Hello reader, and welcome! Today we are going to talk about tips and tricks to minimize costs to playing our favorite hobby! Now, I’m no expert on trading by any means, but I do know how to minimize costs, and make it so I have ended up pretty close to breaking even over the years I have played magic. So, dear reader, lets get started!

Tip 1 – Plan Ahead!

This first tip might seem a little confusing. What do I mean by plan ahead? I mean look ahead to the future of magic. When does a card rotate out of a format? Which formats, if any, does a card see play in? Is it a popular card? When does the new set come out? Is there any useful information about the upcoming set? How can you use that to your advantage?

Lets take a look at what I mean by the last two questions. The new set, Scars of Mirrodin, comes out in a few weeks. What do we know about the set? We know that a few cards have been spoiled. Look them up. See what they are, how good they are, and how much they cost (money-wise). Now dig into your knowledge of magic and see if any of these cards make a good interaction with any cards currently out? Any combos? Check online forums to see if any combos or such have been figured out, then if they are good enough that you think they will see lots of play, invest some money into buying the cards. How about the set itself? What do we know about Scars of Mirrodin? We know that it is all artifacts, and interactions with artifacts. Now, how can we use that knowledge? Well, why not grab some cheap cards that interact with artifacts? For standard, I would look into investing in these cards: Hoarding Dragon, Steel Overseer, and Lodestone Golem. These cards are pretty cheap at the moment, and they can only go up. I feel that the Lodestone Golem has the most potential in some form of blue/white  artifact deck running Trinket Mage (Which is getting reprinted) and Venser. Do not invest in artifact cards from the Alara Block as it will be rotating out of standard when Scars comes out.

Tip 2 – Trade for Value

Yes, I know you want that Liliana Vess for the killer black deck you made, but it will never be worth the Fauna Shaman you are trading for it. Trust me, stick to the price of the card. They are there for a reason. If you really really want the Liliana Vess, and all they want from you is the Fauna Shaman, trade for more than the Liliana. Even if there isn’t anything else you want that they have, trade for something that could be traded for later. Always get value out of your trades. Always consult a friend that you trust or some source of pricing, like an online store, to make sur you are getting fair trade. Also, don’t be afraid to ask for more than your trade is worth. Pull out a few dollars more worth of trade and see if they will accept the trade. They might be willing to trade a little extra! If not, then no big deal.

There is one exception to the rule: if you know someone else who wants the cards you are trading for and will trade more for them then you are trading for them, then sometimes it’s ok to go a few dollars short.

For example: Lets say you were trading a playset of Gideon Jura for a playset of Fauna Shaman. Normally a terrible trade, as the value is almost 2 to 1 in the other persons favor, but if you know someone who needs a playset of Fauna Shaman and will overtrade for them, go ahead and make the trade if you are certain that you can get more worth out of them than you would get out of the 4 Gideon Jura. That doesn’t mean just give in and make the trade, you still want to try to get as much value out of the trade as possible.

Tip 3 – Be Willing to Learn, Read as Much as Possible

There are always going to be people out there who are much better at you than magic. And many of them post articles on popular websites, offering all their insight and wisdom. Read as many magic articles as you can. I highly recommend magic.tcgplayer.com andstarcitygames.com. Tcgplayer is free to read, but starcitygames costs around $30 a year for access to the good stuff. I highly recommend paying the $30 if you are serious about magic, as the articles content well make up for the cost. There are many fine articles on not only how to make a profit trading in magic, but on decklists and ideas for all of the formats.

So in conclusion, I hope these tips will help you in becoming a better trader and connoisseur of magic cards. Join us next time where I shall take you thru a draft on MTGO (Magic the Gathering Online), discussing my picks, my reasoning for them, and the tournament itself. Also, don’t forget you can email me at jb.geekspodcast@gmail.com for any questions, comments, or suggestions you may have. Thank you for joining me, and keep on cardslinging!

Related posts:

1. Studies into Standard: U/W Control
2. Studies into Standard – Budget Decks
3. Studies Into Standard – Time for Action
4. What to Bring to a Magic the Gathering Tournament
5. How I Organize My Magic The Gathering Cards