Theros PreOrder - The Source Comics and Games

Today is the day of the first day to purchase pre-orders for the first set in the new Block.  I will be heading up to the Source since they have the best deal on any and all pre-orders.  They only charge $80 per box, but only for pre-order.  Outside of that they charge list price on everything after pre-order.

http://www.sourcecomicsandgames.com/

UPDATE:

Got my 10 pre-orders.  So the way the Source works is you pay for the pre-order and you get a small card, then on the day of the release they exchange the card for the box.  Now if you lose the card, then you are completely out of luck.  They do not keep any records of who bought what.

On the date of the set release they actually stay open Thursday night until midnight.  That way you can pick your new cards up at midnight the day of the release.  Now I know, you have the cards, so what is the point in staying up in line waiting for your cards when you can just pick them up in the morning.  It is pretty fun though.  Standing in line, talking to people, everyone excited about the new set.  Some nights when it is below zero, not worth it, but for the most part it is worth it.

I am a bit too old to stay up that late, so I just pick them up when the store opens, but I do miss standing in line.

Nugget of importance:
The Source usually sells out the first day of pre-order, but what people don't know is that they have a sister store that also does pre-order.  They only have 10 boxes to do the pre-order with, but if you do find that you missed out on the Source pre-order, give Uncle Sven's a call.  They might still have some boxes left.

Mead Hall Games - Minneapolis, MN

http://www.meadhallgames.com/

Grade: A-

What a beautiful site, and really good prices.  They also have a MTG social network setup called The Meadery.  I had been to the store once last winter, and they were still setting up.  They did not have much of a selection of cards, and everything they were selling was Standard.  As the days went by since the opening, they have been improving more and more.  It is quite a good feeling to see a store like this.  Most shops in the Minneapolis area are focused on 2 things, selling you stuff and getting you to come in the store to play.  This shop does that along with showing off simple delights to the eye.

The store is remodeled to the manner of a fine wine vendor.  Hardwood floors and the decor of simplicity.  When I first went to the store I had thought that they were in big trouble with the gaming space they did not have.  I also saw a huge t-shirt printing press, and was just confused how they would be able to support any tournaments here (Just read an article that the owner operator has many businesses, one being a t-shirt printer).

Now I have only seen pictures since I was there last, but they have improved it greatly since.  It looks like there is more of a selection of cards to choose from, and they support local graphic novel writers, and they finally got a sign.  I swear I drove around and around multiple times because they never had a sign, and I never would have thought of a shop under the apartment building...  Seriously, I thought my GPS was cracked out!

The website is just a piece of work.  Clean lines, easy to find the sets you are looking for, and just all around good looking.  You hit the site and they have a rotation of card art in a manner that I would have never thought of.  You just get a search bar right in the middle of the art.  Google-esk design.  Simple and to the point.  The more and more I visit the site, the more passionate I get towards my own MTG collecting.

I think the thing that gets me going the most is the social network.  Here, I can communicate with the local community, find trades, setup game nights, get great ideas for anything MTG.  Just by going to the site I was introduced to a podcast Magic: the Amateuring.  I have only listen to one of the podcasts, but I am already hooked.

Other stores are good, but these guys are really putting in the time to make something special and it shows.  They really care about what they are doing.  I am very impressed.  I have yet to spend a day playing down there, but I am trying to plan something soon.  I just need to get the trade book setup so I don't show up unprepared.

They do have an awesome calendar setup, and you can purchase tickets to the upcoming game nights.  What excites me is they have a Commander Thurs.  Just for EDH.  A whole night, just for EDH.  Amazing...  But like I said, still need to head down there to see what the people are like, and check out the atmosphere.  I am pretty sure I will do an update later on what comes of this adventure.

Set Tab: Total Column

Ok, so I think I have the spreadsheet complete.  Again, I had to use two different spreadsheets.  One for the prices and the second for the card count.  I am going to explain this in a strange way, as I am going to try and talk about the process that I used to build the system in total.

I was going to use 3 different spreadsheets:
Collection
Trade
Foil

But I was able to design a way to keep all the data for a specific set on a single sheet.  This way I will not have to use multiple spreadsheets in order to keep everything straight.  I know, the Price spreadsheet is a separate sheet, but we will get to that later.

So for the basic setup of the Collection spreadsheet, there are different types of Tabs.  There are Collection Tabs, and there are Set Tabs.  The Set Tabs are for a single set that was released by WotC. The example we are looking at today is from the Tenth Edition Set Tab.

Here is what the set Tab looks like for the Tenth Edition.  I only have to top part of this Tab as to explain what was done.

