Financial

Pack to Power intro

By Jonathan Medina ⋅ April 22, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅

I am on the verge of making magic history, but not in the way that you think. I’m not going to arrange my Cruel Ultimatum mana, then, with sheer psychic force, top deck it for the win. I won’t be crushing 16 matches in a row like my man, LSV. Rather, I will attempt to trade the contents of one pack of magic cards, Rise of the Eldrazi, up to one of the most powerful and coveted magic cards in the history of the game, a piece of the power nine. Here’s how.

Rules

• Only One Pack – The seed pack will be from the new set, Rise of the Eldrazi. It will be random and sealed. I will open only one pack, no cherry picking the best pack.
• Trading – I must trade only the contents of the pack which is opened, or cards acquired through trading the contents of the pack. This means that I cannot use any other cards from my collection to aid me in my quest.
• Documenting – I will record every trade and keep careful records of the entire journey.
• Spend No Money – The only money that I can spend is the money that I use to purchase the pack, or money that I obtained by selling cards that I have traded for in the process of Pack to Power.
• Free Cards – I cannot accept free cards. I must trade for the cards that I get.
• No Crushing Newbies – Trick made sure I knew I wasn’t allowed to make unfair trades with new players without making them aware.

FAQ

Will you accept lopsided trades that are fueled by “Pack to Power” excitement rather than good trading sense.
Yes, I will accept such trades. If someone is willing to trade in my favor for the Pack to Power quest then I can assume that it’s in that person to trade in anyone’s favor to help them accomplish a goal. Anyone who watches me trade know that I don’t need a Pack to Power quest to get value out of my cards.

Is there a time limit to how long this can go on?
Not a definite one, we’re hoping to end it at GP Columbus, but that isn’t a hard-set deadline.

Why are you doing this?
Because Trick asked me to! … And because we want to show that players, through hard work and savvy trading, can get stuff with minimal investment (though it really will take a LOT of work.)

Do you actually think you can do this?
I am not sure, but if anyone can, I can. It’s going to be tough for sure and my success is not certain. Stick around let’s see what happens.

Let’s Do this!

I am going to be kicking off the Pack to Power journey tonight at Midnight at “The Illuminaudi” in West Chester, Ohio. I will be chronicling my journey here on ManaNation, so keep checking back. I’ll see you next time with what was in the pack and the first trade pictures.

Jonathan Medina is a Magic Premium Writer at StarCityGames and a blogger at http://www.mtgmetagame.com. He loves all aspects of the game but is most known for his uncanny ability to amass large amounts of cards through trading and selling.

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Last 4 posts Pack to Power - Trades 87 - Finale Pack to Power - Trades 83 - 86 Pack to Power - Trades 74 - 82 Pack to Power - Trades 69 - 73

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1. this sounds like a very intriguing idea! I might actually do the same to get a set of baneslayers! Great concept guys.

   CavemanKellen | April 22, 2010, 10:54 am | #

2. I really like this, but I think having a firm deadline, at least on a mental level, will make this more dramatic (for the reader) and more pressing (for you).

   Good luck though. I can’t wait to see what happens.

   Brandon Mendelson | April 22, 2010, 11:15 am | #

3. I’m very interested in this. I have not done much trading in the past but I am interested in where this goes.

   Jangles | April 22, 2010, 2:15 pm | #

4. This is actually going to be very interesting. I was listening to Rich Hagon’s PT or GP coverage (I don’t remember which) and he followed a player who traded from a One With Nothing to a fairly decent, fairly complete Warp World deck. It was really fun to listen to (and in this case read about).

   DanO | April 22, 2010, 2:46 pm | #

5. This is an awesome idea and Johnathan is the supreme person for this task. Very few people in the world could do this, GO JOHN!

   I’ll sure be staying tuned to this blog to hear about his journey. ManaNation is rocking the MTG blog scene!

   P.S. I too think there should be a deadline, even if it’s a long one like January of 2011 or whatever.

   Magic The Gathering Blog | April 22, 2010, 4:32 pm | #

6. Hoping for an interesting pack to be opened – Mortician Beetle to Power would be optimal.

   Necronomiconomist | April 22, 2010, 4:42 pm | #

7. Hah! I knew some guys that were doing this back in Revised, but even they were kicking things off with a Starter… good luck man, really been looking for someone to do something like this!

   J.T. | April 26, 2010, 8:32 am | #

8. Actually, Gary Wise did this very thing around 1995 except for the fact he might have started with something like a “Brass Man” or some common… Now granted it wasn’t as difficult back then but he also wasn’t aided via the internet. It was purely done at tourneys and conventions. So while the end price and all wasn’t as high but the tools weren’t there either.

   Stevegnostic | May 21, 2010, 10:09 am | #