Fortune Favors the Bold!

Sometimes you just get lucky. You're at the right place, at the right time, and you score a deal.

I was fortunate enough to have enjoyed such an experience last week that I wanted to share, and give a little advice on how YOU can find / get these bargains for yourself!

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Here in London, Ontario, Canada competition among Local Gaming Stores (LGSs) is fierce. Within a 2KM radius there are 5 different comic shops, all of which also sell MTG, and three of which run FNMs. There's also a sports card store that has a HUGE MTG selection. In interest of fair disclosure, here are the ones I'm referencing, as all of them are great:

Comic Book Collector
Worlds Away
Imperial Hobbies
Heroes
L.A. Mood
Freshers

I try and stop into all of them on a regular basis in order to associate with the staff and stay up to date with their products and pricing. Having a great relationship with your LGS is important, as brick and mortar stores are the bread and butter of the magic community. When you don't support your LGS... where are you going to play when they stop carrying the product because it's not financially viable to them to take up shelf space that could be used for products that actually SELL? That's why I'm normally willing to pay a few dollars extra and buy from my LGS instead of online whenever possible. Keeping the $$ in your community helps everyone! If something is overpriced at my LGS, before buying online I'll often approach an employee, show them the selling price of other competitors and ask for a price match, or at least a little bit off to make prices similar before taking my cash to e-world. As long as your request is reasonable, they're normally more than happy to help you for coming to them first and giving them the opportunity to do business with you.

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Last week I stopped in at Heroes since I hadn't been there in a while, and looked through all of their binders for modern and vintage cards. They have a very strange pricing system, as they use "Beckett" card magazine and then offer a 50% discount. Sometimes their prices are waaayyyy out there, and other times you get some amazing deals. I was well rewarded with the following haul:

1x Hive Mind - $0.50
1x Seachrome Coast - $2.00
1x Day of Judgment - $1.00
1x Visions of Beyond - $2.50
1x Sliver Overlord - $4.00
2x Duplicant - $2.50 ($5.00)
1x Foil Phyrexian Revoker - $1.25
1x Tower of the Magistrate - $1.50
1x Energy Field - $2.00
1x Gemstone Mine (WE) - $2.50
1x Blood Moon (DK) - $3.75
2x Back to Basics - $2.50 ($5.00)
2x Bribery (MM) - $5.00 ($10.00)
1x Foil Palinchron - $5.00
2x Vindicate - $12.50 ($25.00)

After taxes, the above cost me just over $80. There is > $150 worth of cards here, so a big thank you to Glenn / Braun for such an amazing deal!

I also went to L.A. Mood where I purchased the following cards:

1x Reveillark - $2.00
4x Countryside Crusher - $1.00 ($4.00)
2x Tauren Mauler - $1.00 ($2.00)
1x Murmuring Bosk - $2.00
3x Oona, Queen of the Fae - $1.00 ($3.00)
5x Acquire - $1.00 ($5.00)
1x Duplicant - $2.50

Just over $20 spent. Nothing here SUPER exciting, but a lot of cards that I feel have the potential to gain with either Modern OR Commander. I'm shocked that Acquire is still only worth $1-2. That card is INSANE in Commander, and every deck that runs blue should be playing one!

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Some of you may be saying to yourself: "Damn. This crazy just dropped $100 on magic cards... WTF is wrong with him!?" BUT you have to look at the values that you're going to gain when making any kind of purchase for which you intend to simply re-trade / sell.

I already have playsets of everything I bought, so I didn't actually NEED any of it (except that foil Palinchron... He's such a boss!!). However, if I were to sell:

2x Vindicate ($50)
1x Energy Field ($8)
2x Back to Basics ($16)
2x Bribery ($24)
1x Tower of the Magistrate ($3)

That would net me $101, which would recover all of the money I spent, earn me $1, AND allow me to keep all of those other cards for FREE!

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So how can YOU identify and prepare for these opportunities?

• Keep up to date with the stock in your LGS. This way when there is a price spike, you'll know where to go to hunt down the cards you need.
• Get to know the employees at your LGS and your trading partners. Not only is it the social thing to do, but a great relationship often times means better deals.
• Don't be afraid to spend money when you have to. If you see a great deal, jump on it, or someone else will. It takes practice and research, but once you get a hang of what you're doing, you can definitely profit.
• Know about the top tier decks and their tech. Did YOU know that "Plow Under" is now worth $5? It beats "12 Post", one of the top modern decks so is now in demand! I bought 4x @ $1.25 and another 2x @ $3 to have some in stock to trade.
• Ask for the deal. If you want something, but feel it's overpriced, ask for the discount. The worst they will say is: "No", then at least you know!
• Support your LGS whenever you can. It keeps the cards in your community and makes sure your LGS is able to continue supporting us all with things like FNM etc. It also gets you "face time" with employees who may have secret tech and suggestions for you!
• MAKE THE PROFIT. If you're like me, you'll buy the cards... then hoard them! It's nice for me to be able to tell my GF that I "spent $X on something worth $Y and I can make $Z!" but until you do it... you're still out that $X. (Refer to my Heroes purchase as an example)
• Sell before the bubble bursts. Cards don't stay hot forever, their values wax and wane along with the metagame. Breeding Pool will NOT be able to sustain it's $30 price tag!
• Speculate. You have a brain, and you KNOW what's going to be good. Buy in early to avoid disappointment! (Refer to my LA Mood purchase as an example)

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There you have it, a mini guide on how to reduce your expenses and possibly earn a little on the side. I know this isn't for everyone, as it's a high risk / high reward scenario, but some of you sharks I've been swimming with out there lately may appreciate it.

Good luck to you all at PT Philly and your Local FNM's tonight! I'll be sporting my RUG Twin deck (again) so bring your Torpor Orbs and Spellskites! :P

Cheers,
Carl Szalich