[Official] Source Secret Santa 2014

[Valtrix]

The Source Secret Santa 2014

1. Introduction
2. How to sign up
3. Requirements for sign up
4. How the event will be organized
5. How to write a wish list
6. What to send
7. Backup santas
8. Expectations and issues
9. Dates

Introduction

Hello everyone, this brings another year of organizing The Source Secret Santa. This is a very popular event that many people enjoy, so let’s make it another great year. If you’re not familiar the basic idea is this: Send cards to a random person based on their wish list and receive cards from a random person from your wish list. Pretty simple! As long as everybody agrees to a few standards everything will go smoothly and we can have another great year.

How to sign up

Post in this thread indicating that you would like to sign up, along with your wish list. You may update your wish list after your initial post! After you sign up, please send me a private message with the information as below. If you forget to send me a message, I will also ask you for it.

• Real name
• Address
• Country/region
• Alternative contact (phone number or email or some other contact)
• Willing to ship internationally?

Your name and address will only be shared with the person sending you a gift and myself. The alternative contact will only be known by me and only used if I have tried to contact you via forum private message but have not heard back from you in a timely manner. This is purely a quality control effort, as last year there were a few people which didn’t communicate well and I’d like to avoid that this year. If you're concerned about any of these details, send me a message to discuss it. Really, communication is the most important part of this event!

Requirements for sign up

First, you must let me know your participation by 11/11/14. However, you can still sign up after this deadline on a rolling basis. What I'll do is that when two people sign up after the deadline they will get paired together. This way everybody that wants to participate can, even if you're on the fence originally. If you sign up late just expect that your package might arrive a little late!

Otherwise you must have an account which has been registered for 3 months and a post count of at least 25 to sign up with no questions asked. However, in the past we’ve had plenty of lurkers with great gifts, so if you don’t meet these two requirements just send me a message detailing your interest in the event. I’ll do a brief screening and might ask you a couple questions before adding you to the event. Sorry for anybody that this is an inconvenience to, but I think everybody will feel a bit better participating knowing that there’s a small screening process.

How the event will be organized

Pairings will happen randomly between people in the same groups (the states and international shippers). You will not be receiving cards from the same person you are sending cards to, unless you sign up after the normal sign up date in which case I will just pair each new two people together. This way you can't really feel bad about sending somebody more than they sent you since it's a different person sending you things.

I will track everybody's information to make sure that people ship on time and have received their packages. That means when you ship or receive you should let me know so I can mark you down for this.

How to write a wish list

The minimum gift amount this year will be $35. Many people tend to go more than that, this is just a guideline. The minimum is to ensure quality gifting. Unfortunately with rising legacy costs this year's minimum is a bit higher than in the past. If you don't feel like you can give an adequate gift, then please do not participate. Your wish list should contain cards with a mix of values and try to include as many things as you can to try and help make life as easy as possible for your secret Santa. If you ask for really expensive or hard to find things it might be difficult for your Santa to assemble a good package!

Try to be as specific as possible. Include the maximum number of a card you would like to receive. (That is, don’t write “daze,” instead say “3 daze”). Let people know how you feel about foils or foreign cards. If there are certain things you prioritize the most, indicate that in your wish list. Below is an example of a great wish list from last year. It has a mix of values and formats for the desired cards and is well put together. The more things you ask for the better, as it gives your Santa more options. (But only put things you'd be happy receiving of course. Spend a little time on this.)

- Alpha or Beta basics, any shape.
- 4 portal/ Portal 2nd age Armageddons!
- 4 Stronghold Ensnaring Bridges.
- Any number of Artificer's Intuition. Foil or non foil, any language which is not Italian/English.
- 4 Baleful Strix.
- 1 foil english Ancestral Vision
- 4 Submerge
- 3 Unexpectedly Absent
- 3 Toxic Deluge
- 1 Strategic Planning
- 4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
- 1 foil english 7th Fallen Angel
- 1 Linvala, keeper of silence
- 4 Birds of Paradise (any edition with old frame!)
- 1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
- 1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
- 1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
- 3 Bonfire of the Damned
- 4 Young Pyromancer
- 3 Cryptic Command
- 4 Loxodon Smiter

