More and the More

Card Count: 436

I pulled in some more trades from Cardsphere and part of my speculation came in.  Big story with this blog is the finish of Future Sight!  That means I only need 9 more Modern sets to finish out! Seriously so close!

I did also have some store credit with TCGPlayer, so I decided to pick up some cards that are used for a Modern deck I saw this last weekend called Blue Steel.  It was super interesting, and one of the cards was a Standard rare that I see a ton of value in.  Let's check out the Speculation cards I got in.

So this is one part of the combo, and it let's your creature tap to cast artifacts or artifact abilities.  The other part of the combo is Grand Architect, but those have yet to come in.

Then there are these:

So yeah, I just picked up 20 of these.  Now, these are used in the deck, but I see a lot more use for these cards than the Blue Steel deck.  All I can think about is Green, Blue, White deck with taking turns, mana elves and Stasis.  Creatures ramping into taking turns, Stasis not untapping anything, and these thrones just doing damage.  I need to figure it out, but I hope to make some Legacy deck with this.

Now to good old Cardsphere!

 I did get this card yesterday, and should have blogged about it, but started playing Oxygen Not Included and just got lost in the screen.

So a lot of these are Core sets, and basically I am just missing a ton of Core sets, but I did get some good expansion sets.  Basically every expansion set I am getting is just closing out the sets!

FUTURE SIGHT DONE!!!!!!  That is all...

This is just not going to stop

Card Count: 459

Boom!  Below 500!

So took in a bunch of cards from you guessed it, Cardsphere.  Took in a bunch of trades, and one of them seems like a multi-send.  All in NM to LP condition.  So here we go:

This trade came in one envelop but had multiple Cardsphere trades.  What that means is people will accept some cards within the Send feature, but they won't ship the cards.  They will then wait until you get more of a balance and then accept more, but ship everything at once.  That does explain why I was getting so many Sends, but not getting anything in the mail.  Let hope more cards will come in the mail.

This was a good pickup, mainly for the Lorwyn card.

Really strange and from a completely different trader, but yup the same cards.  What was also weird, this was one of those multi-send deals where the trader accepted on of the cards and then did the other one later, but shipped them both at the same time.  I now know why people put the trade number on the package, so you know which trade these cards are coming from.

Future Sight is almost finished.  Just need one more card!  This card came all the way from Japan!  Crazy!!!

Woot!  First 9th Edition Wrath!

So this one was weird.  In the package it was said that it was more than one package, but I only got this one envelop, so hopefully I will get the other envelop in the next coming days.

Big trade, and a bunch of cards from all over with these next ones.

 More lovely lands!!!!

I only need one more Ravnica: City of Guilds land left for the complete playset!!!

So yeah, lots that came in, and hopefully a lot more to come in this week.  Looks like I have 89 more cards to get in, and I do have more of a balance now.  Let's see how much pace we see with more cards coming in, or if I am going to just keep building a balance and I have hit maximum intake with the people on the site.  If that were to happen, I can only hope that more traders join the site.

Happy Father's Day!!

Alpha Count: 253

So, today is Father's Day, and since I am going to be a new father, we did a little celebration.  My wife took me out to get some Rita's Italian Ice and then we went to go visit my father's grave.  It was pretty cool to go visit the grave since it was the first time I went to go see him since we heard the news.  So not only did I get to go see him, but the baby was with as well!

Why the hell am I blogging about this?  Well...  The Source Comics and Games is close by the cemetery and I normally stop in everytime I am up in that area of town.  This was a pretty special trip in itself.  You can see that I have a new countdown, and this is what I was able to pick up!

That is right!  To my surprise they picked up an old collection and got in some new Alpha cards!  I really did not notice them until I got the green selection, but once I figured it out, I started hitting up everything they had to see what I could grab.  These cards are just Common/Uncommon but still really great to pick up.

Since I don't like to pickup Alpha/Beta online, it was just really awesome that an LGS had these out for sale.  And with this I will be starting to count down the Alpha cards as well.  Just to keep some countdowns happening.  I really like the countdown function of these blogs, as it just brings a type of excitement for me to get to 0.

I also grabbed my third one of these, and only need 1 more for the playset:

While at the Source I also picked up some shipping sleeves, and another deckbox.  I also grabbed a playmat because I don't have enough of them...

The Wif said she was hungry for some deep fried pickles, and there is a place near the house that serves up some good ones, so we stopped of there after the Source, and since it was Father's Day she even let me hit up another LGS near my house.  So we stopped in and low and behold there was another Invocation I needed, so I grabbed that and some good cheap pickups.

This is just another Invocation I was looking for, and it is a pretty good card to grab anyway.

I also grabbed a couple of these because they were only $1.00.  A Mythic for $1, why not!

This is a total Spec, and I think I am going to pick up some more of these.  There was a deck in the Las Vegas GP called Blue Steel.  I think it is a great new deck in the Meta, and really want to pick up more of these cards as I see it becoming more and more popular.  I also think these are just good pickup as well.  They could technically become very valuable just from the ability.  Direct damage for creatures you have that are tapped at the end of your turn.  This has a ton of possibilities.

