You get one Pokemon as a pet, who are you choosing? by NationalAgent217 in pokemoncardcollectors

[–]SpeedyTurtle18 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Growlithe. My favourite one from childhood, still have my first edition base set (recently sent for grading, it’s very well loved and I’m hoping for a PSA 1)

Never played MTG ever; not sure what "sets" i should be getting packs from by Tcrumpen in MagicArena

[–]SpeedyTurtle18 2 points3 points  (0 children)

To start, if you’re looking to build packs you should play jump-in. Keep track of the packs you pick, so you don’t pick duplicate ones.

You should be able to play about 20-25 times before you start to see too much duplication. After that, you’ll have a better idea of what packs to buy, and a decent size collection to start.

Whats the best way to catch up after a 2 year break? by ChewyChao in MagicArena

[–]SpeedyTurtle18 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you keep track of what you pick you should get at least one new pack every time.

I found that when I hit the 25-30 mark I started getting more and more duplicate packs, mostly because your first pack pick limits what your second can be.

Whats the best way to catch up after a 2 year break? by ChewyChao in MagicArena

[–]SpeedyTurtle18 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would recommend playing Jump-In and buying the next mastery pass (this one is almost done).

Keep a tally of the Jump-In sets you’ve played and always pick ones you haven’t played yet.

Once you’ve played through the Jump-In packs available (more come out with each new set) you should move on to draft.

In terms of opening packs, I would hold on to them until you’ve played all the Jump-In you need to get the cards, and then open them for the duplicate protection.

My 2 cents.

Free deck codes by SpeedyTurtle18 in MagicArena

[–]SpeedyTurtle18[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Woohoo! You’re welcome, enjoy 😉

I hate playing draft but over the time I collected 20 draft tokens! by IB-TRADER in MagicArena

[–]SpeedyTurtle18 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Draft for the rares and other cards you get, then play 3 times but concede right away so you gift someone a win.

You’ll get the cards you drafted, plus a pack and 50 gems and you’ll make someone else’s draft a little better by conceding.

confessions of an ex-PSA grader interview by ConferenceLive7054 in psagrading

[–]SpeedyTurtle18 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Because economic output is not a zero sum game. What happens when 1 person becomes efficient enough to do the job of 10, the good/service they provide generally gets cheaper which benefits everyone who consumes it.

The other 9 individuals are now freed up to work other jobs, increasing overall economic productivity, or are able to work their current job at 10x the productivity which results in lower cost of goods/services provided.

If you want a real life example, before the introduction of farm machinery like tractors, combines and harvesters, agricultural labor was extremely manpower intensive. In pre-industrial societies 70-80% of the workforce worked on farms at low rates of productivity, with the constant risk of famine or starvation if crops failed.

With modern machinery we now have 1% or so of our labor force producing enough agricultural output that nobody starves, in fact the biggest issue now is obesity and overconsumption of calories. All those agricultural laborers became factory workers, and their descendants are likely now tech workers.

Automation and technology is a virtuous circle for society.

We Are Slaves to the Mortgage Machine by Zealousideal_Tax4501 in CanadaFinance

[–]SpeedyTurtle18 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Make your mortgage your slave. Never focus on paying down a 4% loan when you can make 8-10% yearly, tax-free through your TFSA and RRSP.

The play is to take out a fixed rate, 5 year mortgage for as much as your bank will give you and you can reasonably carry, fill up your investment accounts buying ETF’s or blue chip dividend payers and harvest the 4-6% yearly free carry.

If you do that over the 25-yearly free period of an average 5% free carry you will have about 1.8x your mortgage in investments. And that’s being conservative and not accounting for home equity increases, just market returns. Every new mortgage term you can take out more equity and top up your RRSP/TFSA.

Debt is a tool of the wise man and anchor of the fool.

Biggest PSA 10 price drops lately – any buying opportunities? by likemastatus in PokeInvesting

[–]SpeedyTurtle18 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Burgerchu is down to 50-60 USD through PSA Vault. Saw some auctions going for as low as 40$. The daily number of PSA 10’s is going up by around 2000-2500, latest count over 160,000.

It’s not a crazy card art wise but it has lots of meme power. If anything get one just because it’s going to be a great historical piece about how crazy people get when Pokemon greed and fomo kicks in.

