14,887 Been gone for a bit

I picked up all my Battle for Zendikar cards, and I picked up a bunch of singles.  Also picked up some SDCC sets, but I have been away from writing this blog because I have been trying to deal with a death in the family.  I should be able to update more now, and I will try and catch up with some photos of some things I have picked up, but it has been a while since I have posted so I am really not sure where I left off.

I am just going to post this, and try and do a reset as to where I am.  More posts to come.

13,816 Couple added but I missed 4 cards somewhere

I was able to pick these two in a trade for a Modern Masters 2015 Noble Hierarch, so in my eyes it was a great pickup.  Trading away a reprint for a couple of modern staples is a good pickup in my eyes.

On a different note, I am only adding 2 cards to the inventory, but I am showing a new add of 6, so somewhere something got added to the collection that I just can't seem to find.  I am not seeing anything in my sort pile outside of the trades I have done, so not sure what happened.  Just wonsering if I did a typo somewhere.

Hopefully I can find the mistake and correct the issue.

13,822 Modern Land for Standard cards

So what I liked about this trade, I got a pretty good Eventide land for a bunch of current standard cards.  What can't you like about that?  Well the trader was a bit picky in wanting to call it a downtrade, and I was not really specific on my trading rules, so I went through with it.  I also updated my profile to say that I do not consider trades under $50 a down trade.  Positive note, I am pretty sure I will be up by at least $10 on this trade considering all the standard cards I traded away.

13,823 Crucible and an Alara Reborn card

Picked up these two things of beauty.  Had to trade away some EDH stuff to get them, but all in all a good trade.  I am a bit down from the trade since it was proposed, but I think I will do good on this one.  Only 4 more Alara Reborn cards left to fill out the set, and my first Tenth Edition Crucible.

15,015 Modern pickup while I pick up my PreOrder

As always, before I go into my LGS I search their website for things to buy.  And looks like they picked up a couple of things I have been looking for.  And I also picked up some stuff I was not looking for!  :)

Blood Moon, Hallowed Fountains, and the Twilight Mire were what I ordered before I went into the store, and added a Wrath of God from Tenth, along with 4 Tendo Ice Bridges.  Funny thing is I thought the Tendo Ice Bridges were lands I needed from Coldsnap, and did not realize that I bought something I really wasn't looking for until I got home and added them to my spreadsheets.

Anywho... I am just happy I got another Blood Moon!

BAM!  As with every set I buy, I try and pick up a playmat.  Got me some Liliana, which I think was the best art of the Planewalker Origin's playmats.  I also picked up a trade binder.  This is not any trade binder though.  Normal trade binders have 9 slots on each page, but this trade binder comes in 4 X 3 pages.  So that means you can show off your complete playset in the binder!!!  How cool is that?! So yeah, it was about time I picked up one of these, and I am sad it took me this long to do it.  I am sure happy I watched that Tolarian Community College YouTube video that exposed me to this wonderful binder.

13,825 Wasteland for some Modern Gold

So yes, I traded away a Wasteland for these stupid cards.  And yes, I was sober when I did it.  But really, I picked up a couple of lands and my final Azura, what more could I ask for.  And before you say that the lands will more than likely be reprinted in MM set, I poop on you.

13,829 Ensnare my Bridge!

Ok, so this one was another down trade, but I feel bad about this one.  He was looking for a bunch of Standard cards, and this was the only card I could find that I needed from him, and he was willing to do the trade, but I expect that I will be up on this trade after Khans rotates out of Standard.  It was the second trade with this local trader, so maybe if he starts up another trade I will see if I can adjust it more in his favor.

13,830 Kiki me Likely

First trade with this trader, and he was willing to down trade for this.  I did trade away a Fetch Land from Khans of Tarkir, and some black Legacy rares, but I am just happy to get this one off the priorty list.  For some reason I have found it difficult to get these.

Magic Origins

Got my normal Pre-order for Magic Origins, and I do see the prices increasing since the release, but with all the other Core sets, I can only assume they will go down with due time.  There was some reprints of cards that are like the power nine, but a little weaker, and I think players will find ways to make them strong.

Picked up some Fat Packs along with the pre-order.  Nothing really special with the Fat Packs, but hoping for some full art lands with Battle for Zendikar!

Normally I do not pick up the Clash Packs, but this set released some good cards in the Clash Pack. The only reason I picked up this one was because there was an alternate art Siege Rhino, and a couple other good Standard cards.  But they also released a Fetch Land with this pack, and that does not mean much but I think that this Clash Pack has a possibility of going up in price because of the special foil cards, and the Fetch Land.  So, yeah I just picked one up.