On the far Left is the Total columns.  This will be used to verify the count, and also to total up the three different sections of the collection.  Lets just talk about this column today.

Sheet totals verification


Collection Section









Trade Section








Foil Section










Card Count Totals for Collection, Trade, Foil, we will talk about this in a future Blog



_________________________________________
Sheet Totals
In the Sheet Total I have them into two different totals for verification.

Total 1: =SUM(SUM(A7:A12)+SUM(A17:A22)+SUM(A27:A32))
Total 2: =A6+A16+A26

Total 1 will take all of the Rows in a Section and add them together
Total 2 will take the Section Totals and add them together
_________________________________________
Section Totals
Sections are labeled with the name in Blue
Collection
Trade
Foil

Directly under the section title is the Section Total.
Section Total: =SUMIF(H2:H602,">0",H2:H602)

Here we are going to be using a SUMIF command.  This will allow us to look at column, match an expression, and then SUM a total if the expression matches.  So in this instance for the Section Total we will be looking at the 'H' column, checking to see if the value is greater than 0 (>0), and if the cell is greater than 0 we will add all those values up together.

=SUMIF
Excel command we are using

H2:H602
Column we are looking in

">0"
Value we are looking for

H2:H602
Column we will be adding together if the values match

Now for a little background as to why I had to do this rather than just SUM the whole column.  From the Price.xlsx we are pulling from TCGPlayer.com.  For some of the cards the price is set to 'SOON', and that just means the site does not have a price for that specific card yet.  Now, we will get to the card pricing in a later blog, but I had an issue when trying to calculate the prices of the cards when there was a 'SOON' value for the specific card.  So with this new formula, if there was issue and the value was something other than a price, this formula will skip over the cell values that are not greater than 0.

Now, we will be losing that value in the totals we are looking for, but we will at least be able to get the totals on the cards there are prices for.  If we did not do this, we could get 'VALUE' in some of the totals instead, and that is a pain in the ass to try and sort out.  So in losing some of the prices due to TCGPlayer not having a price, we still get a running total for all the cards they do have a price for.
_________________________________________
Card Types
Under each section there are rows for each card type known today:
M: Mythic Rare
R: Rare
U: Uncommon
C: Common
L: Land
T: Token

Each Card type also has a total for the section it is in:
Collection
M: =SUMIF(I2:I602,"M",H2:H602)
R: =SUMIF(I2:I602,"R",H2:H602)
U: =SUMIF(I2:I602,"U",H2:H602)
C: =SUMIF(I2:I602,"C",H2:H602)
L: =SUMIF(I2:I602,"L",H2:H602)
T: =SUMIF(I2:I602,"T",H2:H602)

One thing to point out, the Card Type Total will only pull from the Columns for that specific Section. So for the Collection totals, we will only be looking at columns 'I' and 'H'.  This way we can get specific data on the Card Type totals, and keep track of each Card Type easily.  In a previous spreadsheet I manually '+' each of the cells into a single total for each Card Type, and it was a huge pain in the ass to setup.

=SUMIF(I2:I602,"M",H2:H602)

Again if we look at this formula we are using a SUMIF command.  This will allow us to look in one column, check to see if there is a Card Type we are looking for, and then add all those cells together.

=SUMIF
This command will allow you to do a lookup

I2:I602
Here is the section that you are looking at

"M"
This is the character you are doing the lookup on

H2:H602
This is the section you are going to be adding up if there is a "M"

So for each Card Type we are looking into the 'I' column, looking for that specific Card Type and only adding up the prices for those cards in column 'H'.
_________________________________________
Verification
So like I mentioned before we have two different totals we are looking at.

Total 1: =SUM(SUM(A7:A12)+SUM(A17:A22)+SUM(A27:A32))
Total 2: =A6+A16+A26

Total 1 is looking at the SUMs of each Card Type in each Section
- Each Card Type is looking at column 'I' looking at the Card Type, and then adding up all the Card Types that match.

Total 2 is doing a SUM of each Section Total
- Section Totals are just adding up all the prices that are greater than 0 in a specific column (Example: Column H).

This way we are looking to see if we get the same total two different ways.  Now, you are most likely asking yourself why in the world would I do something like this?  Well with different version of my spreadsheets, I have always found that I mess up a lot and the totals you get are not real in some cases. Now I have been able to combat this with using the SUMIF statements, but it is generally a good practice to see if you get the same outcome using multiple formulas.

So you are getting a total of all the prices in a single column, and you are getting the prices of each Card Type and adding those together to see if it is the same value.  I know, it might be overkill, but I really like knowing that my data is correct, and I am looking at the true value of my collection.
_________________________________________

So now that we have gone through that, I will go through the rest of the design of the Set Tabs in a later Blog.

