Last week's article was met with resounding praise and though the angel on my shoulder is telling me to say thank you, instead I am going to say, whatever dudes. All I did was add some numbers and spell the trades out for you people and somehow this makes me a genius. You guys are way too easy to impress! Freakin-A people! It's nice to get that off my chest. It feels good to belittle my readers in public; there is a strange sensation of power that comes with it.

But really, thanks for helping me keep on track guys, keep the feedback coming.

I went to a PTQ in Columbus last weekend. Have you ever been to a party where there is like one hot chick and twenty five dudes all trying to hook-it-up? That's what the trade scene was like at this PTQ, except minus the hot chick. This didn't really surprise me because trading at PTQs usually sucks. Let me clue you in on a little secret. Each type of event has a predefined EV. Check it out.

Gen Con: I hear that this is the highest EV event. There is a wide spectrum of people who goto Gen Con, including collectors, causal players and tournament players. I don't know how good the trading is because I have never been to Gen Con, but I'm going to find out this August. [CoolStuffInc.com will be there with two booths set up! Come by and sell your stuff for cash! -- Trick]

Grand Prixes: These are usually huge with a good mix of player types. It's easy to get solid trades and find some rarities. I would rate this as the second highest event type. You also get to pick up a ton of GP promos, because people value them very low. The logic is, "these things are free why not use them to get something I can use."

Pre-Release: The regional pre-releases are great for trading and even buying. There are a good number of players who only play pre-releases and they will be happy to sell you their cards before they leave. Lots of casual players attent they typically aren't familiar with values nor do they care. This is the best place to gain value, by getting the chase mythics before they skyrocket.

Local Tournaments: This depends on your reputation. If you make a reputation as a go-to guy for trading then you will have people coming to you to make trades. When people come to you it creates opportunity value, meaning you get first dibs on whatever they have. When I walk into a local store, I am literally mobbed by gamers looking to get their trade on. I work hard for this reputation by stocking my binders with what they need and always making something work.

PTQs: This is usually the lowest EV venues. There are many serious tournament players who are not in the market to trade. The serious tournament player is the hardest nut to crack. They always want the best staples and they only trade for what they need, so their binders suck. Their attitude is mostly about doing well in the tournament not making trades with some donk.

Trade 30

Now that you know the ropes for event trading, you can see the predicament that I was in. The day was almost over and the only trade that I had done was with Craig Wescoe, he was also looking to trade but there was no one in sight. I wandered over to a table where there were some binders out. "Are you guys trading?" I asked. "No I just sold stuff to the dealer. So there's nothing left but the bulk that he wouldn't take." This was my opening. I know that the going rate is .10 on bulk rares. I told the guy, you can send that stuff into any big vendor and get .10 a piece for those. He was a little surprised but not in the mood for a chat. I persisted. "If you are looking to get rid of them, I could take them off your hands. I have a couple of good cards like Rafiq. I could give you a good card for your stack of bulk." He handed the stack of bulk to his friend. I handed him the Pack to Power binder. His friend said, "Yep, there's like five bucks in bulk here." He pulled out a Transcendent Master, "How about this?" Scooped up the rares and said, "Done."

I wasn't sure how I did money wise on the trade but I knew that the bulk would give my trade binder some weight and that what I need right now. I need to create opportunity buy trading down for options. So next time someone opens my binder they say, "Hey, I need that!" and that's what happened next.

My (7.49) Transcendent Master 7.49 His (33.36) 2x Capricious Efreet 0.49 2x Charnelhoard Wurm 0.49 Clone 0.75 Cradle of Vitality 0.75 3x Djinn of Wishes 0.49 Djinn of Wishes (Foil) 0.99 2x Enigma Sphinx 0.49 Feral Hydra 0.49 Gargoyle Castle 0.49 Glory of Warfare 0.49 Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer 0.49 Identity Crisis 0.49 Indestructibility 0.75 Keeper of Progenitus 0.49 Knight of New Alara 0.99 Lightning Reaver 0.75 Lightwielder Paladin 0.49

His (cont.) Manabarbs 0.99 Mesa Enchantress 0.59 Might of Oaks 0.49 Mind spring 1.49 2x Mindlock Orb 0.49 Mirror of Fate 0.49 Nightmare 0.49 2x Open the Vaults 1.99 Paleoloth 0.49 Predatory Advantage 0.49 Retaliator Griffin 0.49 Scepter of Fugue 0.49 Scepter of Insight 0.49 4x Scourglass 0.99 Sharding Sphinx 0.59 Skill Borrower 0.49 Spearbreaker Behemoth 0.59 2x Sphinx Summoner 0.99 Vedalken Heretic 0.49 Wargate 0.49 Net: +25.87

Trade 31

I walked over to a table with a bunch of guys who were actually laughing and having a good time. That was a welcome sight after playing against douche bags all day, to be fair all my opponents were not douche bags I just said that for effect. I greeted the table and then sat down to put the rares that I just picked up into the Pack to Power binder. We made small talk and I asked if anyone was trading. I explained that I was trying to trade from a pack up to Power Nine. One of the guys said, "That's really cool. I heard about a guy on the internet doing that." I chuckled to myself, "Yeah that's me. Would you guys mind checking out the binder?" They were surprised to see how my transformative powers changed a Bear Umbra into a trade binder.

