So I have begun trading online. That is a pretty big step, and it required a lot of thought to figure out if it would be a viable way to increase my collection. If I can figure out a way to keep trades enough, shipping should be cheap. The problem with that is that trading online can't really be done for a profit, so I need to pick and choose deals that allow me to move junk rares and other smaller stuff for big ticket items. This has been a lot easier than I expected. When I tried it briefly a few months ago I just set up my trade list and assumed that people were going to message me about cards I have and give me deals. The few replies I got were pretty much horizontal trades, such as a Huntmaster for an Entreat the Angels. So I figured that I need to be the initiator of the deals. I go through lists, find out what they want I that I have, and then find a bigger ticket items and make a play to get it. Ideally I will be able to get all of my random rares listed, but for now I am sort of playing it by ear.
Here is what I have done so far.
I gave:
2x death’s shadow
2x clifftop retreat
reforge the soul
3x dispel
circle of flame
tainted strike
torpor orb
painful quandary
bojuka bog
kessig wolf run
Moorland Haunt
I got:
Glimpse of Nature
Thoughts: This is a very good deal. I moved clifftop retreats when they were at their high point, along with some junk rares and commons for a Legacy playable card. Great trade.
I gave:
3x Increasing Savagery
3x Revenge of the Hunted
2x Ulvenwald Tracker
I got:
Game Day Killing Wave
Thoughts:My rationale is that it is going to be the black board sweeper after Black Sun's Zenith goes away, and because it is a promo, I should be able to get around $10 in trade for it right now. Beyond that, I gave up a few lower valued cards for something that might go up a lot, and if not, it will have collectable value to it.
I gave:
4 x Nettle Sentinel
4 x Elvish Visionary
1 x Faerie Macabre
2 x Viridian Shaman
1 x Ezuri Renegade Leader
I got:
Goblin Guide
Thoughts: This is the smallest deal that I have made online so far. It is great to move commons and a junk rare to get something I can actually put in a trade binder.
I gave:
Godless Shrine
I got:
1 foil ZEN island
1 foil ZEN mountain
3 manamorphose
Thoughts: This is a deal where I got some value. I wanted to move the shock land since they will be reprinted soon, and I end up getting to foil Zen lands which look great and should go up in value over time. The 3 Manamorphose really sweetened the deal, so I can move them in a trade or keep them to play storm.
I gave:
2x Lotus Petal
1x Trash for Treasure
1 of each Urza Lands
1x Mystic Tutor
1x Vampire Nocturnus
1x Yavimaya Hollow
3x Brittle Effigy
1x Yeva, Nature's Herald
1x Master of the Pearl Trident
1x Fauna Shaman
1x Flayer of the Hatebound
I got:
1x Shared Fate
1x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn (Promo)
3x Restoration Angel (2 Promo)
Thoughts: I can't imagine Emrakul not seeing playing in Legacy. There just aren't any better creatures out there. On top of that, casual people love him. If I am never able to trade him away, I will have him to use. the Restoration Angels are going to be a lot easier to trade than a stack of smaller cards, and should help fuel me in GP Columbus.
I gave:
x2 nefarox, overlord of grixis
x4drowned catacomb
x2 devastationtide
x2 slagstrom
I got:
2 Restoration Angel
Serra Avenger
Thoughts: I was able to move junk cards and some reprinted drowned catacombs for restoration angels, which works out. The Serra Avenger was a throw in if I gave him another slagstorm, which is going to cycle out soon and will be useless after that.
I gave:
1 cavern of souls
1 golgari grave-troll
4 lotus petal
1 dryad arbor
1 tarnished citadel
Foil oblivion ring
1 drowned catacombs
I got:
Mox Diamond
City of Traitors
Thoughts: Being able to move a cavern of souls and a foil Oblivion Ring for a city of traitors is amazing, since I don't think there will be another land printed that gives 2 mana. Moving smaller stuff for thinks I can put towards duals really helps.
So those were my trades so far. I ended up trading 72 cards for 18, which means I have really been trading up. While a lot of the cards are smaller ones or commons/uncommons, being able to put them towards a percentage of a great card is worth it. Every Faerie Macabre or Circle of Flame counts. Just being able to get rid of cards that don't go in my trade binder helps add more items that are binder worthy. Hopefully I am able to manage online trading well and make more successful trades.
In the past 4-6 months I have really been expanding my trading range. While I am not an expert on EDH cards, I have been slowly learning some things. I have gotten a lot better at trading for foil cards, and have been very good with my price estimations. I was able to move a Geist of Saint Traft and a Hinterland Harbor for 3 Unhinged Islands (worth 8 each), a Marit Lage Token (another 8), a Foil Grapeshot (8 more), 3 Ulvenwald Trackers (2 foil) and a pair of Norin the Wary. Little deals like 2 Hinterland Harbor for a Restoration Angel, or a Bonfire of the Damned for 2 Restoration Angel and $10 cash helps. I also sold about $30 in cards for $30, which was great, since that money can be used for buying more collections. In bigger news, a recent PTQ in Ontario got me 3 more duals, including a mint Bayou and an unlimited Taiga the valued $40 lower than actual price. I was able to trade down 5 Snapcasters for significant value and hope to cycle those small cards up. The next month or so is going to be rather significant, because I will be going to a GP, a Star City the week after, and another GP a few weeks later. I am hoping that I will be able to have some great success at the GPs in terms of trading and that I am able to just cycle more cards up to get more "Collection" cards. Right now things have been going rather well in terms of trading, though there haven't really been too many huge hits, which is why I guess posting has dried up a little. If I am able to get more of my collection that isn't in my binders online, that should help in terms of getting people to take those bulk rares at a higher price. Oh, speaking of bulk rares, I was able to trade 4 Marsh Flats for 486 bulk rares in Ontario. In that pile there were many 2-5 dollar cards, and I am thinking that I might start a "4 Marsh Flats to Power" binder, though I am not really a fan of the whole "X to Power" idea. I still need to go through and sort those cards, so perhaps I will work on that in the near future. Having random rares does help in terms of filling out online trades, so getting that up and running will be a good start.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Monday, June 4, 2012
So Brad Nelson helped me get a Mana Drain
So Columbus was a rather good trip. In terms of trading, there were a couple trades that I regret, either for making or not making. One of them was for a very very beat up Timetwister. I could have gotten it for 2 Dark Confidants and 2 Liliana of the Veil, but I couldn't pull the trigger. The card was just in such bad shape that I felt I would probably never be able to get rid of it, so I held off. If given the chance again, I probably would have traded for it (though if I were there and saw it, I would have probably passed on it). The other one I traded 2 Sneak Attack (80) for a Wasteland ($50, completes my set), a HP Plateau ($30), a Metalworker (13) and a Hevengul Lich (5). I made $18 on the trade, though for some reason I was attached to the Sneak Attacks because I feel like they will go up. It was a great trade, though I am letting emotions get the best of me (I still have a playset)
I didn't make too many trades, but the ones I did I really made count. I ended up getting a playset of Vexing Devils and 2 Koth, which I will package with 3 Shrine of Burning Rage to get 4 Entombs and a Sigarda. I traded away a Chrome Mox (15), Dream Halls (7) and 5 Mox Diamonds (150) for a mint Volcanic Island (120) and a SP Unlimited Scrubland (90). It was a strong deal and I was really happy with it. I picked up a Bayou as well, giving me +4 to the dual count. I moved some random $5-10 cards to get a foil 7th edition Lord of Atlantis (which he put at 45, giving me $15 in profit). I was able to pick up 4 Dark Confidants for $120 cash and 12 in trade, which should be really easy to flip for something big. I feel like the price was right, and am hoping to use the rest of my judge compensation to buy a Force of Will, a Tarmogoyf, and a Dark Confidant.
