For those that play competitive magic you have come to the realization that the game can be expensive. Many players balance this cost by buying/selling magic cards when they have gained Actual Value on the card from where they traded for it and/or it is selling for more than what you believe it will be worth in the next few months Perceived Value. Though I do not believe in gaining value from dealers because my brother and I enjoy holding a large collection there is an option for those not willing to part with cards for cash, build a collection on trade.

                Maintaining within the game of magic is not easy when you don’t have much money but this is the model that we maintain. Buy a box of the newest set, the best time to buy into a new set is as soon as it comes out when Perceived Value and anticipation of the new cards is at its highest, the reason for this is because as the market is flooded with more and more packs opened within the newest set the Actual Value of the new set will decrease. For example when New Phyrexia came out the perceived Value of Karn Liberated was 50$ (the same cost as most new planeswalkers that come out), the Actual value of the same card after the release of the set was 35$. Understanding the pricing of cards (Perceived vs. Actual) will give you an upper hand in determining when and how to trade cards for the most value.

For example here is a trade that was made just after Mirrodin Besieged was released when the Perceived Value was highest.

My Cards: 2x Thrun the Last Troll, 20.00 and 1x Green Sun’s Zenith, 10.00 Total: 50.00

His Card: 1x Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas 50.00 Total: 50.00

Understanding that Tezzeret was going to be played in both standard and legacy and knowing that Thrun the last Troll would not maintain its 20$ price tag made this trade easy for me. Now we look at the same trade 4 months later.

My Cards: 2x Thrun the Last Troll, 6.00 and 1x Green Sun’s Zenith, 6.00 Total: 18.00

His Card: 1x Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas 35.00 Total: 35.00

17$ in Actual Value gained

 After the initial trade I was able to make this trade when Perceived Value was highest.

My Cards: 1x Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas 50.00, Total: 50.00

His Cards: 1x Japanese Signed Gideon Jura 30.00, 1x Green sun’s zenith 10.00, 1x Seachrome Coast 2.00, 1x Jhoira  of the Ghitu 2.00, 2x Hymn to Tourach 1.00, 1x Phyrexian Revoker 3.00, 1x Oracle of Mul Daya 2.00, 1x Foil Master of Etherium 5.00 Total: 56.00

4 months later the same trade looks like this:

My Cards: 1x Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas 35.00 Total: 35.00

His Cards: 1x Japanese Signed Gideon Jura 30.00, 1x Green sun’s zenith 6.00, 1x Seachrome Coast 4.00 , 1x Jhoira 3.00, 2x Hymn to Tourach 2.00, 1x Phyrexian Revoker 4.00, Oracle of Mul Daya 2.00, 1x Foil Master of Etherium 5.00 Total: 58.00

$21 net total gained on this trade, if you take these trades together $17 + $21 = $38 gained in Actual Value for the trade binder in two trades (these are high value payoffs not all trades are this profitable). This may not seem like it has had much value on your collection, but after making 20 profitable trades it is quite possible to add 100-200 dollars in value to your collection. It is common for me to trade something like this: My: 2x junk rares .20 (.10 cents to a dealer) for his playable legacy commons and uncommon .50 to 1.00 worth. The fact is you must have an outlet for Chaff (cards worth .10 cents or under) from your trade binder or else it will get so overgrown with junk rares that no one will want to look through it.

Having the ability to balance the Perceived Value vs. the Actual Value is how you build your collection through trade. I hope this was a good example on how you can begin to make yourself a better trader my next Blog will talk about “Up” and “Down” trading.