What to send

Obviously try to fill out your Santa’s request as best you can, within reasonable cost limits. You might want to stop by a local game store, or even order a few things online yourself for your gift receiver. Remember that the minimum recommended gift is amount is $35 in card value. Sometimes you might not be able to fill the needs of a particular person’s list very well. As long as you can get them some things from their list, there are lots of simple ways to supplement your gift to turn it into a great package. Here are a few suggestions:

• Send chocolate. Everybody loves sweets!
• Make an abacus life counter (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UAcSHttpiA). I made one of these my first year and my recipient loved it.
• Card alters: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSS1mEadWqo). Even if you’re not a fantastic artist it’s not too difficult to do some boarder extensions on cards with simple color schemes.
• Use cheap cards to tell some kind of story. For example, last year I had a stack of cards and sticky notes between them last year which told a silly Christmas story. They said silly things like, “This year I…” then there was a copy of opt “…ed to send you a great gift.”
• Sending Legacy staples is also a good way to flesh out your package too, even if they’re not on your sender’s list.
• Scout a user’s posts and see what they play. Maybe if they play a lot of lightning bolt decks you could send them a cool lightning bolt—foil, old edition, altered, foreign, whatever.

Backup Santas

From past experience, there are usually a couple people that don't receive gifts. This is unfortunate, but unavoidable. In these cases it's good to have a few people as backup santas who can send out a gift in case of an issue like this. If this is something you're willing to do, let me know. It will be greatly appreciated.

Expectations and Issues

Have the expectation that the package you receive might be a little worse than the one you spend, but if something like this would ruin your experience than it might not be best to participate. This is supposed to be a fun event and in general it is but some mishaps are unfortunately unavoidable. Make sure to let me know when you receive your gift and when you ship. It would be nice if you also post a picture of the package you receive.

If there are any issues with any part of the event, please send me a private message. Really, it can be anything. Did my person ship? Is my package good enough? I’m not sure I can do a good job with my person’s list, what should I do? I will keep my inbox empty and will do my best to handle any problems that come up this year in a timely manner.

Important: Try to keep negativity out of this thread. If there is a real problem, it is best to deal with it by sending me a message first.

Dates

11/11/14: Last day to sign up. Late enrollers will be accepted on a rolling basis. See signup details.
11/12/14: Pairing will be sent out.
12/12/14: Recommended ship by date. If you’re international, consider going sooner if you can.

Participants

1. Sloshthedark
2. Elias
3. Dice_Box
4. Einherjer
5. Whippoorwill
6. Fry
7. iamajellydonut
8. Zombiesquisher
9. zulander
10. afb0032
11. amalek0
12. PirateKing
13. Kayradis
14. haganbmj
15. UseLess
16. SupREME-10
17. tsabo_tavoc
18. Krasman
19. Monkey_Island
20. T-101
21. L0cke
22. Arianrhod
23. The_Dingo
24. Megadeus
25. Undomian
26. Myelectronicdays
27. Pellefant
28. TheArchitect
29. Goin Aggro
30. xterminans
31. entity
32. survival
33. Lord_Mcdonalds
34. PhanTom_lt
35. Samantha
36. sephorusFR
37. LIKEABOSS
38. Schembo
39. spartan117
40. barcode
41. GnuHouse
42. Kathal
43. shpishay
44. EpicLevelCommoner
45. demonlord340
46. JamieW89
47. Pastorofmuppets
48. Redkid43
49. Allcoin
50. goblinsplayer
51. alphastryk
52. mini1337s
53. joretapo
54. aesercos
55. HammerAndSickled
56. Maagler
57. natethegrate
58. Jon
59. Klazam
60. Gobo17
61. kiblast
62. H

Note: People with low post numbers/join dates will be allowed to participate, but will be paired only with other people in similar circumstances.

[Elias]

Down.

Wishlist:
1 Goblin Token Drawn by you
Xx 5th Korean Basics
Xx 9th Russian Basics
3 Korean Carpet of Flowers
2 Russian FUT Tombstalker

Those are my only specific wants. I mainly play storm variants. I love random cool cards, signed, foil, misprint/cut, foreign, altered. The only expensive things I need is 4 German LEDs so if your feeling especially generous...

