By Cliff Daigle

Today I’m going to share some tips about trading with someone in person. My guide to trading online is coming soon. These are little things, mostly, but when you’re pleasant, it makes the whole process easier.

First of all, when you’re trading, it helps have a goal in mind, even if that goal is to find some cards that might be sweet in EDH decks. I like to have a list when I’m trading, so I know if someone has a card I need to look for and target. I’m all for browsing random binders for awesome cards, but a little organization goes a long way.

Do the same thing for the other person. Ask what they are looking for, to know if you have things that they are looking for. If you have one or two of the things they want, then you’re off to a great start.

Speaking of organization, I have to put this out there: If there’s a card you don’t want to trade, put it in the back of your binder, flip it upside down, do something to indicate to me that it’s not readily available. I have a French-language Delay in my binder and it’s a real treat to see reactions to a card titled “Retard.” I won’t trade it, though, and I feel bad when they ask. Everyone’s allowed an exception or two, for the cards they are emotionally attached to. When it’s a lot of your binder, then it’s less forgivable.

During the process, I like to ask if I can take cards that I am interested in out of the binder. First of all, it’s polite, because I’ve had guys start taking out lots of cards from my pages until there’s a stack. You want everyone to be comfortable with what’s going on, so stay courteous.

A key point in trading is that you’re always free to walk away if the other person is being belligerent, condescending, or unpleasant. I don’t regret leaving a good trade behind if someone else is being a jerk. If you’re being pushy to get a certain card, I hope it’s because you’re excited. If you’re playing hardball in trades, you turn people away. I have spent an hour getting a trade right, because there was a Russian foil Doubling Season from Ravnica involved, and I HAD TO HAVE THAT CARD.

I can’t speak for everyone, but when I hear the phrase, “What do you value this at?” I immediately want to stop the transaction. I’ve never had that said where someone wasn’t trying to exploit a knowledge gap of some kind. It immediately makes me want to pull out my phone and check on the price right away, and this is one of the major issues with trading in person. If I have a card in my binder that someone wants, and they ask, “How much do you want for it?” I feel a lot less anxiety, even though that’s a very similar question.

On that note, if you do check prices on a phone, make sure you’re both using the same site. Why not take advantage of our site? Keep your collection organized here and have price data instantly available.

I believe it’s the word ‘value’ that has taken on a great deal of negative connotations. There are articles all over the place about how to ‘get maximum value’ on a trade, and the only context I can accept that in is when you’re trading in-print Standard cards for older, long-out-of-print cards. I don’t mind giving more than retail value in such a trade.

For example: In April, I had a set of Bonfire of the Damned for trade and someone offered me to trade those four cards and a pair of Overgrown Tomb for a Revised-edition Badlands I badly wanted. At the time, Badlands was around $60, and I would be giving around $85 worth to him for it. That’s about a 30% markup for a dual land, and it’s a trade I made.

Now, four months later, it looks like I ripped the guy off, since Badlands is at $70 and I gave him $60 worth of cards.

However high you think a card will go, though, you have to trade based on what it’s worth at this moment. Perhaps you’ll be right and it’ll hit $20. Perhaps it’ll go low again, then balloon in a year. Perhaps you’ll get surprised like I was with Green Sun’s Zenith, a card I felt was amazing in older formats and picked up from people for around $10…and then it got banned in Modern for being too good, causing the price to drop down again. It’ll be in FTV: 20, too, and that will push the price down even further.

Finally, I have one more tip/request of you: be familiar with the program or site you use for pricing. If you want to look everything up, that’s fine, I can understand that. I’m asking you to have some proficiency so that we aren’t taking ten minutes to double-check everything because you clicked the wrong button and deleted everything from your trading app. (I’ve been on both sides of this.)

Happy trading, everyone!

By Cliff Daigle

Large-scale Magic events offer the chance to get a lot done without spending lots of money.

At every large tournament I go to – be it a Pro Tour Qualifier, a Grand Prix, or something really huge, like Gen Con or SDCC – I bring the cards I want to sell, and a list of things I want.

Depending on the size of the event, organization is key. At a Pro Tour Qualifier, you’ll get a couple of vendors and comparing buylists is easy. Most vendors will have a buylist printed out that you can use to compare those numbers. But at larger events, there might be a dozen or more different companies who want your business, and you need to be ready to browse. A list of the things you brought to sell is vital, and if you’re looking for a certain card, then it’s important to know if you’re going for cash or credit.

Different vendors give different amounts for the same card, and different trade bonuses if you want store credit. But even on a 30% bonus for credit, you’re still under retail value of a card, so don’t do this lightly. I’ve done this to get some sweet cards and finish foiling out decks, but I’m not happy about it.

A more recent trend is the rapidly growing market for Magic accessories, like playmats, dice, and life counters. Not every vendor is into those things, but research and preparation is going to pay off. You’d be surprised how many vendors are going to offer you cash for things as common as a spin down D20. Before Grand Prix Anaheim, Star City Games put up a banner saying that they were buying spindowns. A little research and a lot of contacts with my friends, and I ended up selling SCG about $100 (cash, not credit!) worth of dice.

