[Official] The Source Secret Santa 2015

[GnuHouse]

The Source Secret Santa 2015

Introduction
How to sign up
Requirements for sign up
How the event will be organized
How to write a wish list
What to send
Backup santas
Expectations and issues
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 11/11/15. 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, same as last year. Many people tend to go more than that, this is just a guideline. The minimum is to ensure quality gifting. 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. If you have the ability to, and it's not too cost prohibitive, try to send the package with tracking. Given the potential value of the packages, it might be nice to know it has been sent and received.

It would be nice if you also post a picture of the package you receive. I'll create a separate post for those when the time comes.

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

11/11/15: Last day to sign up. Late enrollers will be accepted on a rolling basis. See signup details.
11/12/15: Pairing will be sent out.
12/12/15: Recommended ship by date. If you’re international, consider going sooner if you can.

Participants (as of November 13, 2015)

Paul7926
Kathal
meffeo
demonlord349
Krasman
Lord_Mcdonalds
iamajellydonut
Schembo
Samantha
VsTheWorld
afb0032
French Alters
BeardTron
Dice_Box
UseLess
PirateKing
Flojo82
Quasimoff
Fry
Nocley
jrsthethird
Whippoorwill
EpicLevelCommander
mini1337s
entity
Zuppon
Admiral_Arzar
Pilhas
Pellefant
shpisshay
monovfox
kirkusjones
eriktyvollk
Gobo17
tsabo_tavoc
Undomain
survival
Sloshthedark
Ajsmirnov
square_two

[Paul7926]

I wasn't here for last year so I have a question if that's ok.

You say that participants should be looking to send a minimum of $35. That's fine but what are we using to determine value?

It's probably against the spirit of the whole thing to worry about this but once you go 'international' there can be quite a large fluctuation in what it costs to obtain a card.

For example, today a very large and well known US secondary dealer has flippy Jace for $79.99. Where as one of the larger UK secondary dealers has them for £64.99 which converts to $100.

Thanks

[GnuHouse]

I wasn't here for last year so I have a question if that's ok.

You say that participants should be looking to send a minimum of $35. That's fine but what are we using to determine value?

It's probably against the spirit of the whole thing to worry about this but once you go 'international' there can be quite a large fluctuation in what it costs to obtain a card.

For example, today a very large and well known US secondary dealer has flippy Jace for $79.99. Where as one of the larger UK secondary dealers has them for £64.99 which converts to $100.

Thanks

I'll give a bit of a non-answer here. What we don't want to have happen here is someone go and send a couple of Brainstorms and Cabal Rituals while asking for (and receiving) higher value cards. This has happened in the past, and so we want to prevent this going forward.

The scenario you provided is one of the reasons why we try to have international (read: Non-North American) senders ship to each other. Obviously it helps minimize shipping times, but it also helps take currency issues out of the equation.

That being said, if there are any questions about value (sending or receiving) you can always shoot me a PM to discuss :)

[Paul7926]

I'll give a bit of a non-answer here. What we don't want to have happen here is someone go and send a couple of Brainstorms and Cabal Rituals while asking for (and receiving) higher value cards. This has happened in the past, and so we want to prevent this going forward.

The scenario you provided is one of the reasons why we try to have international (read: Non-North American) senders ship to each other. Obviously it helps minimize shipping times, but it also helps take currency issues out of the equation.

Thanks.

I wasn't trying to play the system. I was just concerned about someone receiving an apparently 'under budget' package despite it having cost the sender more than it appeared because of local price fluctuations. The more I think about it the more it doesn't matter. Approached in the right spirit there isn't going to be a problem. Especially if people are generally grouped in or close to their own geographical area.

[Dice_Box]

Wishlist:

English only
Foil Mox Diamond 4
Foil Exploration 2
Foil Crop Rotation 4
Foil Kroson Grip 4
Foil Choke 2
Foil Boseiju 1
Altered Gamble 4
Altered Sphere of Resistance 4
Altered Manabond 2

Unrealistic wants:
Foil Dark Depths
Foil Green Fetches (Onslaught)
Foil Wasteland
Foil Rishidan Port

[Quasim0ff]

Thanks.

I wasn't trying to play the system. I was just concerned about someone receiving an apparently 'under budget' package despite it having cost the sender more than it appeared because of local price fluctuations. The more I think about it the more it doesn't matter. Approached in the right spirit there isn't going to be a problem. Especially if people are generally grouped in or close to their own geographical area.

