Title says it all. After investing heavily into competitive Legacy and EDH, I think it would be prudent to protect my investment. Do any of you utilize a safe to protect your cards? I was thinking something waterproof, fire proof, etc to fit about 6 deck boxes and a couple of binders.
I use about 8 9/page monster binders for only Legacy. A 4/page monster binder for vintage. Otherwise I have trimmed enough stuff out to have a single "8000 count" box for the rest. My cube is a whole other story however.
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Statistically, using a firearm in defense of self or property makes you less safe. Those who are carrying a firearm are more likely to be injured or killed in a crime than those who are not. The Harvard School of Public Health goes into this topic in detail:
The notion of civilians being allowed to own guns is absurd, but that's off-topic.
Just get an insurance policy that covers collectibles and document what you have carefully. The decks are worth a few thousand dollars, that's nothing to lose your life over.
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These days, some wizards are finding they have a little too much deck left at the end of their $$$.
MTG finance guy- follow me on Twitter@RichArschmann or RichardArschmann on Reddit
For me; I have cards separated into boxes based on color, mana-cost, etc. then I have a section at the end for cards that are usually $5+ (same storage for all of these)
These are stored in soft + hard case. I'd recommend that in your decks you use those "tight" sleeves (can't remember the name right now) as when you swap between sleeves and such you'll protect the card.
Aside from this; use one of those safes you can bolt in your home if you need the peace of mind:
-Firesafe
-Watersafe
-Can't steal it easily (bolted to floor, locked, etc..)
though a gun safe is an equally neat idea; though the cards won't fit in a nice way.
give guns/ammunition (follow the law(s) for your area as you exercise your Constituional right) to every neighbor in a 20 mile radius and let them know to protect your stuff---you give yourself several guns/ammunition and do the same
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Standard: UWG Bant Control
EDH: UArcum Dagsson
Modern: Affinity
Vintage: BUR Grixis Control
Legacy: W Mono-White : U Merfolk : BUG Esper Stoneblade : RBG Punishing Jund : B Reanimator : RU Sneak and Show : GB Infect : RG Red/Green Devotion : RUG RUG Delver
If you get a fireproof safe, it isn't going to save the cards. The heat generated will melt your sleeves and turn your deck into a pile of goop and cardboard.
I guess you could store the cards unsleeved.
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These days, some wizards are finding they have a little too much deck left at the end of their $$$.
MTG finance guy- follow me on Twitter@RichArschmann or RichardArschmann on Reddit
If you get a fireproof safe, it isn't going to save the cards. The heat generated will melt your sleeves and turn your deck into a pile of goop and cardboard.
I guess you could store the cards unsleeved.
It's a safe I already have that I use to store important documents and firearms. If they get damaged then they get damaged. They're in there so no one can just walk off with them if they come into my house.
One of my acquaintances modified a refrigerator to have slide-out drawers for his card collectables. While this doesn't offer the best fire protection, it still will protect your cards from a minor/localized fire. Unfortunately, even a "fireproof safe" will probably not retain your cardboard in the event of a large building fire. Refrigerators are also a much better seal against air/moisture/flooding and can be pretty cheap. If you tear out the compressor or bypass it you can even take advantage of the roof-mounted lighting that most contain. You can probably find a used refrigerator that would do the trick for ~$20.
Just get an insurance policy that covers collectibles and document what you have carefully. The decks are worth a few thousand dollars, that's nothing to lose your life over.
This part of your post makes sense.
As far as insurance goes though, you should be able to add in a clause/specific coverage for your entire collection through your renter's/home owner's insurance for a relatively moderate fee.
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Maverick -- Storm Click here for trade thread
Trade thread under reconstruction. Because you can't spell slaughter without laughter.
Statistically, using a firearm in defense of self or property makes you less safe. Those who are carrying a firearm are more likely to be injured or killed in a crime than those who are not. The Harvard School of Public Health goes into this topic in detail:
The notion of civilians being allowed to own guns is absurd, but that's off-topic.
Just get an insurance policy that covers collectibles and document what you have carefully. The decks are worth a few thousand dollars, that's nothing to lose your life over.
