Hey all. I've built my first T2 deck and it looks odd but it's pretty nasty. If any of you have an idea of how to make it better that would be might fine of you.
I initially had more titans and boosters (mana/card) but found that it's much more in my favor if I added in the crabs. I didn't test extensively with keening stone but is it worth putting in the deck?
The only two decks I have real trouble with over half the time are the Edlrazi Ramp decks and the new Goblin Vandal artifact decks.
Hey all. I've built my first T2 deck and it looks odd but it's pretty nasty. If any of you have an idea of how to make it better that would be might fine of you.
I initially had more titans and boosters (mana/card) but found that it's much more in my favor if I added in the crabs. I didn't test extensively with keening stone but is it worth putting in the deck?
The only two decks I have real trouble with over half the time are the Edlrazi Ramp decks and the new Goblin Vandal artifact decks.
As a shop it took me 4 months to sell my playset of bazaars at competitive dealer prices. Of all the $100+ cards it's probably one of if not the hardest to resell.
You can get great value on trading it down though.
Ethics is a complex issue when it comes to buying and selling magic cards and even more so as a business. Here's a few things to keep in mind.
COLLECTIONS
**Most shops generally offer around 30-60% of their sell prices on non-bulk singles
**Buying collections is a better value and you can offer less because you have to do the work of organizing and haggling over a price allowing you to offer up to 50% less on collections.
Many shops openly admit they'll try and buy large collections for 15% of sale price. This IMO may be an ethics violation depending on what's in the collection. If it's a bunch of mid ranged cards 15-20% of resale may be fair. If it contains lots of power then it should be 30% or more.
*Some shops even pay more than singles prices on large collections with a lot of playable cards if they have been separated out and there are enough to help the dealer provide a wider range of products they don't have many of.
One of my local shops sometimes pays up to 80% of resale value on high value collections while the other shop will only pay 25%.
A collection consists of staples and rares and is generally fairly large.
A collection is NOT the following:
1000s of cards that have been picked clean of premium cards
a small lot of mostly playable cards AKA a playset of dual lands or 100 wastelands.
SINGLES AND TRADING
Example 1 : a shop has a $100 card in their display case priced at $50. You ask to buy it full well knowing the value. The dealer by all means has the right to say no.
If the dealer chooses to sell it to you without a second thought, then it's completely ethical and their fault for not keeping up with prices.
If they choose not to sell it, they should be honest with you about why. If they come up with a BS reason other than "Sorry but we will have to charge this new price since it's price changed since the last price update," then it would be unethical.
As somebody who buys a lot of collections in person, you usually sit down with the person and make stacks of playable cards to base your prices on. The most common things of value left out are force of will, LEDs, Dreadnoughts, and wastelands. sometimes collections will contain 10-50 of them in bulk boxes. While it's not unethical to keep them and not do anything (I always ask them if i should bother to look in the bulk boxes and of course doing so lowers my overall price slightly since it takes a lot more time to search through them), I usually call them back and offer about 50% of my normal buy price as a thank you for including them. I paid a guy an extra $500 once because there were so many.
Example 2: (I'll use a personal example since it's still memorable)... A guy wants your playset of beta hypnotic specters so you start picking out a bunch of their cards that you want in return.
*If you offer a trade of $200 of their cards for your $100 in cards then it would be unethical
*if they offer the trade then it's a gray area of ethics but a bit douchey on your part because you're taking advantage of them for not being as smart about prices as you. This doesn't mean it's not wrong.
*If you want to adhere to a higher level of ethics and tell them the value is not even yet and they can still pick more of your cards to trade, it would be the honorable thing to do.
*Now if they tell you it's completely ok, make the trade and walk away $100 short in cards it's completely ethical because they simply don't care.
I picked up 3 myself and I'm in the same business. Due to popular demand for the cards you may see an increase in cards that have not been printed much in Japanese like Sol Ring but there are plenty of greaves and other cards out there. I would see maybe a 10-20% price increase across the decks.
They use bidwicket and have to prepay their fees. It looks like their account balance ran out and you won't be able to place orders until they receive them.
Back in the day.. $30,000 a month was high. From what I've heard about my competitors, the bigger ones may do $250,000+ per month but I haven't heard if that's gross singles revenues or if that includes sealed product, supplies, etc.
