It's not in SCG's best interests, or anyone else, to do this.
The whole idea sounds great on the surface, buy everyone out and then mark up the cards. The problem is eventually, there would be an incorrect guess, and the hoarder would end up taking a major bath on the deal. Do it a couple of times, and you're closing your otherwise healthy business.
As the poster above me says, he was just shoring up his stock. Happens all of the time, look at the various online stores, when they sell out of a box or card, they buy it on Ebay and then increase the price to keep their margin.
I can say this with confidence, because I've shipped sealed product to one or two stores when they won my auctions.
It will be Urza's. The Brother's War can sell tickets to a wider crowd than something like Jace, and the way the story is setup it's easy to get the uninitiated into it. They don't start out planeswalkers, so they can ease the crowd into the concept.
Plus, the storyline sets them up for Phyrexia or Karn/Mirrodin, or both in case it does well.
It's the easiest introduction and leaves popular storylines immediately open, I can't imagine they'll go with anything but Urza's.
I just used it for a few auctions, I'll post this here for others in case they need it.
I had three auctions finish with international buyers, two were fine. The third was an unmitigated disaster. My buyer lived in a VATS exempt UK territory.
the Global Shipping Service (GSS), apparently couldn't handle it. The problem was, since his territory was a UK owned territory, GSS thought it could ship there, but in reality it can't.
So what was happening was the buyer would go to do the paypal, and paypal would throw an error "Shipping fees not specified, contact Seller".
When you do GSS, you can't invoice a buyer, so there was *nothing* I could do.
So I called Ebay...5 times...
Call 1 - "It's a GSS problem, you'll have to contact them directly" (GSS: It's an Ebay problem, contact them)
Call 2 - "All you have to do is manually invoice the buyer, message him and ask him for his paypal address, it'll link up to the auction" (Against Ebay ToS to setup the transaction that way, and it will literally block you from asking for the person's paypal address, or giving it to someone else)
Call 3 - "It's a Paypal problem, you have to call them", when I asked "Aren't you Paypal? Ebay owns it", "Oh, um, it's a separate number". When I called into Paypal, the automated voice system routed me right back to Ebay customer service because it was an Ebay problem, never even talked to a Paypal rep.
Call 4 - "All you have to do is invoice the customer", after 5 minutes of explaining that Ebay doesn't allow that, "Ship the package to Kentucky, once it gets there they'll collect the fees and you'll receive your money". When I asked if he was instructing me to ship without getting paid, "Yes, they'll collect the fees". When I told him that Ebay doesn't let you print the shipping invoice without payment "Oh, um...hold on one minute". I asked for a supervisor at this point and was told "I'll connect you with a supervisor after I'm finished helping you" (It was pretty apparent he could not help me)
Call 5 - "It's a GSS problem, let me connect you to an Ebay GSS specialist". 5 minutes later the nice lady confirmed the problem was GSS doesn't service his address, and reset my auction so I could manually invoice. She was knowledgable and efficient.
So if you use GSS, and you run into a problem like mine, ask for the Ebay GSS specialist, the first line of customer service doesn't seem to understand the GSS at all.
To be fair the mythic rarity only has a psychological effect on the players. Not much changed because mythic rarity existed well before it was officially introduced. Do any of you remember the very-very rare cards of uncommon (force of will) or rare (Tarmogoyf) rarity? How many goyfs and wills would someone get out of 1-2 boxes? None probably, especially when we are talking about goyf.
That's quite true. In fact, Mythics are about on par with the frequence of Rares in 5th edition, Tempest, Urzas, etc. IIRC, rares in those sets were 1:110, and Mythics are 1:120 in a large set.
So basically, all Mythics did was put the math back to where it was prior to Wizards testing out the smaller set sizes. Uncommons are just slightly more rare than Commons in those sets, Rares are a little bit more rare than Uncommons were (IIRC the math I did a few years on it right).
Wizard's stealthed the old set sizes back, IMO, there's nothing wrong with that.
The owner is great, people there are friendly, very little bad losers/winners. They have a draft FNM one night each week, and a constructed another night.
