Revamp my deck: 5c Ally Reanimator

Edit: I could have posted this earlier, but due to some technical issues with the blog, I raged quitted this post after the site not saving my draft. I decided to skip some of the game-play content and just concentrate in updating this post as an article on revamping my deck.
Also, this article was drafted 3 weeks prior, so the comments in Italic and the pointers are the more of the updates over what I had intended to post earlier on. Nevertheless, it's still a good pointer to show how much my deck has changed over the last couple of weeks.

Another Modern event coverage at MTG-Asia @ Aliwal Street. This time round, I'm focusing more on the changes of the deck and how it performs for the event.

Deck: 5C Ally Reanimator Ally Gifts Reanimator!

The original version of the deck after the changes to improve consistency of the deck. The deck strategy only revolves around Angel of Glory's Rise's ability and Empyrial Archangel to hold the board. The issue with the deck is that it ended up too linear and could not hold out against disruptive strategies. The lack of removal and the lack of any form of stall / protection basically prevents the deck to hold out against Aggro decks or big threats as well. 

The 2nd version of the deck after incorporating the GIFTS package. Added more removals and disruption to help ease turns 1 to 3 against aggressive or disruptive decks. More tuning to be done, but the core of the deck is a synergistic hybrid of Gifts Ungiven and Reanimator package!

Some of the major changes I did over the past 2 months. I originally updated the deck and was about to publish it. However, the deck did not perform as expected and I need to update and change the deck to perform better in the new meta...

Remove Green
I didn't want to do this, but to ensure the consistency of the deck, I had no choice but to remove the green colour altogether to improve the mana base consistency.  So hence, there goes Life from the Loam, Harabaz Druid and Mirror Entity. Those pieces of synergy allows my creatures to be bigger easily, but it lacks the consistency and made the deck clunky to pilot.

Also, the main idea is to reanimate the combo and mill the opponent; not to dominate the board. But, when needed, a strong turn of the board may work in certain match-ups. That said, the keyword here is CERTAIN. If that is the case, I'd rather stick to my original plan or make my back-up plan more effective.

Upon changes to the deck, the best plan is actually to hold early game board while triggering the milling or lifegain to hold out game. The core strategy of the deck is still reanimating big threats or Angel of Glory's Rise; just that the approach is slightly different. 
Previously, the first 3 turns solely is to dig and mill myself to get the combo in the graveyard. While that is efficient, it is very prone to over-committing the strategy and just any disruptions like grave-hate or counterspells can severely hurt the deck. Hence, the digging options have been reduced significantly in place for Gifts Ungiven.

The next Empress... 
With that said, I have revamped the list with a permanent inclusion of Empyrial Archangel. That card is a definite game changers whenever they appear. They hoses aggro decks and actually shut down some midrange decks. 8 redirected damage meant that I have 8 extra life. It's a huge thing for aggro decks to deal with and it mean re-stabilizing the board!

Originally, I planned to play 2 pieces of Empyrial Archangel. But, I decided to cut it down to 1 piece. She is still strong though. Just that not applicable to have 2 pieces. 

Enablers / Consistency

I want to play a game...

As mentioned, my deck runs reanimator as the core engine, I've maxed out all the reanimator enablers to increase consistency. The idea is that so long as I am able to hit the pieces and reanimate, I'm half-done with my game plan. Now it's really up to how my opponent react. If he or she can't, the game will end really quickly. Otherwise, it's an escaping chance. Yea, now that I think about it, the deck is like SAW...
Furthermore, I also made changes in the number of enablers. Initially, I intended to max out all the 3 types of enablers, but it ended up getting more of a wasted slot; the cards ended up thrown out more than its used as a filter. Hence, I had to cut down some enablers to make space for other options like disruption or cheaper drops to minimize the cost of the mana curve.

Now more updates to make the game plan even more torturous...

To update here, 3x Gifts Ungiven was added formally as a combined strategy of a gifts package + Ally reanimator. That is the biggest change so far to date. It really changes the deck strategies, giving it a new angle to approach the meta and match-ups.

