My friend is getting back into the game after a hiatus since Onslaught. He also had a hiatus spanning much of Mirage and Tempest blocks. Although he's not a rabid competitive type 2 and block constructed player, he does want to play in extended and type 1 tournaments. Unfortunately, we are having trouble finding copies of older staples. Because of the low draft turnouts in my area, the secondary market is sparse and many playable uncommons go as high as rares (not just Eternal Witness, but also Hondens and Ghostly Prison and that sort.) We have watched Mishra's Workshops go from $120 to $200 each in our area just over the last YEAR. As a result of this sort of thing, we are falling farther and farther behind.
Is this just me, or as I suspect are some of you also having a real tough time keeping up?
Yeah, my friend started in Unlimited or Revised or Legends or something...he is quite shocked to see what is happening to the secondary market for even uncommons and some commons. It's sad sad sad.
@Midgard: I feel your pain. i have another friend in Portugal who will trade all kinds of type 2 playable rares for basic staples like Cabal Therapy and Accumulated Knowledge...its a COMMON for crying out loud. Around here (Maryland) booster prices and draft prices are obscene, so nobody drafts or plays sealed deck, everybody plays type 2 and there's no secondary market whatsoever. Unless you count going to a shop and paying $2-3 each for Hondens or Sosuke's Summons. Heaven help you if you need a Sword of Fire and Ice
In order to play any kind of Magic, you have to have a type 2 deck 'round these parts. You have to sell or trade all your good Mirrodin stuff away to get a few Kamigawa rares, and then you don't have any Mindslavers or Angels or Charbelchers for Extended or type 1. You just keep falling further and further behind...
You did forget an option on the poll - I'm well off and can afford to buy the cards I need through my own hard work as I am ancient (40+ ;)) and have all the creature comforts a human can use
Nope, it's on there, just have to split it between those who win most of their cards by Magic prowess, and those who just go out and buy what they need.
I've got a fairly good job, but my friend is still in grad school/transitioning to the work force and doesn't have the income to keep up. He also lives farther away from tournaments so doesnt have the luxury of buying or trading very often. The stores close to him (< 1 hour away) have high prices and people generally don't play there because they don't support tournament play. I know a lot of people on this board live in smaller towns, farther away from the tournament scene and have to struggle with getting cards for decks as well as traveling to tournaments. I'd like to hear from those of you for whom travel to tournaments is no small part of your expenses, and who have to leverage the new cards with the old, at least in some way.
I used to get most of my magic cards by a balance of judging and winnings, but now it's tougher to get to tournaments and I don't judge anymore because of the transportation issue. I wonder if I should sit this couple years out, take a hiatus, etc. until my living situation improves and I can be more active; or whether it will continue to be a problem then, and I should make every effort to stay current so I can skip having to go back and pay $5 each for Hinders or something gawdawful.
I have no income (all I have is what I've saved up), so in a sense, it's somewhat of a problem. I have to ration my money. I do play casual only, though.
I think the high cost probably keeps some people from keeping up with the pace of the game. I just recently started building my collection of dual lands (OG, not pain). It has been quite a chore, but I am up to 27/40 which includes 4 Underground Sea, 4 Tundra, 3 Volcanics, 3 Trops. So at least I've gotten the most expensive ones out of the way 1st.
With regard to newer sets, I try to buy at least a case of the large set and 3 boxes each of the smaller sets. I find that I get almost everything I need out of that for any particular block. Not that I couldn't win those cards, I just prefer to win with them.
I have a job (off and on, usually during the summer) and help my parents around the house for my money (I've even tried babysitting!!!) so buying cards is usually no problem
I dont have an amazing collection, most of the cards I have are Onalaught and older, though I have traded many for newer cards. The main way I get cards now is through drafting because at my store frequent buyers get 5% off, which is not much, but I tell the people who are in the draft with me that I'll buy there packs for them if they give me money, and they still havent caught on to the 5% off, so I save a little bit more money (sneeky huh?) And so i can usually get the cards I want through draft (I'm a decent drafter, especially cuz the guys in my store aren't all that amazing) and if there's nothing I want I just get tradebait.
I want to get more involved in tournaments but I just dont have the time to be testing decks and analysing the metagame etc. I'd love to, and if I ever get a serious group in my area together I'd love to, but ppl play Type 2 but not competitively so there's no one to really compare ur deck to. I mostly do Limited at odd events here and there and the prereleases (havent missed one yet!)
