The best deal you ever got?

[Aaron]

For me, it would definitely be in August, this year. I went to an antique store, dropped $80, and walked out with these:



Funny, since I've never found another lone Magic card at any thrift store.

I sold these, and I mainly miss them just because of the story behind them. Oh well.  

Anybody else have a story like this?

[LotusHead]

Well, it was a long time ago, but I finally agreed to trade my buddy Adam a Chaos Orb (my favorite Magic Card at the time), plus a Berzerk and Twidle (a Rare, Uncommon and Common Out of Print card at the time) for a pile of Legends that Adam won in a tourney.

I aquired a Time Elemental which was the coolest thing ever, and within a week or two traded my now obsolete Obelisk of Undoing for an Argivian Archeolgist AND a Library of Alexandria.

At the time, I thought the Archaeologist was the broken card.  I was wrong.  The Library RULED!

Later, I traded my Black Lotus for a Blue Mox to the same individual (Kamikazi Kelly, for those in the old school Magic Sacto area), so it all worked out.

keep in mind, that all of this was before say, the Internet spawned, and especially, before Magic Cards were worth actual MONEY.

Gawd I loved That Library.

[Annorax]

I was going to post something, but after seeing Aaron's haul, I'll just quietly leave and say I'm pwned.

[Komatteru]

A couple of months ago, $60 got me:
1 Unlimited Timetwister
1 Beta Mana Vault
2 Beta Demonic Tutor
1 Alpha and 1 Beta Regrowth
1 Beta Sol Ring
1 Bazaar of Baghdad
1 Ifh-Biff Efreet
1 Singing Tree
1 Ali from Cairo
1 Sharahazad
3 Alpha/Beta Sinkhole
1 Unlimited Sinkhole
1 Alpha Lord of Atlantis
1 Beta Royal Assassin
1 Beta Mahamoti Djinn
1 Beta Icy Manipulator
1 Beta Two-Headed Giant
1 Beta Sedge Troll
1 Alpha Hypnotic Specter
1 Alpha Ankh of Mishra
1 Alpha Contract from Below
1 Alpha Force of Nature
1 Alpha Natural Selection
2 Alpha/Beta Lightning Bolt
4 Alpha/Beta Disenchant
4 Alpha/Beta Counterspell
4 Alpha/Beta Blue Elemental Blast
a stack of Alpha/Beta lands, tons of commons, and a bunch more stuff I'm forgetting.

Most of the stuff was in pretty nice shape, but mostly had some play on it.  The Twister is amazing, and the Tutor, Regrowths, Ring, and Vault, were all quite nice.   I kept the Ring and Vault, one of the Tutors, the Beta Regrowth, the Twister, and the Counterspells and Disenchants, and sold the rest (traded a few remaining things).  I got enough cash to buy a Lotus.

[Aaron]

Damn, where did you get all of that stuff? I'd say that definitely rivals the Moxes.

(On a related note, I nearly got sick looking at the Scrye #2 price guide... Too bad I hadn't heard of Magic back then.  :shock:)

[Doozer]

I didn't get any CrAzY deals like the moxen but what I got, when I got it, and how much they have increace in value sence I bought them, is really good.

The following I got at Origins in 99.

unl. Time walk - 65 ok condition which I don't really care about
unl. Ancestral recall - 100 fine- condition
unl. TimeTwister - 100 fine condition
unl. Mox blue and Beta Mox black - traded away a set of mint collectors ed. both are beat but one was 95 the other was 85 so I don't mine

From ebay I bought a play set of mint english signed mana drains for 160 right before they shot up to almost 100 each. These are most likely my favorite cards. I forget when but I got Mox red and white for 250 which are in great condition.

Thats about it execpt I got my black lotus as a gift from a family member whom introduced me to the game. And I've never payed over 10 bucks for a rev. dual. Yet I need 15 or so more, I check the price on ebay for a play set of 40 and they have gone from 500 to 700+ which to me, is CrAzY.

P.S WHY can't I find a ok condition Alpha Ancestral Recall????? I've been looking for one for two years now.

[Komatteru]

Damn, where did you get all of that stuff? I'd say that definitely rivals the Moxes.

I picked it up as a collection from a co-worker of a friend of mine.  He was like "I know this guy who said he has a box of cards he wants to get rid of."  So I got a lot more cards as well (~2000 or so).

[skecreatoR]

I managed to trade a 4 x FBB Tundra (Seriously NM), 1 x FBB Demonic Tutor for 1 x BEAT Mox Emerald. This I then traded for a pretty nice Twister + a FBB Demonic tutor (I love those - have 6). Then I'd figured that my Beta twister beat a shitty WB one 8 days a week, and traded it down for 4 x FBB Tundra, 4 x FBB Tropical Island, 4 x Quirion Dryad in foil + 2 x FBB Sol Ring.

