Thinking about a new Goal

So what to do.  I am now in the mode of my next goal since I am getting pretty darn close to my previous goals.  Let's recap.

Playset of Legacy cards: Done
Playset of Modern cards: Done
AAL sets: Done
All sealed Product: Done
All sealed booster boxes: 14 left
All sealed fat packs: slow going

So what do I do now that I am really really coming to the end of my goals.  Do I try and get a playset of all the ABU and AAL cards?  How about getting a set of all the foil cards?  Maybe get all the promo cards.

While all those are really good goals, I have come up with another one that might lead into those.

I currently have 208,971 cards that are not in my collection, and 3,728 foil cards.  That adds up to be around $87,746 if I go by TCG Mid list prices.  If I were to take 50% of that, I would still end up with around $40k.  That could go a long way for more cards, and finishing up my other goals.  So that is what I am going to be doing.

The new goal is to get rid of all my extra cards that are not in the collection, and starting today I hope to be blogging about that along with the last pickups for the collection and all the new product.   I am still trying to figure out what I am going to post about since I do not want to call out every card that is leaving, but I would like to send updates like I was in trying to get all the cards I needed.

There is also a lot of bulk cards that I am not sure how I am going to be getting rid of, and some of the sealed product that I have sitting around as a long term investment.  I have been able to cut down my collection by a significant number with CardSphere, and I am just looking to duplicate that going forward.

I am also retooling my budget and buying habits as to not pick up any extra cards.  So that means that I will no longer be buying bulk boxes to open for newer sets.  I want to avoid picking up anything I do not need.  What that means I am not sure.  I am still going to be cracking packs, just not as much as I used to.  I no longer care about trying to build up trading fodder to trade into the needs I have since most of the needs I have are all newer cards, and those are plentiful.

I want to see how low I can get my inventory to while maintaining my collection.  This will also adjust my thinking to be more of a seller, and out of acquisition mode.  I am not going to think about buying bulk collections or looking on Goodwill auctions site for new cards.  I am basically gong to be focusing on just cards I need, and no longer going to speculate on cards.  I am going to be a pure collector and just pick up things I need.

This also means that I will be picking up most of my cards after rotation with the exception of sealed booster boxes.  I will no longer be going into stores to grab singles here and there with newer sets.  I am just going to snag my sealed product from my LGS and then picking up everything I can after rotation.

Now, you might think that is crazy, and there is always the issue with commons and tokens.  Enter CardSphere.  With the time I have spent on the site, I have seen that I can pick up most of that stuff pretty easy, and if I make the prices down on the bulk with the note that I would be willing to pay for shipping, I think I can get a lot of the cards I am looking for on the cheap.  For instance, a playset of the commons from Dominaria are close to $60, and if I am going to ask for those cards around 50% then that takes it down to $30.  If there is someone out there that would be willing to send me all them at $30 I would be willing to pay for the shipping of around $15.  That means I would get all my common's at less than TCG Mid.

Honestly I just need to figure out how I am going to buy all the stamps I am going to need.

This is all speculation, and I have no idea how it is going to go.  All I can see is that I need to try and get rid of all my cards that I do have.  There is no point in amassing all these cards in the hopes of a couple cards in the set spiking.  I need to start to clean house, and this is my little test to see how far I can take this. 

Granted, I do not know how I am going to get rid of some of the cards that I do have, but Buylisting might be an option.  Either way, this is going to be my new goal to see how it goes.

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you will also know that I have a weak wallet at times, and I do break my plan and buy cards.  That might happen from time to time.  Also, WoTC has been releasing some crazy sets with really high prices, so there is always a chance I will need to shell out for those as well, but with how I am going to be spending my dollars I should be freeing up a lot of it for those purchases.  I will no longer be dumping cash into the sealed boxes to crack and sitting on the bulk for trading.  I am going to only be picking up very small amounts of sealed for the collection, and spending my cash on the cards in the secondary market after the prices drop 2 years after they have been released.

This has a lot to do with the release schedule that WoTC has been using, and all the specialty product they are releasing.  This also has to do with spending money on card board when I have my son to save for.  And with everything going on, all the chase cards that are being released might go into the back burner, and there might come a time where I just go for the set releases, and give up on all the Masterpiece cards and reprints.

My new pickup lists:
Expansion: 2 Booster Boxes, 2 Bundles, 1 each of the Planeswalker Decks
Core: 2 Booster Boxes, 2 Bundles, 1 each of the Planeswalker Decks
Master Set: 4 Booster Boxes
Commander: 2 full sets of the decks
SDCC: 1 set
Spellbook Series: 5 sets
Global Series: 1 set
nonStandard Release: 4 Booster Boxes

And then everything else will be bought with singles after rotation, or bulk buys when I can.  Playsets of all Standard cards, Playsets of everything that is a first print, and then single sets with all reprints.  The big question is do I even try and get the special print cards.

With these changes, I am expecting to spend around $2200 on sealed product, and then pick up the singles at a much discounted rate after rotation.  I am going to try and keep track of everything as to see what I am actually spending on these sets with everything I am trying.  Honestly I am trying to avoid paying the premium of new sets, and Standard prices when the sets completely suck.  Example Hour of Devastation is around $143 per set, and that is around $600 for a complete playset.  That is well below my cost when I would buy sealed product and crack packs.

So here we go.  Step 1 get more stamps...  :-)