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.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
The Boom/Bust of Canada, and some more DA packs
So it has been a pretty busy week for me. I ended up going to a "Monday Night Magic" sort of event, and that ended up being alright. I tried zombies, but that didn't pan out. The trades worked out well, though I don't know if I am buying into Modern or selling right now. In the past week I picked up a bunch of shocks, moved them, got 3 Arcbound Ravagers, another Damnation, and lots of random cards. I think that I will gradually try and pick up shocks and Zendikar fetches, as my supply is rather depleted. I hope that they see a small drop in value so I can try and get some long term profit in them. In terms of trading, I think that I am in a spot where I have a huge collection of smaller cards that I need to use to trade up, and a few of the middle of the road cards that can hopefully be used for big stuff. I moved a lot of standard things for Modern/Legacy, getting a Volcanic Island in the process. For 2 Sword of War and Peace, it seems like it was a good deal for me. I moved them and all of my Geist of Saint Traft, though I ended up getting two more recently. This might be the card that I can use for leverage to pick up for 20 and move for 25. I was able to get some value on my trades, though I am worried that I have a lot of cards that have not been moving lately. Right now I have 9 Ghoulcrawlers (4 foil) 4 Messangers, 4 Obliterators, and lots of other random cards. The purchase of all of the bulk has really filled my binder out, and I have been able to move some of the cards, making it rather profitable so far.
So Canada is hell for trading. There is no universal "We can check Starcity" approach, people really didn't want to trade many of their cards, and they were brutal with their offers. For reference, Foil cryptic > Glimmervoid, Spell Snare > $2, and the Merit Lage Token isn't worth $15. Sorry. People were just impossible to trade with, which was pretty disappointing. Over the past week, I was able to cycle some cards and make some profit, which is all I can hope for. I actually trade 4 Inexorable Tide (1 Foil), so that is just great to get rid of them. I am going to have to work on a longer term solution to my Modern/Legacy binder, and that might involve pulling out the sets of cards and ones I want to keep, and perhaps throwing them in another binder (that I don't bring to trade. It might help deal with the issues of having lots of sweet cards around, and should lower the amount of cards I am carrying. Also focusing on trying to "Trade Up" would be a good goal for the next week, since I have lots of the smaller cards, and I think now is a good time to look for cards that are under valued. I am thinking Stromkirk Noble at $5 is a steal, since it is a cornerstone in RDW and vampires, both of which will be casually played if nothing else. Garruk at $15 will be an easy choice to pick up, and Past In Flames for $3.5 is going to give me huge returns in the long term. I am also imagining that Birds of Paradise at $5 is high, so I will try and move those. I guess that right now I am just trying to fight the apathy, as grinding out a few bucks every week isn't really the most thrilling thing in the world, especially when there is little value in my local store and a trip to Canada really didn't yield anything I was looking for. I guess if I saw more cards move (Like the Tides) I would be more motivated, which is strange, because I have been trading really well lately and picked up some godly cards. Also being able to move random older cards should have helped as well. I don't know, perhaps I just have a headache and am moody and whatnot after the PTQ (23rd place, 5-2-1, mulled to 5 at least 3 times, lost a round to a guy drawing a 1 outer, lost a game to a guy drawing a 3 outer, and ended up drawing a round because my Dark Confidant revealed a 2. I really feel like I was battling my deck and battling my opponents' luck. I was really happy with playing the deck (Jund) and I think that I have the potential to Top 8 another PTQ if I play competitive decks like that in the future. I think my goal for this week is to go through my cards and add more to my .50/$1/$2 binder, and focus on trading up for some higher value stuff, hopefully new Planeswalkers and the cards I am trying to stockpile.
Here's what I got from my prize packs. Smaller sample set, but $3 a pack isn't too bad. Not opening any gravecrawlers and only 1 messenger (I think) and 0 Huntmaster really hurts
Pack 1:
Markov Blademaster ($2)
Pack 2:
Lingering Souls ($2.5)
Ghoultree ($1.5)
Foil Scorch the Fields ($.25)
Pack 3:
Increasing Ambition ($1)
Wolfbitten Captive ($1.5)
Pack 4:
Curse of Echoes ($.50)
Pack 5:
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed ($6)
Pack 6:
Zombie Apocalypse ($1)
Elbrus, the Binding Blade ($3.5)
Pack 7:
Immerwolf ($1)
Feed the Pack ($.50)
So Canada is hell for trading. There is no universal "We can check Starcity" approach, people really didn't want to trade many of their cards, and they were brutal with their offers. For reference, Foil cryptic > Glimmervoid, Spell Snare > $2, and the Merit Lage Token isn't worth $15. Sorry. People were just impossible to trade with, which was pretty disappointing. Over the past week, I was able to cycle some cards and make some profit, which is all I can hope for. I actually trade 4 Inexorable Tide (1 Foil), so that is just great to get rid of them. I am going to have to work on a longer term solution to my Modern/Legacy binder, and that might involve pulling out the sets of cards and ones I want to keep, and perhaps throwing them in another binder (that I don't bring to trade. It might help deal with the issues of having lots of sweet cards around, and should lower the amount of cards I am carrying. Also focusing on trying to "Trade Up" would be a good goal for the next week, since I have lots of the smaller cards, and I think now is a good time to look for cards that are under valued. I am thinking Stromkirk Noble at $5 is a steal, since it is a cornerstone in RDW and vampires, both of which will be casually played if nothing else. Garruk at $15 will be an easy choice to pick up, and Past In Flames for $3.5 is going to give me huge returns in the long term. I am also imagining that Birds of Paradise at $5 is high, so I will try and move those. I guess that right now I am just trying to fight the apathy, as grinding out a few bucks every week isn't really the most thrilling thing in the world, especially when there is little value in my local store and a trip to Canada really didn't yield anything I was looking for. I guess if I saw more cards move (Like the Tides) I would be more motivated, which is strange, because I have been trading really well lately and picked up some godly cards. Also being able to move random older cards should have helped as well. I don't know, perhaps I just have a headache and am moody and whatnot after the PTQ (23rd place, 5-2-1, mulled to 5 at least 3 times, lost a round to a guy drawing a 1 outer, lost a game to a guy drawing a 3 outer, and ended up drawing a round because my Dark Confidant revealed a 2. I really feel like I was battling my deck and battling my opponents' luck. I was really happy with playing the deck (Jund) and I think that I have the potential to Top 8 another PTQ if I play competitive decks like that in the future. I think my goal for this week is to go through my cards and add more to my .50/$1/$2 binder, and focus on trading up for some higher value stuff, hopefully new Planeswalkers and the cards I am trying to stockpile.
Here's what I got from my prize packs. Smaller sample set, but $3 a pack isn't too bad. Not opening any gravecrawlers and only 1 messenger (I think) and 0 Huntmaster really hurts
Pack 1:
Markov Blademaster ($2)
Pack 2:
Lingering Souls ($2.5)
Ghoultree ($1.5)
Foil Scorch the Fields ($.25)
Pack 3:
Increasing Ambition ($1)
Wolfbitten Captive ($1.5)
Pack 4:
Curse of Echoes ($.50)
Pack 5:
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed ($6)
Pack 6:
Zombie Apocalypse ($1)
Elbrus, the Binding Blade ($3.5)
Pack 7:
Immerwolf ($1)
Feed the Pack ($.50)
The Incredible Bulk and the End of the Modern PTQ Season
So this week was rather productive. Beyond trading for a Bazaar of Baghdad, I ended up buying $74 worth of bulk rares from someone. For the mere price of .10 each, my collection added around 700 "junk" rares and 20 Foil Junk rares. This is one of the best investment I could have made. Off the bat, at any point, I can take them all to a store and get my money back. Beyond that, any cards in there that really weren't bulk (like 4 Thraben Doomsayers and 3 Helvaults, off the top of my deck). There was at least 50% of the pile that was Innistrad+DA, and another 30% was Scars block. Any card that I can move for .50+ is all profit, and it does give me a lot more ammo for smaller trades. I was able to fill out some gaps in my binder, especially with DA cards, and am gearing up for the next week's PTQ. It will be the end of the Modern season, and it is a good time to take a look at my stock and set some goals for the rest of the year. So this is what I am at.
Top Tier Stuff:
6 Revised Badlands
4 Revised Bayou
1 FBB Bayou (Italian)
7 Revised Plateau (1 HP)
1 Unlimited Plateau
2 Revised Savannah
2 Unlimited Savannah
5 Revised Scrubland
1 FBB Scrubland (French)
6 Revised Taiga
6 Revised Tropical Island
1 Beta Tropical Island
6 Revised Tundra
1 Unlimited Tundra
5 Revised Underground Sea (1 Italian)
6 Revised Volcanic Island
1 FBB Volcanic Island (Italian)
Mox Pearl
Bazaar Of Baghdad
So yeah, bragging aside, by the end of the year, I would love to have a total of 2 playsets of duals. That would mean that I would need 19 more duals Overall, that isn't too bad, as I am only missing 6 blue duals, which are the most expensive. Beyond that, I would like to continue working on my Legacy staples, which would include 4 Wastelands and finishing up a set of all of the fetchlands. Then there are staples that would be rather helpful. I would also like to pick up a second set of Force of Will so that I could either use them to trade up or let someone use them.
In terms of Modern stuff, I don't really know if I should be in a Buy or a Sell mode. It seems like there might not be too much of a reason to move the Ravnica duals, though I am still afraid of a reprinting hurting the investment. Beyond that, there really is no data on how card prices fluctuate as a result of a rotation after the huge jump in card values, so I am sort of acting blindly. In reality, moving the Shocklands for other staples is the safe move, which is what I am going to do. I only have 5 Shocks (I think) so I don't think that it will be too hard to get rid of them. I can't really see a price jump for them, so getting rid of them now seems to be the best move. I will gladly trade for a set when they are reprinted and the price drops significantly. Until then, it is a shaky place to have value. Overall, I have been pretty happy with my progress lately in terms of trading. I have been moving a lot of standard cards for eternal cards. The big thing would be to start working on trading up random EDH/Modern cards to get either top tier stuff or things that are easier to move. Realistically, there are isn't a bigger tournament until June, with a SCG in Columbus. So that seems to really restrict what I am able to trade, as the trading at my local store has sort of dried up some. You can't get blood from a turnip, and for the most part, the good Modern and Legacy cards have been traded for. Beyond that, smart phones seem to be eating up profits as well. I think that I am going to need to try and refrain from trading the really expensive standard cards, because trading down doesn't really do too much at this point. I might need to start storing the expensive standard stuff in the good binder to avoid the "Oh, I want that card" situations where I end up trading down for value. I need to work on getting the top tier standard cards that won't be going anywhere any time soon. Foil Lingering Souls, Foil Delver of Secrets, and Thalia will be my targets for next week (though foil delvers and lingering souls will be rather hard to pick up as there are not too many in the local pool). I really need to work on moving the chaff for the cards that should have long term value, or at least cards that will be easy to move. This would include snapcasters, as I only really have my playset for standard. Trading is essentially taking a bunch of small cards of converting them into a more expensive card, then converting that card into more smaller ones, grinding out a small profit both times. At this point, I don't really have that many of the expensive cards, and I am flooded with the smaller value ones. So my two biggest goals for the next few months are to upgrade the cards I have now, try and eat into the box of extras I have, and work towards identifying and hoarding cards that I feel will jump after rotation. I should also work on coming up with a deck that will do well at FNM so I can have more packs (though I am sitting on a bunch as it is) I have not been performing as well as I would like over the last few weeks, so perhaps it is time to tighten up my play, or at least run a deck that is more resilient. I think that my stumbles this week were just running into some bad draws on my part and great draws on theirs (turn 1 delver, turn 2 delver+delver, turn 3 flip them all). Drafting was a little rough, as I was around some people who really didn't know how to draft and I got partially cut from both sides. On the plus side I left with a Messanger, a Woodland Cemetary, 2 Tragic Slip, and about 6 random rares. Broken drafts happen, but at least I was able to get a lot of value drafting the money rares.
So overall, I guess that I have my goals, have figured out what I want to do, and have obtained the raw materials to get it done. I am going to hope to make about 4 trades a week, and try to reduce the number of cards in my binder by 9 a week (not counting the cards I add by drafting). This should hopefully slow down the growth of my binder, as it is pretty much maxed out, and I might need to consider working out something with 2 binders, as the binder will not be able to hold Avacyn Restored and M13 in it. It is a good thing to have a binder so full, but at the same time, it seems like most of the cards will be in my possession forever (Magnetic Mine and Prototype Portal). I guess that is the life of bulk cards. I guess the same thing would probably be said about so many other cards that I ended up moving recently. It seems like an endless battle trying to convert junk cards into Legacy cards. I am glad that I have been able to get some real tangible results with trading (as my new Big Three have really motivated me into maximizing my collection so that I can trade for big ticket items when they come around).