So I don't think that price is that much of an issue for me, you just need to cut corners sometimes and find cheaper alternatives or just knowing where to look for better prices (although there's not much you can do if you like in Portugal hehe sorry! )
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Originally Posted by PolarBearGod
I would hate to be the people who try and keep everything secretive about new sets and stuff. Magic players are like crack fiends for info on new stuff - myself included I guess.:rolleyes:
Sure it'd be nice to be able to afford to buy more cards, but I have around 15,000 cards ranging mainly from Revised through Urza's block and then from Onslaught until now, so I've got quite a few options when building new decks. I mainly play casually, so I don't have to worry about staying up to date with playsets of all the killer cards. If there's a certain card I need for a deck, I'll usually just buy it off of eBay if I can get the copies I need for under $10 or so.
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"...because without beer, things do not seem to go as well."
You're right with the poll option - the MODO economy is incredibly different, in that prices can as much as octuple for Extended cards.
I myself do many things. First and foremost I work and work and work and work and work myself to death to make cash which I then pour into everything imaginable including magic so that I can still complain about being poor. Second, I win tournies. A lot. The winnings are usually packs, which I then use to trade, or enter more tournies and win. A lot. Finally, I invest in magic cards. I told a story somewhere on News about what I did with Ravager, and how it became a thing for me. I saw Modular and thought it was awesome. I made a modular deck and ended up accidentally overtrading for cards right after Darksteel came out. I had 6 or 7 ravagers that I had traded probably $3 apiece for (the kids at my store were'nt that bright, and besides, nobody realised for several weeks after how good it really was). So then I made my deck, and when the prices shot up, I sold. All of them. I ended up getting a box of mirrodin for 4 of them, and the rest I traded for Type 1 and Extended stuff. I did a similar thing with Extraction (though EVERYONE knew that was insane so it was hard) and Kokusho (not as difficult) and more recently, Jitte, which was the easiest yet.
In short, I can afford it because I'm smart. But now that I'm moving to Orlando it's gonna get a lot harder.
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...
I have no extendo-sig. Sorry, I'm just not vain enough to think someone will click on it.
You're right with the poll option - the MODO economy is incredibly different, in that prices can as much as octuple for Extended cards.
I myself do many things. First and foremost I work and work and work and work and work myself to death to make cash which I then pour into everything imaginable including magic so that I can still complain about being poor. Second, I win tournies. A lot. The winnings are usually packs, which I then use to trade, or enter more tournies and win. A lot. Finally, I invest in magic cards. I told a story somewhere on News about what I did with Ravager, and how it became a thing for me. I saw Modular and thought it was awesome. I made a modular deck and ended up accidentally overtrading for cards right after Darksteel came out. I had 6 or 7 ravagers that I had traded probably $3 apiece for (the kids at my store were'nt that bright, and besides, nobody realised for several weeks after how good it really was). So then I made my deck, and when the prices shot up, I sold. All of them. I ended up getting a box of mirrodin for 4 of them, and the rest I traded for Type 1 and Extended stuff. I did a similar thing with Extraction (though EVERYONE knew that was insane so it was hard) and Kokusho (not as difficult) and more recently, Jitte, which was the easiest yet.
In short, I can afford it because I'm smart. But now that I'm moving to Orlando it's gonna get a lot harder.
Location is really important. The larger cities in the Midwest have the most vibrant Magic secondary markets by far. I could walk into any coffee shop in Minneapolis on the right day and buy/sell/trade just about anything I needed, sometimes including power. There are shops in St. Louis that still have dusty boxes of uncommons where you can get Cabal Therapy for a dollar and Astral Slide for 50 cents. A draft in the Midwest still costs $10-12.
Contrast this with the East Coast and California, where you may find yourself paying $4 for a pack of Kamigawa and $5 for Mirrodin packs, and drafts usually cost $15.
Ebay is not really an answer here because as soon as Mr. Midwest lists his stuff, someone from California or NY will bid a NY-sized bid on it.
As for cards being more expensive abroad, this is quite a shame.
