After playing Magic: The Gathering for a long 3 years, I have already racked up a sizable collection of bulk. Most of the time it would probably gather dust as it is hard to sell it as a whole. Some people are true heroes as they are willing to pick it off you for a lower price but you save so much time and effort that would have been put into sorting them. Today, I interviewed a man who's primary source of MTG income comes from buying up people's collection and flipping them for profit. This man is Matt Briggs, a family man, father of 6. 

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A real family man! (Image courtesy of Matt Briggs)

(SW is me ,of course, and MB is Matt Briggs)

SW: Let's start with some self introductions.

A happy couple. (Image courtesy of Matt Briggs)

MB: Well, I'm 36, Married, father of 5 (soon to be 6). Played magic for about 12 years now. I've been much more focused on MTG finance for the past 4 yrs.

SW: Is MTG Finance your main source of income? 

Image Source: http://www.exec-it.com/tag/cost/

 
MB: It is not. I'm an IT support tech for a small company as my day job. I use MTG to supplement my income, as well as to set aside money for a house.

City of Brass (Image owned by Wizards of the Coast, Art by Jung Park)

SW: So MTG has managed to become more than a self-sustaining hobby?

MB: Absolutely. I feel fortunate to have learned from people locally, and through various online venues, on how to buy and sell effectively.

SW: How much would you say you have invested in the game and how much returns have you experienced?

MB: Well, in the first 2 years, I put in about $2k of my own money to get up and rolling. Haven't had to do anymore since then. I've returned approximately $25k from that $2k in these 4 yr. $25k being a conservative estimate. I didn't keep the best records the first year and half.

Kozilek's Return (Image owned by Wizards of the Coast, Art by Lius Lasahido)

SW: Wow, that is an amazing amount of return! What are the top few things that you would like to share regarding your journey to such a huge profit margin?

MB: Well, looking back, I think the most important thing is to start small, and keep good track of stuff, in and out. Making sure to know buylists, market rates, etc. is also super critical. Knowing what you can expect to get for cards took me about 2 yrs to get really comfortable with. I wanted too much for most of them, and didn't move the smaller stuff in quantity when I should have. Over the past year, I've shifted more into buylisting stuff under $10. Most of it at least, as most of it comes from collections, and is solid profit regardless of what I get from it.

I also keep my speculating to a minimum. Speculating is gambling, for the most part. Even sure things can go sideways.

Image owned by Wizards of the Coast

 
SW:  Since you don't speculate, what is your method of choosing cards to buy? Do you have a set rule when it comes to your purchases or do you follow the philosophy of buying bulk from collections and reselling?

Abrupt Decay (Image owned by Wizards of the Coast, Art by Svetlin Velinov)

MB: I will take a small percentage of my profits and sink it into sealed product and format staples, such as Abrupt Decay, Eidolon of Great Revel, etc. However, this is below 10% of my profits. Probably 5%. I try to buy collections, which can be a pain, but having a set method and buy price for cards helps. For singles, I pick up reserved list staples when I see them for solid deals, and buy/sell standard stuff with quick turnovers, and smaller profits. I generally try build up some reserves before Christmas time, to be able to pick up solid modern cards as people sell them to get some extra spending money for the holidays.

Eidolon of the Great Revel (Image owned by Wizards of the Coast, Art by: Cyril Van der Haegen)

For singles I generally try to match buylist, then pick up the bulk along with it, if possible. Collections obviously net much larger return potentials 

SW: I am sure you are aware of the situation that modern cards are often at their lowest during Christmas due to the abundance of sales and lack of competitions. Is that another reason why you buy during Christmas?

Image owned by Wizards of the Coast

 MB: That's correct.

SW: What would you say is your biggest success story by far?

MB: Well, probably the fact I'm able to find the time to do all this. Having a full time job, and a family of 7. All my kids being under 10. My wife is very supportive (most of the time).

SW: Yeah, i have heard of people breaking bank over their collection. I hope readers will NOT do that. Were there any cards or collections that you purchases that had a great profit margin?

Windswept Heath (Image owned by Wizards of the Coast, Art by Yeong Hao-Han)

MB: Oh absolutely. Two stand out. One was about 2.5-3 yrs ago. I was much more comfortable with what I was doing, and was picking up quite a few collections. This one was priced very high, about $4k. I didn't have that, but I had about $1k. I talked with him a bit, and he came down to about $2k. I got some good responses to questions, and felt good about him coming down to $1200-1500. I tapped a friend for some extra funds, and got down there (about an hour away). We chatted a bit before getting in to the cards. I went through some of the better stuff, we talked about bulk prices for the rest. I offered a buylist price at $600, based off what I had looked at, and how it was trending, and we settled on $680. This was only seeing a small portion of stuff. He told me flat out that there was $3k in there, maybe more, but he was fine with the price, because it was so big a collection, and it was the time that was the issue for him. He had already sold his power and duals out of it, so just wanted to be done. We parted ways and, sure enough, I cleared about 3500 bucks on the collection.

