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
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