Hey everyone!
I’ve been a little remiss in keeping everyone “in the loop,” so to speak, about what’s been going on with me. There’s also been a lot of new products added to our website, changes to our buylist, a major job opening, and a lot of big events going on in-store. Let’s see if we can tie these together, shall we?
On Christmas Day, I proposed to my long-time girlfriend, the beautiful Kate Woods. You might call this a bit of a Sneak Attack proposal (hey look! I managed a hyperlink), because Kate didn’t see it coming. You see, we had been having difficulties finding just the right engagement ring. The local jewelers were uncooperative in accommodating a custom-made ring, and the pre-made engagements rings in our area weren’t really tickling Kate’s fancy.
I finally had to call in a family friend up in New York City to custom-make the ring, and it turned out beautifully. The only catch is that Kate was expecting the ring as a Christmas present at this point. I just barely got the ring in time to make that happen, but it didn’t seem right to just propose expectedly. Oh no! First, I bought a couple of candy rings, and stuffed her stockings with them and a note that read “IOU 1 Real Ring”. I then made up a story about how the ring hadn’t arrived in time, sorry, but I’ll have it sometime soon. Christmas morning went on with all my (soon-to-be) nieces and nephews getting their presents, and Kate getting more and more depressed about a lack of ring.
Don’t get me wrong — it wasn’t the ring itself that was getting Kate upset, it was that she really wanted me to propose. It took her a couple of hours into opening presents to finally leave her dad’s living room to hit the bathroom, at which point I told all everyone present that I was going to propose. When she came back, she immediately started cleaning up gift-wrapping. I kept trying to get her attention, down on my knees, with all of her brothers and sisters lined up against the far wall with cameras. Finally, I tugged on her shirt.
“What?”
“Well, I had one more present for you.”
*Looks up finally* “What?”
“I was going to see if you would marry me, Kate.”
*Crying* “You liar! You lied to me!”
“Is that a yes?”
“It’s a yes.”
And they lived happily ever after, the end!
Well, we don’t sell Diamond Rings here at StarCityGames.com, but we have been quietly accumulating a pretty impressive collection of BGS graded cards. BGS, or Beckett Grading System, is a professional grading service that grades cards according to four criteria — the centering of the card, the surface wear on a card, the edge wear on a card, and the sharpness of the corners of a card. These four grades are averaged on a half-point scale, and a total grade for the card is assigned based on this average. The highest grade is a 10 (Perfect Mint), and the grading goes down in half-a-point increments from there.
BGS is the most accurate grading service available for Magic cards, and we have found their grading to be more accurate and more strenuous than PSAs grading. We’ve submitted several dozen cards for grading over the past year and a half, and we have yet to get a 10 back. I am happy to report that we have gotten several 9.0 and 9.5 graded cards, including a Beta Black Lotus (from the Mint set we broke up for singles a few months ago), an Unlimited Black Lotus, and a Beta Time Walk.
If you hadn’t seen the news, the only 10-graded Beta Lotus in existence sold for $20,000 back in 2005. We have the second-best condition BGS graded Beta Lotus on earth, and we’re offering it for sale at half that price. For a list of all our available BGS Graded cards (including several 9.0 and 9.5 pieces of power and Beta Dual lands), click here.
Kate and I are getting married on August 4th, and we’re going to wait a couple of years after getting married to have children. That means that I have to be content to announce the newest member of the StarCityGames.com family, the Pump It Up NX machine! If you’re not familiar with Pump It Up, let me give you a quick synopsis — it’s DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) with a five-pad dance setup (like a big X, with four buttons on the corners and one in the center) rather than DDR’s four-pad diamond setup. I’ve been a fan of Pump It Up for years, and I’ve always felt it would be a perfect addition for the players at the Star City Game Center. If you’re coming down for one of our upcoming events – our Extended PTQ this weekend or our $1,000 Standard tournament on March 24th or our regular Friday Night Magic tournaments — give the machine a whirl! I’ve been making good use of it — not only is it fun, but it’s also great exercise. What better way for me to lose weight for my upcoming wedding?
As I’ve mentioned before, StarCityGames.com is separated into several departments. My department is the Inventory Department, and we’re in charge of organizing, buying and selling the cards you see on this here site. Recently, we had a major reorganization in our department. Some members of our team left for other departments, and other members changed job responsibilities. One of the major changes that took place was shifting the main buyer duties for the business back directly onto my plate. This means that if you’re looking to sell StarCityGames.com your Magic cards, you’ll be dealing directly with me. Here’s three things you should know about selling me cards:
I’ve recently added both Planar Chaos and World of Warcraft singles to our buylist.
While we don’t list sealed product or complete sets on our buylist, we do buy these items! Please feel free to e-mail Mail us at https://sales.starcitygames.com/contactus/contactform.php?emailid=6 if you’re looking to sell boxes or sets!
Kate and I will be taking a week’s vacation to New Orleans starting this coming Monday. I’ll be out of town for a full week. In that time, Inventory Manager and Buyer Chris Woltereck will be answering my e-mail and approving buys. All buys sent in next week will be processed on Monday, March 19th.
The Pump It Up Machine might be the newest member of the StarCityGames.com family — and yes, I know it’s a big hunk of metal, but it weighs more than any five of us put together, so it gets family status — but we’re also looking to hire for the position of Premier Events Coordinator! The job description is listed at that link, but in short we’re looking for a person with experience judging or organizing Wizards or UDE events, to help run our Wizards and UDE events. I’m going to let you in on a secret of one of the hidden perks of the job:
Pete Hoefling is the best boss you’ll ever have.
I’m not saying this to kiss any sort of ass, but I think that any of our employees would say the same thing. He’s fair, honest, straightforward, accessible, and loyal to his own. In today’s world of temp work, part-time jobs, and corporate profit-mongering, a boss like Pete is rare and to be treasured. Keep this in mind if you’re considering applying for this position — I can’t recommend Pete and the work environment enough. [Agreed. — Craig.]
Let’s see — getting married? Check! Vacation in New Orleans — Check! That leaves a run down of the rest of the new products available on the website left to go in this article. Here comes the list!
Future Sight is now available for preordering! This includes Booster Boxes, Booster Cases, Theme Deck Boxes, Theme Deck sets of 4, Complete Sets, and the return of Draft Boxes! Draft Boxes contain 12 Packs of Time Spiral, 12 Packs of Planar Chaos, and 12 Packs of Future Sight. During the Preorder period, we’re also including 100 Time Spiral basic Lands with your Draft Box! Order now, because once Future Sight is released on May 4th, we will no longer be including those 100 lands with the Draft Box.
The newest World of Warcraft release, Through the Dark Portal, is only a month away! Whether you’re going to our Dark Portal prereleases on March 31st in Richmond, Charlotte, or Louisville, or just ordering through the mail, now’s the time to lock in the lowest price we’ll be offering on the second World of Warcraft set!
We are currently in the process of adding several hundred boxes worth of Coldsnap Singles to the inventory. This includes both regular and foil Coldsnap cards. In addition, we’ve created a category for the Ice Age and Alliances cards reprinted in the Coldsnap Theme Decks.
And that’s the Real Deal from StarCityGames.com and Ben Bleiweissland for this week! Join me next week, when I tackle a very prickly and controversial subject from the Magic Community. See you then!
(I love you, Kate!)