It's a premiere store, so it does qualifiers, and gets ample product, he sells at fair prices. Pre-releases and other tournies can get a bit crowded, I've been there for 40-50 people playing in a pre-release (He does two tourneys on pre-release weekends). Get there a bit early on pre-release days.
On the occasional slow night (Like right before a pre-release), if not enough people show for an FNM, he'll get people together to do team games if there's enough interest, or unusual drafts.
Prize support is great too. (He prides himself on having the highest payout in Pittsburgh, or at least he did the last time I was there)
I received this resin deckbox many years ago during Urza's block. I know it was purchased in a marketplace in France, but I've never seen another one and Google doesn't seem to be able to pull up any references to it.
I believe it's an official product, as it has on the inner lid a "Copyright Wizards of the Coast 1995" etched on it.
WOTC is notorious for pre-release print run problems. Back in Urza's (Destiny I think), the print run problems were so bad people were routinely cracking packs with 2-3 foils in them.
Weighing doesn't work, it's an urban myth. The difference between a foil and a nonfoil is so small that just the variance in packaging, and the slight variance in the card cuts will give you the same numbers.
Depends. You have two options for getting a set at or below market value.
1. Play in, and make it to at least the third round, in alot of drafts. You'll need to win at least 3 packs in order to contain costs, and this lets you build out to about 75% of a set's completion. Then you buy the remainder of cards for average value. Be prepared to spend 4-8 weeks at this. Flip the extra cards at bots to keep from spending money on tickets and fund your purchasing of the last 25%.
2. Spend an enourmous amount of time trying to buy the cards below market value for tickets.
You certainly can walk out with a set at or below market value.
I used to use method 1 for foil sets from Odyssee through 9th, made quite a bit of money doing it. Mythics make it less than feasible today though, the price markup on foil mythics and the rarity of opening one makes it a waste once you factor in time spent.
No, the reason you don`t want to run fetches for deck thinning is that while a single fetch will thin your deck by 1/50 or so, you pay with 1/20 of your life.
You might win, lets say (numbers arbitrary), 1% of extra games due to drawing gas 1% more often due to thinning, but at the same time, lose 3% of games due to hitting 0 life sooner than expected.
Fetches thin your deck - yes. If you have any other reason to run them (fixing mana), by all means, do it. The thinning is just an added bonus.
You don`t run fetches solely for thinning, that`s it.
Because the price you pay for that thinning is much higher than it`d be worth it
Lifeloss can be mitigated through skill, or card choices in decks, if it needs to be mitigated at all.
You can never find an equivalent method of thinning without sacrificing tempo.
It's a playstyle choice, I trust my skill to be able to offset any negative effects from fetching.
The whole idea sounds great on the surface, buy everyone out and then mark up the cards. The problem is eventually, there would be an incorrect guess, and the hoarder would end up taking a major bath on the deal. Do it a couple of times, and you're closing your otherwise healthy business.
As the poster above me says, he was just shoring up his stock. Happens all of the time, look at the various online stores, when they sell out of a box or card, they buy it on Ebay and then increase the price to keep their margin.
I can say this with confidence, because I've shipped sealed product to one or two stores when they won my auctions.
Plus, the storyline sets them up for Phyrexia or Karn/Mirrodin, or both in case it does well.
It's the easiest introduction and leaves popular storylines immediately open, I can't imagine they'll go with anything but Urza's.
I had three auctions finish with international buyers, two were fine. The third was an unmitigated disaster. My buyer lived in a VATS exempt UK territory.
the Global Shipping Service (GSS), apparently couldn't handle it. The problem was, since his territory was a UK owned territory, GSS thought it could ship there, but in reality it can't.
So what was happening was the buyer would go to do the paypal, and paypal would throw an error "Shipping fees not specified, contact Seller".
When you do GSS, you can't invoice a buyer, so there was *nothing* I could do.
So I called Ebay...5 times...
Call 1 - "It's a GSS problem, you'll have to contact them directly" (GSS: It's an Ebay problem, contact them)
Call 2 - "All you have to do is manually invoice the buyer, message him and ask him for his paypal address, it'll link up to the auction" (Against Ebay ToS to setup the transaction that way, and it will literally block you from asking for the person's paypal address, or giving it to someone else)
Call 3 - "It's a Paypal problem, you have to call them", when I asked "Aren't you Paypal? Ebay owns it", "Oh, um, it's a separate number". When I called into Paypal, the automated voice system routed me right back to Ebay customer service because it was an Ebay problem, never even talked to a Paypal rep.
