Was I ripped off?
General forum
Posted on April 30, 2011, 11:29 p.m. by JasperTheOtter
So I go to my town's local tournament every Sunday (Except for Christian Holdays, take Easter for example) and there is a guy there who is there every week, and pretty funny (Which is irrevelant, but meh. Might share his Buzzed Magic joke later.) and I wanted to improve my White/Blue deck. So he took a look at my rares and found a Sword of Light and Shadow, which I was assuming someone would eventually come to, and wanted to trade for it. "It's about fourty dollars right now." Were his exact words, except in an easygoing tone.
So he brought up his binder and I searched for a few cards that I thought would be good for my deck, so I flipped through and found a few, with his help (I am a bit younger of a magic player so not super familiar with all of the standard cards yet.) He set up my deck and dissected it into cards that could be replaced for better cards, cards that would need to be removed to make the deck run more smooth. So while he did that, I searched up and down in his binder, and through that, got a few cards:
x1 Jace Beleren x1 Sunblast Angel x1 Contagion Engine x1 Inkmoth Nexus x1 Tectonic Edge x2 Everflowing Chalice x2 Into the Roil x2 card:White Sun's Zenithx2 Mana Leak x1 Hero of Bladehold x1 Sphinx of Magosi x1 Treasure Mage x1 Student of Warfare x1 Chimeric Mass
Was it worth the Sword, or should I confront him?
Epochalyptik says... #3
Sword of Light and Shadow is actually closer to $30-33.
Jace Beleren , Inkmoth Nexus , Hero of Bladehold , and Student of Warfare total about that much on their own.
Tectonic Edge and Everflowing Chalice are $2-2.50 power uncommons.
You made out well on the deal. Better than he did, actually.
April 30, 2011 11:53 p.m.
MagnorCriol says... #4
Well first off, most of the prices I can find for the Sword of L&S (just by googling "Sword of Light and Shadow Price") actually have it running $35-$38 dollars, so he actually gave you a few bucks extra by valuing it at $40.
Second, as for what you got (again, based on just some quick internet searches):
x1 Jace Beleren ~$10.00
x1 Sunblast Angel ~$ 1.00
x1 Contagion Engine ~$ 1.75
x1 Inkmoth Nexus ~$10.00
x1 Tectonic Edge ~$ 3.00
x2 Everflowing Chalice ~$ 4.00 ($2 apiece)
x2 Into the Roil ~$ 0.50 ($0.25 apiece)
x2 card:White Sun's Zenith ~$ 2.00 ($1 apiece)
x2 Mana Leak ~$ 1.50 (0.75 apiece)
x1 Hero of Bladehold ~$ 5.50
x1 Sphinx of Magosi ~$ 1.00
x1 Treasure Mage ~$ 0.50
x1 Student of Warfare ~$ 5.50
x1 Chimeric Mass ~$ 1.00
= ~$47.25So not only did he bump up the average value of the sword, but he gave you higher than the price he named. I'd say you were far from ripped off; sounds like you've got a good guy on your hands. (Or one who's very, very bad with money and values, but that's not as likely. )
April 30, 2011 11:56 p.m.
In short, I'd say you both did fine; 'value' wise and 'trade' wise. You both walked away with cards you wanted/needed. Seems like a good and honest trading partner to me.
May 1, 2011 12:01 a.m.
JasperTheOtter says... #6
Yeah, he didn't really care about the cards he was trading away, he was good with money, and he's nice. He makes pretty fair trades. The reason I posted this thread is 'casue I went to an FNM tournament and I was told that I was ripped off by $20.00 easily. Boy was he wrong.
(Plus he told me white suns were only worth fifty cents)
And honestly, I had no idea that Everflowing Chalice and Tectonic Edge were so boss.
lol. Just remembered that the same guy who said this guy ripped me off gave me four free Celestial Colonnade s. Free cards for the WIN!!!
May 1, 2011 12:19 a.m.
MagnorCriol says... #7
Haha, yeah, the guy who said you got ripped off definitely needs some fact-checking. Like kabrazell said, I think you've got a good trading partner there.
May 1, 2011 1:15 a.m.
metalmagic says... #8
28.50 for the cheapest unplayed Sword, 25.50 for a lightly played one. You definitely came out a bit ahead.
May 1, 2011 3:15 a.m.
JasperTheOtter says... #9
Yeah. I forgot to mention he also got me some card cases, which came out to be $8.00...
Oh god, this thread is making me feel guilty.
May 1, 2011 10:38 a.m.
Also, you up-traded immensely. You got rid of a bunch of useful but kinda common cards for a hot card.
May 1, 2011 11 a.m.
Doh. Well he up-traded. I always preferred to do that back in the day but deck-building wasn't as big a part of it as simply cash value.
Whenever I down-trade I always demanded a higher price than it was actually worth.
May 1, 2011 11:39 a.m.
JasperTheOtter says... #13
The reason I decided to take a bunch of little cards was to improve my U/W Control deck (Hidden Dagger) and because he said he'd help me and knew I was going to use the cards to construct my deck. And he's nice.
May 1, 2011 1:49 p.m.
JasperTheOtter says... #14
The reason I decided to take a bunch of little cards was to improve my U/W Control deck (Hidden Dagger) and because he said he'd help me and knew I was going to use the cards to construct my deck. And he's nice.
May 1, 2011 1:49 p.m.
Prophylaxis says... #16
One more thing - the old swords are not good pickups right now. Their price was massively rocketed, and they'll come back down, $20-$25.
May 1, 2011 2:40 p.m.
AEtherZero says... #17
How the heck did you manage to get four free celestial colonnades?
May 2, 2011 9:01 a.m.
JasperTheOtter says... #18
The Celestial Colonnade s were from a guy who had seven of them and because of being super amazing at mtgo or something was getting three playsets of every card in worldwake. I think it's either from MTGO (Don't ask me how) or lots of money saved up from something or another.
Anyhoo, no, he didn't give me candy. But he did have a great sense of humor.
Uglulyx says... #2
Looks to me like you broke even at least. I often don't really care if I'm even or not in a trade so long as I get something I need or can trade off for more later.
April 30, 2011 11:52 p.m.