I used to spend more than I do now on cards, but now I just go to tourneys and trade or try and win stuff. I could afford more cards but Im a horde and would rather sit on my money.:evillol: The best way to get cards is to trade. I'm a trade hawk and will usually get a junk rare thrown in with my trades just because it catches my eye. I then accumulate a bunch of them and have quite the trade bait. Right now I have a pretty stagnat collection of cards which only changes a bit every 2 weeks to a month. I live in new england, middle of nowhere and alot of old staples are extremely hard to come by. (Im having a stroke trying to find duress 3 and 4)
The best value for myself (oddly enough) is the Prereleases. Why? In New Jersey (and the Tri-State Area) the people who run the tournaments are called Gray Matter Conventions. Their tournament structure is my favorite. Basically you get the Standard tournamnet pack, three boosters, foil card. Even if you come dead last you get a pack. 3-1 nets 5, 3-0-1 nets 9, and 4-0 nets 11. It costs 30 dollars to play main flights so even if you don't win its(-11 for the tournament pack) 4.75 a pack(which has been fully released to the public). If you win 3-1 its $2.38 a pack, 3-0-1 its $2.12, and if you go 4-0 its $1.73. Thats a pretty good deal consdering from my local dealer its 3.75 a pack.
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RnD during Time Spiral:
Rosewater: "Color Pie, WTF is that, If I want Black to be able to wrath, counter and have green creatures then I will damnit!"
Random RnD guy: "RED AKORMA! FTW!"
Gleemax: "Rosewater has broken out of my mind control!"
RnD after 2008:
MaRo: Hmm how do we fix the problems of pricing with cards like Tarmogoyf and Thoughtsieze
Random RnD Guy: OO lets make a new RED RARITY SYMBOL!
MARO: OMGWTFBBQ! Thats a great idea, we'll call it Mythic Rarity!
Gleemax: NOT AGAIN! CELEB
Well, I got into judging after hearing the great deals you get for judging, even FNMs. But before that, I had a tough time paying for cards, and the best way for me to get them was to play in drafts where we picked rares at the end, we got a bulk discount from the store owner when we did this too, and that helped. But Magic really is expensive, and a lot of our JSS age kids have a tough time getting cards to play with.
The price for the cardboard version of this game finally got too ridiculous for me since I buy mostly singles and boxes. I used to have my boxes shipped in from Illinois so that wasn't so much of the problem as the singles. For example, a Dosan sells for 6 bucks around me and a *** can easily go for more than 17. Now I'm tryin to get into MTGO but that hasn't been the easiest transfer since I have to basically start all over again.
i sell lots of old commons (by making them into decks) so i can pay for drafts and other new cards i need. its the paper version of going infinite on MODO.
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I am looking for Date Stamped promos from Khans of Tarkir block so I can finish my set. Check my wants if you have any.
Currently offering 2 non-foil Kolighan's Command for a Date Stamped foil!
The pricing of cards're absolutely no problem if you happen to be in a thriving high school magic community. >_> For every guy that goes to the local card shop for his cards, there're two waiting in the wings for a good deal from that sucker. It's slow going, since, the overall card pool's rather limited, but you can get what you want with minimal cost.
Plus, given a big enough collection and reputation, you can easily make, say, fifteen to thirty bucks every few weeks. >_> No comments on whether or not I was inflating the price of those Toshiros...
I sell/trade my older cards to get newer ones, and only build 1 deck at a time.
Voted for that. Even though I can build up to 3 Decks at a time when I trade, that was the one which fits best. (But then my folder has ca.50crap rares in, and I can't really trade anymore) Normally I have 2 Decks.
I never buy new cards, or well, I never buy boosters - I play at Preleases and Drafts, from there come my trade cards
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Sometimes those with the most sin cast the first stones.
The best value for myself (oddly enough) is the Prereleases. Why? In New Jersey (and the Tri-State Area) the people who run the tournaments are called Gray Matter Conventions. Their tournament structure is my favorite. Basically you get the Standard tournamnet pack, three boosters, foil card. Even if you come dead last you get a pack. 3-1 nets 5, 3-0-1 nets 9, and 4-0 nets 11. It costs 30 dollars to play main flights so even if you don't win its(-11 for the tournament pack) 4.75 a pack(which has been fully released to the public). If you win 3-1 its $2.38 a pack, 3-0-1 its $2.12, and if you go 4-0 its $1.73. Thats a pretty good deal consdering from my local dealer its 3.75 a pack.
Plus the dealers sometimes sell stuff at a decent price if your looking for put of format cards. Such as looking for extended at a Type/block event. And 1 and 1.5 at a extended or up event. The only thing over priced is Type 2 and block and even then unless its a chase rare you can get them cheap. The evnts are run pretty smoothly and I have no grips....
Around here (Maryland) booster prices and draft prices are obscene, so nobody drafts or plays sealed deck, everybody plays type 2 and there's no secondary market whatsoever. Unless you count going to a shop and paying $2-3 each for Hondens or Sosuke's Summons. Heaven help you if you need a Sword of Fire and Ice.
