx describes the progression of exchange in a
narrative-like manner. The progression follows the extent of the market. Initially,
with commodity production at the margins of society, exchange is infrequent. In this
context commodities are exchanged explicitly with the goal of acquiring the use
value of the others goods. As the extent of the market increases and exchange
becomes more normalized, the owner, for some time, still sees their good in terms
of its particular equivalence to all other goods. However, as the extent of the market
grows the need for a general equivalent arises. There is the need for the consistent
comparison of goods values. It is no longer sufficient to directly compare two goods
to ascertain their exchange value. Instead, for greater consistency, merchants look
for an intermediate good by which all goods can be measured. Marx posits that this
mediating good is determined situationally important articles of outside exchange
or objects of utility that constitute the bulk of alienable wealth.
We can schematize these two descriptions in a number of other ways. We can
describe the progression as a logical strategic progression. In a market where there
are few traders, each agent must engage in direct trades where both agents happen
to desire the good offered by the other. That is, A will only trade with B if B has what
A wants. As the number of traders increases the possibility of intermediary
exchanges arises. We might imagine that A wants what B has, B wants what C has,
and C wants what A has. In order for A to acquire what B has, A must trade first with
C. As the number of agents expands further, this logic intensifies. Let us posit that A
has a good desired by many traders, however, A only wants a single particular
good. Even though B doesnt want what A trades, if B acquires the good desired by
A it gives them access to all of the goods offered by all of the traders who want
what A has to offer. If a particular good becomes broadly desirable, it would take on

Byron Harmon
Trading Cards and Marxs Theory of Money
an additional utility by merit of offering access to the market of traders who desire
that good. This utility that arises from access to other goods, adds further
compounding desirability for that good. This results in a particular good becoming
increasingly desirable and acting with greater frequency as an intermediary of
exchange. It is a network effect or strategic complement. The logic of the
interaction is that this particular good becomes universally accepted as an
intermediary of exchange. As corollary, depending on the form of the particular
commodity, the use-value as intermediary of exchange will change the perceived
raison detre of the good. We can understand this universal intermediary as the
general form of value.
Alternatively, we can conceptualize the progression in terms of systems of
equations. If we consider each trade as an equation (e.g. X of A = Y of B.) During
the accidental form, the coefficients of A and B would be inconsistent. But, as the
extent of the market increases the consistency of our system of equations should
increase. As their values become established and exchange more normalized, the
coefficients should be normalized as well. Mirroring the logic of Marx, exigencies of
the market would then demand that the valuations of commodities across the entire
system become consistent and comparable. Viewed from this framework, the
system would yield systems of equations that included an intermediary commodity
with greater frequency until all goods had their value measured by a particular set
of commodities. The system of equations would shift such that each good could be
consistently measured against a single commodity. However, there may be some
loss of integrity of the consistency of non-money commodity exchanges. The
adoption of a commodity that provides greater resolution (the nearly infinite
divisibility of gold for example) would therefore allow for the greatest consistency of
the system of equations. A money-commodity that was not highly divisible would
yield lower resolution result. Given trader proclivities a low resolution currency
would allow value estimates to waver on the indeterminacy of the discrete unit.
Based on these analyses, Marxs theory of money predicts a progression of
behaviors and relations:
1. Increasing consistency of commodity valuations
2. The realization of network effects: direct trades -> intermediary exchanges ->
Money-like commodities
3. Predicts that a money-commodity will arise
a. Money-commodity will have broadly desired use value
b. Moneyness will tend toward commodities with high resolution infinitely
divisible or minute discrete size
c. The exchange value of the eventual money-commodity should rise over
time as the use-value as currency adds an additional utility vector to the
commodity
d. Because the money-commodity allows access to markets of goods, the
money-commodity should circulate at an inordinate level