The Weakest Link
A few games saw myself in the need to disrupt. This will work well against other combo decks. Because I am running more of disruption to remove their grave hates, I think that disrupting their hands gave more options and reason to than just run Pithing Needle. 5 pieces of disruption is now in the 75 to make this as an alternative turn 1 game plan.
I feel that after a few games with my friend's rouge decks prior to tuning to this list, the choice of playing 3 duress was great to know what is coming up next, but 3 pieces wasn't enough for game 2. Luckily, I found 2 Inquisition of Kozilek lying in a pile and I promptly added those into the deck.

The number will change to 4+1 pieces of Inquisition of Kozilek / Thoughtseize / Duress; any number in that combination will work out. 
The mainboard also now consists of some removals and disruption to help stall early game or mid-games if required. 


The Tactical Advantage (maybe...)
Sideboard went through a lot of testing and planning before coming up with this list. It will still change according to meta. Slaughter Games is a very powerful card as a sideboard piece and have earned a permanent slot to combat the new combo-based meta of Twin, Scapeshift, Tron, etc..
Iona, Shield of Emeria and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite still are the Big 2 in my sideboard and they have proven in certain match-ups that they are effective.

They are moved to the mainboard. They are proven to be extremely powerful to the new meta and can effectively be used to hose certain strategies.

As mentioned, the 2 Inquisition of Kozilek made it into the deck. Sowing Salt, Stony Silence and Pithing Needle are included into the Sideboard for specific deck-type hates. Sideboard requires a bit more rework to properly compliment the deck. I haven't thought of a proper SB list for the new "iteration" of the deck.

Lastly, in-lieu with the grave-hate running around in the decks, I decided to try out Quicksilver Amulet as a back-up piece to pull out threats. While this will be significantly weaker, it still gets the job done. Especially if this lands Iona, Shield of Emeria,  Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite or Empyrial Archangel. the threat level is devastating enough.

Pointers for this week;

I'm not going to post my gameplay review. I'll revamp that portion to give a better review in future. At the moment now, I'll run through a couple of pointers which I have learnt during the game.

• Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite is best against creature decks which has low P/T. They may swarm the board, but still lose to the -2/-2 debuff. She is very susceptible to removal, so some form of protection will be needed to make sure she survives.
• Iona, Shield of Emeria is best against control decks and interactive decks! This was the important lesson I have learn from my game that I would want to go into details. But, to save all that, TL;DR: She can stop Abzan decks by naming "Black". Note to self: 7/7 flyer clock that stops Siege Rhino is the Way to go! She is also very powerful against mono-coloured and spell-based decks!
• Empyrial Archangel is best against singleton beaters like boggles or against burn decks. She herself is a "tank" which supports you with a pseudo 8-life gain. The synergy with Makeshift Mannequin is enough to tilt opponents if they are unprepared.
• Other fatties I would consider would go with Stormtide Leviathan and Inkwell Leviathan. Testing is required to affirm this. At the moment now, these will go into the sideboard, rather than replacing anything in the mainboard.
• Sideboard requires rework against meta-hate. However, I may consider reworking the sideboard for more removals / disruptions in game 2. I may consider abusing Gifts package to improve my deck consistency. 

Fate Reforged Modern Pro Tour: Post-Week Discussion

So I'm sure that most of you have watched the Fate Reforged Pro Tour last week. Yes, apologies that this took longer than other websites / blogs doing coverage. I'm doing this at my own free time, so please understand. Also, it gives me some time to think through how I really want to cover that makes the article slightly different.

Alright, since many sites have covered the Pro Tour well in-depth and what's more for me to say? Going through the decks and how they perform is going to be a bore, and I can't talk much about the finance sector. The prices have long gone up as according to the decks that have performed! Breakout decks? I think this is the worst topic to talk on... We know the top 8 decks already!

Wait, there is still things we can discuss. Even at this late period, I have 3 main points to discuss that will definitely still be a good input to the already heavily discussed topic.

• Abzan is NOT the definitive deck for Modern Format in early 2015

Guess which is the definitive deck for Modern Format? Abzan? No. You heard me right. In my opinion, Abzan wasn't the definitive deck for Modern format for 2015. It was Izzet Delver. That deck alone punished the format with efficient creatures and powerful draw engine to fuel the game till the end. The deck has perfect balance in the powerful 1-drops and removals / cantrips to fuel the deck. Plus, it was cheap to boot! 

It was so strong that 1) yes, it saw the banning of Treasure Cruise, and 2) it took down several major events before the banning. Pod and Scapeshift decks managed adapt quickly and they have a share of the spotlight for awhile until the bannings. In the sense, the deck that defined the Modern format in early 2015 was not Abzan. 

