The year is coming to a close in 2 months, so I'll do a short wrap up on a few things while disclosing what I am personally thinking and aiming for the next year. It will take time to prepare, so I might as well get ready now.
Budget and Funding:
As I did mention earlier about some errors I made within the year, I figured that it is better to restart my trading. For the past few months, I have been planning, tying up loose ends and clearing out tabs. From there, I would be looking to save up a good amount as capital. Nevermind the the quantity as capital as from there, I will work my way back up. So far now I am back on track to do trading
Decks
I think this one is rather straightforward. I intend to break the format with my 5C reanimator deck. Ally decks really deserves more spotlight as a tribe. Yes, the support for the tribe eventually fell flat, but hey, Return to Zendikar or Zendikar something? There is a very hot speculation that the storyline will go into Zendikar next. Maybe we would see Allies.. My very guess is that Allies would see additional support or some sort of new prints in the next block if it features a return to Zendikar Planes, or if not maybe in the last core set.
I do have an EDH deck which I am in the process of foiling it. So that takes priority for the next couple of years. It would be hard on my wallet, but I will consider this as a very long term investment into the game. Building the full deck at foil and the "final upgrade" will be the most expensive spending project. I intend to target the original Dual-lands, foil fetchlands and a couple of cards that are crazily expensive due to casual demand.
My modern deck? Let's just say that once I am able to break the format in one way or another, or I actually do perform well as a dark horse, I'll start foiling it. Even if I am unable to foil it, 80% are already Japanese cards so I considered it pimped. It's not a priority to foil it as I don't see myself going very competitive with it in the near future. Hence, I would rather foil my EDH deck.
I actually have another deck in the works as and when I can find the pieces. It's relatively more expensive than my Ally deck currently, and the core of the UW deck I was playing a couple of weeks back is transferable to the new deck.
That deck is also an underdog deck, which had seen performance and wonderful plays. It is currently not in the meta (obviously) and I'm intending to work with the deck more IF Deathrite Shaman gets unbanned. Not because I will use it, but the Reanimator deck will crumble with Deathrite Shaman getting unbanned. No, I have no immediate plans to foil that deck. Though it would be good to start now actually.
Trades -
Trades will be relatively simple to discuss, but complicated to explain my exact moves as to what I am going to do to reach there. I am currently doing trades in Pucatrade.com and Deckbox.com
My direct links are as shown;
Pucatrade: https://pucatrade.com/invite/gift/6429
Deckbox: https://deckbox.org/users/xxDSJJxx
I do enjoy trading there, just that the shipping fees do take up some part of the actual trade amount in the end. I am also looking to get in a few cards at cheap prices as short-term and long term investments.
Some of the targeted pieces are as shown;
Shocklands: Mid-term (2-3 Years)
- Once the lands go up to an average of $14 a piece for player's price, I'll let go the excess for other stuff.
- Reprints not possible for this coming 2 years, but it is not impossible to see reprint after that to hold the price down for Modern.
- I'll look to trade for foils. Those will be the ones I'll be keeping for longer term.
Abrupt Decay: Short-Term (~1 Years)
- This is somewhat the Vindicate of Modern. It hits just about most of the cards played in modern. It's also seen in play in Legacy and in EDH due to its versatility.
- The ceiling for Abrupt Decay is predicted to be around $15, with the current price to be at about $12. However, I refused to believe to be so low. I think there is a good chance to hit around $18-$20 during modern season.
- This will have a high chance of seeing reprints. Once I see it hitting around $14, I can consider letting go or trading it for other stuffs.
Fetchlands: Not now
- I personally doubt that this is the right time to invest in fetchlands. Let people hoard for all I care. The boxes will continue to be opened like no tomorrow and the supply will still exceed demand.
- I would start buying in once the prices dip a little more. That would be the best time to start buying the required pieces. In fact, If budget permits, I would target the foil ones for $50/$70 for non-blue/blue fetches.
- Zendikar Fetches reprints are inevitable. It's coming; just a matter of when. When it's reprinted, I won't make the mistake of buying the boxes; I'll grab the singles.