As a fellow Marylander, where do you play/buy/trade?
Well I'm cheap as hell. I either borrow a deck from a friend and give them half of any winnings or I play a suboptimal budget deck. Right now all I have is a decent sligh. I mostly play casual though, so it doesn't matter so much.
I used to go to FNM and trade (well, my brother traded, I played and managed to get free uncoms and commons, being a girl. and squeaky.), and I'd go to the PR.
Now, I doubt I'll be able to go to a Prerelease OR FNM until I get a Car Of My Very Own or a U-Card (or something like that. about 15$ for unlimited free busrides).
I have the money for about a pack or two a month as well as at least two FNMs.
Where I live, I have a store that sells below price (2.50$ a pack. rawk on. :D), so that isn't really the problem. The problem is that I have no transportation
I used to not have a big issue with getting booster boxes and such. I have a nice job that pays well enough so that I can easily buy a box everytime a set comes out without spending too much. I would usually get my boxes for around 60-70 dollars when my friend would go to some convention center of sorts. However, I'm now making the shift into MTGO, so I'm just working with that and intend to sell all of my physical cards to help fund my new stuff for MTGO. Sometime before college starts up again in the fall, I'm going to count my cards and try selling the whole lot of them on Ebay. I'm sure that I could get around 250-300 dollars for all of them.
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Waiting patiently for MTGO Leagues to become a priority again. It's been 4 years :sick:.
Drop by my Helpdesk if you have any questions/concerns on the Limited forum.
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I think MTGO has had an effect on the price of physical cards. I think it has increased awareness of Magic as a whole, but because of that it has also made cards from those sets worth less rather than more, because of people like Tarbosh, who are going the all MODO way, rather than playing physical Magic.
Is this just me, or as I suspect are some of you also having a real tough time keeping up?
Yeah, my friend started in Unlimited or Revised or Legends or something...he is quite shocked to see what is happening to the secondary market for even uncommons and some commons. It's sad sad sad.
@Midgard: I feel your pain. i have another friend in Portugal who will trade all kinds of type 2 playable rares for basic staples like Cabal Therapy and Accumulated Knowledge...its a COMMON for crying out loud. Around here (Maryland) booster prices and draft prices are obscene, so nobody drafts or plays sealed deck, everybody plays type 2 and there's no secondary market whatsoever. Unless you count going to a shop and paying $2-3 each for Hondens or Sosuke's Summons. Heaven help you if you need a Sword of Fire and Ice
In order to play any kind of Magic, you have to have a type 2 deck 'round these parts. You have to sell or trade all your good Mirrodin stuff away to get a few Kamigawa rares, and then you don't have any Mindslavers or Angels or Charbelchers for Extended or type 1. You just keep falling further and further behind...
I've got a fairly good job, but my friend is still in grad school/transitioning to the work force and doesn't have the income to keep up. He also lives farther away from tournaments so doesnt have the luxury of buying or trading very often. The stores close to him (< 1 hour away) have high prices and people generally don't play there because they don't support tournament play. I know a lot of people on this board live in smaller towns, farther away from the tournament scene and have to struggle with getting cards for decks as well as traveling to tournaments. I'd like to hear from those of you for whom travel to tournaments is no small part of your expenses, and who have to leverage the new cards with the old, at least in some way.
I used to get most of my magic cards by a balance of judging and winnings, but now it's tougher to get to tournaments and I don't judge anymore because of the transportation issue. I wonder if I should sit this couple years out, take a hiatus, etc. until my living situation improves and I can be more active; or whether it will continue to be a problem then, and I should make every effort to stay current so I can skip having to go back and pay $5 each for Hinders or something gawdawful.
With regard to newer sets, I try to buy at least a case of the large set and 3 boxes each of the smaller sets. I find that I get almost everything I need out of that for any particular block. Not that I couldn't win those cards, I just prefer to win with them.
I dont have an amazing collection, most of the cards I have are Onalaught and older, though I have traded many for newer cards. The main way I get cards now is through drafting because at my store frequent buyers get 5% off, which is not much, but I tell the people who are in the draft with me that I'll buy there packs for them if they give me money, and they still havent caught on to the 5% off, so I save a little bit more money (sneeky huh?) And so i can usually get the cards I want through draft (I'm a decent drafter, especially cuz the guys in my store aren't all that amazing) and if there's nothing I want I just get tradebait.