I think I made one of the most absurd trades in my life around the end of the Legacy tournament. While judging, I was doing normal beginning of the round procedure and went to players who did not have players across from them. The one guy I stopped to talk to was supposed to play Brad Nelson, but he ended up being a No Show. So I talked with him for a few minutes, asked him what he was running, and he told me to take a look at his deck. It was maverick (I think Punishing Fire maverick) and I talked to him for a minute about Karakas and how in demand it was this weekend. He told me that he traded in some cards to get two packs of Italian Legends cards, and in one pack opened a Karakas and a Mana Drain, and pulled out his binder to show me (he was pretty excited). I saw the Mana Drain and it was perfect, so I asked him if he would be interested in trading it. He said that he was never going to use it, so he said he'd trade it to me. I waited for my break and we met up, and we went through binders. He had a Force of Will that was in really bad shape (had a crease in it and pretty heavily played), so I asked him about it, and he agreed to trade it valued at $5. So overall I was able to trade a Force of Will (70), a Vindicate (30) and an Argothian Enchantress (15) for the Mana Drain (110), the Force of Will (I am going to put it at 50, since I am pretty sure I can get 50 for it), Life from the Loam (15), 2 Bloodghast (8), and 2 foil Pyromancer Ascension (8). I honestly would have been happy getting the Mana Drain, but the extras were really awesome. Bloodghast is easy to trade, the Ascensions will move easily to someone playing Storm in Modern (or I could use them myself), the Life from the Loam was traded for 3 Champion of the Parish (1 foil, 26 total) and the beat up Force of Will is something I can hold onto or trade to someone desperate.
It was a very good trip in terms of trades, though I didn't really move too much Standard stuff. I did get good value on all of my trades, so that is all I can hope for. One of the guys I went with spent the first 10% of the car ride home telling everyone else how he was a trade shark and how he got all of these awesome deals. I spent the remaining 90% of the time dissecting his stories to figure out that he was either in denial about getting ripped off, or just so oblivious to everything that he really thought he got good deals. Now don't get me wrong, people hit home runs all the time, but he was saying one trade was with an Origins dealer and the other was from a Star City Games buyer. I doubt that any dealer is going to trade 2 Urborgs for 2 Lightning Serpents. That just isn't going to happen. And Star City isn't going to give $5 trade in value for a Cold Eye Selkie, which it sells for $4 on the website. That is just absurd, considering that he has no idea what any of the prices were. I went through his box of cards at the hotel room, and he was shocked at what was worth money and what wasn't. That really makes me think about how most people don't really know what they are doing in terms of trading, and how trading for me is to make profit on each and every trade. The trip made me realize just how great my collection was. I had several chances to pick up pieces of power without even trading any duals, and I was able to pick up a pack fresh Mana Drain without a hiccup. I might be going to the Invitational in Indy just to attend the judge conference and trade for a whole day. I will keep you updated.
I didn't make too many trades, but the ones I did I really made count. I ended up getting a playset of Vexing Devils and 2 Koth, which I will package with 3 Shrine of Burning Rage to get 4 Entombs and a Sigarda. I traded away a Chrome Mox (15), Dream Halls (7) and 5 Mox Diamonds (150) for a mint Volcanic Island (120) and a SP Unlimited Scrubland (90). It was a strong deal and I was really happy with it. I picked up a Bayou as well, giving me +4 to the dual count. I moved some random $5-10 cards to get a foil 7th edition Lord of Atlantis (which he put at 45, giving me $15 in profit). I was able to pick up 4 Dark Confidants for $120 cash and 12 in trade, which should be really easy to flip for something big. I feel like the price was right, and am hoping to use the rest of my judge compensation to buy a Force of Will, a Tarmogoyf, and a Dark Confidant.
I think I made one of the most absurd trades in my life around the end of the Legacy tournament. While judging, I was doing normal beginning of the round procedure and went to players who did not have players across from them. The one guy I stopped to talk to was supposed to play Brad Nelson, but he ended up being a No Show. So I talked with him for a few minutes, asked him what he was running, and he told me to take a look at his deck. It was maverick (I think Punishing Fire maverick) and I talked to him for a minute about Karakas and how in demand it was this weekend. He told me that he traded in some cards to get two packs of Italian Legends cards, and in one pack opened a Karakas and a Mana Drain, and pulled out his binder to show me (he was pretty excited). I saw the Mana Drain and it was perfect, so I asked him if he would be interested in trading it. He said that he was never going to use it, so he said he'd trade it to me. I waited for my break and we met up, and we went through binders. He had a Force of Will that was in really bad shape (had a crease in it and pretty heavily played), so I asked him about it, and he agreed to trade it valued at $5. So overall I was able to trade a Force of Will (70), a Vindicate (30) and an Argothian Enchantress (15) for the Mana Drain (110), the Force of Will (I am going to put it at 50, since I am pretty sure I can get 50 for it), Life from the Loam (15), 2 Bloodghast (8), and 2 foil Pyromancer Ascension (8). I honestly would have been happy getting the Mana Drain, but the extras were really awesome. Bloodghast is easy to trade, the Ascensions will move easily to someone playing Storm in Modern (or I could use them myself), the Life from the Loam was traded for 3 Champion of the Parish (1 foil, 26 total) and the beat up Force of Will is something I can hold onto or trade to someone desperate.
It was a very good trip in terms of trades, though I didn't really move too much Standard stuff. I did get good value on all of my trades, so that is all I can hope for. One of the guys I went with spent the first 10% of the car ride home telling everyone else how he was a trade shark and how he got all of these awesome deals. I spent the remaining 90% of the time dissecting his stories to figure out that he was either in denial about getting ripped off, or just so oblivious to everything that he really thought he got good deals. Now don't get me wrong, people hit home runs all the time, but he was saying one trade was with an Origins dealer and the other was from a Star City Games buyer. I doubt that any dealer is going to trade 2 Urborgs for 2 Lightning Serpents. That just isn't going to happen. And Star City isn't going to give $5 trade in value for a Cold Eye Selkie, which it sells for $4 on the website. That is just absurd, considering that he has no idea what any of the prices were. I went through his box of cards at the hotel room, and he was shocked at what was worth money and what wasn't. That really makes me think about how most people don't really know what they are doing in terms of trading, and how trading for me is to make profit on each and every trade. The trip made me realize just how great my collection was. I had several chances to pick up pieces of power without even trading any duals, and I was able to pick up a pack fresh Mana Drain without a hiccup. I might be going to the Invitational in Indy just to attend the judge conference and trade for a whole day. I will keep you updated.
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Forcing the Trade, and Draining the Pool
So today was a rather productive day for me in terms of trading. I was able to negotiate a trade over the last week with someone, where I would give him 4 Snapcasters, 4 Cavern of Souls, and 2 Temporal Masteries and would get 4 Force of Wills (in mint condition). The problem is that I didn't own any caverns or masteries. I was able to gradually pick up a mastery and a cavern, but really turned it on towards the end of FNM to get the other caverns. It is really important to pinpoint the people who will allow you to trade up cards, because that seems to be the biggest key to trading (though it took me a long time to learn that). So I still need to get him 1 cavern and 1 mastery, but that should not be too hard to acquire, since I was rather aggressive in terms of trading this week and did a lot of trading up. I got another Elspeth, Knight Errant for a stack of smaller cards, and was also able to move a lot of the Scars block stuff that I wanted to get rid of. I ended up moving a Jitte in the process of my trading, as well as 4 Stoneforge Mystics, but it was important to get those Forces.
