Masters Pre-order and a pickup

Card Count: 89

Welcome back to the Greatest MTG Blog in my house!

So yeah, decided to finally go to the PO Box today on my way to pay for my pre-order for Masters 25, low and behold I had 3 envelops.  I kind of knew what I was getting just based off of time from send time to when I checked the box. 

For the most part it is just some fill-in's for Standard things I am looking for, and the stupid Planeswalker deck finishes.  More interesting is the Masters 25 pre-order, and what else I picked up because you all know that I just can't go up there without grabbing something.

So.... Here we go!

First off, I got all the extra Blood Suns I was looking for, so now I have 3 playsets of this card.  Around the $4, I will be interested to see how this card goes after rotation.

Then I also got the rest of the Planeswalker deck cards I was looking for.  Again, I just love CardSphere for this type of "Get" because someone always has them when they bought the decks, and I can just pick up the playsets without having to buy the decks myself.  I know I keep repeating myself when it comes to these types of cards and CardSphere, but go fuck yourself...

So the main reason I needed to go up to my LGS was to pick up my Buy-a-Box promo cards from RIX.  I always forget them up there because I get talking to one of the owners and just forget about them all together.

Since I was up there I wanted to pay for my pre-order of Masters 25.  I figure if the LGS lets you pre-order product, you should do your best to pay them before the set gets released.  I will be getting 6 Booster Boxes from there, and another 4 from ABU Games, and most likely I will try and pick up my allotment from Alpha Investments when that comes around.  I also wanted to grab the Masters 25 cards before the spoilers started to pop up.  I have a feeling that when that starts, the price is going to go up for those sellers trying to edge up their profits a bit more because of the hype.

I know, I decided to to just pick up 6 Booster boxes, but the prices from ABU were just too hard to pass up, and I know that Rudy will also have some really good pricing.

And of course, I just had to grab something from the LGS.  I have been sending out a lot of Iconic Masters cards lately, so I thought it might be a good idea to stock up on some more, stupid thing is that I already had some boxes in storage for that same reason.  Let's just say I have more than I need now.

And again, now that I have them in my possession I don't want to open them.  I think I will just start depositing money into my CardSphere account instead of buying things to open to trade on there.  Yeah....  Just don't say it...

Interesting enough, I am hopefully going to get a new addition to the Beta set soon from another trader on CS!  It would be a big addition, leaving only the Time Vault as a big ticket item left.

Again help me get my referral badges by clicking this link and signing up for CardSphere!

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

You too can buy too many Booster Boxes to open and trade on CardSphere when you don't need to, but just love sending out cards...  Shut-up...

Way too long...

Now I am not saying that I am done with TCGPlayer.com, but I think I am done buying cards from this site.

So I have posted in a previous blog, my speculation on some RIX cards where I am going to try and brew a deck, so I decided to just pick up an ass ton of the cards that I found very interesting.  I also am obsessed with Enchantments so I could not help myself.

Review?

Here were the cards I speculated on.

I of course logged into TCGPlayer and picked up an obscene amount of each of these cards.  For the most part everything got sent to me just fine, but for some reason a single order from a single seller took forever to get to my house.  I then did what I do when this things happens with TCGPlayer, and sent the seller a message.  There was tracking and I wanted to see if they could do something about why it has not shown up yet.  Their return message to me was that I should open a ticket up with USPS to find out where my package was.

Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining about not getting my cards in a timely manner, it happens all the time to me and being a little patient is always worth more than the cards being sent.  I am more upset with the response.  Please tell me if I am wrong, but I was very upset with this response.  Why in the world is it my issue if your package did not get to me with tracking?  They literally sold me something, shipped it, and called it good.  Being the consumer in this manner, it is not my problem until it shows up as being delivered from the tracking.

I just sent a return message asking for a refund since it had been 15 days since the date the package was supposed to be delivered, and then opened a ticket with TCGPlayer Sales to see if I could get resolution.  But the sales team said the same thing, that I open a ticket with USPS to see where the package is.  When did it become the buyers issue to track down packages that were shipped from sellers.

This is not the first time I have had issues with TCGPlayer, but I think it might be my last.  I would be more than happy to take ownership of the issue if the tracking had said it was delivered, and I would open a USPS ticket to find out where the package ended up.  But to make me buy something from you, and have to do some detective work to find your missing package is just silly.

The more and more sellers end up on TCGPlayer, the crapper the site is getting.  This is another reason I like buying from a few stores, spending my hard earned cash supporting the places that will support me, and online stores are becoming the same way.  I know my ability to speculate cards that I like is going to go down, but maybe I can find other avenues to do what I am looking to do.

I am done with TCGPlayer.

Maybe I will use CardSphere???

Support my trip to finish Phase 5 and help me get the referral badges!!

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

Oh yeah, I did end up getting my cards, but I am still done with TGCPlayer.

Blood Sun

So this week on the Greatest Magic the Gathering blog!

BAM!

I spent enough time on the sidelines with this card, so I figured it was time for me to throw money away with the hopes that my dreams come true.

