Balls...

So yeah...

Card Kingdom!  Really starting to like this site.  As I do more business with these guys, maybe I will do a post on them.

Yup, broke down and started my journey into picking up sealed product for the collection.  These purchases will be from 1-2 boxes a year unless I get some crazy bonus at work, or some massive gain on one of my investments.  The way it is working, I have a specific savings account just for these purchases.  I put money into that account every month and save up enough money for a buy.  Once I get a lump sum of cash in the account I will go out and buy something.  With that being said, it is not the same as the yearly budget spend.

I spoke about this in one of my more recent posts.  I have my yearly spend for new product, my singles purchase, and my sealed product bucket.  I have since then split off my sealed product from my yearly spend and singles purchase budget.  How it works is I put money into that bucket every month and I also put any credit card rewards into that bucket.  That is where I will spend out of to pick up any sealed product I need for my collection.  This is not for speculation, but for actual collection sealed product.  None of this product will ever get opened, and it is just for the collection.

I also will not go into debt for any of these purchases.  It would be completely stupid to have to pay interest on these types of purchases, that would only increase the cost basis of anything I bought like that.  It is something I want for the collection, but there is no need to go into debt to get them.  I will not buy any large purchase with debt.  I will use a credit card to buy it, but I will pay that card off within the next billing cycle.  It took me forever to get out of debt, and I don't plan on paying a bunch of interest for no good reason.

Think of it like this, why would you pay a credit card company to get something here and now, and pay every month to pay it down?  Why don't you just save every month and then buy what you can afford when you have enough cash to do so?  That way the credit card company does not own you, and you get to own your cards.

Now that I have made this purchase I will keep putting more money into that account to increase the balance.  Once this purchase has been recouped I will then look to make another purchase.  These purchases will more than likely be highest price to lowest.  That way I can get the more valued sealed boxes out of the way.  Once I start getting to the $200-$300 booster box range, then I think I will be able to pick up the speed of buying.

I also want to point out, I never spend all the cash in my reserve account.  This is for the purpose of running into a great deal and needing the equity to do a buy on a moment's notice.  For instance, buying a collection.  Normally people selling collections are in rush, and have a big desire to cash out quick.  This is always a buying opportunity for me, and ends up with the most gain.

So yeah, I am not expecting to pick up another sealed booster box for the collection until next year.

Please use this great reference for authenticity.
YouTube: Alpha Investments - "MTG: Counterfeiting / Re-Sealing Boxes - Nasty Side of Investing"


Next...

So watched this video about owning a gaming store and I was like WTF!

YouTube: Magic: the Gathering - "What's in Store: Owning Your Own Local Game Store"

That sounds like Lodestone Coffee and Games would be near my house!  So big thanks to Maria from Magic the Amateuring for bringing this store's existence to my attention.  I decided to head up there and see what it was like.  After I go up there more, I might post something here for a LGS review.  But yeah, first glance it was a really cool place.

But as you can see, I picked up some Masterpiece Inventions and Masterpiece Invocations for the collection.

And this...

Why this?  Why not...  I am not much of a Promo guy, but it is very rare that I do see something like this in a LGS that I really would want.  They did have a couple other things that I am interested in, so I might head up there again later today to see if I can grab some more stuff.

And since I am in the market for a new LGS, this might be a great place to go from now on.

Edit:
Was able to get up there again and pick up some Unlimited Dual Lands.  Had to come home to get my Dual Lands and a loupe to make sure they were real.

Magic Mics

https://www.youtube.com/user/mrorangeguy/featured
https://www.twitch.tv/magicmics

So these folks do a wonderful stream on Wed night at 10:00 PM CST.  I am normally have to catch the YouTube video, or Twitch rebroadcast because of life, but I try and catch this every week.

It is like a combination of news broadcast and talk show.  The banter between all three hosts is wonderful.  Evan is the lead host that keeps the show running and on task.  Reuben is the witty gamer that brings a lot of the comic relief to the show.  Erin is the sassy gal giving insight to the darker side of the game (Dredge).

Evan has a wonderful channel, and puts out a lot of content.  Usually putting out a lot of the Lore within Magic.  His opinion is more time tested, and has a broader insight into what the game of Magic means.

