Want to know what The Professor thinks are the top 3 BEST Binders and Portfolios for Magic: The Gathering, Pokemon, and other Card Games? Check out my picks here: ua-cam.com/video/3bFZO0NiNNo/v-deo.html
Tolarian Community College any time I see a new player in a card game, whether it be yugioh, magic, Pokemon etc, I always inform them if how to price cards using tcg or inform them when they have pulled a valuable card. This helps create a form of trust with that player or with that players parents (assuming they are underage) and helps make them aware of potential ripoff artists trying to scam them out of a valuable card.
Anyone saying this video is pointless is just missing the point. While to a lot of players this may seem like common knowledge you're likely forgetting that you learned this over months or years of playing. The video is largely aimed at newer/younger players who are less experienced at trading than the people who've been doing this for years. It clearly explains what to do to make sure you don't get taken advantage of and why sometimes you just won't be able to make a trade and that's ok. If this helps even one overzealous new player understand why no one wants to trade their jace the mind sculptor for their folder of $0.10 bulk rares the video has more than served it's purpose. I've been playing the game for close to 10 years myself and I came to watch this video, knowing largely what would be in it, to see how the professor presented it. We've all had that one kid follow us around for 20 minutes pestering us over a trade that just isn't going to happen. The professor always strives to break things down so they're accessible and watching this can help people better explain why they don't want to make a trade.
It's also nice to NOT insult a player's collection. I'm a returning player and have a very modest trade binder. I was trading with a player who happened to be talking about his recent acquisition of some Rishadan Ports. Well, my whole trade binder probably is only worth a half of one, at best. He scoffed at my collection and declared "How am I supposed to trade if all you have are $1 junk rares?"... Thanks buddy. Unnecessary, and rude. Compare it to a nice guy from my usual LGS who said during trading, "You don't have anything that I'm interested in, but, I'm happy to see your collection is growing!" Now that's more like it! You don't have anything to gain by insulting someone, and only friends to make by being diplomatic.
Honestly, this was one of my main fears when I started playing magic- that it would be stupid to put together a trade binder because I didn't have any good cards. I thought people would laugh at me, but luckily the community at my lgs was really supportive!
Rayvn e'Kieron glad you have a cool store, and honestly more people have been nice than mean, I even had some great trades last night -- cheers to the nice people!!
Not to mention of this is your lgs more than likely you'll see that person again and it will be that much harder to trade with them once they have something you want.
I have bought drinks and snacks form my LGS to go forward for a trade a couple of times. Never underestimate the power of a candy bar when payday is far away.
I remember one time, some poor kid was ignorant of the value of an expedition Scalding Tarn. He was about to trade it away to some people who would give him cliche, awful dragons but I told him that he was basically trading away gold (especially since expeditions were a new thing) so stopping that kid made me feel good about myself.
I actually had a similar experience, I had a friend who was going to trade away an invention Arcbound Ravager (about $100 at the time, though it's since fallen) and I was able to warn him in time
I wish I was with you when I did some trades at the start of my journey with magic. I traded away a crucible of worlds and and sigil of the empty throne for stuff that were worthless, I feel bad to this day
Make informed trades before a ban announcement.* Be aware of the top cards, top decks, and unfair decks in a format and avoid those cards. There are value cards that will not get banned. It would be unrealistic to assume that lightning bolt has any chance of being banned in the next modern ban announcement for example. Look at the metagame and stick to what you know. Don't make risky trades unless the card you are trading for is an exclusive and you don't think you'll be able to find it anywhere else.
One more thing. I believe you didn't mention it because it should go without saying but...DO NOT RIP OFF NEW PLAYERS!! They may not know the value of the cards and when they do find out they've been ripped off they may just quit the game or decide to never trade with you again. It shows a lack of respect to a fellow players and another human beings. Magic should be a fun friendly game and we don't want bad feelings in the community. I am completely guilty of this sin and have paid for it. Now if a new player comes to me with their disorganized binder I will try and point out the more valuable cards and I'm more willing to make trades that are at a financial loss if it helps them make a better deck.
Brock Gerrard that's a good point. I have found new players are the most willing to downtrade because they have 1 good card and I can unload alot of bulk rares. But I do this showing them the price of the card. It pains me to see somebody pull a 20 card and trade it to some jerk for a 2$ bulk rare. It's one thing setting them up with the frame of a deck, another to blatantly give them nothing even close
Prof, thanks a lot for those tips! I never thought of giving the guy store credit when trying to trade cards with him, and i'm sure my lgs is fine with it as well.
This is VERY timely valuable information for me, Professor. This past week I was thinking of getting a trade binder to hold my excess cards to start trading... I otherwise had no idea where to start. I think my next step is to find a bunch of MTG afficianados :P
I feel like this being an integral part of a trading card game, I should have learned about this during the beginning stages of playing MTG. And yet, it's the first time I'm being taught about how to trade. Thank you for making this
So much of this I've been saying for years! Pricing, Up/Down trading, Organizing! It's all important. My best friend and I both help craft the trading community around a few of our LGSs using almost everything said here. I had stopped playing for a few years and when I came back to the game, it seemed that no one new how to trade! It's so refreshing to see The Professor reinforcing the pillars of Trade Etiquette. Thank you!
Im buying mtg cards to get a full set because I like the artwork and story. I buy one boosterbox and a bundle for a set and just buy the rest of the cards I didnt pull online. Trading is more fun but you also have to have people wanting to trade for that specific card. Amazing channel and thx for introducing me to mtg.
If trading with newer players, I'll ask another experienced player or the lgs to supervise the trade. I'd been duped when I first started playing and I don't intend to do that to others.
I am learning so much from this channel :) I decided to start playing MTG literally 5 days ago and I know how to get started playing, what Friday night magic is, what kind of binder sheets to get, why to use dragon guards and why double-sleeving is important for expensive cards and foils. (because humidity) that is why! so so many good hints, clues and recommendations. I am sure I have saved a bunch already from the get go. Thank you Professor.!
