NationStates | Dispatch | How to create beautiful card collections

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by The Fantastic DutchGarth Kingdom of Vylixan. 2 years ago. 308 reads.

How to create beautiful card collections

(This dispatch is based on a talk I gave in the TNP Cards Symposium 2022 on February 26)

Hello everybody, for those who don't know me. I'm Vylixan, but probably better known as Sitethief or Sitethief of Vylixan. I've been active in the cards community for almost 2 years now.

I'm known in the card community as a creator of several Card scripts, and also as the person that collects too many different cards.

I want to thank Destructive Government Endorsing System and The North Pacific for giving me the opportunity to talk about one of my favourite hobbies, collecting cards!

Most of us have probably done the same thing when we found our first card pack, we kept all the cards! And when we started to run out of deck space we had to decide which cards to keep and which cards to junk. The horror!

This then created our first accidental card collection. But if we showed this collection off to other people they were probably not suitably impressed. Now we come to the meat of my talk, and what my talk is going to be about: How to create beautiful card collections.

And by that I don’t mean a full collection of legendary cards of every season, or a collection worth hundreds of thousands of deck value. Those are for sure impressive collections, but will not be the focus of my talk.

Now, to create a collection that will be the envy of friends and enemies alike we need to make some decisions. We can hardly aspire to collect all approx. 351,332 cards in the game. Although there are sure people who are trying to get close 😉 .

How to start a collection

The first thing you have to do is define what the core theme of your first collection is going to be. There should be a common theme that binds all the cards in your collection together, that at the same time impresses other people.

Most collections can be fitted into one of the following 4 classifications:

Collections based on properties of the flags
These are based purely on the flag shown on the card. For example, cards with dragon themed flags, cards with a Lord of the Rings themed flag, cards with wreaths on them.
Collections based on properties of the card
Rarity-based collections, but also CTE card collections all fall into this classification.
Collections based on properties of the nation
Collections that focus on a property of the nations depicted on the card, for example badges, stats, region, motto, name, government are all some of the properties that a collection can be focused around.
A Combination one of the three other classifications
Many collections combine aspects of these three classifications to form the criteria for what cards fit in their collections. For example, a Harry Potter themed collection could have both cards with Harry Potter themed flags in them, but also ex-nation cards with Harry Potter themed nation names. Another example is how most regional collections are divided in seasons, which arguably is both a property of the card and the nation at the same time.

Look around

My first advice for people who want to start a collection is to look around at other collections, get a feeling for what and how other people collect cards. Visit the The Collection Collection v2 viewtopic.php?f=42&t=484200 and read not just the first page, The [Cards] Regional Collection Leaderboard:

Regional Collection Leaderboard [defunct]

by The Kingdom of Giovanniland

This leaderboard ranks 246 regional collections by number of cards, with a minimum of ten. It is no longer being updated.

Notes:
In bold are the largest complete collections for each season.
Exceptions to the regional rule are collections of certain groupings of regions with something in common.
Some collections are in the leaderboard even though their owners have ceased to exist, and can be viewed when the nation name is removed from the URL.

