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Pack to Power - Trades 74 - 82

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When we left our hero, he was discouraged at the end of day one of GP Columbus. I had just been knocked out of contention in round 8 of 9 and the reality that I wasted, what could have been a great day of trading, was spinning at the top of my mind like a lawn mower cutting into my brain. I am not one to dwell on misplays, so I put it behind me and got some sleep for day two. I woke up after my four hours nap. I trudged through my morning routine but was tempted to go back to bed. The struggle was fierce but when I thought about sleeping, I thought about you guys and the need for a good day two at the GP. I kissed my wife goodbye and I was on the road again.

Once I arrived at the site, I felt like one of the Commando from Contra. Instead of a backpack full of napalm and a bandana, I had a backpack full of cards and a dream. I walked through the door and envisioned my commander saying, "Keep your eyes peeled solider." I spotted a binder on a nearby table. I made my approach then sat down and set up base camp.

Trades

Trade 74

Going into GP Columbus I was worried about my Mind Over Matter acquisitions. Aluren was being touted as the combo deck of choice and poor Mind over Matter was losing its position in the market. By Sunday morning I was sure that Mind Over Matter would not see the price jump that I had hoped it would. It was time to dump them and fast. My first trade of the day helped me do just that.

"Hey bro, wanna trade?" He looked over at me and said, "Yeah, I was bored, so my friends filled this binder with crap for me to trade." I was pretty excited about this, because he wasn't even trading his cards; it was just garbage to him. We chatted about what formats he played, I always ask this question to help me make suggestions during the trade. He wanted to build an EDH deck, so we talked about generals. I really wanted him to pick a blue one so I could sell him on the Mind Over Matter combo for the deck, he decided on Zur, the Enchanter (cha-ching). I said, "If you are going to run Zur, you've got to run Mind Over Matter + Temple Bell! It mills the table and you can use Emrakul to rebuy your library." His eyes lit up. I valued the Mind Over Matter at $10 and this kicked off the trade. I was doing great until he pulled the Watery Grave. I had a tough time trading the Grave because I was trying to pick up a full set of shock lands but he was taking the Mind Over Matter at $10 and I didn't want to endanger the trade. To sweeten the deal he added the loot card but since I said that I got it for free earlier in the conversation, he only valued it at $1.

Pack to Power - Trade 74 - Pic 1

Pack to Power - Trade 74 - Pic 2

My (33.45)

Mind Over Matter 3.49

Watery Grave 12.99

Voltaic Key .99

Eldrazi Temple 5.99

Papa Hummel's Old-Fashioned Pet Biscuit 9.99

His (26.68)

Faerie Conclave Foil Promo 3.49

Wilt-Leaf Liege 5.99

Worldly Tutor 3.49

Shriekmaw .75

Mind Stone Foil Promo 1.49

Vinelasher Kudzu Signed 1.25

Body Double Signed .75

Memory Lapse Foil Promo 1.75

Swamp Foil Promo 2.49

Oros, the Avenger Foil Promo 1.99

Burrenton Forge-Tender Japanese 1.50

Kird Ape 1.25

Magus of the Tabernacle .49

Net: -6.77

Trade 75

I am glad that I protected the previous trade, because after hearing about the Mind Over Matter combo my trade partner's friend wanted one for his EDH deck too. He was happy to trade for it at $10. He also wanted the Knight Exemplar which at the time was trading for around $7. I made the trade work so that I could ship the Mind over Matter at $10. Usually I don't take so many basic lands in a trade, but part of the trading is building an atmosphere.

When you are dealing with casual players you have to allow the casual player in you shine through. I saw the forest and said, "I love John Avon art and these Forest look awesome! Are they for trade?" For a Spike type player, cool looking forest and artwork are usually low priority at the trade table. It's refreshing for your casual trade partner to deal with someone who trades on impulse and it encourages them to do the same. The other thing that you should notice is that I asked, "Is this for trade?"- It's a freakin' forest, of course it's for trade, but if you ask if it's for trade then it skews the value system that the trade is based on. By asking if it's for trade I am assigning an unseen value to it. It's the equivalent of saying, "Dude, are you sure you don't want to keep this awesome card for yourself?!"

The interesting thing is that in this scenario, I am telling you to add value to your trade partner's cards not to devalue them. If you use rigid dollar amounts then it's easy to get into a fight over values. You call it $3 and maybe he has seen it for $2, then you fight over a dollar bill like two bums in a NY subway. If you are trading based on impulse and personal preference then the value system moves from pricing to how cool you think a card is. This invites your trade partner to do the same and allows you to gain value. This technique works best with casual players; it's how you get the trades like your Mortician Beetle for his Vengevine.