The main event may or may not be right up your alley, but the side events offer a range of formats and pricing. While I do not advocate buying single packs just for the value of the cards inside, I love drafting. Sealed is fun too, but drafting is second only to EDH in my personal pantheon. I have gone to Grand Prix just to enter side draft after side draft. I’m paying for the tournament, not just the packs, and in some drafts, I’ll get passed valuable cards.

Sometimes the value is in the event itself. When my wife and I went to Worlds in 2011, they were giving out a Pro Tour foil Ajani Goldmane with every event entry. Dealers were only giving $3 cash, but in a $10 draft, you’re paying $7 to open three packs. That’s hard value to walk away from, especially since that was Innistrad.

Once you’re done drafting, you can take the good cards and trade them to players or dealers for more of what you really want. Again, an example from Worlds: I did ten drafts that weekend, and had a Liliana of the Veil, a couple Garruk Relentless, a Snapcaster, and a few of the rare Innistrad lands. I traded all of those to a dealer for a Diamond Valley and could not be happier.

Be advised that there is often a saturation effect, especially with smaller vendors: At the end of a three-day Grand Prix, some will be lower on cash and already bought a thousand Steam Vents, so they will lower their buylist on the one you just opened.

I’m preparing to go to GP Oakland next month, and I’ve got my lists ready to go. If you’re there and want an EDH game, shoot me a tweet @WordOfCommander. I’d love to get in a game with you.

By Cliff Daigle

Welcome back, dear reader.

If you have read other things I’ve said then you’re aware of my driving principle when it comes to acquiring cards for casual decks: Patience.

If you have ever bought something online, you’re aware of the value of patience. Next-day shipping from a retail website might be $25, while mere First-Class mail is $5 or less. To be patient, for just a couple of days to a week, in this case is worth a cool $20.

I’ve been in positions where I could not bring myself to be patient. I once had to have some Goblins in a couple of days because I wanted a Krenko deck to be ready for FNM. The shipping costs of my cards were more than the cards themselves were worth. But in that case, it was worth it to me not to wait.

Retail stores work the same way. Sure, you can often get a lower price for an item online, but when you measure the cost difference against the time difference, sometimes you just take it home that day.

Magic: The Gathering cards are similar. I’ve said before that prices all drop over time, but that’s only on average. Sometimes, waiting on a card to go down is a bad play, because the price goes up. Just look at Voice of Resurgence:

The Voice’s price has climbed steadily, and is the chase Mythic. Right now, preordering it at $20 looks like a steal. But note that the price has hit a peak and is creeping downwards. Patience past the initial craze has already paid off some.

Now, let’s look at Ral Zarek:

If you waited a week after release, he cost you $30. If you waited a month, he cost you $15. If you wait longer, he’ll probably go under $10. Patience is usually the better financial plan, if you can stomach the wait.

When you’re trading, patience is a key virtue as well. I love trading, the knowledge that both of us can get what we want and be happy with the exchange. Unfortunately, there are times where someone is belligerent, telling me what I have to do. If they have a rare foil, I’m not above giving more than I originally wanted, but if we are talking Standard cards, then I’m likely to walk away.

An example of this is dealing with speculators. You might be someone who traded for a bunch of a certain card because you were sure it was going to go up. I’ve dealt with people who act like their card has already gone up or down to an expected price, and that was irritating until I realized I could just walk away. (Excerpt from the conversation: “Your Sphinx’s Revelation is not going to be worth my two Deathrite Shamans after rotation.” “Rotation for these two cards is 18 months away!” “I know, that’s my point.”)

Let me be clear: I’m all for speculation. I like the gamble, the idea that we can predict these things. But dealing with unpleasant people is generally not worth it.

Patience, in the casual realm, is also about managing your needs and expectations. It’s not always useful to go after a card in foil just because it’s in a deck. (Full disclosure: I chase foreign foils more than I should for my EDH decks. I try not to overpay, but the craving to own the sweet rare foil is strong. Gogo Foil Russian Doubling Season! (сезон удвоения foil))

Nor is it necessary to chase a foreign foil simply because it has worth. Keep in mind that Wizards wants to support all formats, not just Standard and Modern. The more people that play, whatever the format, the more cards they sell.

This is why reprints will require patience. It seems a safe bet that almost everything not on the Reserved List will get printed again. I couldn’t say when, but especially for Modern-legal cards, nothing is safe. The use of Modern Masters, as well as preconstructed decks like the Commander or Planechase sets, shows us that Wizards knows that people want these older, rarer, more expensive cards.

The Onslaught fetchlands, Thoughtseize, the Shadowmoor filter lands, even Force of Will…these will all get printed again. Perhaps not in Standard-legal sets, but there will be more.

Just be patient.