Wheel and Deal

Friday Night Magic 1/20

2012-01-22T20:28:00.000-08:00

Friday is always the best day to since the most amounts of people will be at the store for draft and Standard. Naturally there were about 60-70 people attending and it even got to the point where I had to go upstairs just to get some space and fresh air. Prior to heading over, me and my roommate Alex spent the previous night testing our 1v1 EDH decks against each other. Alex’s Animar deck would previously crush my Xiahou Dun the One-Eyed build since he all would needed was to Bribery the Grave Titan out of my deck. Fortunately after a handful of changes the matchup became a little more even.

In order to make these changes we orchestrated a large trade involving mostly commons and uncommons. The trade essentially came down to me sending him a Snapcaster Mage for a Chandra the Firebrand, Time Warp, Plow Under and Ancestral Vision. While having the Snapcaster Mage would likely be better for me, I’d rather help a roommate put a deck together and what I get in return is meaningless as long as I get similar value.

I made about half a dozen trades this week with two things in mind: 1) Start rounding up the pieces for my

Uril, the Miststalker EDH deck. 2) Dump some high-value Standard cards as previously mentioned. All the trades managed to satisfy my first goal and I was able to walk away with 15 cards for my deck. The first trade was a simply trade down of Plow Under for a Sunpetal Grove, Rootbound Crag, and Ruination. It was another trade where I should have probably just stuck with the Plow Under, but the need for the duals and Ruination outweighed the desire to keep an extra Plow Under.

I managed to next get rid of all the Etched Champion in binder as a result of their usefulness in Modern. I had picked them up for a dime months ago and they had been sitting in my binder since, I half expected to not get rid of them until rotation. Instead I turned three of them and a Misty Rainforest into a Grove of the Burnwillows, Terravore and Yavimaya Hollow. Sometimes you get lucky and can turn dimes into dollars. All three cards were going into my EDH deck and were three cards that I did not see frequently. The only downside was I didn’t have any more extra Misty Rainforest, which people are always looking for in Boston.

I swapped out two Obstinate Baloth for a Scepter of Dominance and then proceeded to make my biggest trade of the evening. I traded one of my foil full-art Niv-Mizzet into 2 Elspeth, Knight Errant, Sword of War and Peace, Sword of Fire and Ice, 2 Ajani Vengeant, and a Grim Lavamancer. It was a trade where both sides were satisfied: I got a pile of cards for EDH and he got the pimpest of generals for his deck. I wasn’t entirely thrilled about picking up a Sword of War and Peace since I’m trying to dump my Standard. Then again I can’t really complain about getting 5/6ths of the trade right. Also I was trading something that would sit in my binder forever for some more liquid/useful cards.

I made another trade for my deck, getting a Slagstorm, Swords to Plowshares, Vexing Shusher, and Eladmari’s Call for a spare Academy Ruins, and Phyrexian Metamorph. A lot of the trades I made today involved me trading down. While many people prefer not to trade down, or don’t do without some sort of premium, I don’t mind making that kind of deal at all. One $10 card is as useful to me as two $5 cards and I’m willing to trade up or down regardless of situation. If the card is very expensive ($25+) I may expect a couple of $10+ cards in return, but I most likely won’t ask for a premium. It’s easier for me to just have the numbers match up more than anything else.

The store was closing soon and me and a couple of friends moved over to a pizza place to hangout. Here was where I managed to accomplish part of my second goal. I trade both of my remaining Inkmoth Nexus and a Glimmervoid for Goblin Guide, Arid Mesa, Karmic Guide and Cryptic Command. Once again I was putting together someone’s Modern deck whereas I received a couple cards for my deck and a couple of EDH/Modern staples. I also succeeded in trading at a pizza joint for the first time ever.

Overall it was a good weekend for trading. I still have a sizable chunk of my EDH deck to trade for despite our league being unlimited proxies. With prerelease coming up next week, I may take the next week off from Magic.

Slow Midweek, Dumping Standard

2012-01-19T23:11:00.000-08:00

The objective for this week is to try and dump all of my Standard cards for Modern/Legacy staples instead. Even though I don’t really play a particular format other than EDH, the prices of Standard cards are a little more erratic than other formats. Though the format has a low cost of entry, the tradeoff is the fact that you are probably going to build a new deck once or twice a year. If the deck costs $300-$400, it starts to stack up over time. Rotation doesn’t come for another nine months, but I would like to rid myself of any cards that are exclusively for Standard that are over ten bucks. I’m not going to be fire selling midrange cards just because losing a couple bucks isn’t that big of a deal. But a card like Elesh Norn is 13 bucks and I’d like to move it before I get stuck with a five dollar mythic.

Fortunately I don’t have much in my binders in term of Standard. The Elesh Norn and Consecrated Sphinx are problematic, as are three Inkmoth Nexus. I can probably hold on to Spellskite for now and no one is going to want Stromkirk Nobles. I have a binder full of Innistrad rares but they are all cheap and I can bulk them out if I really want too. It’s more about getting the higher risk cards out for stable alternatives. Barring a banning or major policy change, you aren’t going to have to worry about Legacy/Modern staples losing value and the parts are a little more interchangeable. It’s almost certain that every October you are building a new deck if you are playing Standard.

