Monday, February 18, 2013

Collection Reflection, Feb 2013

Whenever I take a break from blogging, I spend half of that first post talking about the reasons why. My first holiday season working in retail. Well, I was without a computer for most of December, so there's that. 'Nuf said.

I've been updating my overall MTG collection worksheet and will update that page after this post.

Let's skip to the goodies. No football updates. I did get some football cards, and possibly some good ones, but nothing that sticks in my mind - prices for football cards appeared to rise in connection with playoffs, Pro Bowl, Super Bowl, etc. That noted, I was rather pleased to see Warren Sapp make it into the HOF, and Ray Lewis retire with a SB Ring.

Moving on.

I got my first autographed photo of Playboy model Jennifer Vaughn. Two, actually.


Turned out to be an excellent choice. Just this week, JV was selected as Playboy's Cyber Girl of the Year for 2013. Also, she's very sweet towards her fans.

I received another surprise angel. For Xmas, I got a M13 fatpack. And the last card in the last pack was this foil beauty:


At around $50, this makes this one of the more valuable cards in my collection.

Return to Ravnica has been pretty good to me, as well. (Aside, I thought those Holiday gift boxes were awesome.) I've pulled a couple Steam Vents, pulled my very first Jace (not as high dollar as the Worldwake Jace) - which is somewhat ironic, since I lean towards Jund (black, red, green) when I think about deckbuilding. I always seem to pull good white and blue cards. The Universe is trying to tell me something, perhaps.

Along those lines, though, early on I pulled a Deathrite Shaman, which is exactly the kind of card I would use in my Jund Werewolf deck, to go along with my Garruks and Huntmasters. Insert peals of manic laughter here. ;-)

I ordered my Gatecrash booster box - and, as happens on Ebay occasionally, it didn't ship. So, while I do already have some good GTC cards, I'll talk about those next time.

When I first started collecting cards, I did it chaotically - whenever I had a few extra dollars in my pocket, I'd buy a pack or go searching online for good deals.

For 2013, I've got it in my mind to approach it like a monthly investment. One 'magic', one 'autograph' and one 'football' purchase. Magic has 4 expansions this year, in addition to the FTV:20 just announced, the Jace duel deck, the Modern release, and a Commander product - Magic's going to take a lot of my spare cash this year.

I think the autographed photos will be easier to approach, as I've been sourcing them out and researching them for months.

And football? I'll be keeping an eye on the draft and just pick up a pack of cards once a month. My inventory and collection goal bears greater scrutiny in the near future.

Now to update the inventory page. Pulled anything good lately?