[Megadeus]

I'm in as well.

Here's a wish list, probably will add more as I think about it:
Khans Fetches
2x Russian Life from the Loam (gotta finish the set!)
1x Russian Gitaxian Probe
Any lingering souls. Best card ever printed.
Any foreign things for my dead guy deck.
Sylvain Library for edh
Foil Foreign Deus of Calamity (any but Japanese for my collection!)
2x Snapcaster Mage
Zendikar Basics
Shocklands
4x Young Pyromancer
4x Serum Visions
Some of those blank cards from like the old championship decks so I can paint proxy power on them (or if you want to alter power on them that would also be sweet!)
4x Goblin Welder
4x Ancient Tomb
4x Interesting Lightning Bolts
Anything sweet for a Roon (Bant) EDH deck.
4x FBB Red Elemental Blast
1x Sword of Light and Shadow
2x Crackling Doom
2x Toxic Deluge
2x Chrome Mox
4x Mox Diamond
Other random legacy Dega stuff

Any modern playable is welcome. Breaking into the format so I don't have much of the randomly somewhat pricey uncommon and such

Anything that doesn't have specific language listed I'm cool with any! (English included)

Also anything playable that gets a sweet Christmas alter will definitely be played in my decks!

*when I say alter, it doesn't need to be pro. I love cheesy things

[Fry]

I'd love to do this again this year. I am in.
My wish list is the following:



Cheatyface from UNhinged. any number. It's my card to collect
Any random foil Enchantment Creatures from Theros block (I think the borders look awesome foil)
1 Virtue's Ruin
2 Toxic Deluge
1 True-Name Nemesis

Would be awesome for my Progenitus Super-Friends EDH, but probably not (which is all well and good)
1 Set Foil Kiora

Mainly though I just want to get a couple awesome things, and something signed/altered by my SSS would be awesome, but not required)

Hope you all have a great experience!

P.S.
I love the look of the Cyrillic language. Only want it for the language and I love Foils, so any crap Foil Russian card would be awesome too!

[Phelix]

xx Foil japanese caltrops
1 Japanese containment priest
1 beta plains
2 flickerwisp
2 spirit of the labyrinth
2 dig through time
1 awesome and inventive marit lage token.
1 korean smokestack
extra long sleeves that are good for double sleeved decks.

[Whippoorwill]

Definitely in.


Wishlist:
I generally prefer Korean cards, but I like all languages.
Non-foil cards preferred.
I mainly play Legacy, Vintage and EDH (casual-competitive) and don't really have any decks, just whatever looks fun that I can build. Lately for Legacy I've been playing Dega and Grixis Delver (basically UR Delver with a small black splash).

• 1 Foil Black/Artifact/Non-Basic Land card signed by you. This is for a mono-Black EDH deck and can be anything no matter how bad.
• 4x Treasure Cruise (Korean preferred, but any language okay as long as they match. Signed by you on the bottom would also be awesome.)
• Vintage proxies done by you.
• 1x Korean FBB 4th Lightning Bolt (to finish a playset)
• Xx Korean FBB 4th Basic Lands (All types, but mainly 1-2 Plains since I have 0 of those)
• 1x Korean Kiora Emblem (My 4x Korean Kioras still need one )
• Xx Korean Kraken Tokens (see above)
• 2x Dig Through Time (to finish my playset)
• Surprise me!

[Dice_Box]

I am up for it.

Wish list:
Something that would go into a rarely played tier 2 deck and I will see about building it for the fun of it. Promise photos of the cards and completed deck.
The other choices would be anything that would go into a Child of Alara EDH list, or some number of Toys for the infect deck. (I need the creatures, I have the expensive stuff)

I rather English cards, unless I get one of you crazy Germans... Please don't make me build a whole deck with German cards... Would be a hell of a project.

Dice.

[Einherjer]

I think it's the third time for me! I am in!

My wishlist:

I'd love to receive altered cards. (Valtrix made 4 outstanding Swords to Plowshares last year, I played with them at the GP and BoM and I will also take them to GP NJ. The year before I received an awesome package by Whippoorwill that had some awesome Angel tokens which I used ever since.)
So I'd really like to receive altered cards, but more the serious kind of alters so I can integrate them into my soon-to-be-fully-altered-Miracles. Most of the alterations have a story to tell, so I'd love to add a new story to them!