Short Term Goals, Aiming for these by June 1, 2012. These are the cards I am expecting to jump in value post rotation, so I hope to stock up on them now:
20 Dungeon Geists
24 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
8 of each Innistrad Dual Land
24 Increasing Savagery
12 Bloodline Keeper
12 Garruk Relentless
4 Olivia Voldaren
24 Past in Flames
24 Champion of the Parish
12 Daybreak Ranger
24 Elite Inquisitor
24 Stromkirk Noble
24 Increasing Devotion
24 Thraben Doomsayer
My Want List, Aiming for December 31, 2012. While I don't plan on having all of this, I will at least have something to work for:
2 Badlands
3 Bayou
4 Savannah
2 Scrubland
2 Taiga
1 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
1 Windswept Heath
4 Flooded Strand
2 Sneak Attack
4 Show and Tell
4 Progenitus
4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Karakas
3 Force of Will
3 Green Sun's Zenith (no idea why I can't pick these up)
3 Noble Hierarch
4 Jace, The Mind Sculptor
2 Intuition
24 Snapcaster Mage
Top Tier Stuff:
6 Revised Badlands
4 Revised Bayou
1 FBB Bayou (Italian)
7 Revised Plateau (1 HP)
1 Unlimited Plateau
2 Revised Savannah
2 Unlimited Savannah
5 Revised Scrubland
1 FBB Scrubland (French)
6 Revised Taiga
6 Revised Tropical Island
1 Beta Tropical Island
6 Revised Tundra
1 Unlimited Tundra
5 Revised Underground Sea (1 Italian)
6 Revised Volcanic Island
1 FBB Volcanic Island (Italian)
Mox Pearl
Bazaar Of Baghdad
So yeah, bragging aside, by the end of the year, I would love to have a total of 2 playsets of duals. That would mean that I would need 19 more duals Overall, that isn't too bad, as I am only missing 6 blue duals, which are the most expensive. Beyond that, I would like to continue working on my Legacy staples, which would include 4 Wastelands and finishing up a set of all of the fetchlands. Then there are staples that would be rather helpful. I would also like to pick up a second set of Force of Will so that I could either use them to trade up or let someone use them.
In terms of Modern stuff, I don't really know if I should be in a Buy or a Sell mode. It seems like there might not be too much of a reason to move the Ravnica duals, though I am still afraid of a reprinting hurting the investment. Beyond that, there really is no data on how card prices fluctuate as a result of a rotation after the huge jump in card values, so I am sort of acting blindly. In reality, moving the Shocklands for other staples is the safe move, which is what I am going to do. I only have 5 Shocks (I think) so I don't think that it will be too hard to get rid of them. I can't really see a price jump for them, so getting rid of them now seems to be the best move. I will gladly trade for a set when they are reprinted and the price drops significantly. Until then, it is a shaky place to have value. Overall, I have been pretty happy with my progress lately in terms of trading. I have been moving a lot of standard cards for eternal cards. The big thing would be to start working on trading up random EDH/Modern cards to get either top tier stuff or things that are easier to move. Realistically, there are isn't a bigger tournament until June, with a SCG in Columbus. So that seems to really restrict what I am able to trade, as the trading at my local store has sort of dried up some. You can't get blood from a turnip, and for the most part, the good Modern and Legacy cards have been traded for. Beyond that, smart phones seem to be eating up profits as well. I think that I am going to need to try and refrain from trading the really expensive standard cards, because trading down doesn't really do too much at this point. I might need to start storing the expensive standard stuff in the good binder to avoid the "Oh, I want that card" situations where I end up trading down for value. I need to work on getting the top tier standard cards that won't be going anywhere any time soon. Foil Lingering Souls, Foil Delver of Secrets, and Thalia will be my targets for next week (though foil delvers and lingering souls will be rather hard to pick up as there are not too many in the local pool). I really need to work on moving the chaff for the cards that should have long term value, or at least cards that will be easy to move. This would include snapcasters, as I only really have my playset for standard. Trading is essentially taking a bunch of small cards of converting them into a more expensive card, then converting that card into more smaller ones, grinding out a small profit both times. At this point, I don't really have that many of the expensive cards, and I am flooded with the smaller value ones. So my two biggest goals for the next few months are to upgrade the cards I have now, try and eat into the box of extras I have, and work towards identifying and hoarding cards that I feel will jump after rotation. I should also work on coming up with a deck that will do well at FNM so I can have more packs (though I am sitting on a bunch as it is) I have not been performing as well as I would like over the last few weeks, so perhaps it is time to tighten up my play, or at least run a deck that is more resilient. I think that my stumbles this week were just running into some bad draws on my part and great draws on theirs (turn 1 delver, turn 2 delver+delver, turn 3 flip them all). Drafting was a little rough, as I was around some people who really didn't know how to draft and I got partially cut from both sides. On the plus side I left with a Messanger, a Woodland Cemetary, 2 Tragic Slip, and about 6 random rares. Broken drafts happen, but at least I was able to get a lot of value drafting the money rares.
So overall, I guess that I have my goals, have figured out what I want to do, and have obtained the raw materials to get it done. I am going to hope to make about 4 trades a week, and try to reduce the number of cards in my binder by 9 a week (not counting the cards I add by drafting). This should hopefully slow down the growth of my binder, as it is pretty much maxed out, and I might need to consider working out something with 2 binders, as the binder will not be able to hold Avacyn Restored and M13 in it. It is a good thing to have a binder so full, but at the same time, it seems like most of the cards will be in my possession forever (Magnetic Mine and Prototype Portal). I guess that is the life of bulk cards. I guess the same thing would probably be said about so many other cards that I ended up moving recently. It seems like an endless battle trying to convert junk cards into Legacy cards. I am glad that I have been able to get some real tangible results with trading (as my new Big Three have really motivated me into maximizing my collection so that I can trade for big ticket items when they come around).
Short Term Goals, Aiming for these by June 1, 2012. These are the cards I am expecting to jump in value post rotation, so I hope to stock up on them now:
20 Dungeon Geists
24 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
8 of each Innistrad Dual Land
24 Increasing Savagery
12 Bloodline Keeper
12 Garruk Relentless
4 Olivia Voldaren
24 Past in Flames
24 Champion of the Parish
12 Daybreak Ranger
24 Elite Inquisitor
24 Stromkirk Noble
24 Increasing Devotion
24 Thraben Doomsayer
My Want List, Aiming for December 31, 2012. While I don't plan on having all of this, I will at least have something to work for:
2 Badlands
3 Bayou
4 Savannah
2 Scrubland
2 Taiga
1 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
3 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland
1 Windswept Heath
4 Flooded Strand
2 Sneak Attack
4 Show and Tell
4 Progenitus
4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Karakas
3 Force of Will
3 Green Sun's Zenith (no idea why I can't pick these up)
3 Noble Hierarch
4 Jace, The Mind Sculptor
2 Intuition
24 Snapcaster Mage
Friday, March 23, 2012
Bazaar Trader
So in the aftermath of GP Nashville, I find myself with a lot of practically complete decks, but nothing fully refined and ready to go. I might work on building some form of Pod deck, but I don't know. I think that I am going to work on updating a Puresteel Paladin deck and see if I can't get that back off the ground. I made a few trades this week, but didn't really bother trying to keep track of them. It is not very easy when you are around a bunch of people you know and are taking notes on everything. I am planning on investing pretty hard in Thalia, as well as Dark Ascension. I have been working on identifying some of the key cards in Innistrad and DA that will jump in value, so I am working on stockpiling them. Thalia, Increasing Savagery, and Dungeon Geists seem to be under the radar, while Vamps like Stromkirk Noble and Zombies with Messanger and Gravecrawler are pretty high right now. I think that if Sorin dips to $25 that I will try and pick a bunch up, and the same with Liliana. While the new set will bring a lot of stuff, there are some cards that are just no loss right now. It seems like Dark Ascension is rather underpriced, and I feel like if I can work towards getting a bunch of Dungeon Geists right now and close my eyes to any drop in price, that I should do well in the long term. This would also mean taking them out of my binder and not trading them.
I ended up moving the Foil Sorin for a Jitte, an Elesh Norn, a Steam Vents, and a Thalia. I am really going to bank on her going up. At $4 right now, I get the feeling that there is profit to be made, which is why I made sure to get two playsets today. I also might be using 4 for a Zoo build for Modern. I feel like my binder is awkward now because I have around 80% of the cards for any given deck I want to run, but don't know what to run so I can't track down the missing cards. I figure that just throwing together a Puresteel brew (Thinking WB) will get me back on track. Lingering souls is really good right now, and being able to have a boatload of sword carrying dudes seems like it is really good. Also, while clunky, going UW/b for Souls might be even better. Not really sure. Gotta figure it out. I am thinking a 1 of Wolfhunter's Quiver might be good as a Trinket Mage target, and that Increasing Devotion seems rather good.
I ended up making a deal to pick up a Bazaar of Baghdad off someone. It was in really good shape, so I was alright paying high for it and also throwing some money in there (I would gladly include cash on a deal like this. It is strange, because at the end last year, my collection was growing, but I didn't feel like it was anything special. In the last few months, I have been picking up some amazing cards, getting 2 FBB duals, a Beta Trop, a Mox Pearl, and now a Bazaar of Baghdad. I am hoping that by the end of the year, I have the best collection in the city (that didn't pay cash for Power). Seems more than reasonable if things continue the way that they have been. I get the feeling that I need to come up with some goals for trading, to figure out what I really want. Might work on that in the next few days, as taking some time to think about it is probably necessary. So here's the big trade.
3 Spawnsire of Ulamog ($4.50)
4 Silence ($8)
Hellion Eruption ($.50)
Gravitational Shift ($.50)
Wrexial, the Deep Risen ($1.50)
2 Training Grounds ($4)
Comet Storm ($1.50)
2 Celestial Mantle ($3)
2 Isochron Scepter ($14)
Promo Memnite ($4)
2 Increasing Confusion ($3)
2 Signal Pest ($2)
Nissa Revane ($6)
Lake of the Dead ($8)
Boom/Bust ($1)
Progenitus ($15)
Etched Champion ($4)
Phyrexian Obliterator ($25)
Jace, Memory Adept ($15)
Curse of Death's Hold ($2.50)
Kessig Cagebreakers ($1.50)
4 Sulfur Falls ($20)
Chandra's Phoenix ($7)
2 Quicksilver Amulet ($4)
Total:$155.50 + $50 cash + $25 Binder Credit
GOT: Bazaar of Baghdad
THOUGHTS: The condition of the Bazaar was really good, which was one of the key factors in the higher price. I was expecting to get it for around $180, but he wanted more, and since we have had a rather good history of trading (the Trop), I felt that while his asking price was a little high, I was alright with it. After going through my binders (he took about $25 out of those .50/1/2/3 binders that I set up for the GP and never pulled out) we were able to get close, so I was happy to clear out a bunch of non-standard stuff, as a lot of it was sitting at home and not really doing anything. Being able to move a bunch of cards to pick up a treasure is the ideal trade. My binder shrunk 38 cards, and the Bazaar is going to stay at home. I am seriously thinking about getting a safe to protect my valuables, and with the recent flow of expensive cards, it might be something worth looking into. It is strange that I now have four cards that are worth over $200 each (Mox Pearl, FBB Volcanic Island, Bazaar, and Trop). I think that I need to go through my collection and figure out what I want to aim for by the end of the year. Stay tuned
I ended up moving the Foil Sorin for a Jitte, an Elesh Norn, a Steam Vents, and a Thalia. I am really going to bank on her going up. At $4 right now, I get the feeling that there is profit to be made, which is why I made sure to get two playsets today. I also might be using 4 for a Zoo build for Modern. I feel like my binder is awkward now because I have around 80% of the cards for any given deck I want to run, but don't know what to run so I can't track down the missing cards. I figure that just throwing together a Puresteel brew (Thinking WB) will get me back on track. Lingering souls is really good right now, and being able to have a boatload of sword carrying dudes seems like it is really good. Also, while clunky, going UW/b for Souls might be even better. Not really sure. Gotta figure it out. I am thinking a 1 of Wolfhunter's Quiver might be good as a Trinket Mage target, and that Increasing Devotion seems rather good.