15,024 ABUGames Repacks! 8th & 9th Edition

So I finally got the balls to try this out, and let me tell you it was good and bad.  So lets go through and see how well we did with buying Repacks.

Now to start this off, what the hell is a repack.  A repack is what a LGS does when a set comes out, and they open a bunch of boosters, take all the good and wanted cards.  Then they take all the crap they dont want, Repack them into 15 card boosters, and sell them as 'Repacks'.

Why in the hell would I do something like this?  You see, since the LGS knows they are selling you crap you technically get a better deal.  Lets say that you need all the commons and uncommons from a set.  If you were to go out and purchase complete playsets of the commons and uncommons it could cost you around $150.  Again, the LGS knows they are selling you crap, so they only sell it to you for around $30.

So that is 36 boosters of 1 throw away rare, 3 crappy uncommons, and 11 shit commons all for the low low price of $29.99!  That is 540 cards for $29.99!  That is $0.18 a card.

(Just wanted to point out that the rare that I got from my first pack was from 9th Edition)

What my thinking was, get a couple of these Repacks for some sets I have barely anything for and see what I get that I need, what extra crap do I get, and what would the cost difference be if I just bought all the cards that I got.  So I bought 2 Booster Box Repack from 8th Edition and 2 from 9th Edition.  Lets start out with the first 8th Edition Booster Box

Old Collection Card Count Total: 16,205

8th Edition
Old Collection Value Total: $214.59
Old Trade Value Total: $0.00

After Opening the first booster box I got 5 rares from 9th Edition.  I also got 2 lightly played cards, along with 10 played cards.  The played cards were so bad that I just threw them away.  But lets break down the 8th Edition Rares that I did get from the box.

Rares:
2 White
8 Blue with 1 duplicate
4 Black
6 Red with 1 duplicate
6 Green with 1 duplicate
5 Artifacts
- With any normal booster box, you would rarely see a duplicate rare being pulled from the same box.

With the uncommons, the only complaint I have is there were a couple of the cards that I got a crazy amount of the same card.  Normally you would see max 5 uncommons of the same card, but there were some cases that I got 12 of the same uncommon card out of all the packs.

Going through the numbers, this is what I recorded.
First Box Collection: $69.06
First Box Trade: $22.10

Old Collection Total $214.59 - New Collection Total $283.65 = $69.06
New Trade Total: $22.10

So before I opened the first box, I had $214.59 worth of cards in my collection.  Then I added all the cards that I needed for 8th Edition into my collection and I ended up with $283.65.  If I subtract those two numbers we end up with $69.06.  That means, I spent $29.99 on that booster box, and was able to add $69.09 worth of value to the collection.  Which is a pretty big add if you ask me.  That would mean a 100% down trade.  I would also like to add that I also got $22.10 extra in cards that I did not need, but I also need to add that I am most likely never going trade/sell them away because no one will want them.

So, with that down, let see what we ended up with after opening the second box of 8th Edition.

1st Booster Collection Total: $283.65
1st Booster Trade Total: $22.10

2nd Booster Collection Total: $317.71
2nd Booster Trade Total: $79.60

For the Collection
$317.71 - $283.65 = $34.06
$79.60 - $22.10 = $57.50

As you can see the trade total went up more than the collection total, and this is what you would expect.  Since the first box filled out more of what we needed, the second box would fill out less, and we would see a higher increase in the trade value.  So really, with the second box we added $34.06 to the collection, and $57.50 to the trade.  So we spent $29.99 for $34.06 worth of cards.  Buying a third box would be worthless, and it would be more cost efficient to spend that $29.99 on singles to fill out the set.

Total out of the 2 Repack Boxes:
8th Edition Collection: $103.12
8th Edition Trade: $79.60
Total 8th Edition = $182.72

So you can see, we spent $59.98 on 2 Repack of 8th Edition, and added $103.12 to the collection.  Leaving $79.60 of junk to the trade binder.  All in all I think it was a good buy in getting 2 Repack Booster boxes, but I would not go any higher than that.

I will go through the same thing with the 9th Booster boxes, and you will see I got more of a gain because I had less cards in the collection for 9th Edition.

I would also like to add that I did open one pack that did not have any uncommons, and on the second booster box, I got another 5 rares from 9th Edition.

*****
9th Edition
Old Collection Value Total: $274.46
Old Trade Value Total: $0.00

With this set I just opened the 2 boxes and sorted everything out.  I proved what I wanted to know in the 8th Edition opening, and just wanted to get it done.  But the same thing happened, and lets just get to the numbers.