This is usually privileged information and I'd be surprised if they shared it with you.
either way. I'm not artistically inclined in the least so it's up to who designs it. I'll respond to all future questions up at the top so everybody can read the answers at once.
When it comes to buying and reselling collections as a hobbyist, if you're turning it around with a sustainable margin for your bank and/or collection and deck building purposes than you're doing well.
Many shops like SCG, T&T, and many others may only offer to purchase limited amounts (20, 50, 100, etc). of playable commons and uncommons at fixed prices. After that point they may offer you a lower price. Some have no limit on how many you can sell them.
Larger shops may not offer you as good of a price on lower value commons/uncommons because they have access to plenty.
Smaller shops may not have the cash flow to buy that much quantity to sit on until it sells.
I have distributors who unload all of their small value playable commons/uncommons to me because it's easier and more hassle free for them as long as they're turning a profit and not wasting time on shipping out 500 playsets of dark rituals.
When it comes to selling your small playable cards you may want to take the time to negotiate with a bunch of collectors who resell on the forums or sell to a shop that has decent buy prices and manage it all in one go.
Hello Everybody. I'm still looking for a new logo for my website and thought I'd try this again. Last time I got very few responses through my newsletter but I expect better ones since there are a lot more of you here.
My website is called GlobalMTG. I would like a logo that ties into the name although that is not necessary.
****************************************** The following below are responses to member's questions. Please check up here to see your answers.
Numotflame96 - black and white is good, reverted colors can look cool, even half color and half reverted can look cool. Feel free to experiment with it. More complicated logos can be reproduced at more affordable rates these days than they could 10 years ago when many other companies created websites. All pictures would probably look better larger at first so it can be shrunk down to a perfect size. It should be able to shrink to a 1 inch x 1 inch square as well as 2x2, 3x3, etc. You can always shrink logos but you can't always expand them.
Galspanic - I've previously worked with a few professionals for both this and other ventures in the past and have run into a few barriers. They generally charge a fixed rate but there's a certain ego that many graphic design artists have that wanted to the design they wanted and not what i wanted. You can draw a decent design up in 15 minutes and a great one in 30.. might take an hour if I request changes.. but it's like drafting.. combine skill and luck to win (kind of like a draft but with better odds).
Definitely company identity but if you can do it with illustration. That made me laugh pretty hard. I'd definitely get the entire Richard Gere fan club with a logo like that.
Blackbull - The idea is great, but I don't think I can use mana symbols in my logo as that would infringe upon WOTC trademarks. As for $100/175. Professionals will do a quick job for $150-300. Card Kitty would probably do it for $50.
Whiplord - I was thinking of a lightning storm surrounding the globe kind of like a halo but that's a great idea. I would like to see a bit of color and see what you could do with it. Possibly each of the 5 continents being a different color with the land being artifact (of mana).. the different colored continents might be too much.. but simple land and sea colors with the lightning spreading out a bit more would be great.
******************************************
Rules of the contest.
1. The contest will go through August 1st, 2011 but may be extended if submissions keep coming in or shortened if the perfect logo is submitted.
2. Feel free to post your rough drafts here and request feedback. You can always change your submission(s) after feedback is given and still win.
3. Logos must be reproducible in print advertisement and while detail is great, too much detail can be bad. You can make them with acrylic paint, photoshop, other graphic design programs, drawings, and anything else you have available to make them.
4. You may submit as many logo designs as you want.
5. You can submit logos through posts on this thread (which is preferred) or to [email]sales@globalmtg.com[/email] with the title "MTGS logo contest." If you choose to email, you must post on this thread to let me know you have sent a submission. You must attach the logo as an image and not as a file so it can be viewed without being downloaded. Submissions will not be entered if rule #4 is not followed. therefore I highly suggest you post your submissions as replies to this thread.
6. If your logo is chosen, you will receive $100 cash through paypal or $175 in store credit. Other perks such as credit for creation, and more may be included but haven't been decided yet. If no logo is chosen then there will be no winner.
7. Please understand that if you win, all rights to your artwork logo will belong to GlobalMTG. You will get credit publicly for it though.
8. Rules are subject to change.
What I'm looking for in a logo:
I'm honestly not sure exactly what I'd like the best since I'm not an artist.
