Pimpage; How do you do it?

[MarkPharaoh]

I'm just curious about all you fiends who have Japanese Foils up the wazzo on how you currently do it.  Do you just have a crap load of money?  Are you a very good trader and always come out of trades on top and slowly build?  I myself use to be into pimpage big time with numerous Japanese Signed Foil playsets when I played T1 regularly and didn't have to pay for a damn thing in my life so I had a ton of money laying around.  But since then I have gone to college, parents make me pay for everything, and currently am unemployed.  I am however interested in getting back into sexyness because I love to outshine my opponents not by just outplaying them, but making their cards look like shit compared to mine .  I'm just not entirely sure how to start up again.

[jcb193]

Have rich parents who want to buy your love, not have a significant other, or be old enough to have a real job.

Some people will try to tell you they are shrewd traders, or started with nothing, but almost everyone i've ever come across was one of the above- myself included.   

[Mind_under_Matter]

Draft until you drop and then ebay everything, use the profits to buy your pimpage.

Though I suppose rick parents, job, etc. actually lets you draft that much.

[Tha Gunslinga]

Cash monay ftw.  Trading occasionally, but usually you can buy on Ebay for infinitely cheaper than people will trade/sell IRL.

[Revvik]

Work in a card shop that will discount you heavily.  Oh yeah, and don't have any other priorities.  Not having a girlfriend makes things so much easier.

[MarkPharaoh]

Mind; I draft a lot but it's with TOGIT players so it's not exactly profitable

Slinga;  Where did you get the money to begin with?  don't you work for some grocery chain?

Revv;  The owner of the local shop won't ever hire because I made a random gay bash joke that pissed him off    BUT!  I don't have a girlfriend so that's a plus in this situation

[forests failed you]

Not having a girl can't be a plus...

I have found that the best way to acquire Pimp Asian Foils is to win a lot of power in Vintage events and then sell the power and buy Asian foils.

Cheers,
FFY

[Revvik]

Not having a girl can't be a plus...

I have found that the best way to acquire Pimp Asian Foils is to win a lot of power in Vintage events and then sell the power and buy Asian foils.

Cheers,
FFY

When talking strictly cards, it is a plus.  Hell, I was going to go play FNM, but instead I was repeatedly and loudly reminded of who took the weekend off from work just to spend time with me.  Not to mention the fact that we haven't gone anywhere in a week, and what do I really need more Magic cards for... 

Brian, as it stands, I've got to win power just to win back the power.  Screw foils for right now.  This should be a rule, don't pimp out your decks until you can acquire power (although I did trade off $400 worth of trade stock for my old Unlimited Jet back when it was still fetching that much on eBay). 

[MarkPharaoh]

Power is overrated, had it, sold it, my only regret is selling my other T1 staples with em, lol.  Why even use Power if you can't have it BB anyway?  Pimped Foil Land proxies > WB power

Unfortunately, i've only gone to like 4 power tourneys since when I did have all my power and expensive OOPs I was 15-16 and couldn't drive to any tourneys.  Now that I can I own shit  and only go to one if I don't have to referee soccer games for much needed cash and people like Raj can give me a completed deck.  Shrug, i'm just a bitch I guess

[Mykeatog]

First of all --

Not having a girlfriend doesn't make anything better.

Second of all, a great idea that will work nowadays, go to japan and buy all this shit. Buy more than you can use, buy so much that you can have all of what you want, and have more than twice that much to sell. Then - sell the rest of it to people like you who didn't go to japan and buy it.

You can make lots and lots and lots fo money this way. Enough to pay for your whole trip, etc.

[MarkPharaoh]

I'd have to whore my self out to a million fat chicks to get the money to do that .

[Baron.Pocket]

I'd have to whore my self out to a million fat chicks to get the money to do that .

We got our best method!

Seriously, it depends on many many factors.. 

[Mind_under_Matter]

Whore your girlfriend out!

Or not.

Seriously, ebay works. I've got the pimpest tog going. If only it were good.

Oh, and quite a few artists will sign things for you if you mail them to them, usually a 12 card limit, but damn, my Russian Mana Leaks look pretty.

[nataz]

First of all --

Not having a girlfriend doesn't make anything better.

Second of all, a great idea that will work nowadays, go to japan and buy all this shit. Buy more than you can use, buy so much that you can have all of what you want, and have more than twice that much to sell. Then - sell the rest of it to people like you who didn't go to japan and buy it.

You can make lots and lots and lots fo money this way. Enough to pay for your whole trip, etc.

Is it really that easy though? I make occasional trips to japan (although the last one was before I started playing MTG), and know quite a few people there. I supposed I could have them pick up quite a bit(none of them actualy play magic, but some of them are geekish enough that they would understand), but would the price difference really be worth it? Is a japanese foil welder worth less to people in Japan then people in the US?

If so, does this trend work with cheaper stuff?

[Juggernaut GO]

I think its way cooler to go out of your way to use the most un pimp cards available to you, and it saves you alot of money.  white bordered brainstorms, so much better then asian foil.

[everythingitouchdies]

Not having a girl can't be a plus...

I have found that the best way to acquire Pimp Asian Foils is to win a lot of power in Vintage events and then sell the power and buy Asian foils.

Cheers,
FFY

Maybe this is why all my cards are white bordered... too many girls...

[UR]

I don't like Asian, that is a big plus for me... Regular English foils are much easier to get and getting stuff signed is easy enough.

Having a job helps you get the money you need. Selling your leftover stuff also helps (this includes prizes you win at tournaments).

[MarkPharaoh]

Whore your girlfriend out!