SW: Wow that is amazing, you turned $680 into $3.5k? How long did it take you to clear that collection?

Image from eBay

MB: It took me about 6 months total to clear that on the $680 one. The bulk of it withing the first 2 months. Slightly less for the $200 one.  

2 years ago, a local guy who frequents the LGS here in my small town of about 8000, said he had a collection he wanted to get rid of. He wanted to sort it first so he could keep a couple of EDH decks. I figured that was it, but 3 months later he said he was ready. He gave me about 3k rares, and 70k bulk. Only wanted $200 for it all. I offered him much more, but he wouldn't take it, stating he knew I bought collections to resell, and knew it took a lot of time. Plus, he didn't sleeve cards, so knew they were worth less. Cleared about $2500 on that. Whenever the $200 guy needs cards for an EDH deck, I just give them to him

SW: That is incredible. So from an anecdotal stance, you would say that buying collections is the true way to go in MTG Finance ?

MB: I don't know about that. I mean, that's where you get your biggest returns for sure, so for me, living in a lower population area, it works pretty well. If It was my full time job, I'd want a shop so that I could move volume, and so collections would come to me. I see many different people make money at this in many different ways.

Really, I think it's all about how you treat people. I just tell it to people straight. I don't try to get stuff for pennies on the dollar. I show them buylist prices online, even show them how to properly value their cards, and then explain why I pay what I do.

SW: Alright, it is definitely good of you to not be a shark and take advantage of people.

sharksider.com

MB: Sharks are always bad for the business. There are some around, and they make it hard for everyone else.

SW: Indeed, I actually know a few who frequent some LGSs here in Malaysia. They can be harmful but since they have such rare cards, people are forced to deal with them.

Force of Will, Art by Terese Nielson

MB: I tell people if I find $100 cards, or crazy stuff in their collection that I'll call them back if I find it, and offer to return said card or pay them a percentage. I've done it a few times, with some Force of Will's and dual lands. All but one have just said, "Keep it."

SW: Being an MTG Financier, it is very important to have integrity as a human being. You would agree?

MB:  Integrity is always important. No question there. However, I do think one has to be very careful about judging how other fellow MTG financiers do business. There are lots of ways to buy and sell, and most of them are just as valid as others.

SW: Completely agree with you. As long as no one is getting scammed in the process, we have no right to judge a person's business practices.

MB: I mean, I've offered people below buylist for cards, standard mostly, when I've not excited about them, and think demand is low. They usually don't sell, but sometimes they do. I've been called out on it once or twice, but I showed them I fully explained the current market value, why I didn't want to pay more for it, and they still said OK. They went in with eyes open, and were perfectly happy with the deal.

SW: Yeah, transparency is important in any transaction.

MB: Also, people will often sell for very little if stuff is rotating. If you can flip quickly (usually means having a buyer already lined up), you can make some nice quick profit. Exactly. I'm ALWAYS very transparent. There is simply no reason to deny information to someone.

SW: Indeed. Completely agreed.

MB: I also genuinely enjoy meeting people. I've met some awesome people buying collections.

SW: What would you say was your biggest failure in terms of MTG Finance, if you care to share? Personally, mine was due to silly old me speculating on Realms Uncharted. 

Temple Garden (Image owned by Wizards of the Coast)

MB: There are probably a lot of small ones. I think by biggest one recently was speculating on shocklands. I was basically splitting my money between buying up fetches and shocks. Khans fetches were SOOOO low you just couldn't not buy them. Non blue for 5-7, blue for 9-10. I gathered up 4 playsets of each, but also did about 3-4 playsets of the shocklands as well. Those shocklands are STILL the same price, and my fetchlands I doubled up on already (and they are long gone). I could have made another $1k if I would have focused on fetches. I was buying up Abrupt Decays and Mutavaults as well. About the same amount. So in reality, which is hindsight, which is 20/20, I should have just bought all fetches, and been $1-2k richer.

SW: Would you have any advice for non-MTG people who are interested in experiencing financial freedom?

MB: Well, I have plenty of advise for pretty much anyone looking for financial freedom. As far as getting out of debt goes, Dave Ramsey is well known. He's dead on when it comes to the basics of getting out and staying out of debt. I known many people personally that have become debt free thanks to his efforts. Bottom line is not being in debt. Almost all debt is bad, regardless of what rich people tell you. "Rich" people are telling you otherwise cause they make money off the debt.