Another reason being is that by stats, if we have 30% of the people playing the same deck in the PT, it has higher odds, and is bound to have that deck in the top 16 and eventually, the top 8. Now hear me out,  I'm not discrediting the deck or the players who played them. I agree it is a strong deck and I went 2-1 in a local Modern event deck with an Abzan midrange variant. (could have been 3-0 if it hadn't been for a stupid mistake that cost me the game!) So look again, it's a popular deck. Abzan Midrange is positioned perfectly to take advantage of the meta and hence, it is stomping around the format. But, to my point here, this does not make it the definitive deck. It didn't define the format as much as how Izzet Delver did. 

Okay, if you are going to retort my point with Izzet Delver being killed off due to the banning of Treasure Cruise, I have a counter for you. (pun intended)

Prepare for trouble! Make that doubleeee... infinity!

If we based on Pro Tour Fate Reforged and the currently legal decks, Twin Exarch will be the definitive Modern deck for early 2015! Don't agree with me? I have 3 reasons:

1. Twin Exarch's Combo/Control game-plan is solid. The deck can run control until it combos off or just go straight for the set up and win the game. In essence, it has a good primary and secondary back-up plan.
2. While it is not particularly stable, Twin Exarch defines the pace of the game. It sets the game pace before it's being played out. Look back at the games in the top 8/16 on how the players sets the tempo of the game. They basically are the ones controlling the game pace most of the time and the opponents are playing by their pace.
   What it means is that Aggro decks must kill them off before turn 4 or their combo, or find ways to completely stop their combos before they can safely secure the win. 
3. Even without the bannings, Twin Exarch held out well in previous PTs and GPs, with at least one piloting the deck finishing Top 16!

So my point, be thankful that UR Delver is relegated. But, then again, Abzan and their Siege Rhinos...

• Control Archetype in Modern dead.

Hyper aggro decks like Infect and RDW are gaining favour in the new meta and honestly, it's a blast watching these extremely fast decks take down their opponents at such speed! It's like a high DPS character in a game, swinging in for a lot of damage over time, but each hit is relatively light. 

It is interesting to see that how these decks made their breakout in the recent Pro Tour, taking most in relative surprise. I mean these decks are usually seen, but they are easily disregarded as "fragile" or "easily lose steam in late game", so in most of our games, we normally would ignore these decks in the match-up considerations. In some cases, they can actually be fodder decks for easy wins. 

It seems that this time round, the surprise comes from the fact that people didn't expect that many playing such decks and true enough, Burn and Infect decks took 11.8% and 6.9% of the Meta! To give you a perspective, Abzan, the most played and seen deck in the meta, took up 28.3% of the meta. Burn and Infect decks is 2nd and 4th on the list!

Actually, the breakdown can be seen as shown in the link below:  

http://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/ptfrf/modern-metagame-breakdown

In the same article, we notice that the control variants are somewhat... missing from the top 10 archetypes...

So, is control archetype dead in Modern? It would seem that way if we do the stats break down and compare; roughly 4% of the entire meta is pure Control decks. That's... really, really little considering that it's an entire archetype. If that's the case the entire meta is certainly dominated by Aggro and Combo decks and yes, Wizards more or less got what they want. (my point precisely as stated in an earlier article here, and here!) 

I wanted to go in-depth on how the decks are still viable, but the lack of experience in piloting these decks prevented me to give a fair and detailed discussion on how they actually can survive the new meta and what changes are possible as adaptation. Well, that can be discussed another time, preferably in collaboration with a more experienced player in that archetype. But, right for now, I would want to just focus on the fact that the lack of presence of a major archetype.

So, why is this an important point to note? In simple short, disappearance of an entire archetype can mean 2 things:

• Modern may not be feasible for pure-control players
• 2 dominating archetypes means that the core multi-format, multi-deck staples of these decks will be extremely expensive to buy-in

To keep the discussion brief, this means that control archetype lovers will find a hard time finding a 

deck variant they like. Sure, we have Twin, mono-blue Tron and to an extend, Jeskai Midrange. But, ignoring those options as they are not exactly control decks by default and looking at just strictly control archetypes like Gifts control, Cruel Control, Azorious Control, etc. Jeskai Control and Jeskai Midrange decks are very similar to an extend, so I'll leave it out. We actually don't really see them much in play as these decks are either out-paced, too slow or just didn't have the proper consistency as means of a good draw / dig engine to fuel their hand. (Yes, Dig Through Time, I'm looking at you...)