Please keep in mind that a logo that is too simple may not be good enough, but a logo that is too intricate and detailed may not be cost efficient to reproduce in print for marketing/advertising purposes.
I would prefer something like the following combined together so it looks like a lightning storm covering all/part of the earth (globe).
I do not own the rights to the lightning storm picture so you would have to reproduce the storm on your own.
Please make sure if you do use a photo from somewhere or design something off of another photo that it does not violate any copyright laws. (you can ask if you have any questions regarding this)
Lightning and/or earth photos are not required in submissions so you can submit anything you want and if I like it enough to use it, you can win the contest with it.
You could get probably $5ea on them minimum. with oddities like this, the sky is the limit if somebody really wants them but I can see it going for about 5-15 depending on the person. I'd try and sell all 3 for 30 if I were selling them.
Hey all. I've been so busy with school and the biz that I haven't had time to play as much as I'd like. Now that I'm getting back into draft instead of constructed it seems the focus and dynamics have changed with the last few blocks.
I figure this will help others gain perspective too.
How do you decide to draft when you open your pack?
How do you prioritize what to pick first and in early vs late packs?
Do you prefer more removal or more strength?
Do you prioritize card draws, mana boosters, equipment/enchantments, or combos over one another?
Also, do you generally have a preset amount of creatures vs equipment vs boosters vs removal you try to reach?
What colors combos do you prefer to play?
Hey all. I've built my first T2 deck and it looks odd but it's pretty nasty. If any of you have an idea of how to make it better that would be might fine of you.
I initially had more titans and boosters (mana/card) but found that it's much more in my favor if I added in the crabs. I didn't test extensively with keening stone but is it worth putting in the deck?
The only two decks I have real trouble with over half the time are the Edlrazi Ramp decks and the new Goblin Vandal artifact decks.
3 [TSP] Forest (3)
4 [OD] Island (4)
4 [US] Mountain (4)
2 [SOM] Copperline Gorge
4 [ZEN] Misty Rainforest
1 [WWK] Halimar Depths
4 [ZEN] Scalding Tarn
2 [WWK] Raging Ravine
// Creatures
3 [NPH] Deceiver Exarch
4 [ZEN] Hedron Crab
1 [M11] Frost Titan
1 [M11] Inferno Titan
4 [ZEN] Lotus Cobra
1 [SOM] Sword of Body and Mind
1 [MBS] Sword of Feast and Famine
2 [ROE] Splinter Twin
3 [R] Lightning Bolt
1 [NPH] Noxious Revival
3 [ARE] Mana Leak
1 [PRE] Comet Storm
1 [LRW] Garruk Wildspeaker
3 [WWK] Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 [WWK] Explore
3 [M11] Preordain
2 [ROE] See Beyond
__________________
I initially had more titans and boosters (mana/card) but found that it's much more in my favor if I added in the crabs. I didn't test extensively with keening stone but is it worth putting in the deck?
The only two decks I have real trouble with over half the time are the Edlrazi Ramp decks and the new Goblin Vandal artifact decks.
// Lands
3 [TSP] Forest (3)
4 [OD] Island (4)
4 [US] Mountain (4)
2 [SOM] Copperline Gorge
4 [ZEN] Misty Rainforest
1 [WWK] Halimar Depths
4 [ZEN] Scalding Tarn
2 [WWK] Raging Ravine
// Creatures
3 [NPH] Deceiver Exarch
4 [ZEN] Hedron Crab
1 [M11] Frost Titan
1 [M11] Inferno Titan
4 [ZEN] Lotus Cobra
// Spells
1 [SOM] Sword of Body and Mind
1 [MBS] Sword of Feast and Famine
2 [ROE] Splinter Twin
3 [R] Lightning Bolt
1 [NPH] Noxious Revival
3 [ARE] Mana Leak
1 [PRE] Comet Storm
1 [LRW] Garruk Wildspeaker
3 [WWK] Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 [WWK] Explore
3 [M11] Preordain
2 [ROE] See Beyond
// Sideboard
SB: 1 [NPH] Batterskull
SB: 1 [M11] Inferno Titan
SB: 1 [ROE] Splinter Twin
SB: 2 [WWK] Nature's Claim
SB: 1 [ROE] Staggershock
SB: 1 [NPH] Noxious Revival
SB: 2 [NPH] Beast Within
SB: 1 [ARE] Mana Leak
SB: 1 [WWK] Explore
SB: 1 [M11] Preordain
SB: 2 [M11] Pyroclasm
SB: 1 [MBS] Red Sun's Zenith
You can also check completed ebay listings
either way, you'll have to do the legwork yourself
You can get great value on trading it down though.