I opted to go to the other card store after FNM finished, since someone I knew was hard up for cash and wanted to sell some stuff. I was able to get a Jace, the Mind Sculptor (60), 5 Foil Zendikar lands (50), a Flooded Strand (40) and a Bloodstained Mire (20) for $105, which was a pretty sweet deal. I was also able to trade him some random cards for the High Tide deck to get a Vindicate, a Foil Delver, a Grim Monolith, and a Stoneforge Mystic. I then seemed to really go into trading mode, picking up a Wooded Foothills, an Arid Mesa, a Knight of the Reliquary, and some card worth 10 for some smaller stuff (I managed to move 1 of the Aether Vials with "Zektar Shrine" written on it for full value), and got rid of some lightning helixes, which seems like a good idea with the Return to Ravnica speculation. I was then able to trade with the random people there, and moved the playset of Seachromes for a lot of smaller stuff (I didn't know Seachromes were down to 12 so I really made a killing) and got some good profit on each of them. I picked up an Entreat the Angels for a Death Baron and a Platinum Angel (I knew Death Baron was valuable to casual players, and I am glad I finally met one). I ended up selling 6 packs of Avacyn Restored for $20, which was pretty good, since they were prize packs, and in reality, out of the 53 rares you can open, 39 are bulk rares that I will end up buying off people for .10 each. It seems like selling them for 3 for $10 is a great deal, and even if someone opens a money card from time to time, in the long run it is insane profits. Not opening lots of packs is a little problematic in terms of refilling the binder, since that Force of Will trade is going to take $170 in value out of my binder (the Snapcasters were not in my trade binder), so in the long run, my ability to trade might be hampered by the fact that I don't have a lot of the new cards. This is where trading well and drafting well fill in the holes. Being able to take 5+ rares in a draft fills up the binder for trades, and winning packs allows me to draft during the week for free. Drafting during the week is something that a few people have recently started, and it is rather nice. Playing for picks instead of a prize pack means that on any given draft I can be playing for a top card, and in general, the top 2-4 get something rather good. Since I generally open poorly, this gives me the chance to play well and get some money cards.
So the kid who randomly has all of the old and insanely expensive cards told me today that he has a Mana Drain. I need to have it. He texted me a list of cards he wants, and I think that this is how the deal is going to go down.
I get:
1 Mana Drain (Guessing SP condition, worth 130), going to try to value at 110
He gets:
$5 he owes me for FNM last week, going to value at 10 trade
Karrthas, Tyrant of Jund (6)
4 Lotus Petals (14), going to value at 20
Nirkana Revanent (8)
Foil Godsire (7), going to value at 10
Foil It That Betrays (10), don't have on me, but will try and move it
4 Pathrazer of Ulamog (1), going to value at 4
2 Entomb (36), though I might hold on to them and see if he finds smaller stuff, if so, it would be around 35 dollars in random cards, or $20 cash.
I'm not really sure which it will be, but I am hoping that he takes a pile of smaller stuff so my binders don't show any signs of depletion. If I am able to make that trade, it would be great, and I would really be able to make great improvements in my collection this weekend. Overall getting a Mana Drain and a playset of Forces would really put me in a good position in terms of trading at bigger events, since I have 10 Force of Will now, and moving a Mana Drain should be a cakewalk. I don't really know what else this kid has that is worth anything, but for now I am going to continue hope that he brings in more and more insanely hard to find cards and is willing to trade them to me for smaller things and small amounts of cash.
I opted to go to the other card store after FNM finished, since someone I knew was hard up for cash and wanted to sell some stuff. I was able to get a Jace, the Mind Sculptor (60), 5 Foil Zendikar lands (50), a Flooded Strand (40) and a Bloodstained Mire (20) for $105, which was a pretty sweet deal. I was also able to trade him some random cards for the High Tide deck to get a Vindicate, a Foil Delver, a Grim Monolith, and a Stoneforge Mystic. I then seemed to really go into trading mode, picking up a Wooded Foothills, an Arid Mesa, a Knight of the Reliquary, and some card worth 10 for some smaller stuff (I managed to move 1 of the Aether Vials with "Zektar Shrine" written on it for full value), and got rid of some lightning helixes, which seems like a good idea with the Return to Ravnica speculation. I was then able to trade with the random people there, and moved the playset of Seachromes for a lot of smaller stuff (I didn't know Seachromes were down to 12 so I really made a killing) and got some good profit on each of them. I picked up an Entreat the Angels for a Death Baron and a Platinum Angel (I knew Death Baron was valuable to casual players, and I am glad I finally met one). I ended up selling 6 packs of Avacyn Restored for $20, which was pretty good, since they were prize packs, and in reality, out of the 53 rares you can open, 39 are bulk rares that I will end up buying off people for .10 each. It seems like selling them for 3 for $10 is a great deal, and even if someone opens a money card from time to time, in the long run it is insane profits. Not opening lots of packs is a little problematic in terms of refilling the binder, since that Force of Will trade is going to take $170 in value out of my binder (the Snapcasters were not in my trade binder), so in the long run, my ability to trade might be hampered by the fact that I don't have a lot of the new cards. This is where trading well and drafting well fill in the holes. Being able to take 5+ rares in a draft fills up the binder for trades, and winning packs allows me to draft during the week for free. Drafting during the week is something that a few people have recently started, and it is rather nice. Playing for picks instead of a prize pack means that on any given draft I can be playing for a top card, and in general, the top 2-4 get something rather good. Since I generally open poorly, this gives me the chance to play well and get some money cards.
So the kid who randomly has all of the old and insanely expensive cards told me today that he has a Mana Drain. I need to have it. He texted me a list of cards he wants, and I think that this is how the deal is going to go down.
I get:
1 Mana Drain (Guessing SP condition, worth 130), going to try to value at 110
He gets:
$5 he owes me for FNM last week, going to value at 10 trade
Karrthas, Tyrant of Jund (6)
4 Lotus Petals (14), going to value at 20
Nirkana Revanent (8)
Foil Godsire (7), going to value at 10
Foil It That Betrays (10), don't have on me, but will try and move it
4 Pathrazer of Ulamog (1), going to value at 4
2 Entomb (36), though I might hold on to them and see if he finds smaller stuff, if so, it would be around 35 dollars in random cards, or $20 cash.
I'm not really sure which it will be, but I am hoping that he takes a pile of smaller stuff so my binders don't show any signs of depletion. If I am able to make that trade, it would be great, and I would really be able to make great improvements in my collection this weekend. Overall getting a Mana Drain and a playset of Forces would really put me in a good position in terms of trading at bigger events, since I have 10 Force of Will now, and moving a Mana Drain should be a cakewalk. I don't really know what else this kid has that is worth anything, but for now I am going to continue hope that he brings in more and more insanely hard to find cards and is willing to trade them to me for smaller things and small amounts of cash.
Friday, May 11, 2012
Chain Reactions
So today I ended up trading for a Tropical Island. I was not planning on it, so it all just sort of happened organically. Someone ended up owing me $80 in trade (long story, but he couldn't tell the difference between Alpha and Beta), and I ended up getting a Huntmaster and bunch of random cards to even up. So I have a Huntmaster. I have been trying to get rid of 4 Phyrexian Obliterators, so I was able to find someone to take them all. I got a Foil Huntmaster, then a stack of smaller 3-5 dollar cards (While I don't really like trading down, I would rather get an Avacyn, 3 Bloodline Keepers, a Past In Flames, and some Innistrad lands right now to move). So I took the Foil Huntmaster and traded it for 2 regular huntmasters. I then took 3 Huntmasters, packaged it with an Elesh Norn and a Razorverge Thicket, and turned it into a Tropical Island (SP condition). It was a very successful day.
It seems like today was just a strong trading day for me. I moved 2 Champion of the Parish (12) and 2 Hellrider (8) for a DD Elspeth (20), which moves value from standard cards to a Modern and sometimes Legacy playable card. The only cards that I really feel pressure to move before rotation are 4 Seachrome Coasts. They are 15 each now, so if I could try and get rid of them, even for some random standard cards from Innistrad block, they would be ideal. I also ended up buying $40 worth of bulk rares, which should help fill in random cards from the new set. Hopefully I can continue gradually trading a couple random cards here and there, though in reality I could just go and sell some of them to StarCity for profit, as some are not bulk. It seems like things are really just going well, though I am not really moving the junk rares as much as I would like. I think that the problem is that they are trading well, but the fact that I have so many of them means that my piles of random rares get bigger despite the fact that I am trading them away as fast as possible. I am hoping that going to some bigger events will help in my trading. It seems like my focus on trading up has been productive today. All of my trades resulting in higher value cards except the Phyrexian Obliterator one, which resulted in a pile of easily tradable cards. 400 more bulk rares should help fill in random empty slots in my binder.
