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.
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