Kingdom Magic

Roles for one version of this variation, from MTGSalvation

I meant to post this on 31 August, but I forgot. So I'm doing it now and retroactively putting that date on it, satisfying my self-imposed obsession to post 4 times per month.

Today's thoughts are on another Magic format- Kingdom Magic. Per this website, this format is like Commander Magic (100-card decks, start with 40 life, singleton) except:

- it is for exactly 5 players

- each player has a role with a corresponding win condition:

• King: the only role known to others at the start. Goes first, starts with 50 life, and wins by surviving.
• Knight: wins if the king is alive at the end (doesn't matter if the knight is alive according to some sources, though others say he must survive too).
• Bandit 1: win if the king dies and they are alive at the end.
• Bandit 2: win if the king dies and they are alive at the end.
• Assassin: win if everyone else is dead.

I've seen different names for this format (like here)- called 'Bang EDH,' with different names for the above roles, but the same concept in principle. And here is yet another variation, with some more nuances/rules to the above roles.

The variations mentioned tell me that this format is unregulated and casual. I've never played it, but it sounds like a lot of fun- effectively adding a 'hidden role' game twist to Magic. I hope to check it out soon.

Inventory Analysis with Excel

Pursuit of Knowledge card art

In yesterday's post, I presented information on my card inventory. Some of that information was taken directly from the Dragon Shield app I've been using, but not all- some I had to generate using formulas in Microsoft Excel. This post walks you through how to do that (and come up with some other interesting numbers).

As I said in my original Dragon Shield post, that app works really well, but doesn't present all the information I would like about my collection. Thankfully, it lets you export data as a .csv file, which enables further analysis using Microsoft Excel. Throughout this article, I'll circle the formulas and results I used in Excel.

Step 1: Export your inventory as a .csv file and save it where you like.

Step 2: Save this .csv file as a .xlsx file.

- This is important. CSV files do not save formulas/etc., so if you do your work in that format without converting it, you will lose all your formulas.

Step 3: Open the .xlsx file. Hide or delete columns that do not interest you (for today's post, I deleted most columns to focus on what I cared about). You're ready to begin!

My first goal was to understand the number of unique cards I owned. Since Dragon Shield records different versions of the same card on different lines, I needed a way to count the unique values. Here's how I did that:

- I sorted by the "Card Name" column. This is not necessary, but showed me which cards I had multiple versions of. (In the picture below, you see I have two versions of "+2 Mace," for example.) 

- Select the Card Name column.

- Click "Advanced" in the Sort & Filter area

- Select "Copy to another location." Choose a location (I chose I1). Check the "Unique records only" box:

- This puts a list of unique values in column I. You can see that now +2 Mace shows up only one time, for example:

- Now you can use the COUNTA function in Excel to count the values in column I. This gives you the total number of unique cards you own:

- Note that I also recorded my total number of cards. Dragon Shield tells you this, but I wanted to make sure the Excel data matched that. Easily done counting cards in column A with the SUM function:

My next question was how many copies of a given unique card do I have- disregarding different versions. In Excel, you do that with a SUMIF function- summing the quantity in column A if the card name in column I matches the card name in column B:

If desired, you can then sort by column H to determine which cards you have the most copies of, ignoring versions.

Finally, we'll look at card monetary values. This one is tricky, in a way. Dragon Shield retains versions, in part because different versions may have different values. Dragon Shield will add up your total value based on each card you have of a given version and give you a total. That's good (and the most precise), but I wanted more granular insight.

You can get the average (or mean- I use the terms interchangeably) card value with the AVERAGEIF function. Similar to the SUMIF formula above, you can average the value of different versions of the same card (in the circled example, the +2 Mace card versions are worth either $0.02 or $0.03 . . . this function returned an average of $0.025, but rounded to $0.03, as you can see below).  

