Card Separators

Trade with me on CardSphere  <---Click here!

This blog is going to be about how I keep all my cards separated.  I have gone through the majors of how I keep my collection separated, but is going to be about the cards themselves.  What am I talking about?

This:

Sorry a little fuzzy.  The car separator is in the back, and for every card that I have will follow the separator.

Dimension:

So we have these tan looking separators, and they are 2 1/2' X 3 3/4' cards.  They are just a tad taller than the normal Magic the Gathering card, and have the same width.  Why tan?  Why not.  Honestly though, they are tan because that was the extra scrap paper the printing store had on the cheap, and instead of changing the color I just kept with that color.  And really, the color works well.  It allows the label to stand out without being too bold, and it is a gentle enough color as a background for the magic cards.

For the strength of the separators, they are pretty firm.  I don't remember the grade of the paper, but they are close to the strength of a magic card.

Basically what I did, I found a commercial printing place and gave them a sample of the separator cards I had and they matched up the paper with samples they had.  Once they had the dimensions of the cards needed they figured out how many they could cut from a sheet, and they were able to tell me how many I get per sheet.  From there, they told me how much a sheet was and you can go from there.  I believe I bought 4 boxes full of these separators for about $400.00 US, and I ended up with over 90,000 separator cards.  This price also included the cut cost for the printing place to cut the separators to my dimensions.

In the first order, there was two boxes full of separators, and I think my father paid $90.00 for that order, and there was about 20,000 cards.  Cost of inflation, I think I made out with a good price, and I won't need to get any new separators for quite some time.

I should also add that a friend of mine saw my separators and got some cut from Kinkos, and they did not do as well of a job that the commercial printing place would do, but he also only spent no higher than $20.00 for a stack of separators.  So if you wanted to go that way, puddle it up.  I am also pretty sure you can just go to a paper store and try and cut the separators yourself.

Color Coding

I color code by rarity.  Since I keep all the cards of the same color in the same box I wanted some type of distinction of the different cards.  Now I need to remind you that back in the day there was no way to tell what the rarity of a card was by just looking at the card.  Now you get the different color of the set symbol, so it is a lot easier to tell what the rarity is.

Common:

I stuck with just a basic Black.  I also use Black for land and tokens.

Uncommon:

Here I went with a Blue because it is hard to read silver letters on a white background.

Rare:

Yeah, it is fuzzy...  You can barely tell, but yes it is Green

Mythic Rare:

And of course, I went with Red

Labels

So the labels, quick run down; go to Office Depot, or Staples, or Amazon and pick up some Avery labels.  I went with 1/2' X 1 3/4' labels with the part number of 5167.  With Avery labels, you can also download the Microsoft Word template that will allow you to copy and paste your information directly into the cell, and it prints pretty well.  I had some issues printing my labels in the beginning, where the drivers on my printer could not read the top margin, and I would lose that top row.  But HP updated their drivers, and we are good to go now.  I am pretty sure the normal consumer would use these labels as envelop return labels, but here we use them for Magic cards!

Now before you think about making labels and selling them, I already asked WotC if I could do that, and they put a stop to that in one e-mail.  I can see why they would not want my crappy labels on no art separators, but hey I had to try.

In making the Labels I massage the data from the spreadsheet in order to get it to the format where it is really easy to cut and paste into the Microsoft Word cells.  Basically I will get the data to the point where all the names will have the set underneath it, and then the Type - Rarity at the bottom.  Once I paste in all that data, I will then color code the cards and print.

Once printed I take all the labels and place them at the top middle of the separators.  If anyone really wants to know my keystrokes I can post something.  Also let me know if you want labels for a set.  I have most of them ready to print.

24,324 Conspiracy opened

Yeah so I opened up some of my Conspiracy to try and get my full set.  After opening 3 boxes I was able to get everything except for 3 cards.  After opening the packs I wish I would have just bought a couple of boxes to keep, and then a full set.  The price of the set just keeps dropping, and I cant use any of the cards in tournament decks, so I do have a lot of trading fodder from it, but in the end I should have just bought a full set.

I guess I did get the tokens, but still have opening remorse...

I also got a couple more cards from pucatrade.com, but still on the fence with that site.