Erin is the quieter voice of the group, but she brings a spark of life to each subject.  It is really great to have her opinion of the group.  She brings that darker, evil, sinister type of play.  You can tell she gets joy from the darker side of the game.  It is very rare that you find a player that really gets joy from that side of the game.

Reuben is much more of the card shark.  He is tactical and punishing.  You can tell he has angles in almost everything he does.  He fights for that purpose behind everything he does, and tries to min/max everything he does.  And of course he is more of a Red player than anything.

With these three, you get three different perspectives of what is going on within the game of Magic. And they cover a lot of topics all around.  They split up each segment of the show into similar categories, so it is very easy to follow based on the topic being posted at the bottom of the screen. What I see as the best part of the show is the topics they cover.  You get some ProTour stuff, some fun outside of the game topics, they support other Magic the Gathering ventures that lovers of the game try and accomplish.  It really is a wonderful program to catch up on all things Magic, and I never miss a week.

Alpha Investments

https://www.patreon.com/AlphaInvestments/posts
https://www.youtube.com/ - Alpha Investments

............seriously?

Seriously...

I found this content creator about 4 months after he started posting?  I love his posts.  He talks about Magic the Gathering as an investment topic, and backs up his posts with real financial knowledge. This type of content was missing in a big way.

Now, I know you will tell me about MTGStock.com and MTGGoldfish.com but in my mind they were just tracking.  Their messages were mainly about MTG finance within the bubble of Magic the Gathering.  Rudy takes it a step further.  He talks about collecting as though it were any other financial medium, and this was missing.

How else can I explain this...

Let's say you wanted to investing for your future.  You save up some money and open an online brokerage account.  Then you start buying Mutual funds.  You keep putting more money into those funds over many years, and by the time you retire you have this nice lump sum of cash to retire. Then you read an article on how Mutual funds screw you for about 1/3 of all your retirement funds when you retire based on the fees they charge.  (Frontline: Retirement Gamble)

Rudy is the article.

Honestly that is the best way I can explain it.  I have tired to write and re-write this blog for about 30 min now.  But really, that is the advice he gives you.  I have been learning about investing for retirement, and 'investing in money that can make you money' for over 20 years.  I am not in the financial field for work, it is just a hobby that I have and it interests me, but the way he explains and shares his opinion about Magic the Gathering is very close to everything that I have read about saving and investing for retirement.

Why is this so important being a collector of Magic the Gathering cards?  In my eyes, it is just being smart in what you need to do with your interests in this world.  Now I know he is doing it for his financial gain, and he runs his Magic the Gathering as a business.  I on the other had, run my Magic the Gathering more like a collector.  I don't mind paying list prices for some items, because for me the only thing I worry about is having to sell my collection because of financial hardship and I need to keep my house.  Hopefully that will never happen, and my wife will be able to sell the collection with the highest cost basis when she sells it for a loss after I die.  Then she will not need to pay any taxes for all this cardboard.

I look for good deals so I can trade for missing items in my collection to fill out my collection, but I am not looking for a paycheck at the end of the day.  What I take in with purchases are either going to go in my collection, or on Deckbox to trade for things that I need to get in my collection.

What Rudy does, is he uses his leverage to buy in bulk to drop his cost basis as low as possible on any new set that comes out.  Then he will hold sealed product for at least 5 years in hopes that the price for that product will increase, and then he will release some onto the market to make a profit. He will also open some of the product, keeping all the foil cards, and sell the singles to make a profit over the long term.  He will then take those profits and buy Reserve List product to hold for the long term to make even more of a profit.  So really, the lower he can get the cards, the better for him because he does not look to turn the product around right away for the Standard Market, he will buy and hold for the longer term.

I mean one of his videos goes through how he will take a credit card, buy a bunch of product on this credit card to get the 1%-2% cashback on purchase.  Then he will buy something with some 15% deal with the same card.  So in reality what he just bought for $100 really only cost him $83 because of the 15% + 2% discounts.  If you could buy a Force of Will for $17 less, and still get that same card would you do it?  Logic...

He does all this, and he shares his information.  Now I don't think he shares everything about everything, but you get a good picture on how he does what he does.