Call 4 - "All you have to do is invoice the customer", after 5 minutes of explaining that Ebay doesn't allow that, "Ship the package to Kentucky, once it gets there they'll collect the fees and you'll receive your money". When I asked if he was instructing me to ship without getting paid, "Yes, they'll collect the fees". When I told him that Ebay doesn't let you print the shipping invoice without payment "Oh, um...hold on one minute". I asked for a supervisor at this point and was told "I'll connect you with a supervisor after I'm finished helping you" (It was pretty apparent he could not help me)
Call 5 - "It's a GSS problem, let me connect you to an Ebay GSS specialist". 5 minutes later the nice lady confirmed the problem was GSS doesn't service his address, and reset my auction so I could manually invoice. She was knowledgable and efficient.
So if you use GSS, and you run into a problem like mine, ask for the Ebay GSS specialist, the first line of customer service doesn't seem to understand the GSS at all.
Generally speaking, it seems first print runs all have problems.
http://www.blackborder.com/cgi-bin/prices/index.cgi?action=welcome
I don't think very many will list 100 cards.
Arcane Laboratory
Ertai, Wizard Adept
Forbid
Gives you a permanent lock. It's a nightmare to get the lock though, you need so many pieces...
That's quite true. In fact, Mythics are about on par with the frequence of Rares in 5th edition, Tempest, Urzas, etc. IIRC, rares in those sets were 1:110, and Mythics are 1:120 in a large set.
So basically, all Mythics did was put the math back to where it was prior to Wizards testing out the smaller set sizes. Uncommons are just slightly more rare than Commons in those sets, Rares are a little bit more rare than Uncommons were (IIRC the math I did a few years on it right).
Wizard's stealthed the old set sizes back, IMO, there's nothing wrong with that.
Phantom of the Attic in Oakland, there was one at the Pittsburgh Mills.
I'd recommend Mr. Nice Guy Games...
http://www.mrniceguygames.com/
The owner is great, people there are friendly, very little bad losers/winners. They have a draft FNM one night each week, and a constructed another night.
It's a premiere store, so it does qualifiers, and gets ample product, he sells at fair prices. Pre-releases and other tournies can get a bit crowded, I've been there for 40-50 people playing in a pre-release (He does two tourneys on pre-release weekends). Get there a bit early on pre-release days.
On the occasional slow night (Like right before a pre-release), if not enough people show for an FNM, he'll get people together to do team games if there's enough interest, or unusual drafts.
Prize support is great too. (He prides himself on having the highest payout in Pittsburgh, or at least he did the last time I was there)
I've been wondering forever if it had any value. Now I just have to decide what to do with it!
I received this resin deckbox many years ago during Urza's block. I know it was purchased in a marketplace in France, but I've never seen another one and Google doesn't seem to be able to pull up any references to it.
I believe it's an official product, as it has on the inner lid a "Copyright Wizards of the Coast 1995" etched on it.
Just wondering if it has value?
Sliding the cards OTOH does work.
1. Play in, and make it to at least the third round, in alot of drafts. You'll need to win at least 3 packs in order to contain costs, and this lets you build out to about 75% of a set's completion. Then you buy the remainder of cards for average value. Be prepared to spend 4-8 weeks at this. Flip the extra cards at bots to keep from spending money on tickets and fund your purchasing of the last 25%.
2. Spend an enourmous amount of time trying to buy the cards below market value for tickets.
You certainly can walk out with a set at or below market value.
I used to use method 1 for foil sets from Odyssee through 9th, made quite a bit of money doing it. Mythics make it less than feasible today though, the price markup on foil mythics and the rarity of opening one makes it a waste once you factor in time spent.
Lifeloss can be mitigated through skill, or card choices in decks, if it needs to be mitigated at all.
You can never find an equivalent method of thinning without sacrificing tempo.
It's a playstyle choice, I trust my skill to be able to offset any negative effects from fetching.