With my opening of the Rivals of Ixalan set, I was able to pull 4 of these with 1 extra.  I was thinking of speculating one these after my opening but didn't really pull the trigger.  The price has gone down quite a bit, so I figured I would try and grab some playsets now.

CardSphere is another great tool in this quest for MTG dominance!

So the thing you get to do, post a card in your want and set a price at how much you are willing to pay.  I then went in, said I wanted 7 at 100% of the going rate, and sat back and waited.  Within a couple of days my Wants were fulfilled and I am no longer looking for the card.  It is that easy.  I want to say that I posted my new need for the card on Feb 14th and by Feb 19th all the cards were in the mail being sent to me.

Now, it is not that quick with most cards, but considering the Standard card with addition that I am offering 100% of the listed price, it went pretty quick.  But one thing you can count on is the severity of the sellers on this site.  They love seeing 100% pricing, and they love it when the cards listed are Standard.

Why was I willing to pay 100%?  Well I think for a long term hold it is worth it.  I think that in the future the card will be higher than the $3.77 price tag.  This is not so much a speculation as a card I want more playsets with.  I consider it like Mox Opal, where I think I will be able to build multiple decks with the card.  The ability to get mana abilities out of the effects and remove all land abilities just shines value.  Ok, it is not as strong as Mox Opal, but I can see building many decks with it.

Just goes to show you that with CardSphere you can get cards fast and easy.  You don't need to use it as a selling site, or a trading site, but you can use it as a buying site.

Click the link below if you want to help me get my CardSphere badges and be one of the many referrals to the site!

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

Trading Day!!

Unlimited Count: 32

Greatest Magic the Gathering blog in the surrounding area of my basement!

So... I did not get gas on Thursday, so I did not check my PO box.  I almost ran out of gas today, so I went to the box.  What do we get?  TRADING DAY!!!!!

Here we go!

Suck it!!!!

CardSphere incoming!  Again, can't say how awesome this is.  They are not Near Mint, but a little worse than Slightly Played.  They have some love, but that works for me.  Seriously, I only need 32 more cards for my full set!  Pure Sex.

Alright, I did get a Deckbox trade, and like all recent Deckbox trades, they are mostly trades for cards I can speculate on.  Fortunately these cards are going into the collection!  Commander I needed, but the token is just a nice to have.

For some reason I have gone though all my Cabal Therapy's so I thought I would grab another one, but the Recall is just a nice to have in the binder.

Here are just some cards I liked...

Starfield is pretty much my favorite card in this picture.

Master of Sex!

Master of Vampires!

Lili Playset?  Oh yeah.....

So yeah, pulled some really good takes from CardSphere, and a ton of trade from Deckbox.  Notable cards that were in the Deckbox trade that left my binder?

Origins - Alhammarret's Archive
Torment - Cabal Coffers
Dark Ascension - Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
Zendikar - Oracle of Mul Daya

Let's see how I did in the future and see if I was right with what I tried to pick up.

Timetwister!

Ok, so this is going to be an outgoing send blog, and I normally don't do this, but I thought this was a special one.  If you are an avid reader of the blog, you know that through Deckbox I sent out an Unlimited Ancestral Recall a while back for an ass ton of cards I needed for the collection.  It was about double the value of the Ancestral Recall, so I felt good in doing so.

This time around there was this nice fella on CardSphere that was offering a large sum for an Unlimited Timetwister.  I am going to be keeping the names out of this, just because I don't want to share something that they might now want anyone to know.

Why am I sending a Timetwister through CardSphere and not keeping it for myself? 
Why am I not just Buy Listing it to an online LGS? 
Or better yet, why am I not trying to sell it to someone on eBay?

- Why CardSphere?
So, I could be noble and say "CardSphere Community" and be able to grow that community, and that would not be 100% true.  There is some greed involved.  As we know, I am shooting for complete sets for ABU, and this is an extra Unlimited Timetwister I have in my possession.  I am also trying to get a playset of Unlimited Dual lands.  All that takes cash, and since the way CardSphere works relies on myself having a budget large enough to be able to accept those types of cards, I need to build up that balance.

So really, this is a win for me as much as building the community.  I have decided to post all my extra power 9 cards in the hopes to fill out my sets, because in the end all I really want to do is get my collection to the point I am looking for.  And the less I need so spend my budgeted spend on that, the better.  If I can maximize the current cards I have, for the cards I am looking for, then the collection wins.

- Why would I not just "Buy List" the card?
So I could just Buy List the card and get a pretty penny, and then use that cash to buy the cards I am looking for.  So that is me selling my cards around 80% of the value and then paying 100% of the value from somewhere online.  This is would also mean that I am selling directly to a store, and I just don't like doing that at all.

I would much rather get the cards that I have directly to the players that are looking for them.  I don't know why, but it just feels better to get the cards to people looking for them rather than selling it to a store that is only looking to make money off of them.  There have been times that I would trade cards directly to a LGS, but that was because the owner wanted those cards and was willing to trade me directly with product they had to get my cards.  It was not a player to store trade, but a player to player trade where one of the players actually owned a store.