Byron Harmon
Trading Cards and Marxs Theory of Money

Background: Magic: the gathering

Magic: the gathering is a trading card game. The game centers around 2 or
more players battling one another with decks composed of sixty or more cards.
Players construct their own decks with cards that they have acquired over time. The
game is played worldwide in ten languages by approximately twenty million players.
The game is twenty-two years old and features thirteen thousand unique card
variants1. The game features regular expansions every 3-4 months. The current
standard rules allow cards from only the most recently released sets. This creates
a continuous revenue stream for the company and an evolving strategic terrain for
the players.
Magic cards are acquired in a number of ways. For an inductee, one will
typically start by purchasing a pre-made starter deck. During a pre-release, a draft
or for other reasons, players will purchase booster packs. Booster packs contain 15
cards 1 rare/mythic rare, 1 basic land card, 3 uncommons and 10 commons. Cards
are also commonly traded between players either for money or other cards. Most
commonly, cards are directly purchased individually. This is either done at local
game stores or through seller aggregation websites like http://www.tcgplayer.com/
that function like Amazon. While there is significant variability in knowledge and skill
amongst players, most players are versed in the current game meta and current
card valuations.
There are many factors that determine the value of magic cards. I postulate
the following qualities as determinative of Magic Cards pricing:
1. Rarity. Certain cards are scarce. The scarcer a card is the higher a price it will
fetch.
2. Collectability/Status. Some cards, for various reasons, are more collectable or
project status. This tends to be tied to whether the card is a foil (certain cards
are manufactured to be reflective) has desirable artwork, the age of the card,
whether the card is from a rare joke set, whether the card is autographed by the
artist etc.
3. Playability. The core rules of the game have evolved over time and some cards
may no longer be used.
4. Utility. Cards have varying abilities. Some are more useful than others. This is the
primary driver in value.
5. Moneyness. Some cards as a function of their rarity and utility take on an
additional utility vector that I will refer to as moneyness. Moneyness is derived
from the breadth of scope of interaction of utility of the card. A card whose utility
broadly interacts positively with many deck strategies takes on moneyness.
Utility, like price is also difficult to pin down. It too also has some clear
determining factors. The rules2 of the game establish the common ground upon
which the cards operate and interact with one another. The game largely functions
1 There are many more non-unique variants. Some cards are common between sets
and get reprinted. However, as will be noted later, these reprints are important as
they maintain different prices.

Byron Harmon
Trading Cards and Marxs Theory of Money
as a combination of chance (based on likelihood of drawing a card in ones deck)
and category states. Each card presents a series of attributes, categories and
abilities (see figure.)

All other things being equal the following determine the utility of a card.
Higher and/or more specific mana costs make a card less useful. Creature cards with
higher power or toughness are more useful. Cards with more advantageous abilities
give them a larger utility vector. Finally, each card has a type. The most common
types are creature, sorcery, artifact, land, instant or enchantment. No card type is
de jure better. The final determinant of utility is the degree to which the card
strategically interacts with other cards.
Typical deck building strategies will include cards that interact to promote a
strategy. These strategies can vary in specificity. That is, a cards can interact
broadly e.g. all generally interacting to produce large and powerful creatures not
relying on a particular card. Conversely, cards can interact narrowly, focusing on a
win condition generated by a single card. With this in mind, cards become
contextually useful. For example, looking at the Goblin Electromancer (see picture
as left.) this card simply would not function in a deck that relied on white, black or
green mana. Similarly, the cards ability lowers the mana cost of instant and sorcery
cards. This means that the card would interact strategically with decks that contain
these card types.

2 http://magiccards.info/rules.html

Byron Harmon
Trading Cards and Marxs Theory of Money

Preliminary Data
I postulate that it is a cards ability to
interact strategically with a broad number of deck
strategies that allows a card to gain moneyness.
That is, in the context of many gamers desiring
particular cards, if a card that is rare and interacts
strategically with many deck strategies then it
makes the card broadly desirable. This broad
desirability gives the card moneyness, further
utility, increasing its prices and giving is possessor
access to a larger trading space. The expectation is
that we should see cards that fit in this category to
exhibit a price significantly beyond its in game
utility.
It is important to bear in mind that this
analysis is complicated by these cards already
existing in a real world market that itself contains
money. That is, the existence of real life currency, within the scope of the
commodity -> money progression inhibits a new commodity from taking on
moneyness. Keeping this limitation in mind, the preliminary data is still promising.
To begin the search I considered which cards fit
the criterions of being both relatively scarce yet
maintaining a high degree of strategic interaction with
a broad set of deck building strategies. The category
of card that fits this criterion is the rare land card.
Land cards are the one card type which is essential to
any deck strategy. However, basic lands are so
common that they suffer from inflation and are near
worthless (some card shops are known to give them
out for free during drafts.) Rare lands on the other
hand are not ubiquitous and have broad strategic
interactions. For the preliminary data I followed one of
these cards, Flooded Strand (see picture left.) This
card interacts positively with decks that pursue a blue
and white mana base. The card exists alongside
comparable rare land cards with near identical ability
text. These other similar rare lands interact with other
deck strategies similarly combining access to two mana colors.
To assess whether the chosen card had a price that was disproportionate to
its rarity I compared it to the price of a selection of other cards. All of the selected
cards are from the same set release, Khans of Tarkir, and recorded over the same
interval of time. This means that all prices reflect the cards existence in the same
strategic or gamer meta-analysis milieu. Furthermore, ten cards were selected from
each rarity type. That is, ten commons, ten uncommons, ten rares, and ten mythic

