Deal of the Day: Mana Drain

[diopter]

I thought that this was kind of interesting:

www.starcitygames.com

Mana Drain (Condition: Heavily Played) is the Deal of the Day from Friday August 18 to Sunday August 20.
A decrease of 15 dollars is not much - however, if you are looking to buy a playset of 4, you save 60 bucks. Not bad.

EDIT: enough is enough?

[Pitlord]

This is a pretty decent deal, but I would like to add that the drains on special are Heavily Played. When Star City says heavily played, they mean it. Lots of "HP" cards I, and others I know, have bought are creased, speckled with lots of black or white dots, have heavy fading, and often appear just bad.

That said, I still think the deal is great, jsut probably not for someone who is very concerned with the condition of the cards. If you just want to get some cheap english drains though, this seems like a pretty good deal.

[SpencerForHire]

I got deal of the day on some HP foil togs a while back, they weren't terrible although do expect a crease or two at the corners/anywhere else on the card.  Basically I'm saying there is a reason they are HP but I have never seen them to be that terrible.

[Tha Gunslinga]

EX-NM English Drains were 95-105 from dealers at Gencon, so this isn't too exciting.  It looks like Drains are headed downward.

[yespuhyren]

Not to mention their price gouging.  SCG sells staples ridiculously high because they are one of the biggest dealers, and therefore CAN do it.  I wouldn't buy anything big from them at those prices.  They do however, have great prices on some of the smaller stuff.

[CrashTest]

To call this a "deal" is slightly funny.

    $100 for a Heavily Played Mana Drain?

           Heh, at least it isn't $115 anymore. (At least for today! Get it while it's low!)

       

[taniquetil]

If you're looking for Mana Drains I would recommend you go Italian. Athough everyone with an affiliation to the SCG.com pimp thread will slap me, you can get EX-NM Italian drains for like 80 bucks.

And yes, being the biggest dealer in all of Magic-dealer-tude allows for some pretty serious gouging.

[diopter]

There were 13 HP Mana Drains in stock on Friday and 9 today. Someone must've thought those Mana Drains were a good deal.

[Hi-Val]

I don't think SCG gouges on a lot of their stuff, and something to remember about their higher-price cards is that you know that they are real and accurately graded. I also really like that they have super-cheap shipping, which makes buying commons at a quarter a pop from them cheaper for small stuff than from other dealers. Finally, I can pick stuff up from them at tournaments that I order online.

Okay, so I like the folks at SCG, what can I say? : )

[Danzig]

I also really like that they have super-cheap shipping...

Force of Willed!

P.S. Send Rits!

[Arctanis]

SCG definately has the most expensive prices for any dealer.  It's ridiculous.  The only thing positive worth mentioning is that because their prices are so high, usually most things are available.  As mentioned earlier, they also have a good rating system for the cards.  But you can find a better deal for power and other good cards at most card conventions.

[Komatteru]

SCG definately has the most expensive prices for any dealer.  It's ridiculous.  The only thing positive worth mentioning is that because their prices are so high, usually most things are available.  As mentioned earlier, they also have a good rating system for the cards.  But you can find a better deal for power and other good cards at most card conventions.

If I buy power from SCG, I know it's real.  Unless you know the dealer or are an expert yourself, you don't know if what he's got is real (cause he might not be up and up on all the tests, or on the high number of fakes out there).  To be honest, it's gotten to the point where the extra $50 is worth it to make sure you're getting something real.

Their prices for most other playable cards are reasonable.  They might be a little higher on some things, but with the huge inventory, you can get everything at once, and know you're going to get what you paid for as well.  You get pretty good cards at a pretty decent price from the SP selections.  I personally hated having to go to like 4 different stores to pick up all the cards for a deck.  I want to get them all from one place, so when my package arrives, my deck is finished.  I know I've had two stores get me stuff quick, and the last store take two weeks to get me my cards, making my deck like 5-10 critical cards short, which is the same as not having any of the cards really.

[CrashTest]

JD, if the price difference were only $50, I think SCG would sell out of power all day.