Spreadsheet Redesign

Trade with me on CardSphere!!!

https://www.cardsphere.com/ref/711/e4031f

So my plans to keep going with this Blog has hit a process issue.  So really, we separate all the cards out, but then you need to keep track of what you own, what you can trade, and what you need.  So with this in mind, I am re-designing my spreadsheets.

Before I had a single spreadsheet that held the database I pulled from TCGPlayer.com and the inventory of all my cards.

Database Sheet:

Inventory Sheet:

So why am I doing this?

- Well in the old spreadsheet I had all my cards in a single column.  The inventory sheet would reference the database sheet and SUM the number of cards owned to the price giving you the total price of that single card owned.  In order to find out the price that card, I would have to change the number owned to '1' so that I would just see the price of the single card.

- Also, I did have a place that showed what foil cards I had as well, but there was no real pricing done with them.  It was mainly used to show how many I had.

- I also never split up what I was willing to trade, so I really never knew how much my collection was worth, I just had a complete price of all the cards I had.

So, I am trying to split up the spreadsheets a bit.  My first thought was to keep separate spreadsheets for each collection, for trade, and foil, but that really brought a process issue in having to keep up with multiple spreadsheets.  I decided to keep all the numbers in a single spreadsheet, but I would split up the pricing database into a separate spreadsheet.  This way I can update the prices, but keep the inventory in a different place.

Also, my original spreadsheet became too large in size since I had all my inventory and all the database information in a single spreadsheet, so splitting them up would make things more manageable.

New Format:

As you can see I have 3 different columns.  Collection, Trade, Foil.  This will allow me to gather the data on my collections and keep everything on a single spreadsheet.  I will go through this more when I get finished, as I am just trying to reconfigure all my tabs.  Hopefully we can keep a baseline of what is needed for the spreadsheets, and additions to the design will be easy to update.

Commander Sealed

Ok, so a couple of days ago I went online to buy up a full set of Commander decks.  It was the 5 decks that WotC put out a couple of years ago.  The only reason I went out and did this purchase was because WotC announced that there will be a new set of 5 Commander decks coming out in the fall.

So since I am a collector, my thinking was that with this new set coming out, the original set is going to be worth more.  I went on eBay and purchased it from Linden Cards, I think they are from Iowa.  I have had good luck buying from these guys before.

- Side story
I had bought a Zendikar Fat Pack from them earlier in the year.  It was a slightly higher than I wanted the price to be, and after checking around I paid too much for it, but it was worth it.  The stupid thing was that I just bought it because I wanted the full card art on the land, but when I was sorting the Fat Pack into my collection I found a whole stack of Zendikar land, so I was a bit miffed that I bought the fat pack.  Granted I did not have the fat pack box, and that is pretty cool to add to my collection, but still not worth the price I paid.
- End story

Ok, back to the Commander stuff.  So I bought the full set of 5 decks for around $330.00.  With shipping it is closer to $350.00.  With that being said, doing some research I also found the set of 5 going for closer to $399.99 on eBay.  But when checking Amazon.com I found them going for closer to $475.00.  Today I checked the prices and I saw that Linden Cards just raised their price to $375.00 on eBay, so overall I think it was a good purchase.  Granted, my purchase of the full set might have caused Linden Cards to raise the price anyway, but I did get the full set of 5 decks at a good price, from a buyer that I do like.

But with all this being said, I decided to also purchase the Commander's Arsenal as well.  I found the full set on eBay for $229.00 shipping included from the eBay seller pitchout1. Now I just bought the cards, so lets see if the cards come in the mail.  Again, the only reason I bought the cards was because of the news that there is a new Commander set coming out.

In hindsight I should have bought the sets earlier in the year when the Commander Arsenal set was closer to $199.00 and the Commander 5 deck set was around $299.00.

I mean, I do like playing EDH, don't get me wrong.  But I thought that now would be a good time to pull the trigger in getting the cards for my collection since they are releasing a new set.  I will be opening all the sets to sort into my Pre-Modern collection, and I plan to play with all the cards.  I have put thought into buying another set to keep unopened, but I am not sure I will pull that trigger.  Maybe that will be another blog for me to write.

20130729 UPDATE: So after opening all the decks, and sorting them and putting them into my spreadsheet, the price of the full set of 5 decks prices out to be $486.41.  So that means if you can buy the set of 5 decks for less than this price, you are technically ahead of the game.  This is also going off the medium prices on TCGPlayer.com.  Considering that you are pulling the cards from sealed packages and putting them right into sleeves they might be considered prices at the high amount.  It is just hard to do that since TCGPlayer.com has started to allow everyone sell on their site, and people are over pricing their cards.

