Come on bring the Noise!

Card Count: 584

Cardsphere...shardsphere...

So I find that using Deckbox and Cardsphere are equal in use.  Some may say one is better than the other, but in reality using both gives you more reach to complete your goals.  The only issue I have been having is keeping the inventories straight.  I have found a good process within my own trades, but since this is so new I just know there are going to be adjustments.

Cardsphere sends:
- Cardsphere nothing is done
- Deckbox remove cards from tradelist / inventory
- Spreadsheet inventory needs updating

Cardsphere receive:
- Cardsphere nothing is done
- Deckbox remove cards from wishlist
- Notes update to keep mobile needs updated

Deckbox trades:
- Cardsphere update Haves
- Cardsphere update Wants
- Deckbox nothing is done
- Spreadsheet inventory needs updating
- Notes update to keep mobile needs updated

As you can see, that Cardsphere is more compact based off of the steps being taken, and with Deckbox it is a more whole collection change that needs to occur.  The trick I have found is that with Deckbox I need to update things before they are final, and it has to be done realtime.  Just cause if I start something on Deckbox I need to remove all my Wants in Cardsphere just in case I do get a balance and someone sends me something I already have in a Deckbox trade.  And really that is the only thing outside of my control since I can't stop someone from sending me something when I have a balance.

So really, just a lot of inventory management, but getting through it so far.  Only had a couple of late removals where I forgot to adjust my Excel inventory sheet, but luckily the sent cards had not been received yet.

Oh yeah, and I have the top spot on Cardsphere for number of cards sent!  It was really cool to see that!

Here is what I got just recently:

It is pretty easy to review these coming in since there is no interaction.  I have found that it is just post and wait.  There has been some communication between the other traders, but for the most part it is just talk about when I am going to get more of a balance.  I have also found that people will accept certain cards and hold off and wait to send until I get more of a balance to save on shipping costs.

Cardsphere

https://www.cardsphere.com/

Ok so here we go, what is this site all about?

This is a Magic the Gathering card exchange site.  You will have your inventory posted to your profile, and the site will match your cards to what people are looking for.  On the other hand, you can also post your "Wants" on the site, and again the site will match you up to what others have allowing them to send you cards.

Boom!  Easy!

How the hell do I get cards then?  People will just send me cards I am in need of for free?

No you Timmy, you need to do something in order to get something.  So, what happens is you need to start to send cards in order to get a $ balance.  That $ balance will then open up your "Wants" to the other Cardsphere members to send you cards.  You will not get any cards without sending some first, and this is how you build up your equity within the site.  Build up enough equity, and anyone can send you anything at that price.  So if you have 100 $0.01 cards on there, and you have $1.00 worth in your balance, anyone can send you those 100 $0.01 cards.

So really, all you are doing at first is sending cards in order to build up a balance within the site, and then you wait for people from the site to send you cards.  Or, if you are not all about sending cards to get cards, then you can charge your credit cards to get cash added to your balance.  This would be the same if you sent cards on the site to get cash.

Easy right?  So let's get started.

Import "Haves"
First thing is you need to add your collection to the site.  They made it so their import tool will take in a Deckbox export file, few things here.

Basic Lands
Deckbox are inventoried differently.  That means you need to go through all the lands and add (#XXX) to each card number, or for the earlier basic lands you need to use a (A), (B), (C), and so on. They do make this somewhat easy to find, you just need to go to the Explore link and search the set you are trying to import.

Make the names of the cards listed in the sets to look like the ones you are trying to import.

Multiple Art
So another thing that is different on import are the cards that have different art on them.  Again, all you need to do is go to the Explore link and look up your set, and use the names of the cards they have posted.  They did make it really easy because they used the artist as the differentiator.  And if a card has different art by the same artist, they found something that is different and posted it on the name.

