Last week, I revealed my plans for the next step in my trading career. This week, I’ll unveil what I left out from last week and explain more in depth what exactly I will be covering in these articles. As you already know if you have read last week’s article, my plan is to start with a box of M12 and, through uptrades, turn it into a complete set of Extended, then a complete set of Magic.

The starting point of this journey is categorizing the beginning inventory from the box I received, and I must say it was a solid box to start with. Every card contained within the box will be for trade, from the mythics all the way down to the basic lands and tips-and-tricks cards. Using everything in the box will be a key factor for this ship to set sail. A list of the current card pool will be regularly updated in a spreadsheet that I will be making public upon its completion; this will allow all of the readers at home to follow along with my progress. I will also be regularly updating my Twitter feed @CryppleCommand) with large trades and solid pickups to keep a real-time feel to this adventure.

So now that I have covered the basics, it’s time to get into what really makes this a community project; this is, after all, what you have all been waiting for. What truly makes this a community project is the fact that I will not be keeping these cards—yes, you read correctly. Although I wouldn’t mind having a complete set of Magic (I mean, who would, right?) I feel that it would be unfair to the community after all the support and help I have already received—and will be receiving over the course of this trip’s two years. So what will I be doing with the cards? I feel that since the community’s support will be essential, I should give it back to the community. At the completion of this quest, I will be taking every set I have obtained, completed or not, and raffling it off. The way you obtain an entry into this raffle is simply by trading with me over the course of this journey. There are a few rules to keep this fair; some, after all, will have a greater number of chances to trade with me than others.

1. The first rule is simple; you must trade with me from the Box to Extended collection in order to enter. It doesn’t matter if you trade for one card or a whole binder; you’ll still get one entry per trade.
2. You may only receive one entry a week, no matter how many times you trade; this is to keep my local players from gaining an advantage over those at major events. Ideally, I want to spread the collection throughout the nation, so having only my local guys win would be counterproductive to the end goal.
3. You may only gain a maximum of thirty entries from trading through the course of this quest’s life. This again keeps my local players from having an excessive number of entries and therefore a greater chance of winning.
4. You may gain additional entries that do not count toward the thirty allotted through giveaways and contests that will be held throughout the course of this series’ life.
5. You may only win once, so if you win one set, even if you have more entries, you’re out of the running for additional sets; this will, again, keep things evenly distributed.

Now that I have covered what I kept hidden last week, I feel that it’s a good time to explain how exactly I plan on achieving this goal.

To become a top floor-trader requires much more than just knowing the individual prices of a particular card. Becoming truly successful requires an arsenal of tools; though a card may have a known retail price, you must learn to be flexible at different events depending on what’s hot and what’s on the decline. This means being able to accurately predict future prices as well as watching trends and coverage to keep yourself up to date on the latest tech. In addition to knowing when to buy and when to sell, you must also be able to identify a fair and reasonable price on a bulk lot of cards or collection, to gain value while, at the same time, giving fair value up front. I will be covering these skills and more throughout this article chain, using trades from the collection as examples to both update and inform you.

In addition to reporting on the progress of the project, I will be asking for reader input on what you would like to see from a financial article. If there is a particular part of your trade game you feel is lacking, please send me input through Twitter, or in the comments section at the end of each article, and I will attempt to both answer and educate. Along with user input, I will also be asking the readers questions, using some of the replies for content in future articles. I really feel that the community aspect needs to be the biggest part of this whole quest. Random giveaways will also be littered throughout the articles both to keep interest and to encourage the readers to interact with one another. I am not the only one who has things to teach; many of you at home have great ideas to share!

As I mentioned last week, I’ll be beginning my journey this weekend at GenCon 2011. The first trade has already been claimed by Jon Medina, which seems not only fair but fitting as he was a springboard for this idea with his Pack to Power. I will be regularly updating my Twitter feed throughout the weekend to keep you up to date on just how much has been gained in each trade. Feel free to send me input on how you feel about each trade, including questions about and comments on particular pickups.

Next week, I will start covering more in-depth trade content as well as a full recap of GenCon. I hope everyone is as excited about this as I am, because I truly feel that this can be accomplished in the time frame I have set. This will not be an easy task, but given the community support I have already received, I feel that Extended will be in the books in no time at all.

Speaking of giveaways, it seems only right that I start this journey off right with a chance to get an extra entry into the raffle. I want to know what got you into trading. Was there an event that made you realize your card pool went beyond just building decks? If you aren’t huge into trading, tell me why. Answer the question in any way you like in the comments section below; I will be selecting the best two stories or ideas for an entry into the raffle. In addition to your tales, I would like to see constructive comments on others’ stories, perhaps ideas that could allow them to further their trade game or input on something you may have learned from their advice. The person who adds the most to the conversation, not in quantity but in quality, will also receive an entry into the raffle. I will announce the winners in next week’s article along with why I thought they deserved a nod.

Until next week, keep your trades strong.

Ryan Bushard

@CryppleCommand on Twitter