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Phantom
08-02-2007, 05:15 PM
So, I'm not sure if this is an appropriate place to ask this, but here goes:

I've recently gotten a decent job (read: some disposable money), and was thinking about restarting a collection of MTG cards (my previous collection was stolen, back when my mox was worth barely a hundy), with a focus of Legacy playable cards.

Now, say i have a set budget, which might not be true, but let's say it's 500 duckets. I could simply go on Ebay (side question, what is the best non auction place to buy cards, or is there one?) and buy as many cards/decks as 500 will go, but then I'm done. Or i guess I could simply buy as many affordable (like under 20 bucks) Legacy staples as I can, and proxy up the rest (this would make me happy since I would have a lot of playable cards, but would pretty much prohibit me from competitive play). Lastly, I could simply purchase 500 dollars worth of packs, and attempt to trade for the cards I want (I like this because it seems fun, but also a pain in the ass).

Or I could buy duals and sit on them? I guess there is no wrong choice, but I would really appreciate some input.

C.P.
08-03-2007, 09:59 AM
Duals. Fetches. FoW.

I mean, really.

zulander
08-03-2007, 10:05 AM
Yeah, read the staples of legacy post somewhere around here and pick up as many of those cards. Local card shops are a good alternative to ebay. Pickup the commons like duress/brainstorms from friends, most of them should have about 45 playsets.

As far as duals/fetches try to get a set of fetches, and a set of blue duals. Other duals and stuff are fairly easy to pickup from your local metagame for like $15-$20, and you'll only need to pick those up if you're playing a specific deck, but most of the decks run blue.

Phantom
08-03-2007, 11:04 AM
I think maybe you're misunderstanding my question. I know what cards I need to get in order to play Legacy competitively, I'm asking for the best way to go about acquiring them. So to break it down further, here are my questions:

1) Is it a better use of money to acquire the Legacy staples correctly? Or will I end up with more if I sink the money into packs, and if so which packs, and trade for Legacy staples?

2) What is the best non-Ebay site to purchase cards on? (if there is another decent one)

zulander
08-03-2007, 11:17 AM
1. Don't buy packs, buy singles.

2. I don't really buy off the internet, but the stores I know of are like starcity.com and such.

B.C.
08-03-2007, 11:20 AM
2) What is the best non-Ebay site to purchase cards on? (if there is another decent one)

http://www.cardshark.com/

A really good marketplace where you buy cards from individual sellers. Very competitive pricing.

jazzykat
08-03-2007, 11:29 AM
1. Don't buy packs, buy singles.


QFT.


Packs are the biggest waste of money on the planet. The only reason you should buy them is to play in a draft and then use the cards for Type 2. Otherwise packs are the shittiest way to get good cards.

umbowta
08-03-2007, 11:52 AM
http://www.cardshark.com/

A really good marketplace where you buy cards from individual sellers. Very competitive pricing.
Seconded. It's very easy to get deals through cardshark on good cards that aren't "hot" at the moment.

Getting "hot" cards cheap is as easy as having no soul, drafting with morons, and stealing their cards in lopsided trades.

Blair Phoenix
08-03-2007, 12:39 PM
I'd say buy one good deck's worth so you have the option of playing competitvely and use the rest of the money to start buying staples to build up your collection.

hi-val
08-03-2007, 12:49 PM
Cardshark's only problem that I found is that if you want, say, 4 Trops and you see them at a good price but from different sellers, you have to add at least $2 to the price of every one because they won't combine shipping. It's good to be aware of that when you're shopping around. www.findmagiccards.com lets you compare many stores' prices. Just look at the recent feedback on stores, as some are being really awful (TheCounterspell is one I had problems with).

Phantom
08-03-2007, 02:26 PM
Packs are the biggest waste of money on the planet. The only reason you should buy them is to play in a draft and then use the cards for Type 2. Otherwise packs are the shittiest way to get good cards.

Am I to assume from this that a hundred dollars in packs will not yield a hundred dollars in singles? Or that current singles are difficult to trade for Legacy staples?

@everyone: Thatnks for the heads up.

from Cairo
08-03-2007, 04:46 PM
Blackboarder.com also has a comparison section where they have prices listed from 6-8 stores, and they generally undercut them or match the lowest.

Ebay is really the best though in my experience. For getting commons the ebay-stores will often have x4 for less then a dollar + a buck or two shipping, if you know what you need you can shop around and get all the various commons/uncommons/non-hype rares for $15-20 then can look at the real auctions for picking up the rest of the cards at generally 50-66% of the going rate of other online stores.

xsockmonkeyx
08-04-2007, 03:18 PM
Well, if you are starting from scratch I would recommend working the higher and lower ends of the price spectrum first and work your way towards the middle. The good cards in legacy tend to be very expensive or very cheap for some reason and this way you stand to get the most used cards in the format. While you are going after things like blue duals, fetchs and FoW you can be picking up essentials like Lightning Bolt, Dark Rituals, Brainstorms, StPs and all those other cards that end up in almost every deck out there. Basically, get the cards that are most commonly played first.

Pinder
08-04-2007, 03:29 PM
Am I to assume from this that a hundred dollars in packs will not yield a hundred dollars in singles? Or that current singles are difficult to trade for Legacy staples?


A little bit of both. There are few cards that have been printed recently that can match the value of Legacy staples. Although, with Tenth we got a lot of Legacy playable stuff reprinted, i.e., Pithing Needle, Troll Ascetic, Quirion Dryad, Crucible of Worlds, Mogg Fanatic, and probably a couple others I'm missing. Also, Tarmogoyf is awesome, but the rest of Future Sight kind of sucked.

And I can guaran-damn-tee you that $100 in packs =/= $100 worth of cards. Buy singles.

Lego
08-06-2007, 03:23 PM
Personally, I would start by picking a deck or two that you want to play, preferably something that is cheap, or something that is going to be playable for a long time. Buy the cards for that, and then you've got something useful for competitive play.

From there, look around for good deals on Legacy staples. Start trying to build other decks you think you might want to play. If you enjoy drafting, do that at your local store and try to trade some of the stuff you pull for cheaper legacy cards. Look through the common boxes at your local store. You'll find a whole lot of good legacy cards for under a buck.