COLLECTIONS
**Most shops generally offer around 30-60% of their sell prices on non-bulk singles
**Buying collections is a better value and you can offer less because you have to do the work of organizing and haggling over a price allowing you to offer up to 50% less on collections.
Many shops openly admit they'll try and buy large collections for 15% of sale price. This IMO may be an ethics violation depending on what's in the collection. If it's a bunch of mid ranged cards 15-20% of resale may be fair. If it contains lots of power then it should be 30% or more.
*Some shops even pay more than singles prices on large collections with a lot of playable cards if they have been separated out and there are enough to help the dealer provide a wider range of products they don't have many of.
One of my local shops sometimes pays up to 80% of resale value on high value collections while the other shop will only pay 25%.
A collection consists of staples and rares and is generally fairly large.
A collection is NOT the following:
1000s of cards that have been picked clean of premium cards
a small lot of mostly playable cards AKA a playset of dual lands or 100 wastelands.
SINGLES AND TRADING
Example 1 : a shop has a $100 card in their display case priced at $50. You ask to buy it full well knowing the value. The dealer by all means has the right to say no.
If the dealer chooses to sell it to you without a second thought, then it's completely ethical and their fault for not keeping up with prices.
If they choose not to sell it, they should be honest with you about why. If they come up with a BS reason other than "Sorry but we will have to charge this new price since it's price changed since the last price update," then it would be unethical.
As somebody who buys a lot of collections in person, you usually sit down with the person and make stacks of playable cards to base your prices on. The most common things of value left out are force of will, LEDs, Dreadnoughts, and wastelands. sometimes collections will contain 10-50 of them in bulk boxes. While it's not unethical to keep them and not do anything (I always ask them if i should bother to look in the bulk boxes and of course doing so lowers my overall price slightly since it takes a lot more time to search through them), I usually call them back and offer about 50% of my normal buy price as a thank you for including them. I paid a guy an extra $500 once because there were so many.
Example 2: (I'll use a personal example since it's still memorable)... A guy wants your playset of beta hypnotic specters so you start picking out a bunch of their cards that you want in return.
*If you offer a trade of $200 of their cards for your $100 in cards then it would be unethical
*if they offer the trade then it's a gray area of ethics but a bit douchey on your part because you're taking advantage of them for not being as smart about prices as you. This doesn't mean it's not wrong.
*If you want to adhere to a higher level of ethics and tell them the value is not even yet and they can still pick more of your cards to trade, it would be the honorable thing to do.
*Now if they tell you it's completely ok, make the trade and walk away $100 short in cards it's completely ethical because they simply don't care.
This is usually privileged information and I'd be surprised if they shared it with you.
cases averaged 10-14 of each uncommon and you could pretty much count on 2 of each uncommon per box.
Many shops like SCG, T&T, and many others may only offer to purchase limited amounts (20, 50, 100, etc). of playable commons and uncommons at fixed prices. After that point they may offer you a lower price. Some have no limit on how many you can sell them.
Larger shops may not offer you as good of a price on lower value commons/uncommons because they have access to plenty.
Smaller shops may not have the cash flow to buy that much quantity to sit on until it sells.
I have distributors who unload all of their small value playable commons/uncommons to me because it's easier and more hassle free for them as long as they're turning a profit and not wasting time on shipping out 500 playsets of dark rituals.
When it comes to selling your small playable cards you may want to take the time to negotiate with a bunch of collectors who resell on the forums or sell to a shop that has decent buy prices and manage it all in one go.
I hope this helps.
Robert
My website is called GlobalMTG. I would like a logo that ties into the name although that is not necessary.
******************************************
The following below are responses to member's questions. Please check up here to see your answers.
Numotflame96 - black and white is good, reverted colors can look cool, even half color and half reverted can look cool. Feel free to experiment with it. More complicated logos can be reproduced at more affordable rates these days than they could 10 years ago when many other companies created websites. All pictures would probably look better larger at first so it can be shrunk down to a perfect size. It should be able to shrink to a 1 inch x 1 inch square as well as 2x2, 3x3, etc. You can always shrink logos but you can't always expand them.