Total out of the 2 Repack Boxes:
9th Edition Collection: $120.12
9th Edition Trade: $73.26
Total 8th Edition = $193.38

So here we can see that I spent $59.98 and added $120.12 to the collection, and $73.26 to the trade binder.  All in all, it was a good buy, but yes again I would not buy more than 2 repack boxes per set, and I would also need more than 1000 cards to complete the set.  Pretty much needing all the commons and uncommons.

The only issues I saw with the 9th Edition repacks, 3 of the packs only had 2 uncommons, and I got 2 8th Edition uncommons in both boxes.

After opening all 4 boxes I went from 16,205 to 15,024.  That was over 1000 cards added to the collection for only $120.00.  That comes out to around $0.12 a card.  A little high for a common card, but hey.

I am pretty sure I would not do this again, and the cards that I did get extra were completely a waste, but it does give me an idea to try and see if I can get something together to try and sell.  Better than what ABU Games is offering, and worth more to a collector than the repacks.

16,205 Magic Origins has been added to the countdown

Here we go, here we go...here we go!

Last core set for the game.  From a personal point of view I think they should have done this a long time ago.  From a collector's point of view, I think they should have done this a long time ago.  From a player's point of view, I think they should have done this a long time ago.

It was a no load set in my eyes.  Most of the cards you were buying were reprints.  No new story involved, nothing really great being pulled from previously released sets.  Just a bunch of reprints I had to buy to keep the collecting up.  When I got back into Magic I was pretty happy with it, but now I am just sick of wasting money.  Honestly I wish they would release 3 new sets, and 1 Modern Masters set each year, but that is just me.

Having to buy 4 new sets, plus a MM or Special set like Conspiracy, along with the 2 Duel decks, 5 Commander decks, and the From the Vault set is just a bit much.  And that does not even count what ever little thing they release to keep people buying up stuff.

So again, I had my pre-order in for about a month now, should be picking up the boxes tomorrow. Going to be busy this weekend sitting in front of my computer for work, so what better time to crack some packs.  I will update this post with a picture of the booster boxes when I get them.

14,993 Arcbound Ravagers!

Ok, I did have to trade away a Tundra for this trade, but I think it was completely worth it.  Pulling out some of those duals to trade for the high priced Modern cards is really working out.

This was the second trade that I completed with a trader on Deckbox.org, and he has shipped first both times.  It really has turned out very well, and I do see more and more trades with new traders.  I just seems like there is an influx of new traders, which is nice for me.  They have a lot of Modern cards and they are looking for my Legacy cards.

So for one Revised Tundra I was able to get this:

Hinder and Squelch were really good pickups, and I think they are going to see more play.

Arcbound Ravagers!  This is what peeked my interest in this trade the most.  I know they spiked last week, and they are already starting to come down, but I am just happy to have finished those off my priority list.

Small pickup here, but I think they will see more Modern play in the days to come.

Goblin Charbelcher are seeing more Modern play, and they just reprinted a Goblin card in Magic Origins that goes very well with this card, so just happy to have completed this play set.

15,013 Legacy Purchase - Lots Complete!

So I was tired of looking at my Legacy sets, and not being able to complete them through trading because no one had them in their trade list.  Or if I tried to start a trade with them, they would go for my money cards and I would just cancel the trade.  So once again I headed to ABUGames.com and pick up some of the Legacy cards I needed to just finish the sets.  Lets see what I picked up!

Scourge Complete - Nothing really hear to scream about, but done!

Onslaught Complete - Just wanted to point out the 2 Forest!  Huge pickups!

Odyssey Complete - Nut Collectors, but really just happy to be done.

Legions Complete - Seed.Born.Muse....  Done!

Judgment Complete - Past Legions this was the next most expensive to complete and hard to find with trades.  no one wanted to trade the Burning Wishes away without trying to get my Duals.

Invasion Complete - Phyrexian Altars are the big ones!  Pretty sure they are going to only go up in price.

Apocalypse Complete - Lay of the Mother Fucking Land!  Yeah, nothing big but another set complete!

With all these getting done, I am only looking for Core sets (5th, 6th, and 7th), Urza's Destiny, and 2 fucking Eladamri's Call...  Sucks that ABUGames did not have any for sale.  I will try TCGPlayer next time I try and pick some stuff up, but seriously, so happy to be done with those sets!!!