Example:
Fallen Empires - Tidal Flats (Rob Alexander) (Lake)
Fallen Empires - Tidal Flats (Rob Alexander) (Sunset)

Tokens
With tokens I think they handled it better than deckbox.  Instead of having a different set just for the tokens, they just added the word "Token" to the end of the name of the card per set.  And if there was a token with the same name, they let you know which difference you should be looking for.

Example:
Modern Masters 2017 - Beast Token (3/3)
Modern Masters 2017 - Beast Token (4/4)

I like this way of doing it more than Deckbox because all those cards are included with the set, and you don't need to look at another set listing to see all the cards for that set.  I also think it is just cleaner.

Error on Import
Another great feature is that once you do an import, and there are errors, they will provide you with an output with those errors.  So you can just fix the ones that have an issue, and import them on their own.  Great thinking on their part.

I would have to say that the only thing I hated about this part of the process was reading Reddit. There was a AMA with the Cardshpere folks, and they were touting how easy it was to import, and you could just import without any issue.  A minor mistake, but still it bugged the shit out of me because I am just like that.  At least tell me you need to do some work to get the cards in, don't make it seem like it is monkey proof.

Import "Wants"
Same thing here, just do an export and import after some massaging and boom...

Send

Alright, you have your "Haves" in there, and your "Wants", but now you have to do your part and start sending cards to others on the site to build up that balance.  You are going to want to hit that Send link to get to the next level.

Here is where you will see all the folks looking for cards and have a running balance to accept cards. Since you can't get any cards without having a balance, you can only send cards to folks that have already sent cards, or paid to get a balance.  So really, all you need to do is find a match, make sure you have the cards, and accept the offer.  That offer will then disappear from the Send section, and you will have a new order in your Sending area.

Sending

If you can't tell, I am not actually using screen shots of the pages, and that is cause I don't want to get in trouble with the site and sharing customer info, so these link pics will have to do.

But here under this link, you will see that offer you decided to fulfil.  Under here you can click buttons to start a chat, or see their address.  Once you have everything all packed up and in the mailbox heading to the Cardsphere member you can click on the Cards sent button.  I think that will inform the other end that the cards are coming.  I do know I get notified when someone sends me new cards, I am just not sure if it is on the offer acceptance, or if it is when they actually hit the send button.

Receiving

I am not going to post another link picture because it becoming redundant, but you get the gist.  Once you get a balance and other people can send the cards on your "Wants" list, you can see them here.

Trade History

Wait, you just have a dollar amount circled here.  Yeah, fucking stupid, but that is where you will go to find out your complete history on the site.  This will show what cards have gone out, and come in with the prices of everything.  You will also see a fee on every card in every transaction.  I am only assuming that dollar amount is how the site makes money.  But what that money is, I am not sure.  It might also be a way to control the inflation?  So if things get crazy, they can remove cash from the system through a fee structure.  Seeing as how there are so few users of the site, maybe that is why the fees are so low?

Cash Out
This is a pretty interesting option.  You can send all the cards you have, and build up a nice little purse of cash.  And then let's say you just want out of the site and spend that money somewhere else to get the cards you are looking for.  Well, this option will allow you to pull money out of the site for a fee.  That fee is $10 or 10% of the transaction, whichever is higher.  So that means if you pull out $1000 from the site, you will be paying $100.

Thoughts
So what I like about the site is that you don't need to have a trade.  It is just a way to send cards others are looking for, to build up a balance.  That then allows others to send to you.  This is a really great way to just get cards you are looking for.

You are also able to adjust the prices you are looking to get for the cards you are looking for which an interesting concept.  That way, you can request to pay only $5 for that $9 Fatal Push, and if someone else agrees to that price, they can send the cards you are looking for.

On the same topic, you can also inflate the price of a card you are really looking for.  So let's say you have a $0.50 card, but it is the last one you are looking for, you can actually offer $2.00 for it and hope someone will send it.  Right now I am just setting all my "Wants" at list prices.  There are some Korean 4th Edition cards I am doubling the price I am willing to pay, but I highly doubt I will get those.

