Total Foil Count: 3,767
How do I explain this in a manner where I still sound financially responsible? I honestly do not think I can, so I am just going to go through my thoughts on why this was a good purchase.
I was doing a "Bored at work" search and hitting up all the larger online stores to see what sealed product they might have. Or course I found everything I was looking for on ABU, but the prices were so high that I could not even think about buying anything there. All the other online stores did not have anything I was looking for, which is a good thing since I am not really setup yet to buy anything.
Then I went to Card Kingdom. The first check on 7th Edition sealed booster box was a fail. Next on the list, Coldsnap and that was another miss. Then I went to Urza's Destiny only to expect that it was not going to be there, and BAM! There is was. For $2999.99. For about 4 seconds I thought, there is no way that I am going to buy this box, but let's just see what the pictures look like.
Having dealt with Card Kingdom before I know that if you want to see pictures of the sealed product you need to go through the steps to actually get approved to buy the item, and get through their checkout process. Then you can ask for the pictures and the CK pullers will open an internal support ticket and get you what you want.
I am not going to share the pictures that CK actually sent me, just because I am not sure how legal that is since it was their pictures, but suffice to say the box was really real.
At this point the thought process on how I can justify this purchase just started racing through my head and budget. Can I afford this box of Magic cards? Well of course I can and buy it out right without any worry. It would take a small dent out of the emergency fund, but the only issue I have is that the emergency fund is not for Magic cards.
Next step, what is my interest rate on the credit card I use to buy all my MTG product? 12.49% so not bad, but still not great. I have been their customer for a long time, let's just give them a call to see if they can lower my interest rate. Well after that phone call I could tell that they really appreciate my business, but that is the lowest rate they are giving out. And honestly, a credit card rate that low is pretty decent, but I had to try.
So now, I figure that the interest payments for the booster box is close to $33 a month, and I currently budget $100 a month for interest payments on any credit card I have. Of course I never use it because I never carry a balance, or buy with no interest terms when I do use my credit cards, so right now all of that $100 goes into savings. Technically that could cover this purchase on the credit card I use for MTG on the interest payment side, but do I really want to be using a line of credit that is charging me 12.49%?
So yes, I am trying to decide how to fund this purchase with credit. The main reason I am doing so is the fact that I could have bought the entire Urza's block with $3000 when I started all this, but didn't. I can honestly say that picking up sealed booster boxes when I can will save me in the long run, and since I am 3 booster boxes away I am willing to leverage myself in order to get them now at the prices they are at than wait a year to pick them up without leverage.
Now I am not against using my credit cards for this purchase, but I am bothered by that interest rate. Enter the HELOC. Currently I have a HELOC with an interest rate of 5.5% and that will cut my interest payment down to $14 a month. This way I can minimize my interest payments while I take my time paying this off. But of course since there is an interest payment, and I will be looking to pay this off much faster than the no interest payment charges.
The plan is to move forward with the purchase on my rewards card, and then pay off the credit card with the HELOC deposit, and pay off the loan slower with the lower interest rate. I am planning to have all this paid off around March of next year, so it is only around 8ish months or interest payments.
Core 2020
Pre-Order in and I picked up the two boxes I had.
Here are the Pre-Order Buy-a-Box promos and I could see maybe using it for EDH, but just not sure how good it would be. I am also thinking about just trading away all my other BaB promos to just keep 1 of each set, but not sure about that yet.
And these fucking things...
Now I am not saying that I am doing a spec on this card, but Lotus Field looks just amazing for EDH. The price point on these were low enough for me to just pick the up and be done with it. Honestly I think this is the only card I really want out of the set. Lucky I just need to wait until next rotation to pick up my playsets.
Lodestone Coffee & Games
So while I was up at my FLGS I decided to see what they had new in the store.
SUCK IT! Only need one more Ultimate Masters card to finish my set! I do have to say that I really do enjoy going up to Lodestone and checking every time what they have in. It gives me a reason to go up there and hang out. I get the feeling that they just think I am they "Collector" guy, and have no idea what I am doing when playing.
I know, I do not collect promo cards, but it is a Lightning Bolt with Full art, so I figured I would snag it.
And yes, this is a Beta Black Vise. And yes I already have one, but this one was in such good condition that I could not pass it up. I also feel that some of these older Beta cards will just continue to go up in price. I can remember picking up a Beta Gauntlets of Might for $40, and now it is closer to $875, so it cannot hurt to pick these older cards up when I can.
I wanted to pick up another playset of these cards, but it is mainly because I think they are going to do a reprint into Modern at some point. Right now you can only play it in Legacy and Vintage, but I do think they will try and get it into Modern.
Dominaria is going to be rotating out soon, and I think I might have picked these up a little too soon, but I do think that this card will go further up in price. EDH, or some Legendary Modern deck and I think there is room to run for this card. And it is a Mox, and I love any Moxen.
I am an EDH player and this card is great in EDH. These are selling for $4 a pop, so I figured I would just snag them now.
I put in an online order to try and finish up some of the lower cost Modern Horizons rares. I figure I would attempt to pick them up while they are lower in price, that way if something spikes them I already have them at the lower price point.
I also grabbed this. Now, you might see a lot of MH1 cards that I am picking up more sooner than I would normally pick up cards, but I am trying to stick to around $1 rares, and lands. I did pick up a single The First Sliver, but that was to get it into my EDH deck. My thought is that there is no rotation date for this set. I do think the prices will start to go down in the winter, but this is a bit different set than other sets. There is such a hype for this, and it is all Modern playable right out of the gate. I am hoping that more sealed product gets opened, and the prices start to go down, and I will hold off on picking up too much until then. I just hope I do not need to pay the prices that the MH1 cards are at now.
Grey Duck Games
One reason I do like to go to this LGS is they keep their Commons and Uncommons sorted. They do charge a bit for commons, but getting things like this is not horrible. It is better than opening another box of cards and having to get rid of the extra cards. This is the stack of C and U for Modern Horizons, as I am just trying to finish these playsets.
I just had to pick these up.
So I am just picking up any Mox Tantalite I can, and I am treating it like the Mox Amber. These are Moxen and every Mox has some value later on when someone finds a way to break it. The First Sliver was a buy for my EDH Sliver deck, and I did not want to wait to pick it up. The other three will hopefully be less than I paid for this one. And those 4 Astral Drifts were under $1 for the collection.
So I have a partial set of the Art Series cards, and when I go to an LGS I always ask to see if they have any of these cards to fill up my set. Lucky here, they had a full set for sale! I picked it up, but I am still going to look for the other singles to finish up my set. I for one love these cards. They are so collectable, and are just a joy to look at. I hope they keep putting these out, just like the Art books.
So yeah, a bit of a longer post, but there has been a bunch going on. Now that I have the Urza's Destiny booster box that means I need 2 more boxes to complete my set. Coldsnap and 7th Edition. Just insane...
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