I ended up making a deal to pick up a Bazaar of Baghdad off someone. It was in really good shape, so I was alright paying high for it and also throwing some money in there (I would gladly include cash on a deal like this. It is strange, because at the end last year, my collection was growing, but I didn't feel like it was anything special. In the last few months, I have been picking up some amazing cards, getting 2 FBB duals, a Beta Trop, a Mox Pearl, and now a Bazaar of Baghdad. I am hoping that by the end of the year, I have the best collection in the city (that didn't pay cash for Power). Seems more than reasonable if things continue the way that they have been. I get the feeling that I need to come up with some goals for trading, to figure out what I really want. Might work on that in the next few days, as taking some time to think about it is probably necessary. So here's the big trade.
3 Spawnsire of Ulamog ($4.50)
4 Silence ($8)
Hellion Eruption ($.50)
Gravitational Shift ($.50)
Wrexial, the Deep Risen ($1.50)
2 Training Grounds ($4)
Comet Storm ($1.50)
2 Celestial Mantle ($3)
2 Isochron Scepter ($14)
Promo Memnite ($4)
2 Increasing Confusion ($3)
2 Signal Pest ($2)
Nissa Revane ($6)
Lake of the Dead ($8)
Boom/Bust ($1)
Progenitus ($15)
Etched Champion ($4)
Phyrexian Obliterator ($25)
Jace, Memory Adept ($15)
Curse of Death's Hold ($2.50)
Kessig Cagebreakers ($1.50)
4 Sulfur Falls ($20)
Chandra's Phoenix ($7)
2 Quicksilver Amulet ($4)
Total:$155.50 + $50 cash + $25 Binder Credit
GOT: Bazaar of Baghdad
THOUGHTS: The condition of the Bazaar was really good, which was one of the key factors in the higher price. I was expecting to get it for around $180, but he wanted more, and since we have had a rather good history of trading (the Trop), I felt that while his asking price was a little high, I was alright with it. After going through my binders (he took about $25 out of those .50/1/2/3 binders that I set up for the GP and never pulled out) we were able to get close, so I was happy to clear out a bunch of non-standard stuff, as a lot of it was sitting at home and not really doing anything. Being able to move a bunch of cards to pick up a treasure is the ideal trade. My binder shrunk 38 cards, and the Bazaar is going to stay at home. I am seriously thinking about getting a safe to protect my valuables, and with the recent flow of expensive cards, it might be something worth looking into. It is strange that I now have four cards that are worth over $200 each (Mox Pearl, FBB Volcanic Island, Bazaar, and Trop). I think that I need to go through my collection and figure out what I want to aim for by the end of the year. Stay tuned
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Spoils of War
So it was a rather interesting GP. Trip aside, it was not as I had expected it. There were only around 1000 people in the actual tournament, which would hurt when it came to the volume of trades I was able to complete. I also realize that actually playing in the tournament prevents from a lot of trading, which is something that I will consider in the future. Beyond that, the trading went well, and I ended up +$307 on the weekend, though there was not really much trading done on Sunday (another thing to keep in mind). So here is what I did.
GAVE: 2 Phyrexian Metamorph ($18), 2 Gideon ($20) Total=$38
GOT: 2 Snapcaster Mage ($50), Vampire Nocturnus Promo, beat to hell($7.5), Shared Fate, Leveler Total=$57.50
PROFIT=$19.50
THOUGHTS: First deal of the day and it was great. Trading for just the Snapcasters would have been solid, but also getting the Promo Vampire Nocturnus was nice, as it was a throw in for him since the bottom right corner was bent and starting to split. I also got him to throw in a Shared Fate (sentimental reasons) and a Leveler.
GAVE: Immerwolf ($1), Stromkirk Captain ($1) Total=$2
GOT: Predator Ooze ($2.50)
PROFIT= $.50
THOUGHTS: The kid really didn't have many good cards that he wanted to part with, so I decided to upgrade some smaller cards for a bigger one, with a little bit of profit. While this isn't a home run like the previous trade, it is important to try and trade with as many people as you can, and try to get some sort of advantage (either some value or upgrading smaller cards for bigger ones).
GAVE: 2 Buy A box Day of Judgment ($16), Foil Day of Judgment ($4), 2 day of Judgment ($6) Total=$26
GOT: Promo Zombie Apocalypse ($8), Garruk Relentless ($15), Gravecrawler ($10) Total=$33
PROFIT=$7
THOUGHTS: Picking up Gravecrawlers and Messangers seemed to be the way this weekend was going to play out, since they were valued in between 6-10, and picking them up at anything less than 10 was going to be a great profit. The guy really just wanted lots of DOJ, which was fine, since I got some profit. I think Garruk Relentless is going to jump when Scars rotates, so picking them up at $15 seems like a good price. I think that I might take them out of my trade binder and horde them until rotation. The promo Apocalypse isn't really listed on any site, but asking $8 for it seems reasonable.
GAVE: Crucible of Worlds ($25), Vendilion Clique ($35), 3 Time Reversal (4.50) Total=$64.50
GOT: marsh Flats ($10), 2 Verdant Catacombs ($20), Flusterstorm ($16), Ancient Tomb ($10), Riptide Labratory ($13) Total=$69
PROFIT=$4.50
THOUGHTS: Not the greatest trade for me, since I gave up two real playables in Crucible and Clique for some Zen Fetches and other stuff. The Flusterstorm was a great pick up, because they are very rare, and the Tomb and Riptide are Legacy fringe playables, so I was alright with it. Honestly, I thought Clique was only $30, not $35, so the trade was a lot better in my head. It happens though. The fact that there was enough profit built up in my mind means that being wrong on a price won't really burn me. Also getting rid of Time Reversals for $1.50 each was great.
GAVE: 2 Gravecrawler ($20), Phyrexian Obliterator ($25) Total=$45
GOT: 3 Foil Go for the Throat ($12), Foil Geralf's Messanger ($15), 2 Game day Memnite ($8), Buy a Box day of Judgment ($7), Foil Diregraf Ghoul ($2.50) Grim Lavamancer ($3.5) Total=$48
PROFIT=$3
THOUGHTS: Again, I was off on some of the values. I thought that the foil Go For the Throats were around $6-8 each, which would have given me another $6-12 in profit. However, I might be able to move them at $8, which would be sweet. Getting the Foil Messanger was nice, since I planned on moving it at $20.
GAVE: Snapcaster Mage ($25), Falkanrath Aristocrat ($7) Total=$32
GOT: 3 Promo Goblin Guide ($45)
PROFIT=$13
THOUGHTS: People really undervalued the Promo Guide since they were all over. I hope to be able to move 4 of them as a set to try and get some really good modern or Legacy playables.
GAVE: 2 Foil Isolated Chapel ($30), 2 Foil Galvanic Blast ($8) Total=$38
GOT: Foil Cryptic Command ($25), Isolated Chapel ($10), Gravecrawler ($10) Total=$45
PROFIT=$7
THOUGHTS: This was a time when I had no real idea what the Foil Cryptic was worth, so I had to guess. I put it at $20 for him, but thought it might have been worth $40. It was only $25, so I didn't get as much profit out of the deal as I wanted. It seems like I was off on a few estimations, but even though that was the case, having high profit built in helps to avoid getting burned.
GAVE: Snapcaster Mage ($25), 2 Elspeth, Knight Errant Promo ($40), 2 Thorn of Amathyst ($5), Akroma's Memorial ($15), 3 Baneslayer Angel ($21), Urborg, Tomb of Urborg ($18) Total=$124
GOT: Underground Sea ($140)
PROFIT=$16
THOUGHTS: This was a great trade for me, since I was able to move a lot of random smaller cards for the best dual. On some sites, duals are priced at around $120, so I was fine putting it at that. I was happy moving the Elspeths and Urborg, since they are modern playables, which should drop some in the next few months. Baneslayers went up in price a little bit (Thought they were $5 each), and Memorial is a real casual/EDH card that is hard to move. This completed my set of Dual Lands, so I was happy about that.
GAVE: 2 Vorinclix, Voice of Hunger ($8), Elspth, Knight Errant ($30) Total=$38
GOT: 3 Geralf's Messanger ($30), Promo Goblin Guide ($15), 2 Birds of Paradise ($8), Champion of the Parish ($6), 2 Time Reversal ($3) Total=$62
PROFIT=$24
THOUGHTS: These are the kind of trades that I strive for. The guy really devalued most of his cards, which means I was really able to get value trading down. This gave me a set of Promo Guides, helped gie me some more birds, and 3 Messangers will help to fuel more trades later on.
GAVE: Drowned Catacombs ($7), 2 Sulfur Falls ($12), 3 Foil Basic Lands ($3) Total=$22
GOT: 4 Goblin Guide ($24), Ratchet Bomb ($10) Total=$34
PROFIT=$12
THOUGHTS: This was like the previous trade where the guy NEEDED something, and was undervaluing cards so he would get the lands he needed. I was happy to get some value and boost my binder.
GAVE: 2 Gravecrawler ($20), 3 Geralf's Messanger ($30), Glissa the Traitor ($3.50), Thalia, Guardian of Thrabin ($4), Gideon Jura ($10), Daybreak Ranger ($2.50) Total=$70
GOT: 4 Sulfur Falls ($24), 3 hinterland Harbor ($15), Batterskull ($15), Karn Liberated ($15), 3 Grim lavamancer ($10.50)= Total=$79.50
PROFIT= $9.50
THOUGHTS: This guy was severely undervaluing the Innistrad lands ($4/$3 respectively) so I was able to move some staples for lands (Lands are a lot easier to trade) and pick up some cards I might actually use, like Karn. I am picking up some lavamancers, since they are low in price, and if red gets 1-2 strong cards in the next set, RDW might be positioned to return.
GAVE: 3 Ratchet Bomb ($30), 2 Geralf's Messanger ($20), Gravecrawler ($10), Huntmaster of the Fells ($30), Geist of Saint Traft ($25), 3 Champion of the Parish ($18) Total=$133
GOT: Steam Vents ($30), Foil Aether Fial (MP)($20), city of Traitors ($25), 3 Lotus Cobra ($18), Tiaga ($70), Melira ($1.50) Total=$164.50
PROFIT=$31.50
THOUGHTS:This trade was nuts because he was really undervaluing his cards. He put Vents at 20, the Vial at 20 (it had a crease in the bottom right corner, but it is a foil and should be able to trade for $25), and put his City of Traitors at $18. While the trade looks really good, taking a deeper analysis shows how much I killed in it. All of the cards I traded were standard, and I picked up mostly Legacy staples. These trades are the ones that really help boosting a binder and protecting the value of your cards from devaluation.
GAVE: 6 Arid Mesa ($60), 3 Scalding Tarn ($45), Scavenging Ooze ($20), Misty Rainforst ($15) Total=$150
GOT: Wooded Foothills ($22), Tundra ($120) Total=$142
PROFIT=$-8
THOUGHTS: I will admit that I thought that Wooded Foothills was $35, which would have given me a $5 profit. While it seems like I was off on a lot of prices this weekend, that will happen a lot when dealing with all Magic cards. I hated getting rid of Ooze, but moving it for a dual was fine, and losing out on a few bucks doesn't bother me when I move 10 Zen fetches for a Tundra. Sometimes trades are losses, and it is important to limit them. Even though this was a loss, converting Modern cards for Legacy stuff has a value to it as well, so I won't lose sleep over it.
GAVE: Foil Geralf's Messanger ($15)
GOT: Geralf's Messanger ($10), 2 Mosswort Bridge ($4), Foil Ad Nauseum ($4) Total=$18
PROFIT=$3
THOUGHTS: I was happy trading a foil card for a regular copy and a lot of value. While Mosswort Bridge isn't really popular, it sees some modern play and I can probably move them. Beyond that, getting a foil Ad Nauseum is cool because I can probably move it at $7 to a Legacy player.
GAVE: 4 Goblin Guide ($24), Foil Slash Panther ($1.50) Total=$25.50
GOT: Garruk Relentless ($15), Thalia, guardian of Thraben ($4), Promo Grim lavamancer ($3.5), Foil Frost Titan ($4) Total=$26.50
PROFIT=$1
THOUGHTS: While I didn't really gain too much on this, I felt that picking up Garruk would be a good longer term investment, and that the Foil Frost Titan might trade for $6 to someone who wanted it for a cube or EDH deck. Also Goblin Guides won't be in demand in a month, so converting them to cards I can move should help my binder generate quicker.
GAVE: 4 Asceticism ($8), Foil black Sun's Zenith ($12), Sunpetal Grove ($3) Total=$23
GOT: Phyrexian Obliterator ($25)
PROFIT=$2
THOUGHTS: The BSZ sees play, but the other cards are really on the sidelines right now. Moving them to get something I can quickly move should help keep the binder fresh, and trading up for a profit is one of the best things you can do in terms of trading.
