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Baneful's Column
$$ Yugi-nomics 101: Saving Money and Profiting $$
Happy new year!
And yep, I'm back on my column.
Can't guarentee that I'll be writing regularly
because I have been a bit busy lately, but I'm glad to be
back on here nonetheless.
While my past articles have focused on nostalgia, I
want to dive into some practical subjects this year.
Let's start with money.
Who is this article for?
This article is geared toward both newer players and people
who are spending more money than they are making with Yugioh.
So, to people who are profiting, this may all seem
like common sense.
I'm not an expert of any kind and I haven't been profiting,
but I've learned a lot from experience and observation.
Mostly, from my failures, but also the success of
some of my friends.
My little story
Yugioh can be a very expensive game.
Throughout much of the time I was playing it, I was
throwing thousands of dollars down the drain because I had
to keep buying more cards to keep up with the release of new
cards.
I was young and just following what everyone else did
because I didn't have anyone to tell me that there was a
different way.
Why am I writing this?
I realize what my Yugioh binder (and bank account)
could have been like if I had started saving money years
ago, and I want to help a few people avoid the common
mistakes.
Much of the advice I give here is timeless because in
retrospect, I've seen all of this come consistently true.
It was true in 2002, true in 2006, true in 2010, and
true now.
The Pyramid of Profit
There are 3 groups of people:
•
The Splurgers – Those who spend lots of money on the game.
(~90% of players)
•
The Smart Ones - Those who invest wisely so they don't need
to spend a lot (~9% of players)
•
The Entrepreneurs – Those who make a net profit off of the
game (~1% of players)
Profiting from Yugioh is not a living (more like a
sub-minimum wage part time job), but you earn money on your
own terms doing what you love.
However, some may find profiting time-consuming and
others, who have their sights more on competitive play, will
buy-high and sell-low if it means winning more games.
But there's no benefit to being a splurger unless you have
tons of disposable money and aren't bothered by spending
thousands more than you need to.
The recommended route to go for most people is to be
one of the smart ones in the middle-route, smarter than most
players but not sacrificing as much as the top 1% is to make
their meagre profit.
#1 – Don't buy loose random packs
1.
They're designed for you to lose.
You pay $4 for a pack and on-average, you're getting
$2 worth of cards.
2.
Most cards in the pack (unless you're building out every
single theme from the set) won't be useful to you.
3.
Buying packs is an emotional decision like buying
scratch-off lottery tickets, but it's not a logical way to
build a collection.
#2 – Avoid buying booster boxes, usually.
1.
Boxes are a step-up from packs as you save by buying in bulk
and more packs means more consistency, but it's still not an
ideal option.
2.
The value of holos has shrunk more than ever.
Most holos from older sets have fetched $5-15 of
market value.
Nowadays, if the card isn't Dante, Qliphort Disk or Denko
Sekka, it's a $1-2 card.
This makes boxes riskier than they used to be.
3.
Only buy boxes within 2 weeks of the set's release.
After that point, the cards lose value usually.
4.
Sealed booster boxes are worth $60.
Compare prices and don't pay more.
5.
Only buy a box if it's actually a good set.
Most sets aren't good.
#3 - Scaling
1.
There are more in-depth explanations on the Pojo forum, but
basically, with a gram scale, you can weigh packs.
The heavier packs usually contain holo cards.
2.
Scaling is a legal practice, but many see it as unethical,
so proceed with such caution.
3.
Scaling decreases your risk of pulling bad cards, but I
wouldn't call it a sure-fire way of profiting either due to
the fact that some holos are worthless and scaling isn't
always accurate.
4.
Scale if you want to, but it's not necessary.
#4 – Avoid most sealed products
1.
Anything with loose packs inside (like tins and special
editions) might save you a dollar or two but they're still a
risk.
2.
Structure decks are often a pretty good value for $10 if it
has a lot of cards you want.
3.
When it comes to holidays and gifts, sealed products like
tins, special editions and decks may make good stocking
stuffers for kids (who may not care about approaching the
game logically) but aren't the best value for adults who
want to build a collection.
You're better off just getting them another gift (or
a gift card to a store they like).
#5 – Don't pay retail price
1.
When you pay retail, you're paying not only for the product
but an extra sum to fuel their rent.
2.
If you do buy sealed products, buy them online from places
like Amazon and Ideal808 for cheaper.
#6 – Just buy singles (the cards you need)
1.
You can buy them from other players, but your best option is
usually buying from sellers on Ebay and Tcgplayer.
2.
Get the basic practical cards you need.
