Category Archives: ProTrader

PROTRADER: Buying the Massive Collection

The last 10 days of my life have looked, for the most part, like this: play some Rocket League, sort some cards. Play some Magic Online, take all the turns with the Mono-Blue Extra Turns deck (which is sweet), and sort some cards. Maybe take an hour break or so from a game and sort some cards.

Noticing a trend?

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Two weeks ago, I bought this collection. In all, somewhere between fifty and sixty thousand cards (I’m not done sorting yet to find out). This is not the most expensive collection I’ve ever bought, but it is the largest, card-wise.

People are always asking that I write a little bit about running my store and buying and selling out of it, and I figure this is a good topic. I’m going to break this down into a three-article series. Today, I’m going to talk about the process of actually buying it, the negotiating, pricing, and so on. Next week, I’ll go into detail about how I physically sort a collection this large, and in the final week, I’ll talk about how to sell the cards you’ve found for a profit. It’s my hope this becomes a resource for the future, so I’m going to try and make it as timeless as possible.

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expensive cards

ProTrader: Magic doesn’t have to be expensive.

PROTRADER: A Farewell to Khans

December: the time of year when players start to get bored of the new Draft format. Battle for Zendikar is a deeper set than most, and I’ve fired more than 30 events in the last couple months, but it’s starting to lose its luster. Part of the problem is that the set doesn’t really have a ton of value in it. With the rotation of Khans of Tarkir and Fate Reforged, however, we may see that change.

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expensive cards

ProTrader: Magic doesn’t have to be expensive.

PROTRADER: Long Term Buys – The New World Order?

A number of general strategies have tended to pay off on Wall Street over the past century. You know the type – diversify, buy what you know, focus on top and bottom line growth, be greedy when others are fearful, etc. While never guarantees, following these guidelines will generally lead you towards better, more consistent financial reward when investing.

Some MTG finance strategies parallel that of Wall Street. In Magic there’s still benefit to diversification, for example. There are also unique strategies worth noting for this hobby in particular – pay close attention to Standard rotation, make note of when Modern season begins, buy and hold Power for the long term, etc.

But not all adages echoed across MTG financiers are permanent truths. Sometimes confirmation bias (a tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one’s preconceptions) can cloud judgment and lead to incorrect conclusions. Even some of the most tried and true hypotheses can’t be confirmed as general investing truth due to the dynamic environment we’re in today.

This week I will touch upon a couple investing fallacies that I’ve personally bumped into recently, and how I’m shifting my investment strategy accordingly. I also haver a hypothetical question that will really shake up people’s mindset (well, maybe).

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expensive cards

ProTrader: Magic doesn’t have to be expensive.

PROTRADER: Planeswalker Finance, November 2015

It’s time to return to the card type with the fewest options in existence: planeswalker. We last visited this topic in April 2015, and with more than six months passed, a review of what’s happened since then—both in price movement for old cards and printings of new cards—is warranted.

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expensive cards

ProTrader: Magic doesn’t have to be expensive.