I want to get more involved in tournaments but I just dont have the time to be testing decks and analysing the metagame etc. I'd love to, and if I ever get a serious group in my area together I'd love to, but ppl play Type 2 but not competitively so there's no one to really compare ur deck to. I mostly do Limited at odd events here and there and the prereleases (havent missed one yet!)
So I don't think that price is that much of an issue for me, you just need to cut corners sometimes and find cheaper alternatives or just knowing where to look for better prices (although there's not much you can do if you like in Portugal hehe sorry! )
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Quoted for truthery!
I myself do many things. First and foremost I work and work and work and work and work myself to death to make cash which I then pour into everything imaginable including magic so that I can still complain about being poor. Second, I win tournies. A lot. The winnings are usually packs, which I then use to trade, or enter more tournies and win. A lot. Finally, I invest in magic cards. I told a story somewhere on News about what I did with Ravager, and how it became a thing for me. I saw Modular and thought it was awesome. I made a modular deck and ended up accidentally overtrading for cards right after Darksteel came out. I had 6 or 7 ravagers that I had traded probably $3 apiece for (the kids at my store were'nt that bright, and besides, nobody realised for several weeks after how good it really was). So then I made my deck, and when the prices shot up, I sold. All of them. I ended up getting a box of mirrodin for 4 of them, and the rest I traded for Type 1 and Extended stuff. I did a similar thing with Extraction (though EVERYONE knew that was insane so it was hard) and Kokusho (not as difficult) and more recently, Jitte, which was the easiest yet.
In short, I can afford it because I'm smart. But now that I'm moving to Orlando it's gonna get a lot harder.
I have no extendo-sig. Sorry, I'm just not vain enough to think someone will click on it.
Location is really important. The larger cities in the Midwest have the most vibrant Magic secondary markets by far. I could walk into any coffee shop in Minneapolis on the right day and buy/sell/trade just about anything I needed, sometimes including power. There are shops in St. Louis that still have dusty boxes of uncommons where you can get Cabal Therapy for a dollar and Astral Slide for 50 cents. A draft in the Midwest still costs $10-12.
Contrast this with the East Coast and California, where you may find yourself paying $4 for a pack of Kamigawa and $5 for Mirrodin packs, and drafts usually cost $15.
Ebay is not really an answer here because as soon as Mr. Midwest lists his stuff, someone from California or NY will bid a NY-sized bid on it.
As for cards being more expensive abroad, this is quite a shame.
Rosewater: "Color Pie, WTF is that, If I want Black to be able to wrath, counter and have green creatures then I will damnit!"
Random RnD guy: "RED AKORMA! FTW!"
Gleemax: "Rosewater has broken out of my mind control!"
RnD after 2008:
MaRo: Hmm how do we fix the problems of pricing with cards like Tarmogoyf and Thoughtsieze
Random RnD Guy: OO lets make a new RED RARITY SYMBOL!
MARO: OMGWTFBBQ! Thats a great idea, we'll call it Mythic Rarity!
Gleemax: NOT AGAIN!
CELEB
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Currently offering 2 non-foil Kolighan's Command for a Date Stamped foil!
convert bulk into good cards? PucaTrade - https://pucatrade.com/invite/gift/21195
Ebay - decks/Promos/DVDs
Trade thread (constantly updated)
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/trading-post/details/337-pokerbob1s-casual-trading-emporium
Plus, given a big enough collection and reputation, you can easily make, say, fifteen to thirty bucks every few weeks. >_> No comments on whether or not I was inflating the price of those Toshiros...
Voted for that. Even though I can build up to 3 Decks at a time when I trade, that was the one which fits best. (But then my folder has ca.50crap rares in, and I can't really trade anymore) Normally I have 2 Decks.
I never buy new cards, or well, I never buy boosters - I play at Preleases and Drafts, from there come my trade cards
--Frugal Spikey
Plus the dealers sometimes sell stuff at a decent price if your looking for put of format cards. Such as looking for extended at a Type/block event. And 1 and 1.5 at a extended or up event. The only thing over priced is Type 2 and block and even then unless its a chase rare you can get them cheap. The evnts are run pretty smoothly and I have no grips....
As a fellow Marylander, where do you play/buy/trade?
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Now, I doubt I'll be able to go to a Prerelease OR FNM until I get a Car Of My Very Own or a U-Card (or something like that. about 15$ for unlimited free busrides).
I have the money for about a pack or two a month as well as at least two FNMs.
Where I live, I have a store that sells below price (2.50$ a pack. rawk on. :D), so that isn't really the problem. The problem is that I have no transportation
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