15,056 Future Sight uncommon and an M10 Mythic

Another first trader for me.  He shipped first and everything checks out.  I did trade away a Crypt Command from MM15, where I did not really want to trade that away for these types of cards, but I did finish up some higher priced uncommons I really needed.  And always getting a M10 mythic is always good, and I really just want to finish this core set.

15,059 Modern trade coming in

Repet trader!  I love these!  I traded away a Dual Land, but got these before some weird spike this week.  In the end I made out big time because both of these cards rose in price, but the Ravager really spiked.  So I was able to come out +$10 on this trade while in transit.

Again, I am not smart enough to make those trades on purpose, I was just really lucky.

15,061 New trader, and not happy with the trade, but can't complain

So this trade was mainly for the 8th Edition Blood Moon, but instead I got a 9th Edition Blood Moon. Not that it was a horrible mistake, and I was happy to get it as I still needed it, but poor form for a first trade.  This trader did send first, and I could have sent back, or requested that I get the cards I traded for, but hey.

I was pretty excited for these Time Stops as well.

Boom!  More legacy needs!!

So this one I was fairly upset about this one.  This was supposed to be an 8th Edition Avatar of Hope, but instead I got the Prophecy one.  Now I am done with this set, and again I could have made a big stink, but he was a new trader and mistakes can be made.  This is also a $0.26 card, so not something to make a big stink out of.

The real thing I am upset about this, is that he actually went through the cards and posted the conditions.  Which I was really happy to get, but I am more concerned about edition than I am condition right now.  I did trade away a Dual Land, so that is upsetting, but the Blood Moon I did get was good enough for me.

15,074 Only 2 More Shards of Alara!

So pulled an Elspeth for an Inquisition of Kolizek.  It was a Mythic for an Uncommon, and I can honestly say that I got the better deal.  I can only say this because I am pretty sure the Uncommon will get reprinted in either Return to Zendikar or the next MM set.

15,075 Worldwake here I come!

I have no idea why it has taken me so long to get Worldwake complete, but it has.  I have had the Stoneforge Mystics and the Jace filled out for the longest time.  I can only think that it is because everything else seems small time for this set, since I have those big ones.  But here I am, with only one more Dragonmaster left, and an Avenger of Zendikar for the big hitters in the set.

I cannot how happy I will be to complete this set.

This was a local MN trader, but I did shipping with him because of the distance from his location and an LGS that I would be able to meet up at.  Normally I would just have them ship to my house, but I am paranoid, so this is the first time I had him ship to my work.

Everything worked out, and ended up a fantastic trade.  I did end up dipping into stock that I was trying to hold onto for more than 5 years, but hey... anything to get that Worldwake done.

15,080 Got me an extra Stifle

So I was worried about this trade.  I traded away a MM15 Dark Confidant and some Delvers, and was getting the Crucible and Seedborn in return.

I shipped my cards pretty quick because he had a trade score above 20 and I was thinking I could trust that score.  A couple of days had past, and he accepted my shipment, but still never sent his.  He replied with a chat, saying that he was busy over the weekend so never got to ship them out, and would straight away.  Then the next day he said that he had a collision with his wife and got a beverage spilt on the Seedborn Muse, ordered a new one off of TCGPlayer.com, and had it shipped to me.  Then, I checked the tracking he provided and it said that it was going to his house and not mine!

Panic ensues, and I promptly ask him about the tracking number.  He says he does not know what is going on, and does not understand why it is showing that.  I am pretty much thinking that I am out the MM15 Dark Confidant, trading fodder that I got with a sealed box of MM15 just to trade away for the priority list I am looking for.

The next day I check the mail and the Crucible shows up.  The very next day I get the Seedborn Muse and a nice little surprise of my final Stifle.

Lets just say that this trader is A+ in my book.  Not only did he mess up, fix the problem as quick as he could, he sent a little extra just to make it up to me.  This is how I like to trade, and how I like to be traded with.

I know I dont share trader's names on here, but if I did I would give him props!

15,083 Entomb me!

 All three were on the Priority list!  Got my final Entomb, and first Kiki.  I did trade a dual land away (among other things), but I think it was a good trade.  Bribery used to be worth a lot more, and I can only see it being used in EDH, but this was an even trade.

15,086 Damn I got them all!

So you might be able to tell with this picture, but the second Damnation is not near mint, and I am pretty much done with this trader.  Why am I don't with this trader?  If I trade you a Force of Will, and you send me a card that is not posted in the condition that you posted, I find it a pointless mission to try and confront the trader and get the condition of the card that was posted.  I will just stop trading with this guy.