OH, and another thing, if you support him on Patreon you can get in on buying some of the sealed product at wholesale prices that he gets from distributors.  That's right.  He gets boxes for less than $90 and passes those prices off to you.  Great example, Commander 2016 he was selling for $99.99 each and depending on your Patreon support you could get up to 2 sets of decks.  Pre-sale prices for this set was getting close to $160 for the set of 5.  I was able to get sets from my LGS for $30 per deck and a set of 5 for $150.

There is some hate for the guy, some people are looking to see how he is screwing people who follow him, or donate to his Patreon, but really all he is doing is investing the way he is investing and allowing people in on some of his ideas.  Even if his selling booster boxes of Kaladesh for $78.99 somehow hurts the Magic community, than a LGS's selling booster boxes for $100 - List price is hurting the community even more.

Let's take a look at it:

So based on his numbers of Patreons, he pulls in $11,240 a month.  Then he sells product to each of those Patreons if they wish to buy from him on a month.  Now, that $11,240 number seems like a lot, but that is gross.  That means on his taxes he needs to claim that as income, so best case let's say he pays 28% in taxes.  That means he really only brings in $8,092.80 in Patreon income after taxes.

Now based on his Patreons, and each Patreon bought their max that would be 5,424 booster boxes of his Dec 2016 deal.  That means he needs to spend $423,072 just to fulfil those orders if everyone buys something, and that is at $78 per box.  Even if, let's say he bought them for $75 a box and then sold them to his Patreons.  That is a buy of $406,800 where he will turn around and sell them for $423,072 with a $16,272 profit.  This is an intake, inventory, package, ship of 5,424 booster boxes to possibly 771 different addresses.  And remember he does not charge shipping to anyone on his Patreon list.  Not a single mention of shipping no matter the order.

Oh yeah, total scam...

So he will bring in $11,240 a month, be expected to spend $406,800 to get 5,424 booster boxes from many distributors, box up 771 different orders, and ship all those out all in a month just to make 771 people happy.  And this is all assuming he is getting the boxes for $75 a booster.  For that type of service I am hoping he is getting those boosters for cheaper and making more than $16,272 a month. Because if you think of it in those terms, with $16,272 + $11,240 = $27,512 a month Gross.  Fucking Gross!?  With those types of numbers, he is more than likely paying at least 35% tax.  So he is ending up Net $17,882.80 a month if everyone maxes out all their orders with him.

Just think of it, for someone to run a business spending pretty close to half a million dollars most likely on credit to get 5,424 booster boxes of Magic the Gathering, have the space to store that many orders when they come in.  Inventory all the product.  Take in all the orders, print the shipping labels, box up all the orders, pay for shipping, and get all those 771 orders out the door within a week of the first of the month when the deals start out.

All this happens for a lot longer than 1 month.  This is a multiple month project, where he needs to contact distributors to see if he can get enough product in to fulfil the "expected" orders that might come though.  Multiple distributors, sending multiple shipments to a location, then storing all that product for a matter of time to where he can even give the monthly deal.

This is all if everyone buys up everything.  What if he is thoughtful and does buy up enough for everyone to get everything they want, but not everyone buys their limit?  Then he is stuck with the product sitting there.  Math shows that $11,240 is only about 150 booster boxes at $75 a piece.  That is his wiggle room if you base it on him using the Patreon money for the float.  He can be off by 150 boxes to not have to hold any cash in inventory that he might not get rid of.

This blog went on for a very long time, and I rambled a bit, but I really wanted to point out the work, effort, and cost of trying to be nice to people that support him for the content he creates.  And for him to put out a deal like this even for a $3 profit per box while providing a price no one outside of an LGS could get without connections into distributors is just amazing.  Even if he did make $17,882.80 Net a month through a deal like this, it is totally worth it for us, his Patreons, and I am glad Rudy does this service for people who believe in his content.

Oh yeah, and he still makes pretty awesome content for his YouTube channel.

/hugs

Cardboard Crack

Website: http://cardboard-crack.com/

So I check twitter every morning right when I get up, and I always have the pleasure to catch up on my Cardboard Crack comic.  MODO, to old players, to player types, and set releases this comic is pretty spot on with what is going on in the Magic community.  Considering how much I enjoy his work, I figured it was about time I picked up the books.

I will still keep up with his new comics, but really like having his comics in print.  I know I can just go to his website and read them anytime I want, but if we don't support the people that bring smiles to our faces, then we won't have anything to smile about.

