Two new addtions

Finally... FINALLY. I pulled the trigger.

Actually let me back up a hot minute.


I realized back in May I could order from CardMarket in Europe. Why? How? They limit shipping addresses to EU only. However, I know some folks over there, and one in particular was VERY helpful in getting this deal done. (I owe them a beer) At the time, I found a NM copy of Italian Eureka for 105 €. This translates, after taxes and shipping to about $150. The cheapest copy I could find on TCG, Italian mind you, was $200. That was a heavy play copy, and a NM at the time was at least $250.
Yes, I ordered it on a wing and a bit of a prayer. It finally showed up after shipping from Italy to my friend to France, then from France to my house. After examining the green dot on the back, it was a legit card. The surface was completely clean and perfect. The face only had a print dot at the top, and back was off-center, however... I don't care.
[I did check it if it might be a fake, and it passed the green dot test]

Better condition than expected

Now for my second larger addition. After shipping a chunk of cards I would likely never play, but had aspirations for (eg. Ulamog, Ceaseless Hunger) off to CardKingdom, I wound up getting $391 in credit.  Importantly for me pulling the trigger was my Bonus Round investment. When I sent 27 of them in, they were $2.34 per card. As of writing this blog entry, they are $0.98 from CK. I made off pretty good on that one. (less than half for those bad at math) Also for reference, I paid about $0.67 per card. Basically tripling my investment. Could I have done better in a year or two? Maybe/likely. However, I'd rather have what I got for them... or part of.
All week I had been refreshing CK's page for a Revised Volcanic Island. And all week they have been devoid of them. Last night a "Good" condition one popped up, and after a short mental debate, (and seeing the taxes on this purchase) I snapped up that one at $50 cheaper than VG and 3 Goblin Guides. As long as its sleeve playable- I am down. I don't want bling in this case, just give me a damn card to play.


Why these two cards? For combo decks obliviously. The volcanic is ultimately for Sneak & Show (and maybe Delver if the mood ever takes me). The Eureka is for OmniTell. And I admittedly got it at this rate in case I want to trade it for another possible dual land in the future. I picked up at least $75 in value off this transaction.


Just a couple notes- I did some comparison shopping/selling between three big sites- Card Kingdom, ChannelFireball, and ABUGames. In my experience, CK was the easiest of the three to navigate, add cards, and clearly spelled out how many they were willing to take. In almost all cases, they gave me my best return rate for BuyLists.  I don't have any affiliation with any of these sites, in the past or most likely future. I also liked CK's "restock alert" system for when they got stuff back in. Very helpful.