I ordered a box of 100 new binder sheets so that I can redo my Legacy/Modern binder, and it has not arrived yet. The plan is to try and judge some SCG events and an occasional Grand Prix when they are in the area, and use that to allow me to trade with a lot more people. While it will help with the grinding, it should really allow me to meet different people who might have duals or other top tier cards to trade for. That is enough incentive to try and get as much firepower as possible to get more and more dual lands. I am not sure how many I have now (need to do a recount), but I think that I might be approaching 70. I think that I am going to focus primarily on trading up as much as possible in the next few months. I feel like I have a huge supply of small value cards ($1-5) and that I should work on picking up the valuable Innistrad and Dark Ascension cards now, but should try to use the hotness of Avacyn Restored to get some big eternal cards. Hopefully I am able to make a few trades tomorrow when I am drafting, but I would like to just open a valuable card and win some packs.
It seems like today was just a strong trading day for me. I moved 2 Champion of the Parish (12) and 2 Hellrider (8) for a DD Elspeth (20), which moves value from standard cards to a Modern and sometimes Legacy playable card. The only cards that I really feel pressure to move before rotation are 4 Seachrome Coasts. They are 15 each now, so if I could try and get rid of them, even for some random standard cards from Innistrad block, they would be ideal. I also ended up buying $40 worth of bulk rares, which should help fill in random cards from the new set. Hopefully I can continue gradually trading a couple random cards here and there, though in reality I could just go and sell some of them to StarCity for profit, as some are not bulk. It seems like things are really just going well, though I am not really moving the junk rares as much as I would like. I think that the problem is that they are trading well, but the fact that I have so many of them means that my piles of random rares get bigger despite the fact that I am trading them away as fast as possible. I am hoping that going to some bigger events will help in my trading. It seems like my focus on trading up has been productive today. All of my trades resulting in higher value cards except the Phyrexian Obliterator one, which resulted in a pile of easily tradable cards. 400 more bulk rares should help fill in random empty slots in my binder.
I ordered a box of 100 new binder sheets so that I can redo my Legacy/Modern binder, and it has not arrived yet. The plan is to try and judge some SCG events and an occasional Grand Prix when they are in the area, and use that to allow me to trade with a lot more people. While it will help with the grinding, it should really allow me to meet different people who might have duals or other top tier cards to trade for. That is enough incentive to try and get as much firepower as possible to get more and more dual lands. I am not sure how many I have now (need to do a recount), but I think that I might be approaching 70. I think that I am going to focus primarily on trading up as much as possible in the next few months. I feel like I have a huge supply of small value cards ($1-5) and that I should work on picking up the valuable Innistrad and Dark Ascension cards now, but should try to use the hotness of Avacyn Restored to get some big eternal cards. Hopefully I am able to make a few trades tomorrow when I am drafting, but I would like to just open a valuable card and win some packs.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
On Deck, and the Quest to be Top Dog
So the Avacyn Restored release weekend brought us another set to standard, and there didn't really seem to be any cards from the new set making a splash, at FNM and at the SCG event. It is probably a result of card availability. I was happy to move my Tibalt, Tamiyo, and Temporal Mastery for 3 Snapcasters, an Isolated Chapel, and a Sulfur Falls. I ended up losing a little bit based on Star City value, but on Channel Fireball I ended up doing well, since Tamiyo is only 35 (40), Tibalt is 15 (25), and Mastery is 30 (40), so I would have gained about 15 on CFB prices. Normally I use Star City for everything, but he had a smartphone app and the prices seemed to be a mix of the two, and since the prices of these cards are going to drop, I needed to pull the trigger and get some more casters, so I can try to move them in another trade. On the card playing side, Miracle is a pretty fun mechanic. There's nothing like being dead on board and ripping an Entreat the Angels off the top to win, but having someone blast you in the face for 7 and wipe your board is pretty much like playing an auto win card. Drafting should be really interesting for the next few months. (I finally opened a money rare. After about 40 packs, I got an Entreat the Angels). Hopefully I can trade the packs for cards, since that would really give me some value.
It seems like there are several different states that I am in in terms of trading. In general, my trading pool grows every week as a result of FNM trading (getting a dollar or two on a few trades, maybe making one really good deal getting 3-10 in a single trade. Drafting will generally help as well, though it seems like the good cards are always opened by other people. Buying bulk rares has really helped, and it only takes one trade to make a huge profit. The problem is that when I trade for cards that I think are going to go up in price (so I need to hold them) or for Modern/Legacy cards that I really don't plan on trading. I ended up trading a Huntmaster and a Garruk for a foil Stifle. I was shocked that someone had a foil Stifle, and knew I had to get it, since that is a card that will really help to trade up for top tier stuff. Beyond that, I ended up gaining $6-11, though my trade binder shrunk $32. I also traded a Sorin (22), 2 Garruk (24), and a Sunpetal Grove (3) for a Dark Confidant (45) and $10 cash. It was pretty sweet getting some money (which I really don't try for, but it works), so it is effectively 100 bulk rares with the Confidant. That pulled another 45 out or my binder, and the 75 from the 3 Snapcasters I got for the new cards I moved. So being able to effectively replace the value that I lose in trading for Eternal cards is important. Right now though, I am really gearing up for the next couple of months. I know someone who has 4 Force of Will that I want to trade for, and I just met someone who said he has two Moxes (I believe he said a Pearl and an Emerald). The problem with trading for a card worth that much is that if the person doesn't play/want Legacy cards or Modern cards, it becomes a lot harder to just accumulate that much value. To get 500-600 in standard cards, it would require so much. 4 Snapcasters, 4 Liliana, 4 Sorin, 4 Primeval Titan, 4 Huntmasters, and 4 Tamiyo will get there would get to around 600. It gets really hard when the guy needs to want all of that. So unless the guy wants most of the important cards in standard, it will be pretty hard to get more than 200 in value, so things might be complicated. I sort of feel like I am "On Deck", just waiting to try and get as many cards as I can that people will want. I am constantly upgrading junk rares into 2-5 dollar staples, then packaging them up to move up to big ticket items. Right now, the "Big Ticket" items are Snapcasters, Huntmasters, Geist of St. Traft, Sorin, Liliana, and the new cards. Scars block cards are starting to be problematic since people don't want to trade for them since they will be cycling out soon. It really messes with my emotions, because part of me wants to have all of the big ticket items, and when I have them, I feel the need to move them. I never really think about the sweet cards I get that leave the binder. The same goes for Legacy cards. I want to have more and more of them, but when I have them, I feel the need to try and convert them into duals.