It might have taken me over 20 days to achieve that, but I ended up with mad more cards, plus the final deal was absolutely crazy. That is approx 500 dollars for a 200 dollar card.

Other notables:

Beta Regrowth for 4 x Force of Will
Vampiric Tutor Korean for none. He never replied.

[Royal Ass.]

Some recent trades within the last year:

8th edition Nekratal for 2 Revised Birds of Paradise (personal favorite)
2 Unlimited Sinkholes for Mana Vault and 2 Mint Revised Undergrounds
Kabal Ghoul for Alpha Wheel of Fortune (weee!!)
Pile of Crap for 3 tundra and 2 Volcanics

At the CoK prerelease I bought a Mint Emerald and an English Drain for $280

[LotusHead]

My only cool score recently was 4 Mana Drains, 4 Ungerground Seas, for 100 now and 100 later.  They were in this guy's Black Blue deck with Hippies, dormant for 10 years. (this was about 1 year ago, exactly). Sweet.

[True Lies Ownz]

I got 2 workshops for $140 today, but apparently noone cares.

[WilD]

Well, the best deal I ever got was for Extended cards, but I thought I made a nice profit...
My
FOIL Akki Lavarunner
For his:
Spiritmonger
Pernicious Deed
FOIL Eternal Witness.

I was pretty pleased

[serialjester]

Playset of Bazaars $160
Playset of Workshops $200
UNL Mox Jet, Ruby, Sapphire, Pearl, 4 Beta Sinkholes $380
UNL Mox Sapphire $125
UNL Lotus, Ancestral $450

I could list what I got My Beta Mox Pearl and Sapphire for, but I don't want to  make anyone cry. All the above prices are within the last 18 months.

[Lybydose]

UNL Mox Pearl for $20 in the last year.

Someone used a marker on the black border on the back, but hey, a $20 mox isn't bad.

The best part is that some Yu-gi-oh player kid was standing near me and thought I was nuts for paying twenty dollars for JUST one card.

Also picked up a force of will (back when it was extended legal) and some shivan reefs for 10 cents each and a morphling for 2 denying winds (you can tell it's a bad prophecy rare by the word "wind" in the name)

[Mr. Fantazy]

.....(you can tell it's a bad prophecy rare by the word "wind" in the name)

No, you can tell its a bad card just by looking at the set symbol on Prophecy rares!

A couple of the best deals I've gotten were a Unlimited Forcefield and Workshop just for hanging out and watching a store while the owner went to court. This was right after Workshop was unrestricted.

[Doozer]

I just got the following a few hours ago for 14 bucks. It's not moxen but it will help pay for my gas.

4 wastelands
unl. fork
rev. tundra
elephant graveyard
fbb mana valt
2 foil Flametongue Kavu
foil gush
foil brainstorm
foil skeletal scrying
and some odd misprint fbb forest that has a plains picture.

In all I'd say it was pretty insane. It should be noted that I bought them from a comic book store that almost always check prices. I'm glad that I kinda riped them off because thats what they do to eveyone else.

[MadManiac21]

About a year ago I bought a collection from some kid for $175.

About 30 days later I picked out $100+ worth of good foils and chase rares from the collection, and sold what was left for $360.

That was some good.

[orgcandman]

keep in mind that this is all within the past year:

* UNL Mox Sapphire: $65 - The guy was selling off a collection. I offered him $65 and found this gem in it. It also had 4x beta sinkhole, 4x tolarian academy, 2x yawgwill, 4x esg, Xx rev. duals (I already had a full set at this point), and random garbage.

* UNL Ancestral:       $200 - The guy needed to pay rent.

* UNL Mox Jet:          $190 - Found a great online deal

* UNL Mox Emerald   $100 - it was beat, plus it was on sale, I pwn online again!

* UNL Mox Ruby        $300 - I get pwned online. I don't care at this point 'cause I'm still ahead

* UNL Time Walk       $100 - I find another great online deal. At this point, it becomes apparent that I go online a lot.

* 4x Mana Drain (2itl)$200 - I bought them when they were cheap at the beginning of the year. Then I got them signed by tedin. Mise!

* 1x Workshop          $90 - I got this, then sold it quick for a nice $90 profit.

That's it for good pwning stories. For the best "I got pwn3d" story:

First started playing at the beginning of Revised. Bought the last pack on unlimited in the store. Cracked a sapphire. Trade it a week later at recess for a sol ring. (I was in the 5th grade)

[terevaune]

This febriary I got a lotus and 5 moxen (all unlimted and pretty beat, but still moxen) for 1000 canadian.