Pack to Power - Trade 75My (10.98)

Mind Over Matter 3.49

Knight Exemplar 7.49

His (19.03)

Linvala, Keeper of Silence 7.99

Aura Shards 1.99

Forest Foil Invasion .59

Forest Foil 10th .59

2x Forest Unhinged 1.99

Burst Lightning Textless 2.99

Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro Foil .99

Net: +8.05

Trade 76

After swapping cards with a couple of casual guys, I ran into someone who was trading for value. There I was, bum number one, rolling around on the subway floor, battling with this guy for quarters. This is one of those trades where I would usually just say, "It doesn't look like we are going to make a deal. Sorry dude." It's people like this who hinder you when you are trading for profit. Even if you do get value on this guy it's going to be .50 after working on the trade for twenty minutes. In real life you should politely excuse yourself from these types of trades. Since it was for Pact to Power I had to try to make something work. I took a Foil Natuko Shade, hoping to flip it for $10 to $15. I add the Foil Vendetta because I was annoyed with the guy and I wanted to have the last laugh. Ha ha ha!

You might ask why I just didn't close the binder and move on if that's what I would have done in real life. Closing the binder is never a good thing. You should always be inviting even if it means you lose a little value. You will gain it in volume.

Pack to Power - Trade 76My (11.46)

Tectonic Edge .99

Glacial Fortress 5.99

Swamp Foil Promo 2.49

Runed Halo 1.99

His (6.98)

Nantuko Shade Foil 5.99

Vendetta Foil .99

Net: -4.48

Trade 77

In this trade, I moved those Foil Explores that I picked up at the beginning of the weekend. Thank you Turbo Lands! The guy spotted the foil Explore when he was passing by. He said, "Whose trade binder is that?" I said, "It's mine, did you need something?" He said, "Yeah, I want the Foil Explore." I responded, "Oh, I have three of those. Let's work something out after this trade." I told him that I had three to give him incentive to stick around while I traded.

He sat down after my trade and asked, "What do you value the Explores at? I don't want to trade high for them." I said, "They are foil commons, how high do you expect me to value them?" He laughed and said, "Well, I didn't want to pay like $5 on them." This gave me a number to work with. "Five dollars for an in-print foil common?! I was thinking like $2 or $3 each, maybe $8 for all three." He nodded, "That sounds good."

He valued Day of Judgment at $7 I was ok with this since I was trading him $3 in foils. Typically Day of Judgment is worth about $3, but this one was Japanese. For a playable card like DOJ you can typically get a small premium for Japanese maybe a dollar or two. If it is a Legacy or Vintage playable card then you can get more. I needed a dollar more to top off the trade so I pulled out a Korean Wall of Blossoms. I said, "How about this? It's good for EDH." He hesitated then picked up my binder and started flipping through it. "How about I add a Death Cloud?" I picked up his binder and flipped through it, I needed something worth less than a Death Cloud, "How about I add this Journey to Nowhere." He thought for a second and then we had a deal.

Before I jump the next trade I wanted to give you a quick pro-tip. If you have the chance, pick up Korean cards. Korean collectors will bend over backwards to get them and they usually don't cost you much to pick up. You will see in future dealings that I ended up trading that Wall of Blossoms for between $7 and $8!

Pack to Power - Trade 77My (5.46)

3x Explore Foil .99

Death Cloud 2.49

His (8.47)

Wall of Blossoms Korean 1.99

Day of Judgment Japanese 5.49

Journey to Nowhere Foil .99

Net: +3.01

Table 78

Man I love getting dealer leftovers! The best time to trade with someone is right after a dealer has ravaged their binder. The pages are pretty empty; all that's left is some rares that they thought were worth more than the bulk rate that the dealer offered. I asked a guy walking by if he wanted to trade. He said, "Just got done with the dealer, there's nothing left." I said, "Like nothing at all or just crap, because I will take anything. I am just trying to fill up my binder." He walked over and showed me the binder. I told him that there was plenty and I handed him my binder.

He said, "How about this? I will give you a deal on rares if you trade me a good card." I said, "Like what kind of deal?" He said, "Like a quarter for rares." I agreed and started shopping. Some of the rares he wanted .50 and some $1 but none of the things that I got in the trade were valued at more than $1. My shopping spree cost me a Noble Hierarch and an Iona. I was a little bummed to see them go but the deal was just too good to pass up!

