To me, crafting a trade package is an art.

Perhaps the best part is the fact that everyone does it in their own way. No two trade packages are alike.

When I was on the trading forums, other members and I would agree on what cards to send beforehand. That format is nice, but it takes a lot of the fun and excitement of trading out of the equation.

The vast majority of swaps I've made here in the blogosphere are what you might call "blind trades". While trades may sometimes be built around one or two cards, most of what my fellow bloggers and I send each other is a complete surprise.

That's allowed me to develop a specific style to the trade packages I create. People seem to enjoy what I send, so I figured I'd divulge a few of my personal trading tactics to you here tonight.

I just happened to have a stack of Pirates cards for Matt of the great blog "Bob Walk The Plank" on my desk when I came up with the idea for this post, so we'll take his trade package as an example.

Now that he's received the package I sent, I won't ruin any of the surprises.

Read the full article here.