Trade With KQuinner + Secret Lair Experience

For those who don't know, Magic does "premium", 24 hour releases called Secret Lair releases. These are somewhat like Topps Now. You have 24 hours to buy a release, you know what cards you are getting, and they can go for anything like $30 - $80 US in most cases.

I hate them and have never ordered one directly - I do own obe still boxed though. The one I picked up was because all the cards in it are artifacts, and it's unopened because, why bother when I know exactly what is inside.

Well, yesterday, a first for Secret Lair, and likely last for a LONG time (their words), a "booster pack" release was done. Zeta Boosters contain 7 cards from a 121 card set, done in a style to fit what the first versions of the cards looked like before the game was released with Alpha in 1993. Since they are to look like cards from 1992, they were priced for $19.92 US.

I have debated whether to count these as booster packs and getting one for my collection - the packaging is a cardboard booster package, not foil, but ultimately, I decided yes, I would pock one up.

Then I decided two as I could either sell the second or open one to really comment on the product. The drop happened yesterday at noon - a pre-order as the limited run will not ship until early November.

Honestly, the process for me was smooth - signed in ahead of time as anyone on for the hour leading up was randomized a spot in the virtual queue at noon - that all happened and I initialky had a 55 minute wait that was 34 minutes in reality.

i did nothing funny lije 20 tabs, refreshing cobstantly - I actually just sat at a McDonalds having lunch, doing it on my phobe with Wifi. Got in, got the order done, and it should cost me about $80 CDN all in for 2 packs (14 cards)

It is stupid pricing and I dislike it, but I also ordered 2 (versus the 12 pack cap per person), because that's really all I wanted. They are now selling on eBay and such sites for $80 US or about $110 - $120 CDN.

I am going to wait to decide what to do when I get the packs and see where prices are them but given the limited supply, that it sold out within a couple hours (apparently there were major site related issues), I don't know where things will land by print/ship date.

That said, the collector in my is happy I am getting the pack, while the investor in my thinks I shoukd have been greedy and ordered 12 to sell a bunch and profit - but then I would be just like "them" - the flippers making the collecting difficult by pushibg the prices even further than Wizards.

I wasnt giving it much thought at the time but I should have ordered 12 and re-sold a bunch at just enough to recoup my cost - the challenge there being to ensure I am selling to a collector, not a flipper. Maybe next time - if there has to be a next time.

Enough about the Zeta drop though. I am not being creative with the blog title - but also don't mind the trade partner seeing the thank you. The share below is the first trade I did with the fellow Ontario native, so of course it focused on hockey, and specifically getting more Leafs into the collection.

In advance of showing - a thank you for the trade - as my hope with any first time trade partner, I hope it won't be a last and we can find some more matches to trade!

Anyone who has followed my blog for any period of time knows that when it comes to the late 90s and early 2000s, I have plenty of missing cards to collect as it was the period - about '97 - 2010 really - where I was completely out of the hobby.

The Mats Sundin Upper Deck Ice card is a really nice one. Acetate cards, I really like, but use it for the Ice set and it's even cooler. What can I say, little things like that make my day.

Not a fan of the 2003-04 Upper Deck Black Diamond set design, but still need the Leafs there.

2005-06 Parkhurst here brings not one, but....

a few more Leafs. With all the cards in the trade today, a bit surprising I didn't finish off any Leaf team sets. Not a problem at all of course, just a bit surprised, though plenty of work moving sets along, so all good.

2005-06 Upper Deck MVP with four more Leaf cards - another design which falls a bit flat to me, but so did the team in the mid-2000s, so I guess it's more fitting that way?

We end one scan with a Toskala...

with him beginning the last as well. A great goalie, but Cujo is ahead in the "favourite Leaf goalie" department. May not be Potvin, but Cujo would be top 3 from my lifetime watching the Leafs. With the long history, you could go back and pull some more goalies from the history books to put ahead of Cujo and Potvin, but my watching bias definitely plays in. I guess a difference between personal favourites and all time favourites. Hard to personally favour a player you never had the chance to see.

Maybe a good question - do you have a favourite player who you didn't actually get to see or follow during their playing career?

Thirsty History

Another trade share, another TCDB member, and another cool feature from the site I can talk about.

This trade with ThirstyDeer came as an offer, and I recognized the name, so assumed we had done trades through the site before. Well, it took all of a couple clicks to be able to tell that:

1) We did out first trade in July 2020

2) This was our 5th trade (the ones in between were in June 2024, May 2025, and October 2025)

3) That first trade we did had TCDB ID 105018, while this one was 1038569 - which just shows how much the site has grown. For reference, my first completed trade in the site has ID 443 on Jun 20, 2015.

I could look at each trade, figure out how many cards we sent each way, but let's get to what came this way.

2002 Fleer Fall Classic is a set I hadn't known of, and this is my first Blue Jay from the set. Amazing to still find sets that old which I didn't know about, but at the same time, it was a period with a number of players in the game so to speak, and each trying to put out a number of sets.

In hockey, we have a card from a set I'd love to complete, though I only have a few cards - the 2022-03 Parkhurst Original Six set which is all Toronto Maple Leafs.

The bulk of the trade is getting close to completing the flagship Leaf team set for 2024-25 Upper Deck. 

Love doing these PWE trades as, even with 8-15 cards, there's a lot you can pack into a single envelope!

September Falls

Here we are, another summer wrapping up and another school year about to start. Kids going into grades 8 and 11 now, and it feels like yesterday and many years ago, all at the same time, that they were in primary school together.

We did a lot of spring cleaning this year, and now it feels like a bit of fall catch up is still needed, and the next few days will be that on the blog as I catch up with some sharing of trades which happened, and I hadn't yet shared here.

First one up is a trade with TCDB member Double B, a fellow Ontarian who I have traded with before, and for a trade I initiated. I haven't done a lot of that and am trying t change it a bit. In part because I am getting a few less offers - probably just less people doing such, not that I have less matches with people.

I will look for cards that are new to me and fit my Jays or Leaf collection first, and from there, whether I look for set additions or extra Jays, isn't really set in stone, depends on what they may have to offer - though searching for any Jays/Leafs for trade is easier.

All the above cards are additional copies for the collection - some I only have a couple of already, others 15-16 copies, but either way, happy to trade away cards I don't want for these.

We also get my first 2026 Topps card with Lauer, and a new to me Potvin - so there were a couple new cards to add as well.

 Also, card 609 of 700 for the 2020 Topps flagship set, so we get a little closer than we were before. Definitely a card that was on my "want" list, not one I searched out as set completion, when I get down to it, I just add to try and match into completion.

Actually, one newer feature of the site which I recently turned on, was to have any/all new Jays and Leaf cards which I am missing, get added to my want list as soon as they are listed on the site. The down side is, there are minor league cards which may be associated with Toronto that I think are getting added (so I will have to watch to remove these when trading), but the plus is, I don't have to go and individually add cards with every release, because I have not been doing that and only really do it every year or two, and it's a long process.

Appreciate the trade with Double B, and we shall see how well the auto additions to the want list work out.