24,534 to go, and found a doosh I won't trade with again

So I got 1 card from deckbox.org and 3 lands from pucatrade.com.  First off, I don't want to flame anyone on my blog so I am not going to say the username here, but honestly if you start a trade and move forward with a trade, and then pull out some cards you put up don't lie about why you don't want to trade the cards.  Don't tell me you can't find the cards only to open another trade with me with the exact cards that you lied about.  Seriously, it only puts you on my Do Not Trade list.  It just shows me you are dishonest, and you are not to be counted on when you try and setup a trade.

Anywho, received another Zendikar Mythic Rare from deckbox.org, and another name I put on my Do Not Trade list.

Pucatrade.com is becoming more interesting, and I think I might be able to get some trades done for the lesser wanted items.  I think I will be able to send unwanted rares/cards to people just like me who are looking for the same types of cards, in the hopes that they will look at my needs list and send me cards.  I still don't like how you are supposed to setup your wants/haves but I do like the theory of sending and getting based off of what you send.

Still thinking about it, but I did get 400 points for setting up an account, and got 3 Zendikar (a) lands sent to me for doing nothing, so that was pretty cool.  And then when I finished my first trade I got another 100 points, and 2 more cards are headed my way.  So we will see.  But yes, still have not sent anything in return, but there is a guy looking for Homeland cards, so I might try and send some.

Online Trading - Pucatrade.com

https://pucatrade.com/

Puca Trade

So just saw something about this site on theMeadery and oh boy, not sure how I feel about it.  First off I don't think there is a lot of people on the site now, and it is really hard to see who all the traders are.  So I signed up for the site, and you get 100 points for signing up, than 200 points for giving them your cell phone number, and then another 100 points for setting up a want list.

The object of the site is that you get points for giving cards to other members, and you can only get cards based off the points you earn.  Each card is given a specific point value, and that determines how many points you would get or spend.

So if you start out with 400 points for just following their rules, and you put 2 cards on your want list that are worth 200 points each, and someone sends you those cards you would end up with 0 points, but have the 2 cards you were looking for.

If you have 0 points, then no one can send you cards, and you need to find people that need your cards, send them the cards, and then you get points.  With 0 points you need to find people to send cards to, so the next step would be to setup the 'Cards Have' part which will fill out your inventory, then you can go to the 'Send Cards' section.  This will show you people that have 'Card Wants' that match your 'Cards Have' and you can send them cards.  This will then increase your point total, and more people can send you cards on your 'Card Wants' list.

I am just not sure about this whole thing.  It seems like you can send cards and get points, but you really need to keep an eye out on what you have on your want list.  From what I can tell, everyone just has super crazy expensive cards on their want list.  There is no real way to look at what some people might want, or maybe no one needed the cards I was looking to give.

Honestly I am just not sure how I feel about this site.  I think in theory it is a good idea, but most of the people on the site just want the really expensive cards and it really does not have value when it comes to trading.  Maybe I am more of a traditional trader and I want cards for cards rather than building a pool of points for giving people cards in the hopes that someone sends me cards I am looking for.

What if I were to give a bunch a cards away and no one gives me any cards in return, and all I get are these points I never get to use.  Not sold on the idea at all.

24,541 to go

Boom!  So yeah, I just inventoried a large trade from deckbox.org.  It was mostly throwaway Modern rares but still a pretty awesome pickup for me.  This trade was for extra sealed product that I had laying around, so for me it was a huge plus.

So it was a huge plus to me because there is no time that I will open the extra sealed product because I already have a crap ton of it in opened product, and already have my playsets collected.  So rather than open more of it to get the cards that I can trade, I can just trade the packs away in the hopes that whoever I trade the packs to will get something awesome.  Yes, I really do hope that the traders get that wicked awesome $50+ rare when we only traded for a $14 pack.  It is exciting!

I get to fill out cards that I really need for the sets that I did not collect in, and that person has a chance to double-up and get a cool card they will play with.  I consider it a win/win, just because I am getting cards that they don't want and most likely use in a trade, and I trade away something that I don't want or need.

It is like the risk is a little better to take when it is pack for throwaway rares.  It is a lot better than trading a dual land for a bunch of pack, because it is not a high valued rare for maybe something good.

Well that is how I consider it, and I just hope I can find more people that want to make trades like this because I really want to know what are in those packs!!!

Thank you trader, you know who you are!

