Immorally making $5,000

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Demgar

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Jul 31, 2010
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AngelOfBlueRoses said:
Wintermute said:
I don't know anything about Magic the Gathering, but that card is "+3 Mana". Why is it so expensive?

Anyway, I'll be honest. If the card was word 100, 200, I'd probably take it with a clear conscience. But 5000, that's a lot of money... I wouldn't be able to just take it.

The asshole half of me, however, says you should take it, sell it and then go "oh my, I had no idea, what are we going to do with all this money?"
Law of supply and demand. So very few were printed, so there's a lack of supply that increases the price. Then, on top of that, in the many years since it was printed, how many were damaged or lost?

Amongst collectors, rarity is more valuable than usefulness.

OT: Tell him, OP. It's the right thing to do considering how much it's worth. I'd hate to be jipped by a friend like this.
That's only part of it. It's also a pretty OP card. Since you can only play one land per turn, 3 extra mana is very powerful in early game. Imagine you played a land, a lotus, and a mox(another discontinued and expensive card) on the first round. You could play a 5 mana card to your opponents 1 mana card. That probably means the game, purely on the strength of the draw.
 

klaynexas3

My shoes hurt
Dec 30, 2009
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Is that seriously the only card that you found that's worth a damn? That's not to say it isn't a good card to sell, I'm saying your friend's brother has Alpha cards and that's the only one you can honestly say you're going to sell? If he has other Alphas in that pile, you can probably make something close to at least $10,000 if you played the dick and kept it for yourself. In other words, you'd have more money to spread around. In other words, dig deeper, give him some funds, and you should still be making at least 5 grand.

Get to digging!
 

Marcus Kehoe

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Mar 18, 2011
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sell it then later give him a large portion, if not half of the money. It's not gonna be easy selling it and you don't have to tell him how much it sold for.
 

NearLifeExperience

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Oct 21, 2012
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5000 big ones for a card! What kind of madness is that.. anyway, it's funny to see everyone go 'do the right thing', I wonder if that's what they truely think, or only say this to come across as 'good'

Personally? That would depend on how good of a friend the person is. And also my financial status at that time
 

geldonyetich

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Aug 2, 2006
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I'd take him up on the offer and offer to split the money with him if I sell anything. If I show up with $2,500 for him that he wasn't expecting, I don't think he'll be complaining, and my own moral compass can rest easily at least I was fair about it. If he turns down the money, hey, suit yourself.

Worse thing that could happen, he realizes, "Holy shit, these cards might actually be worth money?" and decides to sell the cards himself. He pockets all the money. I feel $2,500 poorer. But, you know what? The cards didn't belong to me to begin with. So I wouldn't be $2,500 poorer, I'd be $0 poorer than if I never discovered he had those cards to begin with.

Besides, no guarantee I'd even be able to successfully broker the deal. This $5,000 you're stressing out about could well vanish into thin air when some eBay douche hiding behind a foreign name reneges on their deal.
 
Apr 5, 2008
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Shit, $5k? I should really have a look through my old MTG cards then, I have a few of those rare types.

Also, tell the man. You're not a thief (I hope).
 

BehattedWanderer

Fell off the Alligator.
Jun 24, 2009
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Find a buyer, first. If there's no buyer, then there's practically no dilemma. Maybe finding a buyer isn't that hard, I don't know, I'm not that familiar with how much the MtG crowd is willing to drop on a single card, no matter the rarity, since I only know the Desert Bus stuff where people drop mad skrill to get whole sheets of innistrad, whatever the hell that is. But, no matter what, make him aware of what he's giving you. Or, just buy him lunch for the next eternity, until whatever you make off it ends.
 

MeChaNiZ3D

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Aug 30, 2011
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You tell him, and allow him to suggest you take a cut. If not, you did the honourable thing anyway. I know it's easy for me to say, not being in the situation, but you either contribute to a world where everyone is co-operative or where everyone is selfish. Make your choice.
 

soes757

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Jan 24, 2011
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AngelOfBlueRoses said:
Wintermute said:
I don't know anything about Magic the Gathering, but that card is "+3 Mana". Why is it so expensive?

Anyway, I'll be honest. If the card was word 100, 200, I'd probably take it with a clear conscience. But 5000, that's a lot of money... I wouldn't be able to just take it.

The asshole half of me, however, says you should take it, sell it and then go "oh my, I had no idea, what are we going to do with all this money?"
Law of supply and demand. So very few were printed, so there's a lack of supply that increases the price. Then, on top of that, in the many years since it was printed, how many were damaged or lost?