First book favorite: Yo Mama Jokes

Tolarian Community College

https://www.youtube.com/user/tolariancommunity

Innocent plug here.  Not trying to steal his signage, or plagiarize anything, but I am not good with the credit giving part about writing, so I hope just posting his YouTube page is enough.  But, if I do get in trouble for stealing his pictures then so be it, because I just need to share more about what the Professor does.

So I have been playing since 1995, took some time off to chase the women, and now that I have a wife that loves me I got right back into it.  I stumbled onto this YouTuber a while back, and just need to give him a shout out, and it is a bit sad it took me this long to share him on the blog.  But his grumpy old man segments make me cry because I remember playing back then, and it is such a good flash back.

Basically if you want to know about any product within the MTG community, the Professor has done a really good review of the product.  I can't say that I agree with every review he has put out there, but you get a really good, consistent opinion about everything he talks about.  From trade binders, to sleeves, to new sets and old sets, he goes through a lot of Magic the Gathering products and gives them a proper review.  These are not just reviews to be reviews, but they are actually useful.

I have gone through a lot of videos, and blogs, and podcasts, and articles, but with the Professor you get consistent quality reviews on pretty much everything that has to deal with MTG.

Great thing now is you can actually be a patron of his work.

https://www.patreon.com/tolariancommunitycollege

I was pretty excited that he did this, and did not go the Twitch road, but I do think he is going to be doing some Twitch for his patrons.  I do love that I can just hit his YouTube page and check out his reviews.  I might be looking at some new product, or I might be looking for a deckbox.  I know I can get an in depth review of multiple products to find out what would be the best thing for me to choose.

Podcast - Magic: the Amateuring

Magic: the Amateuring
http://www.magictheamateuring.com/
Grade: B+

Favorite Running Stories: Ben's Phone number and Nicol Bolas

So I write reviews on websites I go to, and the LGSs I go to, so hey I figured I would do some write ups on what I listen to as well.  Now, I have just started to listen to Magic the Gathering podcasts about a year ago, and I really only listen to 3 of them, but if it is anything like I have been doing with financial investing I am pretty sure there will be more.  Since this was my first MTG podcast I have listened to, this will be my first review.

So, these three folks, what can I say.  Most of the "Intense" podcasts I have tired, you always here the other contributors trying to talk over each other to sound cool, and make a point to tear down the other person and what they are saying.  But with these folks, you get a sense of entertainment.  Almost like they feed off each other.  I do have to say I am quite a big Fan Boy when it comes to these guys, and I am a really big fan.

Ben is the straight man, his dry humor and quick witted responses are really funny.  He is the veteran player, and has the most insight as how to play and what the rules are.  My favorite parts of the show is when Ben will list out two possible cards and Meghan and Maria have to guess which one is the real vintage card.  Best part of it is that he actually makes up the flavor text, and it is some good stuff he comes up with.

Meghan is the rookie wanting to go pro.  I would have to say she is the more serious player out of the trio and she seems more interested in the professional side of the game.  Great humor, and her small little bursts of quirky attitude really make you want to root for her.  As a Fan Boy I really need to point this out, I loaned her a couple of cards one time for FNM, I had to drop off the cards at the LGS and I got to meet her.  Yeah, it was pretty cool.  Funny thing is that it was the day before I was getting married, and we were having the party near the LGS so I figured it would be ok for me to make the pit stop.

Maria, oh boy Maria.  Funny as hell, but holy balls you need to make sure you are listening to the podcast with ear buds.  Not that she is a potty mouth, but I would have to say she is the perverted one of the bunch and not afraid to share.  It brings a brighter side of the whole Magic the Gathering experience, and not to sound too sexist, but it is great to hear some of this humor coming from a woman.  It is "Bridemaid's"esk.  A really warm sense to the listening holes.

So with the three you get straight man, quirky, and dirty all in one.  They almost feed off each other and it works so well.  There have been a couple of off episodes, but for the most part I don't miss any of them.  I should also say that you do get to learn about Magic: the Gathering, but I enjoy listening to them more from the not so serious side of the game.  It is truly entertaining with a hint of education.

They also do have some great guest that show up and make great contributions to the show as a whole.

Again, need to give a shout out to Mead Hall Games and the Meadery for letting me know about this wonderful content.