Last Updated – 14/12/2023
Season Statistics – S1: 47 | S2: 85 | S3: 114

Rank	Collection & Season	Nation(s)	Card Count	Goal	%
1	The North Pacific S3	The North Pacific S3	12980	12980	100.00
2	The South Pacific S3	Concrete Slab	10415	11425	91.16
3	The Pacific S3	Vylixan Dora	9633	9633	100.00
4	The West Pacific S3	Giovanniland	9431	9431	100.00
5	The East Pacific S2	S2 tep collector	7354	7354	100.00
6	The Pacific S2	Vylixan	6847	6847	100.00
7	The West Pacific S2	Giovanniland	6839	6839	100.00
8	Lazarus S2	Debussy	6004	6004	100.00
9	The South Pacific S2	TSP SS2 Collector	4608	7054	65.32
10	Alliance of Supreme Powers S3	New Makasta	2718	4789	56.76
11	Lazarus S3	Debussy	2405	7414	32.44
12	Osiris S2	Super Awesome Fun Times	2388	5918	40.35
13	Chicken Overlords S2	Wombling Thunder	2039	2039	100.00
14	Lazarus S1	Debussy	2002	2711	73.85
15	The Communist Bloc S3	Super Awesome Fun Times	1851	1851	100.00
16	The North Pacific S1	The north pacific card collections	1737	1738	99.94
17	10000 Islands S3	XKI S3 Card Collector	1250	1250	100.00
18	10000 Islands S2	XKI S2 Collector	1096	1130	96.99
19	Europeia S3	The United Peoples of Centrism	1056	1056	100.00
20	The Pacific S1	Vylixan	988	992	99.60
21	NSLeft S2	Antinios	982	1732	56.70
22	The East Pacific S1	S1 tep collector	919	931	98.71
23	The West Pacific S1	Giovanniland	899	899	100.00
24	Europeia S2: 1st, 2nd, 3rd	The United Peoples of Centrism, Le Libertia, Istillian	861	861	100.00
25	The South Pacific S1	Volaworand	747	997	74.92
26	The Communist Bloc S2	Radicalania	728	728	100.00
27	Refugia S3: 1st, 2nd, 3rd	Liphia, The Pacific Northwest, Tiralta	696	696	100.00
28	NationStates Museum of Art S3	Slaggstone Bruntt	669	669	100.00
29	NSLeft S1	Antinios	660	744	88.71
30	Balder S2	Infinitecimal	611	6430	9.50
31	The Leftist Assembly S3	Super Awesome Fun Times	601	601	100.00
32	Forest S2	Verdant Haven	584	584	100.00
33	Europe S3	Drew Durrnil	561	1217	46.10
34	Remembrance S3	Waterfall State	553	553	100.00
35	Ancient Lands S3	S3 Rares Collector	541	541	100.00
36	Conch Kingdom S3	Socialist Platypus	522	522	100.00
37	NationStates S3	Mikeswill and some cards in Zombie 23	508	508	100.00
38	NationStates S2	Mikeswill and some cards in Zombie 22	504	504	100.00
39	The Leftist Assembly S2	Super Awesome Fun Times	473	474	99.79
40	Ambition S3	New Makasta	473	3427	13.80
41	The Region That Has No Big Banks S3	Yodle	466	468	99.57
42	Concord S3	Anjan Kloss	462	462	100.00
43	Chicken Overlords S3	Wombling Thunder	454	454	100.00
44	Europeia S1	The United Peoples of Centrism	363	365	99.45
45	Forest S3	Verdant Haven	360	360	100.00
46	Lands End S3	Deims Kir	333	333	100.00
47	The Social Liberal Union S3	Super Awesome Fun Times	331	331	100.00
48	The Free Nations Region S2	Grand Abaco	325	325	100.00
49	The Land of Kings and Emperors S2	Valenera	323	323	100.00
50	Europe S2	Jim the Baptist	319	1071	30.64
51	Karma S2	Pluvie	318	318	100.00
52	Penguia S3	Vylixan Dora	317	317	100.00
53	Penguia S2	Vylixan	302	302	100.00
54	The Communist Bloc S1	Antinios	295	340	87.65
55	The Black Hawks S3	Raider unity card collection	294	321	91.59
56	Spiritus S3	The Salaxalans	293	294	99.66
57	Thalassia S2	Wymondham	290	290	100.00
58	The Internationale S2	Super Awesome Fun Times	283	287	98.61
59	NationStates S1	Mikeswill and some cards in Zombie 21	278	278	100.00
60	The Black Hawks S2	The brony hawks	273	333	81.98
61	Giovanniland S3	Giovanniland	269	269	100.00
62	The Free Nations Region S3	Narvatus	261	261	100.00
63	Merciam S3	East Chimore	258	258	100.00
64	Islamic Army S3	Doublen	250	250	100.00
65	Thaecia S2	Andusre	247	250	98.80
66	The Order of the Grey Wardens S2	Grea Kriopia	246	246	100.00
67	Warzones S2	Jean Rowe	235	235	100.00
68	India S3	Indusse	222	222	100.00
69	Red Front S3	Super Awesome Fun Times	217	217	100.00
70	Belgium S3	Riemstagrad Kaarten Depot Belgium	212	212	100.00
71	Yggdrasil S3	New Zander	198	198	100.00
72	Deliverance S2	Vylixan Ares	197	197	100.00
73	Spiritus S2: 1st, 2nd	The Salaxalans, Ltin Corporation	193	193	100.00
74	The Realms of Athretvari S3	Doublen	192	192	100.00
75	Atlae S3	Zeldatlae	190	192	98.96
76	The Internationale S3	Super Awesome Fun Times	189	189	100.00
77	Spiritus S1: 1st, 2nd	The Salaxalans, Ltin Corporation	184	184	100.00