Byron Harmon
Trading Cards and Marxs Theory of Money
rares. It should be noted that while a cards value is believed to be a function of its
rarity and utility, that rarity and utility tend to be covariant. The graph below shows
the pricing of various cards over the same 47 day interval. The entries have been
color coded according to rarity: Mythic Rare, Rare, Uncommon and Common. The
card of interest, Flooded Stand, is in black. The first thing that stands out is that the
pricing of Flooded Strand is well above the typical price of rares.

$10.00

Bloodfire Mentor

Alpine Grizzly
Comparison

Act of Treason

Ainok Bond-kin

Scout the Borders

Dragonscale Boon

Seigecraft

Abzan Guide

Abzan banner

Blossoming Sand

Quiet Contemplation

Burn Away

Bellowing Saddlebrute

Seek the Horizon

Abzan charm

Brave the Sands

Watcher of the Roost

Armament Corp

Cranial Archive

Sandsteppe Citadel

Grim haruspex

End Hostilities

Dragon Style Twins

Crater's claw

Crackling doom

Butcher of the horde

Ankle Shanker

Altar of the Brood

Abzan Ascendancy

Flooded Strand

Zurgo Helmsmasher

Sorin, Solemn Visitor

Sidisi, Brood Tyrant

See the Unwritten

Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker

pearl Lake Ancient

Narset, Enlightened Master

Empty the Pits

Clever Impersonator

$1.00 Anafenza, the Foremost

0
2

10

There are two cards that appear to be comparable in pric, Sarkhan, the
Dragonspeaker and Sorin, the Solemn Visitor. However, if one expands their view it
is clear that these two cards were both in the process of falling in price after an

12

Byron Harmon
Trading Cards and Marxs Theory of Money
early period of player speculation. In short, once the market of players had begun to
assess the true value of the card, its price declined to match.

Screenshot from TCGplayer.com 1

According with my initial postulates the pricing of other card rarity types follows.
The pricing data for Watcher of the Roost is typical of common cards. There is an
initial jump as the card is brand new and the players sort out what it is worth, but
the price stabilizes.

Screenshot from TCGplayer.com 2

Uncommons, similarly, follow expectations. Cranial Archive is representative of this

rarity type of card. The card, overarchingly, has a stable price. However, the price
varies in response to the release of new sets of cards and the resulting change in
strategic milieu.

Byron Harmon
Trading Cards and Marxs Theory of Money

Screenshot from TCGplayer.com 3

Similarly, if one looks at the card of interest, Flooded Strand, over a long time
horizon it similarly accords with expectation. The card, with its broad strategic
interactions, maintains a consistently high price over time. However, it also
responds to the changes in the strategic landscape as new sets are released. It
should be noted that the peaks that appear in both Flooded Strand and the Cranial
Archive correspond to the release of a new set of cards.

Screenshot from TCGplayer.com 4

The same pattern that one sees with Flooded Strand is repeated with its different
colored counterparts. That is, as rare lands, they all maintain an inordinate and
consistently high price over time that reacts to changes in game strategy.

Byron Harmon
Trading Cards and Marxs Theory of Money

Screenshot from TCGplayer.com 5

Screenshot from TCGplayer.com 6

Screenshot from TCGplayer.com 7

This data is not without anomalies. Flooded Strand is a reprint. This means that the
card is not unique and occurs in other set releases. Each printing of the card retains
its own pricing. This is likely attributable to the varying degrees of collectability.