Prof I just wanna say this has been one of if not the best tutorial on how to conduct a trade with any card game I have Watched! Honestly the tips from organizing to making sure your binder is not just filled with $30 staples to offering a healthy economy within your LGS to ensure both trades and store owners are happy with trades are fantastic peices of advice that I know people take for granted! When I become employed again ill be sure to give you a a few dollars as a patreon.
A good one. I remember the good old days when I would do a dozen or more trades a week. There were all those trading sites like Communal Haven and Trading Card Games, and I would go to Post Office four nights a week to send cards to Australia, Canada, Spain and all over the world, while in the daytime my postman brought me cards from players I traded with. It somehow ended with Katrina. That's why I call it the Pre-Katrina Era. Life was different those days. My LGS allows selling cards by players as long as they are tourney regulars. If you play every week, you can sell as many cards as you want. This also motivates people to actually play as often as possible. Those who show up thrice a year with their binder, and try to sell cards, are 'kindly' asked to leave.
Love the note about never using the lgs for your business, but rather getting the store involved in the trade! Beautiful! And so important! If we want to support our game stores which bring us so much value and joy
We do a lot of buying and selling in our LGS. The store is fine with this and actually is very creative to make sure they also have parts of the cake. They set up an escrow service so you can trade with people you don't know with the store as the middleman, making sure you only pay after you get your goods. You can even drop the goods in the store to be picked up by another customer, or collect your pay there. I think this is healthy for both the playerbase and the store.
great vid Prof, we all love your videos, i love that I can sit my kids down for educational and fun way to learn magic in a family safe and friendly environment. thank you again sir, my son and I look forward to meeting you @mox boarding house next month!
Professor, The segment on Up/Down Trading is right on the money. I have a friend who my play group has named "The Foil-Boy". I have regularly traded him my foils of 50cent to 2 dollar foils for great cards that he has no use for. He'll even group text us with a picture of a card and tell us to get our foils ready.
I’ve been playing Magic: The Gathering since Ravnica Allegiance and I wish I watch this video before. Thank You so much for your advices on trading Prof.
Trading is a wonderful experience in my eyes. I feel like I am always up trading or down trading. Turning junk into gems, or cards of value into cards I want is really satisfying. You honestly never know who will want to trade for things you have. :)
Love the 90's outro! And I was almost not gonna watch this since hearing people say downtrading is bad makes me anxious about my trading habits, since I downtrade a lot for weird commander cards.
When I was just getting into Commander, at my college we had an individual who would use TCGPlayer for trades. Their method of conducting trades was something I look at in retrospect with great disdain. They would value their cards that I want at the high price on TCG, and for the cards I offered/they wanted, the low. As a result, we would spend a great long time with them looking through my trades, and trying to come to an "even" trade. Needless to say, my naive trade conduct has since changed, and thankfully I do not have to interact with this person anymore.
if your using tcg player its always best to go based on the damage of a card for example, i own an angus McKenzie, which has a high value of about 250-300 so chances are id be comfterble selling it for around 275 cause its in great condition
Here in Brazil they, usually, doesn't care about selling or buying cards in their store, they end up gaining some part of the money in anyway, so its fine :). Great tips Professor, thanks!
Great video on a topic I haven't really thought too much about. Covers some nuances that those new to trading might not be familiar with. Strong work, Prof.
Its harder to find common or uncommon cards in my opinion. Must trad binders only have rarer or mytic. But when you ask if they have a common card like arbor elf. Every one answer the same. "Yes I have it, its back home". It took me 2 months to get hold of a simple arbor elf! Glad you talked about an common folder.
thank you for this. I've been playing Magic for only a little while and I have been very nervous about trading. I'm going to be using this as an educational video for my kids.
good video, I love that you are always thinking about new players. we can all remember trading away great cards in our very early days because we didn't know any better. I traded a Sword of Light and Shadow for some Shadows/Eldritch Moon bulk rares!
I like your sponsorship deal with Card Kingdom. You give them the due mentions that their sponsorship warrants them, but you always give your actual opinion.
When trading I keep a mental catalog of my card prices so that when someone asks about the card I can respond instantly. I will once settled on card, however, check my phone on two- three sites for prices and clarify them with the person I'm trading with. I've also started doing like the Professor said and include cheap stable cards in my binder. I think this video clarified most of my trade rules so thanks Prof.
A tip that I use: if you have maybe trade cards (or not for trade cards, but still only 1 folder to sure cards in) use color-coded sleeves to let your trade partner know that certain cards are off limits or called higher by you.
Also consider card condition when trading. With condition u can check it by looking at a card at an angle towards a light source and also look at the card edges for nicks of scrapes. And also know how to recognize counterfeit cards.
playing for the past 21 years, and yet I still find this helpful. Only thing for me personally is, if it's in my binder... I trade it no matter what. Some people like that about me and my binder :)
What I have seen people do at my LGS is if there is a big difference in trade value, instead of using cash, they go the route of 'hey can a buy you a pack or do you want to pick something else out from the stores catalog and I will buy that for you to make up the difference.' I thought that was really clever.
I agree with everything in this video. I do feel one important note has been left out: Down trading builds collections and up trading builds decks. That should be, in my humble opinion, the key consideration, when doing either.
What a great video. Thank you for covering this topic. It's not something you see on UA-cam, but it is something every player can take something away from.
I have a 3 ring 3inch binder full of pages and I've organized it by color and Alphabetical order. It's seems a bit ridiculous but I've found it really draws attention from people who aren't sure what they're looking for and also helps those who are to find if I have the list of things they need. Goblin guide Red, Gs which is this page, 5 copies. It really makes a difference as before I kept my cards sleeved but in fat pack boxes(probably giving away how long I've played) but it takes a lot of time and attention which most players don't want to spend while looking for trades as they would rather spend time playing.
I'd argue that fair value isn't even always a concern. I've recently been introducing a friend to the game and he was looking to trade off some booster pack cards he'd gotten. After pulling out one of the rares and a few uncommons, I expected him to grab at least a half dozen of the cards he was looking for (cheap red burn) but he only grabbed a number equal to the amount I wanted. I told him that the cards I had asked for were likely more valuable (by simple rarity, nothing super expensive) but he didn't care. What mattered to him was getting cards in his colors, it didn't matter how valuable the others were if he'd never use them.
