Pack to Moat week 18

Hello Everyone!

This week was another fantastic week of trading, and I made a very significant trade that will help seal the deal as I approach the inevitable deadline before I leave for the summer.

May 30, 2012

My:
Ratchet Bomb (5.78)
Phantasmal Image (12.64)
Cemetery Reaper (2.76)

His:
Geist of Saint Traft (19.12)
Hellrider (2.71)

Net: +0.65

Even though I really didn't gain much value from this trade, I was able to turn 2 rarely used cards into useful value as I upgraded a standard staple. The Hellrider is just there for value, although it has been seeing play in the RG aggro deck, so it's not a waste of value.

My:
Phyrexian Metamorph (7.00)
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben (3.78)
Sunpetal Grove (3.28)
Silverblade Paladin (6.17)

His:
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad (21.33)

Net: +1.10

Once again, I didn't much in the way of value, but having a card that is individually worth over 20 is a huge upgrade considering the largest card I moved was worth 7! Unfortunately, Sorin isn't really seeing much play, which is why he has been sinking, but he is a very popular casual card and I expect him to do well. As a sidenote, I believe this is the 5th or 6th Thalia I have traded out as a part of this project, she is a VERY popular card!

June 1, 2012

My:
Tarmogoyf (96.38)
Wasteland (46.05)

His:
4x Brainstorm (1.72, 6.88)
Liliana of the Veil (22.40)
Underground Sea (137.32)

Net: +24.17

Now this is a VERY significant trade!!! The front of the Underground Sea looks perfectly fine, but the back has some whitening around the border:

This trade happened at On the Stack games in Norwood which I took the afternoon to drive down to with Bobby hoping to do some epic trading. We have met a couple players from the store at 1Ks and SCG events and whatnot who were really cool, and one of them traded me his Underground Sea. I valued the Underground Sea at 120-125 based on condition, which honestly I have no idea how to scale. I didn't really want to move the Wasteland, but it was the only card that would have made the trade work, so it was definitely worth it. This trade absolutely would not have happened if I hadn't seen the On the Stack guys and created a good friendship with them. In fact when I got to the store, Steven asked me if I wanted to trade for the Underground Sea, not the other way around! I had gotten Steven into trading a couple months ago and since then he has traded for a short suite of Dual Lands, Force of Wills (one from me!), and other goodies so he felt compelled to return the favor, which I absolutely appreciate!

My:
2x Day of Judgement (2.67, 5.34)
Hellrider (2.71)
Foil Zealous Conscripts (8.00)

His:
Huntmaster of the Fells (19.61)

Net: +3.56

This trade was back at Harrisons at almost midnight with a player who was visiting from Lowell. While we were trading we were talking a lot about the Magic scene in Lowell since I will be going to college there next year, and I think I have a good grasp of what is and is not good up there. Just like with Steven from the previous trade, I wanted to create another good network connection to another store because I may go there next week and do more trading, and they should put in a good word for me.

My:
Liliana of the Veil (22.40)

Her:
Gravecrawler (5.73)
Woodland Cemetery 4.71)
2x Terminus (4.51, 9.02)
Ulvenwald Tracker (1.22)

Net: -1.72

This trade was with another person from Lowell, and while this obviously wasn't a profitable trade for me, I am not remotely frustrated. I spent a long time talking to them and if I have to lose $1 now to open myself up for a slew of trades down the road, that is a perfectly fine trade-off! Also, I was beginning to notice that I really don't have that many options for people to choose from in my binder so shattering bigger cards like Liliana is a very good maneuver to give players choice regardless of their budget.

June 2, 2012

My:
Inferno Titan (4.05)

His:
Sulfur Falls (5.74)

Net: +1.69

Just a good old trade at 3:30 am! I was teaching my friend who only started playing magic a couple months ago some of the intricities to his UR delver deck he has been working on and when he saw Titan in Calcano's sideboard he was curious and wanted to test it out. Conveniently I just so happened to have one on hand that hasn't been moving for weeks!

June 3, 2012

My:
Misthollow Griffen (2.62)
Maga, Traitor to Mortals (0.72)

His:
Copperline Gorge (8.16)

Net: +4.82

This trade was a steal! We put Griffen at 3, Maga at 1, and Copperline at 6 without even looking any prices up and we were on our merry way in less than 5 minutes to jam some legacy!

My:
2x Geist of Saint Traft (19.12, 38.24)
Visions Natural Order (33.59)
Gravecrawler (5.73)
Devil's Play (0.64)
Mirror Entity (4.45)

His:
Flusterstorm (15.84)
Time Spiral (22.12)
Cavern of Souls (24.71)
Vindicate (27.66)

Net: +7.68

This trade was huge! This happened after a legacy event when I realized I haven't traded with a certain local player in a long time so I asked to trade and we did this huge trade in addition to a fair sized one from my normal binder. Some points on this trade include how I shipped a 4, 6, and bulk and the smallest thing I got back was a 16. Also, I was able to move the second Natural Order that I stupidly got from trading out a Force of Will at SCG Providence (still kicking myself for that one...). Natural Order has not seen any play recently, and the namesake card has lost 10% of its value over the past 3 weeks! The one sketchy card I got back was Vindicate. I haven't seen it receive a lot of play recently, but it's a very solid card that is incredibly hard to find, so I don't think it's a terrible investment. When we mapped this trade out, we were off by a buck so he pulled the Devil's Play for kicks, but as you can tell this was definitely not a balanced trade. If one person is off by a dollar here and a dollar there, as you move into bigger and more complex trades you open yourself up more to being taken advantage of as each small mistake compounds upon itself, and that's how I was able to make such a huge margin! It was also really cool when randomly halfway through the trade the guy I was trading with showed me his Eagle Scout ID card, and I showed off mine too and we went into an awesome nostalgic conversation about things like out Eagle Scout projects of old.

My:
Cavern of Souls (24.71)

His:
Time Spiral (22.12)
Champion of the Parish (5.54)

Net: +2.95

This trade happened 30 seconds after the previous one with the same guy. As we were finishing the above trade I texted a player I see all the time who is putting together High Tide to see if he wanted the Time Spirals. I had said I only wanted to trade for 1 as we were setting it up because having too many without a buyer is a huge liability. I wasn't expecting to receive a return text until the next morning since it was almost midnight, but just after taking the picture and putting away my new toys he responded saying he needed 2. After a couple minutes of awkwardly explaining my situation, I was able to give him back his Cavern in exchange for a card I have a set buyer for, and a cheap in-demand standard staple. We were valueing Time Spiral at 20 which is part of what helped both of our trades together get a little slanted.

9 Trades
Week 18 Net: +44.90

This was a HUGE week for me, which is good because I need it! In one week from today I will be gone for 10.5 weeks working at Hidden Valley Scout Camp as the Emergency Skills area director, so there will certainly be minimal magic happening. Right before I go though, I will be playing in SCG Worcester which will give me a huge stage to do a final hurrah and get myself a Moat at. According to my log, I have netted $400 in trade thus far, but after looking the binder I can see that I have lost probably 50 or so value in depreciation over the course of the project, although it is definitely more because I have had a scant few cards go up as I held them (Copperline I got at 7 before the rose to 10 and I moved them). Based on how everything looks right now, and also anticipating I will probably get something sweet for the 2 Time Spirals (Wasteland?) I think this project will actually make the deadline of this weekend! I'm really excited to see how this has all developed, although I am also relieved that it's finally ending...

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

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack