ORGGanizing Your Collection (Part 2: The Traders)

I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that trading is one of my favorite aspects of Magic: The Gathering. That thrill you get when you finally find the last card that you needed for a deck, or that amazing alter or misprint that you scoop up for a great deal. Maybe it’s just a trade that you feel you did well on, or one that you lost some value, but “traded up” into a more expensive card. Whatever the scenario, if you’re not presenting your traders in the best possible way, you may be losing out on opportunities!

Today we’re going to look at part 2 of a 2-part series on how to organize your cards and we’ll focus on your trade binder and how to optimize it.

You can read Part 1 here:  THE BULK.

************************

Those of you who know me, know that I have a fairly sizable magic card collection. I don’t have the room in my bag or binders to bring ALL of my rares and tradables with me wherever I go, so I have to rely on organizing my collection and choosing what I think is most relevant to haul around with me.

The first thing that I do is to take out all of the “jank” rares. You KNOW there are cards in your binder that no one will ever want unless they’re trying to complete sets… these can be removed if you don’t have the space to carry them. If you have the space in your binder, there is no reason to leave them behind though! Just bear in mind that most “jank” rares are only worth $0.25 - $1.00, and that’s being generous. Stores buy bulk rares at around $0.15 as an example, so it may or may not be worth it to you to lug them around. HOWEVER, I found that most of these rares CAN be TRADED for around $1, so while they are worthless, they also have the highest potential to offer you gains. An interesting juxtapose that you’ll have to decide for yourself!

I use a system that I call the “4 binder system”, but what I would suggest for most of you is simply to use a 2 or 3 binder system to organize your traders. Let’s be like M.C. Hammer and break it, break it, break it down!

Stop. Hammer time! (Loxodon Warhammer, that is!)

BINDER 1: STANDARD RARES

In this binder you put your standard rares, organized by color. I usually put them in color order of Black, Blue, Green, Red, White, Multi, Artifact, Land because that’s alphabetical. This first binder is the one that I normally give out when I’m trading, as it’s what most people are interested in. If my trading partner does not find what they want in it, I present them with binder 2. Sometimes I’ll just give them binder 1 & 2 at the same time and tell them that one binder is standard stuff and the other binder is…

BINDER 2: NON-STANDARD RARES

Everything that is no longer playable in standard goes in here. Lots of good Commander (EDH) cards and last blocks all-stars really shine in a binder like this, as it exposes people to a lot of cards that they may not have known existed. I like to ask what kind of deck my partner is trying to build, then offer suggestions of cards they may be unfamiliar with for that deck.

If you don’t have a lot of traders, you can combine both binder 1 & 2 into 1 big binder. I would suggest that you use a divider between your Standard / Non-Standard sections though, as it will help you stay organized and will again offer that separation between the formats. Each “section” should still be color organized however!

BINDER 3: THE “GOOD STUFF”

Too many times I’d be looking for a few crappy rares and have people pulling out REALLY expensive cards that they saw in my binder that they have NO hope of being able to trade for (No, your 5x $1 cards do NOT equal my 1x $20 card, sorry…). As a result, I created the “good stuff” binder. A binder that I don’t even pull out to offer the traders within unless there was a card on the table that I was REALLY looking for! Having that Liliana of the Veil in your regular binder is going to make people home in on it, and ignore other possible traders they could be interested in because they want that one expensive card really badly when they only have “jank” for trade themselves. This 3^rd binder is where you put those cards that you either really don’t want to trade, or that are VERY valuable. Obviously if you’re trying to get a high value card, you would offer this binder to be looked through, but if you’re trying to get a Splinterfright or something menial, there is no reason to even pull this binder out of your bag as everything within it will be worth far more than what you’re looking for.

My rules on this binder are basically if it’s worth a lot of money or I don’t really want to trade it, the card goes in here. If you take anything out of this article, it’s that THIS should be a binder you create for 2 reasons:

1)      You won’t have to say: “That’s not for trade” or “I’m keeping that for a deck” when someone points to something in your binder, as it wouldn’t be in there… it will be in this second binder. That way your primary binder really is “for trade”, and your “non-traders” are set aside.

2)      You won’t have every single person who looks through your binders wearing blinders to everything that isn’t a “money card”. Since your “money cards” aren’t in your primary binder, it will allow you to trade low value for low value out of your regular traders, and trade high value for high value out of this “good stuff” binder.

BINDER 4: THE FOILS

I have enough foils to have a separate binder just for them. If you don’t have enough for your own foil binder, just add them to binder 1. You can put them in a separate section, or just mix them into their relevant color.

************************

I think most of you will end up with 2 binders by the time that you’re done. Your first binder will be a combination of binders 1 & 2 & 4 and your second will be binder 3.

It’s also worth noting that it’s a good investment to get yourself a sturdy, good looking binder to transport your cards. This will not only protect your valuable rares, but will also look classy and elegant when presented to a trade partner which will already give them a little “wow” factor before they even open it. My primary trade binder is leather bound and zips up, for example.

Another important note now is that it’s important to ask your trade partner if they “have any more cards for trade” if you look through their primary binder and find nothing. There are a few people out there who already use a tiered trading system like this one (me), and if BOTH traders have that mythical second binder, there is opportunity to trade solely from between them! So be sure to ask! You may even get a reply like: “I do, but I don’t see anything I’d trade for out of it”, which is a great segue into saying: “Well, I have another binder as well, maybe we’ll both find something in our OTHER binders?” :)

I hope this little series has helped you get organized both at home, and in your trade binders, and I’d love to hear back from you on how the system is working out!

TALKBACK!

How do YOU organize your binder?

How do YOU feel about this multi-binder approach?