I have been able to get in multiple packages, and really only had issues with my first package that was sent to me.  The cards were not NM, and I sent a message in, but I already accepted the cards, so there was nothing I could do.  In those cases, I should have hit "Dispute" on the cards coming in, and something would have happened.

It is very interesting, I have been able to just get the fodder I have been looking for, and it seems to be coming in pretty hot and heavy.  I can only assume that people are sending me my "Wants" because it is an easy way for them to build up their balances to get higher priced cards they are looking for.  It also peeks my interest to be able to send a lot of bulk that I have and build up a balance myself.  The only issue I am having is that I can't really keep a balance because people just keep sending me cards. Don't get me wrong, it is a good issue to have.

I am finding out that it is a lot easier to get things done.  With Deckbox, it is really difficult to get responses from traders.  There is a scoring system that people pay a lot of attention to, and to find someone that has the cards you are looking for, at the same time where you have cards they are looking for, and then coming up with a trade that you can each agree to?  Well it takes a long time.

It is also a consideration of critical mass.  I can see how the more people join and use Cardsphere, the more value you can get with the inventories.  But I can also see what could happen if they do not maintain their economy.  You can get crazy inflation if they are not careful.  Like right now, the prices of the cards are fairly close to market, but if there is a massive influx of coin to the site, then inflation will take effect.  Let's see how they handle it, but considering that we are pretty early in the sites existence, and I am getting a constant stream of cards I need, I might be at the site at the right time.

I am hopeful, and with only needing less than 550 cards left for my collection Phase 1, I have high hopes in getting everything I need.  With that being said, I plan to use this site for Phase 2 as well and considering the way the site works, I might actually try and get my ABU cards I am still looking for.  Of course I am not looking for the Power on here, but just the fodder that I am missing.

I have really found having your entire trade collection present on the site, it really opens up what people are looking for, and I am able to build up my balance pretty quick.  The only thing holding me back is the amount of packages I already have sent out.  I am really just trying to keep my balance closer to $0 while the cards are still coming in.  I guess the best way to put that, is I don't want too much of a balance sitting on the site with no cards coming in.  That to me, would seem like I have just given away cards for nothing, and I would be at a loss.  So as long as I keep getting cards in, I will keep sending cards and building a balance.  Lets just see how many more people join the site and send cards.

I am still very hopeful for the site.  It is a very interesting concept and I really like that they use cash as the currency and not some stupid point system that means nothing.  It is also really cool that the only way to get a balance is by sending cards, or putting in your own cash.  It really does look like there is an economy and I have high hopes for it.  I am going to keep using the site along with Deckbox.

Fuck you CardSphere!

Card Count: 624

Ok, not only is the count at 624, but I still have 83 cards coming in from Cardsphere and close to $81 in cards that I have sent out.  The only issue I have had with any of the received cards was from that first trade.  I have been sending cards out like crazy.  I can't even keep a balance.  I get cards in, and have to keep sending cards out to keep getting cards.  It is nuts.

And I am not just getting the trash.  I am getting all sorts of cards.  Basic lands, rares, uncommons, commons, everything that I am looking for.  Every time I check and have a running balance, I get another e-mail saying that I am getting more cards.

Here are just the last few cards I checked in from Cardsphere.

This one was in great condition and a higher priced card I was looking for.

This was a great bunch of cards I got in.  All in very good condition, all very highly sought after in my eyes.

If it keeps going like this, I am pretty sure I will get done within the year.  But one thing that is going to bother me is what I plan to do with that last card.  With this phase of the trading I was always planning on giving away a Revised Starter deck to whoever got me my last card.  Now with this site I am just waiting for people to fill my order.  I guess I am just going to have to wait to see who is sending me the card, and then send the starter deck in return.  With the site, you can see who is sending you cards, and you also get their address information.  I guess I am just going to have to send it to them that way.