I might bring it up and see if he will correct the issue, but I doubt he will want to correct the issue.  I will update this post when I find out.

But all in all, I got all my Damnations I need and I also finished up the Rhys I needed.  That is 2 cards off my priority list.

UPDATE: So it looks like I forgot to send him one of my cards, so I could not just complain about the condition, and I just let it be.  I am thinking that when I do finish phase 1, I will just trade for a new one, and use the poorly condition Damnation as fodder.

15,089 Return trader score!

Love me some repeat traders!  These folks are from northern Minnesota, and I have completed over 12 trades combined with these guys.  Always polite, and very accommodating.  I do have to say that I will go above and beyond when trading with these guys as they have been wonderful to work with.

I do have to say that I feel a little bad on this trade.  She wanted a sealed booster of Exodus and did not get anything good, and I picked up the Glimmervoid right before it spiked up.

Big win on this one was the Sen Triplets and the Knight of the White Orchid.  I am very close to finishing up my Alara Reborn and Shards of Alara, so these pickups were pretty important to me.

I did trade away a Khans of Tarkir fetchland, and a pretty good legacy card, so I think she will end up on top with this trade.  Again love trading with these guys so I will always be accommodating with them.

15,099 2 Platinum Angels

Ok, so for this trade I sent off a Modern Masters 2015 Primeval Titan for two of these beauties.  For this trade I think it was pretty even.  They both have the chances to increase in price, and they have the same need level.  I did get 2 Mythics for the 1 Mythic, but if they keep reprinting the Primeval Titan I think I could end up on the up end for this trade.

15,095 Small trade coming in

This was a small trade, but I did get a couple more Legacy cards and I am a lot closer to finishing that stuff off.  Most of the cards that I traded away were Legacy cards, but I was pretty happy trading away my Sylvan Caryatid in this trade, and I am always happy to trade away standard cards before they rotate out for some cards I need.

Granted, I think Sylvan Caryatid might come back in price, but considering there are better options out there, it might stay in the $3.00 area.

People in Magic

So you have the SCG article on women in Magic:
http://www.starcitygames.com/article/31023_Women-In-Magic-the-Gathering.html

And then you have the SCG article on women and Magic:
https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/3afy87/women_and_magic_by_jim_davis/

One article was written by a woman, and tries to explain her points on the subject.  The other was written by a man, and almost seems like a response to the first article.

And shit storm insues...

After reading the tweets from so many Magic content creators, on how horrified they are about what is going on, and the support to @MTACast, I really wanted to find out what the hell was going on. So I head to Reddit, and I find the most responded to post.

Outrage this, and horrible that, and "I don't know what is offensive" comments.

Finally I was able to find the link to the archived article (Star City Games pulled the second article written by a man) and read it.  My first impression of the article was that it was poorly written, and did not really get any point across.  That it did not prove or disprove anything except for make some comments on how women and men are different.  It was more of a statement that Magic is played by men, and the women that want to play it need to earn their place at the table.  Followed by, they are strong enough to do it and they have the writers support.

I do have to say that I also read the first article, which was pretty well thought out.  It was more of a state of play in the Magic community for the women who also play the game.  It took every attempt at not trying to offend the men reading it.  I was not offended, and frankly I wish she would have spoken some points more strongly and with more emotion.  I feel if she did, she would have still made her point and allowed it to come out as more important.

But that is just it.  That is the big fucking problem.

In "Women in Magic" the writer is going above and beyond to try and not come off like she is trying to tell men what to do, but rather suggest that it might make a more comfortable play environment if some things were to change.  Working very hard at not pointing a finger at anyone person.  She was also trying to speak to other women in the community on what they can do to better the Magic community for women.

In "Women and Magic" the writer seems like he is just arguing the "Women in Magic" article.  Now, why did he feel the need to argue the article, I am not sure.

I find a lot in common with "Women in Magic" and how she must feel at times.  I am a man, and I work in IT, but my mother is from South Korea.  So I am what some would say a mixed race person. I tend to just call myself a United States Citizen, but that is another story.  Working in IT, surrounded by men and their own issues in trying to fit into a man's work place is tiresome.  There is a constant struggle for that Alpha dog, and more so the struggle not to be perceived as the Omega dog.

I fight comments all day long, from slight racist things about latino, to black, to asian.  Or the constant sexual comments on women that work in the building.  Or the "Are you with me" statements on all types of subjects.