Cheers!

Carl Szalich

ORGGanizing Your Collection (Part 1: The Bulk)

Well hello there boils and ghouls! Welcome to another installment of: DON’T TRAIN MY ORGG!

I've been feeling worse than he looks! :S

First, sorry that I haven’t updated in a while. I’ve been having some strange issues with my blood sugar that have made me shift priorities for a while. Things are getting better though, and I’m back to work! :)

Today we’re going to look at part 1 of a 2-part series I’ll be writing about how to organize your cards.

PART 1 will focus on the BULK of your collection (the stuff that stays at home) and PART 2 will focus on your TRADERS (the stuff that you bring to trade).

************************

There is nothing more annoying than trying to hunting down cards you need and being unable to find them. You KNOW that you have 1,000,000 copies of that elusive Llanowar Elves, but where did you put them? Sure, your rares are all double sleeved and chillin’ in a binder, but what about the bulk of your collection? The draft leftovers, the playables, the cards from older formats, the EDH staples and all of the other stuff that isn’t being used right now. What do you do with those unsung heroes??

*** PART 1: THE BULK ***

Clean up your mess! We all know that you have piles of cards all over the place, strewn here and there. Your mom or significant other is probably all over you to get that $#!+ dealt with (I know mine is)!

Where to start?

Well first things first, grab all of your random piles and take them all to the same place so that you have them at hand. For me that involves picking up cards from the family room, the kitchen, the computer room, the rec room, the laundry room, the spare bedroom, the hallway AND the real bedroom. DON’T MISS ANY!! If you’re not planning on putting them into binders, make sure that you have a lot of boxes available, and some way to separate your stuff within the box. Personally, I prefer binders and 9 card pocket protectors. I just pack each sleeve with 8x of a card (yes, that stretches the sleeve) and move on to the next one.

Now it’s time to separate your pile into the “JANK” pile (bad) and the “GOOD” pile. Since these are just randoms, you’re going to have a LOT of bad ones.

A quick aside on “JANK”…

Bad ones are easy to identify! They have a high casting cost, no abilities, and no potential. They have never seen competitive play, have nothing unique about them, and you wouldn’t hesitate to burn them as kindling in a fire to keep warm at night. Examples of this include classics like Craw Wurm / Hill Giant / Merfolk of the Pearl Trident and friends. They do NOT include cards like: Llanowar Elves, Brainstorm, Disenchant etc… Basically, anything that is even FRINGE playable stays out of the “JANK” pile. Someone, somewhere collects it, or needs it for a deck.

Now take all your jank and set it aside in a box. Seal the lid and let them fester. If a mouse eats them, not a biggie! You’ll be using this box for three REAL reasons.

1)      If somehow hell freezes over and one of the cards in your jank box sees play, well, you did a terrible job evaluating what’s jank and what isn’t for starters haha :P. But you can go through that box and take out all of the copies you have and trade them away OR put them back into your “good pile”.

2)      Getting a friend who knows a lot about magic and prices to double check your work. You don’t want to be forgetting about great cards like Aether Vial / Standstill and (heaven forbid!) Force of Wills!

3)      Using the cards to put together sets. A long, hard, grueling and arduous task! :S

Now that you’ve separated the good, the bad, and the ugly, it’s time to sort. Ignore your jank, it’s not worth the time and effort (unless you’re putting sets together). When I went through my collection the first time, it literally took me WEEKS to organize everything. But now that it’s all in its correct place, it’s super convenient and well worthwhile. Organizing my collection thoroughly also allowed me to sell a huge chunk of it to a store since it was all catalogued.

Decide how much detail you want to go into. Here is a little list that shows organization methods that I use or have heard of going from most work / most detail to least work / least detail.

A)     By set and card number.

Obvioulsy the most work intensive with the highest payoff. Separate your cards into sets, then separate them by color, then by number. I like to use this method when I’m trying to complete sets but that’s about it!

B)      By set and color.

This is what I do for most of my collection. I organize by set because that will put my binders in an order that allows me to reference cards quickly, and by color so that they are at least in a general location. I find one of the main benefits of this system is that when a format changes, you don’t have to reorganize as you’re already by sets, so you just go further back or forward in your collection.

(B-2 = By set, no color)

C)      By format and color.

All of your cards divided by format (Standard / Extended / Modern / etc…) and by color. You’ll know where to look for a card, but it may take you a while to find it. Note that when a format changes, you’ll have to go through your collection and make the changes as well. Depending on the size of your piles, it may be better to just go with option “B”.

(C-2 = By format, no color)

D)     By color.

Self-explanatory. Have fun finding your 1-of’s! I guess it’s better than having your piles everywhere though…

E)      The random chaos theory.

All of your cards are in one place, but there is no “real” organization. They’re just “cleaned up”.

This is going to be a LOT of work if you have a big collection. I actually had friends come over to help me (on multiple nights) and hooked them up w / food and beers for their services. A little bribe here and there never hurt anyone (well, maybe their livers… lol).

************************

Thus ends our venture into ORGGanizing your collection PART 1: THE BULK. I hope this has helped you think about the way your cards are organized, and if you haven’t started yet, given you some ideas on how to proceed.

My main goal is always to save time in the long run and avoid frustration when I need to find something. I can’t stress enough that this is NOT easy, but when you finish and can look back on your collection and smile because you know that you can find all 40 of your Serra Angels within seconds it will all be worth it. ;)

Stay tuned for PART 2: THE TRADERS, coming soon to a blog site near you!

TALKBACK!

How do YOU ORGGanize YOUR collection?

Do YOU have any more tips and tricks you’d like to share?

Cheers!

Carl Szalich