Galspanic - I've previously worked with a few professionals for both this and other ventures in the past and have run into a few barriers. They generally charge a fixed rate but there's a certain ego that many graphic design artists have that wanted to the design they wanted and not what i wanted. You can draw a decent design up in 15 minutes and a great one in 30.. might take an hour if I request changes.. but it's like drafting.. combine skill and luck to win (kind of like a draft but with better odds).
Definitely company identity but if you can do it with illustration. That made me laugh pretty hard. I'd definitely get the entire Richard Gere fan club with a logo like that.
Blackbull - The idea is great, but I don't think I can use mana symbols in my logo as that would infringe upon WOTC trademarks. As for $100/175. Professionals will do a quick job for $150-300. Card Kitty would probably do it for $50.
Whiplord - I was thinking of a lightning storm surrounding the globe kind of like a halo but that's a great idea. I would like to see a bit of color and see what you could do with it. Possibly each of the 5 continents being a different color with the land being artifact (of mana).. the different colored continents might be too much.. but simple land and sea colors with the lightning spreading out a bit more would be great.
Rules of the contest.
1. The contest will go through August 1st, 2011 but may be extended if submissions keep coming in or shortened if the perfect logo is submitted.
2. Feel free to post your rough drafts here and request feedback. You can always change your submission(s) after feedback is given and still win.
3. Logos must be reproducible in print advertisement and while detail is great, too much detail can be bad. You can make them with acrylic paint, photoshop, other graphic design programs, drawings, and anything else you have available to make them.
4. You may submit as many logo designs as you want.
5. You can submit logos through posts on this thread (which is preferred) or to [email]sales@globalmtg.com[/email] with the title "MTGS logo contest." If you choose to email, you must post on this thread to let me know you have sent a submission. You must attach the logo as an image and not as a file so it can be viewed without being downloaded. Submissions will not be entered if rule #4 is not followed. therefore I highly suggest you post your submissions as replies to this thread.
6. If your logo is chosen, you will receive $100 cash through paypal or $175 in store credit. Other perks such as credit for creation, and more may be included but haven't been decided yet. If no logo is chosen then there will be no winner.
7. Please understand that if you win, all rights to your artwork logo will belong to GlobalMTG. You will get credit publicly for it though.
8. Rules are subject to change.
What I'm looking for in a logo:
I'm honestly not sure exactly what I'd like the best since I'm not an artist.
Please keep in mind that a logo that is too simple may not be good enough, but a logo that is too intricate and detailed may not be cost efficient to reproduce in print for marketing/advertising purposes.
I would prefer something like the following combined together so it looks like a lightning storm covering all/part of the earth (globe).
I do not own the rights to the lightning storm picture so you would have to reproduce the storm on your own.
Please make sure if you do use a photo from somewhere or design something off of another photo that it does not violate any copyright laws. (you can ask if you have any questions regarding this)
Lightning and/or earth photos are not required in submissions so you can submit anything you want and if I like it enough to use it, you can win the contest with it.
lightning picture (examples)
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gbv=2&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=lightning&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=
http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/317/cache/japan-volcano-kirishima-lightning-3_31752_600x450.jpg
You can also view card kitty's website for inspiration on lightning designs.
globe pictures (examples)
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.fpujournalism.org/theexchange/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/179216main_earth-globe-browse.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.fpujournalism.org/theexchange/2011/02/24/global-population-speak-out/&usg=__noFes0qSc1nyFQcBMWWHDPxe960=&h=800&w=800&sz=157&hl=en&start=5&zoom=1&tbnid=yl8OJCO4FvPwMM:&tbnh=143&tbnw=143&ei=yH3jTe-OA436sAPki70W&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dearth%2Bglobe%26hl%3Den%26gbv%3D2%26tbm%3Disch&itbs=1
The price should go down a bit though because NPH had a ton of them.
I figure this will help others gain perspective too.
How do you decide to draft when you open your pack?
How do you prioritize what to pick first and in early vs late packs?
Do you prefer more removal or more strength?
Do you prioritize card draws, mana boosters, equipment/enchantments, or combos over one another?
Also, do you generally have a preset amount of creatures vs equipment vs boosters vs removal you try to reach?
What colors combos do you prefer to play?