Puca's Mischief #6

This week has been a slow week sending wise as I have slacked off on adding and updating my online inventory in favour of updating my cube. Only one trip to the post office for a single envelope. There have been some nice trades that I have left on the table because I don't have any idea how much tracking or registered mail is and the amounts in question are past the point where I am comfortable just sending them by regular mail. Once that is investigated then I can really kick on.

That will have an affect later on but this week I have received and spent a bundle of points. It started last week where I put some wants on my list to round out my cube and $120 worth of credit was gone within 12 hours. Today the first envelope from that spending spree arrived with a pretty Braids and Silverblade Paladin inside. That came all the way from Portugal and only took 8 days despite being opened and searched by Korean customs.

My credit is back up to $60 already and there is another $110 worth in the post. I'm holding of from spending it because a friend is interested in that credit and any purchases made now are unlikely to arrive before the Mystery Box (the name of my cube) is unveiled Sunday week.

I did actively trade for cards that I know are popular with Puca members. I acquired 7 Korean fetch lands which is something I have received requests for. I think I will hold on to them for now to see if their price increases. I also think I can get more on the open market (once Puca adds foreign card support) than just only sending them to the couple of people who messaged me.

An introduction to Legacy ...

This really gets good from the second game but if you have the time it's worth watching the entire match for context.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybOKEUhCvDo

Places to Play - Master list

This is my attempt at a master list of Magic Shops in Korea. Those that aren't hyper linked are unconfirmed so I (or you) will have to check out if they actually host magic tournaments.

Seoul/Gyeonggido
Dice Latte - Dongdaemun
Cookie - Gunja
Battle City - Yatap
M&A - Imun Dong
Total TCG - Gwangmyeong
Saboten - Sadang
Dalmuti - Suwon
Kindle - Seongsu
The Rak - Naksungdae
Michaels - Gangbyeon 
Rolling Dice - Hongkik University
Red Dice - Hyehwa
About TCG - Sinpung
Duel Shop - Maebong
Duel Zone - Nowon
Battle City - Mokdong
Playfirst - Goyang City
Dalmuti - Gyeodae 
Duel Zone - Gangdong
Michaels - Sincheon
Duel Stage- Ilsan
HalliGalli - Ilsan
Isu Duel Park Cafe - Sadang
Cafe de BonBon - Bucheon
Battle City - Geumjeong
Board Game Cafe Pann - Bundang
Cafe Able - Jeongwang

RIP- OZ - Gangnam
RIP- Tic Toc
RIP- Dive Dice - Hyehwa
RIP- Kindle - Konguk

Incheon
Dual Land - Nam Gu
Taken Board Game Cafe - Nam Gu
Witches Brew - Gyeongin
TPZ Shop

Cheongju
Monopoly - Cheongju

Jeonju
Jeonju Board Game Box

Ulsan
Dual Champ

RIP- Elder Dragon

Gwangju
Alice

Daegu
Michaels

Busan
The Rak
The DARAC
Dual Zone
TCG Korea
Fortune Factory

Daejeon

Duel Mall

Board Game Cafe Meca

Changwon/Gyeongnam
Card Castle
PAPA Board 
Fun Board Game


Places to Shop
Nonno21 - Nambu / Seoul
Hobby First - Nambu / Seoul

If you are looking for an English Language draft then Dalmuti - Suwon hosts one every Sunday at 1:00 pm.

Puca's Mischief #5

I had slowed down for a while on Puca Trade as I had credit in the bank, cards on the way and an empty want list. I upped my standards for what I wanted to send and wanted it to be worth my while. Nearly a week went by of casually checking Puca with no deals worth taking. And then BAM, 5 fat envelopes in a single day were packed and sent to all corners of the globe (Finland, Canada, America, Australia and Singapore).

I received my first envelope last Friday and I expect two more to arrive some time this week. Inside was a pack fresh pair of Time Spiral Gemstone Mines and a Gruul Signet. I am now one Gemstone Mine away from finishing my Legacy deck (well the main deck, the sideboard could take a while).
The Gruul signet completes the cycle and puts a cap on my OCD for now.

With more members getting involved in Korea it's getting interesting. While it means I am no longer the exclusive Puca representative of Korea it opens up the chance for cheap and quick trading. It's easier and cheaper for me to go to the post office than it is to go to Seoul.
It has alsomeant the possibility of selling points to fellow members which opens up a whole new dimension to the trading I am doing. If that works out I could finally get Magic to pay for itself!

I am in the middle of finalising my cube want list after a massive overhaul so I am now willing to send a lot more of my collection.
I have a Legacy Deck, two Modern decks and a fun cube. My EDH deck could do with a little love and I should build another one or two for variety. So it feels time to sit back, put the feet up and try and remember who won the dice roll. 

Podcasts 2015

It's pretty early in the year and not long since I last did this but there have been some changes so I wanted to update the list.
Last time I wrote that a lot of the podcasts I listened to felt like they were at the crossroads, and looking back some fared better than others.

The Deck Tease is on hiatus and scratched from my playlist. The members of the EH team are playing more Magic and KYT is now on the pro tour (awesome) but it feels like the cast is an obligation rather than something they look forward too. Some of the hosts go missing for long periods of time and the cast runs for too long given so little content.