Snapcaster Mage: Long-term (~3 Years)
- This multi-format staple has hit blue decks immediately it was released; I loved this card for what it does and yes, I am well aware of the power. If Vendilion Clique is justified to be a $70 card at the point of writing, I feel Snapcaster Mage do have a high potential to hit $50 easily! I'd buy him in at $30 and hold them or as trading chips
- Reprints for him is very unlikely; Maybe only for premium sets like FTV or Modern Masters 2.
Voice of Resurgence: Long-term (~3 Years)
- Similar to Snapcaster Mage; this card is severely underplayed. I'll look to trade into this as much as possible.
- However, this is not a priority to pick up yet.
Ghostfire Blade: Short-term (~6 Months)
- Currently Ghostfire blade is a dollar rare which I am taking in at $0.50 a piece. If any chance it goes up to $3 or $4, that's the best time to let go. I'm also taking in foil ones at $1-$1.50 where possible.
Monastery Swiftspear: Mid-term (~1 to 2 Years)
EDH (???)
Project-Zer0
So what's my next move? I personally think that the capital building is the most important right now. I've decided to take 5 months to save as much as I can before hitting the buylist again. The goal for me is to get about $400-$500 in capital. From there, it just voice to which card to buy for investment value.
- Monastery Swiftspear is a card which I may hold longer. It's a good card that has seen play in Modern and Legacy. $1 (at the point of writing) for that card is too cheap for its power. I'm speculating that it will hit the same curve as Aven Mindcensor within a few years.
- I will have to tank the prices if it dips, which is unlikely, but if the trend of pack opening continues on like this, the possibility is there. It is very unlikely foils for Swiftspear to hit below $10 mark if the demand meets the supply. For now I would assume supply will exceed demand, so I'll grab the foil copies for longer term investments
- Not a big fan of holding out EDH staples after a lesson learnt unless I am starting my own shop; I don't have the capacity and the budget to hold out EDH staples. It is a format that is thriving on the casual demand.
- Honestly as I did mentioned in an older article that EDH is a good format to invest; I still stand by my ironic comment, but that is IF I have the capacity and budget to hold the cards; I have to remember that EDH is a VERY long term investment, so it doesn't make sense for me, as a growing trader, to horde EDH cards so early in my trading and sit there without the capability to move the cards.
- Also, priority investment in EDH goes to the staples like tutors and good removals. Foils are also very highly sought after!
- I'm working on a project to foil out my EDH. This includes the foil fetches and even acquiring Revised Dual Lands as it is the only EDH deck that I will be having and making for the current period of this coming few years.
Foil Planeswalkers: (Long Term)
- I started this blog mentioning this is my end point; Initially I wanted to make a blog on the journey of myself collecting the planeswalker (much like Pokemon, where you go collect everyone of them)... Well, to an extent, I am still collecting them, but not as a priority now as my budget is tighter when I go up the collection list.
- Just to note, I aim to trade for those rather than to buy directly, so this is meant to be a long term project...
- All else fails, this becomes a good trading chip for other staples.
Speaking of trading....
This leads to..
Project-Zer0
I'll be honest here. I don't intend to do this at the scale I am doing now for long. It is either I work my way up to find a bigger source of bulk rares and move them faster or I will slowly cease this project, bringing it to a closure. It is not because that I have no sources or unable to continue the project for any reason. It is that the collection will overtime slow down in the movement capacity and financially it's not very viable. Sure I can hold the card stocks, but if I would do that, I rather hold out in hundreds to make the holding sustainable and justified when the prices do spike.
I will keep this in view; I enjoyed working this project, but eventually it would not be possible for me to lug around boxes of cards to game stores without causing any rift. So, if I were to do it from home, I have to find more publicity. It's a good thing that the local scene here knows of the branding of the Project. Now the next step up is to work on building the value of it.
For as much as possible, I will continue to blog. I used to blog about my personal life for 5 years before closing the blog. So I had experience writing blogs on a daily basis, but due to the school work and other commitments, I can only push out 5-6 entries per month. (4-5 if I have to do some research before posting.)
I haven't had the eligibility to sign up for Adsense, but I am currently using Nuffnang as advertising campaigns to support my endeavor. I don't expect to get paid via the advertisements doing this due to the relatively lower traffic as compared to the other blogs out there, but I am looking to do commision-based articles if I have the opportunity to fund my work and trades.
No comments:
Post a Comment