Money Talks: Interview with an ex-Game Store Manager

As a fan of Magic: The Gathering, I have decided to look around for interesting people to share their opinion on the game's economics. So, I shared a post and became a host. Today on Money Talks, we will be having an interview with an ex-Game Store Manager who managed to pay off a year's worth of college through Magic: The Gathering. His name is Jarrett Beasley. Through this interview, we will learn together about local game stores and some aspects of Magic: The Gathering.

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(SW is me, Sean Wang, and JB is Jarrett Beasley)

Glossary:

MTG: Magic: The Gathering, a trading card game.

LGS: Local game store.

FNM: A sanctioned tournament of the aforementioned game. Often held on Friday nights.

Fat Pack: A sealed product offering 9 randomised packs of 15 cards with one rare. Contains other goodies such as lands, dice and a booklet.  

Playset: A group of 4 cards as that is the standard in constructed deck building.

 

SW: We will start with some self introductions

JB: Okay, well I'm Jarrett Beasley, a normal guy trying to make it in this world. I've been juggling college and MTG finance for a year or so. I've been in MTG Finance for roughly three years.

SW: When you say you've been in finance for roughly three years, which aspect of it have you been involved with? For example, do you have any specialisation in any market?

JB: I have been involved with buying prospective cards, trying different approaches to buying and selling, and I have been a LGS manager.

SW: How long have you been playing Magic: The Gathering?

JB: I started back in Middle School. So, about seven years. Four years of competitive Magic.

SW: So you would have started in Onslaught right?

JB: I started playing FNM in the Alara Block, but before that we had a group that would play makeshift decks at the library. I think mostly everyone can relate to that. I started going to competitive tournaments like Pro Tour Qualifiers, Preliminary Pro Tour Qualifiers, Grand Prix, and such after a short break. I took my break at an awful time: right before Worldwake came out. 

SW: Wow, you have quite a lot of years under your belt! Indeed, Worldwake was the time to not stop mind sculpting. So, what made you decide to start playing the MTGFinance game?

JB: Well, I got a position at a LGS and I had to learn it to keep my job. It was very enjoyable and if you have any questions about some useful tips for attracting business for LGS owners please let me know.  

SW: Sure go ahead. Feel free to share your tips on attracting business for LGSs. In my country, Malaysia, we have a budding MTG community with many small LGSs which I think would greatly benefit off your input.

JB: Okay, I'll go ahead and throw out a disclaimer: I don't know much about the financial situation in Malaysia, so I'm unsure of how helpful this will be. 

With that said, let's delve into some tips. First, as a manager I had to make customers feel like winners even if they weren't. Having friend-like relations with my customers created a certain trust. If you can create that, you will go far. Remembering people by their first name, or nickname really helps create that bridge. Sometimes, if you're in a larger community, this is far harder. I might stick to remembering regulars. 

Second, your staff has to be an extension of you. You need to have your staff informed. Many small LGS workers are great in a particular area, but are sluggish in others. Get to know your staff and sit down to help them get better.

Third, offer competitive prize support. This maybe the most important. You can have great service, but if you lack in prize support you will lose to your competitors. Don't break the bank, but there are smart ways to go about creating a powerful prize structure. The biggest rule for creating a prize structure is to not be afraid to lose money on your prizes. For example, we purchased fatpacks from a vendor for roughly 20$. Then we would host a free win a fatpack on Friday. We were a new LGS in the area and the other place had been around for decades (different owners). They only offered foil promos. After one week we had all the local players, save one or two loyalists. The other place would shut its doors early because they had no one there. We lost 20$ on fatpacks, but we made hundreds on snacks, singles, drinks, merchandise, and etc. It turned out to be very profitable.

Lastly, keep a positive attitude. If you're in a tough situation don't let it affect how you do business. Your customers deserve that.  

SW: Thank you for your lovely input. I think that it is extremely applicable among Malaysian card stores. Especially your advice regarding prize support. By the way, would be okay with sharing which LGS you were involved with and if they have a website? Maybe some of my non-Malaysian readers can check it out?

JB: They were small and we parted ways for terms I will get into. I had a family incident where I needed to relocate states. For some reason the owners weren't very happy. I gave them a one month notice, so they could prepare everything before I left. Right before I left they vandalized my car, throwing trash all over it. The authorities made them clean it up. This happened at a local Walmart. They no longer do business as a local game store. I'm not sure of all the details concerning them now.

