Rough trade
January 21st 2009 00:32
There’s little more than a week left until the Conflux pre-release. Even after only two days of Wizards of the Coast’s previews, there already looks to be an awful lot of cool stuff on its way. Better start picking out what you want now.
You might be lucky enough to get the new Nicol Bolas (he’s a lot like the old Nicol Bolas, except much, much more powerful) in your sealed deck, but if you’re not, you might find yourself having to trade. Trading Magic cards with other players does not follow the rules of the free market, or indeed any market known to mankind. Supply exerts less influence over demand than how many copies Luis Scott-Vargas played at the last Pro Tour. A black-bordered version of a card has roughly twice the trade value of a white-bordered version – even when the white-bordered version has the same art or, bizarrely, better art. Nobody wants promotional cards at all, even though many of them are very cool.
Trading is supposed to be one of the most efficient ways to get what you want. The theory is that you want to make one Standard (or Extended, Legacy, Vintage, etc) deck, and so you don’t need cards that go in other Standard decks, and so if you have any you can trade them to people who do need them and have things for your deck. This would work out just great, if not for the existence of A) people who want to make every deck in Standard, B) people who know which of their cards will be in demand and want to “trade up.”
Note that, in this case, “trading up” does not generally mean “give cards you don’t like/need/play with to get cards you do like/need/play with.” Rather, “trading up” is commonly used as code for acquiring expensive cards, or just cards that appear impressive or intimidating in your trade binder, by foisting useless cards on other, unsuspecting players.
Now, the issue here is not giving someone a card that’s less valuable than the one they gave you. There’s nothing wrong with that, as long as both people are aware of the disparity in value and they both accept it. I have a problem, though, with packing your trade binder with rare lands from Ravnica and refusing to consider any offer that doesn’t include a Mox Pearl. I have a problem with finding someone at the pre-release and pretending you don't know that his Martial Coup is worth less than your Squire. That’s called insider trading, and when Ken Lay did it, he was investigated by Congress. You’re more honest than Ken Lay, right?
Right?
Jellyfish and paladins and dinosaurs, oh my!
You might be lucky enough to get the new Nicol Bolas (he’s a lot like the old Nicol Bolas, except much, much more powerful) in your sealed deck, but if you’re not, you might find yourself having to trade. Trading Magic cards with other players does not follow the rules of the free market, or indeed any market known to mankind. Supply exerts less influence over demand than how many copies Luis Scott-Vargas played at the last Pro Tour. A black-bordered version of a card has roughly twice the trade value of a white-bordered version – even when the white-bordered version has the same art or, bizarrely, better art. Nobody wants promotional cards at all, even though many of them are very cool.
Not in demand. For some reason.
Trading is supposed to be one of the most efficient ways to get what you want. The theory is that you want to make one Standard (or Extended, Legacy, Vintage, etc) deck, and so you don’t need cards that go in other Standard decks, and so if you have any you can trade them to people who do need them and have things for your deck. This would work out just great, if not for the existence of A) people who want to make every deck in Standard, B) people who know which of their cards will be in demand and want to “trade up.”
Note that, in this case, “trading up” does not generally mean “give cards you don’t like/need/play with to get cards you do like/need/play with.” Rather, “trading up” is commonly used as code for acquiring expensive cards, or just cards that appear impressive or intimidating in your trade binder, by foisting useless cards on other, unsuspecting players.
Two cards that are not equivalent, except when someone wants your Tarmogoyf.
Now, the issue here is not giving someone a card that’s less valuable than the one they gave you. There’s nothing wrong with that, as long as both people are aware of the disparity in value and they both accept it. I have a problem, though, with packing your trade binder with rare lands from Ravnica and refusing to consider any offer that doesn’t include a Mox Pearl. I have a problem with finding someone at the pre-release and pretending you don't know that his Martial Coup is worth less than your Squire. That’s called insider trading, and when Ken Lay did it, he was investigated by Congress. You’re more honest than Ken Lay, right?
Right?
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