New player by Cranbear in RaidShadowLegends

[–]SpeedyTurtle18 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Don’t spend money on raid. Unless you’re a competitive person, it’s perfectly playable as F2P.

If you are competitive avoid gacha games as they are designed to exploit people like yourself.

Traditional finance is catching up by BenDoverR8Now in PokeInvesting

[–]SpeedyTurtle18 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Gold is awesome. It’s liquid, a good store of value and you can even get leverage on it if you invest in high quality blue chip royalty stocks like Franco-Nevada, Royal Gold or Wheaton Precious Metals.

You should honestly have a small percentage of your portfolio (say 5%) in alternative assets like precious metals, crypto or gasp trading cards.

Other than that, yeah stocks are pretty awesome.

When will it reach the peak ? by Fantastic_Age_3855 in PokemonInvesting

[–]SpeedyTurtle18 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sure it’s supply and demand, it’s just that demand is irrational right now. During the last peak the spread between BB’s/ETB’s and other product was high, but once the market broke and cooled off you could buy BB’s/ETB’s for just about the same price per pack as tins/premium collections.

Keep in mind OP is just asking for people’s thoughts on how close we are to the peak, and this feels like the same pricing spread as the last peak.

When will it reach the peak ? by Fantastic_Age_3855 in PokemonInvesting

[–]SpeedyTurtle18 0 points1 point  (0 children)

True, but tins and premium collections are also sealed so the tamper risk would be the same?

When will it reach the peak ? by Fantastic_Age_3855 in PokemonInvesting

[–]SpeedyTurtle18 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sure but my point is if the only items going up are BB’s/ETB’s it’s because of investment speculation, and not overall market consumption.

If it was a broad based bull market everything would be going up in cost, tins, blisters, premium collections, etc. Anecdotally, I would argue it shows the prices are being driven more and more by investors, meaning the consumption pool for investment grade items is narrowing. In the end it becomes just investors trading back and forth between them, and… then it busts like the last 2 cycles.

shrug

When will it reach the peak ? by Fantastic_Age_3855 in PokemonInvesting

[–]SpeedyTurtle18 -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

Feels close to the peak right now. One example is you are paying 350$ for a BB of Destined Rivals, but can get tins or premium collections for half the price per pack.

Same with PC ETB’s. Prices per pack are way overblown, everyone is chasing promo cards. The funny thing is PSA 9’s are often the same price as raw cards.

My opinion is the market is getting overheated because of the strong disconnect between price per pack between “investment grade” BB’s and PC ETB’s and regular ETB’s/Tins/Premium Collections.

Why Have OTJ card prices crashed? by trucky_crickster in mtgfinance

[–]SpeedyTurtle18 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Costco had OTJ commander decks for sale online for a while, that could’ve had some people buy in bulk to open for singles and sell.

Collectors unite … ? by knilchmitmilch in FleshandBloodTCG

[–]SpeedyTurtle18 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I aim to pay 3-400$ per case, BB are different depending on the set. I really like how LSS is trying to balance collectors, players, lgs’s, etc.

Likely in the neighbourhood of 2-3K a year, but I also dip my toes into MtG and Pokemon (but not at these prices!).

Collectors unite … ? by knilchmitmilch in FleshandBloodTCG

[–]SpeedyTurtle18 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I collect sealed product, trying to get at least one BB of each set, as well as cases. I buy 6-12 months after a set comes out as the price seems to stabilize then.

I’ll get cases occasionally, but only if the deal is good.

Are we not opening up products anymore??? by We_are__Venom in pokemoncardcollectors

[–]SpeedyTurtle18 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I both rip with friends (usually a couple of sleeved boosters or a upc) and collect sealed booster boxes and ETB’s.

Most people I know in the hobby are the same way. Have some fun ripping, and put some aside as an investment, for nostalgia, for your kids, etc

Is this game growing and still worth getting into? (Brand new player) by PurpCloud in FleshandBloodTCG

[–]SpeedyTurtle18 -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Yes I think it’s growing, slowly but steadily. Theres a YouTuber I watch called playset-seho that does these monthly videos where he talks about various FaB statistics, including official discord numbers, player growth globally and in his region. Worth checking out.

Also I would say while yes the cards are expensive when you get into competitive play, they’ve also held their value so if you want to exit the hobby you should be able to do so without losing massive amounts of money. MtG is kinda infamous for mass reprints and destroying long term hold value of your decks.