That's the cards that I am missing from the MB which should have higher priority:

4 Scalding Tarn
4 Flooded Strand
2 Arid Mesa
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Jace, the Mindsculptor
1 Council's Judgment


But I do understand that these are pretty expensive, so I'd also greatly appreciate altered cards for my sideboard as well:

1 Counterspell
2-3 Flusterstorm
2 Red Elemental Blast
1-2 Pyroblast
1 Council's Judgment
1 Engineered Explosives
2-3 Vendilion Clique
1 Disenchant
2 Rest in Peace

Greetings

[haganbmj]

Down for this as well.
All of these are "Up to X" numbers; I buy a lot of foreign cards as 1-ofs, so every card in those categories especially helps tremendously when I'm working to complete playsets.

Wishlist (non-foil)

Stuff for my current project: German Elves

• 1 Null Rod (German)
• 1-2 Disfigure(s) (German)
• 1 Heritage Druid (German)
• Any information leading to the procurement of German Portal Natural Orders or German Green Onslaught Fetches

Other

• 1 Tukatongue Thallid (Russian)
• 4 Infernal Tutor (Russian/German)
• 1 Summoner's Pact [Future Sight] (German)
• 4 Crop Rotation (German)
• 1 Rain of Filth (German)
• 4 Reanimate [Tempest] (German)
• 4 Veteran Explorer [Weatherlight] (German/Korean)
• 4 Monastery Swiftspear (Korean/German/Russian)
• 3 Chrome Mox (German)
• Kobolds (4x Crimson Kobolds, 4x Crookshank Kobolds, 4x Kobolds of Kher Keep) for those SCG side events I want to run Kobolds.

• 3 Polluted Delta [Onslaught/Khans]
• 3 Meddling Mage [Planeshift]
• 3 Pernicious Deed [Apocalypse]
• 4 Daze [Nemesis]
• 2 Mox Diamond (?) [Stronghold]
• x Plateau
• x Taiga

• Interesting German/Russian/Korean/French legacy cards - random sideboard cards or cool Green Sun's Zenith targets?
• Germ/Spirit/Elementals/Goblin/Zombie/Other tokens with Secret Santa 2014 written on them (preferably in Gold)?
• Any English non-foils for a common/uncommon cube that I'm sluggishly working on; preferably original printing where available - personalized (defaced) cards would live forever in here. I'd ask that you keep the rules text visible so I can bring this cube to all types of players.
• A proxy Ravages of War to go alongside the proxy Moat in my cube? (which appears to have been drawn on top of a Seance by whoever I bought this from).
• A revitalization of Maverick as a real top contender in legacy ;(

Lately I've been working on Elves, but I always try to keep some kind of bad storm variant in my back pocket to mess with the local legacy crowd. I don't own blue duals (and don't really understand what that teardrop symbol is anyways), so I generally end up on awkward SI variants and such. I'll probably make the commitment here pretty soon if I can find a decent deal on blue duals; I own nearly every other card for the blue decks I'd be interested in playing. [EDIT: Working on a deal for one of each blue dual - might get to play some jank]
Otherwise, I tend to stick to Maverick, Junk, Deadguy Ale variants, etc when I play legacy. I'm working on jumping into Modern at the moment as well, but lately I just haven't had the time to get out and play the format.

[UseLess]

Definitely in again! Edit Wishlist:

Top wishes (English/Non-foil):
4 ALTERED (and perhaps signed?) Veteran Explorers. I would like the Weatherlight version only. Best would be a matching set of alters, e.g. Christmas or movie references or anything you can come up with! I prefer alters to still have the black border, with readable text and (partially) visible frames. I don't really care what/whom alters. Nic Fit (currently BUG pod) is my favorite deck by far and it would be great to have a pimp set of these guys to sling around!
1 Vendilion Clique (a man can hope ^^)
2 Dig Through Time

Other legacy wishes (low priority):
Flusterstorm
Snapcaster Mage
Blue Fetch (any series, except Misty Rainforest please)

EDH wishes (these can be any language and any set really):
Prismatic Omen
Entomb
Intuition
Craterhoof Behemoth
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
Garruk Relentless
Overgrown Tomb (RAV)
Watery Grave (RAV)

Finally, some casual pimp stuff. I look for these cards in any pimp way you can think of:
1 Blasphemous Act
1 Boomerang
1 Mischievous Quanar
1 Vedalken Orrery
1 Capsize
1 Reins of Power

Greatly looking forward to start gathering a package and checking the mailbox every day in the hope that something has arrived!