In one situation at my work, where I think this fits in with the "Women and Magic" article.  Now my ethnic background is only half asian, so I look mostly caucasian, and people usually never know I have an asian heritage.  There is this guy at work, and every time I go to get chinese food for lunch he makes the comment about them serving dog meat for food, or you never know what you are eating. And normally I would just laugh it off, and be on my merry way.  But deep down, those comments would stay with me for days.  To this day everytime I go out to eat for lunch and get chinese food I think of his comments.  I would be working just fine, and those comments would pop into my head, and I would wonder to myself why I can't just tell this guy that it is offensive and ask him to stop. Why am I just laughing it off when it literally lives with me, and I am losing sleep.

I would also like to add that this is a guy that I do like to spend time with outside of work.  I invited him to my wedding, and we have done multiple things besides work together.  And it is not that I think he is a bad person, but he is just a jerk sometimes.  I would like to say typical male, but that is so obtuse I find it funny even trying to write it.

So one day, I go and get my chinese food and I am eating it at my desk and he comes over and makes his same old comments.  But this time I attempt to collect myself and say to him, "You know I am half Korean.  My cousin, my aunts, and my nieces are asian.  Now I am pretty sure that we have never cooked up a dog and ate it before, and what you are saying is highly offensive.  So just stop saying that to me because it is not funny anymore.  One joke is ok, maybe two, but just stop it with your comments."

And the pure shock I saw in his face.  He responded with, "Well my mom used to be a inspector and you never know what they do in those places."

He has never said those comments to me again, but they still live deep inside my thoughts, and to this day they still affect me.

Now, what the hell does that story even mean with this whole conversation?  It is on multiple levels of explanation that I am trying to convey the basis of multiple points of view.

1. I was offended.
2. Needing to be accepted in the group is a strong requirement as humans.
3. He would never know that I was offended unless I told him I was offended.
4. The uncomfortableness of having to tell someone I am offended is terrifying.
5. Since I am the offended one, his comments will always be with me no matter how hard I try to forget them.
6. The want of having this type of offence in my everyday life.
7. Once I did tell him it offended me, he most likely felt some embarrassment, but still needed to lash out a little bit.

I can see the same story ring out in these two articles.  Everyday people walk around and try to enjoy the things they like.  We all try and fit in a community that we love, where we want to belong.  But everyone has a point of view, and they all differ from own points of view.  When someone is offended, it stays with that person and affects their life to no end.  They live with those feelings long after the offense.  And to come out and say stop if a very hard thing to do, because there is always a lash back out of embarrassment or hate or fear.  To the person that is speaking out against the offensive words, they never know what type of response they are going to get, but they always get one and just hope it is one of understanding.

More often than not, the backlash response is one of confrontation.  From that fear of not wanting to be the Omega dog.  That initial response is always going to be an attack, because that is how you are strong.  And we always move towards the strongest branch.

More often than not, the backlash response is one of hurt.  Weather it is empathy from the pain caused, or the sadness from causing someone that pain.

Within this Magic the Gathering community, you would think that acceptance would be more visible, and it would be easier to feel empathy towards someone else's pain.  I know a lot of people who play this game, have social awkwardness issues and have felt the same comments from other people.  So you would think there would be a different response in most of these cases.

But children are not born racists, and most of our reactions are learned from how people treat us. And the only thing I can really say is stand up for yourself no matter what the response might be.  And if someone tells you that you are being offensive, don't be afraid of being the Omega dog for a short time in order to make the other person feel ok in the community.

And for fuck sake, stop thinking that being understanding is weak, and know it is strong.  It takes a strong person to be understanding and accepting of your own mistakes.  Be happy that the offended person is strong enough to tell you they are offended, and be just as strong to accept it and change your behavior.

In all honesty, the Women and Magic should have never been written.  And sadly the Women in Magic still has to be written over and over, and I just hope for the day that we don't have to write these types of articles.

Just strive to be strong enough to be a good person.

*****

In my work place scenario, when I confronted him, he reacted with shock and a slight retort to justify why he was thinking the way he was.  Almost to justify his initial jokes, but in the end he has never made those comments again.  He still might think the way he does, but he now knows how I feel about his banter and will no longer engage me in that same manner.  Do I think I won?  Do I think I am better than him?  Not more then I think he thinks he won when he was joking with me.  It is not about winning, but understanding and respect.

In my experiences with other men, there is this constant banter between each other.  I find it very uncomfortable, so I try and not engage in it.  I am also an over sensitive person, and find myself taking offence more than not, so I just try and stay out of that game.  But I find it very enjoyable to do with my wife, because if there is at any point a misunderstanding of intent while playfully joking with each other, we pull it back and verify that we are just playing.