I am excited that I will be getting a new box of binder sheets on Wednesday, and will probably try and get 25 more top loading hard plastics for duals (which is a good problem when you need more things to store duals). I think that I am going to use one single binder for all of my Legacy cards, and am hoping that I can work on trading up for more duals. I think that I am also going to work on trading the promo cards that I have amassed in the last couple of years, since they are just sitting around taking up space. I am hoping that I get accepted to judge a lot of events over the summer, so I can do a lot of trading with random people, since I generally do really well at bigger events. The first step is to get my binders in order and figure out what I am looking for
It seems like there are several different states that I am in in terms of trading. In general, my trading pool grows every week as a result of FNM trading (getting a dollar or two on a few trades, maybe making one really good deal getting 3-10 in a single trade. Drafting will generally help as well, though it seems like the good cards are always opened by other people. Buying bulk rares has really helped, and it only takes one trade to make a huge profit. The problem is that when I trade for cards that I think are going to go up in price (so I need to hold them) or for Modern/Legacy cards that I really don't plan on trading. I ended up trading a Huntmaster and a Garruk for a foil Stifle. I was shocked that someone had a foil Stifle, and knew I had to get it, since that is a card that will really help to trade up for top tier stuff. Beyond that, I ended up gaining $6-11, though my trade binder shrunk $32. I also traded a Sorin (22), 2 Garruk (24), and a Sunpetal Grove (3) for a Dark Confidant (45) and $10 cash. It was pretty sweet getting some money (which I really don't try for, but it works), so it is effectively 100 bulk rares with the Confidant. That pulled another 45 out or my binder, and the 75 from the 3 Snapcasters I got for the new cards I moved. So being able to effectively replace the value that I lose in trading for Eternal cards is important. Right now though, I am really gearing up for the next couple of months. I know someone who has 4 Force of Will that I want to trade for, and I just met someone who said he has two Moxes (I believe he said a Pearl and an Emerald). The problem with trading for a card worth that much is that if the person doesn't play/want Legacy cards or Modern cards, it becomes a lot harder to just accumulate that much value. To get 500-600 in standard cards, it would require so much. 4 Snapcasters, 4 Liliana, 4 Sorin, 4 Primeval Titan, 4 Huntmasters, and 4 Tamiyo will get there would get to around 600. It gets really hard when the guy needs to want all of that. So unless the guy wants most of the important cards in standard, it will be pretty hard to get more than 200 in value, so things might be complicated. I sort of feel like I am "On Deck", just waiting to try and get as many cards as I can that people will want. I am constantly upgrading junk rares into 2-5 dollar staples, then packaging them up to move up to big ticket items. Right now, the "Big Ticket" items are Snapcasters, Huntmasters, Geist of St. Traft, Sorin, Liliana, and the new cards. Scars block cards are starting to be problematic since people don't want to trade for them since they will be cycling out soon. It really messes with my emotions, because part of me wants to have all of the big ticket items, and when I have them, I feel the need to move them. I never really think about the sweet cards I get that leave the binder. The same goes for Legacy cards. I want to have more and more of them, but when I have them, I feel the need to try and convert them into duals.
I am excited that I will be getting a new box of binder sheets on Wednesday, and will probably try and get 25 more top loading hard plastics for duals (which is a good problem when you need more things to store duals). I think that I am going to use one single binder for all of my Legacy cards, and am hoping that I can work on trading up for more duals. I think that I am also going to work on trading the promo cards that I have amassed in the last couple of years, since they are just sitting around taking up space. I am hoping that I get accepted to judge a lot of events over the summer, so I can do a lot of trading with random people, since I generally do really well at bigger events. The first step is to get my binders in order and figure out what I am looking for
Friday, May 4, 2012
Treasure Hunt
I randomly decided to go to Craigslist today and look for Magic cards for sale (since everyone dreams of finding that collection with amazing cards with a low asking price), and $375 later, I am pretty sure that I have the best collection in the city. Here are the gems (there were a lot of random rares and whatnot, but here's the bigger stuff)
4 Glimpse the Unthinkable=60
3 Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind=36
2 Privileged Position=18
Debtors Knell=8
Sliver Queen=30
Captain Sisay=2.5
2 Meddling Mage=6
Lightning Helix=4
2 Serra's Sanctum=30
3 Volcanic Island= 330
Underground Sea=150
Poor Condition Badlands=25
2 Reflecting Pool=16
3 Lake of the Dead=24
4 Tolarian Academy=100
Glimmervoid=15
Vesuva=10
Tower of the Magistrate=10
3 Wasteland=150
Steam Vents=25
Godless Shrine=20
2 City of Brass=10
4 Minamo, School at Water's Edge=20
8 Pain Lands=16
Ancient Tomb=10
5 Faerie Conclave=7.5
6 Treetop Village=12
2 Urza Lands=8
Mishra's Factory=5
3 Kor Haven=18
Flagstones of Trokair=6
4 Thran Dynamo=20
2 Thran Quarry=8
Dust Bowl=6
2 Forsaken City 1 foil=7.5
3 Yavimava Hallow 1 foil=56
2 Phyrexian Tower=24
4 Strip Mine=16
Golgari Grave-Troll=3.5
2 Elvish Champion=12
Aluren=6
Argothian Enchantress=15
Eladamri, Lord of Leaves=8
2 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary=30
Nether Spirit=4
Infernal Tutor=6
3 Birds of Paradise=15
4 Avatar of Woe=16
4 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni=40
Lord of the Undead=10
Dark Confidant=45
Demonic Tutor (beta)=120
Demonic Tutor (UL)=20
2 The Dark Ball Lightning=15
4 Goblin Welder=32
3 Sneak Attack=90
3 Fork=18
3 Doomsday=12
2 Ill-Gotten Gains=8
Grave Pact=5
4 Howling Mine=8
Karn, Silver Golem=4
5 Mother of Runes=25
2 Enlightened Tutor=24
2 Wrath of God=12
4 Armageddon=16
2 Angelic Chorus=6
Progenitus=15
Reya Dawnbringer=4
2 Karmic Guide=20
Serra Avenger=6
Academy Rector=12
4 Shattering Spree=12
4 Ensnaring Bridge=20
Path to Exile=6
foil Scryb Ranger=8
2 Grindstone=36
Grim Monolith=22
4 Erratic Portal=8
7 Lotus Petal=25
Blood Moon=6
2 Mystical Tutor=12
4 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner=72
Lord of Atlantis=4
2 Tinker=8
Desertion=7
Misdirection=13
2 Meditate=14
Treachery=12
Time Warp=5
2 Show and Tell=90
Back to Basics=8
Gilded Drake=16
Time Spiral=25
Gamble=7
2 Dream Halls=10
Spell Snare=10
2 Mana Vault=8
Doubling Season=25
Foil Life from the Loam=35
4 Smokestack=32
2 Metalworker=26
8 Nevinyrral's Disk=48
Angel's Grace=4
Proclamation of Rebirth=8
Trinisphere=4
Tangle Wire=5
Sensei's Divining Top=15
On top of that, there are 42 foil basic lands, and I have no doubt missed cards worth money. The total from the cards listed hits a whopping $2,638.
I initially looked at the listing and saw the Dual lands, and figured for that price, it was worth it. I was disappointed when I saw the Badlands, because there is a part of the top layer of the card that is peeled some, so it is in horrible condition. He said in the listing that it was "Hammered", but I figured it was in better shape than that. However, the listed the other duals as "played/fine", and they were near mint and very lightly played, so that was amazing. Going through the collection was really fun though, trying to find all of the gems that weren't mentioned, like a foil Life From the Loam or 2 Grindstones or 4 Kira. It was really awesome. I don't really know what to say other than I was exceptionally lucky, and that I am hopefully able to move these cards to pick up more duals. In reality, a set of revised duals is worth $3,680 on Star City, so if I were to convert all of these cards into dual lands, I would have 3 of each. The random EDH cards and foils should trade well, and there are a lot of bigger ticket items that should make trading up easy
I have also been acting like the local card store, just amassing more and more cards. I ended up buying a bunch of beta lands and random beta cards. The lands I got for .50 each, which is pretty sweet considering that they sell for 2-6 on Star City. I also ended up buying 13,000 commons and uncommons from someone for $2/1000. It is an amazing investment, as I can sell them to a card store for the same price if I wanted to. Beyond that, the random good cards give me an insane profit (pulling out joraga warcallers at $2 each or Inquisition of Kozalik at $4 is all profit). I think that this week has been rather good, and if I am able to move my new cards for a bunch of snapcasters, it will really make my collection strong.
I don't really know what the hell is going to happen to standard, but I know that right now is a very important time when I need to move as many Scars Block cards as I can, since there is a rotation in about 6 months. While that is far away, I don't want to be caught with many money cards waiting to drop. I know that I have probably $500 in cards that I would love to convert to either Modern or Legacy staples, or just move into Innistrad block cards, since I would get another year to work on trading up. I have been rather successful in moving cards that I want to (at least the bigger ticket ones) and I think that if I can really make one last push to get rid of any Scars card over $5, then I did one hell of a job. I think that it might be time to switch gears and start to aggressively trade for snapcasters again, as people are starting to end up with extras, and they are not really in demand so being able to negotiate the price down to $20 shouldn't be hard at all.
