Buying collections

[Pastorofmuppets]

I just bought a (relatively) small collection, mostly Onslaught-block with some Mirrodin and random other stuff thrown in for $20, from a guy who I can kind of consider a friend. Inside, I got a foil Stifle, a regular Stifle, Bloodstained Mire, Vedalken Shackles, and a bunch of other sweet stuff.
Discuss some of the best collection deals you've ever gotten.

[Atwa]

When I just got started, I bought a collection from my neighbour who had been playing for a couple of years for €50. Inside were small gems like Grindstone, LED, Dreadnaught and stuff. This was 11 years ago, so they weren't worth the prices they are now, but a nice way start up your collection. I remember trading a lot of that stuff awaf for stuff like Craw Wurms, Stasis, Collosus of Sardia and the best creature ever: Craw Giant!

Best deal was 2 years ago, my brother in law donating his collection to me, since he didn't use it anymore. He played a lot during Urza's block, so inside were cards like 6x Dream Halls, 4x Show and Tell, 6 Grim Monoliths, 2x Tolarian Academy, 2x Sneak Attack, 1 Recurring Nightmare, 1 Gaea's Cradle, Sliver Queen, 4x Time Spiral, 3x Stroke of Genius, 4 Phyrexian Negator, 2x Academy Rector, 3x Patern of Rebirth, 3x Oath of Druids, 2x Survival, and a lot odf other cool rares. Inside were also all commons and uncommons from Legacy and Destiny at least 4x (including cards like Rancor, Mother, etc) and a bunch of (un)commons from Weatherlight-Mercadian Masques.

[Malchar]

I got five silly decks from onslaught block for free from my friend who quit. Not that I'm complaining or anything, but the only good card was a stifle.

[Julian23]

Got a whole Academy Deck from Urza times for free from a friend who quit the game.

[DukeDemonKn1ght]

I've been given a couple decks and random boxes here and there by friends who no longer play. Nothing too huge to brag about, but I did get a Force of Will and a Badlands out of the whole thing. And it's pretty hard to argue with free.

[majikal]

Got a set of Collector's Edition power for free from a guy who was selling his stuff to the LGS. The store owner wouldn't buy them because they had gold-bordered backs so the guy just gave them away. They're trimmed, but hey they were free, plus I bought some other cool stuff from him too.

[Phoenix Ignition]

I got a Tabernacle for 7$ along with some duals and sinkholes for average price. He obviously didn't know the card was worth anything (which at the time was around 70$).

[arebennian]

I want to see Tha Gunslinga's response to this thread...

[B is for Big Job]

Well, I didnt get this from someone I know but I moved into a house a few years ago and found a MTG binder, have a trop and volc in it but other than that nothing good. Gotta love free stuff

[DownSyndromeKarl]

About five years ago a friend's girlfriend had a small collection and offered it to me for $10, without looking at it I said Yes. It was about 200 revised cards, nothing of note except a Savannah, so I'd say I made out well.

[dahcmai]

I bought a collection of junk from a guy who used to play a while back. All of it was crap for the most part and I only bought it for the beat up Mox Jet in the mix, until I came across the 4 workshops. I had $52 in it. Everything was heavily played, but I think I still made out ok.

[umbowta]

1. approximately 1500 card collection found on craigslist for $100. Contained an English Mana Drain, 2 Flooded Strands, 2 Beta Lightning Bolts, a Tolarian Academy, a Taiga, and over 100 Beta basic lands. Just the basics were worth the hundred...a couple were crimps.

2. My cousin gave me a paper lunch bag full of cards. Got a Foil Necropotence, a few pain lands, and a Sea Drake.

3. 20,000 card collection from a friend of mine who needed to pay the rent...$550. Tons of foils, tradable rares, way too much to list, and a Mox Pearl.

[Pltnmngl]

I bought a collection for $10 and got a decent number of Alpha/Beta cards. Had I realized what they were, I would have taken better care of them and sold them off.

[DukeDemonKn1ght]

3. 20,000 card collection from a friend of mine who needed to pay the rent...$550. Tons of foils, tradable rares, way too much to list, and a Mox Pearl.

Brutal. Considering how broke some of us Magic players tend to be, I would imagine this could just be way to easy.

[Nihil Credo]

3. 20,000 card collection from a friend of mine who needed to pay the rent...$550. Tons of foils, tradable rares, way too much to list, and a Mox Pearl.

You meant 'acquaintance' or 'ex-friend', didn't you? I don't think people that stupid with their money deserve much mercy, but buying all of it at a "I need the cash or I'm sleeping under a bridge" price is not something you pull on someone you call a friend.

[Maveric78f]

This thread is everything I hate about Magic.

[Pastorofmuppets]

This thread is everything I hate about Magic.

why, because people don't want something? If they don't value it as much as you do, then who cares? Besides, a fool and his money are soon parted.

[umbowta]

You meant 'acquaintance' or 'ex-friend', didn't you? I don't think people that stupid with their money deserve much mercy, but buying all of it at a "I need the cash or I'm sleeping under a bridge" price is not something you pull on someone you call a friend.

I guess you could say acquaintance/friend and yes, we still hang out. Besides that, he named the price. I just had the cash. Realize that most of us MtG players can't come up with that much money on short notice. He could have sold it to a dealer at that price but he called me and said he'd rather sell it to me than a store. It's not like I scammed him or anything.

@Maveric78f, do you really hate it when people get random good deals? I usually just feel jealous of folks who get good trades or pick up nice collections on the cheap.

[MattH]

Don't know if this counts since it's not a real 'collection' and they're not really 'mine'...

My friend lent me some of his better cards, then basically stopped playing. So for free, I got 4 Underground Sea, 4 Volcanic Island, 4 Force of Will, and I think a BoP (duals all revised, 3 of teh FoWs signed). Technically they're still his, and he can have them back if he ever wants them, but for all intents and purposes they're mine now.