[Myelectronicdays]

definately in again! looking forward to it.


Wishlist:

Anything Alpha, Beta, or Unlimited.. i mean anything... commons, uncommons, rares... suprise me. ;D

or unique 1/1 thopter tokens (one thopter foundry produces)

[survival]

Second year! I'm in.

WISHLIST
I'm a basic lands collector, I really like APAC and EURO lands as well as arena promo, beta/alpha basics and foil old borders basics. I would also like a set of 5-lands(any set will do as long as there is one of each color) signed by you.

EDH WANTS:
1 transmute artifact
1 goblin settler

[iamajellydonut]

I tried making a nifty story of my preferences, but it got rambly and didn't make much sense. Merry Christmas to me.

Non-foil.
Prefer playsets
Prefer completely uniform playsets
Oldest set possible (except for Bloodbraid Elf)
Signatures welcome (artists or yours)
Alters welcome (great or simple)
Prefer NM German or HP/MP English (that well worn look like you used it at summer camp without sleeves)
I hate shuffle stretch marks.
I will send you back a packet of anthrax if you send me cards with shuffle stretch marks.

I'm a Junk/Jund/Rock player by nature and would love to see my decks pimped with NM German, HP English, and/or alters.
I'm building out out my generic blue staples.
German Non-Foil Rob Alexander Odyssey Basic Lands
Kruin Outlaw (any)
Meandering Towershell (whatever you would consider "pimp")
Invasion Block and Odyssey Block accessories, posters, etc. (will also take accessories from other relevant blocks)
Liliana of the Veil, Broken Hand Costa Rica (HOLY GRAIL. Any non-English.)
The original art for Worry Beads.
Neat stuff.
Oddities.

[Zombiesquisher]

Signing up for this.

Wish List:
4x Foil Chalice of the Void
4x Foil Thorn of Amethyst
2x Foil Unhinged Mountain
1x Foil Goblin Sharpshooter
1x Goblin Settler
1x Foil 8th Grave Pact
1x Foil Food Chain
1x Aether Vial
1x Foil FTV Strip Mine
1x Horizon Canopy
2x Karakas
4x Mother of Runes

Foil signed cards (especially Goblins)
Just cool or creative stuff I guess. I'm mostly in this for fun, so if you can't get any of that stuff don't sweat it. I also like packs of KMC Perfect Fit and KMC Pink Super Series Sleeves

If you are from the UK or Germany I'd worship you forever if you could sneak me some Kinder Eggs!

[Krasman]

Prefer English over foreign, and non-foil over foil.

I am more or less in it for the fun so i'd take anything.

List:
2x Staff of Domination
1x Bow of Nylea
4x Riftsweeper
2x Virtue's Ruin
1x In the Eye of Chaos
2x Relevation
2x Storm World
2x Petrified Field
1x Sun Titan
3x Fatestitcher

[afb0032]

I'm definitely in again this year.

Wishlist
Overall:
- I love playing ANT/Storm.
- I typically prefer English and nonfoil cards, unless you prefer some form of specialty language or foils, then anything is fair game (although one day I may decide to foil out ANT).
- ANY of your favorite cards.
- ANY cards that have been altered.
- If you played when I did as a kid, ANY nostalgic cards for you. (Tempest block - Invasion block)
- I collect coffee mugs from around the world, so anything there is welcome as well.

Specifics:
- Anything that is competitive playable (I am a spike) in Modern/Legacy/Vintage I would be very happy with, although I tend to not enjoy playing monocolored decks.
- ANY shocks/filters/fetches/dual lands (doesn't matter if old or new sets for shocks/fetches, I have no preference)
- ANY card that could be played in a vintage storm deck.

[zulander]

I'm in.

