I just don't want to write this update

Total Trade Count: 205,557
Total Foil Count: 3,772

Core 2020

Ok so I am just going to start out with this picture.

This means I got my Core 2020 Bundles and have now opened everything that I will open for sealed product for this release.  I am only opening up a single Bundle and a sealed Booster Box.  I am also only picking up a single Bundle and a Booster Box to keep for the collection.  Here are my numbers.

Added to Trade Count: 79
Added to Foil Count: 15
Added to Collection: 669

So in opening up just the Bundle and Booster Box I was able to fill out my playsets with 669 cards.  I still need 508 cards to complete my playsets.  That adds up to around $906.13 right now, and you have to remember that I am tracking the cost required to complete my playsets until next year when I will start picking up the cards I need.  This is all to track the trends of the release of the product and how much a full playset costs.  After rotation the price of the set drops significantly and the right time to pick up those cards is a year from now.  I am expecting the cost of the cards will drop to -$500 to finish this up.

That means that I am going to save $400 if I bought the cards out right, but also I am not buying and opening a ton of sealed product to get my playsets.  I am becoming more surgical and just picking up the cards I need outside of the couple of sealed products I will open.  I used to buy 10 Sealed Booster Boxes for every set, opening up 8 of those boxes and keeping 2 sealed.  I would also pick up 3 Bundles, and keep one sealed.  The problem this gave me is all the bulk that was left over.

So instead now I spend around $300 on sealed product, open $150 worth of packs, and then only spend around $500 after rotation on the cards I need.  That changes my total spend per set to around $800 when I was spending closer to $1200 for sealed product and also left with +3000 bulk cards that I would need to get rid of.  I would also not get a complete playset, so I would still need to trade for around 80 Rares and Mythic Rares to finish what I was looking for.  That would add close to $200.  So really I would be spending around $1400 on every single set.

This has cut down on my trading fodder, but at this point in my collecting I am trying to minimize how many cards I am storing, and right now I have been able to get that down to 205,557 cards!  Now I am only spending around $800 per set for all the cards within a couple years.  I am also able to trade for the cards that I am looking for as well, so that cuts down on my costs too.  I am able to minimize the costs to get the Playsets, minimize the amount of bulk that builds up, and still get all the cards I need.

Ultimate Masters

And this is another reason you support your FLGS.  For months I have been going up to the store, pulling out my list and rifling down to see if they were able to bring any of the cards in.  Since the workers know me, they remembered what I was looking for, and then they were able to pick up my needs because they knew I was looking for the card and willing to buy it from them.  It is a win / win.  I am able to pick up the cards I need, and they know they will make a profit on this cards because I was looking for it.

This is the last card I needed for my Ultimate Masters set, and it is such a good feeling to get this set done.  Of course I will be happy when I get the Box Toppers done, but this is a pretty big step in my mind.

CardSphere Issues
Now, I wrote about an issue with another trader I had on CardSphere, and I just wanted to share what happened now that I am finished with what that was all about.

So I sent some older cards to this one trader that consisted of some Invasion - Opt.  He opened a dispute on the entire trade and suggested that I had sent him a re-backed Opt from Invasion.  As soon as I asked for pictures and proof that it was a fake card he said there was no way he could send me a picture.  He then started saying some of the other cards I sent him were fake too.  Quirion Rangers with "Weird" corners.

At this point I questioned what he thought was fake because I knew the Rangers were not fake since I opened them back in the 90's, which led me to question how he thought the Opt was fake.  He then responded with the light test failed, and kind of went nuts on me.  My response was to just wait for the admin to deal with him.

He just kept bringing up Chinese fakes, and things were re-backed.  But he could not answer how he thought that someone would fake an Invasion card that was sub $1 and it was just reprinted at Common in Dominaria.  Why in the hell would someone "Chinese fake" the Opt and then re-back it?  It would either be re-backed or a Chinese fake.  No one would do both.

Once the admin got involved things got weird.  They were basically asking him for the proof I was looking for, and he came back with "he could not prove it with a picture and that pictures could be faked too."  Why the hell would you fake a picture of a fake card that was not worth $1?  At this point I was done with the trader and just wanted him to go away.  I was willing to cancel the trade on my side and just take the $10 hit.  I just knew I was dealing with someone that had no idea what they were talking about, and constantly thought people are trying to take advantage of them no matter how stupid is sounds, and I was someone trying to take advantage of him.

In the end the admins asked him to send the cards to them so they could verify the validity of the cards since the pictures that he did send did not show anything.  They were not close up, and poor quality.  Let's just say that he never sent the cards to the admins, and when asked on why he did not send the cards, he got upset.  The admins ended up just pushing the trade through since there was no proof of the fakes, and I got the full amount.  I of course blocked him so I would never have to deal with him again.