Usually you go by TCG low or MKM, and not vendors, due to vendor prices being high and and all that.

[Paul7926]

Please Sign me up for this:

Wish List (final edit done before the deadline)(now with extra post deadline edit!)

No foils please, I'm really not a fan of foils. Save them for those that appreciate them.

Older cards preferred over newer ones unless stated.

A list of cards I need if that helps (Numbers are max I need and not an indication you need to get more than one.)

3 Cabal Therapy
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Polluted Delta (Khans version)
1 Steam Vents
4 Daze
4 Brainstorm

Way overpriced stuff I need
4 Wasteland
2 Cavern of Souls
Duals, Power 9, Gold Bars, Sports cars, small personal jet (Joke!)
I'm not expecting NM here... I do alters for personal use so if you happen to have any of the overpriced stuff that is played to death and has lost it's value or is generally messed up but still actually tournament legal if double sleeved and restored then I can give it a new home and some love.

Some more ideas
My main love is goblins now whilst I have all the non land cards:
Any number of these mountains would be nice as well
Any German language goblin staples. No idea why but I have this desire to 'pimp' out with German cards. Hey it's my deck, I'll do what I like.

Failing all of that
Whatever you think A goblin player might like. Altered (by you) goblins, mountains or goblin tokens. You don't have to be an artist either! Even if you just sign it to make it personal.
As I said I do personal alters so anything weird and wonderful I can alter. Don't worry about anything not being NM as I don't care as long as a card is not bent or creased. I can't fix that with paint!

Finally
I'm in this for the gift and the fun of it. Please don't have a nervous breakdown trying to source something that is impossible to find. Just do your best within your budget and your imagination.

After finally
I'm adding this after the deadline just in case it helps but as it's late Do Not change any plans! Any cards with elephants on them. So that's creature type elephant, in the art or even in the flavour. Thinking that I may dabble in casual EDH and they are my theme.

Thanks

[Kathal]

I'm in :D (and maybe I receive my Santas Gift this year ).

Wishlist:

I don't mind foils, but if you want to send me foils, I prefer the new boarded cards in foil and the old ones non foil (cause I want to alter them :D ).

Regarding Alters, I love them, especially extensions from old frame ones.

As for language, as long as not otherwise stated I prefer ger = japo = portugese > eng > rest (yeah I don't really like Russian, Korean and Chinese)

Most important is: An personally altered Christmas themed card from you. I don't mind if you have no altering skills at all, it is just a tradition I'm and was doing since I'm participating in these events (not only here).

Legacy stuff:

1 japo Mirage Dark Ritual
1 portugese Mirage Dark Ritual

4 Cabal Therapy (either Graveborn or Judgment, but pls no FNM ones (I don't like the old artwork with this border))

1 ger Doomsday (Weatherlight)
2 Lim-Dûls Vault (Alliance)

And anything you think, that a Tin Fins player needs pimped (just as a sidenote, my Grisels are already pimped :P ).

Modern stuff:

1 jap Nourishing Shoal
4 Faithless Looting (either Foil or IDW promo)
3 foil Temple of Malice
2 foil Temple of Deceit

4 foil Simian Spirit Guide

2 foil Isochron Szepter

1 foil Echoing Truth (preferred japo/portuguse, but any language is fine :D )

Random Stuff:

1 Dakkon Blackblade

3 Defense Grid

These plains in foil (they are impossible to get here ) http://magiccards.info/od/en/333.html

Last but not least: Random foil/altered Goblin Snowmen :D


The "I love you" category:

foil ger non promo Wild Nacatl

foil japo Goryo's Vengeance

Scrubland (I don't care for the language, neither the condition, but it should be tournament playable)



Greetings,
Kathal

PS: I hope, that everything works this year, since last year there were some problems with the shipping

[meffeo]

Count me in.
Will add a wishlist in the next days.

[Fry]

I'd love to take part again this year. It was fun for the past two years and I hope this year will be the same. I'll update with a list later of stuff that I'd find awesome, but I always love foil Cheatyface, it's the card I collect and use as tokens (and/or my Happy Holiday cards) when I need them.

I think that everyone putting a tracking number with their package this year would also help out in the mail be slow, lost, or just to make sure that everyone sent a valid package to help mitigate the need to backup Santa's. I know it costs just a little more in the US and I don't know about overseas, but I think it would be a good thing to do.