Wednesday didn’t have much action and as a result I only completed two trades. The store was pretty much dead with what looked like a dozen people playing Standard and nobody there just hanging out. I only completed two trades; one involved trading Darkslick Shores straight up for a Death Baron. I picked up three Nantuko Shades in the trade too, bringing my collection count close to 160. Nantuko Shade was the first rare I pulled in a pack of Torment, and the reprint rendered them close to useless and easier to horde. The other one involved me sending Textless Rampant Growth, Mana Vault, Foil Rune-Scarred Demon, and Mirror Entity for a Glen Elendra Archmage and a Nevinyrral’s Disk. As expected, someone wanted a slightly pimper Rune-Scarred Demon for EDH and I got some useful EDH cards in return.

Thursday was also pretty slow. I made no trades as nobody brought their cards to the 1v1 EDH tournament. I went 2-2 with some mixed results running Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed. I’m not sure how to evaluate the deck since I lost round one partially because I mulled to four both games. I lost round two after getting busted by Hymn to Tourach game two and not drawing land and drawing too much land game three. In a stupid move, I accidently took my Grim Tutor proxy out of the deck during changes and need to put it back in. I plan to build Uril, the Miststalker Zoo since my current deck has no answers to planeswalkers, artifacts or enchantments.

Monday Night Draft/Legacy 1/17

2012-01-17T17:45:00.000-08:00

Monday was a pretty slow day for Magic, only 15 people for draft and about 10-20 people for Legacy and as a result I only did four trades on the night. Occasionally there will be days when nobody is there and not much will come in terms of trading. I did manage to knock off one of my big targets in my first trade.

Damnation

Fetid Heath

For

Sword of Light and Shadow

Foil Rune-Scarred Demon

I needed the Sword of Light and Shadow for my Xiahou-Dun EDH deck and expected to wait a couple weeks before I even saw one. One of the regulars at the store had one sitting around and needed one of the spare Damnation sitting in my binder. The foil Rune-Scarred Demon is a nice bonus pickup. It’s a solid EDH card and while it isn’t worth much, I shouldn’t have too much trouble trying to move to someone looking to upgrade on the cheap.

I couldn’t draft today because I’m trying to cut my expenses until I get a new job. Hopefully I can before the Prerelease so I can at least draft a couple of times. I was fortunate enough to sell $120 worth of cards to my friend Phil for his EDH decks, offsetting a collection I bought for $100 a couple of days earlier. The collection was mostly two to three dollar cards but with the right amount of effort, had plenty of upside. The only problem will be trying to sell stuff like Sculpting Steel and Oblivion Stone for full value and making it worth the time. Highlights included a foil No Mercy and a set of Eternal Witness and Path to Exile.

My roommate Alex is trying to convert his EDH deck to one that adheres to the French banlist and as a result we decided to make a large swap so he could offload the card he had no use for.

Animar, Soul of Elements

Chameleon Colossus

Cloud of Faeries

Foil Sphinx of Uthuun

Japanese Genesis

Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker

Sword of Fire and Ice (Played)

Birds of Paradise

Deadwood Treefolk

Alex’s

Time Spiral

Mana Reflection

Consecrated Sphinx

Jace Beleren

Stroke of Genius

Regrowth

Tooth and Nail

Gilded Lotus

This type of trade exemplifies what one of the practices I like to follow: Trade to help people out. Usually I have two or three wants at a given and more often than not, they are obscure enough or high enough value that most, if not all people will not have them. Instead of wasting my and other people’s time by not trading with because they don’t have my wants, I trade for anything that might interest me. Anything from Legacy/Standard staples to Nantuko Shades for my collection or EDH bulk rares. I’d rather complete a trade than not since I’m not partial to most of the stuff in my binders and I enjoy trading. It benefits both sides since someone gets what they want and I will always find something usual in return.

The other trades weren’t very interesting, I picked up a Shirei, Shizo’s Caretaker and a Smother for my EDH decks, but like I said it was a slow night. I will be back at the store Wednesday for Standard, since I have to bring Steelshaper’s Gift to someone.

Introduction

2012-01-16T04:42:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my blog!

This is my second attempt at making a regular blog and a result of having more time due to unemployment (hope to fix that soon). I've been playing Magic for almost ten years; what started as an escape, became a full-time hobby and occasionally a secondary source of income. I usually am drafting two to three times a week or playing casual and French EDH in Boston. Though I enjoy playing, I get the most fun out of trading, buying and selling. Even though I usually do not need anything, I am always up to trade just for the sake of doing it.

This blog will mainly focus on the trading aspect of the game. If you are looking for speculation, this is the wrong place. Magic isn't stocks, so don't expect me to tell you what cards to trade to make a quick buck. This is a discussion of trading practices and will revolve around my everyday experiences. Occasionally I will voice my opinion on noteworthy related topics as well.

Thanks for reading.