By way of counterpoint on the gun issue, I suggest taking a look at the work Dr. John Lott has done to disprove your claims (http://www.johnlott.org).
On topic -- I do agree that insurance is the best bet for protecting your "investment", and a decent policy should be easily less than $100 a year. My renters insurance is like $12/mo, and I'd expect it to be cheaper than that. Most such insurance does, however, require that you carefully and thoroughly catalogue everything.
John Lott hasn't "disproven" anything. You can only disprove a mathematical law: a phenomenon as complicated as gun violence can only have evidence for and evidence against it.
Beyond the terminology, he also hasn't made any kind of credible, peer-reviewed argument in any kind of scientific journal. He makes books and sells them for profit. Finally, multiple independent reviewers have failed to replicate Lott's results in their models. The following studies are all peer-reviewed and of much higher quality than any of the nonsense Lott has put out for conservative talking heads to regurgitate.
Ian Ayres, Yale Law School, and John Donohue, Stanford Law School, "Shooting Down the More Guns, Less Crime Hypothesis," Stanford Law Review, 2003.
Tomislav V. Kovandzic and Thomas B. Marvell, "Right-to-Carry Concealed Firearms and Violent Crime: Crime Control Through Gun Decontrol?" Criminology and Public Policy 2, (2003) pp. 363–396.
Dan Black and Daniel Nagin, "Do 'Right-to-Carry' Laws Deter Violent Crime?" Journal of Legal Studies, Vol. 27, No. 1, pp. 209–213 (January 1998).
That's off-topic, though. Keiichi is correct in stating that EVERYTHING MUST BE CATEGORIZED. Take pictures of every card and list the value. Read the policy carefully and follow their guidelines to a T.
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These days, some wizards are finding they have a little too much deck left at the end of their $$$.
MTG finance guy- follow me on Twitter@RichArschmann or RichardArschmann on Reddit
John Lott hasn't "disproven" anything. You can only disprove a mathematical law: a phenomenon as complicated as gun violence can only have evidence for and evidence against it.
Beyond the terminology, he also hasn't made any kind of credible, peer-reviewed argument in any kind of scientific journal. He makes books and sells them for profit. Finally, multiple independent reviewers have failed to replicate Lott's results in their models. The following studies are all peer-reviewed and of much higher quality than any of the nonsense Lott has put out for conservative talking heads to regurgitate.
Ian Ayres, Yale Law School, and John Donohue, Stanford Law School, "Shooting Down the More Guns, Less Crime Hypothesis," Stanford Law Review, 2003.
Tomislav V. Kovandzic and Thomas B. Marvell, "Right-to-Carry Concealed Firearms and Violent Crime: Crime Control Through Gun Decontrol?" Criminology and Public Policy 2, (2003) pp. 363–396.
Dan Black and Daniel Nagin, "Do 'Right-to-Carry' Laws Deter Violent Crime?" Journal of Legal Studies, Vol. 27, No. 1, pp. 209–213 (January 1998).
That's off-topic, though. Keiichi is correct in stating that EVERYTHING MUST BE CATEGORIZED. Take pictures of every card and list the value. Read the policy carefully and follow their guidelines to a T.
Get insurance first and foremost. After that, feel free to go crazy on with a safe, nightvision and motion-detection cameras, alarm systems or you name it. Might I recommend you build one of these:
I'm against most of what's in here. Insurance companies are one of the most profitable industries because they're worthless. People suggesting insurance means literally hundreds of dollars of input for no output over the course of the next 5 years (depending on your collection's worth; it may only be like $200) (because it's severely unlikely your stuff is going to not only be destroyed, but be covered by your policy.)
Getting a safe and bolting it to the floor costs you like $50 *ONCE*; and isn't subject to dodgey page-after-page BS where it turns out you're not covered anyway. Putting the money you'd have put into insurance into a "rainy day fund" is much more intelligent in the long run; as you can still use money; you can't use wasted insurance dollars. (However if you plan on having a friend burglarize your house and burn your cards; then you're already participating in an insurance scam and should get your stuff covered.)