I know, I keep saying I am going to do a review on this site, and I will.  It is just crazy on how much I am getting from this site.  Seriously, I can't keep a balance.  I am pretty sure it is the cards that I am looking for, and I am not discounting anything and giving list prices, but still.  I seriously can't keep a balance.

I do keep looking to see if there are cards I can send, but I am still a bit scared I have too much of a balance of cards going out that have not been received yet.  I am trying to take it slow, but with all these cards coming in, it is hard to not send more out.  I am waiting for someone to post enough balance for a higher end card I have, but I am pretty sure they are having the same issue I am, with people eating up their balance with other cards.

Well anyway, expect a site review for this site soon.

Ch..ch..cha..Changes...

Metamorphosis 2.0

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/metamorphosis-2-0-2017-06-12

So WotC is backing up that bus and making a ton of changes moving forward.  Looks like the 2 set blocks failed, and are more than happy to try and make it right.

*Stolen from the WotC site, URL above.

The Skinny
- 1 set blocks with 250+ cards per set
- Core sets are back
- Masterpieces are not going to be in every set
- Still going to get 4 sets a year

My budget is happy, but let me explain.

Expansions
So we are going to 3 expansion releases within a year, and the summer set is again going to be the core set.  Now, each expansion is going to be a large set (+250 cards) so that is going to suck a bit, just cause I used to have to open 8 booster boxes, and 3 fat packs to have around $200 of missing cards.  Most of those cards would be the Mythics, so in reality I was just opening more product to get a hand full more mythics and a ton more rares for trading fodder.

The small sets were nice, because I was not struggling to get full playsets of those rares, and I was getting a ton more fodder.  But with all that fodder I was ending up with a lot of bulk and it was filling up my storage area much faster.

Since then I have moved to the new budget of only picking up 6 booster boxes and 4 bundles.  This pared down the bulk that I was collecting on new product, and opened up some budget to pick up some cards that were not sealed.  I would then wait until rotation to pick up the outstanding cards needed for my playsets.  Now, this only really impacts me on expansions because I no longer have the catch-up time with the small sets and I need to figure in the required cards needed after rotation, and with all the sets being large sets I am going to need a lot more capital after they rotate out.

Core
And now we have Core sets back.  50% being new cards while the other 50% are going to be reprints. I still enjoy the core sets, but with this announcement I think I am going to be going the way of Conspiracy and Commander when collecting.  I will be going for a single card of the reprint and trying for a playset of the new cards.  This will cut down a lot of what I need to pick up for sealed, and will open up some budget for singles.  The only reason I am doing this, and should have done this with previous core sets, is I am sitting on a ton of reprinted cards.  I could have used that money on reserve list cards, or trying to fill out playsets of the really old sets where I only have a single set.

Masterpieces
Thank fucking god!  Now we get to the good part.  My budget opens up a ton with this requirement gone.  I am basically taking a $6000.00 line item and putting that towards sealed product.  It was close to $2000.00 per set to pick up all the Masterpieces on release day.  The low point for the set prices usually hit around the next released set, and prices were closer to $1400.00 per set.

Now, I did not really put $6000.00 in the budget to pick up all the Masterpieces within the time that the sets were in Standard, but I did pick up cards here and there to fill out my needs.  With that requirement now gone, I can plan a more balanced approach to picking up what I need, and go back to the way I used to buy cards.  But along those lines, I really like not picking up all that bulk and being more selective with my purchases, and it really opens up a lot of cash for speculation based on card quality within the game.

4 Sets a year
I really like this, and in earlier blogs I thought it was crazy to hit 4 expansion sets along with a core set.  But with the 3 expansion sets and a core, like they used to have, I think it is going to make things interesting.  I just felt like they were trying to cram way too much within a year, and now with this change I really think they are trying to slow down a bit.