GAVE: 2 Drogskul Reaver ($10), 2 Sorin Markov ($12), 3 Geralf's Messanger ($30), Dungeon Geists ($6), 4 Endless Ranks of the Dead ($8), 1 Mikeaus the Lunarch ($4), 4 Stromkirk Noble ($32), Bloodline Keeper ($7), Balefire Dragon ($2), Massacre Worm ($5), 2 Etched Champion ($10), Sunpetal Grove ($3) Total=$126
GOT: Foil Qusali Pridemage ($4), 2 Mishra's Factory (Russian) ($12) Foil Chinese Black Sun's Zenith ($15), Underground Sea ($130)= Total=$161
PROFIT=$35
THOUGHTS: I was able to kill on this trade because he was fine putting the Underground Sea at $100, since it had some play on it. I wanted the BSZ and Pridemage, since foils trade well. The Factories were cool, and I wanted them because I want to run them if I ever play Factory in Legacy. The guy only went through my Standard binder, which was nice, because getting rid of standard for Legacy and making a profit is the best way to trade. Having separate binders really helped this weekend with standard to legacy conversion.
GAVE: 2 Jace the Mind sculptor ($110), Death Baron ($10), Serra Ascendent ($4), Life from the Loam ($15), 4 Blinkmoth Nexus ($60) Total=$199
GOT: FBB Scrubland ($145), 4 Vampire Nocturnus ($80), Volrath's Stronghold ($20), Witchbane Orb ($1) Total=$246
PROFIT=$47
THOUGHTS: Initially, the guy was valuing the Scrubland at around $225. I told him that I wanted to trade for it, but that there was no way it was worth that much. He said that he couldn't go any lower, but I was able to reason with him and get him to come to his senses and price it correctly at around $145. I hated giving up Jaces, but in reality, it was the only way I could get the Scrubland, and I really wanted that Scrubland. Foreign Black Border dual lands are very rare, and they are the "Pimp" version of dual lands (since most people are priced out of Beta duals). I figured that since I paid $30 cash for a Jace, and traded a Huntmaster of the Fells and a Mox Opal for the other, I really was getting a great deal on it if I took into account how I got them initially. I was able to make such a huge profit because he severely undervalued the Nocturnus and Stronghold ($12/$10 respectively) and while they might not be the easiest cards to move, I know that I should be able to dump them for something big, or move them for value to someone else who wants to try and get profit from the casual players.
GAVE: 5 Life from the Loam ($75), Noble Hierarch ($20), Watery Grave ($20), 4 Knight of the Reliquary ($44) Total=$149
GOT:3 Steam Vents ($90), 2 Intuition ($70) Total=$160
PROFIT=$11
THOUGHTS: This guy had the second best binder that I have ever seen in my life (Mine is not the best). He had pages and pages of all of the staples and duals and had 1-2 of each piece of power. He had a list of cards he needed (Noble, Grave, Loam) and I was able to get some value on him. He was a really nice guy, and I was shocked that he valued everything very fair and reasonable (he put the Watery Grave at like $25 and the Steam Vents at $22, so I was able to get a little value). We talked a while, and I learned a lot about gaining value on people and boosting my binder. I ended up saving him about $400 later on when he was trying to trade for a beta Scrubland from someone. I was going to trade for it, but I was in the middle of a trade so he got the first chance. I told him to have a dealer check it if was real, and to give a grade on it for pricing purposes. He came back and the Scrubland was split in half. It was apparently a CE card that was glued to a different card back. I was happy that it was discovered. That is why I always get cards valued over $100 authenticated by a dealer before moving them.
GAVE: 2 Huntmaster of the Fells ($60)
GOT:Foil Surgical Extraction ($12), Foil Strangleroot Geist ($6), Garruk Relentless ($15), Geist of Saint traft ($25), Elite Inquisitor ($2) Total=$60
Profit=$0
THOUGHTS: The guy pulled out his phone early and went to StarCity, so I knew I was not going to get any value. However, I was able to use this to my advantage and pick up cards I speculate were going to go up in value. Foil extraction will see Legacy play forever, Foil Strangeleroot should be moved easily, and Garruk is my sleeper for post rotation. I was having a hard time moving the Huntmasters, so I was happy to get rid of them (though I might want to run 1 in a Pod deck for FNM on Friday, so that is annoying)
GAVE: Promo Memnite ($4), 2 Honor of the Pure ($6) Total=$10
GOT: Geth of the Vault ($3.50), Eternal Dragon ($6), Sigil of the Empty Throne ($2), Captain of the Watch ($4), Student of Warfare ($3), Norin the Wary, Total=$18.50
PROFIT= $8.50
THOUGHTS: I got a lot of value off a guy because he didn't know the value of non-standard cards. If I can move them at their price, I make a lot of profit. If not, they sit in my binder and take up space and tie up money. That is the risk of value trading, but I am fine with it. I also picked up a Norin the Wary for sentimental reasons.
GAVE: 4 Scalding Tarn ($60), 2 Flooded Strand ($80), 4 Misty rainforest ($60), Stomping Grounds ($20), Crucible of Worlds ($25) 3 Life From the Loam ($45), Total=$290
GOT: Mox Pearl ($350)
PROFIT $60
THOUGHTS: I figured I would save the biggest trade for last. This trade took a while since I needed to get the Mox authenticated and valued from the SCG booth. It was MP- or HP+ based on what they said, which is close to where I thought it was. He said it was worth $350. When I talked to the guy, he seemed to want to pick up easier to move staples so he could have more inventory to move. I told him I put the Mox at $300, since it was rough on the back, and that it is something that is hard to move. He got a lot of staples out of it, and I was able to clear out a lot of modern cards. I really didn't want to give up the Strands, but sacrifices have to be made. I was really glad I kept my duals out of my binder, since he probably would have went for those.
Overall, I made around 20 something trades (don't feel like going back to count). I made $307 profit, which is pretty much like getting a free Mox Pearl for trading well. Beyond that, I took $350+140+130+120+100+70=$910 dollars out of my trade binder with the duals and Mox, as I don't plan on trading them. taking into account the profit, my binder is around $600 lighter, which is something to remember. I ended up buying some cards from the guys that I went with: Liliana+Grim Monolith for $35 (61% of SCG value), 2 Geist of Saint Traft and a Foil Dungeon Geists for $40 (69% of SCG value) and $75 in random cards I don't remember for $35. While I don't like buying singles, getting them for a very reduced rate is fine by me, as I would imagine that selling duals and whatnot should lead to at least 90% of SCG value. I am glad I finished my set of duals, though I wonder if I want to have a smaller binder (probably a Monster binder) that would hold my extra duals, revised only, that I would only trade if I got a lot of value on them. I need to think about it, but it is something that might allow me to really improve my returns on trading and help it grow.
There was really no trading to be done on Sunday, so I ended up trying to take the judge test. I really bricked the first question the guys asked me in the interview, but nailed the rest of them and was able to shadow a L2 judge for about an hour or so. I made a few rulings (was correct with all of them) and ended up passing the test. For my efforts, the head judge gave me 3 judge foils. they were Bitterblossom, Flusterstorm (worth $60), and ironically...
GAVE: 2 Phyrexian Metamorph ($18), 2 Gideon ($20) Total=$38
GOT: 2 Snapcaster Mage ($50), Vampire Nocturnus Promo, beat to hell($7.5), Shared Fate, Leveler Total=$57.50
PROFIT=$19.50
THOUGHTS: First deal of the day and it was great. Trading for just the Snapcasters would have been solid, but also getting the Promo Vampire Nocturnus was nice, as it was a throw in for him since the bottom right corner was bent and starting to split. I also got him to throw in a Shared Fate (sentimental reasons) and a Leveler.
GAVE: Immerwolf ($1), Stromkirk Captain ($1) Total=$2
GOT: Predator Ooze ($2.50)
PROFIT= $.50
THOUGHTS: The kid really didn't have many good cards that he wanted to part with, so I decided to upgrade some smaller cards for a bigger one, with a little bit of profit. While this isn't a home run like the previous trade, it is important to try and trade with as many people as you can, and try to get some sort of advantage (either some value or upgrading smaller cards for bigger ones).
GAVE: 2 Buy A box Day of Judgment ($16), Foil Day of Judgment ($4), 2 day of Judgment ($6) Total=$26
GOT: Promo Zombie Apocalypse ($8), Garruk Relentless ($15), Gravecrawler ($10) Total=$33
PROFIT=$7
THOUGHTS: Picking up Gravecrawlers and Messangers seemed to be the way this weekend was going to play out, since they were valued in between 6-10, and picking them up at anything less than 10 was going to be a great profit. The guy really just wanted lots of DOJ, which was fine, since I got some profit. I think Garruk Relentless is going to jump when Scars rotates, so picking them up at $15 seems like a good price. I think that I might take them out of my trade binder and horde them until rotation. The promo Apocalypse isn't really listed on any site, but asking $8 for it seems reasonable.
GAVE: Crucible of Worlds ($25), Vendilion Clique ($35), 3 Time Reversal (4.50) Total=$64.50
GOT: marsh Flats ($10), 2 Verdant Catacombs ($20), Flusterstorm ($16), Ancient Tomb ($10), Riptide Labratory ($13) Total=$69
PROFIT=$4.50
THOUGHTS: Not the greatest trade for me, since I gave up two real playables in Crucible and Clique for some Zen Fetches and other stuff. The Flusterstorm was a great pick up, because they are very rare, and the Tomb and Riptide are Legacy fringe playables, so I was alright with it. Honestly, I thought Clique was only $30, not $35, so the trade was a lot better in my head. It happens though. The fact that there was enough profit built up in my mind means that being wrong on a price won't really burn me. Also getting rid of Time Reversals for $1.50 each was great.
GAVE: 2 Gravecrawler ($20), Phyrexian Obliterator ($25) Total=$45
GOT: 3 Foil Go for the Throat ($12), Foil Geralf's Messanger ($15), 2 Game day Memnite ($8), Buy a Box day of Judgment ($7), Foil Diregraf Ghoul ($2.50) Grim Lavamancer ($3.5) Total=$48
PROFIT=$3
THOUGHTS: Again, I was off on some of the values. I thought that the foil Go For the Throats were around $6-8 each, which would have given me another $6-12 in profit. However, I might be able to move them at $8, which would be sweet. Getting the Foil Messanger was nice, since I planned on moving it at $20.
GAVE: Snapcaster Mage ($25), Falkanrath Aristocrat ($7) Total=$32
GOT: 3 Promo Goblin Guide ($45)
PROFIT=$13
THOUGHTS: People really undervalued the Promo Guide since they were all over. I hope to be able to move 4 of them as a set to try and get some really good modern or Legacy playables.
GAVE: 2 Foil Isolated Chapel ($30), 2 Foil Galvanic Blast ($8) Total=$38
GOT: Foil Cryptic Command ($25), Isolated Chapel ($10), Gravecrawler ($10) Total=$45
PROFIT=$7
THOUGHTS: This was a time when I had no real idea what the Foil Cryptic was worth, so I had to guess. I put it at $20 for him, but thought it might have been worth $40. It was only $25, so I didn't get as much profit out of the deal as I wanted. It seems like I was off on a few estimations, but even though that was the case, having high profit built in helps to avoid getting burned.
GAVE: Snapcaster Mage ($25), 2 Elspeth, Knight Errant Promo ($40), 2 Thorn of Amathyst ($5), Akroma's Memorial ($15), 3 Baneslayer Angel ($21), Urborg, Tomb of Urborg ($18) Total=$124
GOT: Underground Sea ($140)
PROFIT=$16
THOUGHTS: This was a great trade for me, since I was able to move a lot of random smaller cards for the best dual. On some sites, duals are priced at around $120, so I was fine putting it at that. I was happy moving the Elspeths and Urborg, since they are modern playables, which should drop some in the next few months. Baneslayers went up in price a little bit (Thought they were $5 each), and Memorial is a real casual/EDH card that is hard to move. This completed my set of Dual Lands, so I was happy about that.
GAVE: 2 Vorinclix, Voice of Hunger ($8), Elspth, Knight Errant ($30) Total=$38
GOT: 3 Geralf's Messanger ($30), Promo Goblin Guide ($15), 2 Birds of Paradise ($8), Champion of the Parish ($6), 2 Time Reversal ($3) Total=$62
PROFIT=$24
THOUGHTS: These are the kind of trades that I strive for. The guy really devalued most of his cards, which means I was really able to get value trading down. This gave me a set of Promo Guides, helped gie me some more birds, and 3 Messangers will help to fuel more trades later on.