TO quote the guy who sold it to me - my lotus is pretty beat, I know I'm not going to get 200 for it, but I want to get at least 80.

[jpmeyer]

I traded 2 AKs for a DVD player.

[MuzzonoAmi]

Mint German Sol Ring for $5.

[Tristal]

Two Words of Wilding for a foil Arcbound Ravager, a month after Darksteel came out.

[skecreatoR]

Accumulated Knowledge for 0.50$. Foil, of course.

Additional 4 Swords to Plowshares DCI Foil - 12.95$

Metalworker S. Chinese foil - 7.00$

Beta Tropical Island for 97.00$

Trading a Beat Volcanic Island for a Unlimited Sea, signed.

To FBB Volcanic Island for 2 Beta Volcanic Island + 80$

This isn't insane, it's just bragging. The point is it is amazing that people still have no idea what the prices are on cards.

[VGB]

In 1996 I bought the following from a guy in college:

1 x Unl Black Lotus
1 x Unl Timetwister
1 x Mana Drain (English)
1 x Candelabra of Tawnos
and some other random junk for $55 dollars.

The sad news is that I sold all my cards a year later for $360, having only paid about $200 total for them all - but I kept the Lotus, and sold the Twister separately for $20.  My collection then included a Library of Alexandria, 4 x sets of Fallen Empires, a set of The Dark, various Legends and Antiquities cards, and 2 x sets of Revised.

2 years ago I bought the following from a store:

1 x Unl Mox Ruby: $90
1 x Library of Alexandria $80
1 x Mishra's Workshop $35
1 x Bazaar of Baghdad $20

Stores that don't update their singles prices for 5 years are tech.

As for times that I've gotten the short end of the stick: my first and only n00b trade involved me swapping an Underground Sea for Glasses of Urza.

Edit -

Well, another time I got taken involved the Workshop I got for $35 - I hadn't checked ebay prices lately, and thought Shops were around $75 (they were closer to $120 at the time), and I traded it for:

1) 1 x Unlimited Cyclopean Tomb (to complete my UL set)
2) 1 x Visara the Dreadful
3) 1 x Morphling
4) 2 x Fetches (a polluted delta and flooded strand)
5) 1 x Mana Crypt (they were selling for $10-$15 at the time)

but since I payed so little for the shop to begin with, I really wasn't that sore about it.

[Alfred]

I traded my unlimited Mox pearl for a dalmation puppy 4 years ago. I kept the puppy in a small, dark room in the basement, feeding it sporadically, and beating it without mercy. I then unleashed the dog inside a preschool.




Just kidding. I bought a workshop for 20 dollars 6 years ago, then sold it to my friend for 50 dollars 2 years ago! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

[Mixing Mike]

I got a Mint Beta Sol Ring with the most vibrant color I've seen in New England in two years.  I traded 3 Braids, Cabal Minion, and 2 Call of the Herds for it.  This was like the week before they rotated out too.

Okay, nothing amazing, but it's all I got.

[squash86]

Working at a store was the best way to get the best deals. Here are two examples.

About 4 years ago, a guy walked into the store I was working for at the time, and had 3 unopened beta starters. All he wanted were 3 boxes of type 2 stuff (7th, Invasion).

It gets better... two of the starters had 9 rares and 3 uncommons. The highlights were a Sapphire, a Chaos Orb, a Wheel of Fortune, and 2 Tundras. I took the Sapphire, and traded it for $190 cash, 4 Birds, and 4 Urza's Rage at GP Detroit. I was able to get my last 3 pieces of my first set of power with that, so it was pretty neat.

Then at one point, I hustled a guy's binder for $50 because I told him that it was the maximum the owner would let me pay out. His girlfriend wouldn't let him come back with them for whatever reason so he took it.

[Seifyk]

I traded 2 AKs for a DVD player.

Jpmeyer wins the thread.


I traded a foil 8th Persecute and a 7th persecute for a beta sea.

[FORCE-OF-WILL]

I traded 2 AKs for a DVD player.

Best deal- Set on NM english Drains =$65 (1 year ago)

Sweetest deal- 1 foil Jap FTK to make some guy go buy me a case of beer. (he even paid for the beer)

[Necropotenza]

Ok, here it goes the chain of deals that got me 4 Mana Drain:

1- I traded a bunch of unplayable commons and uncommons to a collector for: 1 Llanowar elves DCI, 1 Coat of arms (Exodus), some Beta basic lands and a minty Beta Savannah.
2- I traded that Savannah for 3 Shadowmage infiltrator (they were worth 20$) and 1 Birds of paradise.
3- Those Finkels+1BoP+1Lavamancer for 4 near-mint Mana Drain.

So I got my Drains basically free