August Giveaway, Reflections / Wave 2 wrap up

We are helping to give away some cards! The Black Sun Card Cantina has 7 wave 2 marathon cards to give away at the end of August. To win: listen during the month as we give out letters each week. Re-arrange them for the correct solution. Be the first to post it to the Black Sun Card Cantina group to win all seven cards!

This week sees the end of Wave 2 as well as the relatively short-lived Reflections set. We tackle the existential question: Is it better for a set to end in the midst of its prime, before chase fatigue sets in, or better for it to fade away? Reflections is ending while still being the hottest trading ticket going; in addition to its good looks, will this ending cement it as set with trade longevity long past its "active"ness?

We also do a "Scorecard Rundown" to assess what we've gotten right and wrong in the last week: Spoiler alert, we weren't 100% correct!

Thanks as always for listening, and especially reaching out to us to let us know you're enjoying what you're hearing! On Twitter: @CT_Illuminerdy

Run in with J.J. Abrams, Spectrum, Star Destroyer, and a Feed Me No Lines Special Report

Michael with J.J. Abrams

It's time for another clandestine meeting of the Card Trader Illuminerdy. We have a new initiate DAVESECURA joining us in "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Star Wars Card Trader But Were Afraid to Ask".

Also:

• J.J. Abrams and co-host MICHAELNIPP are seen together in the current issue of Star Wars Insider, and Michael tells us how it happened.
• Our jokes about "rainbow" variants and "they've gone to plaid" seem very prescient with the new Spectrum variant that popped up very shortly after our last episode was posted.
• Star Destroyer pack aftermath, a.k.a. How Much Crow Does RHETTB have to eat for now having 3 Parallels of Sketch After Swearing It Off Forever Last Week.
• "Badges: a tiny little poster that fits on a shot glass" and the communication breakdown
• E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial Dream card comes to life thanks to @Genxwing!
• A Feed Me No Lines special report: Ways that fans make the Fan Feed bearable, with contests, lotteries, sage advice, and performance art (here's to you, POWERDROID1977). Also, I didn't have the info on hand while recording, but credit goes to CARTH25 for the late-night Trivia for Inserts: After being late on many other questions, I finally won an insert by 1:1'ing him in under a minute the correct answer to: "This super popular action figure was first produced with long legs and a blue outfit. He was fixed with red outfit small legs."

Thanks as always for letting us know you're enjoying what you're hearing, we're looking forward to some exciting things in the coming weeks!

Reflections Set, Series 2 Review/Gold Chase, and the Law of Averages

It's time for another sit down to talk about Star Wars Card Trader. Tommy, Michael, and Rhett discuss the latest. Series 2 is well upon us, and not just the red, white, and blue -- they've dropped all the yellow, and the gold, and not only announced purple, but busted straight past that to brown! ("They've gone to plaid!")

Tommy brings up the inescapable Law of Averages, just to remind anyone on a run or in a slump that this too, shall pass, so hang in there or be prepared; over the long haul we can't run from those odds. We discuss the state of TK, and its potential to become an ultra-marathon set, as well as the new Storyboards set. And of course, the head-scratching Reflections set that had people lamenting the uselessness of their college education, and throwing Vintages towards it like nobody's business.

Thanks so much for all your feedback, it's great to hear what you're liking! Stay in touch; reach out to us on Twitter at @CT_Illuminerdy!

SDCC Weekend! Battlefront, Predictions revisited, and more

Welcome! Another day, another (25K) credit in SWCT-land. Tommy, Rhett, and Michael are joined today by Pinky (THEFIFTHFINGER) to weigh in on all of the action surrounding the start of the San Diego Comic-Con weekend. Topps is capitalizing on the event in a big way, and will hopefully get the word on the street and expand the ranks of traders. They've posted some helpful Transmissions in the app to get new traders oriented, gave out a free Sidious pack, and are giving out free Boba Fett packs. Via Reddit: visit http://topps.com/swct before August 31, enter your fan name and code TOPPSSDCC2015 to unlock a free pack in the app. The free pack will be available for 24 hours after unlocking, so don't forget to open the pack soon after.


We assess the new Battlefront set: good looking, even if may end up being one of the more common insert sets by the time it sells out Sunday. It seems likely we'll see more of these, though, which will be looking forward to. In our last episode we discussed future cards we'd enjoying seeing, and lo-and-behold, within a few days we not only had Dexter Jettster, but also the two-headed announcer Fode and Beed, both as predicted/desired! All this and more...enjoy the episode, subscribe in iTunes, and let us know what you think on Twitter, @CT_Illuminerdy!

Space Painting Award, New Set Roundup, and Clone Attack! Announcement

TK Inspiration? Helmet art on display at Celebration IV in 2007

Hello! We have a lot of ground to cover here today, and waste no time in doing so. Tommy, Michael, and Rhett weigh in on the latest in SWCT-land, including but not limited to:

- The announcement of an award for the first 15 space paintings (deadline 7/8)
- What that may mean for the Classic Art set (Tommy predicts a Luke award card after 15)
- Thoughts on the bevvy of new sets: Badges, Manga, TK, Sketch, and Intergalactic (and roughly in that order of enjoyment by the hosts)
- Elegant Weapon update (hint: still plenty of gold weapons out there)
- A quick overview of Clone Attack!, which hit the Transmission feed as we spoke
- A not-too-salacious Trade Confession from Michael
- Special shout-out to LORDVEX for his Father's day inserts gifts to dads in the feed
- A brief but memorable entry culled from the feed for our "Feed Me No Lines" segment

Join us again soon...we aim to be an up-to-date source of entertaining SWCT talk and info to expand your trading universe!