GAVE: Drowned Catacombs ($7), 2 Sulfur Falls ($12), 3 Foil Basic Lands ($3) Total=$22
GOT: 4 Goblin Guide ($24), Ratchet Bomb ($10) Total=$34
PROFIT=$12
THOUGHTS: This was like the previous trade where the guy NEEDED something, and was undervaluing cards so he would get the lands he needed. I was happy to get some value and boost my binder.
GAVE: 2 Gravecrawler ($20), 3 Geralf's Messanger ($30), Glissa the Traitor ($3.50), Thalia, Guardian of Thrabin ($4), Gideon Jura ($10), Daybreak Ranger ($2.50) Total=$70
GOT: 4 Sulfur Falls ($24), 3 hinterland Harbor ($15), Batterskull ($15), Karn Liberated ($15), 3 Grim lavamancer ($10.50)= Total=$79.50
PROFIT= $9.50
THOUGHTS: This guy was severely undervaluing the Innistrad lands ($4/$3 respectively) so I was able to move some staples for lands (Lands are a lot easier to trade) and pick up some cards I might actually use, like Karn. I am picking up some lavamancers, since they are low in price, and if red gets 1-2 strong cards in the next set, RDW might be positioned to return.
GAVE: 3 Ratchet Bomb ($30), 2 Geralf's Messanger ($20), Gravecrawler ($10), Huntmaster of the Fells ($30), Geist of Saint Traft ($25), 3 Champion of the Parish ($18) Total=$133
GOT: Steam Vents ($30), Foil Aether Fial (MP)($20), city of Traitors ($25), 3 Lotus Cobra ($18), Tiaga ($70), Melira ($1.50) Total=$164.50
PROFIT=$31.50
THOUGHTS:This trade was nuts because he was really undervaluing his cards. He put Vents at 20, the Vial at 20 (it had a crease in the bottom right corner, but it is a foil and should be able to trade for $25), and put his City of Traitors at $18. While the trade looks really good, taking a deeper analysis shows how much I killed in it. All of the cards I traded were standard, and I picked up mostly Legacy staples. These trades are the ones that really help boosting a binder and protecting the value of your cards from devaluation.
GAVE: 6 Arid Mesa ($60), 3 Scalding Tarn ($45), Scavenging Ooze ($20), Misty Rainforst ($15) Total=$150
GOT: Wooded Foothills ($22), Tundra ($120) Total=$142
PROFIT=$-8
THOUGHTS: I will admit that I thought that Wooded Foothills was $35, which would have given me a $5 profit. While it seems like I was off on a lot of prices this weekend, that will happen a lot when dealing with all Magic cards. I hated getting rid of Ooze, but moving it for a dual was fine, and losing out on a few bucks doesn't bother me when I move 10 Zen fetches for a Tundra. Sometimes trades are losses, and it is important to limit them. Even though this was a loss, converting Modern cards for Legacy stuff has a value to it as well, so I won't lose sleep over it.
GAVE: Foil Geralf's Messanger ($15)
GOT: Geralf's Messanger ($10), 2 Mosswort Bridge ($4), Foil Ad Nauseum ($4) Total=$18
PROFIT=$3
THOUGHTS: I was happy trading a foil card for a regular copy and a lot of value. While Mosswort Bridge isn't really popular, it sees some modern play and I can probably move them. Beyond that, getting a foil Ad Nauseum is cool because I can probably move it at $7 to a Legacy player.
GAVE: 4 Goblin Guide ($24), Foil Slash Panther ($1.50) Total=$25.50
GOT: Garruk Relentless ($15), Thalia, guardian of Thraben ($4), Promo Grim lavamancer ($3.5), Foil Frost Titan ($4) Total=$26.50
PROFIT=$1
THOUGHTS: While I didn't really gain too much on this, I felt that picking up Garruk would be a good longer term investment, and that the Foil Frost Titan might trade for $6 to someone who wanted it for a cube or EDH deck. Also Goblin Guides won't be in demand in a month, so converting them to cards I can move should help my binder generate quicker.
GAVE: 4 Asceticism ($8), Foil black Sun's Zenith ($12), Sunpetal Grove ($3) Total=$23
GOT: Phyrexian Obliterator ($25)
PROFIT=$2
THOUGHTS: The BSZ sees play, but the other cards are really on the sidelines right now. Moving them to get something I can quickly move should help keep the binder fresh, and trading up for a profit is one of the best things you can do in terms of trading.
GAVE: 2 Drogskul Reaver ($10), 2 Sorin Markov ($12), 3 Geralf's Messanger ($30), Dungeon Geists ($6), 4 Endless Ranks of the Dead ($8), 1 Mikeaus the Lunarch ($4), 4 Stromkirk Noble ($32), Bloodline Keeper ($7), Balefire Dragon ($2), Massacre Worm ($5), 2 Etched Champion ($10), Sunpetal Grove ($3) Total=$126
GOT: Foil Qusali Pridemage ($4), 2 Mishra's Factory (Russian) ($12) Foil Chinese Black Sun's Zenith ($15), Underground Sea ($130)= Total=$161
PROFIT=$35
THOUGHTS: I was able to kill on this trade because he was fine putting the Underground Sea at $100, since it had some play on it. I wanted the BSZ and Pridemage, since foils trade well. The Factories were cool, and I wanted them because I want to run them if I ever play Factory in Legacy. The guy only went through my Standard binder, which was nice, because getting rid of standard for Legacy and making a profit is the best way to trade. Having separate binders really helped this weekend with standard to legacy conversion.
GAVE: 2 Jace the Mind sculptor ($110), Death Baron ($10), Serra Ascendent ($4), Life from the Loam ($15), 4 Blinkmoth Nexus ($60) Total=$199
GOT: FBB Scrubland ($145), 4 Vampire Nocturnus ($80), Volrath's Stronghold ($20), Witchbane Orb ($1) Total=$246
PROFIT=$47
THOUGHTS: Initially, the guy was valuing the Scrubland at around $225. I told him that I wanted to trade for it, but that there was no way it was worth that much. He said that he couldn't go any lower, but I was able to reason with him and get him to come to his senses and price it correctly at around $145. I hated giving up Jaces, but in reality, it was the only way I could get the Scrubland, and I really wanted that Scrubland. Foreign Black Border dual lands are very rare, and they are the "Pimp" version of dual lands (since most people are priced out of Beta duals). I figured that since I paid $30 cash for a Jace, and traded a Huntmaster of the Fells and a Mox Opal for the other, I really was getting a great deal on it if I took into account how I got them initially. I was able to make such a huge profit because he severely undervalued the Nocturnus and Stronghold ($12/$10 respectively) and while they might not be the easiest cards to move, I know that I should be able to dump them for something big, or move them for value to someone else who wants to try and get profit from the casual players.
GAVE: 5 Life from the Loam ($75), Noble Hierarch ($20), Watery Grave ($20), 4 Knight of the Reliquary ($44) Total=$149
GOT:3 Steam Vents ($90), 2 Intuition ($70) Total=$160
PROFIT=$11
THOUGHTS: This guy had the second best binder that I have ever seen in my life (Mine is not the best). He had pages and pages of all of the staples and duals and had 1-2 of each piece of power. He had a list of cards he needed (Noble, Grave, Loam) and I was able to get some value on him. He was a really nice guy, and I was shocked that he valued everything very fair and reasonable (he put the Watery Grave at like $25 and the Steam Vents at $22, so I was able to get a little value). We talked a while, and I learned a lot about gaining value on people and boosting my binder. I ended up saving him about $400 later on when he was trying to trade for a beta Scrubland from someone. I was going to trade for it, but I was in the middle of a trade so he got the first chance. I told him to have a dealer check it if was real, and to give a grade on it for pricing purposes. He came back and the Scrubland was split in half. It was apparently a CE card that was glued to a different card back. I was happy that it was discovered. That is why I always get cards valued over $100 authenticated by a dealer before moving them.
GAVE: 2 Huntmaster of the Fells ($60)
GOT:Foil Surgical Extraction ($12), Foil Strangleroot Geist ($6), Garruk Relentless ($15), Geist of Saint traft ($25), Elite Inquisitor ($2) Total=$60
Profit=$0
THOUGHTS: The guy pulled out his phone early and went to StarCity, so I knew I was not going to get any value. However, I was able to use this to my advantage and pick up cards I speculate were going to go up in value. Foil extraction will see Legacy play forever, Foil Strangeleroot should be moved easily, and Garruk is my sleeper for post rotation. I was having a hard time moving the Huntmasters, so I was happy to get rid of them (though I might want to run 1 in a Pod deck for FNM on Friday, so that is annoying)
GAVE: Promo Memnite ($4), 2 Honor of the Pure ($6) Total=$10
GOT: Geth of the Vault ($3.50), Eternal Dragon ($6), Sigil of the Empty Throne ($2), Captain of the Watch ($4), Student of Warfare ($3), Norin the Wary, Total=$18.50
PROFIT= $8.50
THOUGHTS: I got a lot of value off a guy because he didn't know the value of non-standard cards. If I can move them at their price, I make a lot of profit. If not, they sit in my binder and take up space and tie up money. That is the risk of value trading, but I am fine with it. I also picked up a Norin the Wary for sentimental reasons.
GAVE: 4 Scalding Tarn ($60), 2 Flooded Strand ($80), 4 Misty rainforest ($60), Stomping Grounds ($20), Crucible of Worlds ($25) 3 Life From the Loam ($45), Total=$290
GOT: Mox Pearl ($350)
PROFIT $60
THOUGHTS: I figured I would save the biggest trade for last. This trade took a while since I needed to get the Mox authenticated and valued from the SCG booth. It was MP- or HP+ based on what they said, which is close to where I thought it was. He said it was worth $350. When I talked to the guy, he seemed to want to pick up easier to move staples so he could have more inventory to move. I told him I put the Mox at $300, since it was rough on the back, and that it is something that is hard to move. He got a lot of staples out of it, and I was able to clear out a lot of modern cards. I really didn't want to give up the Strands, but sacrifices have to be made. I was really glad I kept my duals out of my binder, since he probably would have went for those.
Overall, I made around 20 something trades (don't feel like going back to count). I made $307 profit, which is pretty much like getting a free Mox Pearl for trading well. Beyond that, I took $350+140+130+120+100+70=$910 dollars out of my trade binder with the duals and Mox, as I don't plan on trading them. taking into account the profit, my binder is around $600 lighter, which is something to remember. I ended up buying some cards from the guys that I went with: Liliana+Grim Monolith for $35 (61% of SCG value), 2 Geist of Saint Traft and a Foil Dungeon Geists for $40 (69% of SCG value) and $75 in random cards I don't remember for $35. While I don't like buying singles, getting them for a very reduced rate is fine by me, as I would imagine that selling duals and whatnot should lead to at least 90% of SCG value. I am glad I finished my set of duals, though I wonder if I want to have a smaller binder (probably a Monster binder) that would hold my extra duals, revised only, that I would only trade if I got a lot of value on them. I need to think about it, but it is something that might allow me to really improve my returns on trading and help it grow.
There was really no trading to be done on Sunday, so I ended up trying to take the judge test. I really bricked the first question the guys asked me in the interview, but nailed the rest of them and was able to shadow a L2 judge for about an hour or so. I made a few rulings (was correct with all of them) and ended up passing the test. For my efforts, the head judge gave me 3 judge foils. they were Bitterblossom, Flusterstorm (worth $60), and ironically...
Friday, March 16, 2012
Going for a GRAND Prix
So I have been having a little bit of trouble sleeping lately, so I figured that I might as well get started on my Grand Prix Nashville post. I will be going to Nashville in a week in hopes of winning the Grand Prix. However, if I don't get a busted sealed pool and play perfect, that probably won't happen. My real goal for the weekend is to try and trade for +$1000 in trades. I think that while it is a rather lofty goal, it seems rather doable if I stick to my guns and make a lot of solid trades. I will be trying out a new style of trading, so hopefully that will add to my profit margin. The other big thing that I need to do is get some Steam Vents, 4 to be exact. I might have borrowed them (2 from 2 different people) and then traded them away. While I know that is a horrible thing to do, the problem is that the people looking for them were willing to overpay so much that I couldn't say no. Looking back at my first post, 2 were involved in a trade where I was +$96 in trade (and also resulted in the acquisition of 4 dual lands and a Force of Will). The other 2 ended up getting packaged with a few Cunning Wish and some other small stuff for a Watery Grave and a Plateau. Again, the deal was so good that I had to take a risk to hopefully cash in. If I can get a playset of Steam Vents in Nashville, that would really help me clear my slate in terms of debt. While I know that it is rather risky to trade away stuff that isn't mine, I thought about the potential negatives that would be involved if I was called out on it. I could easily just say that "I left that deck at home", or worst case scenario just say to the guy that "Someone made me a really big offer on the cards, and I was hoping to replace them, but have not been able to yet", and then just buy them off StarCity or something and have them for the guy next week. So hopefully I can trade for them and then get rid of my outstanding debts.