I find that with other men, it is more of a battle for Alpha dog in their own mind.  I for one, just try and stay away from it, but I can see how others can get caught up in it.  With my wife, we have a fail safe, and we trust each other enough to pull if back and verify.  With others, you might not do that and get drawn into the game.  Lets be clear, this is a man's game and I even see it in our 4 male cats.  It looks like a fight, but really it is to test to see where you sit on the ladder.  And lets be clear, my wife is always the Alpha dog, and we like it like that.

But in any scene with a bunch of guys that kind of know each other, but not completely know each other, they are constantly trying to one up each other.  With knowledge or jokes or banter, and lets be serious, it is offensive at most times.  And lets be serious again, if there is a woman near it gets almost "Mate Calling-ish".  As boys, we really don't get the understanding that women don't really want to hear that type of language, because really who wants to get impressed upon while trying to play a competitive game?

I guess I am only saying this stuff, not to say it should be considered ok, but more of a message to the other guys.  Instead of taking what people are suggesting as changes in the community as attacks, maybe we should consider them as true requests, and respect their wishes.

I find that with men it is about respect.  And a man, wants to be respected above anything else.  They don't want to be considered the Omega dog (what ever that might mean in their head).

I find that with women it is about caring.  They know that if others treat them with kindness then they care about them, and how they feel.

Where it gets all out of whack, a man will do the banter game with a woman they respect or with a woman they are trying to find out where on the ladder they sit, but in that banter game the woman will think the man does not care about them, and then get hurt.  When the woman gets hurt, the man feels like he must respond with an attack because feeling empathy for the woman would be considered Omega dog-ish, and she would not longer respect him.

And here is where the man thinks, be strong enough to play this game with a bunch of men.  We do what we do because we do it, and if you dont like it, get out.  Stop trying to change me...

This is where I think it is all wrong, and I go back to my work place.  Since I work with a bunch of guys, so I really want to keep trying to keep up with all that guy bullshit, all day long?  Seriously I would not get any work done.  But I have heard the same thing from other women who work in an all female work place.  Just the pure Catty-ness about it.

And really, this is where it all gets tied back to the article "Women in Magic".  It is not about playing the game of Magic in a man's world, but it is not about playing it in a woman's world either.  It is about finding that awesome middle ground, that everyone loves in this world.  Where both men and woman can feel safe entering, and just play a game called Magic: the Gathering, and not worry about all that other bullshit.  I believe that all she is trying to do is swing that door a bit more to the center, pointing out ways that it can be accomplished.

To tell you the truth I want more women playing Magic, because I have found that it forces that nice balance I have grown to love.  Because seriously, I hate the man games.

15,101 Decent trade, and very happy!

Ok so here was a fantastic trade.  I got some really good cards from the want list, finishing out my Doubling Seasons, and my first Fulminator Mages.  I was also able to pick up a couple more Eventide lands, and a couple steps closer to my Shards of Alara set.

Shadowmoor and Eventide are great pickups because they are some of the most needed Modern sets I am in search of.  I am starting to think that this search for Modern sets is going to be more painful than the Legacy cards.  Granted I had most of the really expensive cards, and it was painful down trading for a lot of throwaway rares, but I hope it pays off in the end.

Back in the day when Alpha cards were less expensive than the Beta because of the corners and no one wanted them, I should have picked up those cards.  Now by no means do I think the inflation of the Legacy sets I just picked up by the same rate, but I do think that the prices of these lesser collected sets will show in time.

Big win here is I only had to trade away a foil Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, 3 Den Protectors, and 1 Mistcutter Hydra.  A foil that I could care less about, and 4 standard cards that I will be able to pickup for 1/5 the price they are at now.

15,106 2 cards, decent trade incoming

So I am not sure how or why this trader made this trade with me, but I was up on the trade a day after we made it.  Granted I think the 2 Dig Through Time will go up over time, but all in all I think I came ahead in this one.  This Azusa is a really big win in my mind, and now I only need one more.  I did have to trade away a MM15 mythic, and I am not really too torn about that one.

Snapcaster = Loupe

So I totally got caught up with the Modern blitz on prices.  I tried to get Blood Moons, Oblivion Stones, Snapcaster Mages, and what ever else I saw spike up that I did not have.  The story with Snapcaster Mage, I checked Twitter and MTGStock.com update one morning and saw the pop of the price to $74.99, then the next morning I do my normal check and it is $80.99, then on the third straight morning I check and the price is up to $84.99.