Keepers

We have figured out that we are going to keep three collections:

Pre-Modern
Modern
Standard

Being a player and a collector you will want to keep a playset of each card.  Since you can have up to 4 of any one card in your deck, that means we will want to keep 4 of every card.  Now I know there are reprints, but being a collector you will still want to have 4 of every card to complete your sets.

That means that in each collection you will have some of the same cards.  Now you could put all the reprints together in any one collection, but that is just too much work to do.  With every new release you would have to go through the many boxes just to get the reprints and put them with the other cards.  If you just collect 4 of every card and keep them in the collections we have set up you will still be able to build decks based on the specific collection you are looking in, and also still have each set together.

Now you might do something different, but that is how I have decided to do it to minimize time, but also keeping the cards in order to keep the collecting going.

With all this said, there are cards that you might want to keep more than 4 of because they are useful and you might want to have more than one deck using those cards.  One example is Force of Will.  I have kept 8 of those due to their usefulness.  Another example is dual lands.  You will always be able to use dual lands, and they are also great cards to use for trading later.

Ok, so three collections with 4 of each card.

But talking about playsets, we should really define what a playset is.  For Vintage there is a restricted list.  You will never have a deck with 4 Black Lotus in it, so technically a playset is 1 Black Lotus.  With that being said, a full playset would be 4 of every card that is not on a restricted list and one of every card that is on the restricted list, but being a collector you would still want to have 1 of every card.  So, it is a pretty big punch to the nuts, but 1 Alpha Black Lotus, 1 Beta Black Lotus, and 1 Unlimited Black Lotus should be the goal.  Yeah, thats big punch to the nuts...

If you could ever get to this point, that would be the crown jewel of collections.  Maybe someday...

I would also add having one of ever banned card would also be the goal.  Banned cards are normally ante cards, and cards like Chaos Orb.  You will never see a deck with Chaos Orb in it, but you will still want to get one of each of those.  And no one plays for ante anymore, but you will still want those as well.

Collection Separation

So since I had been collecting from 1995 to about 1998 I had a lot of older cards, Alpha to Exodus.  On top of that my father kept collecting through Urza's Destiny so there were many other cards that I needed to sort into the collection.  I should add that my father and I played around the same time, seeing as how he was the one who got me into MTG, and now the collection consisted of his cards as well as my old ones.

I had played MTG on and off with friends from 2000 to 2007 and then I stopped to concentrate on work.  Then when I started my new job, I was travelling a lot, and my boss used to play Dungeons & Dragons, so we went up to Target and picked up a Magic 2011 Starter Tool Kit and some packs.  We then started to play on a regular basis, buying New Phyrexia and Innistrad and beyond.

So I had close to 80,000 cards pre Urza's Destiny, and a growing collection of the new cards, but I was missing 8 years of sets that had come out that I did not have.  I also missed out on all the Premium Decks, From the Vault, Duel Decks, and Commander decks.

So first I needed to separate the older card with the newer cards, but the problem I hit, that there were new play deck versions that you could play.  Back when I used to play there were only 3 playing types:

Type 1 - All cards with a restriction and banned list

Type 1.5 - All cards with a banned list

Type 2 - Only the recent sets with a restricted and banned list

Now there were many more versions of play styles:

Vintage - Type 1

Legacy - Type 1.5

Modern - Eighth and up

Commander (EDH) - 100 card with a legendary commander and only one card of any type

Standard - 2 most recent blocks with the current core

Block - only cards in a specific block

There are many other types of deck types, but with these major ones in mind, I decided to separate my cards so that it would be easier to build decks off of that.  I split up my collection into 3 different types:

Pre-Modern

Modern

Standard

This way I would be able to build a Vintage, Legacy, or Commander deck out of all the different collections.  Then if I wanted to play Modern I would go through the Modern and Standard collection.  Standard would of course just be pulled from the Standard collection.  If I ever wanted to play Block, I would have to go to the specific collection that the block existed in.  Considering that Cold Snap was released awhile after the Ice Age block, but is considered Modern legal I would have to pick the cards out of two collections.

Either way, I had a way to split up my cards into manageable collections so I could keep things straight and not have to go through a ton of boxes to build a Standard deck.  And I picked the Standard playing decks because when I started playing again my goal was to always play Standard, but you will find out later that I switched to Commander because of cost.

Now that I had the general purpose collections in mind I started the sort.  Splitting up all the cards into their sets, and then placing the sets into boxes that were Pre-Modern, Modern, and Standard.  Next we will talk about the card count in the collection as to how many of a single card I would keep of any one set.