Debts aside, the Grand Prix should be rather interesting. It is very important to mentally prepare for a large event where you plan on being cut throat in terms of trading. I am going to try and maximize every dollar possible, and pick up as much stuff as I can. I am going to do so using the following idea.
1) Understanding the price fluctuations of a few key cards- It seems like a no brainer right now. I am going to plan on grinding a lot of Snapcaster Mages, picking them up for $20, as they just dropped, and trade them at $28-30 each. There is a lot of room for profit there, and Snapcaster is a card that a lot of people seem to want, and everyone seems to be willing to take them in a trade. This card seems to be the key to my trading. The problem is that it finally saw a dip on StarCity to $25, dropping from $30. This was horrible timing for me, since I was planning leveraging the price difference to my advantage. I hope that it jumps back up to $30 before Friday. Beyond that, there are some other cards that I plan on using to grind out profit. Geist of Saint Traft is at $28, so I would imagine that I can stretch it to the $25-30 range to pick up a few bucks here and there. Phantasmal Image is seeing a spike due to UB Zombies, and I would love to cash in on them, picking the up at $10 and moving them for $16-18 each. I am hoping to get rid of a lot of Modern stuff, since the Modern PTQ season ends April 1st. I get the feeling that Modern will not be a format that sees popularity year round, so now will be the time to move the Modern stuff I have for either Legacy staples or for a lot of value in standard (I would try and get a 25% bonus for all of the Modern stuff I trade into standard) After that, I would imagine that I can wait 2-3 months for the stores to get overstocked on their Modern stuff, then when their prices drop I should begin trading for them again.
2) The "Buylist Approach"- In the spur of the moment, people are generally erratic mentally, and you can get them to agree to a lot of stupid stuff if you do it properly. I have spent some time watching people take their binders to the dealers and watch as they sell their cards for 25% of what they are actually worth. Part of it is because they don't know any better, and part of it is because they are in a situation in which they really don't want to say "no" very often out of a fear of being difficult. The key is to find someone who will verbally express what is looking for. Most of the time, people will give vague answers because they don't want to look desperate. I am torn between going through someone's binder and pulling cards first or having them do it to me. I am going to try and let them go first, then when they are done, total up the value of my cards, then go through their binder and pull things out at around 50-60% of what it is worth. If I can work on assigning the values to cards (or at least give an initial price where they can come up a little) I should be able to get a significant amount of cards valued lower than what they are on StarCity. Picking up Birds of Paradise at $2-2.50 or Day of Judgment at $2 is a very quick way to make a lot of value really quick)
3) Trading for Foils and Textless cards- I have really been ignoring this most of my trading "career". It seems like people wanting to "pimp out" there deck has gone through the roof, and I would think that there is a huge amount of value to be made in it. I am going to try and pick up a lot of foils cheap, get textless cards for .50 each, and then work on flipping them for an inflated price.
4) Trade for the Promo card- Goblin Guide is the GP Promo this year, and right now it is valued at $15. While there, I should try and trade for them at $8 each, since they should be an easy trade to anyone who likes promos or wants to pimp out their RDW in Modern or Legacy, but has not been able to go to a GP. The promo generally trades cheap there, since a lot of people don't really want it, and the market is flooded with them, since everyone has one.
5) Stick to what I do best- It is important to make sure that I don't forget the things I do best in trading. I am really good at spotting undervalued cards, I am really good talking to people and getting them to undervalue things a little, and I am really good at meeting the needs of the people I trade with. I would imagine that I will probably make a little cheap sheet that I can study on the car ride down of all of the current prices so that I will not be caught off guard by the value of something. Preparation is very important. I need to make sure I am vocal on trades, and do not wait 10 minutes for someone who will be hard to trade with. A great way to trade would be to sit down at a table and let people come up to you and trade, and have others walk by and see your stuff while you are in the middle of a trade. I think that if I can be a little more aggressive on picking up smaller stuff from people a little cheaper than it is worth, I should really be able to come out on top. I am also going to look at the top decks form the recent SCG events to know what cards are in demand.
6) Trade with my mind, not with my heart- I know that there are a lot of cards that I really want and would instinctively trade for. However, I am going to focus on the goal at hand and not get sidetracked on things that will not give me value. I will stay away from FNM promos and random stuff, and will focus on getting the most out of my cards. My long term goal is to have a playset of all of the Legacy and Modern Staples, and then continue to grow my collection more and more. I would also want to own all of the dual lands ever printed. While that is an absurd idea, my general belief is that the safest Magic cards to invest in are Dual lands and Force of Will. They are the most important cards in Magic. The dual lands allow decks to function effectively, and FoW is "The Glue that holds the format together". As long as Magic tournaments exist, Force of Will will almost assuredly be in at least 50% of the decks, and dual lands will be in 90%. I have never seen these cards drop (with the one exception being a "price correction" ever since Legacy initially took off and staples exploded. Since that little self correction, duals and FoW (and all Legacy staples for that matter) seem to gradually be going up, and I want to be stockpiling as many of them as I can so that I can really profit when I want to cash my chips in.
7) Remember that sunk costs exist- I still have two Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas in my binder. I was never able to move them when they were $25, and they are now sitting around $12. So I have two options right now. I can either hold on to them and use them if I ever want to play some Tezzeret legecy deck, or I can try and move them at $12 to clear some space out of my binder and get something else that might be easier to trade. The biggest thing to trading is to constantly keep your cards moving. When cards sit in a binder too long they seem to get comfortable and don't want to move.
8) Understand current trends in play and capitalize on them- The Red Deck has been rather quiet lately, which means that people probably do not know the prices of the main cards in that deck. Chandra's Phoenix is at $8, but I would imagine that I should be able to talk them down to $5 each based on the fact that they don't see any play and will cycle out in 6 months. Coming up with some sort of "With Spirits and Elesh Norn in the format, they probably won't see any more play" idea, people will be more willing to get rid of them. The same thing should be true with Stromkirk Noble and Grim Lavamancer. These cards could really be negotiated down a bit. The same is true for hot cards. Being able to move them in groups to make it easier for people to acquire a playset has perks as well. People generally don't like trading when they really need cards, and are willing to overpay to get it over with. With zombies hot, having sets of Gravecrawlers and messangers will allow me to ask for a little extra in terms of value.
9) Trying out a .50 binder and a $1/$2 binder- After the Standard binder and the Modern/EDH/Legacy binder, I have 2 extra binders that were just sort of random rares and foils. I came up with a pretty decent idea earlier today about going through, sorting the cards by set, and then pricing them out. I would use one binder for anything 50 cents or less, and the other for anything in the .75-$1 range and $1.25-$2 range. This would allow me to try and move the random rares that I have lying around without having to go through and price them individually on the spot. After someone goes through the Standard binder and pulled things, I can encourage them to go through the other ones while I let the next guy look at the Standard binder. This doesn't really add any extra time, but will hopefully help me start moving the random lower value rares. I am debating about being upfront and saying that everything in there is .50, but I am not sure. I am at least happy that I have come up with a plan to start moving the random rares, and at the same time figure out that some cards sitting in the junk pile do not belong (Captain of the Watch is apparently $5). I would imagine that having all of the cards sorted like that will help a lot more in dealing with casual players, and will also eliminate the need to memorize the value of all of these lower tier rares while still having the prices handy to move them. If things start moving out of those binders, I will try and be a little more aggressive in picking up bulk rares to try and feed that binder. 10) Do not feel any pressure for the goals I set- It can be pretty easy to try and overextend and try too hard to make trades work, or take unnecessary risks just to try and get a few bucks. While I am aiming for $1000 in trade value, I fully expect to come short as a result of not enough time, not enough people to trade with, or not enough cards that are in demand. That being said, I am going to work on maximizing my profits and continue to upgrade my binders. I would love to clear out a lot of the smaller value cards, but that is one of those things that will gradually happen through time. I think that the most important goals are to pick up 4 Steam Vents, a Underground Sea, and just enjoy my trip.
Debts aside, the Grand Prix should be rather interesting. It is very important to mentally prepare for a large event where you plan on being cut throat in terms of trading. I am going to try and maximize every dollar possible, and pick up as much stuff as I can. I am going to do so using the following idea.
1) Understanding the price fluctuations of a few key cards- It seems like a no brainer right now. I am going to plan on grinding a lot of Snapcaster Mages, picking them up for $20, as they just dropped, and trade them at $28-30 each. There is a lot of room for profit there, and Snapcaster is a card that a lot of people seem to want, and everyone seems to be willing to take them in a trade. This card seems to be the key to my trading. The problem is that it finally saw a dip on StarCity to $25, dropping from $30. This was horrible timing for me, since I was planning leveraging the price difference to my advantage. I hope that it jumps back up to $30 before Friday. Beyond that, there are some other cards that I plan on using to grind out profit. Geist of Saint Traft is at $28, so I would imagine that I can stretch it to the $25-30 range to pick up a few bucks here and there. Phantasmal Image is seeing a spike due to UB Zombies, and I would love to cash in on them, picking the up at $10 and moving them for $16-18 each. I am hoping to get rid of a lot of Modern stuff, since the Modern PTQ season ends April 1st. I get the feeling that Modern will not be a format that sees popularity year round, so now will be the time to move the Modern stuff I have for either Legacy staples or for a lot of value in standard (I would try and get a 25% bonus for all of the Modern stuff I trade into standard) After that, I would imagine that I can wait 2-3 months for the stores to get overstocked on their Modern stuff, then when their prices drop I should begin trading for them again.
2) The "Buylist Approach"- In the spur of the moment, people are generally erratic mentally, and you can get them to agree to a lot of stupid stuff if you do it properly. I have spent some time watching people take their binders to the dealers and watch as they sell their cards for 25% of what they are actually worth. Part of it is because they don't know any better, and part of it is because they are in a situation in which they really don't want to say "no" very often out of a fear of being difficult. The key is to find someone who will verbally express what is looking for. Most of the time, people will give vague answers because they don't want to look desperate. I am torn between going through someone's binder and pulling cards first or having them do it to me. I am going to try and let them go first, then when they are done, total up the value of my cards, then go through their binder and pull things out at around 50-60% of what it is worth. If I can work on assigning the values to cards (or at least give an initial price where they can come up a little) I should be able to get a significant amount of cards valued lower than what they are on StarCity. Picking up Birds of Paradise at $2-2.50 or Day of Judgment at $2 is a very quick way to make a lot of value really quick)
3) Trading for Foils and Textless cards- I have really been ignoring this most of my trading "career". It seems like people wanting to "pimp out" there deck has gone through the roof, and I would think that there is a huge amount of value to be made in it. I am going to try and pick up a lot of foils cheap, get textless cards for .50 each, and then work on flipping them for an inflated price.
4) Trade for the Promo card- Goblin Guide is the GP Promo this year, and right now it is valued at $15. While there, I should try and trade for them at $8 each, since they should be an easy trade to anyone who likes promos or wants to pimp out their RDW in Modern or Legacy, but has not been able to go to a GP. The promo generally trades cheap there, since a lot of people don't really want it, and the market is flooded with them, since everyone has one.
5) Stick to what I do best- It is important to make sure that I don't forget the things I do best in trading. I am really good at spotting undervalued cards, I am really good talking to people and getting them to undervalue things a little, and I am really good at meeting the needs of the people I trade with. I would imagine that I will probably make a little cheap sheet that I can study on the car ride down of all of the current prices so that I will not be caught off guard by the value of something. Preparation is very important. I need to make sure I am vocal on trades, and do not wait 10 minutes for someone who will be hard to trade with. A great way to trade would be to sit down at a table and let people come up to you and trade, and have others walk by and see your stuff while you are in the middle of a trade. I think that if I can be a little more aggressive on picking up smaller stuff from people a little cheaper than it is worth, I should really be able to come out on top. I am also going to look at the top decks form the recent SCG events to know what cards are in demand.
6) Trade with my mind, not with my heart- I know that there are a lot of cards that I really want and would instinctively trade for. However, I am going to focus on the goal at hand and not get sidetracked on things that will not give me value. I will stay away from FNM promos and random stuff, and will focus on getting the most out of my cards. My long term goal is to have a playset of all of the Legacy and Modern Staples, and then continue to grow my collection more and more. I would also want to own all of the dual lands ever printed. While that is an absurd idea, my general belief is that the safest Magic cards to invest in are Dual lands and Force of Will. They are the most important cards in Magic. The dual lands allow decks to function effectively, and FoW is "The Glue that holds the format together". As long as Magic tournaments exist, Force of Will will almost assuredly be in at least 50% of the decks, and dual lands will be in 90%. I have never seen these cards drop (with the one exception being a "price correction" ever since Legacy initially took off and staples exploded. Since that little self correction, duals and FoW (and all Legacy staples for that matter) seem to gradually be going up, and I want to be stockpiling as many of them as I can so that I can really profit when I want to cash my chips in.