Mythic Rare: 147
Rares: 6810
Uncommons: 8350
Commons: 7902
Lands: 1332

24,973 Conspiracy +210 add

Conspiracy has come out so I needed to add that total to the count.  Hopefully I will get my pre-order in and I can trim this down a bit.  I am still a bit on the fence with this set, and I don't know if I am going to open my packs or not.  I think the value in the draft format will increase their value, so I am thinking of just holding off on opening these for a year to see where the prices go.  As a collector it seems silly that I would not open them, but also as a collector I know that keeping them in the packages might raise the value with holding onto this product.  Once again, it is still up in the air, but since the release of the product the set has gone from $288.00 to $237.00, and I only see the prices going down on the mythic rare and rare cards.

But since this is a multiplayer draft format, I also don't see WoTC doing another print of this set, so this also leads me to think that keeping sealed product of this set around could be more beneficial for the collection.

This is a small update, but I did just get in a trade that I am trying to inventory right now, so another update to come soon.

Conspiracy is here!

Got the e-mail that my cards are coming from iDeal808, and to tell you the truth I was getting a bit scared I was not going to get the pre-order from this site.  I did not get the e-mail until around 10PM CST time with the tracking number.  Granted they are in Hawaii, and there is a huge time difference, but I have never purchased anything from this site before so I always get a bit scared.  Lets just wait and see what the boxes look like when they get here.

I was also able to get a single box from an LGS that I cannot name, due to them doing me a huge favor and just selling me a box.  They requested that I do not say anything to anyone, but since I asked to buy a box, they bent their rules to sell me a single box.

So, I am going to have 5 boxes and I have decided to just collect a single card from the set because having a playset would not do me any good because this is more of a Cube set once you have drafted. I have even been thinking about not opening any of the boxes since it is such a cool draft set, and after I open the cards it might be worth less.  But even with that being said, Cube set might be a completely different collecting pile.

Even if I were to open the boxes, how and where will I sort them into my collection.  These cards are not Standard legal, nor will they be any other sanctioned tournament legal deck.  First thought was to just sort them into Pre-Modern like I do with my EDH cards, and just make sure I don't use any of the cards in any of my decks.  But now that I think about it, I could just start a new box for multiplayer type decks.  I am not sure if they are going to do another printing of this set or not, but since I sort my "Un" and Portal sets in Pre-Modern I will most likely just sort this set the same way.

So I will be waiting a couple weeks before I try and open these boxes, just because I want to see where this set goes because I think the set might have more worth if I keep more sealed of the set.

Collection Storage

So what does the outcome look like?

This is a picture of my collection, left is my Legacy and to the right is Modern with a small box of Portal and Portal Second Age (why is it there?  I have no idea.)  Each box has a single color assigned to it, with Legacy having 2 boxes per color,  and the Modern boxes are just about to break into the 2 boxes per color.

So I started out with using 3200 count boxes (One of my cats likes to watch me):

With these boxes I had an issue with my racks that I store my boxes in, I could only hold 6 boxes on each shelf and I was wasting a lot of space so I moved to 4000 count boxes (seriously I need to feed my cat):

These boxes worked a lot better with the racks I am using.  You can fit 9 boxes on each shelf, and the boxes only stick out a bit.  I have found that they are also better for storing cards that might be in larger sleeves.  Granted I would never really use the larger sleeves, but you could if you wanted to.

Now you might see some weird tan colored card behind each of the cards, with some small label behind them, but I will go over that in some other blog.  They are separator cards that I use to organize my collection, because WoTC reprints cards spanning multiple sets and I needed to keep each card in different sets split up.  But yeah, I will go through the stupid OCD process I use when a new set comes out for the labels.

I do have another shelf for my Standard cards, but I am not going to post it here.  I still use my 3200 count boxes for Standard but that is because those boxes fit better in that shelf.  Since Standard cards rotate out of that play type into Modern I just kept using those 3200 count boxes and sort the cards into the 3 row 4000 count boxes.

But as you can see if I were to make a 2 color Legacy deck I would be pulling 6 of the 4000 count boxes, and the 2 standard boxes, and that is just for the color cards.  Then I would have to go through 3 Artifact boxes, 2 Land boxes, and 2 Gold boxes.  You could only imagine what my tables look like when I make a 3 color EDH deck.  It is a lot easier to build Modern or Standard deck when you think about boxes to go through, Legacy and EDH has to be the most number of boxes I go through to build a deck.

FYI I bought the racks at Target and the boxes at BCW.

24,763 to go, Scars of Mirrodin Complete!

Top story - Koth of the Hammer received!

