Pack to Moat!

Hello everybody!

Last week was the Dark Ascension Pre-Release, and I had a pretty interesting pool that included both 1 drop Werewolves, Elite Inquisitor, and a bunch of other goodies including 3 mana fixers. So I wound up playing a very aggressive naya deck. I wound up going 4-2 with the deck which was good for 16th place (of 55 or so) and 4 packs.

A while back, Mark was trying to get me to do a pack to power because of how much trading I was doing, and how I usually fared very well in these trades. While I didn't go for it at the time, it really made me think about possibly doing such an endeavor in the future. Well, that time is now! One of the Legacy players that comes every week just acquired a very nice minty English Moat:

So Sunday, the day after the pre-release I decided now is the time to do a pack -> really expensive card project. I'm just a week in, but I have already made a ton of trades! If you are unfamiliar with this project, here's the basic breakdown:

Starting with a Dark Ascension Booster pack, I must trade cards in only that binder for other cards, optimally gaining financial value every time. I will accept any trade as long as the other person agrees even if I am blatantly ripping them off (which I don't do normally). I will do my best to take pictures of every trade for basic evidence reasons, and every few days I will post an update to this blog. My very ambitious goal is to have it done before the summer, but more realistically before 2012 comes to a close. The original pack to power was done by Jonathan Medina, and is chronicled here.

So for starters here is the pack:

Which contained:

All prices are TCG Medium

Shriekgeist (0.10)
Burden of Guilt (0.09)
Faithless Looting (0.34)
Clinging Mists (0.09)
Executioner's Hood (0.09)
Chant of the Skirfsdag (0.09)
Highborn Ghoul (0.10)
Talons of Falkenrath (0.09)
Hollowhenge Spirit (0.15)
Gavony Ironwright (0.15)
Wakedancer (0.15)
Curse of Misfortunes (0.47)
Wolfbitten Captive (1.54)
FOIL Chill of Foreboding (0.50)
DFC proxy card

Total value: 3.95

So with everything combined, we get basically even to what a pack normally costs (although we got a double rare + foil pack just to break even, which goes to show why I don't buy packs anymore unless I'm drafting). Nothing incredible is in this pack, although there are a couple nice playables, so I think I should be able to get off to a good start. I think the hardest part of a pack to value is getting started because you have to be able to trade commons and uncommons for value and bring them up to rares and other cards that actually hold value.

January 30th

My:
1x Faithless Looting
0.34

John's:
1x Timely Reinforcements
1.78

Net: +1.44

So I was planning on having pictures of every trade I do for this project, but awkwardly enough I forgot it for the very first trade of the whole project!

February 1st

My:
1x Wolfbitten Captive
1.57

Andrew's:
1x Gravecrawler
7.59

Net: +6.02

Wow! I didn't realize this trade was so lopsided when I made it, because I honestly thought Gravecrawler was still at 4. I guess considering I was planning on buying every Gravecrawler in the world when it was at 4, I should have anticipated a rise....

My:
1x Shriekgeist
0.10

Sean's:
1x Stromkirk Captain
1.13

Net: +1.03

Being able to trade the commons for just about anything is very important, so any opportunity I can get to move this for anything if much appreciated.

My:
1x Gravecrawler
7.59

John's:
1x Olivia Voldaren
9.07

Net: +1.48

Hyped card for proven staple? Snap trade!

My:
1x Stromkirk Captain
1.13

Charlotte's:
1x Gut Shot
2.5

Net: +1.37

February 2nd

My:
1x Gut Shot
1x Burden of Guilt
1x Clinging Mists
2.68

Bobby's:
1x Blade Splicer
1x Divination (DKA)
1x Secrets of the Dead
4.34

Net: +1.66

Managed to trade a Shriekgeist all the way up to a Blade splicer in just 1 day! I feel like I'm setting up a strong platform for myself.

My:
1x Talons of Falkenrath
0.09

Andrew's:
1x Divination (DKA)
1x Forge Devil
1x Briarback Alpha
0.43

Net: +0.34

February 3rd

My:
1x Chant of the Skirfsdag
0.09

Andrew's:
1x Elvish Archdruid (M11)
1.50

Net: +1.41

This trade was a gift, Andrew (who is a different Andrew from all previous trades, who was the same person each time) just tossed the Chant off to the side as soon as the picture was taken. He told me how he tried to do it a year ago and really couldn't get anywhere with it, so he wanted to see how far I could go with it.

And yes, that is my pink trade binder, you are jealous!

So at the end of week 1 of trading up to a moat I am up to 4 rares, and have been able to trade out 6 of the 8 commons I started out with, so things aren't taking to long to get moving! This week I did 8 trades for a total net gain of +14.75! Already this pack is worth 4.5x more than when I first opened it!

Going forwards, I am going to probably update this blog on my trades every weekend (or a monday if I'm off to an SCG event or something). Now that I am fairly established, I will do my best to avoid gift trades. I am interested in online trading, so if you feel like helping the cause, just send me a message!

That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
ThingsILack on mtgo