7) Remember that sunk costs exist- I still have two Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas in my binder. I was never able to move them when they were $25, and they are now sitting around $12. So I have two options right now. I can either hold on to them and use them if I ever want to play some Tezzeret legecy deck, or I can try and move them at $12 to clear some space out of my binder and get something else that might be easier to trade. The biggest thing to trading is to constantly keep your cards moving. When cards sit in a binder too long they seem to get comfortable and don't want to move.
8) Understand current trends in play and capitalize on them- The Red Deck has been rather quiet lately, which means that people probably do not know the prices of the main cards in that deck. Chandra's Phoenix is at $8, but I would imagine that I should be able to talk them down to $5 each based on the fact that they don't see any play and will cycle out in 6 months. Coming up with some sort of "With Spirits and Elesh Norn in the format, they probably won't see any more play" idea, people will be more willing to get rid of them. The same thing should be true with Stromkirk Noble and Grim Lavamancer. These cards could really be negotiated down a bit. The same is true for hot cards. Being able to move them in groups to make it easier for people to acquire a playset has perks as well. People generally don't like trading when they really need cards, and are willing to overpay to get it over with. With zombies hot, having sets of Gravecrawlers and messangers will allow me to ask for a little extra in terms of value.
9) Trying out a .50 binder and a $1/$2 binder- After the Standard binder and the Modern/EDH/Legacy binder, I have 2 extra binders that were just sort of random rares and foils. I came up with a pretty decent idea earlier today about going through, sorting the cards by set, and then pricing them out. I would use one binder for anything 50 cents or less, and the other for anything in the .75-$1 range and $1.25-$2 range. This would allow me to try and move the random rares that I have lying around without having to go through and price them individually on the spot. After someone goes through the Standard binder and pulled things, I can encourage them to go through the other ones while I let the next guy look at the Standard binder. This doesn't really add any extra time, but will hopefully help me start moving the random lower value rares. I am debating about being upfront and saying that everything in there is .50, but I am not sure. I am at least happy that I have come up with a plan to start moving the random rares, and at the same time figure out that some cards sitting in the junk pile do not belong (Captain of the Watch is apparently $5). I would imagine that having all of the cards sorted like that will help a lot more in dealing with casual players, and will also eliminate the need to memorize the value of all of these lower tier rares while still having the prices handy to move them. If things start moving out of those binders, I will try and be a little more aggressive in picking up bulk rares to try and feed that binder. 10) Do not feel any pressure for the goals I set- It can be pretty easy to try and overextend and try too hard to make trades work, or take unnecessary risks just to try and get a few bucks. While I am aiming for $1000 in trade value, I fully expect to come short as a result of not enough time, not enough people to trade with, or not enough cards that are in demand. That being said, I am going to work on maximizing my profits and continue to upgrade my binders. I would love to clear out a lot of the smaller value cards, but that is one of those things that will gradually happen through time. I think that the most important goals are to pick up 4 Steam Vents, a Underground Sea, and just enjoy my trip.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
More EV on DA
Since the last "Crack some packs" went rather well, it seemed like it was time to do it again. Here are the results
Pack 1:
Diregraf Captain ($1.50)
Lost in the Woods ($.50)
Ravenous Demon ($.50)
Foil Favor of the Woods ($.25)
Pack Value= $2.75
It is rough to open 2 rares, a foil, and a money uncommon and only end up at 2.75. Gotta start somewhere I guess.
Pack 2:
Tragic Slip ($.75)
Geralf's Messanger ($10)
Pack Value= $10.75
Great pack. Getting the Messanger helps a lot, and the Tragic Slip is a bonus.
Pack 3:
Tragic Slip ($.75)
Seance ($.50)
Pack Value=$1.25
Pack 4:
Requiem Angel ($.50)
Foil Stromkirk Captain ($3.50)
Pack Value=$4
Pack 5:
Lingering Souls ($2)
Increasing Savagery ($.75)
Pack Value=$2.75
Pack 6:
Drogskul Captain ($2)
Zombie Apocalypse ($1)
Foil Headless Skaab ($.25)
Pack Value=$3.25
Pack 7:
Helvault ($1.50)
Pack 8:
Drogskul Reaver ($5)
Stromkirk Captain ($1)
Foil Blood Feud ($.50)
Pack Value=$6.50
Pack 9:
Vault of the Archangel ($4)
Foil Stormbound Geist ($.50)
Pack Value=$4.50
Pack 10:
Strangleroot Geist ($2)
Ghoultree ($1.50)
Pack Value=$3.50
Pack 11:
Diregraf Captain ($1.50)
Increasing Confusion ($1.25)
Pack Value=$2.75
Pack 12:
Beguiler of Wills ($1.50)
After opening 3 Mythics in 12 packs, it seems like the odds of getting a Sorin or any other high priced mythic have dropped rather significantly. We decided to stop here, and I will use the rest of the packs for drafting or trading them for different packs.
Totals:
Packs opened= 12
Expected Value= $42
Total Value= $45
Actual Value per pack=$3.75
Overall it was not bad. It was fun cracking the packs, and in reality, it should help with trading. Mythics are generally pretty easy to trade. I think that I am going to hold onto the Stromkirk Captain Foil, as I figure that as soon as the set stops getting drafting, the supply will sink bigtime. If vampires ever see constructed play, the card will jump bigtime, and if not, it will always be a sweet casual card. I was shocked that we ended up over the EV, based on the fact that there were a lot of dud packs.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Grinding out another week
So I ended up losing round 1 of FNM, but battled to go 3-1 and get a couple packs. I would imagine that I will end up cracking them in a future post, so stay tuned. In reality, going to FNMs and trying to make trades is often rather tedious and most of the time doesn't get you much beyond a couple bucks. I ended up making four trades, so here are the results
GAVE: Liliana of the Veil ($35), Sorin, Lord of Innistrad ($30), 2 Heartless Summoning ($6) Total=$71
GOT: 2 Huntmaster of the Fells ($60), Geralf's Messanger ($10) Total= $70
Profit: -$1
Thoughts: While I technically lost $1 on the deal, I was rather happy with the results. With Huntmasters being in demand still, it is easier to trade several of them (2 + the one I opened last weekend) for a dual land, than just a random assortment of rares. With Sorin not seeing play, I could see him dip to $25, and I don't think that the heartless summoning deck will gain any momentum. I would expect them to stay where they are. Overall, I was trading for potential and future trades, and a dollar here and there doesn't matter too much.
GAVE: 3 Day of Judgment ($9), 2 Geist of Saint Traft ($56), 3 Isolated Chapel ($30) 1 Umezawa's Jitte (GP Promo, $20), Marsh Flats ($10) Total= $125
GOT: Tundra ($120), $3 cash
Profit: -$5 in cards, +$3 in cash
Thoughts: This deal further backs up the point I made from the last trade. People are more willing to give up duals and Legacy Staples to get lots of pieces to their decks. In reality, the deal was pretty much a wash in value, though I got $3 for $5 in cards. In reality, I traded Isolated Chapels and Geists of Saint Traft (both of which are probably at their value peak) for a beautiful Tundra in mint condition. The Jitte and the Marsh Flats should maintain their value, but I don't think that either will jump in price, as Jitte is really only a 1-of in decks that play them (only Legacy decks, and not many) and Flats is one of the least popular Zen fetches. I would imagine that the rest of the cards will drop soon. The Tundra will gradually increase in value over time, as there will be 0 reprintings. Being able to make deals like this that convert my standard stuff to Legacy makes the whole trading process so much easier, as it bypasses the need to slowly chain up to EDH/Modern staples and then to Legacy.
GAVE: 2 Slagstorm ($12), 2 Chandra's Phoenix ($16), Foil Stormblood Berserker ($3) Total=$31
GOT: 4 Gravecrawler ($40)
Profit= $9
Thoughts: I am not sure why this guy wanted to make the deal. He must have put the gravecrawlers at $8 each. The deal worked out well. The Red Deck isn't seeing that much play, but Chandra's Phoenix is still at $8. I would imagine that they will drop soon. I am hoping to get rid of the gravecrawlers, but happy that I got some more cards in the $7-15 dollar range, which easily trade for planeswalkers.
GAVE: 2 Foil Forbidden Alchemy ($18), 2 Foil Think Twice ($10), Foil Dissipate ($6) Total= $34
GOT: Liliana of the Veil ($35)
Profit: $1
This deal gets me that $1 back from the first trade (Not that it mattered). I was happy to get rid of some foils for a Liliana. The Liliana was signed, but should trade for $35. I think that I am going to show more attention to foils in the future, since they seem to be something that you can get cheap. They always trade well, and more often than not people are willing to overpay to pimp out their deck.
So that is how trading with a bunch of people you know and play with goes. In reality, most trades are going to involve making $0-2, while sometimes you'll get that guy willing to overpay for something he needs (The deal that gave me gravecrawlers) or someone willing to trade legacy for standard (The deal that got me the Tundra). I know that this is going to sound bad (really bad), but it is important to try and trade with new people, since most of the time they don't have all of the cards for their deck, and probably have a lot of cards they don't know the value on. That is a good way to get a quick boost to your collection. It is even better when they have older cards and are looking for newer stuff. This happened a few weeks back for me, where I got rid of a lot of standard stuff for about $300 in Legacy. While I wish I could spend my time talking about every trade being a huge gain and that I profited so much, that isn't the way that most trades happen. I unsleeved the commons and uncommons from the draft I went to a couple weeks ago, and am thinking about the draft tomorrow. I figure that I will probably leave with at least 6 value cards (rares or money uncommons or foils). Most of the time, I am able to get a solid value card in picks 5-8, which is strange, since normally a pack should be picked clean (I got a 5th pick Foil Lingering Souls 2 weeks ago, for example). Bad rares will commonly wheel, and a lot of the time people will pass an Innistrad dual because they aren't in those colors (despite the $3-10 price tag). That is the easiest way to pay for a draft. Rare drafting is generally frowned upon, but I am able to get away with it because I am able to build a competitive deck even with those throwaway picks, and people who rare draft are perceived as people who build bad decks because they drafted all rares. Beyond that, I usually expect to win some packs, as a couple of the best players in the area have not been drafting lately. As a result, there are a lot of rares passed, and the majority of the people build bad decks that just get outclassed by a better drafter. Hopefully that trend continues tomorrow.
So drafting was pretty successful. I ended up finishing 2-2, which is pretty crappy, but I lost to Undead Alchemist (as I had no answers) and lost in the last round to mana screw. These are teh value cards I drafted:
Increasing Ambition ($1)
Angel of Flight Alabaster ($.50)
Seance ($.50)
Strangleroot Geist ($2)
Grim Backwoods ($1)
Rooftop Storm($.75)
Archangel's Light ($1.50)
Isolated Chapel ($10)
Tragic Slip ($.75)
I was also given the following
Tragic Slip ($.75)
Stromkirk Captain ($1)
Havengul Runebinder ($1)
So my total value drafting was $20.75. Overall, I think that it was an alright draft, though I passed a lot of junk rares (Rooftop Storm was 14th pick, and Seance was probably 12-15th as well. Getting passed an Isolated Chapel really helped. While I only went 2-2, I feel like I drafted a rather solid deck (despite getting cut bigtime on both sides) and still made a deck that was very competitive. Beyond that, I guess that I might have been in the wrong colors (though I went with a strangleroot geist p1p1 and followed it up with a scorned villager). I am alright with that, as I feel like I drafted well, and was just around a few people that were not good drafters. Beyond that, I made a lot of moves today. They include the following:
Buying a Foil Reaper of the Abyss for $2- This was 50% of what the value actually is, so I think that it is a fine purchase. It is only a few bucks, and I would bet that someone is going to want it for EDH or their bad Standard deck. It should be easy to move at $5.
Buying the following cards:
Heretic's Punishment, 2 Curse of Misfortunes, Witchbane Orb, Sudden Disappearance, Jar of Eyeballs, Dearly Departed, and Garruk's Horde for $1- That is around .13 a card, which is pretty good. Trading 1 of them for $1 gives a huge profit.
Beguiler of Wills, Curse of Death's Hold, Sever the Bloodline, Mirror-Mad Phantasm, Skirsdag High Priest, Instigator Gang, Bloodgift Demon, Kruin Outlaw, Charmbreaker Devils, Falkenrath Marauders for $.50 each. It seemed like another solid purchase, as a lot of these cards should be able to trade for around $2 each.