I used to keep a color organized fat pack full of inexpensive but in demand cards like Professor suggests @ 7:11, I'd often get trades going where I'd trade 15-20+ of those cards in exchange for only a few cards that I needed.
I once gave my buddy a conjurer's closet And in exchange he bought about 2 bucks of bulk for me at the lgs we were at. Will be doing more trades like this in the future
I keep 2 binders personally, both of which I just have organized by color. One binder contains only cards that are more than $5 and the other binder contains cards that are between $1 and $5. All my other bulk cards are just sitting in color organized long boxes in a closet at my house. Having the cards pre-sectioned off by general prices I find works well for me. I have a lot of friends who play MTG on a much more strict budget than me, so usually the only binder they would really be interested in looking through is what I refer to as my "Budget" binder. The binder with $5+ cards has stuff all the way up to several hundreds of dollars for single cards, so it doesn't do much good to have players like that looking through that stuff.
Yeah I really don't know why he attempted to add so much to a formula that works. If values are close enough for both players, and both are happy, the trades are fine.
Really? I thought the tip about having a trade folder is a good thing to talk about. It is also something to make sure you talk about for new player and kids that play the game. He talked about manners and just the mind set you should have when trading. All good info for new and young players.
As he said, not all values are equal. Even though the "value" of Standard cards may be high, they are not generally equal to the same value of Modern or Legacy cards. It all comes down to why the players want the cards. Sometimes it is necessary to offer a "bonus" to be able to get that Dual Land you were wanting and all you have is Standard playables.
Also, using Delver Lens app for Android, you can quickly scan and price cards there and then. Amazing for speeding up trades while still being fair and accurate.
In my experience, downtrading is something that is really useful for new players - as long as it is done in a way that isn't taking advantage of them. Back when I was first getting into Magic (I had been playing causally for a couple of years, but I had never been to a card store until then) I had a Thoughtseize that was over $30, but I had no use for it, and was looking to dump it. A guy ended up trading me a pile of over 150 bulk rares and uncommons for it, and I couldn't have been happier. It probably would have cost a lot more than $30 to get all of those cards as a buyer, but as a seller he would never get that much for them, so it suited both of us well. And even though most of those cards weren't very good, as a new player just getting that many rares was a big deal, and many of those cards found their way into my first couple of commander decks.
The people at my LGS is pretty easygoing with price differences. The general rule is that if the value of all of the cards are less than $20 (10 on each side) then no more of a dollar difference is allowed. If the total is between 100 and 20 then 5 dollar difference is allowed. Then if it's 200 total, then 10 difference is allowed
FUCKING THANK YOU!!! Okay, I’m newborn new to all things TCG and this video alone has prepared me tremendously for the trading and economics of MTG! While I’ve managed to learn to play and construct a deck, I’ve been embarrassingly timid and somewhat intimidated to actually ask people to trade. Now I have a much more thorough understanding of the social etiquette and card valuing of trading. I’m already swapping out half my binder to clear some “I-might-not-want-to-trade-that”s. Lol
Some of my best trades ever, since I started playing in 2011: -Mishra’s workshop for 3 underground sea -expedition arid Mesa and 4 bfz battle lands for a tundra -Vendillion clique for liliana of the veil and Vorenclex (before mm2 release) -Foil Cavern of Souls for 2x nonfoil Cavern of souls -2x foil sublime archangel for 10 shocklands (I don’t remember which ones and this was when those angels were 50 apiece) -Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker for a Flusterstorm (this one was to a shop) That said, I don’t trade much anymore. I don’t really need many cards and the few I do need, nobody has for trade, especially the cheap commander staples.
First: Thank you for this video, it's really helpful. I usually keep all my rares in one folder including the ones I won't trade, that sure will change now ^^ And now story time: I remember that one time. I was still playing YuGiOh! and was on a sneak preview. I draw an insanely desired card I didn't need at all. And one guy of larger group wanted to trade it. He had many valuable cards but sadly I didn't need any of them. One other guy of the group had the one card I was still looking for and so I traded with him. The other guy was so furious and angry, not at me but the one I traded with. I had the opinion that he was entitled to the trade as he was the first one to ask me. Saying no and accepting a no is so important.
Ive organised my binder by colour mainly then a section of legendary creatures, tribal section, foils then 2 pages for personal use as storage with tweaking a deck or where i put my recent pick ups from the store or trades.
Nice video Prof! Good info for new and veterans alike. Trading cards in for 25% of the value to the store is a big NN. Always trade to other players to keep from being scammed. If you need $ sell it on ebay for 10% lower than the lowest one listed. You still will get almost or more than twice what you will get at the store. For example you have a 15$ card in nm with one white spec on it, the card store will say its LP, bringing the card value to 10$, then they will have a trade in policy for store credit of 50% max which brings the card now down to 5$. Say you get this 5$ for the card and want to use it to buy another 5$ card. The store most likely acquired the 5$ card u want to buy for somewhere around 2$. So in all actuallity in the end you lost $13 out of $15. Thats not even taking into consideration that the store is more knowledge full about values and swings. Say that card jumps to $25 within 2 weeks. You are now looking at 2/25 or 8/100 which means you sold that highly desirable card for 8% of its true value to a scammer shop that thinks they deserve to pull this crap off. Its all stores.......
Then you have the broke budget regulars who move in also with their scams lol forgot about that. These regulars also put on a show and look to build their decks for close to 0. The card shops allow this because they now have actors which can push people in the direction the card shop wants them to go.... ya it's actually just human behavior but dont think the card shop is your friend.
3:45 i have some cards that i would rather not trade, but do if there is something important to trade into. i just have these cards upside down in my binder, so they are easily recognizable
Thanks for this. I'm good at commander, but I suck with standard, and have a lot of cards that suck for commander but are good for standard, and I also suck at trading. Needed this.