Honestly, insurance is a pointless ruse in almost all cases; it's unfortunate that commercials and the law have made it acceptable, let alone mandatory for a subset of items; all because the idea of "Save your money for a rainy day" is completely foreign to the mostly irresponsible people our western culture.
I could literally careen my car off a cliff, burn my 5 guitars, lose my entire collection of clothing and hobby stuffs and most of my furniture; buy it back; and still have savings.
I've only had what I'd call a "real" (post-college career) job for about 1.5 years.
That said; I (or my parents) have had to pay something like $8000 in car insurance over the last decade for literally nothing.
Avoid insurance and simply live a responsible life. Keeping a replacement fund is cheaper in the long run. The one place I'd disagree is when your company is offering to waste *their* money to cover you; then you may as well buy in (Health, Dental, etc.)
While I agree that it's hard to tell if an insurance company will indeed cover you until something happens, if you're meticulous and keep good evidence there's a reasonable chance to have things go your way, if not directly then with legal assistance.
Also, insurance rate for cards are not the same as that for cars so I don't think that's quite a fair comparison. At the end of the day, it really depends on how much you have to insure, not everybody can destroy their car, lose everything they own, etc. and still claim that it would have cost less to replace these rather than pay insurance.
For my collection at least, paying insurance over the next century is still much less than the cost of replacing the collection, so yeah, it's something I'm willing to live with for now and would suggest it for the OP, who has invested seriously into legacy and edh.
Statistically, using a firearm in defense of self or property makes you less safe. Those who are carrying a firearm are more likely to be injured or killed in a crime than those who are not. The Harvard School of Public Health goes into this topic in detail:
The notion of civilians being allowed to own guns is absurd, but that's off-topic.
Just get an insurance policy that covers collectibles and document what you have carefully. The decks are worth a few thousand dollars, that's nothing to lose your life over.
Yea, lets only let the government have firearms, apart from directly violating the primary notions this country was founded on, history clearly shows that giving increasing power to the government at the expense of the people is a good thing.
You realize that the "in detail" that your linked study goes into is primarly (~90%) based on the research and findings of a single person who's looking at specific institutions located in California and DC right?
I know I always feel a lot safer with my 9mm at my side - whether I'm toting several thousand dollars of cardboard or not.
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Maverick -- Storm Click here for trade thread
Trade thread under reconstruction. Because you can't spell slaughter without laughter.
Well this thread certainly got derailed out of nowhere.
I'm sitting on a pretty healthy collection of legacy decks, and I do absolutely nothing out of the ordinary to protect them. I double-sleeve them, keep them in deck boxes, and don't leave them lying around the places I take them. That's good enough for me.
In the event of a break in, it's unlikely that the average criminal would be looking at them versus your electronics, jewelry, firearms (if applicable), and medicine cabinet. In the event of a fire, insurance will likely not save you. Anyone with homeowner's insurance who has experienced a fire will be happy to give you their personal sob story about their insurance only covering a fraction of what they actually lose, although I'm sure there are exceptions.
There's inherently risk in owning nice things. That's just the way it goes. Getting a safe certainly won't hurt anything, but I don't know how much good it will do you either.
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Currently playing:
Standard: I, for one, welcome our new rhinoceros overlords
Modern: Pod's dead, Bob's back.
Legacy: Lands, Deathblade, Death and Taxes, Elves, MUD
Retired Legacy: Merfolk, Goblins, Jund, Delver, Reanimator
Personally in my area I'd be more concerned about the possibility of a fire than a break-in. So I'd rather keep my decks packed in a bag and ready to go.
As an aside, there are rational arguments that can be made regarding reasons to own and carry firearms. This is not one of them:
Yea, lets only let the government have firearms, apart from directly violating the primary notions this country was founded on, history clearly shows that giving increasing power to the government at the expense of the people is a good thing.
...
The idea that you are going to protect your home from a tank, let alone a predator drone, with your semi-automatic is absolutely ludicrous. If the government was actually out to get you, they arent going to be sending a guy with a musket like in 1787. Comments like this just make you look like a nut.