These include staples/semi-staples like Solemn
Warning, Mystical Space Typhoon, Snatch Steal, Call of the
Haunted, Foolish Burial, etc.
3.
Also get basic time side-deck tech when affordable, like
D.D. Crow's, Maxx C's, the Imprisoning Mirrors and such.
4.
Buying singles is better than taking risks with packs and
staled products.
For example, if you want to build Burning Abyss, it's better
to buy all the cards you need (even the expensive ones) than
buy many packs of Duelist Alliance and get only some of the
cards you need.
5.
It's more cut-and-dry, but at the same time you're getting
your collection together faster and cheaper than buying
packs/boxes/sealed products ever will.
#7 – Stay tuned in
1.
Stay aware of the meta.
Go on Dueling Network and watch games from high-rated
players. See coverage on major events (like ARG).
Make friends with people aware of how the game works.
2.
Go on card-collecting and profit forums like Pojo and
DuelistGroundz to ask questions about building your
collection and selling cards.
3.
Websites like TCGPlayer, Amazon and Ebay (Buy-It-Now's) are
good at judging the overall worth of the cards.
I've mentioned them several times but they're really
good.
4.
See if you can find an app on your phone that tracks prices.
"Yugioh Prices", for example, is great.
5.
Before trading with people, always, always, always, check
prices to make sure you're getting a fair deal.
With smartphones, wifi and 4G available, it's more
convenient than ever.
#8 – Flipping
1.
Buy low. Sell
high.
2.
This is your main avenue of profit.
3.
Your goal is to make 100% profit on a card.
If you bought a card for $5, you want to make at
least $10 off of it.
With possible factors like shipping and competition,
you would want to make a sizeable profit margin.
4.
If a card has already risen a substantial amount, it's not
as safe to invest in it.
You might pick up a little profit, but it's not worth
the risk. It's
very possible that a card won't rise in price (after a price
jump) because sellers are hoarding it already.
5.
One way to flip cards is to buy whole collections on Ebay
from people who direly need the money and are selling it
cheap to get the money quick.
Though, be careful, most of the collections out there
aren't good bargains.
#9 – Sell off cards before they devalue
1.
The value of new cards are inflated for the first few weeks,
but after that most of them decline. Only really good cards
that lots of competitive players are using copies of in
their deck are going to stay high.
2.
Just because you have a Super Rare or an Ultra Rare, doesn't
mean it's valuable.
Rarity speaks of supply – but not of demand.
3.
If you can, trade bad Super Rares and bad Ultra Rares for a
bunch of quality commons and Normal Rares.
Lots of people will do this trade with you because
they're getting a good deal at the moment, but you're going
to win in the end.
4.
If a card is getting banned/limited, sell/trade it as soon
as it's announced.
5.
If a reprint set (like Gold Series) is announced, all cards
you own that are over a year old and worth more than $10 are
at risk of devaluing due to reprints.
#10 – Pay attention to the OCG
1.
When new cards are announced in the OCG, most players say "Ehh...
it's a while away.
I'll wait."
Big mistake!!
2.
You should be reading up on OCG forums and then testing OCG
archetypes against current tier 1 decks to see if they can
stack up.
3.
Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands is $5 now.
Two months ago when Nekroz were first announced, they
were 50 cents.
Summoner's Art was a $2 when the pivotal card Qliphort Scout
was announced but by the time they Qliphorts came out
they're $10 a piece.
4.
Investing in cards that will support a powerful upcoming
archetype is good, but you should be investing in them days
after they're announced.
If you're investing in them a month or two after it
was announced, people would've caught on.
5.
If information is available to everyone, then it's already
accounted for and people have already seized the opportunity
before you did.
You want to be the one who invests before most other people.
#11 – Skip bad formats
1.
Some formats will require you to build out a $500-1000 deck
to win (before the deck devalues). Dragon Ruler format, for
example. In
these cases, just bow out and don't play for a few months.
At the same time, still keep your eye on the OCG and
what may rise during the next format.
2.
When a new format arises, sell all of the valuable cards you
own that you think aren't going to be as prevalent next
format. You can
always buy them back later when cheaper, but the point is
that you don't lose the money you invest.
A Practical 2015
Wow, this article ended up being longer than I expected it
to and it's far from exhausted.
I've barely scratched the surface and I have a ton to
learn about flipping cards, but I hope I established the
basics of saving money to the average player. Yugioh is a
complex game and economics is an even more complex one, so I
hope to write more on this subject when I can.
Anyways, happy 2015.
Make it a happy year and a practical one.
- Baneful
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