Here's my wish list, some are reasonable, some aren't. Pretty the only cards I'm currently after, so it's a conglomeration of stuffs:

UNREASONABLE Tier, but it would get me uber excited (I do not expect anything from this tier, so please don't take it as me only wanting value stuff and being an ass).

Main Interests are all singletons of the Expedition Lands for my EDH Deck
Bloodstained Mire
Flooded Strand
Marsh Flats
Misty Rainforest
Polluted Delta
Scalding Tarn
Verdant Catacombs
Wooded Foothills

all of the Shock lands.
1 Foil Goblin Welder (Urza's Legacy)
4 Foil Exploration
2 Foil Dark Depths
2 Maze of Ith (Judge)
4 Foil Grove of the Burnwillows (Futuresight)


The Awesome Tier:
2 Foil Crop Rotation


The Happy Santa Tier:
1 Mana Bond
4 Smokestack
2 Foil Myr Battlesphere
1 Glacial Chasm (Original, not the Hideous FtV)
1 Foil Tranquil Thicket
1 Sphere of Resistance
1 Foil Punishing Fire
1 Foil Thespian's Stage

I do not like foreign cards, but I love Russian, so if you have any Russian foil bulk that you'd like to give to a loving home, send them my way

[demonlord340]

I'd love to participate again!
Wishlist in no particular order:
Full Art foil Islands and Swamps
Custom/Altered Master of Waves tokens
2x Emrakul(foil or regular)
Judge Promo Sneak Attack

EDH stuff(foil only)
Bloodgift Demon
Skullclamp
Kokusho
Dark Prophecy
Oblivion Stone
Blood Artist
Reassebling Skeleton
Sign in Blood
Disciple of Bolas
Rune-Scarred Demon
Gray Merchant of Asphodel
Expedition Map
Pilgrim's Eye
Sangromancer
Read the Bones
Beseech the Queen
Ob Nixilis Reignited
Exsanguinate
Crypt Ghast
Grim Haruspex(or alternate art)
Dimmer House Guard
Bitterblossom
Solemn Simulacrum(prefer m12

[Krasman]

Sign me up; will update a wish list once I get some time.


Wish List:
Dealer's Choice (mainly looking for ridiculous cards for Judge Tower)

[VsTheWorld]

Count me in. More wishes to come, but here's what I have for now.

Real stuff wishlist:

2 German Ice Age Brainstorm
2 Korean/Japanese 4th Counterspell
3 Japanese Monastery Mentor
4 S-Chinese Judgment Cabal Therapy (the thin script, not the blocky one)
3 S-Chinese Enchantress's Presence
3 Korean/Japanese Argothian Enchantress
3 German or Asian Sensei's Divining Tops
Any other Korean/Japanese/German legacy playables (no matter how fringe)
Any number of Alpha/Beta basics

Cool stuff wishlist:

Any number of Drelnoch and/or Rysorian Badger (bonus points for foreign)
Any of the Homelands uncommon land cycle (bonus points for German)
Any of the Legends banding lands
Fun personal additions (cards with messages or holiday alters, no matter how shitty)

[Lord_Mcdonalds]

4 sho

Wish list:
I like Korean stuff, so any Korean staple you can find (within reason), specifically anything in r/g lands, so any thing that goes in that is most appreciated (minus the manabonds), Korean basics are also appreciated

Beta basics are also fine

Also ask for a signed card of your choice (doesn't have to be a staple, just something cool)

[GnuHouse]

Okay folks, I'll update the original post with the names of people I have received their details from. I'll only be pairing those people who have provided me with their mailing info, so make sure you send that to me, not just say that you're participating in the thread.

[iamajellydonut]

dat in

Thanks for hosting, Gnu.

Edit: Santa, if you're reading this, I'll update when I get home from work tonight.

Edit #2:


Before this post goes further, I just want to be clear that I will be happy with absolutely whatever you send me. If that means just a few Khans fetchlands, then so be it. My goal is to make someone else happy. If I score in the process, great. But if it's just a simple token of your affection, then that's fine too. That out of the way...

I prefer "playsets". If you're shipping me something like a Jitte, then one will count as a "playset". But having just one cool Brainstorm to add to my three shitty ones always feels kinda weird. Won't be sorry to have that one cool one, but all the same it'd be weird.

Nonfoil. Strictly.