Taking into account that with the lack of a good fixer for consistency issue and their utility is running obsolete to the new meta, the decks will eventually run out of good cards to deal with the meta. For instance, Siege Rhino escapes bolt range, cannot be Doom bladed, and the format have very little efficient removals other than Path to Exile. So if I don't play white in my control deck, what other options I have that is just as efficient? Sac effects works, but unreliable; Counter spells, which are the main trademark of these deck archetypes are not exactly as reliable in various scenarios; Mana Leak is near-useless in late game, Cryptic Command is mana-intensive, but extremely powerful, Spell Snare cannot hit anything other than cmc 2... you get the point. 

That means then the default option for spike players, who just want to win games will eventually settle into the remaining 2 archetypes and well, economics takes over. Supply and Demand issues and we see prices go up for the staples. So basically this may eventually lead to a higher price buy-in for newer players or players who want to make a new deck. 

Wizards did mention they want this format to be dominated by creatures and clearly, this is achieved as seen in the meta breakdown. But, don't expect the meta to stay this way. In my opinion, the meta is still new, and there are still new expansion sets coming out in the months, so brace yourself...

• Brace yourself... Summer is coming

Move along.. This Giant is taking the house down!

I remember when I first fought the deck, I literally went WTF. I could neither deal a turn 3 Primeval Titan threat, nor the Hive Mind combo simultaneously. I will go as far as to admit that I did mention this deck was rather nonsense in its own way, but strong if the deck fixed its consistency. My friend did fix it eventually. Disclaimer, I first fought this deck 1 year ago. So the mindset then and now is different. After the recent banning and eventually to the Pro Tour, I have a new-found respect to the deck, considering the level of difficulty to pilot it and the versatility on how they deck is played against various match-ups. It really will take some time on the learning curve before you know what you are doing.

No, it's not because of the hype that got me interested in the deck. That deck has been in my target of emerging decks since the first time I played against it. Its combo plan is simple, yet effective and considering the difficulty in stopping the deck effectively, it is just a matter of time before this deck emerged out to be tier 1. 

It would take awhile and a few more results before we can actually tell whether this deck is good enough to earn the spot it is currently at now; my best bet is to be prepared for this deck. It doesn't have much hate against it to shut down completely other than Blood Moon and maybe Root Maze. It is capable of churning out turns 2, 3 or 4 kill if left unprepared or when your guard is down. Turn 1 wins with Hive mind combo is also possible, with that requiring the perfect hand. Finally, the deck has a variety of options to go about pulling the combo. It is consistent enough with its tutors and land ramps, effectively thinning out the deck for easier good top-deck draws, making late games more effective in winning through their combos.

Consider yourselves warned. Summer is Coming.

Actually, this gives me a new sense of hope that even though we can complain how that the meta is dominated by 2 of the 3 major archetypes or we hate Siege Rhinos, it goes to show that the case of the "survival of the fittest" law really holds well here. How a deck or archetype in general adapts and grow from the changes really makes a world of difference in how they can survive different meta. Birthing Pod was banned because they are too versatile and consistent in finding the right tool for the job. It's similar to the reason why Green Sun's Zenith was banned. So yea, survival of the fittest works well to the most extend, but getting to overpowered and you'll be Nerf-ed. So hang in there control players and other tier 2 / 2.5 deck fans! your time in the sun will come soon! With the right card and time, it will be your turn eventually!

Alright, that's all I have for now. Leave comments below or email me if you agree / disagree with my discussions and whether I should give a more detailed discussion on the above points mentioned. I would love to hear your opinions on the new meta and really, it's interesting to see how the shift in meta can affect so many decks!

I'm in the midst of preparing to celebrate the Chinese New Year, so the next article will be out after the festive period!

Abandoned....

You know the issue with people, in general, is that we tend to start off something, then ended up giving up halfway and we start again something. So basically, we end up with a lot of things started, but nothing finished.

So, in a review for 2014, I have decided to look through all the past attempted projects I have toyed around with and give a comprehensive breakdown on whether the project has been abandoned, why I chose to abandon it and what I did with the cards in the collection or project.