78	Flanelistan S3	Gloriosa Arstotzka	179	183	97.81
79	Belgium S2	Riemstagrad Kaarten Depot Belgium	170	170	100.00
80	Democratic Socialist Assembly S2	Westerlies	162	313	51.76
81	Resuscitation S3	Vylixan Dora	159	159	100.00
82	Texas S2	United vinceland	159	206	77.18
83	The Hole To Hide In S2	Democratic Republic Of Unified States	155	155	100.00
84	Benigtopia S2	Baylor University	154	154	100.00
85	Anarchy S3	Antinios	154	154	100.00
86	Gay S2	Super Awesome Fun Times	149	149	100.00
87	Libertarian Socialist Confederation S3	Super Awesome Fun Times	149	149	100.00
88	Shinka S3	XKI S3 Card Collector	148	148	100.00
89	The Gallery S3	Apexiala Gallery of Art	147	147	100.00
90	Pasridi Confederacy S2	Confederation of atlae	144	144	100.00
91	Kowloon Bay Shipping Ports S3	New Kowloon Bay	143	143	100.00
92	St Abbaddon S3	Slaggstone Bruntt	141	141	100.00
93	The Internationale S1	Antinios	141	164	85.98
94	Archive S3	Waterfall State	137	137	100.00
95	Nederland S2	Ballotonia	132	132	100.00
96	Belgium S1	Riemstagrad Kaarten Depot Belgium	131	131	100.00
97	Nederland S3	Ballotonia	130	130	100.00
98	Cape of Good Hope S3	Deims Kir	128	128	100.00
99	Gay S1	Super Awesome Fun Times	128	142	90.14
100	Krillin S2	ScotlandSerenity	123	125	98.40
101	Empire of Love S3	Giovanniland	122	122	100.00
102	Refuge Pocket Dimension S3	Doublen	120	120	100.00
103	The Burning Legion S1	Kractero	117	117	100.00
104	The Land of Kings and Emperors S1	Valenera	117	126	92.85
105	Anarchy S2	Antinios	107	107	100.00
106	Democratic Socialist Assembly S1	Westerlies	107	121	88.43
107	Sildoria S3	The Orwell Society	104	104	100.00
108	Social Liberal Union S2	Super Awesome Fun Times	102	102	100.00
109	Nederland S1	Ballotonia	102	102	100.00
110	Gay S3	Super Awesome Fun Times	101	101	100.00
111	Windows S3	Slaggstone Bruntt	101	101	100.00
112	World of Beetles S3	Slaggstone Bruntt	101	101	100.00
113	England S3	The Republic of Konsa	90	90	100.00
114	Owls S2	Guardians Of GaHoole	88	88	100.00
115	Warzone Sandbox S2	Doge Land	87	87	100.00
116	Apexialan Commonwealth S3	Apexiala	87	87	100.00
117	Serenity S3	Apexiala	78	78	100.00
118	Deliverance S3	Vylixan Dora	72	72	100.00
119	Anarchy S1	Antinios	70	75	93.33
120	Philippines S2	Manilenyos	69	69	100.00
121	Islamic States S3	Doublen	68	68	100.00
122	Callista S3	Baloo Kingdom	67	67	100.00
123	Social Liberal Union S1	Antinios	67	74	90.54
124	Scandinavia S3	Ioavollr	66	66	100.00
125	Cao Wei S3	Altean atlae	62	62	100.00
126	The Free Nations Region S1	Grand Abaco	62	65	95.38
127	The DankLeft Commune S2	Guaylandia	61	61	100.00
128	The Leftist Assembly S1	Antinios	60	63	95.24
129	Geopolity S2	Romanovskaya	58	58	100.00
130	Chicken Overlords S1	Wombling Thunder	58	68	85.29
131	Scandinavia S2: 1st, 2nd	Ioavollr, Scandinavian Card Vault	56	56	100.00
132	India S2	Indusse	55	55	100.00
133	Oarearth S3	New Kowloon Bay	54	54	100.00
134	The Slide Countries S3	Imperial Buzius	54	54	100.00
135	Refugia S2	Refuge Isle	53	53	100.00
136	Antarctica S1	Free4All	53	57	92.98
137	Doll Guldur S1	Giovanniland	52	52	100.00
138	Black Dragons S2	The Last Dragon Chronicles	50	50	100.00
139	The Muppet Show S3	New Zander	50	50	100.00
140	Catgirls World S3	Slaggstone Bruntt	49	49	100.00
141	SCP S3	Secure contain protect foundation	49	49	100.00
142	The Open Door S3	Doge Land	49	49	100.00
143	Libertarian Socialist Confederation S2	Super Awesome Fun Times	48	48	100.00
144	Mathematica S3	Giraffeton	47	47	100.00
145	New World Union S3	The Orwell Society	47	47	100.00
146	Guardians of GaHoole S3	Guardians Of GaHoole	46	46	100.00
147	Libertatem S2	New Tampa	46	46	100.00
148	United Empire of Islam S1	Doublen	46	50	92.00
149	Pony Lands S2	Bronyleaders pony lands collection	45	45	100.00
150	Scandinavia S1	Ioavollr	44	44	100.00
151	Antarctica S3	Free4All	43	43	100.00
152	The Region That Has No Big Banks S1	Yodle	43	43	100.00
153	Antarctica S2	Free4All	41	41	100.00
154	Cards S2	The nationstates collectable edition	41	41	100.00
155	Eurovision 2022 S3	Eurovision 2022	41	41	100.00
156	This will be the day S3	New Makasta	40	40	100.00
157	Shinka S2	The Bloodsoaked Keep	40	40	100.00
158	Safari S3	Apexiala	39	39	100.00
159	The United Ascendancy S2	Laudesia	38	38	100.00
