My name is Colin Bevis and Trading Post has been my favorite Magic card since its release in M13. When deciding a name for this new column nothing made more sense than to call a bunch of posts online about trading—wait for it—The Trading Post! Yes that might sound cliché or boring but I hope this column proves to be anything but that!
Start With the Ending
I know Stefano Black and have read every Bargaining Table article. Stefano and I met at GP Atlantic City earlier this year when I was still based out of Nashville. By the time Stefano and I met I was already trading for 3-6 thousand bulk rares a weekend. He might have mentioned that he was a writer but I had no idea that one day I would have the honor of following in his footsteps on this awesome website.
That being said, his last “tell all/say what I want to say now that I’m leaving” article is really hard to follow. He said, “Don’t listen to the articles, don’t assume people know what they are talking about just because they got their opinion published somewhere, do you, baby.”
At first I didn’t know how to start my column because of the way he ended his. Then I realized he was right about a lot of what he had written and should have said it to START his column, so that’s what I’ve decided to do.
Don’t listen to what I have to say just because I say it. Don’t do what I did just because it worked for me.
Read and learn my story, learn about the things that worked for me and try to emulate them in your own adventure. Learn where I made mistakes the hard way and try to make those mistakes in a less-hard way!
Magic Finance is a strange and often mysterious world. Anyone telling you they know the exact answer is trying to scam you. (Think “Life is Pain” quote from Princess Bride.)
I can’t promise I will always be right and I hope you will all reach out and give me your honest feedback. Please disagree with me when you feel I’m wrong so that together we can all learn more ways to accomplish our goals. I don’t want a column that preaches to the void of the Internet. I want an ongoing discussion, a dialogue that we all make together.
Start at the Beginning
Box of Innistrad to 20 Zen-Fetches
20 Fetches to Shardless BUG
Shardless BUG to First Mox
First Mox to First Lotus
First Lotus to Bulk Trading
Bulk Trading to Prize Wall Trading
It was a hell of an adventure to get to where I am now. I don’t know how long it will take to go through my story but it seems like the only place to start.
I am going to start this column at the beginning and work my way to present day. Each article will highlight things that worked and mistakes I made along the way while giving a thorough explanation of how I got to where I am now. I can’t think of any other way to catch you up than to start at the beginning and explain it all to you.
Whether you are new to trading or an experienced trader, I hope this column will show you a new way of looking at magic finance.
If you are new to trading, by starting at the beginning you will have a chance to actually “catch up” if you feel like magic finance articles never made sense or weren’t for you. If you felt behind and were never given a chance to catch up, I hope that now is that moment.
If you have read many articles on magic finance then I hope my first few articles will reaffirm that you have your building blocks in place. Don’t just check out of the first few articles: there are some things I started doing early in trading that I was lucky to find, and still use today.
In time I want to unveil and delve into the highest echelons and nuances of magic finance, how to prepare your energy before a trade, becoming a chameleon, building an aesthetically pleasing binder, building relationships built on helping both people succeed, ways to trade that both people come out ahead (yes it is actually possible) and many many more ideas. I promise we will get to all of it. Let’s all start from the beginning so we can all reach the summit together.
After college I decided to take a gap year and see what it would be like to travel the country and try to make a living solely on Magic. Even though I was successful it was extremely difficult.
The people who grind the trade floors and work behind booths are some of the hardest-working people I have ever met. Stefano was right when he talked about the fact that those floor vendors who are actually out there grinding don’t have time to write articles.
I know the Ogre and have stayed with him at GPs and spent a lot of time around him watching, learning, and asking questions over the past year. The man is a legend, but he got that way through hard work. He doesn’t have time to sit down and spill his secrets over a laptop. And why would he want to give away the information and knowledge he has worked so hard to obtain for free if his life is based around making money for his family.
You might be sitting there going, “Wait then why are you, Colin, giving away all the information and knowledge you have obtained?”
That’s a great question! It wasn’t easy for me to agree to do this column and there will always be a part of me that wants to selfishly keep the information to myself, but I have made a decision to actually lift the curtain behind the magic finance/floor vending world.
When I told Ogre I was going to start a column and I planned on spilling the beans on everything I had learned and actually write a magic finance article that told the truth, I thought he would get upset that I was giving away the secrets that were the foundation of his income. To my surprise, he shrugged and said, “that’s fine, its not what you know, it’s the kind of person you are that matters. If everyone starts trying to floor vend, then people will still just go to the people who treat them right.”
Information in the hands of very few can only go so far. Information in the hands of everyone allows for endless evolution. I have just as much or more to learn from this column and from you as you do from me.
I’m not nearly as comedic as Stefano. I don’t use magic puns and I plan on giving you a behind the scenes magic finance column with information that I feel has been purposefully omitted from magic finance articles. I want to actually say all the things no one else is writing about.
I don’t think magic finance sucks. It is a vastly complex and at times frustrating world, but there is really nothing like it in any other game.
I’m not going to say I did something and then leave it at that. I’m going to tell you how I did something and how you could do it too if you really wanted to put in the work.
This column is the no bullshit column that magic finance has desperately been missing.
Over the next few weeks I hope to walk you through my magic trading history. I want to show you the places I got lucky, worked hard, made mistakes, worked harder, made a shit ton more mistakes, eventually created a system of trading that was successful then learned I was entirely on the wrong page, rebuilt, worked even harder, taught myself a ton, got lucky, challenged myself to get better, accepted that I needed advice, reached out, watched and learned from those better than me. Still to this day I am constantly challenging myself to be a braver and kinder trader all while making more money.
If this sounds like the wild ride, you have been waiting to take in the thrilling world of Magic finance! Welcome to The Trading Post.