Puca Pals: Week 15 and 16 – Winding Down

Puca Pals is a weekly/bi-weekly article I write to chronicle my adventures on Puca Trade, the online trading system where Magic Players around the world trade with each other. In the articles, I will be discussing what cards I’ve traded away, the total amount of shipping I’ve paid, the total profit I’ve made after shipping costs, and what cards I’ve received in return. If you have any questions regarding the website feel free to ask. If you want to make your own account there, click on this unique invite link of mine and get started!

 

Week 15 and 16: May 24th – June 7th

 

Yikes, things have gotten really far behind in this series. Not for a lack of information mind you, but a lack of time to put all the info together. I’ve been sending out lots of cards and have been receiving tons for both my Cube and standard recently. Today I’ll be covering the weeks right after Grand Prix Chiba and if you remember how busy people got trading for stuff during this time then you shouldn’t be surprised by the sheer amount of cards I got rid of during this period.

 

Cards Sent

• Akroma’s Memorial
• Sliver Legion
• Pyromancer Acension (foil)
• Vampire Nocturnus (promo)
• Dark Impostor
• Pontiff of Blight
• Master of Cruelties
• Aurelia, the Wardleader
• Kruphix, God of Horizons
• Kruphix, God of Horizons
• Skullcrack
• Skullcrack
• Skullcrack
• Captivating Vampire
• Captivating Vampire
• Bloodlord of Visigoth
• Monomania
• Call to the Grave
• Ajani, Caller of the Pride
• Gilded Lotus
• Necro Skitter
• Boros Charm
• Searing Blaze
• Glistener Elf
• Glistener Elf
• Blinkmoth Nexus
• Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
• Drogskol Reaver (foil)
• Sublime Archangel
• Etched Champion
• Bloodline Keeper
• Venser’s Journal
• Searing Blaze
• Shard Volley
• Noxious Revival
• Murkfiend Liege
• Lighthouse Chronologist
• Vines of Vastwood (foil)
• Wooly Thoctar (promo)
• Oona, Qheen of the Fae
• Slayer’s Stronghold
• Vault of the Archangel
• Karametra, God of Harvest
• Karametra, God of Horizons

 
I managed to send out 44 cards in the 2 weeks leading up to and following GP Chiba which isn’t bad considering I only sent out 23 cards in the 2 weeks prior to the tournament. There was a ridiculously large amount of Tarmogoyfs, Noble Hierarchs, and Vendillion Clicks being traded during this time. Once people got their hands on all these cards and traded what they didn’t want away, the points on puca trade flowed again. Only 13 of the 44 cards came in the first week before the tournament was held, which means the other 31 cards came during the week following Chiba.

 

Initial Costs and Total Shipping

 

A quick read down of all of the cards I sent out reveals that there really weren’t that many money cards going out. It was mostly nickel and dime stuff but point are points. I made a profit on all of them and that’s all that matters. I was also happy to liquidate stuff in collection that I thought I would never get rid of.

The best deals I found during this time was on the Akroma’s Memorial, Sliver Legion, the Captivating Vampires, Lighthouse Chronologist, and Tamiyo, the Moon Sage.  I bought the Memorial for 250 yen, the Legion for 2000, the Vampires for 150, the Chronologist for 280, and the Tamiyo for 900 yen. I more than doubled my invest on each of those and bought them for rather good deals. I also got rid of 19 cards that I had opened from packs which meant that they were pure profit.

Although a lot of these cards weren’t worth that much by themselves, I was able to send a lot of them in the same package to one person. I grouped a lot of these cards cards together (11 grouped packages) which really kept my shipping down. I had 17 envelopes go out at 110 yen a piece (1870 yen), 2 at 90 yen (180), one in Japan at 82 yen, and only 3 that cost more than regular price (130 yen to South America, 520 for tracking on the Sliver, and 190 for an overweight package). The total came out to 2972 yen, which divided by 44 comes out to around 68 yen a card. Not as good as the 80 yen I got the 2 weeks prior, but I was more than happy to get rid of a large amount of chaff I had in my collection.

 

Profit and How Long it Took to Send cards

 

Like I said up above, I sent out more than 19 cards that I got out of packs which was 100% profit, but my biggest profit came from the Sliver Legion I picked up at 2000 yen. I managed to get 4657 points for it which netted me 2657 points in profit before shipping was added in (I still doubled my initial investment). The only other card to really write about was Tamiyo which got me 1040 points in profit. I had decent profits on the rest of the cards I sent out, but nothing substantial.