Oh wooo, so I got a playset of Scars of Mirrodin, bla bla bla...  Well for me it was a pretty big day.  Since I came back to magic around New Phyrexia and I did not get a lot of the Scars block, it was a pretty big deal to me.  It is just an accomplishment for myself having left the game since Urza's block and finally getting the playset of the block that I came back with.  Innistrad, Return to Ravnica, and Theros are pretty much gimmies because I had been actively been playing in those blocks so I had been purchasing the boxes and fat packs as they came out, but Scars block I had to back trade for cards that were close to out of print.  I also did not know what I was doing, so I made a lot of mistakes when I was purchasing that block.

It is pretty much the fact that every block that I am able to finish, it is a big win for me.  Before I was just trading for everything and anything I needed.  It did not matter if it was a common or a mythic rare, I was trying to trade for them.  I have since then focused my trading to the oldest block, and the most recent block out of standard just so I was not using a shotgun approach to the cards I am trying to obtain.  That means that now I have completed the Scars block I can move on to the Zendikar block, which in itself is a huge deal!

Now for the oldest block, I am still working on the Mercadian Masques block with needing some of the MM set left, completed the Nemesis set, but I have almost nothing of the Prophecy set.  Granted a full set of Prophecy is only $49, but it is still pretty hard to get cards in good condition let alone finding someone who has some for trade.  I will be writing a blog on my method on getting the cards I need, and how I am approaching this task, but for now I wanted to share that I am done with the Scars block!

Podcast - Magic: the Amateuring

Magic: the Amateuring
http://www.magictheamateuring.com/
Grade: B+

Favorite Running Stories: Ben's Phone number and Nicol Bolas

So I write reviews on websites I go to, and the LGSs I go to, so hey I figured I would do some write ups on what I listen to as well.  Now, I have just started to listen to Magic the Gathering podcasts about a year ago, and I really only listen to 3 of them, but if it is anything like I have been doing with financial investing I am pretty sure there will be more.  Since this was my first MTG podcast I have listened to, this will be my first review.

So, these three folks, what can I say.  Most of the "Intense" podcasts I have tired, you always here the other contributors trying to talk over each other to sound cool, and make a point to tear down the other person and what they are saying.  But with these folks, you get a sense of entertainment.  Almost like they feed off each other.  I do have to say I am quite a big Fan Boy when it comes to these guys, and I am a really big fan.

Ben is the straight man, his dry humor and quick witted responses are really funny.  He is the veteran player, and has the most insight as how to play and what the rules are.  My favorite parts of the show is when Ben will list out two possible cards and Meghan and Maria have to guess which one is the real vintage card.  Best part of it is that he actually makes up the flavor text, and it is some good stuff he comes up with.

Meghan is the rookie wanting to go pro.  I would have to say she is the more serious player out of the trio and she seems more interested in the professional side of the game.  Great humor, and her small little bursts of quirky attitude really make you want to root for her.  As a Fan Boy I really need to point this out, I loaned her a couple of cards one time for FNM, I had to drop off the cards at the LGS and I got to meet her.  Yeah, it was pretty cool.  Funny thing is that it was the day before I was getting married, and we were having the party near the LGS so I figured it would be ok for me to make the pit stop.

Maria, oh boy Maria.  Funny as hell, but holy balls you need to make sure you are listening to the podcast with ear buds.  Not that she is a potty mouth, but I would have to say she is the perverted one of the bunch and not afraid to share.  It brings a brighter side of the whole Magic the Gathering experience, and not to sound too sexist, but it is great to hear some of this humor coming from a woman.  It is "Bridemaid's"esk.  A really warm sense to the listening holes.

So with the three you get straight man, quirky, and dirty all in one.  They almost feed off each other and it works so well.  There have been a couple of off episodes, but for the most part I don't miss any of them.  I should also say that you do get to learn about Magic: the Gathering, but I enjoy listening to them more from the not so serious side of the game.  It is truly entertaining with a hint of education.

They also do have some great guest that show up and make great contributions to the show as a whole.

Again, need to give a shout out to Mead Hall Games and the Meadery for letting me know about this wonderful content.

Spreadsheet Update - Foil Tab

Ok, so now we get to the Foil tab.  So in earlier blogs I talk about not even wanting to collect foil cards, but the fact is there are foil cards and people want to collect them, and I have some for trade.  The question I need to figure out for myself is if I want to try.  I am pretty sure you will hear a lot more about my internal battles about doing something like this, but for now my opinion is that they are stupid and only serve as a purpose for the bling wanters.