Even houses are not a sure thing. Recent events should have proven that. I see a lot of people with mortgages and no savings investing in the market. That seems super silly to me, and almost always ends bad.


Being debt free is worth it just for the lack of stress.

SW: Indeed, because every extra bit of cash becomes pure profit. I think that is all the questions I have.Would you like to share any parting words to my readers regarding anything? 

MB: Ask lots of questions of those around you that are successful - not just MTG related. Build relationships and connections, and be willing to invest TIME into them. The dividends such effort returns is always profitable, for all parties involved.

SW: Thank you for the advice. I am sure many people will benefit off it.

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So, today we have learned about integrity as a seller and how to make money off collections. We also learned about the importance of debt reduction. I hope you enjoyed this interview and learned a lot from this man. If you did, please share this interview or leave a comment with your own opinion regarding the topic. Thank you for reading!

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Sean Wang  

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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. 
 

   

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After a long day at school, one of the best things to do is to sit in front of my computer and watch some superheroes. Personally, I have always been into superheroes, they are always so complex and interesting. The concept of heroism and people helping others because they can and they feel that it is their duty to do so really inspires me to do more, despite lacking superpowers. DC or Marvel... it doesn't matter, as long as they are kickass and interesting characters, they are good in my book.. my comic book! *ba-dum-tsst*

Recently, I had a resurgence of interest in the subject matter with Arrow and The Flash popping up on the television screens. I would probably talk about them sometime later but today, we are going to be talking about the new show in DC's arsenal - Legends of Tomorrow. Keep in mind that there will be many spoilers for the characters involved in this series as they are all recurring cast members from their respective series, that is Arrow and The Flash. 

The Premise

You have a man who has a super suit that lets him fire lasers and shrink (The Atom) , then you have a revived assassin (White Canary). Next, you throw in a pair of reincarnated lovers that are shielded by a bird god (Hawkman and Hawkgirl) and a dynamic duo consisting of an old genius and a young beefcake that can fuse into a fire storm (Well, I already made a joke about his name). Finally, you have a pair of criminals who are the way Katy Perry likes it - Hot and Cold (Captain Cold and Heatwave). Wait, let's just throw in time travel for the heck of it! What could possibly go wrong? 

The Plot

The answer: everything goes right! Keep in mind that my thoughts on this series would be only limited to the first episode as it is the only one released as of writing this blog post.

The plot of this first episode jumps from present time to the sweet 70s. Despite not living in the 70s, I think that this show has shown me what the 70s are like. It is colourful but the pubs can still be dark and full of misogynists.

Overall, you can see that the director and the cast are having real fun with these concepts. Since they aren't limited to the bland cityscapes that most superhero franchises are limited to  I swear if you look closely, you can see the smirk on some of the actors when they are about to do something badass. Basically, the whole experience is fun. It is a ride!

The Characters

The characters mesh really well so far in the series. Despite all of them coming from different backgrounds and ,in the case of Captain Cold and Heatwave, different alignments, they seem to get along relatively well because of the prospects of being legends from their actions.

A character that I think really stands out is the Firestorm character (or rather half of him), Professor Stein has been the craziest so far. And with Heatwave on the team, that is saying something! Imagine a weary old professor outrunning laser bolts while still in human form. Suspension of disbelief can only go so far but what the hell, in these tales to astonish, I should better be getting astonished right? He even goes all sassy on Atom, not recognising his own student, and roofies his other half (J. Jackson). I can't wait to see more from him.

The rest of the characters will definitely have more room to develop and grow into the team that they are meant to be, especially since they work so well off each other already .

The Action

You know what I want from a superhero movie? Action! There is this scene where there is a bar fight and White Canary, the revived assassin, whoops a whole bunch of burly men only for Captain Cold and Heatwave to join in the fun.


This series is clearly on a bigger scale than anything else the CW DC Universe have done up till now. This is the Avengers of the DC tv-verse. So, they have to deliver bigger effects, bigger explosions, bigger everything and boy, do they deliver!

TL;DR

You must watch all the previous CW DC shows before watching this. You would be pretty lost otherwise. However, if you already watched everything prior, then you must freaking watch this show. It airs every week on Fridays and you will NOT regret it. I can't wait to see how far this show develops and maybe they can interact with DC teams from different times, maybe a Legion of Superheroes from the year 3000? *Geekgasm* Hey, if the Justice League can't be seen on live action television, this would do fine! So, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? GO!



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Sean Wang

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