Byron Harmon
Trading Cards and Marxs Theory of Money
Below is pricing history for an earlier print of Flooded Strand. The pricing has a
marked decrease in Sept. of 2015 which corresponds with the release of the new
print set of Flooded Strand with different card art. While the earlier print declines in
value, its price does not converge to meet the price of the new print.

Screenshot from TCGplayer.com 8

Interestingly, Flooded Strand was subsequently re-released again. This time as a

mythic rare, foil and with new card art that covers more of the card. Each of these
changes for other cards has increased their collectability. Combined, the card holds
a completely inordinate price that cannot be explained simply in terms of strategic
interaction/moneyness. The card maintains a consistent pricing just below twohundred dollars.

Screenshot from TCGplayer.com 9

Next I wanted to explore the concept of strategic interactions. The degree of

strategic interaction is itself difficult to conceptualize without a rigorous
understanding of the game. Measuring it is similarly complicated. The first
inclination is to look at the cards text and to measure the number of other cards
that it strategically interacts with. For example a card that features the text when
this card enters play do this action would commonly interact positively with a card
that causes cards to leave and re-enter play allowing the first to multiply its impact.
Not only is blindly adding up the number of cards that actively interact, it is unclear

Byron Harmon
Trading Cards and Marxs Theory of Money
how to measure cards that passively interact. For example an elf creature card that
increased the power of all elves in play would actively interact with other elf cards.
But, an elf creature card that didnt have any ability text would not interact actively
with any other cards, except by merit of simply being an elf.
What was decided was to use time stamped google search results as a proxy
to measure the player meta-analysis/deck building strategizing. This proxy would
then give me an estimate of the perceived strategic interactions of the cards. In
other words, it is assumed that the more players talk about a given card the more
strategic interactions that card has. The graph below shows the google search
results vs price for a number of cards. The data forms into tranches. Each tranche is
a particular card as the number of search results varies over time. Furthermore, the
data was screened to remove inordinate results. That is, each card would have
regular and inordinate search results that were multiple orders of magnitude
deviations from the norm. These results were likely the result of advertising internet
bots. Baring the cloud of points in the center there seems to be a consistent pattern
of elevated search results correlating with a higher price.

Google Search Results Vs. Price Oct. 8th- Sept. 20th

800
700
600
500

Google Results 400

300
200
100
0
$0.10

$1.00

$10.00

Axis Title

$100.00

Byron Harmon
Trading Cards and Marxs Theory of Money
The cloud of data points tracks a card, Hardened Scales, that was changing in price
significantly during the period in question. Initially, the explanation was the
inordinate search results reflected both the higher price and the state of flux that
the price was in. That is, players were eager to discuss the card as perceptions were
shifting regarding its usefulness.

Screenshot from TCGplayer.com 10

This explanation was found to be problematic. Data was collected just for this card
to see if the pattern of google search results over time compared to price would
prove fruitful. This was not found to be the case. The google search results appear
to be noise and defy any consistent narrative explanation. More specifically,
information was leaked regarding cards from a future set of magic cards that would
strategically interact with Hardened Scales. This was thought to explain the
elevated discussion despite the price not correlating, as people would not be able to
purchase the new card so the price would stay low, but speculation would stay high.
However, pushing the data further back in time, there was found to be no uptick in
google search results with the leaked information. The only remaining and
consistent explanation, is that not all rare cards appear in the same quantity. This
means that players do find Hardened Scales to be strategically interactive with
many strategies, but that a significantly larger number of the cards have been put
into circulation compared to other rare cards. Thereby, maintaining its usefulness
and speculation but suppressing its value. No information is available on the
number of Hardened Scales in circulation to verify this speculation.

Byron Harmon
Trading Cards and Marxs Theory of Money

Hardened Scales Search Results over time

900
800
700
600
500

Google Search Results 400

300
200
100
0
4/6/15

7/15/15

10/23/15

1/31/16

Time

Hardened Scales price over time

6.00
5.00
4.00

Price 3.00
2.00
1.00
0.00
4/6/15

5/26/15 7/15/15

9/3/15 10/23/15 12/12/15 1/31/16

Time

Experiment design
Summary: The experiment aims to create a barter economy that contains
commodities of variable utility. By monitoring the exchanges that are made in this
temporary economy, I can observe whether the exchange-behavior mirrors the
progression described by Marx.