- Why not just eBay it?
The cost of selling the card, and I don't trust eBay for shit, and pretty much why I will not bother.  I have been known to buy things off eBay, but it is usually sealed product.  For the most part I just shop on eBay, and then go directly to the seller's website if they have one, and buy it directly.  eBay is great and all, I just don't choose to partake in that marketplace.

I also hear horror stories about fraud on that site, so I would rather just avoid it all together.

****

So yeah, let's see how this goes, and see what I can get through CardSphere.  Of course if I do not get in the cards I need I will need to resort to buying them on the market or at GP's, but the good thing with CardSphere I can just cash out my balance to pick up those cards.  I am just hoping to be able to get the cards through the site and avoid that 10% fee in cashing out my money.

More Trading!!

Total Card Count: 98

Trade with me on CardSphere!

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

If you click on this link and sign up for CardSphere I will get a referral credit.  I know, not something you would think I would do right?  Well if you read my blog you will know that I need to complete everything I do, and they just introduced Badges!

"I need those stinking Badges!"

So yeah, if you do that I can get closer to getting those badges and I can complete collecting those as well!

Anywho!  Here we go!

Sucka ass Boom!!!  CardSphere comes to the rescue again!  Filling out those Planeswalker deck playsets and bringing in value to the collection!  I swear, there is this trader from the Netherlands and every set, without failure, he sends me most of my Planeswalker deck needs.  It is good to be able to count on him.  Next set I am going to send him a message to see what price he would be good with, just to make sure he is good on his end.  Just love getting these cards through CardSphere.

Low and behold!  Deckbox is still kicking!  Every time I think I will just stop using the site, I get more trades.  Of course I am digging deep into the what do I really need bag, and I am picking up Commander first prints for my playsets.  This has been something on my list I have been wanting to do for a while, so I thought I would just start getting those cards on Deckbox if they are there.

I won't be putting these cards on CardSphere just yet.  "Why?" do you ask?  Because if I put them on CardSphere I will get them all in the matter of 2 weeks, and I want to use that balance for ABU cards I am saving for!

So yeah, it was a good day for incoming trades, and I should still be getting a couple more from Deckbox and one from CS.  There is an interesting one that I hope I do get someday, it is a couple of Unlimited cards.  The trader sent me a message and shared some pictures, so I am hoping he ends up sending them.

Also, I do plan on sending out an Unlimited Timetwister I have laying around.  Yes.... It is to get another badge, but it is also a good way to pick up some more balance for some ABU needs.  CS is picking up more traders and just went above 7000 traders, and I think there will just be more traders on the platform.  I might as well try and get setup for people to send me the cards I am looking for, and be ready.

Another also, there was another trader that was interested in trading some Beta for Unlimited cards to complete sets.  Of course I am really interested in that as well.  Hoping I can trade up some of my Unlimited Power to complete my Beta set!!!

Well thanks for reading, and click on the referral link if you want to join in the fun!

Where the hell is the update?

Card Count: 110

So here is the majority of my speculation that I just bought into, and I was so excited. 

100 Induced Amnesia
100 Release to the Wind

Now, Release to the Wind could possibly still make it, but there was a HUGE mistake on the Induced Amnesia that I did not notice until they came in.  I am just going to show you what the card does.

Key phrase on this card, "When Induced Amnesia is put into a graveyard from the battlefield..."  Fucking "Graveyard from the Battlefield".  Fail!  My whole plan to play Release to the Wind on Induced Amnesia and add the exiled cards to my hand for card advantage, and then I could play Induced Amnesia for free when ever I needed it again just went out the window.  I need to disenchant it for the card to be worth anything to me.

So now I am trying to think of a way to use the combo somehow and I think the only place to do it is in modern.

Of course the first option I wanted to try is with Laboratory Maniac, and use the card in hand ability when you do play Induced Amnesia.  This way you could remove Induced Amnesia to get exiled cards again, then be able to play Induced Amnesia again to exile your hand to then cast Release to the Wind which would remove the enchantment, but then you could cast it again for free exiling even more cards, and you need to draw more cards, and again and again.  You could really combo off with Snapcaster Mage and Torrential Gearhulk to keep casting Release to the Wind. 

The whole deal would be to just keep exiling your hand drawing more cards, and trying to get your hand to a very large size so the more you remove and recast for free Induced Amnesia is worth more per cast.

But yeah, it could be interesting.  More to come!

I got these from Alter Reality, and just wanted to share.

Ooooo and I got in a CardSphere trade for all those stupid Planeswalker deck cards!  Fucking hate these cards.  There should be another one that is going to come in later, I hope.  But I just love CardSphere for this reason.  I can just put a lower than listed price, so I don't have to pay list prices, but I can still get them cheaper than buying more Planeswalker decks just to open.

But yes, these updates are getting further and further out, having a kid really takes a lot of time!  I did sent out over 22 packages this week, and I keep sending out more, but the hope to document my sending out for trades does not look good.  Maybe when the incoming cards slow down I can maybe think about doing my sends.