It feels like my collection has been really erratic lately. Things were a lot easier with one binder (I remember not even having a Legacy binder when I went to Pittsburgh for the Grand Prix). I don't really know how to deal with all of the random Alpha and Beta cards that I have, and I need to figure out a way to try and move all of the non-Standard bulk rares that I have. When you have 4 binders, it is hard to let everyone go through them all. You have to treat time as a resource, and the more page flips that a person has to make, the less time you can trade with others. Usually I just have people go through my 2 Standard binders and hopefully they pull enough from there. I hate bringing out the Legacy Weapon, and I only use the bulk binders when someone is a casual player or wants something specific. I think that I am alright using hard cases for my duals and other expensive cards over $50 that I don't really plan on trading, though I would imagine the only cards that fall in that category are the Bazaars, the Mox, and the Beta Lord of Atlantis. I would love to move everything else, especially those overpriced alpha and beta cards that I doubt anyone will want. I would imagine that judging will help with that a lot, since being able to go to a lot of tournaments will get me more trading time at bigger tournaments, which ultimately leads to more and more profit. If I can move my Phyrexian Obliterators and Seachrome Coasts, I think that I would really feel better about things. The seachromes shouldn't be too hard, but moving the obliterators might be tricky, though I think that I have someone in mind (the kid with all of the old stuff apparently has some beta llanowar elves and a drop of honey and some over randoms). I would gladly move Obliterators to get those cards. The fact that my Legacy binder is growing very quickly is reassuring, though I am not really liking spending money to buy cards, since I want things to be a liquid as possible at all times (Legacy cards are easy to move and are liquid to me).
I think that I might need some more short term goals (I think I had a list somewhere in an old post, but I am not going to bother checking now). By June 1, I would love to
1) Trade away all M12+ Scars block cards worth more than $5
2) Convert $200 worth of Standard cards into Modern or better staples.
3) Figure out a better system for my trade binders
4) Figure out a way to deal with my commons and uncommons
5) Aggressively trade for more sleeper cards and more foils
4 Glimpse the Unthinkable=60
3 Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind=36
2 Privileged Position=18
Debtors Knell=8
Sliver Queen=30
Captain Sisay=2.5
2 Meddling Mage=6
Lightning Helix=4
2 Serra's Sanctum=30
3 Volcanic Island= 330
Underground Sea=150
Poor Condition Badlands=25
2 Reflecting Pool=16
3 Lake of the Dead=24
4 Tolarian Academy=100
Glimmervoid=15
Vesuva=10
Tower of the Magistrate=10
3 Wasteland=150
Steam Vents=25
Godless Shrine=20
2 City of Brass=10
4 Minamo, School at Water's Edge=20
8 Pain Lands=16
Ancient Tomb=10
5 Faerie Conclave=7.5
6 Treetop Village=12
2 Urza Lands=8
Mishra's Factory=5
3 Kor Haven=18
Flagstones of Trokair=6
4 Thran Dynamo=20
2 Thran Quarry=8
Dust Bowl=6
2 Forsaken City 1 foil=7.5
3 Yavimava Hallow 1 foil=56
2 Phyrexian Tower=24
4 Strip Mine=16
Golgari Grave-Troll=3.5
2 Elvish Champion=12
Aluren=6
Argothian Enchantress=15
Eladamri, Lord of Leaves=8
2 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary=30
Nether Spirit=4
Infernal Tutor=6
3 Birds of Paradise=15
4 Avatar of Woe=16
4 Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni=40
Lord of the Undead=10
Dark Confidant=45
Demonic Tutor (beta)=120
Demonic Tutor (UL)=20
2 The Dark Ball Lightning=15
4 Goblin Welder=32
3 Sneak Attack=90
3 Fork=18
3 Doomsday=12
2 Ill-Gotten Gains=8
Grave Pact=5
4 Howling Mine=8
Karn, Silver Golem=4
5 Mother of Runes=25
2 Enlightened Tutor=24
2 Wrath of God=12
4 Armageddon=16
2 Angelic Chorus=6
Progenitus=15
Reya Dawnbringer=4
2 Karmic Guide=20
Serra Avenger=6
Academy Rector=12
4 Shattering Spree=12
4 Ensnaring Bridge=20
Path to Exile=6
foil Scryb Ranger=8
2 Grindstone=36
Grim Monolith=22
4 Erratic Portal=8
7 Lotus Petal=25
Blood Moon=6
2 Mystical Tutor=12
4 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner=72
Lord of Atlantis=4
2 Tinker=8
Desertion=7
Misdirection=13
2 Meditate=14
Treachery=12
Time Warp=5
2 Show and Tell=90
Back to Basics=8
Gilded Drake=16
Time Spiral=25
Gamble=7
2 Dream Halls=10
Spell Snare=10
2 Mana Vault=8
Doubling Season=25
Foil Life from the Loam=35
4 Smokestack=32
2 Metalworker=26
8 Nevinyrral's Disk=48
Angel's Grace=4
Proclamation of Rebirth=8
Trinisphere=4
Tangle Wire=5
Sensei's Divining Top=15
On top of that, there are 42 foil basic lands, and I have no doubt missed cards worth money. The total from the cards listed hits a whopping $2,638.
I initially looked at the listing and saw the Dual lands, and figured for that price, it was worth it. I was disappointed when I saw the Badlands, because there is a part of the top layer of the card that is peeled some, so it is in horrible condition. He said in the listing that it was "Hammered", but I figured it was in better shape than that. However, the listed the other duals as "played/fine", and they were near mint and very lightly played, so that was amazing. Going through the collection was really fun though, trying to find all of the gems that weren't mentioned, like a foil Life From the Loam or 2 Grindstones or 4 Kira. It was really awesome. I don't really know what to say other than I was exceptionally lucky, and that I am hopefully able to move these cards to pick up more duals. In reality, a set of revised duals is worth $3,680 on Star City, so if I were to convert all of these cards into dual lands, I would have 3 of each. The random EDH cards and foils should trade well, and there are a lot of bigger ticket items that should make trading up easy
I have also been acting like the local card store, just amassing more and more cards. I ended up buying a bunch of beta lands and random beta cards. The lands I got for .50 each, which is pretty sweet considering that they sell for 2-6 on Star City. I also ended up buying 13,000 commons and uncommons from someone for $2/1000. It is an amazing investment, as I can sell them to a card store for the same price if I wanted to. Beyond that, the random good cards give me an insane profit (pulling out joraga warcallers at $2 each or Inquisition of Kozalik at $4 is all profit). I think that this week has been rather good, and if I am able to move my new cards for a bunch of snapcasters, it will really make my collection strong.
I don't really know what the hell is going to happen to standard, but I know that right now is a very important time when I need to move as many Scars Block cards as I can, since there is a rotation in about 6 months. While that is far away, I don't want to be caught with many money cards waiting to drop. I know that I have probably $500 in cards that I would love to convert to either Modern or Legacy staples, or just move into Innistrad block cards, since I would get another year to work on trading up. I have been rather successful in moving cards that I want to (at least the bigger ticket ones) and I think that if I can really make one last push to get rid of any Scars card over $5, then I did one hell of a job. I think that it might be time to switch gears and start to aggressively trade for snapcasters again, as people are starting to end up with extras, and they are not really in demand so being able to negotiate the price down to $20 shouldn't be hard at all.
It feels like my collection has been really erratic lately. Things were a lot easier with one binder (I remember not even having a Legacy binder when I went to Pittsburgh for the Grand Prix). I don't really know how to deal with all of the random Alpha and Beta cards that I have, and I need to figure out a way to try and move all of the non-Standard bulk rares that I have. When you have 4 binders, it is hard to let everyone go through them all. You have to treat time as a resource, and the more page flips that a person has to make, the less time you can trade with others. Usually I just have people go through my 2 Standard binders and hopefully they pull enough from there. I hate bringing out the Legacy Weapon, and I only use the bulk binders when someone is a casual player or wants something specific. I think that I am alright using hard cases for my duals and other expensive cards over $50 that I don't really plan on trading, though I would imagine the only cards that fall in that category are the Bazaars, the Mox, and the Beta Lord of Atlantis. I would love to move everything else, especially those overpriced alpha and beta cards that I doubt anyone will want. I would imagine that judging will help with that a lot, since being able to go to a lot of tournaments will get me more trading time at bigger tournaments, which ultimately leads to more and more profit. If I can move my Phyrexian Obliterators and Seachrome Coasts, I think that I would really feel better about things. The seachromes shouldn't be too hard, but moving the obliterators might be tricky, though I think that I have someone in mind (the kid with all of the old stuff apparently has some beta llanowar elves and a drop of honey and some over randoms). I would gladly move Obliterators to get those cards. The fact that my Legacy binder is growing very quickly is reassuring, though I am not really liking spending money to buy cards, since I want things to be a liquid as possible at all times (Legacy cards are easy to move and are liquid to me).