Wishlist - I added $ to denote which cards could be bought under the $35 limit and which ones were above. Hopefully the layout makes it easy.

Creatures:
$
4x Butcher of the Horde
4x Bloodsoaked Champion
4x Goblin Rabblemaster
4x Siege Rhino
4x Containment Priest
4x Dualcaster Mage
4x Wild Nacatl (foil)
4x Qasali Pridemage (foil)
3x Voice of Resurgence
4x Griselbrand
4x Grim Lavamancer (promo)
4x Snapcaster Mage

$$
4x Goblin Guide (gp promo)
2x Vendilion Clique
4x Emrakul
4x Dark Confidant

Lands:
$
4x Caves of Koilos
4x Shivan Reef
4x Lanawor Wastes
4x Yavimaya Coasts
4x Mana Confluence
1x Ancient Tomb
4x Cavern of Souls
Any Shocklands

$$
4x Scalding Tarn
3x Misty Rainforest
4x Serras Sanctum
4x Gaea's Cradle
Any duals


Other:
$
4x Cabal Therapy
4x Lightning Helix (modern masters foil)
3x Domri Rade (foil)
4x Path to Exile (promo)
4x Boros Charm (foil)
1x Chrome Mox
4x Reanimate
4x Entomb
4x Survival of the Fittest
4x Dack Fayden
3x Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas


$$
4x Lightning Bolt (textless foil)
4x Force of Will
4x Show and Tell
4x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4x Lions Eye Diamond


Having said all that, it doesn't really matter. I have a decent job so I'm not in "need" of anything, would love it if your cards told stories like in some years previous. Make it fun and cool :)

[amalek0]

Count me in! I'm starting to do my own alters, this might be a way to get them out to people who appreciate them. Maybe I luck out and get Einherjer and the reason to man up and try to do that counterspell alter I've been thinking about.

Wish List:
I play lands and manaless dredge, though I have the friends to be able to durdle with just about anything at a legacy tournament if I ask around beforehand, so I'm not generally looking for a ton of legacy staples, though I may eventually switch to a blue-build of manaless dredge, so I guess I need a playset of force of will. Crappy/beat/up/min sleeve playable since I'll just be slapping paint on them anyway in my misguided attempts to get better at altering stuff.

More realistically, I'm foiling out modern storm:
4 pyromancer ascension
1 FNM English promo gitaxian probe
1 Thought Scour (English Foil)
3 Foil Past in Flames
1 Foil Zendikar island (Any art, I have 2x of each art in foil, so any one of them would give me the 3rd to finish a matched set)
4 Foil Pyretic Ritual
4 Foil Desperate ritual (either printing)

Anything you alter Personally (no matter how bad) that's playable in a modern esper control shell. Except White Sun's Zenith, because the current card drying on my desk is "birthday kitties surprise party". A living testament that I fail at painting cats.

Actually, the biggest item on my wish list would be getting a victim in the exchange that wants alters of stuff that I feel comfortable of being able to do a not-shitty alteration job on.

[PirateKing]

Let's do this!

Wishlist:

Any APAC or EURO Basics

4x Kamigawa Pithing Needle
4x Abrupt Decay
4x Planeshift Meddling Mage
4x Beta Sinkhole
4x Phyrexian Dreadnought
4x Cabal Therapy

2x Trinisphere
2x Fifth Dawn Engineered Explosives
2x Flusterstorm
2x Beta Red Elemental Blast

1x The Abyss
1x Nether Void
1x Chains of Mephistopheles
1x Karakas

Custom tokens, hand drawn, 2/2 black zombie or 4/4 white angel with flying or 1/1 red elemental

[Kayradis]

Since last year was a blast, I'm in again this year!

Wishlist:
Sneak Attack (doesn't matter on the condition)
KTK Fetches
Foil Old Frame Land (I just love the art of thoses)
FTV Goblin Lackey (because slowly foiling gobos)
Foil Spell Pierce
Foil Treasure Cruise
Foil Stubborn Denial
Dig Through Time
Beta Lands (Because im addicted to those....!)
Arena Islands

and if you feel like the richest guy on Earth
FOIL Stoneforge Mystic (I don't really expect to get it, but fuck, it doesnt cost me shit to ask)!