I've never really had a trade binder but my friend will sometimes have multiple so whenever he's trading I'll always watch the other person to make sure they don't try to pull something out while he's distracted. So there can be another tip have someone watch or just don't look through them at the same time. Might take longer but you'll hopefully not have any cards stolen
I usually just point out what cards are either. Harder to trade or not for trade. I have my "better" cards in Dex protection binders, a land binder, 2 "unorganized random" binders and a personal collection binder. (Totally forgot about the 3 inch binder with foils organized by color and set)
Just to point-out what most people forget or don't realize when talking about how CardMarket.com has the lowest prices - shipping is sometimes very expensive, especially when buying many cards from many different people. Ow and I support Pauper! :)
Back when i was really into magic (least before diving back in recently) another thing i learned quickly is paying it forward to newer players... Are they offering a much more valuable card that doesnt seem valuable to them for some reason (wether ignorance or over excitement)? Be kind, suggest sone extras to give them to equalize the one sided trade, it usually comes bsck to you in the future in a way
When I got back into the game during ravnica theros standard I was trying to build U/W control and while looking through some of my old stuff I found out I had a foil cranial plating. I offered a trade with a guy, my foil cranial plating from 5th Dawn for his Jace architect of thought.... Yeah he was trying to make it seem like it wasn't the best idea for him but he knew what he was doing.
Down trading a foil for a non-foil version of the same card, plus a bunch of others that add up to the equivalent value is a good deal. You always have to consider how much you get hosed trading in to stores for a comparison, unless you sell online.
Completely understand. That's why I personally use 3 ring binders with baseball card pages, so I can add pages where needed. It still bothers me when the cards on a single page are out of order.
How do you decide what cards are worth saving for personal collection as opposed to trading them? (eternal-playable is not enough because of Commander)
Didn't know about Scryfall, nice site. But I was not able to find a way, even with the advanced search, to look for foils? Am I missing something? :/ Also, what are your recommendations on binders Professor? I like the way the binder at 1:20 looks, what is it and where can I get it?
I often find myself down trading to profit in the long run. Five five dollar cards that see steady play for a twenty-five dollar card that sees play usually nets a profit overtime as the five dollar cards may rise an average of two dollars a piece in the same time period that the twenty-five dollar card rises around five dollars, in such a case my profit over time has doubled.
for me i do color and card type (in order creature, sorcery, instant then enchantment.) in my binders with rarity (in order mythic, rare, uns and commons.) when shown. for artifacts its reagular artifacts then equips then creatures. lands is by all/unique first (exm command tower) then by color then split color (white/blue, white/black, blue/red then blue/green and such.) in them.
In your opinion, do reserved list cards command value above their price? For example, would you trade two copies of Liliana of the Veil ($110, modern and legacy staple but not on the reserved list) for a revised edition Tundra? ($220, and it is on the reserved list). Would you call that a fair trade?
no its just whatever the price atm is, that's high enough. I even see reserved list stuff selling for half SCG on facebook. I have noticed tho that people tend to sell reserved list stuff for cash rather than trade it.
Reserved list can definitely affect trades. I really wanted a guy's City of Shadows a few months ago, and he was hesitant. Knowing the price would only ever go up (and preferring to trade cards I wasn't using over spending cash) and that it was a card rarely seen in trade binders, I offered him double value in trade. He took it, and we both walked away happy. Like others have said - reserved list cards don't drop - they maintain or go up. Reprintable cards can sometimes plummet overnight.
A card's worth is only based on it's usefulness to the player. If a card's monetary value is far less than what is being traded for it, but it's key to a deck I'm building, it holds far more value to me than its monetary value.
Bobcat dad Using an arbitrary metric such as usefulness is only ok if both players want to do so. I would say only if you are the one down trading should you bring up that you are ok trading for cards of lower value. It seems shady to say "Hey, I know you will be running this in one of your decks so will you trade for this card of lower value?"
Protagonist I would never trade up such a significant amount just because I know a player needs a lower priced card. I would always sweeten it by bundling other cards he needs into it so we can get closer to the price. What I was saying is I don't mind trading off a high priced card that is useless to me for a low priced card or 2 that I know I will run. In the end, they are just ink on cardstock.
Want to know what The Professor thinks are the top 3 BEST Binders and Portfolios for Magic: The Gathering, Pokemon, and other Card Games? Check out my picks here: ua-cam.com/video/3bFZO0NiNNo/v-deo.html
what's the best way to fill my binder with trades?
Aidan Jones to attend standard showdown. You really do get a lot of foil rares and even some worthy cards in those showdown packs.
Tolarian Community College any time I see a new player in a card game, whether it be yugioh, magic, Pokemon etc, I always inform them if how to price cards using tcg or inform them when they have pulled a valuable card. This helps create a form of trust with that player or with that players parents (assuming they are underage) and helps make them aware of potential ripoff artists trying to scam them out of a valuable card.
Anyone saying this video is pointless is just missing the point. While to a lot of players this may seem like common knowledge you're likely forgetting that you learned this over months or years of playing. The video is largely aimed at newer/younger players who are less experienced at trading than the people who've been doing this for years. It clearly explains what to do to make sure you don't get taken advantage of and why sometimes you just won't be able to make a trade and that's ok. If this helps even one overzealous new player understand why no one wants to trade their jace the mind sculptor for their folder of $0.10 bulk rares the video has more than served it's purpose. I've been playing the game for close to 10 years myself and I came to watch this video, knowing largely what would be in it, to see how the professor presented it. We've all had that one kid follow us around for 20 minutes pestering us over a trade that just isn't going to happen. The professor always strives to break things down so they're accessible and watching this can help people better explain why they don't want to make a trade.
It's also nice to NOT insult a player's collection. I'm a returning player and have a very modest trade binder. I was trading with a player who happened to be talking about his recent acquisition of some Rishadan Ports. Well, my whole trade binder probably is only worth a half of one, at best. He scoffed at my collection and declared "How am I supposed to trade if all you have are $1 junk rares?"... Thanks buddy. Unnecessary, and rude. Compare it to a nice guy from my usual LGS who said during trading, "You don't have anything that I'm interested in, but, I'm happy to see your collection is growing!" Now that's more like it! You don't have anything to gain by insulting someone, and only friends to make by being diplomatic.
TheProtocoldoug yeah, not everyone in the world is very nice and polite
Honestly, this was one of my main fears when I started playing magic- that it would be stupid to put together a trade binder because I didn't have any good cards. I thought people would laugh at me, but luckily the community at my lgs was really supportive!