I think that I might need some more short term goals (I think I had a list somewhere in an old post, but I am not going to bother checking now). By June 1, I would love to
1) Trade away all M12+ Scars block cards worth more than $5
2) Convert $200 worth of Standard cards into Modern or better staples.
3) Figure out a better system for my trade binders
4) Figure out a way to deal with my commons and uncommons
5) Aggressively trade for more sleeper cards and more foils
Monday, April 30, 2012
Grasp on Sanity, Scorched Earth, and Avacyn Restored
After a bit of a trading drought (as well as some struggles at FNM and draft) I really made a bunch of key acquisitions this weekend. I moved a foil Elesh Norn, a Phyrexian Obliterator, and a Hero of Bladehold for a beta Lord of Atlantis (very close to mint) and a Maze of Ith, giving me a $25 profit, as well as trading 3 cards that are almost assuredly at their peak. I also got an Alpha Vesuvan Doppleganger for $30 cash, which seems like a pretty good investment, as it around the $150-170 range. I also picked up a Force of Will for 3 Arcbound Ravagers (I find it easy to get people to trade Force of Wills when they only have one. Making the point that one isn't nearly enough to run in Legacy, and that it will take forever to trade for the others generally gets them willing to move it) and another Bazaar of Baghdad for 6 shock lands and $30. I have no idea where the hell people are finding these random sweet old cards, but hopefully it continues. It took a lot of work, but I got another Alpha Force of Nature for a stack of random junk cards and a Hero of Bladehold. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why people love the card "Praetor's Grasp", but I am pretty sure that given 2 weeks and 500 Praetor's Grasps, I could probably trade up to a house.
It seems like recently, Magic has really been getting to me a lot. I seem to be taking losing a lot harder, and am very frustrated cracking packs for sealed or draft to only get trash, while everyone around me gets at least 2 mythics. I have been doing rather well lately in terms of trading, and while I am rock solid at it, it is getting really hard to grind out a dollar on people. I think that I might need to refrain from being the person to initiate trades, and just wait for people to ask me if I have the cards they are looking for. As a rule of thumb, it is very important to get value when you are trading down, but not nearly as important when trading up. Converting four $1 cards into a Birds of Paradise is a great move, since you are thinning out your random junky cards by upgrading them into a staple, and it really isn't necessary to make a profit there, since you are gaining hidden value in the fact that birds can easily be traded. If given the option between 1,000 Praetor's Grasps (worth .50 each) or a Mox Jet (worth $500), which would you take? Unless you are a psycho, you take the piece of power and smile.
Trading cards can really be visualized through the ideas behind playing a Birthing Pod deck. If your chain looks like this
Birds of Paradise> Runeclaw Bear> Brindle Boar> Giant Spider> Greater Basilisk> Vastwood Gorger
you have successfully converted a 1 drop into a 6 drop. Seems pretty good going from a 0/1 flyer into a 5/6. However, what wasn't explicitly stated was that it took 1 card (Birthing Pod) 11 mana (assuming you pay 0 life, and tap the birds for mana to Pod it) and 5 turns. In the grand scheme of things, this was not really worth the time and effort.
Now look at a good Pod chain
Birds of Paradise> Viridian Emissary > Blade Splicer > Solemn Simulacrum > Geist Honored Monk > Vastwood Gorger (Wanted to have the same end result)
So right there, I spent the same amount of turns and mana using Birthing Pod. However, for the trouble, I ended up getting +2 lands, a 3/3 Golem, 1 card drawn, and +2 1/1 Flying Spirits. When you are trading randomly and just to trade, you are putting the the turns and mana, but only getting a very small upgrade, if any. Gradually you might end up getting some bigger cards, but in the grand scheme of things, it isn't really worth all of the resources you put into it. When you are trading cards, it is important to maximize your gains and get as much value as possible, whether through actual price difference, through ease of future trade (trading cards of the same value, but getting ones with more appeal or upside), of going from standard to modern or Legacy. I was able to trade a Phantasmal Image for 3 Thalia and a Thraben Doomsayer. I was able to not really gain much value (.50), I was able to convert a card that will probably be cycling out very soon for cards that will be around for a while. The fact that phantasmal image was inflated because of the random success of zombies also made the deal beneficial to me, as it is probably as high as it will ever be.
So if I learned anything this month, it is that bad players love Praetor's Grasp. I have no idea why, but I'll be damned if I can keep any of them in my binder.
Recently I have been having an inner dialogue about how much is too much in terms of ripping people off. This ended up leading to more thought about cheating, lying, and dishonesty (There was a Dateline on about kids cheating and how they would react if others around them cheated). So I got to thinking about how I feel on the subject, and what I would do if the opportunity arose. I am pretty sure that if someone has my life total incorrect, and his account of my life total was higher than my account of my life total, I would use his. Thinking about it, why would I put myself in a worse position by telling him that he is wrong. I know that I miss things sometimes, and perhaps his is correct and mine isn't. So if I tell him that it is lower, he may very well go with that cheat me. I think that if I was playing someone, and while shuffling, they dropped a JTMS or an Emrakul, I don't know if I would tell them. It would give me an advantage that they are missing one of their most powerful cards. I don't think that I'd be able to pick the card up after the match and throw it in my binder though. That seems too close to stealing. I guess that a cost/benefit analysis needs to be done on a case by case scenario. When making a trade with someone, I have to decide where on the "Honestly <----->Profit" Spectrum I want to fall in. In general, it would great to build a great trading relationship with everyone, and just do such a huge volume of trades gaining me a dollar or two every time that my binder will grow and grow. However, that really doesn't work too well with smartphones, since people are able to look up the price of every card and don't want to give up any value at all. It feels like trading has become a constant shifting of my card value from some cards to others, not really gaining any profit at all. I think that being a little more aggressive to gain a couple bucks each time, or to constantly trade up is the way to go. That really didn't answer the "Should I rip people off who don't know the value of cards" question. The answer that I have come up with is "You should if you don't ever plan on seeing/trading with them again, and you hedge your bets to varying degrees with everyone else". If you go back to the Beta Trop deal that I made, it was an arduous process that probably added the equivalent's worth of an IRS audit of stress to my life, but I tried very hard not to rip the kid off and gave him more than he wanted. As a result, he has traded the following cards to me: 2 Alpha Force of Nature, a mint Bazaar of Baghdad, Maze of Ith, Beta Lord of Atlantis, Alpha Vesuvan Doppelganger. The fact that I went out of my way to make trading a good experience, he came to me to trade all of the other cards, not giving anyone else an opportunity to get them. That is pretty crazy, since looking at what I got, I probably ended up trading for $1500-$2000 worth of cards from the kid, and made insane profits while doing so. However, he is starting to greatly overvalue his cards (he wanted 4 Foil Gravecrawlers, a Hero of Bladehold, and a Phyrexian Obliterator for the Force of Nature, which was alright value wise, but there is no way that I am going to give up that much for an Alpha card that sees no play anywhere. So we had to talk things out a bit, and I ended up giving up a lot of $1 and $2 cards for it, which worked out well for both of us. Truth be told, I am getting the feeling that the kid might be out of cards I am interested in, so I fear that the carcass has been picked clean (I couldn't think of a better metaphor, as "The well is dry" or things like that imply that it was overused and now exhausted, as opposed to just empty). I think that he said he had Mox Diamonds, and that would be great, but in reality, I think that my next trades with this kid will be when he opens an expensive card that I want to trade up for. I wonder how much more aggressive for profit I could been and still gotten him to trade me all those cards.