I told them about my bulk rare trade that just happened and asked if they had any rares that they valued at .10. People will do what other people do. They assume that if the first person did it then it is ok to do, so they follow the person in front. This is relevant because the guys at this table already seen that someone traded me a stack of rares for one card. This cleared the path for them to do the same. I am not disrespecting these guys, just pointing out that by me showing them that someone else traded me bulk it opened their minds to a possibility that they may not have considered otherwise.

My trade partner was happy to find a card that he needed for EDH, Open the Vaults. He piled up a stack of rares and then went through the binder again. I get the feeling that he wanted to add value since he was giving me so many rares. There was a short talk about Goblin Charbelcher, this is why you need to know your formats. I told him about the deck and reminded him that it's still alive after the legacy banning. He pulled out the Charbelcher and made the offer, I accepted. Here is what the deal looked like.

My (5.98) Open the Vaults 1.99 Goblin Charbelcher 3.99 His (23.69) Agadeem Occultist 0.75 7x Amulet of Vigor 0.75 2x Anowon, the Ruin Sage 0.99 Baneful Omen 0.49 2x Butcher of Malakir 0.75 Crypt of Agadeem 0.49 Gigantomancer 0.49 2x Goliath Sphinx 0.49 Harabaz Druid 1.99 Hellkite Charger 0.49 Lightmine Field 0.75

His (cont.) 2x Magebane Armor 0.49 Mordant Dragon 0.49 Mortician Beetle 0.49 Necromancer's Covenant 0.49 2x Quest for the Nihil Stone 0.59 2x Seer's Sundial 0.49 Selective Memory 0.49 Sphinx-Bone Wand 0.49 2x Stone Idol Trap 0.49 2x Strength of the Tajuru 0.49 Terra Eternal 0.49 Thought Gorger 0.49 Net: +17.71

Trade 32

I started to work my way around the table. Once you trade with one person it's pretty easy to just pass the binder around and trade with their friends. I probably lost money on this trade but I honestly think that a Foil Elvish Visionary is more desirable than an Angel of Despair, with the death of Hypergenesis there is no need for a playset of angels, unless you are some kind of angel collecting freak. I expect the Angel to lose value in the coming months. I was glad to get rid of it.

My (9.99) Angel of Despair 9.99 His (5.48) Elvish Visionary Foil Promo 2.49 Death Cloud 2.99 Net: -4.51

Trade 33

Hey look at me – I'm trading a bulk rare that I just picked up into more bulk rares. This is classic and it happened like three times in this session. This is one of the reasons why I say trade with everyone and trade often. The key is flow of cards. If I could give you a system this is what it would look like:

One of the mistakes that people make when trading is that they don't trade enough. They often try to get value on every trade or only trade for stuff they need. I say forget all that. Everytime that you open someone's trade binder, make something work. The more new cards that you add to your binder then the more opportunity you generate. With a constant stream of cards you have better chances of having what people want. It also keeps your trade binder relevant, because the in-demand cards are constantly changing. If you are cycling lesser demand cards for high demand cards, regardless of the values you are still winning. Here is why, the lower demand cards will lose value and the in demand will gain value and your binder is more relevant so more people will want stuff from you than from the guy who rarely trades. A good example of this is Renegade Doppelganger. There is a standard "dredge" deck that runs Doppelganger and Vengevine. Is the deck good? Who cares, people want to build it. That's why I am picking up Renegade Doppelganger and getting rid of things like Conquers Pledge, even though that might be good real soon. Anyways, back to the trade.

My (.99) Djinn of Wishes Foil .99 His (5.98) Disaster Radius 0.49 2x Gelatinous Genesis 0.49 Gravitational Shift 0.49 Hedron Matrix 0.49 3x Hedron-Field Purists 0.49 2x Hellion Eruption 0.49 Nomads' Assembly 0.59 World at War 0.49 Net: +4.99

Trade 34

Here is another example of card flow. This guy offered me a handful of EDH generals / cards for my Elf. I was a little taken aback by this, but after the trade I realized his motivation. The store owner was pimping his Elf Deck and for some reason really needed this Elvish Visionary. My trade partner took it to him immediately after the trade and got paid for it. Sneaky little guy!

My (2.49) Elvish Visionary Foil Promo 2.49 His (9.94) Intet, the Dreamer .99 Numot, the Devastator .99 Radha, Heir to Keld .99 Momir Vig, Simic Visionary .99 Reya Dawnbringer Foil Promo 3.99 The Rack 1.99 Net: +7.45

Trade 35

This final trade was done when the turbolands deck busted onto the tournament scene. I was lucky enough to have an Oracle of Mul Daya in my Pack to Power binder at the time, and I traded it for a Rofellos and a Promo. The Rofellos took a hit with the recent EDH bannings, but it's still a desirable card.

My (3.49) Oracle of Mul Daya 3.49 His (9.98) Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary 8.49 Pathrazer of Ulamog Foil Promo 1.49 Net: +6.49

Whew! This article was a beast. I hope you enjoyed it. I want to say a couple of things in closing. I have been really bad about trading from Pack to Power on MOTL, if you posted there and I haven't responded, then I am sorry. It's so hard to keep things documented on MOTL, I am still debating if it's worth it at the moment. If you want to make a trade online, feel free to hit me up, if I don't respond - no hard feelings, it just means that I am ignoring you! :)

I also wanted to invite you to come say “Hi” in St. Louis this weekend. I will be there raiding peoples binders as usual. Hope to see you there!