If you want the total value of a given card based on how many you have, you can then multiply the average value by the quantity of cards you have. Note: this can be deceiving if you have a version of a card that is much more (or less) expensive than other versions. But for cases where different card versions have approximately equal value, it gives you a reasonable estimate:

You can get the mean value of all cards using the AVERAGE function. Note: I did this same function on the original list (which preserved different versions) and it dropped the mean value by $0.10. This goes back to my point in the previous paragraph- averaging different card versions can skew your results. But however you do it, use the following formula:

You can also get standard deviation using the STDEV.P function:

Using these commands on my averaged data, I see a mean card value of $0.77 and standard deviation of $2.80. Again- these are skewed based on my approach. Using the precise (version-specific) data in column E, I see a mean card value of $0.67 and standard deviation of $2.53.

If my approach is skewing things, why am I using it? Because I care about unique cards, and not their versions. I have 68 copies of Evolving Wilds in 27 different versions, for example. Those range in cost from $0.09 to $0.24, but most trend towards the lower end, so the average value is $0.12. I'm content using that value for all of my Evolving Wilds, and it makes it easier for my final piece of analysis- determining how many unique cards in your collection are above or below a certain dollar amount. The next three screenshots show commands to return the number of unique cards above the average value, above $20, and below $10, respectively:

You can see how easy it is to adjust the command to return different value ranges.

One final comment: most people consider a 'budget' Magic card to be one that can be purchased for $10 or less. My total Magic collection has 11,155 unique cards; 10,986 of them are worth $10 or less. That means 98.5% of my collection is budget, and shows just how much of the game you can explore without breaking the bank.

Inventorying a Collection

Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer card art

In my last post, I talked about the DragonShield MTG Manager to inventory my collection of Magic cards. After a month of scanning, I am done my recording my collection. For the first time, I have a complete knowledge of the number of cards I have and their value. Exciting! Here are some statistics from both my inventory and the scanning process.

The Goals

- to know what I own (which will help both construct decks and avoid duplicate purchases)

- to identify high-value cards that may warrant selling

- to produce a reference to facilitate trades

The Scanning Process

Time: 43 hours (done over 31 days: 9 July - 8 August 2022)

Cards scanned: everything except tokens and basic lands (special basic lands were scanned in a few cases, when the value was known to be over a few dollars)

Scans performed: 17,831*

Scans per minute: 6.9 cards per minute on average 

- maximum noted speed: 17 cards per minute

The Inventory

Total cards: 31,563

Total unique cards: 11,155

- Unique cards I own only one copy of: 4,249

- Unique cards I own at least a playset (4 copies) of: 3,627

- Most owned non-basic-land card: Evolving Wilds: 68 copies

Total unique Magic cards in print (as of today, excluding funny cards): 23,318

Percent of unique Magic cards owned: 47.8%

Percent of unique Magic card playsets owned: 15.2%

Final Thoughts

I wanted to include financial information on here (the estimated value of my collection based on market prices), but I'm both too embarrassed and unwilling to advertise the total number.  I will share this:

- Unique cards with $20 value or more: 48

- Unique cards with $50 value or more: 3

- Most expensive card owned: Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer

Inventorying my collection was time-consuming but worthwhile, if humbling.

*This number differs from the total cards in my collection for three reasons:

1) If I was scanning sets of organized cards, I would scan a given card and update the quantity rather than scan the same version of a card multiple times.

2) If, in those organized cards, a given card had different versions- foil, extended art, etc.- each version would get a scan (and then quantities updated as needed).

3) I scanned my collection based on how I store them- sometimes by set, sometimes in decks. Thus, if I had multiple copies of a given card, but (say) 2 copies were in one set, 1 copy was in another set, and 1 copy was in a deck, that would mean I scanned that card 3 times.

4) For decks, sometimes I organized the cards first (so I could scan the first copy and update the quantity, per 1) above) or sometimes I scanned them individually. So there isn't a consistent predictor of how many times I scanned a card. 

None of this really matters, but I wanted to explain the discrepancy.