So yeah, just a quick update, and lots of good stuff.

They just keep coming in...

Card Count: 502

Got a couple more cards in from Cardsphere.  Both I am fairly happy with since they are above the $5.00 price.  From the looks of it I still need 37 cards that are above the $5.00 price.  Right now I am waiting for some cash on $140 worth of cards that I have sent out, and I am waiting to get $156 worth of cards that people are sending to me.

Also, I did get a wonderful trade coming in from Deckbox that is chalk full of 6th, 7th and 8th Edition cards.  Better yet, I am getting a load of Portal, Portal Second Age, Starter 1999, and Starter 2000 as well.  I know I have not started Phase 2 of the collecting, but when I see these types of cards out there, I just have to pick them up especially if I am getting cards for Phase 1.  He also had an Unlimited Dark Ritual and Disenchant, so let's see if they are really Unlimited, or if they are what I think they will be, Revised.

So let's take a look at what I got in today:

Again, both really good pickups.  Just now I was getting a little worried about what cards were coming in and what I still needed.  I did just do a spot check on my Apple Notes to see my lists I am managing so I have everything I am looking for mobile and with me at all times.  For a second, I thought I was still looking for a lot of Common/Uncommons from most of the sets, but as it looks right now I really missing 90% rares, and about 10% Common/Uncommons.  And with that pickup at Lodestone, I am 95% done with my basic lands.

Upcoming sets to get finished:
Future Sight
Ravnica

Very Close to finish:
Saviors of Kamigawa - 3
Lorwyn - 7 (6 Basic Lands)
Eventide - 1
Champions of Kamigawa - 5 (3 Basic Lands)
Betrayers of Kamigawa - 3

A bit to go:
6th Edition: 70
7th Edition: 44
8th Edition: 20
9th Edition: 93
Tenth Edition: 76

Add that all up and I am needing 322 left for the collection.  From what I have posted on my spreadsheet I am showing I need 321, so I am interested where I messed up.  But yeah, as you can see it is mainly Core sets that I need to finish up, but it is nice to see that Tenth Edition is no longer at the top spot.  If you recall, Tenth Edition and COK were the sets I needed the most, but with all the trading, looks like we are getting really close to finishing this!

You will also remember that Core sets are supposed to be the last to finish, just because they are all reprints, so they would be lower in the priority because we already have a large amount of the cards in the collection.

WE ARE GETTING SO CLOSE!!!!

So yeah, after we finish Phase 1, we will be moving to Phase 2.  That phase consists of getting at least 1 card from each of the supplementary sets.  Right now it looks like Portal, Portal Second Age, Starter 1999, Starter 2000, Conspiracy: Take the Crown, and Unhinged.  I think I will also add the playsets of first prints from the Commander sets, which might be a big undertaking just because of all the Mythics, but we will try.  I also need to revisit the first Conspiracy set and gather up those first prints as well.

I still don't know what I think about Portal Three Kingdoms, but we will see.  I think if I can get an Imperial Seal I might try, but I would have to purchase the seal rather than trade for it.

The only thing I am really looking forward to after Phase 1 is complete, is that I can actually just calm down and take it even slower that I have been.  I know it might not seem like I am taking it slow, but considering everything that I need, and what I could just buy, I have been pushing myself to just get the cards through trades rather than just buying the cards outright.  For me, that is pretty slow.

Also, I think I will try and finish up my ABU sets.  Beta and Unlimited are the easy part with Alpha being the most difficult.  I really only need 53 more Unlimited cards, and 27 more Beta cards, but those are actually more fun to drive around and check out all the shops to pick up.  Or to head up to a Grand Prix and get them in person.

It is also a really good time to start picking up my sealed booster boxes for the collection, but since we just picked up that booster box or Urza's Saga, we have until May of 2018 before we get another one, but if we were to drive around and find something at a local store I am pretty sure I would snatch it up.

Archenemy & PreOrder HOU

Card Count: 504

So went into Loadestone to pick up the Archenemy: Nicol Bolas.

Keeping it sealed, will never open it.  Ever...

But I do like what they are doing.  It seems like they are actually pushing the pre-constructed games with specific sets for beginning players, or casual players.  This way it is more like a board game. You can just head up to your LGS and plop down with 3 other friends and play some MTG without a lot of thought.  It is like Commander, but much more compact.

I highly doubt they will expand on the Archenemy card types, but I can see them creating these more often like the Dual decks with using all reprints to make the decks.  Just hope WotC does not try and force it down everyone's throat and over saturate the market with these types of products.  Having Dual Decks is enough for 2 releases a year, but if they try and do more than one with this product I can see folks just not picking them up.  It has to be a every other year type of product.

While there, talked to one of the guys that works up there for a bit, and asked if they do pre-orders, in which he replied that they do, and it was the same price as my other LGS.  So what a better time to build up store equity and put in an order.  This time around I put in a 8 Booster with 4 Bundle order.  I know it is 2 more boosters boxes then the plan, but I have some more thoughts on that.  I will update the blog with a new budget post, hopefully soon.