There was controversy around Heavy Meta as Channel Fireball leant heavily on Face to Face Games (the main sponsor) to have TSG removed from the cast. This was really petty from Channel Fireball and the cast just feels morbid as a result. TSG brought a lot of organisation to that cast and in his absence the cast feels much worse.
I stopped listening half way through the last one and it seems to all be about upcoming GP Vegas and merchandise from here on in.

I am probably down to only listening to 15% of Drive to Work episodes. Mark Rosewater's game designer series has gone from one of my favourites to an auto delete. I do really enjoy the 15% that are a format I like though such as the "during this year of magic" ones.

Limited Resources came out of it's co host search with LSV in the second seat. He is a fantastic addition and my only quibble is that he is too similar to Marshall's drafting style. Brian Wong seemed to draft different decks which led to more interesting discussions a lot of the times. There is actually a limit on how many times I need to hear the word "value" in a single podcast and it would be nice if they could spare a second for decks that attack the opponent before turn 15..

My Top 7 for last year were:

1 – The Spike Feed

2 – Brainstorm Brewery

3 – Ced Talks

4 – Heavy meta

5 – Limited Resources

6 – The Deck Tease

7 – Drive to Work

Ced talks has fallen a little on my rankings but only because Limited Resources have added LSV and I get plenty of Patrick and Cedric while watching Star City Games Open coverage via Twitch replays.

I like Wizards of the Cast because the hosts are nice guys and mostly talk about limited and cube. You don't get the level of expertise as you do from Limited Resources but the format is much easier to listen to. A Spike feed style 30 minute well produced podcast that focussed on limited would be ideal. The problem with limited resources is that it often goes too long with a lot of stuff that is irrelevant to me.

At Your End Step is a good review of recent SCG events and is very Standard orientated, with good chemistry between the hosts who all seem pretty decent at Magic.

MTG Goldfish is another financial podcast that features some really sharp people with interesting things to say.

My Top 7 for this year are:

1 – The Spike Feed

2 – Wizards of the Cast 

3 – Brainstorm Brewery

4 – Limited Resources 

5 – Ced Talks

6 – At Your End Step

7 – MTG Goldfish

Puca's Mischief #4

This morning was another Pucca first for me, I received notification that someone plans to send me a Revised Wheel of Fortune. I am pretty excited about that and it will be going into my cube straight away. I just checked and Wheel of Fortune is not banned in EDH, I will definitely be jamming it in my EDH deck as well.
It is banned in Tiny Leaders which is further personal justification for never playing that format again.

I am especially excited to add a card from Revised as that was the set I started playing Magic with and I feel nostalgic for the cards from that set. I have to admit though that the Korean 4th Edition versions of the classic cards look better. Instead of a white border and a faded pastel look they have a spiffy black border and decent contrast.

Sending wise I have picked up a few points but it's probably later this week or early next week when I will really start to bank some points as all the trades I did straight after my 10 card sending limit was removed start to arrive.

I have slowed down in the sends this week, I was waiting to see if people would actually send good cards to Korea and my collection is in a bit of flux so I wasn't comfortable sending out good cards I may need.
Once the first card has arrived I think that will give me the impetus to really get a move on with listing my inventory and getting more points.

Another exciting development over the weekend was that I am no longer the only Korean Puca Trader. Another player from Dalmuti's Suwon has joined the Cult and sent out an invite to entice another.

It hasn't all been online where exciting Magic card trading has taken place, this week in real life trades I received a Deathrite Shaman, Hersheys Chocolate Ice Cream and a Beta Sea Serpent amongst others. A pretty cool haul, not huge in value but I have never owned a Beta card before and I cracked a Sea Serpent in my very first Magic Starter.

When looking for an image of a Beta Sea Serpent, this one cracked me up. Someone bothered getting it graded!

Puca's Mischief #3

The shackles are off restriction wise as I am now free to send as many cards as I want.
I still haven't even finished grading and uploading my inventory of rares and mythics so I have a long way to go.
Having EVERYTHING you want to trade listed makes it much easier to find worthwhile trades as a couple of uncommons or junk rare add ons can pay for shipping and feel like free money.

One trade I did was for Temporal Trespass, at 207 points ($2) it is not worth the effort and cost ($1) to ship. Only making 100 points. Luckily that user was also looking for a dragon hunter from the new set which has a value of 59 points. 3 weeks from now I expect Dragon Hunters to be free draft left overs.
Adding that card to the trade had zero impact on my costs and made the trade worthwhile for me. Others might have a higher thresh hold of what is worthwhile and I have heard a lot of people say $4 or $5 is their minimum.
I may end up feeling the same, but at the moment I am happy to be clearing out my binders.
So far I have sent out 23 cards and will send another 7 tomorrow. There is a dilemma approaching though, I will son run out of top loaders and I don't seem to be able to find any in Korea.

In about 48 hours the Indigo funding campaign for Puca Trade to add support for foreign and non NM cards is set to end. They are about $5,000 away from their goal of $50,000 so it will be a close run thing.