160	Disney World S1	Yodle	37	37	100.00
161	Shadow Realms S3	Ferengi Alliance Union	37	37	100.00
162	Deutschland S3	Shogunate tamriel	37	43	86.05
163	Disney World S3	Yodle	36	36	100.00
164	Warzones S1	Jean Rowe	36	36	100.00
165	FazBear Entertainment S3	The Keepsakes Of Panagouge	35	35	100.00
166	United Empire of Islam S2	Doublen	34	34	100.00
167	Krillin S1	ScotlandSerenity	33	33	100.00
168	Lily S2	Vylixan Ares	33	33	100.00
169	The Region That Has No Big Banks S2	Yodle	32	32	100.00
170	North Korea S3	Super Awesome Fun Times	31	31	100.00
171	Gholgoth S2	Kylarnatia	30	30	100.00
172	Libertatem S1	New Tampa	30	36	83.33
173	Empires and Republics of Power S3	New Zander	29	29	100.00
174	Quiet Cottage on the Edge of the Cosmos S3	XKI S3 Card Collector	29	29	100.00
175	The Giraffe Federation S3	Giraffeton	29	29	100.00
176	United Empire of Islam S3	Doublen	29	29	100.00
177	The Respected Realms S2	Polinasia	28	28	100.00
178	Geopolity S1	Romanovskaya	28	28	100.00
179	Doll Guldur S2	Giovanniland	27	27	100.00
180	Apex Legends S3	Apexiala	27	27	100.00
181	Temujin Grill S3	Lextrius	27	27	100.00
182	Fox Rite S2	Vulpine atlae	25	25	100.00
183	Testregionia S1	Authoritaria-Imperia	25	26	96.15
184	Munie S3	Munie	24	24	100.00
185	Aurelia S2	Aurelia Card Collector	24	24	100.00
186	Haiku S2	Mellifluous euphoria	24	24	100.00
187	World of Food S3	Lextrius	24	24	100.00
188	North Korea S2	Super Awesome Fun Times	23	23	100.00
189	Art by Sam Yang S3	Apexiala	23	23	100.00
190	Disney World S2	Yodle	23	23	100.00
191	Edlhus S3	Giovanniland	22	22	100.00
192	Gholgoth S1	Kylarnatia	22	22	100.00
193	The Boys S3	New Kowloon Bay	22	22	100.00
194	Vending Emporium S3	Lextrius	22	22	100.00
195	10000 Zombies S2	XKI S2 Collector	21	21	100.00
196	Anville S2	Lextrius	21	21	100.00
197	Dragon S3	The Last Dragon Chronicles	21	21	100.00
198	Founderless S3	Witchcraft and Sorcery	21	21	100.00
199	Glass Gallows S1	SherpDaWerp	21	21	100.00
200	The Mystical Council S2	Alistia	21	21	100.00
201	Uniterra S1	Laudesia	21	28	75.00
202	Strigiformes S3	Guardians Of GaHoole	20	20	100.00
203	The Mystical Council S1	Alistia	20	20	100.00
204	Anville S1	Lextrius	20	23	86.95
205	Fodlan S3	Altean atlae	19	19	100.00
206	Lily S1	Vylixan Ares	19	19	100.00
207	Poland S3	Entropan	19	19	100.00
208	North Korea S1	Antinios	19	22	86.36
209	Glass Gallows S2	SherpDaWerp	18	18	100.00
210	Fox Rite S1	Vulpine atlae	17	17	100.00
211	VauQuan S2	The Keepsakes Of Panagouge	17	17	100.00
212	10000 Zombies S3	XKI S3 Card Collector	16	16	100.00
213	Disneyland S3	The Ambis	16	16	100.00
214	East Cash Puppet S3	XKI S3 Card Collector	16	16	100.00
215	Hyrule S3	Zeldatlae	16	16	100.00
216	The Dreams of One S3	XKI S3 Card Collector	16	16	100.00
217	New Zealand S2	Philville-kiwi	16	16	100.00
218	Draconomicon S2	The Last Dragon Chronicles	15	15	100.00
219	Dragon S2	The Last Dragon Chronicles	15	15	100.00
220	Doll Guldur S3	Giovanniland	15	15	100.00
221	Hypercar dealership S3	Giraffeton	15	15	100.00
222	Fridomme S2	Vylixan	15	15	100.00
223	Liberty Alliance S2	Guunlat	15	15	100.00
224	Penguia S1	Vylixan	15	15	100.00
225	Arrakis S3	Fhaeng	13	13	100.00
226	The City of Ba Sing Se S3	ATLA AND TLOK	13	13	100.00
227	Dragon Lair S2	The Last Dragon Chronicles	13	13	100.00
228	Dragon Lair S3	The Last Dragon Chronicles	13	13	100.00
229	Hyrule S2	Zeldatlae	13	13	100.00
230	The Amalgamate Timeline S3	Zeldatlae	13	13	100.00
231	Dragon Lair S1	The Last Dragon Chronicles	12	12	100.00
232	From the End S1	Neuatt	12	12	100.00
233	Islam S3	Doublen	12	12	100.00
234	Ninjago S2	The Keepsakes Of Panagouge	12	12	100.00
235	Prettydragoon S1	The Last Dragon Chronicles	12	12	100.00
236	Prettydragoon S2	The Last Dragon Chronicles	12	12	100.00
237	The World of Avatar S2	ATLA AND TLOK	12	12	100.00
238	BIONICLE S2	The Keepsakes Of Panagouge	11	11	100.00
239	Dragon S1	The Last Dragon Chronicles	11	11	100.00
240	Moo Mesa S3	Snakssbur	11	11	100.00
241	Sweden S2	Yodle	11	11	100.00
242	The Shadows S3	Raider unity card collection	11	11	100.00
243	FNAF S2	The Keepsakes Of Panagouge	10	10	100.00
244	Hyrule S1	Zeldatlae	10	10	100.00
245	Prettydragoon S3	The Last Dragon Chronicles	10	10	100.00
246	Presbyteriland S2	Authoritaria-Imperia	10	10	100.00