• Project: Zer0 Rare Trading {Still on going!}

This project is the reason why I started actively trading and going around places. It is also because of this project that I started out this blog and also, with credit to this project, eventually opened doors to overseas trading platforms like PucaTrade and Deckbox.org!

Though for the past couple of months, I haven't been active locally. So, I'll probably get back into that once I have fully sorted out my inventory of cards. At the moment now, I'm doing the same trade rates, $0.125 / $0.18 per bulk rare. $0.18 is because I view trades as ideally non-cash transactions, so In fact, I will not lose or earn anything if I go through the trades and bulk as an when. But, non-ideally or realistically, it is a loss if we look at face value if I don't bulk it at equivalent rate. Let's face it; no way I am able to find someone giving me that rate.

But, it's not just there to lose money for fun. Most of the cards in the project are mostly bulk rares themselves or a max cap at $2 rares / mythics. In that way, I can still move them easily to casual players and yes, get more bulk rare to put into the bin as a recycle or just bulk them out for staples. As of writing, I've more or less established the binders and boxes for the respective trades. However, I am unable to bring boxes into shops without drawing attention and against most LGS' regulations, it's not really nice to bring boxes for people to pick from it in front of the store. Hence, I have gradually stopped bringing them to shops. 

On the other hand, since I am not doing it offline, The stocks I made and posted online have to be accurate. Well, that will be an issue. I have sorted out the rares in the binders, but haven't had the time to sort and update the bulk rare boxes accordingly. 

Nevertheless, this project will still be around for the next couple of months at least. So that closes the case for this.

• Modern & EDH accumulation Library Project {Abandoned!}

This was one the big ideas I had when I am playing the 2 formats. The thing is that this was ended up being more of a show-off rather than having any practical uses. I still have them in the separate binders, but I decided to move them out for sale instead of building an arsenal. It doesn't make sense to hoard cards especially after the lesson learnt post Modern Banning, it just shows how volatile the Modern format is.

EDH is more stable, but it's a one-hit or miss kind of things. Honestly, I would personally invest in EDH staples, which are akin to both Modern and Legacy staples but, I have very limited budget and I cannot afford to hoard up cards without practical use or investment value.

• Foil Planeswalkers Collection {Hiatus....}

Initially, this was the ultimate end point for my Project: Zer0... As I first started the blog, my intention was to cover my entire trading journey and experiences to acquire these foils. However, as time passed, the trades were not fast enough to sufficiently reach any targets. I still managed to get a couple, but not really as easy as thought it will be. Also, some of them were bought. I mean like the prices of JTMS and Liliana? They are going to kill my wallet and push me into debt by a few years if based on my allowances! This project is put on hold and the future of it is really uncertain. The only reason is that as the expansions keep coming out, there is no way that I can keep up without doing a mass buy at one shot. The thing is this; the project has no firm boundary. Where do I stop exactly? Do I stop at just the regular foils or do I collect the SDCC promos? Speaking of promos... Is "Book Jace" count into the collection? 

Also, what about Alternate Arts? Like the Duel Deck versions and again, the promo foils given out at GP and PTs? Lastly, do I want singleton copies or multiple copies of these Planeswalkers? The project requires a firm establishment of the boundary I wish to set when collecting them before I continue working on this. I may eventually stop this. However, at the current state of things, I'm not too sure about whether I want to continue this as the end point of Project: Zer0.

• Foil God Collection {Abandoned!}

I managed to only acquire the Theros Expansion ones. The idea was to collect a single copy of all the Gods printed in the entire expansion series as the chances of them seeing a reprint is very low and the appeal to casual and EDH fanatics will definitely be a viable keep. 

However, the collection is nearly not worth keeping unless I have all 15 Gods plus the 5 weapons. It is then the collection will be complete. In comparison to the foil Planeswalker collection, this series is definitely much easier to complete. However, in comparison, the appeal is only specific to only a few of the Gods, naming Purphoros, God of the Forge and Thassa, God of the Sea in the Theros Expansion. The other Gods like Keranos, God of storm that see constructed play will definitely have their appeal. 