This is the first time out of +13,000 cards sent I had an issue with a trader this bad, and I have to say the utter professionalism that was shown by the admins throughout all this was amazing.  Everything was fact based, and things had to be proven.  At one point I just gave in, and wanted to give the trader anything he wanted to just get away from him, but the admins would not let it go.  Basically, they were saying that if you want to say another trader was sending fake cards, you needed to prove it.  That just saying cards were fake, no matter the price tag, would not be acceptable on their site.

It is just a big comfort that the admins want accuracy on their site, and that is a good feeling.  Of course if the cards I send end up being fake for some reason, I will take responsibility for them.  It is a great feeling to know that the admins expect that same responsibility from traders that claim cards that were received are fakes, and they will not just let it go in order to just walk away from a crazy person like I would.

War of the Spark: Mythic Edition
Fuck Yeah!!!!!

So I have been able to build up my balance on CS to over $1400, and I was really debating on pulling those funds out to buy the WAR:ME boxes on eBay.  I have been watching them for a while now, and the cost of the boxes have dropped down to a Buy It Now price of around  $700.  I also raised my ask price on CS from $650 to $700 so I could avoid the 10% withdraw fee from CS, and that way I could maybe just get them on my favorite trading site.  It had been about a week and I was not getting any nibbles so I figured in the next couple of weeks I would just pull out the cash and pick up those boxes on eBay.

Then on a whim I was checking the Discord and noticed that someone was asking where I lived, but without tagging me, so I did not get a notification.  Of course I asked if there was something that they wanted, and he said he was looking to see where I lived so that he could drop off the WAR:ME box instead of shipping it to me.  I then told him that I would be more than happy to meet up with him for that box, and I was looking for 2 boxes (1 to hold and 1 to open).  He then said that he did have 2 for sale, and would be happy to get them to me at the $700 price!

So yeah, he is moving back home, and will be driving through MN on his way back, and will be dropping off those boxes at the end of the month!  I can now open my WAR Bundle and I will have that WAR:ME box for the WAR playset I am looking to get.  Remember that I am only opening 1 Booster Box along with 1 Bundle from every set, so needing to wait for the ME box is crucial in order to not have a bunch of packs sitting around that I wont open.

So I am pretty excited to be able to get both of these boxes in from CardSphere at the $700 per box mark, and I do not need to worry about eBay sellers, or have to pay the 10% withdraw fee.  I really can't wait for the day that I start to deposit funds into CardSphere rather than withdraw, and use CS as a primary source for getting cards.

I will be sure to share pics as soon as the boxes get in.  Also there are some more items coming in, so there might be another quick update after this.  I just did not want to wait to long before sending an update, so here it is...

Come Trade with me:
https://www.cardsphere.com/ref/711/e4031f

Going into more debt

Total Trade Count: 205,746
Total Foil Count: 3,767

How do I explain this in a manner where I still sound financially responsible?  I honestly do not think I can, so I am just going to go through my thoughts on why this was a good purchase.

I was doing a "Bored at work" search and hitting up all the larger online stores to see what sealed product they might have.  Or course I found everything I was looking for on ABU, but the prices were so high that I could not even think about buying anything there.  All the other online stores did not have anything I was looking for, which is a good thing since I am not really setup yet to buy anything.

Then I went to Card Kingdom.  The first check on 7th Edition sealed booster box was a fail.  Next on the list, Coldsnap and that was another miss.  Then I went to Urza's Destiny only to expect that it was not going to be there, and BAM!  There is was.  For $2999.99.  For about 4 seconds I thought, there is no way that I am going to buy this box, but let's just see what the pictures look like.

Having dealt with Card Kingdom before I know that if you want to see pictures of the sealed product you need to go through the steps to actually get approved to buy the item, and get through their checkout process.  Then you can ask for the pictures and the CK pullers will open an internal support ticket and get you what you want.

I am not going to share the pictures that CK actually sent me, just because I am not sure how legal that is since it was their pictures, but suffice to say the box was really real.

At this point the thought process on how I can justify this purchase just started racing through my head and budget.  Can I afford this box of Magic cards?  Well of course I can and buy it out right without any worry.  It would take a small dent out of the emergency fund, but the only issue I have is that the emergency fund is not for Magic cards.

Next step, what is my interest rate on the credit card I use to buy all my MTG product?  12.49% so not bad, but still not great.  I have been their customer for a long time, let's just give them a call to see if they can lower my interest rate.  Well after that phone call I could tell that they really appreciate my business, but that is the lowest rate they are giving out.  And honestly, a credit card rate that low is pretty decent, but I had to try.

So now, I figure that the interest payments for the booster box is close to $33 a month, and I currently budget $100 a month for interest payments on any credit card I have.  Of course I never use it because I never carry a balance, or buy with no interest terms when I do use my credit cards, so right now all of that $100 goes into savings.  Technically that could cover this purchase on the credit card I use for MTG on the interest payment side, but do I really want to be using a line of credit that is charging me 12.49%?

