Magic the Gathering Online (MTGO) represents a unique opportunity for the financially savvy trader. The market reacts quickly to news and metagame changes, trades and sales are near instantaneous, and despite the fact that information seems to be freely available, the market is more inefficient than many would have you believe. Just like any form of trading, MTGO trading carries with it risks, rewards, and pitfalls and has its own market that sometimes does not parallel paper magic. Here's what you need to know to get started.

The Almighty Dollar...err, Ticket?

Magic Online had to solve a very annoying problem when it was first conceptualized - international gambling laws made dealing with selling cards and paying out prizes very difficult. The solution? The Event Ticket, often called 'Tix.' You'll see the word Tix more than any other when you sign on to MTGO so it's important you understand what is going on.

First of all, Tix is both a singluar and plural word, kind of like Moose. You have 1 Tix. You have 10 Tix. Maybe you even have 100 Tix! It's also an incredible annoying abbreviation, so I'm going to stop using it and start using "ticket(s)." Frankly, Tix feels a little too World of Warcraft and not enough Magic the Gathering.

Semantics aside, a Ticket is worth approximately a united states dollar, give or take. You can buy them from the official store for a buck, and via Paypal for some small discount (usually around 98 cents). Since transacting cash is impossible between players online, the event ticket is the currency of the realm.

Bots, Credit and You

If you love robots that sell Magic cards, then you're going to love Bots. You see, if you navigate to the Classifieds section on Magic Online, you'll see a lot of colorful advertisements listed by what appear to be other Magic Online users. The truth of the matter is that many of these are automatically generated listings by automated systems. If you open up a trade with one of these bots, they will tell you what the deal is. Some have individual prices for cards, which will be displayed when you select the card and add it to the trade. Others are flat-rate bots, selling 4, 6, or maybe 8 rares for 1 ticket. Some buy cards, some trade cards, some sell commons, some sell foils.

The easiest way to get what you need is to find a bot that sells the card in question, then buy it from a bot. That's rarely the most efficient way, but when you're in a crunch, you always have the option of paying full price.

Since the only real currency online is the Event Ticket, there is no "change" when you buy a card." If you buy a card worth 1.5 tickets, the bot you deal with will "save" .5 in credit for the next time you do business. I generally try not to leave credit outstanding with bots. There's no guarantee that the bot won't disappear tomorrow, or that you won't forget with whom you have credit. In general, I grab what I need, and fill the rest of the order with cards that can be sold, traded, or that I forsee playing in Standard.

Treasure Hunting

One of the things that will surprise many about MTGO is the fact that not all bots (which are effectively dealers) update their prices instantly. The truth is that all the technology behind Magic Online is rather antiquated right now, so it is very easy to catch stores lagging on prices. A great example of this: shortly after the Crypt of Agadeem deck was released, a few of the bigger MTGO shops upped their price on Crypt and Extractor Demon to 2 tickets each. That's about right for a popular new deck. Since those two rares were "crap rares" beforehand, many dealers still had them listed for fractions of a ticket. It's not big money but when you spend 6 dollars on 28 cards that all sell for between 1 and 2 tickets, you're making a ridiculous profit margin.

The best way to do this is to find bots that do X for 1 Ticket deals on rares. Some bots also just haven't updated their prices yet, and you can catch a deal that way. Trial and error is usually the best way to find these bots - I recommend keeping a short spreadsheet with the bot name and some notes - if they're slow to update, cheap for non-elite rares, etc. The Classified listings are a real pain to wade through, so shortcuts make the process much easier.

Cashing Out

First and foremost, I recommend NOT cashing out. Most players find that playing online is very handy. Being able to test any time of day or night is fantastic, and if you can support playing online by trading, your actual invested cost will be so low compared to the average player. It's a great tool, so cashing out should only be done when you're really done with the game. Wealth begets wealth, so an investment of 50 dollars can quickly balloon up to hundreds of tickets. Avoid drafting online at first - it gets expensive and variance in your productivity can deplete your ticket stash quickly.

There are many good guides out there for learning the interface, so go read those before you start trading and playing. Magic Online's a great tool for predicting the paper market - it usually reacts more quickly and accurately. The market has its own idiosyncrasies, much like paper magic, so study the prices before making any hasty buys. The same evaluation process goes into finding sleepers online as it does in paper magic. Look for a recently posted deck list that has community interest and undervalued rares, buy a bunch of copies, and then unload them at a market discount. I've found that about 20% off the "retail" price will move your stock fastest and still make you money. In general, it's better to sell a little too early than a little too late. Once the market gets flooded and the demand dries up, you'll be stuck breaking even or taking a loss. A rule of thumb stolen from Jim Cramer, of Mad Money fame - "once your call is profitable, sell enough to cover your initial costs." For example, if you bought 10 Crypt of Agadeem for 50 cents each, and then found a buyer for a playset at 1.50 each, it would be best to take that deal, not wait for 2 dollars. Now you've got an extra dollar in your pocket and 6 Crypts which cost you nothing. You can wait to sell those if you feel they'll appreciate more, or you can just blow them all out at 1.50.

Frankly, its best to have capital rather than cards. I try to keep as liquid as possible so that I can react immediately to market changes. Keeping at least 20 or so tickets on hand and some money in PayPal can give you the resources necessary to make any deals that come your way. Some sites give a discount when you pay with PayPal instead of Event Tickets, so that's yet another way to save some money by being flexible. Magic Online can be a tremendous source of profit and savvy trading can get you "infinite" much faster and with less risk than drafting or playing Standard. Sound off in the comments about your experiences trading on MTGO!