So what about the rest? I can keep them for long time, but they are going to rot there and do nothing for me if by then, the demand left in any of them had run out. In the 1 year span of holding, the price difference from the time I purchased them till the point I traded them out was -$26 difference. I would see the returns if I held them out longer, but then the next question will be, will it be worth it? The thing is this; if I were to buy a card and hold it out, it either has no play value to me, but will see a potential increase in the price due to demand / supply. Or, I buy a card for its play value and I maximize my reasoning for expenditure due to the playability of the card to me. For me, the planeswalkers will see more play in my decks over the Gods. Hence, this project saw the bin.

I have to admit that it was another brash attempt to do something with money. Really, money can really drive a person crazy and for this case, I wanted to invest the money I had with foils. Only that I didn't really know what I want to do with it until about a year later... Foil cards do have a rather stable price trajectory as they can hold the prices quite well. In comparison to the non-foil counterparts, the prices is considered to be held out quite well already. 

• Foiling my EDH Deck {in Progress...}

Yes, this is the move I decided to jump into mid of last year while I was doing the organisation and restructuring of the trades. I decided to foil out my EDH deck. Note that it's only 1 deck, so it's not as if it's going to be a multiple attempt under this project.

Firstly. a full disclosure is needed that while I do some trades to acquire some of the cards, I am using cash to buy most of the cards here. So if you are wondering if this is the definite end point for Project: Zer0, the answer is no. This is just something I wanted to do for awhile when I am building my EDH deck. To me, the format in general is considered casual; hence, the banned list is not as volatile as we know in Modern and Legacy. 

Hence, it is very safe to buy in the staples for the format in foils and not worry about it being banned. Also, some if not most are multi-format staples. They are either found played in Legacy or in Modern formats. Even if they are not found in eternal formats, the casual appeal and demand of those cards as staples in any EDH decks is enough to keep these cards holding their prices.

So what goes? What is next for me? At the moment now, I'm working on building a new modern deck on budget and I am around 80% completed. I hope to finish that first before deciding what to do with the other pieces. Right now, I'm actively trading out cards that I do not need for the relevant pieces.

In addition, I'm moving out moving common and uncommon EDH staples for bulk rare. No point for me to hold on to them unless they are foils or are in need. I rather use the bulk rares as alternative currency for my trading or bulking them out for multi-format staples.

I did mention this before when I discussed about the issues of parking investments in Modern format. It's too volatile to guarantee any returns, especially if it is at risk of seeing being banned. Hence, it's much safer to acquire staples that are used throughout the format or across different format.

For reference, I tend to use Eternal formats like Modern and Legacy, and Casual formats like EDH to gauge. Standard format is too short to see any long-term holding. They spike for when they are in season and upon rotation, the cards will definitely dip before any chance of recovery.

These staples used definitely will be a higher priced to buy in, but it's definitely more solid plan if we consider the risks and time involved. In the end, the staples will definitely be used to be played, so even if they do dip a little in the prices, I can still justify the buy-in to be played with. At least it gives the full money worth of why I am buying those staples at such high prices.

While I am in for buying multi-format staples, eventually it only makes sense if I were to either use them, trade out or sell them for profit. The lesson I have learnt over the year is that profiting from Magic: the Gathering is almost never there. Unless you are a solid speculator and have the capital and means to move cards, you won't really see a good sum of profit to justify your time and effort spent researching and collating data. In the end, the very thing that we want to do is to minimize our expenditure in this expensive hobby.

So as a wrap up, I abandoned some of the projects I had as it was rather impractical to have them running with such low budget. I don't have the means to either complete them or that even if I do complete them, does the money spent make sense to justify my action of acquiring or keeping them? For instance, it makes more sense to hold the foil planeswalkers over the foil Gods as I would use the prior over the latter in my casual decks, and it is easier for me to move foil planeswalkers than Gods.

In the end, it does matter in where and how I spend the money to improve my collection. I think it's a well-known fact that quality is definitely over quantity. It's easier to manage quality trades than having to lug around so many binders and doing only a few dollars for that day. Also, expanding my collection is one thing, but I have to consider my role in the game. Do I want to collect just for the sake of collecting? Or do I collect to play and have them as a reserve? To what extend that I want to hold them and how long I want to hold these cards?

I don't expect myself to make the "right" decisions all the time, but as long as I can justify why I am buying something or making that trade, it's definitely better than jumping into a project that is going to cost me a bomb just because it's an act of impulse.