Alters are cool even if they're not good, but they're best when they're either tasteful and/or minimalist. Quasim0ff sent me some kick ass Chokes last year that never fail to get generate a crowd whenever they're slammed out, and they're possibly the simplest alters ever.
http://i.imgur.com/7XnW4uJ.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/8xh0x3N.jpg

Signatures are cool.

Preference of "pimp" goes...
Oldest Edition Possible > Russian > German > English

One of the things that I collect and prefer to play with are really, really worn or damaged cards on the original/old border. This doesn't mean water damaged or creased. If I get either of those, I will be disappointed. I love cards that look like they were played on a picnic table without sleeves on some camping trip. Cards that reeeally show the love.

For anything new border, I prefer near mint. New border doesn't really age well. Looks ugly if they get scuffed.

I play a lot of nonblue. Diddled around with blue, but never really stuck with it. My main is Aggro Loam, but I also mix and match with various Rock/Junk/Jund/WBRG cores. Any upgrades for those color sets will be most welcome. I don't actively pimp at all, so listing what I already have would probably be much easier. Anything not on the list below is fair game.


Do NOT Want:
Foils
Creases
Water Damage
Commander stuff
Sylvan Library
Golgari Charm
Choke
Deathrite Shaman
Alara Reborn Bloodbraid Elf (they look fucking ugly)

Do Want:
WBRG Colors
Non-foils
Oldest edition possible.
Signatures
Minimalist Alters
German
Russian
Well worn old border cards.
Tempest-Odyssey-era accessories.
Kruin Outlaw (as many as possible foil/non-foil any language)

God-Tier Wishes:
Any non-English Broken Hand Costa Rica Liliana of the Veil.
Large pro-evil vinyl poster/banner from Tempest-Odyssey era.

[PirateKing]

I'll sign up, list forthcoming.

To be honest, I signed up to be a giver, but now that I've got my name, that means someone has mine. So as far as a list goes, there's nothing I need beyond stupid expensive stuff, so I won't even try and list them. Decks I have built in paper are Reanimator, Pox, TES & Parfait/Quinn, but I mean beyond Beta DRits or something, the cards aren't going to change. Sorry to be difficult, but I'm pretty content with my collection.

[Flojo82]

Im in for the First Time.

Wishlist:

Old Shock Duals English Foil (3 Steam Vents, 2 Watery Grave)
All Stuff for Aggro Loam English Foil

[UseLess]

Definitely in again, previous years were awesome. Wishlist to come.

Edit: wishlist finally here.

Top wants (preferrably all English, non-foil)
x Goblin tokens (SoM = best) altered by you!
3 Dark Ritual, from Unlimited
Altered single cards* or playsets for ANT (for example 1 Tendrils of Agony, 1 Ad Nauseam or 4 Ponder)
4 Cabal Therapy, from Judgment (possibly altered*)
1 Sylvan Library
1 Grafdiggers Cage
1 Garruk Relentless
1 Gemstone Mine
1 Darkblast
1 Hurkyl's Recall, 10th or MM2
1 Creeping Tar Pit

xx Foil basic lands from Onslaught

*I prefer my alters to have the black border, text box and original frames mainly intact. Part is style, other part is that it helps when playing in tournaments.
See for example: here and here . Feel free to have someone ask me for more examples if you'd like!

Other wants
1 Huntmaster of the Fells
1 Mana Confluence
1-4 Dark Confidant, Rav
1 Dread of Night
2 Ashen Rider

[Schembo]

IN. 3th year in a row

Wish list.

1 x Courser of Kruphix
1 x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 x Helm of Obedience
1 x Voice of Resurgence

2 x Reclamation Sage (Foil)
1 x Sylvan Caryatid (Foil)
1 x Gurmag Angler (Foil)
1 x Eidolon of Blossoms (Foil)
2 x Kolaghan's Command (Foil)
2 x Pithing needle (Foil) (No RTR)
1 x Enlightened tutor (ALP)
1 x Grim Lavamancer (TOR Foil)
1 x Linvala, Keeper of Silence (Foil)
3 x Extirpate (Foil)
3 x Dryad Militant (Foil)
2 x Loxodon Smiter (Foil)
2 x Molten Vortex (Foil)
2 x Marsh Casualties (Foil)
3 x Monastery Swiftspear (Foil)
1 x Loam Lion (Foil)
3 x Steppe Lynx (Foil)
1 x Phyrexian Metamorph (Foil)
1 x Elspeth, Knight-Errant (SOA Foil)
3 x Lightning Helix (Ravnica Foil)
2 x Kird Ape (9th foil)