Rayvn e'Kieron glad you have a cool store, and honestly more people have been nice than mean, I even had some great trades last night -- cheers to the nice people!!
I’m in the same vote
Not to mention of this is your lgs more than likely you'll see that person again and it will be that much harder to trade with them once they have something you want.
I never thought about buying cards from the store as my half of the trade. That's an excellent idea. Thank you so much!
I have bought drinks and snacks form my LGS to go forward for a trade a couple of times. Never underestimate the power of a candy bar when payday is far away.
My local store sells 1$ vouchers to make such trades much easier.
I remember one time, some poor kid was ignorant of the value of an expedition Scalding Tarn. He was about to trade it away to some people who would give him cliche, awful dragons but I told him that he was basically trading away gold (especially since expeditions were a new thing) so stopping that kid made me feel good about myself.
Good job, have a cookie
Smart Alec i wasnt being sarcastic. Being a good community member is important for magic
Oh thanks.
I actually had a similar experience, I had a friend who was going to trade away an invention Arcbound Ravager (about $100 at the time, though it's since fallen) and I was able to warn him in time
I wish I was with you when I did some trades at the start of my journey with magic. I traded away a crucible of worlds and and sigil of the empty throne for stuff that were worthless, I feel bad to this day
Never trade right before a ban announcement.
AJ Burgess I'm not knowledgeable about the ban timings but unfortunately for my trade buddy he got divining top from me the day before it got banned.
Or do. I'd take the gamble.
There are some bans you just can't predict. But it's worth it to wait 2 or 3 days after a ban announcement.
Make informed trades before a ban announcement.*
Be aware of the top cards, top decks, and unfair decks in a format and avoid those cards.
There are value cards that will not get banned.
It would be unrealistic to assume that lightning bolt has any chance of being banned in the next modern ban announcement for example.
Look at the metagame and stick to what you know.
Don't make risky trades unless the card you are trading for is an exclusive and you don't think you'll be able to find it anywhere else.
Trading for modern and legacy staples right before a master set is spoiled.
Like right now is also risky and not ideal.
One more thing. I believe you didn't mention it because it should go without saying but...DO NOT RIP OFF NEW PLAYERS!! They may not know the value of the cards and when they do find out they've been ripped off they may just quit the game or decide to never trade with you again. It shows a lack of respect to a fellow players and another human beings. Magic should be a fun friendly game and we don't want bad feelings in the community. I am completely guilty of this sin and have paid for it. Now if a new player comes to me with their disorganized binder I will try and point out the more valuable cards and I'm more willing to make trades that are at a financial loss if it helps them make a better deck.
Brock Gerrard that's a good point. I have found new players are the most willing to downtrade because they have 1 good card and I can unload alot of bulk rares. But I do this showing them the price of the card. It pains me to see somebody pull a 20 card and trade it to some jerk for a 2$ bulk rare. It's one thing setting them up with the frame of a deck, another to blatantly give them nothing even close
Prof, thanks a lot for those tips! I never thought of giving the guy store credit when trying to trade cards with him, and i'm sure my lgs is fine with it as well.
This is VERY timely valuable information for me, Professor. This past week I was thinking of getting a trade binder to hold my excess cards to start trading... I otherwise had no idea where to start. I think my next step is to find a bunch of MTG afficianados :P
I feel like this being an integral part of a trading card game, I should have learned about this during the beginning stages of playing MTG. And yet, it's the first time I'm being taught about how to trade. Thank you for making this
So much of this I've been saying for years! Pricing, Up/Down trading, Organizing! It's all important. My best friend and I both help craft the trading community around a few of our LGSs using almost everything said here. I had stopped playing for a few years and when I came back to the game, it seemed that no one new how to trade! It's so refreshing to see The Professor reinforcing the pillars of Trade Etiquette. Thank you!
Im buying mtg cards to get a full set because I like the artwork and story. I buy one boosterbox and a bundle for a set and just buy the rest of the cards I didnt pull online. Trading is more fun but you also have to have people wanting to trade for that specific card. Amazing channel and thx for introducing me to mtg.
If trading with newer players, I'll ask another experienced player or the lgs to supervise the trade. I'd been duped when I first started playing and I don't intend to do that to others.
That's good, but when you're new there's always the fear that the other guy will potentially be partial towards his lgs buddy than the fresh meat
I am learning so much from this channel :) I decided to start playing MTG literally 5 days ago and I know how to get started playing, what Friday night magic is, what kind of binder sheets to get, why to use dragon guards and why double-sleeving is important for expensive cards and foils. (because humidity) that is why! so so many good hints, clues and recommendations. I am sure I have saved a bunch already from the get go. Thank you Professor.!
Prof I just wanna say this has been one of if not the best tutorial on how to conduct a trade with any card game I have Watched! Honestly the tips from organizing to making sure your binder is not just filled with $30 staples to offering a healthy economy within your LGS to ensure both trades and store owners are happy with trades are fantastic peices of advice that I know people take for granted!
When I become employed again ill be sure to give you a a few dollars as a patreon.
Great video. Love how it addresses both Standard and non-rotating formats while a lot of these things focus on Standard.
Great video. I put a link to it on my middle school MTG Club home page for my kids to watch!!!
I worry about them making poor trades at FNM.
Thanks for doing this. I've never traded and didn't know what to do. This is great advice.
A good one.
I remember the good old days when I would do a dozen or more trades a week. There were all those trading sites like Communal Haven and Trading Card Games, and I would go to Post Office four nights a week to send cards to Australia, Canada, Spain and all over the world, while in the daytime my postman brought me cards from players I traded with. It somehow ended with Katrina. That's why I call it the Pre-Katrina Era. Life was different those days.
My LGS allows selling cards by players as long as they are tourney regulars. If you play every week, you can sell as many cards as you want. This also motivates people to actually play as often as possible. Those who show up thrice a year with their binder, and try to sell cards, are 'kindly' asked to leave.