Hypothesis: If Marxs behavioral assumptions hold, the simulated barter economy

should show some degree of progression described by Marx.

Byron Harmon
Trading Cards and Marxs Theory of Money

Procedure
1. I will host a tournament at a local gaming store whose patrons 3 commonly play
Magic: the gathering.
2. Each participant will have an ID number written on their wrist. This number will
be used later in recording trades.
3. The rules of the tournament will be explained to the participants. Participants will
be warned against collusion4, and informed that they will be removed from the
tournament if it is determined that they had colluded. Any players found making
undocumented exchanges will be removed from the tournament.
4. At a predetermined time, each participant will receive a trade form, 3 booster
packs and 20 basic land cards5
5. Players will be given three hours to trade cards and build decks. Players will
document each exchange on their trade form including their Player ID number,
the card number6 of each card they traded in that exchange, the other players
ID number, the card numbers and a time stamp
6. The players will then play a tournament.
7. All cards will be confiscated7
8. Each player will receive a booster packs as prizes. They will receive them in a
arithmetically increasing scale for each consecutive victory. E.g. One booster
pack for the first victory. Two for the second. And, three for the third. And
starting over again if they lose the fourth match. 8
9. Trade forms will be entered and analyzed.

Discussion
Trading Overview
Each player will receive 3 booster packs and 20 basic land cards. In other
words, each player will have an initial endowment of 65 cards. Assuming fifty
3 Players of MTG tend to be well versed in the most recent strategies. They will be
knowledgeable in the strategic interactions of the cards and their current prices.
4 Collusion amongst players is a known phenomenon.
5 Magic Card decks are typically 60+ cards. A rule of thumb is that 1 in 3 cards
should be a land card. Land cards do not appear in this ratio in the booster packs.
This is a deviation from a typical draft. In a typical draft no land cards are given out
and after players have constructed their decks the game shop will give out basic
land cards as needed.
6 Each card within a set has a number in the lower left hand corner.
7 Confiscating the cards insulates the cards from real world money-price, personal
acquisition, and collectability considerations.
8 Having prizes won in this manner promotes player participation and undermines
the intent to collude.

Byron Harmon
Trading Cards and Marxs Theory of Money
participants9 this will mean 150 rares/mythic rares and a total of 3,250 cards in
circulation. Assuming that each player engages in a single color deck strategy and
each card is traded a single time, a single trial will yield approximately 2,600 cards
traded. One should not expect participant behavior to be that straight forward.
Likely, trading behavior will include deception, coordination, countering,
anticipation, merchant arbitrage, and scarcity limits to viable deck strategies.

Tournament and Confiscation

The tournament and confiscation ask to internalize the utility considerations of the
participants. Because the cards will be confiscated at the end, participants utility
considerations for each card will be limited to their in-game use value. This
precludes participants from trading only to acquire cards that have a high resale
value later or will be advantageous to them in other gaming contexts outside of the
experiment. It also mitigates collusion. Collusion requires one player to forego their
own winning strategy in order to optimize the winnings of the pair. By having prizes
available for each in-tournament victory, it disincentivizes collusion as it is unlikely
that a single optimized player could reap greater winnings as two suboptimal
players.

Barter Economy Analogue

The experiment is intended to create a barter economy analogue. Within this
environment the cards are meant to fill the role of commodities. The cards fill this
role because, like commodities, they have a use value and this use value is not
necessarily desirable by the owner of the commodity analogue. That is, in a barter
economy, an agent produces goods that have use-value, but there is only so much
use of a single type of commodity that a single person can make use of. This will
cause the possessor to proffer excess of that commodity onto the market in
exchange for goods of greater use. Similarly, due to the strategic interactions of the
cards, not all cards found in a participants initial endowment will be of use to them.
They will therefore have to bring their cards to the market to acquire goods with
more relevant use-values to them.
The participants likewise act as analogues for the rational agents of a barter
economy. The typical Magic player is extremely knowledgeable of the use-values of
each card and their interacting strategies. While the system is controlled to
internalize the utility concerns of the participants with regards to their cards, the
typical Magic player is also very knowledgeable in the current pricing and value of
cards. The participant selection process will therefore be skewed and not
representative of the general population. Additionally, Participant behavior is
expected to be analogous to the utility maximizing behavior of a barter economy.
Participants will be given an initial endowment and will utilize the trading period to
maximize their holdings by the trials end.