I ended up doing alright at Prerelease weekend. The Helvault was a sweet promotion, despite not having anything really sweet in there. I ended up picking up 2 Chain Lightnings and a Sneak Attack, which is a decent addition to the Legacy collection. I am planning on moving all of the mythics and rares I opened for Innistrad lands and stable mythics (Snapcasters, Lilianas, Huntmasters, Sorins). Ideally I will be picking up a bunch of Snapcasters, since I have a lead on trading for a set of Force of Wills, and a set of casters would really make that easier. I can't really imagine what will happen with AVR prices, or what will happen with Standard with the new set out. I would guess that in a month, Tamiyo will be down to $30, Tibalt will be $16, and Temporal Mastery I have no idea on. I think it might stay at 40 or go up a bit if it gets huge in Legacy, but could drop to $25 if it doesn't find a home. I am hoping that the new set refocuses me on trading a little more aggressively to maximize profit, and to more importantly work on ways to grind out a couple bucks instead of not really making any profits with the normal traders.
It seems like recently, Magic has really been getting to me a lot. I seem to be taking losing a lot harder, and am very frustrated cracking packs for sealed or draft to only get trash, while everyone around me gets at least 2 mythics. I have been doing rather well lately in terms of trading, and while I am rock solid at it, it is getting really hard to grind out a dollar on people. I think that I might need to refrain from being the person to initiate trades, and just wait for people to ask me if I have the cards they are looking for. As a rule of thumb, it is very important to get value when you are trading down, but not nearly as important when trading up. Converting four $1 cards into a Birds of Paradise is a great move, since you are thinning out your random junky cards by upgrading them into a staple, and it really isn't necessary to make a profit there, since you are gaining hidden value in the fact that birds can easily be traded. If given the option between 1,000 Praetor's Grasps (worth .50 each) or a Mox Jet (worth $500), which would you take? Unless you are a psycho, you take the piece of power and smile.
Trading cards can really be visualized through the ideas behind playing a Birthing Pod deck. If your chain looks like this
Birds of Paradise> Runeclaw Bear> Brindle Boar> Giant Spider> Greater Basilisk> Vastwood Gorger
you have successfully converted a 1 drop into a 6 drop. Seems pretty good going from a 0/1 flyer into a 5/6. However, what wasn't explicitly stated was that it took 1 card (Birthing Pod) 11 mana (assuming you pay 0 life, and tap the birds for mana to Pod it) and 5 turns. In the grand scheme of things, this was not really worth the time and effort.
Now look at a good Pod chain
Birds of Paradise> Viridian Emissary > Blade Splicer > Solemn Simulacrum > Geist Honored Monk > Vastwood Gorger (Wanted to have the same end result)
So right there, I spent the same amount of turns and mana using Birthing Pod. However, for the trouble, I ended up getting +2 lands, a 3/3 Golem, 1 card drawn, and +2 1/1 Flying Spirits. When you are trading randomly and just to trade, you are putting the the turns and mana, but only getting a very small upgrade, if any. Gradually you might end up getting some bigger cards, but in the grand scheme of things, it isn't really worth all of the resources you put into it. When you are trading cards, it is important to maximize your gains and get as much value as possible, whether through actual price difference, through ease of future trade (trading cards of the same value, but getting ones with more appeal or upside), of going from standard to modern or Legacy. I was able to trade a Phantasmal Image for 3 Thalia and a Thraben Doomsayer. I was able to not really gain much value (.50), I was able to convert a card that will probably be cycling out very soon for cards that will be around for a while. The fact that phantasmal image was inflated because of the random success of zombies also made the deal beneficial to me, as it is probably as high as it will ever be.
So if I learned anything this month, it is that bad players love Praetor's Grasp. I have no idea why, but I'll be damned if I can keep any of them in my binder.
Recently I have been having an inner dialogue about how much is too much in terms of ripping people off. This ended up leading to more thought about cheating, lying, and dishonesty (There was a Dateline on about kids cheating and how they would react if others around them cheated). So I got to thinking about how I feel on the subject, and what I would do if the opportunity arose. I am pretty sure that if someone has my life total incorrect, and his account of my life total was higher than my account of my life total, I would use his. Thinking about it, why would I put myself in a worse position by telling him that he is wrong. I know that I miss things sometimes, and perhaps his is correct and mine isn't. So if I tell him that it is lower, he may very well go with that cheat me. I think that if I was playing someone, and while shuffling, they dropped a JTMS or an Emrakul, I don't know if I would tell them. It would give me an advantage that they are missing one of their most powerful cards. I don't think that I'd be able to pick the card up after the match and throw it in my binder though. That seems too close to stealing. I guess that a cost/benefit analysis needs to be done on a case by case scenario. When making a trade with someone, I have to decide where on the "Honestly <----->Profit" Spectrum I want to fall in. In general, it would great to build a great trading relationship with everyone, and just do such a huge volume of trades gaining me a dollar or two every time that my binder will grow and grow. However, that really doesn't work too well with smartphones, since people are able to look up the price of every card and don't want to give up any value at all. It feels like trading has become a constant shifting of my card value from some cards to others, not really gaining any profit at all. I think that being a little more aggressive to gain a couple bucks each time, or to constantly trade up is the way to go. That really didn't answer the "Should I rip people off who don't know the value of cards" question. The answer that I have come up with is "You should if you don't ever plan on seeing/trading with them again, and you hedge your bets to varying degrees with everyone else". If you go back to the Beta Trop deal that I made, it was an arduous process that probably added the equivalent's worth of an IRS audit of stress to my life, but I tried very hard not to rip the kid off and gave him more than he wanted. As a result, he has traded the following cards to me: 2 Alpha Force of Nature, a mint Bazaar of Baghdad, Maze of Ith, Beta Lord of Atlantis, Alpha Vesuvan Doppelganger. The fact that I went out of my way to make trading a good experience, he came to me to trade all of the other cards, not giving anyone else an opportunity to get them. That is pretty crazy, since looking at what I got, I probably ended up trading for $1500-$2000 worth of cards from the kid, and made insane profits while doing so. However, he is starting to greatly overvalue his cards (he wanted 4 Foil Gravecrawlers, a Hero of Bladehold, and a Phyrexian Obliterator for the Force of Nature, which was alright value wise, but there is no way that I am going to give up that much for an Alpha card that sees no play anywhere. So we had to talk things out a bit, and I ended up giving up a lot of $1 and $2 cards for it, which worked out well for both of us. Truth be told, I am getting the feeling that the kid might be out of cards I am interested in, so I fear that the carcass has been picked clean (I couldn't think of a better metaphor, as "The well is dry" or things like that imply that it was overused and now exhausted, as opposed to just empty). I think that he said he had Mox Diamonds, and that would be great, but in reality, I think that my next trades with this kid will be when he opens an expensive card that I want to trade up for. I wonder how much more aggressive for profit I could been and still gotten him to trade me all those cards.
I ended up doing alright at Prerelease weekend. The Helvault was a sweet promotion, despite not having anything really sweet in there. I ended up picking up 2 Chain Lightnings and a Sneak Attack, which is a decent addition to the Legacy collection. I am planning on moving all of the mythics and rares I opened for Innistrad lands and stable mythics (Snapcasters, Lilianas, Huntmasters, Sorins). Ideally I will be picking up a bunch of Snapcasters, since I have a lead on trading for a set of Force of Wills, and a set of casters would really make that easier. I can't really imagine what will happen with AVR prices, or what will happen with Standard with the new set out. I would guess that in a month, Tamiyo will be down to $30, Tibalt will be $16, and Temporal Mastery I have no idea on. I think it might stay at 40 or go up a bit if it gets huge in Legacy, but could drop to $25 if it doesn't find a home. I am hoping that the new set refocuses me on trading a little more aggressively to maximize profit, and to more importantly work on ways to grind out a couple bucks instead of not really making any profits with the normal traders.
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