Places to Buy, Sell, and Trade Collectible Cards

As mentioned in a previous article, it is inefficient to try to build decks from packs that one may buy, since the cards in the pack may not be desirable for the person seeking to build a deck. With this knowledge in mind, it is important to know some places where one can find other people for the sake of buying, selling and trading cards. Some generally reliable places to trade cards include:

• Tournaments. Whether a player is at a local tournament or at the continental championships for a particular game, players can buy and trade with other participants in a tournament. In fact, some players are incentivized at times to travel to non-local tournaments with the incentive of trading with people that they may not see on a weekly basis.
• Gaming conventions. Like tournaments, conventions are a great place to meet new players and barter trading cards. Although this is the case, conventions seem to only be a reliable place to obtain certain cards on the condition that the convention is holding a tournament or general event related to the game that such cards come from.
• Social media trade groups. Mainly found on Facebook, there are many trading groups available to communicate with in social media. With this avenue of communication and connection with traders, it is important to find and abide by the rules that such groups have in place, both for the protection and effectiveness of the player’s trading interactions.
• Auction websites. When the player is only interested in buying or selling cards, a great thing to consider is the plethora of auction sites that are available (such as eBay). These sites give the player the ability to either auction cards or sell them at a certain price.

What are your thoughts on this? Any other locations that anyone finds useful for buying, trading, and selling cards? Please leave and questions you have in the comments section.

Starting the Game: Purchasing Cards

Gem Monster, Jewelmine

The second stage of starting the game on a budget involves purchasing cards for the sake of building your first deck. Each of the following steps will vary depending on what clan the player chooses to start with. If the player does not know what clan to play with, it is recommended that he or she goes back to the research portion of starting the game until the player has a good idea of what clan to at least start playing with. To clarify, players can always use multiple clans, but it is recommended for the beginning player to choose one to start playing with. If the player is still deciding which clan to start with, here is a guide to choosing a clan and our clan overview.

There are three primary ways to start the game with a certain clan. The first way is through buying preconstructed decks. These items are ready-to-play decks that are sold as a way to start the game. Such decks in Vanguard include trial decks, legend decks, and start decks. Each of these decks focuses on one clan, and contains instructions on how to play the game and a play mat. In addition to this, it is one of the quickest ways to build a deck that can be played in a local tournament. In order to do this, the aspiring player must either purchase two of the same trial deck, two of the same start deck, or one of the same legend deck. With this method, the player is guaranteed to have certain staples (e.g. perfect guards) in order to start playing the game on a local tournament level. Below is the purchasing guide for clans that have a trial deck, legend deck, or start deck that can help you jump start your collection.*

Clan	Decks to Purchase	Approximate Price
Aqua Force	2x Blue Calvary of the Divine Marine Spirits	$30-$40
Gear Chronicle	2x Rallying Call of the Intraspectral Dragon	$30-$40
Gear Chronicle	2x Odyssey of the Interspatial Dragon	$20
Gold Paladin	2x Knight of the Sun	$20
Granblue	2x Nightmare Princess of the Nether Hour	$30-$40
Kagero	1x The Overlord Blaze “Toshiki Kai”	$30-$40
Link Joker	2x Fateful Star Messiah	$30-$40
Neo Nectar	2x Flower Maiden of Purity	$30-$40
Pale Moon	2x Illusionist of the Crescent Moon	$30-$40
Royal Paladin	2x Divine Swordsman of the Shiny Star	$30-$40
Shadow Paladin	1x The Dark “Ren Suzugamori”	$30-$40

The second method of purchasing cards in order to start your collection for your first deck is to buy bulk off of eBay. This method is mainly used to either get into a clan that is not on the above list or as a way to build a collection quickly for deck brewing. Although it takes more experimentation in relation to deck building, the player has the option to buy bulk commons and rares of a certain clan from eBay in order to jump start his or her collection. Typically, such bulk will be selling each individual card at approximately 5-10 cents a card (if it is anything like I experienced), saving you immensely when it comes to starting your collection. Such deals will typically sell 50-100 cards per bulk sale. Try to find the best deal you can when it comes to bulk, since there is a lot of room to save money in such a market. If the player decides to take this route, the player will also need to purchase Light Elemental, Sunny and Miracle Element, Atmos. This will provide the player with perfect guards and strides respectively, allowing the player to start with the basic staples of the game. These cards can be purchased on eBay as well, but it is recommended that the player check several sites for the sake of finding the lowest price (e.g. TCGplayer, Amazon).

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The third way to obtain cards for your first deck is to buy single cards individually or buying decks from other people. This is the best method for those who know exactly what deck they want to build or buy. Although this is the case, this is the method that players should be cautious about the predetermined budget that they were recommended to make in the research stage. If using this method, it is recommended that the player researches the price of the cards individually or in the decks to ensure the asking price is fair compared to the rest of the market. For any type of player, buying singles tends to be the cheapest way to get specific cards since purchasing single cards and/or decks guarantees one obtains the cards or decks the player is after (compared to having the possibly of obtaining certain cards in packs or bulk sales, which is not certain).

Each of the above methods are useful for different reasons to the general cardfighter. The first method is meant to start the player’s collection if the player either does not have a preference of what clan they begin with or for the clans in the list above. The second method is mainly for the players who want a cheap way to start collecting cards for the sake of deck building with the clans not present in the list found in the first method. The third method is meant for players who either want to get specific cards for the sake of building their collection or for the sake of gathering cards for a specific deck. Each of these methods are useful in their own way and are meant to be used for their dignified purposes. If the player keeps this in mind, the correct use of such methods could prove very powerful and useful for the player for the purpose of saving money while spending it on Cardfight!! Vanguard cards.

We will be discussing beginning deck building next time. If you have any questions or comments, please put them in the comments.

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^{*If the player just want to try the game and does not know if he or she plans on playing long term, it is recommended that he or she try step one by buying one of the listed decks in the chart. Decks in the list and their prices are subject to change due to availability and new trial deck releases. For an updated list of all trial decks in the game, go to the Cardfight Wiki listing of trial decks in Cardfight!! Vanguard to date: http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Cardfight!!_Vanguard_Trial_Decks}

^{Images of cards came from http://cardfight.wikia.com/wiki/Cardfight!!_Vanguard_Wiki. These images may have been re-sized.}