Love the note about never using the lgs for your business, but rather getting the store involved in the trade! Beautiful! And so important! If we want to support our game stores which bring us so much value and joy
As someone getting more interested in the financial side of MTG, this is a fantastic video! Thank you!
Hey prof, please make a “is it worth it to buy Challenger Decks”. Great video btw :)
Pretty sure they mean for playable not value, Tho value yes!.
Xavier Hoppersmith you got it right
I mean their playability and how well they do in a competitive environment (out of the box) and how easily upgradable they are into tier 1 decks.
We do a lot of buying and selling in our LGS. The store is fine with this and actually is very creative to make sure they also have parts of the cake. They set up an escrow service so you can trade with people you don't know with the store as the middleman, making sure you only pay after you get your goods. You can even drop the goods in the store to be picked up by another customer, or collect your pay there. I think this is healthy for both the playerbase and the store.
great vid Prof, we all love your videos, i love that I can sit my kids down for educational and fun way to learn magic in a family safe and friendly environment. thank you again sir, my son and I look forward to meeting you @mox boarding house next month!
Very helpful video. The guidance is appreciated Professor!
Professor, The segment on Up/Down Trading is right on the money. I have a friend who my play group has named "The Foil-Boy". I have regularly traded him my foils of 50cent to 2 dollar foils for great cards that he has no use for. He'll even group text us with a picture of a card and tell us to get our foils ready.
you're doing a wonderfull job out there teacher"s :3 keep on going !
I’ve been playing Magic: The Gathering since Ravnica Allegiance and I wish I watch this video before. Thank You so much for your advices on trading Prof.
Trading is a wonderful experience in my eyes. I feel like I am always up trading or down trading. Turning junk into gems, or cards of value into cards I want is really satisfying. You honestly never know who will want to trade for things you have. :)
Insert MTG arena joke
Jonathan Walker oof, burnt
Love the 90's outro! And I was almost not gonna watch this since hearing people say downtrading is bad makes me anxious about my trading habits, since I downtrade a lot for weird commander cards.
When I was just getting into Commander, at my college we had an individual who would use TCGPlayer for trades.
Their method of conducting trades was something I look at in retrospect with great disdain.
They would value their cards that I want at the high price on TCG, and for the cards I offered/they wanted, the low. As a result, we would spend a great long time with them looking through my trades, and trying to come to an "even" trade.
Needless to say, my naive trade conduct has since changed, and thankfully I do not have to interact with this person anymore.
Planeswalker Project that guy sounds like a total penis.
Everyone uses tgc at my colllege BUT people just always do the average proce.
if your using tcg player its always best to go based on the damage of a card
for example, i own an angus McKenzie, which has a high value of about 250-300 so chances are id be comfterble selling it for around 275 cause its in great condition
Here in Brazil they, usually, doesn't care about selling or buying cards in their store,
they end up gaining some part of the money in anyway, so its fine :).
Great tips Professor, thanks!
Great video on a topic I haven't really thought too much about. Covers some nuances that those new to trading might not be familiar with. Strong work, Prof.
Its harder to find common or uncommon cards in my opinion. Must trad binders only have rarer or mytic. But when you ask if they have a common card like arbor elf. Every one answer the same. "Yes I have it, its back home". It took me 2 months to get hold of a simple arbor elf! Glad you talked about an common folder.
thank you for this. I've been playing Magic for only a little while and I have been very nervous about trading.
I'm going to be using this as an educational video for my kids.
Prof, what should I do if my entire binder is bulk rares?
Look for someone else with the same problem and go wild.
like me lol
Sleeve them up and play MiniCube
either that or find someone who is willing to uptrade for 'trade fodder' cards- like shock lands.
All hail commander players
good video, I love that you are always thinking about new players. we can all remember trading away great cards in our very early days because we didn't know any better. I traded a Sword of Light and Shadow for some Shadows/Eldritch Moon bulk rares!
I like your sponsorship deal with Card Kingdom. You give them the due mentions that their sponsorship warrants them, but you always give your actual opinion.
As someone who was considering getting into more competitive magic and trading thanks for this!
When trading I keep a mental catalog of my card prices so that when someone asks about the card I can respond instantly. I will once settled on card, however, check my phone on two- three sites for prices and clarify them with the person I'm trading with. I've also started doing like the Professor said and include cheap stable cards in my binder. I think this video clarified most of my trade rules so thanks Prof.
A tip that I use: if you have maybe trade cards (or not for trade cards, but still only 1 folder to sure cards in) use color-coded sleeves to let your trade partner know that certain cards are off limits or called higher by you.
Can you do a Deck Building video?
Also consider card condition when trading. With condition u can check it by looking at a card at an angle towards a light source and also look at the card edges for nicks of scrapes. And also know how to recognize counterfeit cards.
I use MTGScanner for each trade to make sure I don't get scammed on the prices.
It's super fast and simple to use.
playing for the past 21 years, and yet I still find this helpful. Only thing for me personally is, if it's in my binder... I trade it no matter what. Some people like that about me and my binder :)
I can't wait to see your thoughts on the Challenger Decks that were revealed.
What I have seen people do at my LGS is if there is a big difference in trade value, instead of using cash, they go the route of 'hey can a buy you a pack or do you want to pick something else out from the stores catalog and I will buy that for you to make up the difference.' I thought that was really clever.
I agree with everything in this video. I do feel one important note has been left out:
Down trading builds collections and up trading builds decks.
That should be, in my humble opinion, the key consideration, when doing either.
What a great video. Thank you for covering this topic. It's not something you see on UA-cam, but it is something every player can take something away from.
:) great intro to trading for new players and for old players to remember. Good job proff as always!
This was actually super well thought out and put together good job prof thanks
I have a 3 ring 3inch binder full of pages and I've organized it by color and Alphabetical order. It's seems a bit ridiculous but I've found it really draws attention from people who aren't sure what they're looking for and also helps those who are to find if I have the list of things they need.
Goblin guide
Red, Gs which is this page,
5 copies.
It really makes a difference as before I kept my cards sleeved but in fat pack boxes(probably giving away how long I've played) but it takes a lot of time and attention which most players don't want to spend while looking for trades as they would rather spend time playing.