Read dispatch

is also worth a look. Take a look at the different independent and aligned card organisations, their boards, their Discord servers, and see what other people say about their own and other collections.

Determine collection criteria

Now you need to determine what the criteria for the cards you want to collect should be.

For example, you decided to collect Ukrainian flags.

Do you want to collect cards of both seasons? Do you only want flags uploaded by users themselves or also default flags? Do you also want flags that show other Ukrainian themes, like a seal, or historical flags?

An example of criteria for a card collection is the one I made for my own stars themed card collection:

Collection: Asteria

by The Radical LeftRight Star Land of Vylixan Asteria

Name
Asteria, or rather Αστέρια means Stars in Greek.

Purpose
This collection consists of cards with stars on them.

Collection
Asteria collection

Rules
This collection has the following rules

All seasons
Only the flag on the card counts, so no names, motto's etc
All cards should go into the Asteria collection
Only uploaded flags, so no default flags.
No NPO flags, those go into this collection on Vylixan
Duplicate flags are allowed
Stars can have anywhere from three to a lot of points
At least one star needs to be fully visible on the card
Multiple stars are allowed
Suns can count as stars, but this is determined per card
No photo's or pictures of actual stars, those are collected on Vylixan Aether
Puppet card series (I.e. where there is a series of cards that share a common factor, often in the naming scheme) are allowed
Puppet card series should have their own subcollections
If a card or star is blurry, partially visible, very small, or unclear, it's up to me if it still fits into this collection.

Read factbook

Some other questions you can ask yourself:

Do you want duplicate flags in the same season, or even across seasons?
Do you want bad quality flags?
Do you want abjectly bad flags and nations, think of a fash flag that does fit your collection for example.
Do you want to keep duplicates of the same card? You can use these as potential gifts or tradeware with other collectors.
Do you want season 1 cards? These are generally harder to get and will cost more bank most times.

How much work is my collection going to be

This is determined by a lot of factors, amongst them the rarity, perceived market value, the season, and market activity on cards. But another factor is, how many possible cards would fit my collection criteria? This is not a question that’s easy to answer. If you only collect default flags, for example the Ukrainian flag, there are only approx. 284 cards across both seasons with this flag. This is easily found by employing the North Pacific Card Queries (See the Tools section for this). But if you want to collect all anime themed cards it’s a lot harder to find out how many possible cards there would be that fit your collection. It is important to have a rough view of how much work and bank your collection is going to need.

Otherwise you might end up disillusioned half way through the process. My advice is therefore to start simple and small, you can always go big once you have a bit of experience with collecting cards.

How to find and get cards

Whatever cards you decide to collect, you either buy them, farm them yourselves, or if you are lucky get the occasional card gifted. But my advice would be to make it yourself as easy as possible. Farming cards takes a lot of work already, no need to make the collecting any harder than it is. Here are a few methods, tips and tricks in how to find cards:

If you started a card collection of cards that other people also collect. Then it’s really worth it to go through their collections and bid above JV bids on those cards.
It also pays to look at what other collections the cards you are collecting are in, no need to repeat the work other people already did for you.
Learn to use tools and scripts that are available to support card collecting, this can make it a lot easier to find cards.
Go public with your interest in the cards you want to collect, open a thread on the Trading Cards board, announce it on the various Discord channels and servers aimed at cards.
Be prompt and courteous in talking with people that are willing to sell cards to you. People will be a lot more willing to accommodate you if they have you in good standing.
Find out who owns rare cards that you found and want to buy, approach those people in a courteous manner, they are not obligated to sell to you.
Get knowledgeable about other card collectors and traders. It pays off to know, for example , that it is useless to ask Benevolent to sell a card to you for a reasonable amount, but if 9003 holds a duplicate common card he probably will sell it to you for a reasonable offer.
Know what other card collectors and traders want and what you can potentially offer them in exchange for cards you want.
Join organisations that give out cards, for example:
1. The North Pacific Cards Guild
  The North Pacific Cards Guild
  by The Regional Nation of The Northern Light
  "
  The North Pacific Handbook
  Welcome! · Why you should be in TNP · Ways to get involved · WA Development Program · RolePlay · Trading cards
  TL;DR: Join The North Pacific Cards Guild and build the deck of your dreams!
  What are trading cards?
  Trading cards are NationStates' own trading card game. You can generate, trade, and collect cards representing other nations, with each card having its own rarity and value. There is a whole dedicated market where you can buy or sell cards, and compete to rise through the rankings for most valuable decks, as well as increase the value of your nation's own card. Or, you can simply create your own themed collections, e.g., your friends, enemies, regionmates, best flags, and anything else you can think of!
  How do I get involved?
  Great to hear you are interested! Participating in the trading cards game can be one of the most entertaining aspects of the game. To get yourself started, you can use the following guide:
  ~ Become a cards expert using The Comprehensive Guide to NationStates Cards.
  
  You should also consider joining The North Pacific Cards Guild, to make the most out of trading cards.
  What is the Cards Guild?
  The North Pacific Cards Guild is a government-run society that helps promote trading cards within the region, and provides various resources to help its members expand their collections. Examples include:
  ~ Free cards through the Great Card Giveaway.
  ~ Statistics about market activity through the Card Market Watch.
  ~ Tools for finding cards through the Card Queries.
  ~ Prizes for themed collections through the Monthly Card Collection Competition.
  ~ Awards for the best regional collections through the Collection Spotlights.
  ~ Opportunities to spawn rare cards through the Card Pull Events.
  ~ Epic cards to jumpstart new collections through the Epic Startup Program.
  ~ Rewards for participating in the regional government through the Executive Card Rewards.
  ~ A chance to win some of the most valuable cards in the game through the WADP Card Lottery.
  ~ A dedicated publication to help you keep up with cards news through The Monthly Snapshot.
  
  Additionally, the Guild's experienced members can help newer members familiarize themselves with trading techniques and other card-related strategies, once they have mastered the basics.
  Finally, the Guild runs a whole lot of other card-related activities, including dedicated regular publications, featured collections, pull events, and so on.
  How do I become a member?
  Becoming a member is very simple!
  ~ First, you need to become a citizen.
  ~ Once you are a citizen, you can apply to join the Guild.
  What if I still have questions?
  Please feel free to contact Minister of Cards and Guildmaster [nation][/nation]. They would be happy to help!
  This dispatch is updated automatically on a daily basis. Please do not edit manually.
  
  Forum · Citizenship · Executive Staff · North Pacific Army · World Assembly Ministry · Role Play · Trading Cards
  "
  Read dispatch
2. Nationstates Cards Discord viewtopic.php?f=42&t=458820
3. Card Gardens
  Join the Card Gardens!
  by The Society of Card Gardens
  JOIN THE CARD GARDENS!
  The Card Gardens are an unaligned card organization unlike many others. We're committed to helping everyone, in every region, with their collections.
  Benefits of membership in the Card Gardens include:
  Biweekly Legendary Lottery Giveaways | Weekly Epic Lottery Giveaways | Community Marketplace | Collection Assistance | Heist Protection Pact
  Membership in the Card Gardens is completely free, all you need to register is a NationStates nation and a Discord account.
  Click this link to join our Discord Server and apply for membership in the #garden-gates channel!
  Read dispatch
4. Fauzjhia's trading card lottery viewtopic.php?f=42&t=509843
These can either be cards you can fit in a collection, or trade/sell for cards/bank to further your own collection goals

How to maintain a collection

Most collections need daily maintenance. Do not underestimate how much work it takes to maintain a card collection that is not finished.

Some of those tasks:

Moving cards to their correct nations
Adding cards to their correct collections
Finding cards
Buying cards from the market
Placing bids on cards
Contacting owners of cards
Matching asks others placed on your cards
Answering TG’s and Discord pings/DM’s about your collections
Promoting your collections everywhere

Don’t forget to use everything you have available, tools, scripts, organisations, etc to make your life easier!

And certainly don't start 20+ card collections like I did and then despair at how much work it turns out to be 😂 .