So, with that here is the spreadsheet:

So as I covered in the Trade Tab, we are taking that same design with this tab.  With every Set tab there is a section that collects data from the Foil columns and SUMIF them.

Set Tab Total

We are looking at this section
_
  |
  |
  |
  |
  |
  |
  |
_|

Just like in the Trade Tab we are gathering data on each of the Set tabs, but that data is in the same row and column.  This data is using SUMIF to gather and separate the data on rarity, just like the Trade Tab.  It pretty much is the same tab, but gathering different data specific to the Foil columns.

I don't really think I need to get into this, but I will leave a list of the formulas that I have used to look at the specific Foil data.

Journey Into Nyx:
Column B: ='Journey Into Nyx'!$A$26
Column C: ='Journey Into Nyx'!$A$27
Column D: ='Journey Into Nyx'!$A$28
Column E: ='Journey Into Nyx'!$A$29
Column F: ='Journey Into Nyx'!$A$30
Column G: ='Journey Into Nyx'!$A$31
Column H: ='Journey Into Nyx'!$A$32

One thing you will notice is that there is no Book section because I am not keeping track of the foil cards for trade because I never put them in the trade binder.  I just list the extra cards above 1 to my deckbox.org tradelist.

Evernote

https://evernote.com/

What a wonderful application!  I use this application to keep track of all the cards that I need for each set.  I have a single notebook, and I have chapters for each set.  Then within the sets I have labeled out the card type, the rarity, the card name, and the number of cards I need to fulfil my playset.  But the best part of this is that I can have the application on my iPhone, iPad, and my Macbook Pro.  This way I can manage it from any of my devices and edit any of my lists to keep a running track of everything I need.  Normally when I am shopping I will use my iPhone, but if I am trading I will bring my iPad and use that to find cards I need, but when I am doing work at home with deckbox.org I will use my Macbook to edit my trades.

This works well when a new set comes out and I need to edit all the new cards I need after I open my pre-order boxes.  It works well when I have a trade in the hopper, and have to mark the cards that could be coming in so I don't trade for cards that are already coming in on a trade.  I do have to say I use it the most when I am shopping.  Again, I can also see what cards are coming in on trades, but it is so mobile that I can just reference my lists on my phone, I don't have to worry about carrying around my laptop or iPad.

Here is an example of what I have for Shards of Alara:

Blue M Tezzeret the Seeker 3

Gold M Ajani Vengeant 2
Gold M Hellkite Overlord 2
Gold M Kresh the Bloodbraided 2 (2)
Gold M Prince of Thralls 1
Gold M Rafiq of the Many 1
Gold M Sarkhan Vol 1
Gold M Sphinx Sovereign 3
Gold R Stoic Angel 2

Red R Goblin Assault 2

White M Elspeth, Knight-Errant 3
White R Knight of the White Orchid 2
White R Knight-Captain of Eos 1
White R Ranger of Eos 3

Here you can see the Type, Rarity, Card Name, and number of cards needed.  You can also see that I have Kresh the Bloodbraided with a (2) which means that I have 2 of them coming in on a trade.  This will allow me to know not to trade or buy this card because I will have the full playset.  I have had this issue a couple of times where I traded for cards that were already coming in for a trade.  Once the set is done I will erase the cards that I have full playsets, and if the set is complete I will just use the word Complete.  This will allow me to look up the set from the list and see that it is complete so I will not bother with looking at cards from that set.

Here is an example of what the application looks like.  You can see I sort the list on the left alphabetically, and each set has it's own note.  Then each note has the list of cards posted on the right.  There are sets that are complete, and then you can see I am almost done with Scars of Mirrodin with (1) coming in.

Now you can see what the application looks like on my iPad.  It shows the lists on the left, and the note on the right.  Every note will sync when there are changes, and each device will get the new changes no matter what device has made the changes.

This is a free application, and it does not work without an internet connection, but it will allow you to manage everything you need.  Now there are applications like deckbox.org that could do the same thing for you, and they did put a privacy setting on your inventory, but I have yet to go all in on the website and want to keep my inventory needs differently.  I have also found that there really is no website, or application out there that can manage my collection in the ways I need.  There is also no application that will give me the visibility that I want to see where I need to focus my resources.

So for now, I love Evernote for what it can bring to my collecting, and I can also keep my spreadsheets for what I have in my inventory.  Maybe someday I will be able to create that MacOS application that will do everything I need.

**EDIT**

I no longer use this application, but I use Apple Notes