-----The Legacy Flowchart-----
Tiny Leaders Overlord
Current decks of choice:
Vintage: Shops.
Legacy: Lands.
Modern: Lantern.
How boss it would be to crack open a safe to bring forward my favorite decks for battle. I could call it the Bat Cave.
Overall record: 139-98-15
Total number of matches: 252
Win percentage ignoring draws: 58.649789
Win percentage including draws: 55.158730
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/hicrc/firearms-research/gun-threats-and-self-defense-gun-use-2/
The notion of civilians being allowed to own guns is absurd, but that's off-topic.
Just get an insurance policy that covers collectibles and document what you have carefully. The decks are worth a few thousand dollars, that's nothing to lose your life over.
MTG finance guy- follow me on Twitter@RichArschmann or RichardArschmann on Reddit
These are stored in soft + hard case. I'd recommend that in your decks you use those "tight" sleeves (can't remember the name right now) as when you swap between sleeves and such you'll protect the card.
Aside from this; use one of those safes you can bolt in your home if you need the peace of mind:
-Firesafe
-Watersafe
-Can't steal it easily (bolted to floor, locked, etc..)
though a gun safe is an equally neat idea; though the cards won't fit in a nice way.
Look, Fetch, Draw, Look
Draw
Fetch
Look
Standard: UWG Bant Control
EDH: UArcum Dagsson
Modern: Affinity
Vintage: BUR Grixis Control
Legacy: W Mono-White : U Merfolk : BUG Esper Stoneblade : RBG Punishing Jund : B Reanimator : RU Sneak and Show : GB Infect : RG Red/Green Devotion : RUG RUG Delver
Legacy: Infect, Lands, Eldrazi, Storm
Modern: Infect, UW Eldrazi
I guess you could store the cards unsleeved.
MTG finance guy- follow me on Twitter@RichArschmann or RichardArschmann on Reddit
It's a safe I already have that I use to store important documents and firearms. If they get damaged then they get damaged. They're in there so no one can just walk off with them if they come into my house.
Legacy: Infect, Lands, Eldrazi, Storm
Modern: Infect, UW Eldrazi
Edit: If you're really that scared, you can get a insurance policy on them.
This part of your post makes sense.
As far as insurance goes though, you should be able to add in a clause/specific coverage for your entire collection through your renter's/home owner's insurance for a relatively moderate fee.
Maverick -- Storm
Click here for trade threadTrade thread under reconstruction.
Because you can't spell slaughter without laughter.
By way of counterpoint on the gun issue, I suggest taking a look at the work Dr. John Lott has done to disprove your claims (http://www.johnlott.org).
On topic -- I do agree that insurance is the best bet for protecting your "investment", and a decent policy should be easily less than $100 a year. My renters insurance is like $12/mo, and I'd expect it to be cheaper than that. Most such insurance does, however, require that you carefully and thoroughly catalogue everything.
Legacy - WRG Lands, WR Shortcake, RR Burn, UBRG Delver
Beyond the terminology, he also hasn't made any kind of credible, peer-reviewed argument in any kind of scientific journal. He makes books and sells them for profit. Finally, multiple independent reviewers have failed to replicate Lott's results in their models. The following studies are all peer-reviewed and of much higher quality than any of the nonsense Lott has put out for conservative talking heads to regurgitate.
Ian Ayres, Yale Law School, and John Donohue, Stanford Law School, "Shooting Down the More Guns, Less Crime Hypothesis," Stanford Law Review, 2003.
Tomislav V. Kovandzic and Thomas B. Marvell, "Right-to-Carry Concealed Firearms and Violent Crime: Crime Control Through Gun Decontrol?" Criminology and Public Policy 2, (2003) pp. 363–396.
Dan Black and Daniel Nagin, "Do 'Right-to-Carry' Laws Deter Violent Crime?" Journal of Legal Studies, Vol. 27, No. 1, pp. 209–213 (January 1998).
That's off-topic, though. Keiichi is correct in stating that EVERYTHING MUST BE CATEGORIZED. Take pictures of every card and list the value. Read the policy carefully and follow their guidelines to a T.
