Magic the Gathering Deck building questions?

Don't bother with those auctions. They are a rip off. There is no reason you should pay 15.00 for shipping, for 142 cards. I buy lots of 2000-4000 cards for $15 shipping. You can fit 2000 cards inside of a flat rate 8.95 box. Don't mess with that idiot seller. He's trying to make money off CRAP.

Instead, look for larger lots that offer more cards for less. A good way to get a good base to build your deck around is by buying mixed lots. In the last 2 months I've spent around 150 dollars on mixed lots (after shipping), and I have 4500 cards, with 233 of them being rare, and 38 of them being nonland foils. If you break that down, that means that I paid around 3 cents each for the cards. If you look at how much you're paying for that guys cards, it ends up being around 15 cents each. It sounds good, but unless there is something in there you REALLY want, it's not worth it. You have a much larger set to build a deck out of, and you might get the cards he's offering anyways.

Here are a few auctions I would recommend. The first one I've had my eye on for about a week now, 4000 cards, with 200 of them being guaranteed rares. That's 5% rares, and packs only have 6.5% rares. Plus you're getting a lot more cards for your money, like I said. You're actually getting these cards for about 2.5 cents each.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1...

I would bid on this one just because the guy has a lower score, and doesn't really seem like he knows too much about what's going on in with Magic, or selling on eBay in general. It's a chance as to what you would get, but you're paying 2.3 cents per card.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item...

This one here doesn't offer as many cards, but you're guaranteed 200 rares, and it ends up being 10% of the lot, so it could be worth it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/magic-the-gathering-lot-2200-c...

One piece of advice: Please for goodness sake, don't bid on repacks. They are the biggest ripoff I've seen for items on eBay besides "Mystery Auctions". For all we know, the person can pick and choose which cards go in the pack once the order is placed. I know that's how I would do it. No way would I give away my Dual Lands for 3.00, until I got AT LEAST 10 buyers. So stay away from them.

Here are a few of my favorite sellers on eBay. I've found they offer good auctions, and great shipping prices for combined auctions.

http://myworld.ebay.com/keithw0648

http://myworld.ebay.com/imgardon

Lastly, don't bid blindly on cards. If you're trying to get particular cards, like for instance you need a Charisma for a control deck, cross check prices. I use two sites to help me decide how much I'll bid on rares. The first site I use is MTGFanatic. http://www.mtgfanatic.com//default.aspx

They have average prices, some higher and some lower. I know not to bid higher because I get a percent discount for buying from them, and shipping is 2.00 for up to 20 cards. Plus, they take Paypal, so I don't have to give out my credit card, and I don't have to wait for the payment to clear. The other is Trollandtoad. http://www.trollandtoad.com/ These guys have been around since I started playing in 95, and I trust them to give me good prices when I can't find it anywhere else. In my opinion, they have the best inventory to choose from.

Hope this helped you man, good luck with your deck building.

Jonathan

Well, seventy cards is too many. Also just telling us what kinds of cards they are and what colors doesn't give any information. You have to post a deck list on here if you want any feedback because colors of cards is no information at all. A good deck isn't about how many spells you have of a certain color it's about the cards themselves.

The cards listed aren't bad for getting started except they don't appear to be listing any basic lands. If you don't already own some cards then you will want to buy some cards from a store as well so that you can have some basic lands to build your decks with.

Make at least 40% of your deck land.

I advise you not to bid, they're not worth it.