Mikaeus, The Lunarch, Vault of the Archangel, Tree of Redemption, and Bloodline Keeper for $2 each, Falkenrath Aristocrat, Dungeon Geists, Stromkirk Noble, and Champion of the Parish for $3 each, Gerlaf's Messanger for $5, and Archangel's Light, 2 Diregraf captain, and 3 Drogskul Captain for $1 each. I spent a total of $37 and got at around $80 in value. I would imagine that I should be able to trade for them a lot of value, and buying cards at around or less than 50% of what they are worth is a great way to keep your binder strong (especially when I end up pulling cards out of my binder to not trade, such as duals and other Legacy staples)
I ended up buying 2 Stromkirk Noble, an Isolated Chapel, 2 Honor of the Pure, and a Grafdigger's Cage (Value = $38, paid $15) This again should help in keeping my binder stocked and should help generate a lot more value in trading. Being able to move them ffor a few bucks here and there will start the chain of gaining value, and variety is important.
GAVE: Foil Gideon Jura ($20)
GOT: Geist of Saint Traft ($28)
Profit= $8
Thoughts: I was able to get $8 on a trade, since the the wanted a Foil Gideon for his cube. I was happy to move it, as the Gid-Father is not really seeing much play at the moment, and I am not back up to a playset of Geist of Saint Traft, which means I can run the Delver Aggro deck again.
GAVE: Liliand of the Veil ($35), 2 Nevermore ($1.50), 3 Woodland Cemetary ($24), Mikaeus, the Unhallowed ($6), and Runechanter's Pike ($1.50), Total = $68
GOT: Gaea's Cradle ($70)
Profit= $2
Thoughts: I was able to convert a few Innistrand lans, and Liliana, Mikaeus, and a couple junk rares into Gaea's Cradle. Awesome. I now have the most expensive piece to combo elves, can run it in Maverick, or just own a Gaea's Cradle. In reality, I got some value on my Mikeaus (which will probably not see much constructed play beyond a 1-of in Melira Pod in Modern), a Lilana, and the Innistrad lands that are peaking right now. Beyond that, someone traded for 2 Nevermore and a Pike for more than what they are worth. I was able to clear that junk out, along with 1 top tier card (Lily) and some midrange cards (lands + Mikaeus) for a Legacy and EDH and Casual staple. The card will only go down if banned, which it probably never will be, and should be a nice card to have.
It was a productive week in the grand scheme of things. I moved a bunch of cards back and forth, ended up with a Tundra and a Gaea's Cradle, and found out that someone has a Bazaar of Baghdad and would be willing to move it. It is the same kid who took a bunch of random cards for the beta Tropical Island, so I am confident that I should be able to pick it up, as he seems eager to deal with me because I don't rip him off. That is a major lesson that I talked about a few posts ago, and here is the direct benefit. He will move a Bazaar to me at a fair price in Standard stuff. Life is good.
Weekend Profit=$14 and $3 cash (though buying the other cards would factor in somewhere). That seems to be more of a "raw material acquisition" than anything else.
GAVE: Liliana of the Veil ($35), Sorin, Lord of Innistrad ($30), 2 Heartless Summoning ($6) Total=$71
GOT: 2 Huntmaster of the Fells ($60), Geralf's Messanger ($10) Total= $70
Profit: -$1
Thoughts: While I technically lost $1 on the deal, I was rather happy with the results. With Huntmasters being in demand still, it is easier to trade several of them (2 + the one I opened last weekend) for a dual land, than just a random assortment of rares. With Sorin not seeing play, I could see him dip to $25, and I don't think that the heartless summoning deck will gain any momentum. I would expect them to stay where they are. Overall, I was trading for potential and future trades, and a dollar here and there doesn't matter too much.
GAVE: 3 Day of Judgment ($9), 2 Geist of Saint Traft ($56), 3 Isolated Chapel ($30) 1 Umezawa's Jitte (GP Promo, $20), Marsh Flats ($10) Total= $125
GOT: Tundra ($120), $3 cash
Profit: -$5 in cards, +$3 in cash
Thoughts: This deal further backs up the point I made from the last trade. People are more willing to give up duals and Legacy Staples to get lots of pieces to their decks. In reality, the deal was pretty much a wash in value, though I got $3 for $5 in cards. In reality, I traded Isolated Chapels and Geists of Saint Traft (both of which are probably at their value peak) for a beautiful Tundra in mint condition. The Jitte and the Marsh Flats should maintain their value, but I don't think that either will jump in price, as Jitte is really only a 1-of in decks that play them (only Legacy decks, and not many) and Flats is one of the least popular Zen fetches. I would imagine that the rest of the cards will drop soon. The Tundra will gradually increase in value over time, as there will be 0 reprintings. Being able to make deals like this that convert my standard stuff to Legacy makes the whole trading process so much easier, as it bypasses the need to slowly chain up to EDH/Modern staples and then to Legacy.
GAVE: 2 Slagstorm ($12), 2 Chandra's Phoenix ($16), Foil Stormblood Berserker ($3) Total=$31
GOT: 4 Gravecrawler ($40)
Profit= $9
Thoughts: I am not sure why this guy wanted to make the deal. He must have put the gravecrawlers at $8 each. The deal worked out well. The Red Deck isn't seeing that much play, but Chandra's Phoenix is still at $8. I would imagine that they will drop soon. I am hoping to get rid of the gravecrawlers, but happy that I got some more cards in the $7-15 dollar range, which easily trade for planeswalkers.
GAVE: 2 Foil Forbidden Alchemy ($18), 2 Foil Think Twice ($10), Foil Dissipate ($6) Total= $34
GOT: Liliana of the Veil ($35)
Profit: $1
This deal gets me that $1 back from the first trade (Not that it mattered). I was happy to get rid of some foils for a Liliana. The Liliana was signed, but should trade for $35. I think that I am going to show more attention to foils in the future, since they seem to be something that you can get cheap. They always trade well, and more often than not people are willing to overpay to pimp out their deck.
So that is how trading with a bunch of people you know and play with goes. In reality, most trades are going to involve making $0-2, while sometimes you'll get that guy willing to overpay for something he needs (The deal that gave me gravecrawlers) or someone willing to trade legacy for standard (The deal that got me the Tundra). I know that this is going to sound bad (really bad), but it is important to try and trade with new people, since most of the time they don't have all of the cards for their deck, and probably have a lot of cards they don't know the value on. That is a good way to get a quick boost to your collection. It is even better when they have older cards and are looking for newer stuff. This happened a few weeks back for me, where I got rid of a lot of standard stuff for about $300 in Legacy. While I wish I could spend my time talking about every trade being a huge gain and that I profited so much, that isn't the way that most trades happen. I unsleeved the commons and uncommons from the draft I went to a couple weeks ago, and am thinking about the draft tomorrow. I figure that I will probably leave with at least 6 value cards (rares or money uncommons or foils). Most of the time, I am able to get a solid value card in picks 5-8, which is strange, since normally a pack should be picked clean (I got a 5th pick Foil Lingering Souls 2 weeks ago, for example). Bad rares will commonly wheel, and a lot of the time people will pass an Innistrad dual because they aren't in those colors (despite the $3-10 price tag). That is the easiest way to pay for a draft. Rare drafting is generally frowned upon, but I am able to get away with it because I am able to build a competitive deck even with those throwaway picks, and people who rare draft are perceived as people who build bad decks because they drafted all rares. Beyond that, I usually expect to win some packs, as a couple of the best players in the area have not been drafting lately. As a result, there are a lot of rares passed, and the majority of the people build bad decks that just get outclassed by a better drafter. Hopefully that trend continues tomorrow.
So drafting was pretty successful. I ended up finishing 2-2, which is pretty crappy, but I lost to Undead Alchemist (as I had no answers) and lost in the last round to mana screw. These are teh value cards I drafted:
Increasing Ambition ($1)
Angel of Flight Alabaster ($.50)
Seance ($.50)
Strangleroot Geist ($2)
Grim Backwoods ($1)
Rooftop Storm($.75)
Archangel's Light ($1.50)
Isolated Chapel ($10)
Tragic Slip ($.75)
I was also given the following
Tragic Slip ($.75)
Stromkirk Captain ($1)
Havengul Runebinder ($1)
So my total value drafting was $20.75. Overall, I think that it was an alright draft, though I passed a lot of junk rares (Rooftop Storm was 14th pick, and Seance was probably 12-15th as well. Getting passed an Isolated Chapel really helped. While I only went 2-2, I feel like I drafted a rather solid deck (despite getting cut bigtime on both sides) and still made a deck that was very competitive. Beyond that, I guess that I might have been in the wrong colors (though I went with a strangleroot geist p1p1 and followed it up with a scorned villager). I am alright with that, as I feel like I drafted well, and was just around a few people that were not good drafters. Beyond that, I made a lot of moves today. They include the following:
Buying a Foil Reaper of the Abyss for $2- This was 50% of what the value actually is, so I think that it is a fine purchase. It is only a few bucks, and I would bet that someone is going to want it for EDH or their bad Standard deck. It should be easy to move at $5.
Buying the following cards:
Heretic's Punishment, 2 Curse of Misfortunes, Witchbane Orb, Sudden Disappearance, Jar of Eyeballs, Dearly Departed, and Garruk's Horde for $1- That is around .13 a card, which is pretty good. Trading 1 of them for $1 gives a huge profit.
Beguiler of Wills, Curse of Death's Hold, Sever the Bloodline, Mirror-Mad Phantasm, Skirsdag High Priest, Instigator Gang, Bloodgift Demon, Kruin Outlaw, Charmbreaker Devils, Falkenrath Marauders for $.50 each. It seemed like another solid purchase, as a lot of these cards should be able to trade for around $2 each.
Mikaeus, The Lunarch, Vault of the Archangel, Tree of Redemption, and Bloodline Keeper for $2 each, Falkenrath Aristocrat, Dungeon Geists, Stromkirk Noble, and Champion of the Parish for $3 each, Gerlaf's Messanger for $5, and Archangel's Light, 2 Diregraf captain, and 3 Drogskul Captain for $1 each. I spent a total of $37 and got at around $80 in value. I would imagine that I should be able to trade for them a lot of value, and buying cards at around or less than 50% of what they are worth is a great way to keep your binder strong (especially when I end up pulling cards out of my binder to not trade, such as duals and other Legacy staples)
I ended up buying 2 Stromkirk Noble, an Isolated Chapel, 2 Honor of the Pure, and a Grafdigger's Cage (Value = $38, paid $15) This again should help in keeping my binder stocked and should help generate a lot more value in trading. Being able to move them ffor a few bucks here and there will start the chain of gaining value, and variety is important.
GAVE: Foil Gideon Jura ($20)
GOT: Geist of Saint Traft ($28)
Profit= $8
Thoughts: I was able to get $8 on a trade, since the the wanted a Foil Gideon for his cube. I was happy to move it, as the Gid-Father is not really seeing much play at the moment, and I am not back up to a playset of Geist of Saint Traft, which means I can run the Delver Aggro deck again.
GAVE: Liliand of the Veil ($35), 2 Nevermore ($1.50), 3 Woodland Cemetary ($24), Mikaeus, the Unhallowed ($6), and Runechanter's Pike ($1.50), Total = $68
GOT: Gaea's Cradle ($70)
Profit= $2
Thoughts: I was able to convert a few Innistrand lans, and Liliana, Mikaeus, and a couple junk rares into Gaea's Cradle. Awesome. I now have the most expensive piece to combo elves, can run it in Maverick, or just own a Gaea's Cradle. In reality, I got some value on my Mikeaus (which will probably not see much constructed play beyond a 1-of in Melira Pod in Modern), a Lilana, and the Innistrad lands that are peaking right now. Beyond that, someone traded for 2 Nevermore and a Pike for more than what they are worth. I was able to clear that junk out, along with 1 top tier card (Lily) and some midrange cards (lands + Mikaeus) for a Legacy and EDH and Casual staple. The card will only go down if banned, which it probably never will be, and should be a nice card to have.
It was a productive week in the grand scheme of things. I moved a bunch of cards back and forth, ended up with a Tundra and a Gaea's Cradle, and found out that someone has a Bazaar of Baghdad and would be willing to move it. It is the same kid who took a bunch of random cards for the beta Tropical Island, so I am confident that I should be able to pick it up, as he seems eager to deal with me because I don't rip him off. That is a major lesson that I talked about a few posts ago, and here is the direct benefit. He will move a Bazaar to me at a fair price in Standard stuff. Life is good.
Weekend Profit=$14 and $3 cash (though buying the other cards would factor in somewhere). That seems to be more of a "raw material acquisition" than anything else.
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