Wednesday, January 18, 2012

When the Net Runner gods smile upon you...

by Nathan Stout (of AccordingToWhim.com)

As you know Net Runner is expensive... very expensive. You could jump on Ebay eight now and see a box of Proteus booster for 300+ dollars... that's stupid.

Back in the day I had a couple of those. I got them for about sixty bucks and was happy with that. As the years went by I opened them life was good.

Its been years since I have laid my hands on new cards. A couple of years back I got a booster box of 1.0 (core set) cards and opened about 15 packs and sold the rest last year. I'm not too interested in booster though. My enjoyment from Net Runner has largely come from Starters. The calculations that Wizards of the Coast came up with for card distribution in starters was INSPIRED! Both decks in a starter were always so perfectly balanced! Getting my hands on Starter boxes was the real goal!

Anyway, fast forward to 2011. I started up my business again selling Anime models at various conventions and online (go here for my site and buy a bunch of shit, will ya?). One of the conventions I set up at was the San Antonio Comicon in San Antonio Texas. I paid for 2 booths and when I got down there they split my booths up across a fire exit so I had to spend my time going back and forth. That sucked.

The guy in the booth next to me sold all sorts of stuff from gaming miniatures to action figures. It looked like he had a game shop at some point in his past. Anyway we got along well although we were divided by one of his big rolling carts so I didn't talk to him that much.

At my table I put out the remaining core boosters I had. I figured I'd slap $4 on them and see if anyone bites. I could at least get to talking to someone about my favorite game. I didn't sell well there at all. There were a lot of people but no one was interested in my model kits (or Net Runner cards). I spent slow times browsing other people's booths to see if there was stuff I wanted. This sort of thing goes on all the time and a lot of other vendors looked at my stuff too.

Later that first day the guy next to me looks at my stuff and points to my Net Runner cards. "I have some of those", he said. My ears perked up so high they nearly detached from my head. I figured if he lived close I could get them or perhaps have him ship them to me. I told him I would be interested in buying any he had. I tried to keep the look of excitement off my face. "Yeah, I have a box of them. They are over here. I'll grab them."

I nearly crapped my pants.

He brings back a box. It's not Net Runner... It's Proteus.

I nearly vomited.

I then asked him how much he wanted for it. When I deal with other vendors I try my hardest to deal in trading. I would just assume to do trades but almost everyone wants cold hard cash. He said: "15 bucks."

I crapped my pants and vomited at the same time... no really I did. Ok, maybe I didn't.

I pulled 15 dollars out of my pocket faster than you could say Richard Garfield. I paid the man and called my trip from North Texas all the way to San Antonio a success.

I wound up putting it online for sale (Ebay, of course) and it sold in just a couple of weeks. There is a company called Toad and Troll who post a lot of auctions and they have had a Proteus box up for sale for years at the princely sum of $330. At the time it was about $317 (I guess they constantly adjust for inflation). I listed my box for $300 (or best offer). I got an offer for $275 and took it.

A deal like that only happens once in a blue moon. I doubt I will ever find a deal like that again but at least it happened for me the one time. My dream is to go into a shop and find 10 boxes of Net Runner Starts on sale for $10 each!

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