So yes, I am trying to decide how to fund this purchase with credit.  The main reason I am doing so is the fact that I could have bought the entire Urza's block with $3000 when I started all this, but didn't.  I can honestly say that picking up sealed booster boxes when I can will save me in the long run, and since I am 3 booster boxes away I am willing to leverage myself in order to get them now at the prices they are at than wait a year to pick them up without leverage.

Now I am not against using my credit cards for this purchase, but I am bothered by that interest rate.  Enter the HELOC.  Currently I have a HELOC with an interest rate of 5.5% and that will cut my interest payment down to $14 a month.  This way I can minimize my interest payments while I take my time paying this off.  But of course since there is an interest payment, and I will be looking to pay this off much faster than the no interest payment charges.

The plan is to move forward with the purchase on my rewards card, and then pay off the credit card with the HELOC deposit, and pay off the loan slower with the lower interest rate.  I am planning to have all this paid off around March of next year, so it is only around 8ish months or interest payments.

Core 2020

Pre-Order in and I picked up the two boxes I had.

Here are the Pre-Order Buy-a-Box promos and I could see maybe using it for EDH, but just not sure how good it would be.  I am also thinking about just trading away all my other BaB promos to just keep 1 of each set, but not sure about that yet.

And these fucking things...

Now I am not saying that I am doing a spec on this card, but Lotus Field looks just amazing for EDH.  The price point on these were low enough for me to just pick the up and be done with it.  Honestly I think this is the only card I really want out of the set.  Lucky I just need to wait until next rotation to pick up my playsets.

Lodestone Coffee & Games

So while I was up at my FLGS I decided to see what they had new in the store.

SUCK IT!  Only need one more Ultimate Masters card to finish my set!  I do have to say that I really do enjoy going up to Lodestone and checking every time what they have in.  It gives me a reason to go up there and hang out.  I get the feeling that they just think I am they "Collector" guy, and have no idea what I am doing when playing.

I know, I do not collect promo cards, but it is a Lightning Bolt with Full art, so I figured I would snag it.

And yes, this is a Beta Black Vise.  And yes I already have one, but this one was in such good condition that I could not pass it up.  I also feel that some of these older Beta cards will just continue to go up in price.  I can remember picking up a Beta Gauntlets of Might for $40, and now it is closer to $875, so it cannot hurt to pick these older cards up when I can.

I wanted to pick up another playset of these cards, but it is mainly because I think they are going to do a reprint into Modern at some point.  Right now you can only play it in Legacy and Vintage, but I do think they will try and get it into Modern.

Dominaria is going to be rotating out soon, and I think I might have picked these up a little too soon, but I do think that this card will go further up in price.  EDH, or some Legendary Modern deck and I think there is room to run for this card.  And it is a Mox, and I love any Moxen.

I am an EDH player and this card is great in EDH.  These are selling for $4 a pop, so I figured I would just snag them now.

I put in an online order to try and finish up some of the lower cost Modern Horizons rares.  I figure I would attempt to pick them up while they are lower in price, that way if something spikes them I already have them at the lower price point.

I also grabbed this.  Now, you might see a lot of MH1 cards that I am picking up more sooner than I would normally pick up cards, but I am trying to stick to around $1 rares, and lands.  I did pick up a single The First Sliver, but that was to get it into my EDH deck.  My thought is that there is no rotation date for this set.  I do think the prices will start to go down in the winter, but this is a bit different set than other sets.  There is such a hype for this, and it is all Modern playable right out of the gate.  I am hoping that more sealed product gets opened, and the prices start to go down, and I will hold off on picking up too much until then.  I just hope I do not need to pay the prices that the MH1 cards are at now.

Grey Duck Games

One reason I do like to go to this LGS is they keep their Commons and Uncommons sorted.  They do charge a bit for commons, but getting things like this is not horrible.  It is better than opening another box of cards and having to get rid of the extra cards.  This is the stack of C and U for Modern Horizons, as I am just trying to finish these playsets.

I just had to pick these up.

So I am just picking up any Mox Tantalite I can, and I am treating it like the Mox Amber.  These are Moxen and every Mox has some value later on when someone finds a way to break it.  The First Sliver was a buy for my EDH Sliver deck, and I did not want to wait to pick it up.  The other three will hopefully be less than I paid for this one.  And those 4 Astral Drifts were under $1 for the collection.

So I have a partial set of the Art Series cards, and when I go to an LGS I always ask to see if they have any of these cards to fill up my set.  Lucky here, they had a full set for sale!  I picked it up, but I am still going to look for the other singles to finish up my set.  I for one love these cards.  They are so collectable, and are just a joy to look at.  I hope they keep putting these out, just like the Art books.

So yeah, a bit of a longer post, but there has been a bunch going on.  Now that I have the Urza's Destiny booster box that means I need 2 more boxes to complete my set.  Coldsnap and 7th Edition.  Just insane...