MTG finance guy- follow me on Twitter@RichArschmann or RichardArschmann on Reddit
I like this guy.
Legacy: Infect, Lands, Eldrazi, Storm
Modern: Infect, UW Eldrazi
http://static1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130701231633/pacificrim/images/thumb/9/96/Gipsy_Danger_Poster_2.jpg/334px-Gipsy_Danger_Poster_2.jpg
Warning for Image Leeching issued. Image removed (link added)
-:pops:
Getting a safe and bolting it to the floor costs you like $50 *ONCE*; and isn't subject to dodgey page-after-page BS where it turns out you're not covered anyway. Putting the money you'd have put into insurance into a "rainy day fund" is much more intelligent in the long run; as you can still use money; you can't use wasted insurance dollars. (However if you plan on having a friend burglarize your house and burn your cards; then you're already participating in an insurance scam and should get your stuff covered.)
Honestly, insurance is a pointless ruse in almost all cases; it's unfortunate that commercials and the law have made it acceptable, let alone mandatory for a subset of items; all because the idea of "Save your money for a rainy day" is completely foreign to the mostly irresponsible people our western culture.
I could literally careen my car off a cliff, burn my 5 guitars, lose my entire collection of clothing and hobby stuffs and most of my furniture; buy it back; and still have savings.
I've only had what I'd call a "real" (post-college career) job for about 1.5 years.
That said; I (or my parents) have had to pay something like $8000 in car insurance over the last decade for literally nothing.
Avoid insurance and simply live a responsible life. Keeping a replacement fund is cheaper in the long run. The one place I'd disagree is when your company is offering to waste *their* money to cover you; then you may as well buy in (Health, Dental, etc.)
Look, Fetch, Draw, Look
Draw
Fetch
Look
Also, insurance rate for cards are not the same as that for cars so I don't think that's quite a fair comparison. At the end of the day, it really depends on how much you have to insure, not everybody can destroy their car, lose everything they own, etc. and still claim that it would have cost less to replace these rather than pay insurance.
For my collection at least, paying insurance over the next century is still much less than the cost of replacing the collection, so yeah, it's something I'm willing to live with for now and would suggest it for the OP, who has invested seriously into legacy and edh.
Yea, lets only let the government have firearms, apart from directly violating the primary notions this country was founded on, history clearly shows that giving increasing power to the government at the expense of the people is a good thing.
You realize that the "in detail" that your linked study goes into is primarly (~90%) based on the research and findings of a single person who's looking at specific institutions located in California and DC right?
I know I always feel a lot safer with my 9mm at my side - whether I'm toting several thousand dollars of cardboard or not.
Maverick -- Storm
Click here for trade threadTrade thread under reconstruction.
Because you can't spell slaughter without laughter.
I'm sitting on a pretty healthy collection of legacy decks, and I do absolutely nothing out of the ordinary to protect them. I double-sleeve them, keep them in deck boxes, and don't leave them lying around the places I take them. That's good enough for me.
In the event of a break in, it's unlikely that the average criminal would be looking at them versus your electronics, jewelry, firearms (if applicable), and medicine cabinet. In the event of a fire, insurance will likely not save you. Anyone with homeowner's insurance who has experienced a fire will be happy to give you their personal sob story about their insurance only covering a fraction of what they actually lose, although I'm sure there are exceptions.
There's inherently risk in owning nice things. That's just the way it goes. Getting a safe certainly won't hurt anything, but I don't know how much good it will do you either.
Standard: I, for one, welcome our new rhinoceros overlords
Modern: Pod's dead, Bob's back.
Legacy: Lands, Deathblade, Death and Taxes, Elves, MUD
Retired Legacy: Merfolk, Goblins, Jund, Delver, Reanimator
As an aside, there are rational arguments that can be made regarding reasons to own and carry firearms. This is not one of them:
The idea that you are going to protect your home from a tank, let alone a predator drone, with your semi-automatic is absolutely ludicrous. If the government was actually out to get you, they arent going to be sending a guy with a musket like in 1787. Comments like this just make you look like a nut.
Have any questions or concerns? Come take a dip in my pool.