Pack to Power - Trade 78 - Pic 1

Pack to Power - Trade 78 - Pic 2

My (30.47)

Iona, Shield of Emeria 9.99

Noble Hierarch 12.99

Gaea's Revenge 7.49

His (65.39)

7x Sphinx of Lost Truths .49

2x Sphinx of Jwar Isle 1.99

2x Terastodon .75

2x Conflux .99

Future Sight 1.49

Cloudthresher French 1.25

Island Unglued 1.99

3x Forest Unglued 1.99

Mountain Unglued 1.99

Plains Unglued 1.99

3x Magus of the Tabernacle .49

Wrath of God Chinese 9.99

3x Emeria, the Sky Ruin 2.49

Loxodon Warhammer Foil 4.99

2x Hive Mind .49

2x Body Double .75

Renegade Doppelganger .49

Loxodon Warhammer 1.99

3x Time Sieve .99

Quirion Ranger Korean .99

Cloudthresher 1.25

Shadowmage Infiltrator 2.49

Ghost Council of Orzhova 1.25

Taurean Mauler 1.99

Net: +34.92

Trade 79

His friend said, "I will do the same thing." He had less but I was game to get more cards. Once I looked in his binder, I abandonded the bulk plan to try and pick up these three cheat-me-into-play creatures, Iona, Shield of Emeria, Inkwell Leviathan and Progenitus. This was a perfect complement to the trade before because it basically restocked my binder with cards that have the same foot print as the cards that I traded in the previous trade. The Iona replaced the one that I traded and the Progenitus is pretty close to Noble Hierarch in terms of trading. I topped off the trade with some bulk rares when he added a Textless Harrow.

Trade 80

Never underestimate the power of Unhinged lands! I traded the two forests that I picked up earlier in the day for two promising foils. The reason that I traded for foils is that even though people like the Unhinged lands, unless they are foil people don't want to trade "substance" cards for them. They feel much better about the trade if they get to trade "crap" for the lands. I picked up the Realm Razor because it started to show up in the Naya Fauna Shaman deck, it's also in the SB of Reanimator and 42 Lands. I like Renegade Doppleganger, I think that it has a lot of potential, so I pick them up when I can.

Pack to Power - Trade 80My (3.98)

2x Forest Unhinged 1.99

His (3.48)

Realm Razer Foil 1.99

Renegade Doppelganger Foil 1.49

Net: -0.50

Trade 81

This was one of the last trades of the day. I was too lazy to look up the price on the Contaminations but I knew that it was an EDH card (Contamination with Bitterblossom mana screws everyone) and I was only trading away a couple bucks worth of cards, so I made the trade blind. Let's see how it turned out.

Pack to Power - Trade 81My (3.24)

Earthquake 2.49

Body Double Signed .75

His (15.96)

4x Contamination 3.99

Net: +12.62

Trade 82

After the GP, I went home to find an email in my inbox. It was a friend of mine who picked up a box of cards of Craigslist for $40. It was a mom who was cleaning out her addict. In the box there was a full playset of Wasteland and a set of Arabian Nights City of Brass among other things. One of the "other things" was an unlimited Illusionary Mask. He offered to trade it to me if he could find enough value in the Pack to Power binder. This was perfect timing since I needed to prepare the binder for GenCon and having an Illusionary Mask would be a good addition.

I took all the bulk out of my Pack to Power binder and arranged it by color. I had to use a different binder since my other one was too small to use with this format. Here are the pictures that I sent my buddy so that he could shop the binder - Link.

This is the trade that we agreed on. I will have a picture next week since this trade was via US Mail.

My (102.02)

Burst Lightning Textless 2.99

Crypt Rats Korean 2.99

Vendetta Foil .99

Ajani Goldmane Foil 9.99

Reya Dawnbringer Foil Promo 3.99

Wrath of God Chinese 9.99

Day of Judgment Japanese 5.49

Take Possession Foil 1.99

Oros, the Avenger Foil Promo 1.99

Numot, the Devastator .99

Worldly Tutor 3.49

Rancor 2.49

Iona, Shield of Emeria 9.99

Ob Nixilis, the Fallen 3.49

Contamination 3.99

Inkwell Leviathan 2.99

Ghost Council of Orzhova 1.25

Shadowmage Infiltrator 2.49

Progenitus 8.99

Conflux .99

Lightning Greaves 4.49

Steam Vents 11.99

Wargate .49

Vinelasher Kudzu Signed 1.25

Cloudthresher French 1.25

Journey to Nowhere Foil .99

His (128.97)

Illusionary Mask 99.99

Kird Ape AN 5.99

Singing Tree AN 22.99

Net: +26.95

I was happy that he wasn't going easy on me and that he was making me work for my Pack to Power. I traded one of my two shocklands which leaves me with one shockland toward the awesome trade that I have waiting. My strategy is to still try to make this shock land trade work and I have a full four days at GenCon to work on it. I asked my buddy to ship the Mask to the hotel that I would be staying at, I wanted to have it for GenCon since that would be my finally push to get as close as I can to Power. All in all I was quite disappointed with my performance at the GP but I was excited to see the opportunities that the Illusionary Mask would open up. Next week see how GenCon went and including a pretty big obstacle that developed over the course of a couple of days. Thanks for reading! See you next week.

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