Dragon Shield MTG Card Manager

The website version of the app as it is loading

Dedicated Magic players soon amass thousands of cards. How do you keep track of your collection? You could manually inventory your cards on spreadsheets, use physical checklists, or leverage one of the many websites or apps out there to do so. This post is about that final option.

There are many solutions to digitally manage your collection, but all feature one and/or two input options:

- searching for/selecting a card

- scanning a card

I have friends who use and speak highly of deckbox.org, which uses the former method. As today's post title may imply, I have been using the Dragon Shield MTG Card Manager, available as both an app and website, which works best for the latter.

Using the Dragon Shield solution is pretty simple. For unlimited scans, you have to use the premium version ($20/year), but it is worth it. Once you have the app on your phone and create your account/etc., you can create folders* and scan cards from your collection** one at a time (hold your phone so that the card's picture is in the box shown on the screen). The app will identify the picture and pull up its information- verify that and make changes as needed (to quantity, foil, version, etc.) to make sure you capture the correct information (as many cards have been reprinted over the years).  Once you know all is correct, press 'save,' then repeat [x] times until you are done with that folder. Then you can create another folder and do the same thing. As many folders for as many cards as you like.

This method may seem cumbersome (it is), but it may be faster than you think- and faster than manually adding cards to your collection. I've scanned as many as 17 cards per minute using this app. 

I should finish scanning my collection today or tomorrow. Here is what I like (and don't) about the Dragon Shield app:

Likes:

• The scanner is impressively correct. I estimate that it identifies the correct artwork over 99.5% of the time. It identifies the correct version most of the time. The latter is difficult to achieve due to the sheer number of reprints (to include things like 'mystery boosters' and 'the list' cards).
• Once you get the process down, you can move faster than manual entry on websites like deckbox.
• You can access your collection on Dragon Shield's website and export it in various formats (to include .csv).
• It gives you a wealth of information about each card, to include market price, details on rulings, and other things. Hence, it goes beyond basic inventory and is a valuable resource for the game in general.
• You can also add information manually (searching for a card and selecting it) if need be.
• The company is very responsive to recommendations/feedback on the app.

Dislikes:

• Making a mistake- clicking 'save' only to realize you got the wrong version/etc.- can really slow you down. It is easy to go back and make edits, but you must exit scanning mode and search for the card in question, then edit its information, then go back to scanning mode. If you are scanning thousands of cards, that can add a lot of time.
• There is no feature to 'bulk' add cards- things like preconstructed decks or common sets of expansions/etc. to your collection. Adding this option could be a huge time saver. Telling the app "add 4 copies of every uncommon card in Throne of Eldraine" or "add all four preconstructed commander decks from Adventures in the Forgotten Realms" would be amazing.
• Adding information manually is possible but cumbersome. This app/website are clearly designed to focus on scanning. And some of the interfaces when manually editing a card are not intuitive.
• You cannot merge folders. It will tell you which folder(s) you have a given card in, but you cannot change it without manually undoing it and re-scanning/etc.
• It does not sum multiple versions of the same card. So if I have (say) 4 Serra Angels from Dominaria and 4 more from Magic 2015, the inventory will show it as such, preserving the distinct versions (and folders they are in). I like that they preserve this information, but wish there was an option to give me the total of a given card across all versions and folders.
• Update: I've done this in Microsoft Excel. See this post for a tutorial.
• You must delete cards from your collection manually (which is cumbersome). That could become a pain if you want to trade or sell a large portion of your collection.
• It does not export to a file version that other collection managers recognize. (This is probably true of all such apps.) This should be simple enough to address with a script, should I develop the time and skills to do that . . . but it would be nice to not have to address this.

Though my 'dislike' list is longer than the 'likes,' I have been very pleased overall. My next post will cover my inventory details.

Rating: A-

*folders can be named anything you want. I recommend naming them based on how you organize your cards; things like "casual cube," "sleeved commander decks," "Innistrad block cards," or the like. Names that will tell you exactly where to find the card when you're looking for it six months from now.

**this hyperlink goes to a tutorial video from the company