I'd argue that fair value isn't even always a concern. I've recently been introducing a friend to the game and he was looking to trade off some booster pack cards he'd gotten. After pulling out one of the rares and a few uncommons, I expected him to grab at least a half dozen of the cards he was looking for (cheap red burn) but he only grabbed a number equal to the amount I wanted. I told him that the cards I had asked for were likely more valuable (by simple rarity, nothing super expensive) but he didn't care. What mattered to him was getting cards in his colors, it didn't matter how valuable the others were if he'd never use them.
So proud you weren’t biased by your sponsor
I used to keep a color organized fat pack full of inexpensive but in demand cards like Professor suggests @ 7:11, I'd often get trades going where I'd trade 15-20+ of those cards in exchange for only a few cards that I needed.
I once gave my buddy a conjurer's closet And in exchange he bought about 2 bucks of bulk for me at the lgs we were at. Will be doing more trades like this in the future
I keep 2 binders personally, both of which I just have organized by color. One binder contains only cards that are more than $5 and the other binder contains cards that are between $1 and $5. All my other bulk cards are just sitting in color organized long boxes in a closet at my house. Having the cards pre-sectioned off by general prices I find works well for me. I have a lot of friends who play MTG on a much more strict budget than me, so usually the only binder they would really be interested in looking through is what I refer to as my "Budget" binder. The binder with $5+ cards has stuff all the way up to several hundreds of dollars for single cards, so it doesn't do much good to have players like that looking through that stuff.
I just realized that Terese Nielsen is a patron of the show
How wonderful, that kinda made my day :)
Step 1: search cards price.
Step 2: compare.
That's it.
Yeah I really don't know why he attempted to add so much to a formula that works. If values are close enough for both players, and both are happy, the trades are fine.
Really? I thought the tip about having a trade folder is a good thing to talk about. It is also something to make sure you talk about for new player and kids that play the game. He talked about manners and just the mind set you should have when trading. All good info for new and young players.
The whole down trading thing I never knew tho so that's something I guess
This
As he said, not all values are equal. Even though the "value" of Standard cards may be high, they are not generally equal to the same value of Modern or Legacy cards.
It all comes down to why the players want the cards. Sometimes it is necessary to offer a "bonus" to be able to get that Dual Land you were wanting and all you have is Standard playables.
Also, using Delver Lens app for Android, you can quickly scan and price cards there and then. Amazing for speeding up trades while still being fair and accurate.
I traded vraska's contempt when it was around 50 cents. Damn, look at it now.
In my experience, downtrading is something that is really useful for new players - as long as it is done in a way that isn't taking advantage of them. Back when I was first getting into Magic (I had been playing causally for a couple of years, but I had never been to a card store until then) I had a Thoughtseize that was over $30, but I had no use for it, and was looking to dump it. A guy ended up trading me a pile of over 150 bulk rares and uncommons for it, and I couldn't have been happier. It probably would have cost a lot more than $30 to get all of those cards as a buyer, but as a seller he would never get that much for them, so it suited both of us well. And even though most of those cards weren't very good, as a new player just getting that many rares was a big deal, and many of those cards found their way into my first couple of commander decks.
The people at my LGS is pretty easygoing with price differences. The general rule is that if the value of all of the cards are less than $20 (10 on each side) then no more of a dollar difference is allowed. If the total is between 100 and 20 then 5 dollar difference is allowed. Then if it's 200 total, then 10 difference is allowed
I was in need of this video! Thank you, Prof!
Hi Prof! Its nice to see a review of challenger deck list and thoughts wotc released this last week.. :) more power!
If you made a video like this for Pokemon, mentioning rotation, staples and both formats, it would be amazing for newcomers to watch.
excellently timed video. I'm going to be sorting a trade folder very soon
FUCKING THANK YOU!!!
Okay, I’m newborn new to all things TCG and this video alone has prepared me tremendously for the trading and economics of MTG! While I’ve managed to learn to play and construct a deck, I’ve been embarrassingly timid and somewhat intimidated to actually ask people to trade. Now I have a much more thorough understanding of the social etiquette and card valuing of trading. I’m already swapping out half my binder to clear some “I-might-not-want-to-trade-that”s. Lol
Some of my best trades ever, since I started playing in 2011:
-Mishra’s workshop for 3 underground sea
-expedition arid Mesa and 4 bfz battle lands for a tundra
-Vendillion clique for liliana of the veil and Vorenclex (before mm2 release)
-Foil Cavern of Souls for 2x nonfoil Cavern of souls
-2x foil sublime archangel for 10 shocklands (I don’t remember which ones and this was when those angels were 50 apiece)
-Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker for a Flusterstorm (this one was to a shop)
That said, I don’t trade much anymore. I don’t really need many cards and the few I do need, nobody has for trade, especially the cheap commander staples.
At 13:28 Hey! I recognize that store I think. Phoenix Comics in Seattle?
First: Thank you for this video, it's really helpful. I usually keep all my rares in one folder including the ones I won't trade, that sure will change now ^^
And now story time:
I remember that one time. I was still playing YuGiOh! and was on a sneak preview. I draw an insanely desired card I didn't need at all. And one guy of larger group wanted to trade it. He had many valuable cards but sadly I didn't need any of them. One other guy of the group had the one card I was still looking for and so I traded with him. The other guy was so furious and angry, not at me but the one I traded with. I had the opinion that he was entitled to the trade as he was the first one to ask me.
Saying no and accepting a no is so important.
Ive organised my binder by colour mainly then a section of legendary creatures, tribal section, foils then 2 pages for personal use as storage with tweaking a deck or where i put my recent pick ups from the store or trades.
Nice video Prof! Good info for new and veterans alike. Trading cards in for 25% of the value to the store is a big NN. Always trade to other players to keep from being scammed. If you need $ sell it on ebay for 10% lower than the lowest one listed. You still will get almost or more than twice what you will get at the store. For example you have a 15$ card in nm with one white spec on it, the card store will say its LP, bringing the card value to 10$, then they will have a trade in policy for store credit of 50% max which brings the card now down to 5$. Say you get this 5$ for the card and want to use it to buy another 5$ card. The store most likely acquired the 5$ card u want to buy for somewhere around 2$. So in all actuallity in the end you lost $13 out of $15. Thats not even taking into consideration that the store is more knowledge full about values and swings. Say that card jumps to $25 within 2 weeks. You are now looking at 2/25 or 8/100 which means you sold that highly desirable card for 8% of its true value to a scammer shop that thinks they deserve to pull this crap off. Its all stores.......