(The name of the associated store was omitted for privacy and safety reasons. But seriously, if you own a store, don't treat your staff like this, even when they are about to leave.)

SW: Alright, now, let's go into the finance part, non-LGS related. Would you have any advice for those starting out in Magic The Gathering Finance?

JB: Absolutely! Gather as much information as you can. Look at trends through sites like MTG Stocks. MTG Goldfish and other sites have good information too. Go beyond the Internet if you can too. I found myself getting great information from vendors after I sold them some stuff. They are more likely to be friendly and if you're at an event then it wouldn't hurt if you had things to sell.

SW: What not to do in the MTGFinance game?

JB: Buy into hype. That's huge. If everyone is saying this X card will be Y amount of dollars because of a banning don't trust it immediately. Do some research on the format. Do it at different intervals of the format. 

For example, I will go look at modern when it was first introduced, after key bannings, and what decks won. Getting an idea of the past can help make good investments for the future. A recent example is the Stoneforge Mystic hype. Wizards may unban this card at some point, but this time around the signs, in my opinion, said that they wouldn't. The format aside from random turn 2 Bloom wins was pretty fair. 

I didn't like the Splinter Twin ban and I don't think that was predictable. The person who released that information about Splinter Twin and Summer Bloom before the official announcement said they would also be releasing a summer Eternal Masters set. Be ready for that possibility.

SW: The person who stated the Twin and Bloom ban technically only got half right as they predicted the Amulet to be banned. So, I would think that the odds of Eternal Masters being a possibly new set should be taken with a grain of salt until there are any official announcement or correlating leaks. 

Do you have any pet cards? Like an investment where you threw in an absurd amount of cash into it. my pet card was Heartless Summoning.

JB: Yes, I bought a lot of Tasigur, The Golden Fang for $1.50 each. I bought 40 copies or 10 playsets. I think he can grow, but my investment still will turn profit because I bought him at a discounted price. I don't think he will be too much, but I see maybe a $1-2 increase over some time. Going wide can be profitable. A lot of us look for the big deal. That doesn't come around too much. Heartless summoning seems good. It's a powerful card. Any card that is strong can have growth potential. 

SW: Yeah I cashed out into the Heartless Eldrazi Hype and made 625% profit off it. It is one of my best deals. My other being Rabblemaster which got me around 416% profit. What would you say is your biggest MTG Finance success?    

JB: My biggest success was pure luck. I bought into Zendikar fetches back when they were in the teens and 20s. I sold them last modern season. I got a substantial amount of money. Enough to help me get through college for a year.

SW: Wow that is amazing. However, with each success, failure may arise. What is your biggest MTGFinance disappointment?   

JB: Okay, don't ask me why, but my biggest failure had to be Heliod. I listened to a friend who has had some spot on predictions and it turned out horribly.

SW: Well, Heliod is considered to be one of the weaker gods in comparison to Purphoros and Keranos. However, foils will eventually experience an uptick due to it being a legendary enchantment creature and being in the only cycle of "God" cards in Magic as of this interview. 

Would you have any advice for those non-MTG players who are interested in monetary gains and financial freedom?
   
JB: Not so much advice, but I recommend getting an understanding of meta data. If you can understand meta data, you can predict anything from fantasy sports to MTG to stocks with considerable accuracy.

SW: What exactly is meta data?

JB: Basically it's a summary of all the data collected on something particular. A great example is the NBA bookies. They look at many decades worth of data and stats to determine plus or minus in the books.

SW: Thank you for the clarification. That is all of the questions I have today. Would you have any parting words of wisdom for any aspiring economist or Magic The Gathering financier ?

JB: Yeah, just go for it. You have a zero percent chance of success if you don't try. Thanks for having me!   

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Well, there we have it. A wonderful interview with a wonderful person. I will be doing this rather often since I find it fun. I hope you learned a lot from this man! If you want to be interviewed and share your website while you are at it, let me know in the comments section below. I am also open to any other suggestions regarding finance or Magic: The Gathering. 

Sharing is Caring,
Sean Wang 




Note: All images are from their respective owners at Wizards of the Coast, Hasbro, Wikipedia and Deviant Art. I do not own any of these images.