Amongst collectors, rarity is more valuable than usefulness.

OT: Tell him, OP. It's the right thing to do considering how much it's worth. I'd hate to be jipped by a friend like this.
The card is super useful, you can use it to pull the one turn combo.
OT: I would hypothetically sell the card myself, or I'd like to say. I guess it depends on your relationship with the friend. Are they someone you see yourself being friends with in 10 years? Or are they someone you met in a bar a week ago, and will likely never see after a few months?
I mean, do the right thing and tell him.
 

Lilani

Sometimes known as CaitieLou
May 27, 2009
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SirPlindington said:
I'd sure as hell tell him. I mean even if you split the money between you, your friend, and the brother you'd still all make off with more than $1000 apiece. And if he doesn't want to, then just point out that if you hadn't gone through the cards he never would have known in the first place.
 

Saltyk

Sane among the insane.
Sep 12, 2010
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I'd say tell him a split the money. His card, but you are likely the one who would be doing the actual selling, and even if not, without you, he wouldn't have known the value.

Look at it this way. If you don't, they will wonder where you got the five grand all of a sudden. Someone you know will likely know and tell them. And then, you lost that friend. And maybe others who find your behavior in that despicable.

Basically, I'd say do the right thing. Even a portion of the money, is more than you had before.
 

lacktheknack

Je suis joined jewels.
Jan 19, 2009
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The last Gordon Korman novel I read was... essentially about this.

Personally, I don't want to have a fool made out of me, have my house broken into, and have all my windows exploded in a wacky series of hijinx, so I'll let him have the card. Maybe he'll give me a hundred bucks.
 

CriticalMiss

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Jan 18, 2013
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Sell it and split the loot 50/50. Or let him know it is valuable and you should split the proceeds, if he refuses then he is a greedy arsehole and you can happily sell the card and keep all of the monies for yourself you greedy arsehole :D

And that is one expensive card. I would rummage through my wardrobe and see if I have any cards of worth but I doubt they would fetch all that much.
 

spartan231490

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Jan 14, 2010
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SirPlindington said:
Ok, so let's talk about an entirely hypothetical situation. Let's say that I (hypothetically) play Magic the Gathering. Let us also say that I (hypothetically) have a friend who does not play Magic the Gathering. Let us then say that he has a brother who used to play Magic the Gathering, but no longer does. Let us say that I (hypothetically) visit this friend, and, whilst mucking about in the basement, find a box of cards. Let us then say that after finding the brother, we all adjourn back in the basement and begin digging through the cards for fun. Let us say that he says I can have any and all of the cards if I so wish. Let us then say that I find a Black Lotus.

A perfect condition Black Lotus.

For those of you uneducated in the fine game of MtG, This is what a Black Lotus is. [http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Black%20Lotus]

Now, I (hypothetically) have 2 options. One, I can take it and make easy money. Or two, I can tell him how valuable it is and let him sell it. Now, 5 grand would come in handy for my family. But it would be just as nice for his.

So, instead of thinking it out and taking responsibility for my actions, I'ma let you decide. Do I tell or sell?

Hypothetically.

EDIT: Note that no matter what anyone says, I'll probably (hypothetically, of course) tell him. I just wanted to see what other people would do.
Give it to him and sell the rest yourself. If the cards are all as old as black lotus and in good condition, you might even make more money than he does, albeit with more effort. Win/win
 

Whytewulf

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Dec 20, 2009
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NoMercy Rider said:
I would side with telling him about it. You say he knows very little about Magic. Explain the situation to him and offer to sell the card for him, using your expertise and knowledge to receive the largest possible buyer. For your services you would commission part of the profit. If you were good friends I would say go 50/50, but maybe your friend would have something else in mind.

I think its pretty selfish to take advantage of an uninformed person for the benefit of your family when his family could benefit as well. Seems like the best compromise would be to go 50/50. $2500-ish is still a lot of money.
I agree with this. A friend is much more valuable. I would basically tell them, you have some valuable cards here man, do you want me to try and sell any, see what we could get?
 

Wickatricka

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Aug 26, 2011
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I'd take it personally but I'm gonna tell you to not take it lol. For real though you should probably just take it though...
 

idarkphoenixi

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May 2, 2011
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Whatever your decision you should be aware that he WILL find out, you can't keep something like that a secret forever. You'll get a payday but in all likelihood it would destroy your friendship. Is that worth $5000?
How would you feel if someone you called a friend did the same thing, regardless of if you said he could have any cards he wanted?