With them opening up the set releases based on the content, I think they have opened up a whole new way to release the sets.  They can do content in a single set, head over to another plane and then come back to the previous plane right away.  They are not stuck trying to get all the content into that block release, and it frees up the story a lot more.  They might also be killing the "Return" blocks, which I think is a really good thing.  It seems like the compartmentalization of the blocks is going away, and it is becoming more chapter based stories.

Rather than a block being a single book, with a single story line, they are going back to the Weatherlight days, and continuing the story throughout.  I really think that this will allow them to bring up a set here and there to make the whole story more rich in a sense of mystery.  Like each set is a chapter, and sometimes a chapter will be so off topic if you follow the story in chronological order, but in the whole it makes sense.

Like The Phyrexian story from Dominaria, tying in with Mirrodin, and the Brother's War.  Now instead of forced to stay within a block for all that content, WotC is more free to expand into multiple different plot lines.  It is further from a comic book plot line, but has the taste of a good story line as a whole.  In one season we could be battling the Phyrexians, and the next season we could getting an update as to how Emrakul is holding up, and then swing by Theros to check up on Elspeth.  This could happen within the same year.  Way back it was only one plot line the whole year, and then they slimed it down to 2 plot lines within a year, and now it is just open based on the content.  The wonderful thing about it is the content will be able to take us where we want to go, and it is not constrained by a "Needed" structure of the game.  Much more D&D based storylines.

Budget
So what do I think now.  Well with this whole exercise of the new budget because of the baby, I still like not picking up so much bulk, but it would be nicer to pick up a little more.  I am still going through my spreadsheets to see what that might be.  Then again, it might be nice to just pick up a box to open for the fun of it after release.  But then there's that whole regret after pulling a bad box and wishing I just paid for the singles.

I really like not having to try and budget for those Masterpieces, but still realize that I need to save up for when they do release them.  Like with the Expeditions, it was great.  I could just get my full set and be happy with it.  But when they announced that I would be getting Masterpiece cards for EACH set, I puked.  This opens it up to many possibilities.  I can save up for the special occasion, but at the same time pick up a little more of what I like.

So along those lines, my yearly budget just opened up a bunch.  I keep trying to fit in the changes to the current budget based on these changes, but I am just speeding through it to get something out.  So for now, I am just going to post this with an updated budget blog coming soon.  That leaves an updated budget, Cardsphere, and Lodestone Coffee & Games blog I need to get out within the next weeks.

There sure is a lot changing coming, let's see if I can keep on track with all this.

Commander Anthology

So yesterday this set has come out, but nothing is new in this release.  This was a release so that all the new players can have a chance to pick up the older Commander sets.  Only thing is, with this release you only get 1 of the decks from each of the previous 4 years, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015.  That means Wizards of the coast are going to have 5 years of Commander Anthology releases.  Each year, they will be able to release 4 decks from each of the first 4 years for the next 5 years because there were 5 decks each year.

These decks MSRP at $164.99 and I am pretty sure they will sell at MSRP or higher.  The demand for this product is high, and I can only see the value of these cards go up in value.  I already have these decks sorted in the collection, along with some sealed product.  For this printing I picked up a couple sets, one to open and one to keep.  I know, you might be wondering why would I open a set?  I just like the cards in the sets, and I would like some more to play with.

It has come in the same packaging as the other Anthology sets, and I for one hope they keep up with with this trend.  They are very sturdy boxes, and well packed.  Each deck comes in another good storage box with the name of the deck on the top.

You also get some life spin downs.

But I do have to say that the main thing I really enjoy is that this set comes with tokens, but the tokens all have the Magic the Gathering card backs instead of the marketing images the tokens in sealed packs come with.

I also hope they release all these Anthology sets within the same set.

Picked my two sets up at Lodestone Games and of course while I was there I had to see what was new there.  I was able to finally grab that Masterpiece Invocation of Force of Will.

Honestly I was just really happy to pick this one up and it is the only one I really wanted from the Invocation set.  Now I could care less which ones I pick up as I think the prices of this set is going to keep going down.

