Getting the most out of my money

[Urza]

Hey there. I'm newish to legacy and I was wondering what is the best way to get the most out of my money is? I realize this is rather subjective but I'm trying to get as many views as possible.

For instance, Is buying better than trading? Why or why not? If so, is buying singles the way to go, or boosters? Are these factors affected by the size of a set?

WHat are good websites with low end number? Is craigslist viable?

Thanks everyone

[Koby]

If you have a lot of existing cards, particularly Standard legal, then trading those will give you the best value. You can supplement this with buying singles. Purchasing boosters is the worst way to get into Legacy, because you'll only be able to access the last ~2 years of set releases rather than start acquiring the staples needed for Legacy.

I suggest you do some (or a ton) of research regarding what you want to play and start proxying some lists. I don't know of any group that is against playing proxy decks for testing. Find what you like, then start acquiring the cards for actual tournaments.

[Urza]

Cool, thanks for the reply.

Using standard bombs to get legacy bombs is the strategy that seems best to me so far. Luckily I like the new sets, so it wont be that painful buying a booster box here and there.

[oRen]

Wasted time = loss of opportunities = loss of money. Trading in your case would waste a lot of time you could spend more productive. Also you misunderstood ruckus - if you already have T2 stuff you can trade in against T1.5 stuff it is fine but buying new sealed products to get tradables is pretty bad.

Get straight what you want via free online mtg or proxing and just try to acquire the cards as cheap as possible via MtGS; MOTL or ebay.

[John Cox]

buying new sealed products to get tradables is pretty bad
^ that is what matters, buy singles, trade for legacy playables.

[Esper3k]

Getting good at drafting is probably a good way as well since a lot of stores give store credit or packs for their store drafts. Plus, you get the chance of actually getting something worth money.

[264505]

^ that is what matters, buy singles, trade for legacy playables.

If you can get lucky pulls from a box then you can get some decent trade fodder. The local judge at my shop swapped a play set of the new Liliana at SCG Open Baltimore (right after it was released when they were selling for 70+) for a play set of forces.

[dontbiteitholmes]

If you open Standard stuff always remember it will probably go down in value quickly so unless it's Legacy playable try to trade it quick for Legacy staples (unless you need it for T2).

If you are trying to build a Legacy collection slow and steady wins the race. Know staple cards you will want and when you find them for sale or trade at a good price pick them up. Then when you need them for upcoming events you won't have to rush on getting them and end up paying out the ass because you didn't have time to shop around.

[Picc]

If you can get lucky pulls from a box then you can get some decent trade fodder. The local judge at my shop swapped a play set of the new Liliana at SCG Open Baltimore (right after it was released when they were selling for 70+) for a play set of forces.

I also have a friend of a friend who got some really epic pulls once. Though its a safe bet he/she beat the odds. Yes if you have hot cards trade while their hot and enjoy the demand premium but opening packs looking to gain trade value is plain ans simple gambling with bad odds. Bottom line cash is king in trades.


Cool, thanks for the reply.

Using standard bombs to get legacy bombs is the strategy that seems best to me so far. Luckily I like the new sets, so it wont be that painful buying a booster box here and there.

Honestly just take your time with it. If you see a card that cheap and going to have an impact like mental misstep or even niche applications like dispatch buy a play set and store them in your closet while their cheap. Other then that just keep your eyes open I found someone selling dark confidants yesterday for $20 each, $70 for the play set because they decided they weren't preforming in their deck. I wasn't looking for them explicitly but that's the kind of deal you want. They don't come along every day but they do show up surprisingly frequently and if you have the liquidity act you can profit.

Also others have said it but I cant stress it enough, proxy up some decks and play a few games around your kitchen table for free. Find out what you like and build towards that.

[dahcmai]

I tend to go on a subjective approach and pick up the items that will be needed heavily in the newer standard format and trade them for Legacy staples to hold value.

For instance, right now I have a ton of the the UB and WB lands due to Sorin and the new Lich being printed. People will need the lands and will be trading for them hard to use with their new toys. So I'll oblige. Everyone knows I usually trade anything for Legacy staples so they seem to pop out of the woodwork to bring me Forces, Duals, and other goodies to get standard stuff because I'll have multiple playsets of them.

I do pick up the chase rares, but it's usually only to fill out trades. It's too hard to make anything off those. I never buy packs except for fun or drafting.

[samurai_socks]

I think the main decision is whether you want to have a legacy deck or a legacy collection.

If you just want a competitive to semi-competitive legacy deck then you should probably just fork out the $300-2000 (really depends on what you have already and what you want to build), it will cost. Then you start playing in tournaments and hopefully winning prizes which will let you go quasi- infinite with some cash injections from time to time to keep up with meta-shifts.

If you want to start building a legacy collection, then it really depends on what other formats you play. When I decided I wanted to play legacy I was mostly playing T2 and nobody else I played with played or wanted to play legacy. I continued to play t2, block, sealed and draft. I had good success in all of these formats and would keep up with cards that were going to hold their long term value after rotation. So when T2 rotations were coming around I would do things like sell whatever the hottest t2 cards were about 2-3 months before rotation. For example - I did this with cryptic command, bitterblossom and reflecting pool. Then I used this money to pick up legacy cards on the cheap as they rotated out of standard. I also tried to use my store credit winnings to cash in for proven legacy cards or t2 cards that would be good in legacy.

Another tip for building a collection is to pick up the cards that are not currently hot in legacy. If nobody is playing merfolk or goblins you can usually pick-up the cards pretty cheaply and easily off eBay, or even in trades. As soon as something is deck de jour the price goes up.

Also you will want to get the Legacy staples of Duals, Wastes and FOW's. Another tip is that you almost never actually need x4 of any dual unless its a 2 color deck. When I started collecting my duals the only x4 of's I got were Blue duals (as I have a penchant for blue) and knew I would need them.

-Cheers-

Additional tip - never buy booster packs, if you insist on buying packs then buy boxes or cases buying booster packs is just throwing money away.