I will have a case to open, and keep 2 booster boxes for the collection.  What the big question is, what will my order be for the last set before they change the release schedule again.  With all the Standard bannings, I have a high hope for the cards that are getting released within the last year or so.  What do I mean?  Well what we have been seeing within the last year is a ton of banned cards in Standard.

From Oath of the Gatewatch to Kaladesh.  Hell the first uncommon to get banned in Standard since Skullclamp back in 2004 was Reflector Mage.  We lost Emrakul around the same time and things settled down a bit, but then with the Kaladesh block we lost Smuggler's Copter and and Felidar Guardian.  And a short time after that we lost Aetherworks Marvel.

Not since the Urza's block did we see this type of power get released in Standard, but along with those sets came a large amount of cards that would change the play of future set releases and were not noticed until much later.  All I am saying is that with these latest releases, all the hype about Masterpieces, and the crazy changes of Set Blocks, a lot of mistakes were being made.  With all these mistakes that have been made, those mistakes usually last a lot longer than a Standard season.

Now we are also getting a large amount of changes that are coming up to deal with the large amount of changes that were just made, and I am 100% sure that there will be more mistakes.  This means, that we will get even more mistakes for at least another couple of years.  I could see that this shift in changes will keep coming in until about 2019.  The last time we had mistakes and cards needed to get banned in standard was when they went to "Modern" sets with Mirrodin, and then we did not see cards banned in standard until they changed up the core sets with M10.

I am just saying that we usually see mistakes in design because we are changing up the design, and more powerful cards get created.  Weather that is to pull more players in, and freshen up the player base, or they have no idea what is going to happen with the play styles, and they mistakenly make more powerful cards.  Pretty sure human error is the winner in these cases.

So, while I was there I wanted to pick up some cards for the collection, and this is because they have such a wonderful selection to shop from.  Seriously believe that the more players that come to play, the more inventory the LGS will have.  MTG players need to support their hobby, and selling cards to the LGS is usually a good capital stream.

Here is what I was able to pick up:

Just had to grab these.  Now I am only 3 more Inventions left for my full set.

The price on these just keep tanking, but I wanted to pick them up faster since they announced they will no longer be doing the Masterpieces in every set.  This will make them more rare, and more special.  I think the bottom has been found, and these will go up.  Or... these are going to be just like every other foil that does not do anything, and the prices will drop even further because who really cares about foils...  Either way, I am going to have my full set and just stick with that.

I did not think they would actually have any of these, but considering how many collections they buy I had to ask.  The LGS did offer me a discounted price on the Planeswalker decks for about $9 per, but that is just too much bulk for me.  I could not see spending $56 for 6 decks when I could just pick up these cards on their own.  And with that being said I only need $7.70 for the other cards that were only printed in the decks, and I am pretty sure I can get them in trade.

Just love this card and with the price drop I had to make my move.  I only got 6, because I just wanted 2 playsets.

So this next set of pictures makes me feel really good to have switched LGS's.  I had some time, and wanted to dig through some cards to find some hidden gems.  I had been trying to trade for a lot of basic lands that I needed for the collection, so I asked them if they had any boxes I could dig through. Of course they did, and I started digging.

Had to grab these, only need 1 more forest to have all the basic lands for Starter 1999.

These Battle for Zendikar lands are just a great pickup.  All the packs only had full art lands, and the Holiday Gift boxes only had 4 of the 5 basic lands.  So one of the 5 basic lands were in supplementary products, and it is a holy hell pain in the ass trying to pick them up.  So I am happy I got these.

 I am getting a ton of Champions of Kamigawa lands from Cardsphere, and I really wish I went up to the LGS before I put them up on Cardsphere.  I could have got all the COK lands I have been looking for.

Very happy to pick these up as well.  I am only 6 lands short for the whole set.

For some reason Tenth Edition basic lands are hard to find, but I seem to hit the mother load.  Just really happy to have all this stuff filled out.

 This makes the last basic land I needed from 8th.

9th Edition was the set I needed the basic lands for the most, so finding all these in the conditions that they were in was such a good thing for me.

So after digging through all the basic lands I went up to the front desk to let them know I was done, and then settle up with how much I owed for the basic lands, and they were like "Go ahead and take them, we don't need them or sell them."  This brought a warm glow to my heart.  It is not from the fact that they couldn't make money off me, but they were not going to try with basic lands.  It was just a good feeling is all, and such a nice small thing to do it made me feel like it was a good idea to switch LGS's.  Now, when the bills start to stack up, who knows what might happen, but for now they are getting my support.

Oh yeah, almost forgot.

Thats right!  I am 1 Plains away from getting the 10 Unhinged lands I am hoping to have for the collection.  These beauties are such a good add, I just could not pass them up.  Scary thing is, I think I could have just bought a sealed booster box for amount of cash I paid for all these basic lands.

So yeah, shout out to Lodestone Coffee & Games in MN.  I hope to write a LGS review at some point soon.