Assessing the Outcome

The behavioral progression that is described by Marx will be assessed in a number
of ways. The trade exchange data will be examined for the following patterns:
9 A typical Friday night magic tournament will have more than 50 players.

Byron Harmon
Trading Cards and Marxs Theory of Money

Increasing Consistency of the System of Equations: Each exchange will be

considered as an equation that equates between two sets of commodities. These
equations will be put into tranches based on their time stamp. Each tranche will
be examined to compare the consistency of the equations that it contains.
According to the hypothesis, I expect that the consistency should increase over
time.
Narrowing scope of the system of equations: In the general form, all
commodities are commensurate in terms of a single commodity. In accordance
with this theory the data should indicate an Increased frequency of trading of a
shrinking set of cards.
The realization of network effects: Marxs theory predicts a progression of
behaviors from direct trades to intermediary exchanges to money. These
behaviors can be spotted by noting:
o A single player acquiring more than four of a single card that is not a basic
land10
o A single player routinely acquiring and trading on cards.
The spontaneous adoption of a money-commodity by participants
o Money-commodity will have broadly desired use value
o Moneyness will tend toward commodities with high value resolution
o The exchange value of the eventual money-commodity should rise over
time as the use-value as currency adds an additional utility vector to the
commodity
o Because the money-commodity allows access to markets of goods, the
money-commodity should circulate at an inordinate level

Shortcomings, limitations, and theoretical considerations

1. The cards already exist in a world with money. Even though the experiment has
been designed to internalize the participants decisions, they do not exist in a
vacuum and may be influenced by those considerations nonetheless. Even
though commons and uncommons would, at least theoretically, provide the
greatest value resolution, their dearth of real world monetary value might
hamper them being adopted as a money-commodity, leaving the relatively scare
rares to fill this roll. The scarcity of rares might inhibit their role as a commonly
used intermediary.
2. Despite efforts to police for collusion and the prize scheme, participants may yet
attempt to collude. Colluding would dramatically alter the exchanges made
between two or more players. Trades between colluding players could not be
considered equations they would not be attempting to equate between two
sets of goods.
3. Participants do not share the same game-knowledge/experience. While most
players do have considerable experience with the game, inequalities are
inevitable. This difference could lead to some players making unfair trades. The
10 Magic: the gathering rules allow a player to have at most four of a single card,
with the only exception being basic land cards. Therefore, a player acquiring more
than four would indicate a motive for acquisition that went beyond in-game use,
namely intermediate exchange or money-ness

Byron Harmon
Trading Cards and Marxs Theory of Money

4.

5.
6.

7.

8.

players are not homines-economici or perfectly rational economic agents; their

knowledge and experience only allow them to approach that capability as real
world analogues.
Each magic card interacts differently with each players initial endowments. This
means that each card has a different use-value to each player. Because of the
game mechanics (5 mana colors) it is prohibitive for all players to pursue the
same deck building strategy. Assuming a monochromatic division in strategies,
this means that no card will have a universal use-value to all players (barring
colorless cards.) This is not necessarily a problem as Marxs theory does not
demand that the money-commodity be universally desirable.
Players do not know other players initial endowments.
Marx was describing a long-term historical process. It is not clear that sufficient
time may elapse within a single trial (or series of trials) to manifest the behavior
predicted.
The moneyness of the cards is limited by the single period nature of the trading
a single tournament trial. All goods are consumed in the end, in that they are
used in the final deck. Cards that were acquired as currency would be worthless
at the end of the trade period. The logic of C-M-C only works if the M stays in
circulation. That is, barring the deterioration of the given money commodity,
money-commodities are not consumed as their use for exchange outweighs their
use-value. It can only be the case that the money was not yielded worthless if at
trading termination all M was distributed such that it lost its money-ness and was
realized as C. That is, in a final sense money actually wasnt created.
I postulate that if a commodity takes on moneyness it will likely be the basic land
cards that are provided to all players. However, given the real-world impacts of
inflation on the value of basic land cards, as a holdover, players will not be used
to valuing basic land cards and may not value them appropriately.

Trade Form
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Card Numbers Time

Byron Harmon
Trading Cards and Marxs Theory of Money