The total profit from these 44 cards during these 2 weeks after shipping is figured in was 12,435 (15,407 before shipping). Considering all the bulk that was sent out that’s pretty much what I expected. Week 15’s profit was 4552 points on 13 cards (350 points per card) while week 16 made up the bulk of my profit at 7883 on 31 cards (254 points per card). Nothing impressive, but every little point counts when you’re working on putting together a legacy or modern deck or collecting staples.

I expected my losses to be somewhat higher than before due to the lower profit margin on most of my cards, and sure enough I went from 13% from the 2 weeks prior to 19% (this was how much shipping cost me compared to the total value of cards I shipped out, meaning 1/5 of my profits were eaten up by shipping). I guess I still hadn’t learned my lesson that I should set a minimum price to make shipping worth it.

Shipping, for the most part, took about 9-10 days as usual, but I had some take 15 days to get to Canada (deep countryside I guess) and I actually lost my first shipment during this period as well. Three Skullcracks that I sent to Philippines ended up getting lost in the mail, but an admin was able to refund my trading partner his points and mine. I didn’t feel like it was necessary to give me the points considering I didn’t put tracking or anything on it (it was a 354 point shipment), but oh well.

 

What I Received

 

 

Gotta hand it to Hackworth for sending me some of the freshest cards I’ve ever received on Puca. Along with him a few other members I was able to push together 90% of my Modern Abzan Company deck before the deck really took off and the cards’ prices skyrocketed. I had Eternal Witnesses, Kitchen Finks, and Razor Verge Thickets sent to me in the week leading up to GP Chiba, and afterwards I got my hands on a couple of staples I’ve been waiting forever to get at a decent price.

 

 

But the biggest trade I’ve ever got on Pucatrade also came during this period.

 

 

I wrote about it before in one of my other articles (Patience, I believe was the article name), but this was when I got it. Two beautiful Tropical Islands made my legacy Infect deck a reality. I never thought I’d ever get A Dual, let alone 2, but there they were. THIS is why you send out all that chaff and bulk so that one day you can get something that makes up for all that hard work.

 

Winding Down

 

Not all things can last. If you aren’t continuously buying new cards to refill your stock you’re going to have less and less to send out, and eventually those points in your account will dry up. Now you have to ask yourself, how much longer can I do this? Well, I hope I can do Puca trade for a long, long time. I’ve noticed the stacks of Puca-tradeable cards I have dwindle as I sent out hundreds of them over the months, and suddenly the cards I have available to send are few and far between. Does this mean it’s the end?

No way.

There will always be deals out there to be found that you can get a nice profit from on Puca Trade, and spikes happen all the time. You just have to be patient and wait for it. You won’t be sending out 10,000+ points a week but you’ll have really good weeks in between bad ones. A this point you have to become more of a “blue chip” investor as they say in stock market lingo. Buying and holding onto cards with strong play-ability that are bound to go up over the years (such as fetch lands) and waiting for the right time to get rid of them is what you should be focusing on now.

Another side of the coin is having too many points in your account as you start going dormant. If you’re going to be touching your account less and less and not changing your want list from Dual lands and Moxen, then you’re going to be setting yourself up for disappointment later on. If you plan on taking a break from Puca Trade (because well, you have no trades) then try to liquidate those points into something easier to get rid of. Maybe you don’t need it, but if you can sell a Flusterstorm for $70 and it costs 6500 points to get, pick it up and sell it. Luckily for me, I’m focusing on standard and grabbing format staples to keep me competitive in the following months.

However if you’re considering taking an extended vacation from Puca Trading, be sure that you aren’t letting those points go to waste. Also remember to use some of those points instead of sitting on a pile for a rainy day. Unlike cash that gains interest in a bank, not using your points is only going to hurt you on missed opportunities on cards going up in the long run. Well, until next time good luck and good trading.

 

If you have any other questions or comments about today’s article please feel free to leave them down below! If you enjoyed this article and are convinced to start a Puca trade account, feel free to thank me by using this link to give me a referral bonus! If you are already a member (and have a silver or gold account) and want to show your appreciation, I’m always willing to accept gifts of points ^_^. Just check out my profile and click the “SEND POINTS” button. Thanks again for reading and see you back here in a few weeks for my next update!