         It comes down to their Heavily played power being the same price as Near Mint power else where, like eBay. If you know what you are doing, you can avoid buying into a fake completely - this takes some experience and trial and error, but it can be done.

[Disburden]

Being scared of fakes was one of the reasons I had for buying my Beta Mox Pearl on SCG. Also, I have a great respect for what Star City does for our format. They have great tournaments all year round and try to have them in more and more deverse locations each year (like Boston). I would happily give SCG my little bit of extra cash for power when I know

a) its garanteed to be real

and

b) I'm giving a company money I respect very much and I am helping them keep up the good work with the tournaments they have for us.

I'd much rather do that then give some guy I don't know money over Ebay and then get a super thick phony piece of crap ( which happened to me wen I got my UL emerald even though they had 99% feedback).

[Matt]

The reason the ir prices are so high is because they guarantee to be able to sell a card to you. Which means that if you want a Sea Drake from them, and they don't have one, they have to go buy one off Ebay or whereever, then sell it to you.

[Godder]

It comes down to their Heavily played power being the same price as Near Mint power else where, like eBay. If you know what you are doing, you can avoid buying into a fake completely - this takes some experience and trial and error, but it can be done.

That trial and error risks being expensive, however. At least when you buy from a reputable shop/dealer, you have the guarantee of your money back or a replacement card, should your purchase be a fake. Additionally, if you use a credit card and something goes wrong, you can often get a chargeback.

[jcb193]

Getting everything from one spot is what makes them compelling, and I think their service is awesome (i'm even quoted on their accolades page).

However, I did once encounter a situation where they had Foil Memory jar's unreasonable low (like $5) and when they realized it was worth $30+ at the time, "they were out of stock and would not be able to fulfull the order."

That was a few years ago though.

Stellar, quick service.  Awesome stock.  High prices. 

Two out of three aint bad.

[vartemis]

The only problem I have with SCG is their credit card policy.  I have spent enough money with them to know my cc is good, but they would not let me buy a playset of HP workshops when they were at 150 a piece.  They expected me to Western union for $500 canadian (the max they will let you) which was going to cost me an extra $50, pay the extra on my cc, and then they wanted to declare the full value on the package, so I could get hit for $100+ in duty fees.  This makes it totally pointless in buying any money cards from them.  Ideally what I would have to do is get someone in the States to order it on their CC (because they will only ship to the address on the cc), and then have them send it up, which is a huge hassle.  I will admit that their service department (Josh and some other guy that escapes me right now) tried to work things out, but in the end, it was more expensive to buy HP ones there then mint ones up here.

j

[yangtze34]

SCG definately has the most expensive prices for any dealer. It's ridiculous. The only thing positive worth mentioning is that because their prices are so high, usually most things are available. As mentioned earlier, they also have a good rating system for the cards. But you can find a better deal for power and other good cards at most card conventions.

I disagree.  Cardkingdom has higher prices on stuff in my opinion.  Although sscg does sometimes have their chase-rares at a slightly higher price.  For mana drains, the best way to get them cheap is definately to get them off ebay.  English ones you can get for 80ish if you really hound the auctions.  I got my playset of italian(i kno not as pimp) for 245.  I would never buy the higher priced cards from most dealers.

[Tha Gunslinga]

The reason the ir prices are so high is because they guarantee to be able to sell a card to you. Which means that if you want a Sea Drake from them, and they don't have one, they have to go buy one off Ebay or whereever, then sell it to you.

Ah, actually, if they don't have a card then they list it as out of stock, afaik.  Starcity doesn't claim to have a 100% inventory.

[Matt]

The reason the ir prices are so high is because they guarantee to be able to sell a card to you. Which means that if you want a Sea Drake from them, and they don't have one, they have to go buy one off Ebay or whereever, then sell it to you.

Ah, actually, if they don't have a card then they list it as out of stock, afaik.  Starcity doesn't claim to have a 100% inventory.

This was not the case back when Workshops were taking off. They may have a "hunt it down" policy.