Then you have the broke budget regulars who move in also with their scams lol forgot about that. These regulars also put on a show and look to build their decks for close to 0. The card shops allow this because they now have actors which can push people in the direction the card shop wants them to go.... ya it's actually just human behavior but dont think the card shop is your friend.
3:45 i have some cards that i would rather not trade, but do if there is something important to trade into. i just have these cards upside down in my binder, so they are easily recognizable
Please don't take this as an insult,but thank you for making boring things fun ,only MTG channel I listen to!
Very nice outline. I for one appreciate that organization.
Love your videos! Have an amazing day! 😀😊 (also, tcc, you helped me get more into magic, thanks!)
Thank you tcc!!!
Never thought of puting it on store credit, thanks!
Thanks for this. I'm good at commander, but I suck with standard, and have a lot of cards that suck for commander but are good for standard, and I also suck at trading. Needed this.
11:32
Can you do a card list of the jank cube? I'm interested.
Every new player should watch this video.
Professor, your thoughts on The Dryad Arbor FTV??
I've never really had a trade binder but my friend will sometimes have multiple so whenever he's trading I'll always watch the other person to make sure they don't try to pull something out while he's distracted. So there can be another tip have someone watch or just don't look through them at the same time. Might take longer but you'll hopefully not have any cards stolen
I usually just point out what cards are either. Harder to trade or not for trade. I have my "better" cards in Dex protection binders, a land binder, 2 "unorganized random" binders and a personal collection binder.
(Totally forgot about the 3 inch binder with foils organized by color and set)
Just to point-out what most people forget or don't realize when talking about how CardMarket.com has the lowest prices - shipping is sometimes very expensive, especially when buying many cards from many different people. Ow and I support Pauper! :)
Back when i was really into magic (least before diving back in recently) another thing i learned quickly is paying it forward to newer players... Are they offering a much more valuable card that doesnt seem valuable to them for some reason (wether ignorance or over excitement)? Be kind, suggest sone extras to give them to equalize the one sided trade, it usually comes bsck to you in the future in a way
When I got back into the game during ravnica theros standard I was trying to build U/W control and while looking through some of my old stuff I found out I had a foil cranial plating. I offered a trade with a guy, my foil cranial plating from 5th Dawn for his Jace architect of thought.... Yeah he was trying to make it seem like it wasn't the best idea for him but he knew what he was doing.
Down trading a foil for a non-foil version of the same card, plus a bunch of others that add up to the equivalent value is a good deal. You always have to consider how much you get hosed trading in to stores for a comparison, unless you sell online.
Are you going to make a video over the new challenger decks?
Some great tips for newer players!
My problem with organizing is getting a new card then trying to add it to my perfectly organized binder.
Hahahaha, yes! When I traded I used to say "I need to defrag my binder"
Completely understand. That's why I personally use 3 ring binders with baseball card pages, so I can add pages where needed. It still bothers me when the cards on a single page are out of order.
I love all your videos thanks to you I have found and bought a satin pro box you got me more into magic. Best regards,Kaiel
How do you decide what cards are worth saving for personal collection as opposed to trading them? (eternal-playable is not enough because of Commander)
Didn't know about Scryfall, nice site. But I was not able to find a way, even with the advanced search, to look for foils? Am I missing something? :/
Also, what are your recommendations on binders Professor? I like the way the binder at 1:20 looks, what is it and where can I get it?
I often find myself down trading to profit in the long run. Five five dollar cards that see steady play for a twenty-five dollar card that sees play usually nets a profit overtime as the five dollar cards may rise an average of two dollars a piece in the same time period that the twenty-five dollar card rises around five dollars, in such a case my profit over time has doubled.
for me i do color and card type (in order creature, sorcery, instant then enchantment.) in my binders with rarity (in order mythic, rare, uns and commons.) when shown. for artifacts its reagular artifacts then equips then creatures. lands is by all/unique first (exm command tower) then by color then split color (white/blue, white/black, blue/red then blue/green and such.) in them.
New to magic. This was super helpful.
In your opinion, do reserved list cards command value above their price? For example, would you trade two copies of Liliana of the Veil ($110, modern and legacy staple but not on the reserved list) for a revised edition Tundra? ($220, and it is on the reserved list). Would you call that a fair trade?
I would not trade my Thundra, unless i really needed those Lilis... But i´m no professor ^^
Lilianas will be reprinted again; Tundras won't. The Tundra trader will lose the trade in the long run. I would request some additional value
no its just whatever the price atm is, that's high enough. I even see reserved list stuff selling for half SCG on facebook. I have noticed tho that people tend to sell reserved list stuff for cash rather than trade it.
Reserved list can definitely affect trades. I really wanted a guy's City of Shadows a few months ago, and he was hesitant. Knowing the price would only ever go up (and preferring to trade cards I wasn't using over spending cash) and that it was a card rarely seen in trade binders, I offered him double value in trade. He took it, and we both walked away happy. Like others have said - reserved list cards don't drop - they maintain or go up. Reprintable cards can sometimes plummet overnight.
A card's worth is only based on it's usefulness to the player. If a card's monetary value is far less than what is being traded for it, but it's key to a deck I'm building, it holds far more value to me than its monetary value.
Bobcat dad Using an arbitrary metric such as usefulness is only ok if both players want to do so. I would say only if you are the one down trading should you bring up that you are ok trading for cards of lower value. It seems shady to say "Hey, I know you will be running this in one of your decks so will you trade for this card of lower value?"
Protagonist I would never trade up such a significant amount just because I know a player needs a lower priced card. I would always sweeten it by bundling other cards he needs into it so we can get closer to the price. What I was saying is I don't mind trading off a high priced card that is useless to me for a low priced card or 2 that I know I will run. In the end, they are just ink on cardstock.