Tools

These tools and scripts help you find, buy and manage card collections.

Card queries is arguably the most important tool to find cards and manage collections. It allows you to search through all cards, based on configurable filters.

NationStates Card Management Queue, allows you to create a virtual queue of cards to loop through, for example, of all cards in a collection you want to place bids one. It can pull cards from the Card queries page as well for great effect!

Link Show Card Owners, allows you to quickly see if a configurable set of nations owns a card.

For more scripts and tools, most of them useful for collecting cards, Ioavollr made an overview of the most important ones Link here

Last word of advice

Determine fairly early on where your collections are going to be. Believe me, moving a large collection of cards is both a lot of work and also rather dangerous.
Determine if you might have to go above deck space early on, and learn how to work with this.
Be active in the card community, if people know to find you and know who you are they are much more willing to help you out.
And once again, be courteous to other traders and collectors

That's the end of the dispatch. Feel free to send me a TG if you have any questions

In future versions of this dispatch I will go in more detail about the usage of tools and scripts.

If you are curious about my card collections, I have a Factbook that lists the important ones:

Information about my most import nations and card collections

by The Fantastic DutchGarth Kingdom of Vylixan

Name	Region	Focus	Theme	Role	Card Collections
Vylixan	The Pacific	I roleplay these issues	NPO	Main	The Pacific (7,798/7,841 = 99.48%] - S2 complete) (Featured) I am the senate! NPO past and present Senate Penguia - All seasons (Complete) (Featured) Awesome people of the Cards Discord page=deck/collection=33820 Awesome Card Gardeners Fridomme (Complete) (Featured) Awesome people & awesome friends NPO Flags (Over 440 cards) Cards I saved from Junking -mostly focussed on Pacific related cards Σπάνιο και άγνωστο - Rare and unknown Pacific cards
Vylixan Aphrodite	Aftoi oi omorfoi anthropoi	Average Income stat	Beauty in everything, inside and outside	Card Collections, Region founder	Peace serenity, like the water in a pool, untouched by the wind Inside and outside, we all have it in our hearts, beauty is in us Joy is seeing, sunshines reflection, in Mother Natures flowers. (Featured) Beautiful sunrise. On a warm summer morning. I wait for day's start.(Featured) A wise old woman, arms wide to reach for the sky, mighty oak stands firm (Complete) Clouds in a blue sky, crystal clear, peaceful waters; palm trees casting shade. Intricate design, each step unfolds in order, the end captivates (Featured) Made of clay, we are, puppets with minds of our own. Look how far we've come! Art
Vylixan Apollo	The North Pacific	Average Disposable Income stat	Moving & Dancing	Card Collections, TNP residency	It moves! Elegant Elegarths
Vylixan Ares	The East Pacific	Industry: Arms Manufacturing stat	Military	Card Collections, TEP residency	MT Army Legio Pacifica Lily (Featured) Deliverance (Complete) (Featured) Resuscitation (Complete)
Vylixan Artemis	Afte ta omorfa edafi	Eco-Friendliness stat	Hunting & Animals	Card Collections, Region Founder	Animals (Over 2600) (Featured) Always be yourself, unless you can be a unicorn. Then, always be a unicorn.
Vylixan Athena	Mouseion at Alexandria	Intelligence, Scientific Advancement & Public Education stats	Science, History & Knowledge	Card Collections, Region Founder	Scientists, Philosophers & Wise people (Featured) The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing (Featured) A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history (Featured) Vide quam captiosus sim, sermone Latino!(Featured)
Vylixan Demeter	The West Pacific	Sector: Agriculture stat	Food & Agriculture	Card Collections, TWP residency	We are what we eat, and we become what we drink Pizza Party Agriculture
Vylixan Dionysus	Vylixan Prime	Less Authoritarianism stat	Freedom	Card Collections, Region Founder	Rainbow (Featured)
Vylixan Opla	Vylixan Prime	None	Weapons	Card Collections, Weapons Department	Weapons (Featured)
Vylixan Hades	Spiritus	All economic stats	Economy, Death & Prosperity	Card Collections, Spiritus residency	Death Death himself Minions of Death Symbols of Death Feelings of Death Places of Death Colors of Death Tools of Death