Also picked up the Invention of Ensnaring Bridge which leaves only 5 more to get from the Inventions set, and the highest priced on let to pick up is the Wurmcoil Engine.

Then for some stupid reason I decided to pick up another Invention Torrential Gearhulk.  I have no idea why, but I still stand by my spec on a free Instant from the graveyard.

So with those pickups and the Commander Anthology it was a good day.  I am not sure about the Archenemy Nicol Bolas though.  There was no offer to pick up Commander Anthology from Rudy on Alpha Investments, but he was discounting Archenemy like a crazy fucker.  Based on the set, it is all reprints with no real good cards.  There are some Planeswalkers, but those cards are not really played anywhere, and it is all based on the Gatewatch against Nicol Bolas.  Personally, just seems like a copycat of the Marvel Universe, and I find copycats just boring.  This whole super team to fight off evil masterminds is just getting old.  I know, everything has it cycles, but WoTC is late to the super group game.  They need to build off the lore that already exists instead of just mashing stuff together.  Everyone loves history, even if they don't think they do.

I will most likely just pick up a single set to keep sealed, and not open any for the decks. I would like to pick up some of those Archenemy cards, but I am not willing to buy and crack desks for them.  I will most likely try and pick up those cards in the aftermarket.  Right now Commander is the only decks worth cracking for singles.

One thing to point out is that Lodestone is looking more and more like my new LGS.  They seem to be able to keep the better cards in stock, and I am constantly able to find cards I need at good prices.  I really like that they price the cards out, and have some sort of idea of what the value of the cards are to them.  They are not just following the TCGPlayer Mid.  It just seems like they are trying harder with their inventory without sending anything to an online market, which makes people to go into the store to shop.

I know before I was pretty happy with the TCGPlayer Mid prices, but after going through that, there was no real price setting.  I also had some doubts about how some stores would buy based on eBay, but then sell at TCGPlayer Mid.  I have just found that without setting the price of the cards, and what they are valued, they are just taking it on the easy street and do not really put any skin in the game for the worth of the cards to them.

They also have a really good player base, so you are getting a lot more to shop from.

Anywho, lots of changes going on in my Magic world, and hope to have more updates as we move along.  Just need to see if this is where I am going to hang my support.

Cardsphere keeps coming in

Card Count: 632

Shadowmoor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh yeah, Shadowmoor is completely done now!  It is so good to say that.  I have no idea why it feels better to say Shadowmoor is done that Guildpact, but it just does.  Like I value Shadowmoor more than I did with Guildpact.

The condition of these cards were much better than that first Cardsphere trade, and I found out I could dispute the cards that were sent if I was not happy with them, but I will try that next time if I have an issue.

Still waiting to do a write up on the site as I go through the paces, but hopefully soon.  With the card count coming down, this seems like a really good way to get all this last trash I have been looking for.

Incoming trades with my first Cardsphere trade

Card Count: 636

So I got a couple of Deckbox trades in, big one is that I no longer need any Guildpact!!

That there is the last one....

Here are the reset from Deckbox.

This was from a single trade.  Pleasant fella, and good trader.

I picked up these, along with everything that follows from the same trader I got the last Guildpact card.  I was really happy to grab the Containment Priest, just need a couple more for the playset.

Picked up another Starter 1999 card and a couple more Conspiracy: Take the Crown cards.

I know I know, Standard?  Yeah, just picked these up to fill in a trade.

More Kamigawa cards!

Ok and here is what I got from Cardsphere.  It is more of a fulfillment site than a trading site.

I will go into another post about Cardsphere later.  Still not to sure about the site.  These card were not NM, but I did get them for the collection.  I think the only good thing about this is that I am getting the trash that I need, but we will see.  Just really not sure about the quality of the cards I will be getting.  Taking it slow, and not going to strong until I can prove more from the site.  From this first interaction, I am not too hopeful.