At this point I am freaking out.  Knowing full well that I have my play set, and I had just bought a playset for $50 each so I can trade for Modern staples I still need.  Now, what is going on in my head in one simple word: Tarmogoyf.

Back in 2012, I said fuck it, and bought the last three Tarmogoyfs that I needed, at the same time, for around $85 each.  Not really knowing that it would spike up to $200, I just wanted to knock it out of the park and call it good.  I did the same thing with Jace, the Mind Sculptor.  Normally the way that I look at those high priced cards is that they are no longer in print, and people still want the card to play with, so it is just silly to try and time the market and get it at a lower price.

Now I am pretty lucky that I can afford this type of mentality, that my wife is pretty cool with me spending on my hobby, and we are DINKs, so this is not something everyone can do without going into debt.

So with 4 in the bank, and 4 on the trading floor, I am just thinking to myself that these are going to go the way of the Tarmogoyf and I should get some more trading fodder.  Now my rationale is that I could have spent $300 on a box of boosters and hope I get trading fodder, or I can just grab some sought after staples and know that over time I can trade them away for anything I need.

I know what you are saying, why don't I just spend $300 on the cards I actually need rather than buy trading fodder?  Well, go fuck yourself...  :-)

Really though, it is trying to buy a MTG Staple in the hopes that it will go up in price, so I can get a better return on my investment.  I could have spent my $300 on all the Commons/Uncommons I needed for Betrayers of Kamigawa, but the chances that those cards would increase in value as much as Snapcaster Mage might, it is well worth it to spend the cash on the staple and hold it for a while to get larger leverage on future trades.

And, it is pretty cool to find someone with $200 worth of commons that is willing to trade it to me for a single Snapcaster Mage.  Not only do I get to double the value of my original purchase, acquire a large amount of cards I would rather not spend money on, but I get to trade a very expensive card to someone that really wants to get the card and only has commons to trade away.

You can't go into any LGS and plop down $200 worth of commons and expect to walk out of there with a Snapcaster Mage.  Maybe with 340,000 commons they could get something like this from an LGS.  Most standard Common buys from an LGS is 1000 for $0.25.  $85 / $0.25 = 340 * 1000 = 340,000.  For me, you figure a common is close to $0.10, and you take $200.00 / $0.10 = 2000 cards.

Soooooo, with this buy.  I picked them up on TGCPlayer for $72 a piece and they are going for $85 currently.  But with all those Reddit posts on fake staples, I decided to get me a Loupe and start trying to figure out what to look for with "Proxies" that are floating around.

It was not that bad, I was able to find one on Amazon pretty easy, and it only cost me around $10.  If it saves me that investment in not buying / trading for cards that are not real, I consider it a win.

All in all I am thinking that it was a good move, and hopefully it gets me closer to finishing my goal, but the question that racks my brain now is "What am I going to do when I accomplish said goal?"

Pop!

Well well well...

Finally broke down and finished my Pop! collection of the Magic figures.

Not very exciting how I got them, and did not even buy them from an LGS as far as I can tell.  It was an Amazon purchase.  I had them in my cart, and went shopping for some floor caps for my dad's computer desk, and decided to just keep them in the checkout when I bought the caps.

Now don't get me wrong, I had a lot of other things in my cart, and actually bought a sealed booster box for 8th Edition.  The 8th Booster box actually got recalled because the seller did not have them anymore, and I just removed all the other boxes I had.

It is very tempting to just go shopping with the 12 months interest free financing I get with my Amazon card.  I just can't get myself to do it.

15,108 Grease Lighting!

4 M10 Lightning Bolts!

Traded away a playset of Brushlands from Ice Age and got these beauties!

15,112 Trade complete!

Small but good as it gets me 10 cards closer to the goal!

Here are some Modern cards I got from this trade.  Really happy about the Protean Hydra, as it is a Mythic and from M10.

Love it when I get closer to finishing off the Legacy expansion sets.

One great thing about this trade is that I traded with an EDH player.  I love trading with EDH players, only because I think I have more in common with them then the Standard or Modern player. Sometimes I get good trades with Legacy players, and I almost always get good trades with Vintage players.  I think it is from what we consider as value.  EDH players love cards of all types, and are not looking for efficiency. Standard Players usually want more then the cards worth because they know the price of the cards will drop after rotation.  EDH players just want awesome cards that are lower in price, but still hold value to the deck being created.  They just want fun cards.

I think of collecting Magic in the same manner.  I love trading 1 Dual Land away for 200 throw away rares.  There is a purpose to my trading, and a joy for every card I get, and I always find it easier to trade with EDH players.