Vylixan Fantasia	Vylixan Prime	None	Fantasy	Card Collections, Fantasy Department	Fantasy - Stories of imagination tend to upset those without one. The World of J.R.R. Tolkien - All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us (Featured) The World of George R.R. Martin - Chaos isn't a pit. Chaos is a ladder. Many who try to climb it fail and never get to try it again. (Featured) The World of Harry Potter - "Harry yer a wizard." (Featured) The World or Robert Jordan - "The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills." Other Fantasy & Mythology cards
Vylixan Epistimoniki Fantasia	Vylixan Prime	None	Science Fiction	Card Collections, Science Fiction Department	Science Fiction A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away Our thoughts form the Universe. They always matter The universe of Star Trek - "To boldly go where no man has gone before!" (Featured) And more Science Fiction collections
Vylixan Kinoumena	Vylixan Prime	None	Animation, Comics & Anime	Card Collections, Animation Department	Animation, Comics & Manga (Featured) The Refrigerator Door
Vylixan Dimofili Koultoura	Vylixan Prime	None	Popular Culture	Card Collections, Popular Culture Department	Popular Culture
Vylixan Dora	Vylixan Prime	Average Income of Poor stat	Gifting	Trading Department, Receiving Gifts
Vylixan Theika Dora	Vylixan Prime	Basket Weaving stat	Gifting	Gifting cards to friends
Vylixan Aether	Milkyway	None	Space	Card Collections, Milkyway Founder	Space, the final frontier (Featured)
Vylixan Asteria	The South Pacific	None	Stars	Card Collections, TSP Residency	Asteria (Over 1700 cards) (Featured) Stand up, all victims of oppression. For the tyrants fear your might! (Featured) Flags of the USA, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Featured)
Vylixan Teras tis Tsepis	Sinnoh	None	Pokemon	Card Collections, Pokémon Department, Region Founder	Pokémon Cards
Vylixan Paichnidia	Vylixan Prime	None	Gaming	Card Collections, Gamification Research	Gaming (Featured)
Vylixan Eirinikos	Vylixan Prime	None	Pacific cards	Card Collections, Duplication Department	The Pacific backup collection (Over 900 cards)
Vylixan Varingjar	Balder	None	Balder (RO) cards, Nordic	Card Collections, Balder Residency	Balder RO's
Vylixan Ellinikes Simaies	Vylixan Prime	None	Greek Flag Cards	Card Collections	Υπερήφανες ελληνικές σημαίες Greek flags (Featured)
Vylixan Apothiki I	Vylixan Prime	None	None	Overflow Card Storage
Vylixan Apothiki II	Vylixan Prime	None	None	Overflow Card Storage
Vylixan Apothiki III	Vylixan Prime	None	None	Overflow Card Storage
Vylixan Syllektis sezon 1	Vylixan Prime	None	None	Backup Season 1 cards storage
Vylixan Syllektis sezon 2	Vylixan Prime	None	None	Backup Season 2 cards storage
Sitethief	Vylixan Prime	None	Friends	Supreme Leader, Backup Season friends cards storage
Sitethief of Vylixan	Gay	None	None	Gay Residency
Teco Naco	The Pacific	None	None	My First nation
NPO Farming Hub Vylixan I	Card Captor Pacifica	None	None	Vylixan NPO Card farming trade hub
Garden Shed	Card Gardens	None	None	Vylixan Card Gardens Card farming trade huib
Gitche Manitou	Turtle Island	None	Native People of the American continent	Region Founder
Alfred Bernhard Nobel	Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences	None	Famous Scientists	Region Founder
The best number is two	Rex Duos	None	The number Two	Region Founder
Queen Consort Scheherazade	Fairy Tale	None	Fairy tales	Region Founder
Whitney Smith	Vexillology	None	Flags	Region Founder
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien CBE FRSL	Valandor	None	Tolkien	Region Founder
Willy Vandersteen	Het eiland Amoras	None	Suske en Wiske	Region Founder
Sebastien Le Prestre de Vauban	Siege Workshop	None	Siege weapons	Region Founder
MandalMotors	MandalMotors Spaceshipyard	None	Spaceships	Region Founder
Vylixan Chloris	Flowers	None	Flowers	Region Founder
Anthropologist	People are Beautiful	None	People are Beautiful, Anthropology	Region Founder
Elros Tar Minyatur	Numenor	None	Tolkien	Region Founder
The Light and Creator	Wheel of Time	None	Wheel of Time	Region Founder
Frank Herbert	Known Universe	None	Dune	Region Founder
J Michael Straczynski	The Babylon 5 Universe	None	Babylon 5	Region Founder
Daisy Dodderidge	Leaky Cauldron	None	Harry Potter	Region Founder
Vylixan Gaea	Refugia	Nature	Nature	Refugia Residency
Feeenvesting	Kaer Solas	Fairy themed stats	Fairy's	Kaer Solas Residency
Poekie	Kitten	None	Cats	Kitten Residency, one of my two cats
Emperor Nuni	Kitten	None	Cats	Kitten Residency, one of my two cats

Read factbook

The Fantastic DutchGarth Kingdom of Vylixan

Edited: 1 year 163 days ago

Raw • Report

Dispatch → Meta → Gameplay

How to create beautiful card collections

Regional Collection Leaderboard [defunct]

Collection: Asteria

The North Pacific Cards Guild

Join the Card Gardens!

Information about my most import nations and card collections