Hey guys, I am back with a quick Pack to Power rules update. It seems that some of the finer points of the Pack to Power quest have stirred up a bit of controversy. I talked to Trick earlier this week about some of the points of contention from twitter and the article comments and we both agree that there need to be points of clarification.

The Tip Card

This bad boy has been major point of contention and understandably so. It seems a bit cheap for me to trade a card that normally has no value for a card that has substantial value. I was hoping that the tip card would be a lesson in speculating and recognizing value. I said from the very beginning that the Tip card would trade high. I knew this because I understand magic players. I know that we have a tendency to embrace the ironic. We also have a strong sense of community. I knew that the opportunity to be ironic and contribute to a "greater cause' would be too irresistible for some. I know that if I was on the outside looking in, I would be down to trade for the tip card. At the end of the day you aren't really trading for the tip card but instead just casting your lot with a fellow magic player on a quest, it's more about the gesture instead of the card or its value.

Unfortunately this tendency to help has brought into question the legitimacy of our project. Everyone wants to believe that someone really could trade from a pack, up to power nine, without any "tricks" or special treatment. I believe that this is possible and I have set out to do just that. It's out of respect for the project that we have decided not to trade the Tip Card during the first phase of this project. To be specific, I will not be trading the Tip Card until I have reached the dollar amount (Based on Cool Stuff Inc.) of the piece of Power Nine that I will be getting. For example if I am shooting for a Mox Pearl, I will not trade the Tip Card until I hit a value of $359.99. This begs another question, what piece of power am I shooting for?

To Twister or Not

The Pack to Power quest has been a bit fluid in its definition; this was to allow for flexibility in uncharted terrain. In an effort to reduce frustration and give the project more direction we have decided to hone the rules a little. We have not decided on which piece of power that I will be shooting for, this will depend on availability and accessibility, but we have decided that it will not be Time Twister. Time Twister is the least valuable of the Power Nine and the easiest to get, so we figured that we would raise the stakes a little and strike it from the list of legal Pack to Power targets. In gameplay terms, Time Twister has been given "Protection Pack to Power." This is a step in the right direction but there are other details we that we have to shape to make this change relevant.

End of the Road

Raising the stakes would not do much if I had an infinite amount of time to acquire the power. For this reason we have decided to end the quest on September 15th, 2010. We had originally been aiming for GP Columbus (July 31st - Aug. 1st). Given life schedules and some rough estimates on trades, as well as some ballpark calculations on values and increased value of trades, we just couldn't see doing it by the Grand Prix without putting the validity of our experiment at risk by relying on generous trades. So we began pushing it back, and as we pushed we realized there was a risk of the end of the Quest could be drowned out by tournament results and other stuff. So Trick set the date at Sept. 15th which is in a lull for Magic, and that's the date I'm aiming for.

TL;DR - Summary

• Tip Card is off the table until the end.
• No Time Twister, we can do better.
• September, 15 2010 will end the Pack to Power quest.
• Trick is Awesome (Just checking if he actually edits these things.) [Left because the statement is not wrong - Trick]

I hope these points of clarification will help people to enjoy this project more. People who know me, know that I don't need to do this, if I wanted power I could just flex my binder to make it happen.

But I am doing this so that you guys (and gals) can have something cool to follow. I am sure that trade junkies like me dig watching the weekly progress and reading about the methods for "growing" a collection. At the moment the trades are pretty tame because I don't have much to work with but as this moves forward I hope that there will be opportunities for teaching and explanation of the individual trades. Feel free to comment on how I am doing with the trade reports.

Alright I will stop flapping my gums and get back to working on your weekly trade report. Have a Rockin Day.