During our discussion on Trading Ethics last week, we briefly touched upon the idea of Timmy, Johnny and Spike traders. Hopefully that article got you thinking about where you fall on that spectrum. This week we'll elaborate on that topic, branching out into the general concept of setting goals. While not necessarily financial in nature, a goal you can imagine, visualize and plan towards is significantly easier than a vague concept you keep in your head.

The easiest way to set a goal - any goal - is to identify something in your life that you're not satisfied with. We'll try to keep this within the scope of Magic for the purposes of this article, but these principles can be applied anywhere that you desire improvement. Since this is a Magic site, and we're all Magic players here, let's talk about what some goals within the game look like.

The most common complaint about Magic as a game is the expense. Chasing down the cards for a deck can be tough, especially if you don't have a huge play group to support you and lend you cards. Many Magic players are younger, perhaps students or fresh out of college, and haven't got a great deal of disposable income. Sounds like a conundrum, and a great starting point to set a goal.

We've identified a problem - Cards are expensive and you don't have a lot of money! There are a few ways to take this. The first direction is to play cheap decks. If you have 20 dollars to spend on cards a month, then figure out what the best deck you can build for 20 dollars looks like. If you're a Spike type player, this will likely drive you insane because you can't build anything for 20 dollars! But if you're more of a casual player, but want to play a good deck at FNM, sit down with one of the Spike types at your store and ask for a little help. Let them know you're on a limited budget and they'll likely be able to help.

An aside - when I was getting back into Magic after a few years off from the game, I had limited funds and almost no cards. I cracked a box of Shards, which was silly because Shards had a really low EV, but I got lucky and opened an Elspeth, Knight-Errant. I did some research online and found that the majority of decks couldn't be built on my budget at that time. Using my knowledge of the game, I drafted up a deck that only used one chase rare - Figure of Destiny. I managed to trade the Elspeth and some other miscellany for my play-set and acquired the other commons and uncommons for it slowly. The deck was just a highly-tuned Mono Red deck using mostly Lorwyn and Shadowmoor cards, but it was cheap to build and ran heinously fast. The "One Chase Rare" is a good rule to use when building a budget deck. Chase rares are expensive for a good reason - they win games. Find a way to afford a playset of the best rare for your deck and reap the rewards.

Back to business, and the 20 dollar budget example. You have another choice besides building that cheap-o deck and getting curb-stomped at FNM. Invest. Don't go out and buy half a share of Microsoft stock - invest in Magic the Gathering. Figure out where your 20 dollars goes the farthest, and put it there. Buying into sleeper cards is risky, but it can pay off in a huge way. Quiet Speculation tries to focus on finding those cards in time for you to buy them, so keep an eye on the site. Had you spent your 20 dollars on 14 Groves of the Burnwillows and shipping last Friday, you could have easily tripled your 20 dollars. All of a sudden, your Magic budget for the month is up closer to 60 or 75 dollars. Re-invest that cash next month, and your budget is in the hundreds. That's enough to build a Tier 1 deck like Boros Bushwhacker, fetch lands and all.

To do all this trading and dealing, you'd have needed a goal in mind. It's fine to trade blindly and make a few bucks on each trade, but when you know that your deck can be bought for 200 dollars cash and you only have 20, you've set a goal. Think of setting a goal like you think of a combo deck. Every action you take needs to be working towards your combo or you won't get there. Thinking about buying a booster pack for 4 dollars? Well, if you do the math and see that the EV of a booster is lower than 4 dollars, and that variance will probably rear its ugly head, it becomes clear that the action of buying a booster pack isn't in line with your goal of "Get 200 Dollars". You have to evaluate each action against your goal, and then evaluate whether the action in question would move you closer or farther away from your goal if repeated to infinity. Obviously, buying infinite boosters does NOT get you closer to 200 dollars, nor does it really even give you enough trade fodder to reach that goal, since the EV of a Zendikar pack is somewhere in the 3.50 range. Repeat that to infinity and you will be broke. If you start buying buy the box, or the case, where the cost of a pack is well below the 3.50 EV, then you might have a strategy forming.

Magic players are, if anything, obsessive personalities. How else can we spend entire weekends in foreign cities with strangers in windowless rooms playing cards and spending money? Use this to your advantage. The human brain is a powerful tool. Give your brain the kick-start it needs by keeping constant reminders of your goal around you at all times. If your goal is to build Boros Bushwhacker, proxy it up with full color print-outs and play it a lot. Keep a copy of the deck list open in Notepad on your computer and just look it over and think about tweaking it. Read articles about it from other players. This will keep your mind thinking "Oh man, look at all this Bushwhacker stuff! I better get on board and get this deck built!" You'll be amazed how quickly you meet that goal. This is true for any goal, Magic or not. If you want to lose weight and get in great shape, print out some pictures of other people who have done so and stick them to your bathroom mirror. If you're trying to meet women, print out pictures of pretty girls and tape them above your dresser so they're staring at you when you get ready in the morning. Seems a little strange, and your room mates might wonder why "Ahhnold" circa 1975 is posing above the toilet, but it will make a significant difference in the way your brain subconsciously attacks its goals.

Discussions about goals and improvement often drift metaphysical, so when you start getting paralyzed by analysis, don't fret. Take a break from planning and strategizing and GO DO SOMETHING ELSE totally unrelated. That will give your brain time to decompress and work some stuff out. The mind will subconsciously solve problems when you're actively thinking about something else, so don't fret if you can't crack an issue right off the bat.

Whether your goal is to be the best player at the kitchen table, make a living selling cards, or to qualify for the Pro Tour, the path will be the same. It is said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, but it truly begins at the destination. After all, how will you know which way to begin walking if you don't know where you're headed?