Or not.

Seriously, ebay works. I've got the pimpest tog going. If only it were good.

Oh, and quite a few artists will sign things for you if you mail them to them, usually a 12 card limit, but damn, my Russian Mana Leaks look pretty.

Yea, I can get most artists to do an unlimited amount since I always send a decent amount of cash along with the cards.

[Bardo]

Not having a girlfriend makes things so much easier.

Thinking that blingifying your collection is such a ridiculous waste of your money to make your cards look gaudy and having a girlfriend is so much more rewarding.

Pimp = English, black-bordered, non-foiled. 4L.

Edit - I get a certain kind of perverse joy after smashing a deck that's pimped to the gills as I pick up my revised duals. Good times.

[BigMac]

Not pimp at all. Saves a lot of money. This will keep you up to date with all cards.

About outshining your opponent with pimp cards. I never outshine my opponent and last i heard my unlimited black lotus does the same as a beta one.

I never look at my opponents cards that closely, unless i do not know a card, i will have it explained to me. Otherwise, pimped or not i try to win. And a card being foiled or not will not change that.

But if you really want to pimp, get a job or win the lottery.

[jcb193]

As a person that lived in Singapore for a long time, it is hard for me to believe that flying over to Japan solely to buy Magic cards would be worth the $600-$1000 airfare, not to mention the trouble and cost of lodging.  I think this strategy made a lot of sense back in the 90's, but in our ebay world, it doesn't seem like the scale or margin is worth it.

Though a dealer's perspective might be different. 

Josh
ex-importer of 1000 APAC packs. 

[MarkPharaoh]

About outshining your opponent with pimp cards. I never outshine my opponent and last i heard my unlimited black lotus does the same as a beta one.

That just isn't true.  You can definately get into some peoples mind with versions of cards that are a lot more expensive then the ones they are using.  Why do you think people are able to sell their Pro Tour shirts and PTQ Pins so well?  It's an intimidation tactic that works a lot more then you believe it does.

EDIT:  I also forgot to mention that by having foreign cards you have a better chance of making your opponent mess up by thinking the wording on the card is something different then what it actually is.

[Dante]

About outshining your opponent with pimp cards. I never outshine my opponent and last i heard my unlimited black lotus does the same as a beta one.

That just isn't true.  You can definately get into some peoples mind with versions of cards that are a lot more expensive then the ones they are using.  Why do you think people are able to sell their Pro Tour shirts and PTQ Pins so well?  It's an intimidation tactic that works a lot more then you believe it does.

This only works against weak-minded fools you shouldn't need an advantage over.

[MarkPharaoh]

No offense to to some of you, but there are A LOT of weak players and it doesn't really matter if you have a superior deck and have superior playing abilities, another advantage is another advantage and it still increases your chances of winning your match.

[Slack]

I also forgot to mention that by having foreign cards you have a better chance of making your opponent mess up by thinking the wording on the card is something different then what it actually is.

Please take no offense to this, as it is not my intent.  It is not meant as an attack on you, but more a questioning of motives for players in general.

My question is, are there people who actually play with this motivation?

It strikes me as a little underhanded, to try to trick or fool your opponent in such a way to gain advantage in the game.

I can appreciate having a truly awesome looking deck.  After all who wouldn't want to play with those foil japanese Goblin Welders we all saw go on ebay the other week.  But to do so with the purpose of hoping that it will trick your opponent in some way?  It seems as though such a motive should taint playing with said cards in the first place.

[UR]

EDIT:  I also forgot to mention that by having foreign cards you have a better chance of making your opponent mess up by thinking the wording on the card is something different then what it actually is.

That is what judges are for. Seriously, if you don't know what something does, just ask. I've never played anybody who didn't ask the judge what my Animate Dead does (by mistake, I got an Italian one).

Why do I never get to play the 'easily-distracted-by-shiny-things'-scrubs.  

[Hi-Val]

Whenever I see Hi-Val, I have him draw on some cards for me.

[MarkPharaoh]

@Slack:  I haven't meant anyone with that mentality on the Vintage level.  That doesn't mean there doesn't exist some players, I just haven't seen them.  For T1, I personally don't have that mentality, I just like the sexyness; however, the PTQ level is a completely different story.  At PTQs if I have foreign cards it's just for that reason; to hope my opponent messes up and to give me a better advantage, and trust me, i'm not the only one.  Qs are very ugly, you have all various forms of cheaters and pricks (rules lawyering, cruel comments to throw you off your game etc etc).  People try to palm cards, use foils in a shady way, try to do something in the game that they know is illegal but will do it anyway in the hopes of their opponent not knowing, among other things.  The smarter PTQ players like Greg Weiss (he's been to about 10 Pro Tours) will play completely unmainstream decks with cards that you don't normally see in the Extended enviroment with various languages to try to throw his opponents off.  It's just how it is unfortunately

@Val:  If I ever get anything worth altering i'll let you know since I currently have bookmarked about half a dozen eBay searches looking to pimpness and whatnot

[arj]

EDIT:  I also forgot to mention that by having foreign cards you have a better chance of making your opponent mess up by thinking the wording on the card is something different then what it actually is.

That is what judges are for. Seriously, if you don't know what something does, just ask. I've never played anybody who didn't ask the judge what my Animate Dead does (by mistake, I got an Italian one).

Exactly, many of the english ones doesn't even have the proper Oracle wording on them.

[Klep]

Whenever I see Hi-Val, I have him draw on some cards for me.

Quoted for truth.  I think I have 3 or 4 cards altered by Doug at the moment.