Douglas Johnson

Final Batch of Packs Shipped (sorry)

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to thank everyone for their patience with the packs this month. Can't go into too many details, but it's been a heck of a past few weeks. I managed to ship out the first batch of packs earlier last week (so some of you who have already received theirs were probably confused reading this, until now), but the second and final batch went out today. They should all arrive before the end of the month, though international ones can of course take a bit longer. As a part of my thanks for your waiting, I did increase the drop rate on higher value packs this month!

As always, best of luck to everyone on their pulls and feel free to reach out if you're ever looking for specific singles that you didn't open! 

Cough

Hello everyone! I realize now on my 5th day of having COVID that I forgot to hit publish on this post that says packs were shipped earlier this month! Several of you have already posted to socials about receiving your goodies, and I love seeing it! Thanks to those who pinged me for the reminder about this post, and to mention that you have roughly one more week before your card gets charged for September. 

If anyone has any questions about their packs or needs to change their tier level, please do so before the beginning of the month! Thanks again to everyone who subscribes and supports the patreon, and good luck with your pulls :) 

Dawn of The First Day (70ish hours remain)

Hey everyone! Just a heads up, there are only three days left to update your google sheets or tier levels! I'll be pulling the addresses and shipping labels as soon as Patreon charges your card on file, so please ensure everything is updated with your preferences before then. As always, thanks for your support and good luck with your pulls next month! 

July Packs Shipped

Yes, they're finally out! Thanks very much to everyone for their patience during the past couple of weeks as I juggled a large number of collection buys, the SCGcon, and a family emergency. For those of you who enjoy oddities, non-English cards, and foils, there will be *plenty* of those coming up next month! Though I've still got plenty of stock for players who prefer normal cards as well. I'm looking forward to next month, as I'm finally able to get back to running for the first time since my injury at the end of last year!

As always, stay safe, healthy, and best of luck in your pulls. Feel free to DM me with any questions! - DJ 

July Stuff

Hey everyone! It's been a *very* hectic past couple of weeks for me; I won't go into too many details, but I've had a family emergency that continues to occupy a lot of my time and mental energy. Normally all packs are shipped within the first week of the month, and that hasn't happened this month yet. Thanks to everyone for your patience, all of the packs for July's payments will be going out this week! 

On a happier note, I wanted to say thanks to everyone who stopped by the SCGCon booth in Syracuse this past weekend; I was working and couldn't really leave the booth, but I had a couple locals stop by and let me know they appreciated the patreon :) The above pictures are a couple of the big acquisitions from the past week, so I've got plenty of work ahead to get those cards ready for next month's packs. 

Also, there's the proof of donation to my local Planned Parenthood that I mentioned in my last post; I didn't forget! Even as the news cycle shifts and pushes Roe out of the spotlight, remember to not give up hope and do what you can to help marginalized communities. 

As always, I appreciate the support and really enjoy this custom booster pack project that we've created together. My main goal has always been to give people the joy of opening packs without the feelbads of not getting something you like. Best of luck in your pulls for this month, and the days to come! - DJ 

July Update

Hey everyone (well, mostly my US patrons),

I'm not going to sugarcoat or be one of those brands that shies away from taking a side. The recent Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade is a monumental setback against the fight for rights of women and other marginalized people in this country. If you want to unsubscribe from the patreon because of my stance on that, please feel free to do so! Some of your Patreon money from this next charge on July 1st will be going to my local Planned Parenthood, I'll post an update with a screenshot of the donation.

On a less related note, please remember to update your Google Sheet preferences before the last day of June! 2022 is flying by, so please DM me if you lost the link to update your form (I recommend bookmarking it, just in case!). If you have any questions, feel free to let me know either here/Twitter/email at cardgardenmtg@gmail.com. Thanks for your support! - DJ 

July Packs Shipped

Hey everyone! July packs were created and shipped out over this past weekend! I want to thank you all for your patience; I was working the Commandfest in Richmond, and spent the rest of the week catching up from the rough travel weekend. As you can see from the above picture, I've been getting plenty of mail-in collections to process and turn into packs for you all. If you've got any cards sitting on your desk collecting dust, feel free to reach out and send them my way; I'm always buying! - DJ 

June

Hey everyone! We're closing in on another month, and I want to thank everyone for their support thus far. If you haven't updated your preferences in your Google form for next month's pack, please remember to do so before the cutoff date of the 31st! 

Also, I'd like to take this opportunity to let everyone know that I also buy cards! If you're looking to dust your paper collection to pick up some other cards, want to dismantle some dust-coated Commander decks, or just want to declutter your space, I'm always looking for them! There are a couple of ways you can go about this:

* If you have a TCGplayer collection tracker, spreadsheet, or csv and want to get a rough estimate, you can send that over to cardgardenmtg@gmail.com! I'll go through every card and give a tentative number, so you get an idea of what you'll get before and after the trade-in bonus. 

* If you just want to ship a bunch of unsorted cards to me for a 'box-n-buy', I take those too! I don't even charge for the sorting and appraisal, though it might take a couple days longer to pay out. I'll price out everything for you; if you don't like my number, then I send everything back to you (neatly sorted) at my own shipping expense. 

I'm always looking for fresh inventory to supply these Patreon packs, so reach out if you're ever looking to sell! Thanks as always, and good luck with your pulls next month! - DJ 

Welcome+notes

Hey everyone,

Just a reminder that you've only got a few days left to edit your pack preferences, as I'll be pulling the patron data at the start of next week to begin making the packs! For those who just recently signed up, remember to keep the email that welcomed you, because it has the link to your Google form that you can use to update your preferences (as long as it's at the same tier value)!

If anyone has any questions, feel free to reach out directly either here or on Twitter @Rose0fthorns. Thanks! - DJ 

March Packs Shipped!

Hey everyone,

March packs are going out a bit later than normal, but they have all been shipped out as of yesterday evening. I've had a few rough days with recovery that slowed things down, but you should be getting them in the mail over the next few days! As always, I appreciate all of the support. If you'd like to post your pack to social media, the #cardgarden hashtag is the best place to do so! 

Best of luck to you in your openings, and congratulations to the person who got the Legends Mana Drain that I decided to toss in this month! As always, feel free to reach out with any questions :) 

Post-Op Packs

Hey everyone,

Quick update on my condition: surgery was on the 18th, and the doctor said it went well. I'm recovering slowly, and don't plan on the April packs being delayed at all. I even managed to buy a few collections while laying down on the couch recuperating, thankfully card buying isn't something that requires much use of my leg! So I've got a decent batch of fresh inventory here that will be going out to all of you, hopefully finding homes in your various decks or cubes.

The end of March 31st is the deadline to update your preferences for the April packs, as Emily/AJ will be pulling the data from the forms as well as locking in the shipping labels for the packs once Patreon charges your card on file. If you've moved recently or have a different preferred address, please make sure those are up to date as well!

As always, thanks very much for supporting me and this patreon.

March Packs Shipped!

Hey everyone,

March packs have been dropped off at USPS! There are a few people who haven't gotten back to me with their address/filled out their Google sheet for their card preferences yet, so please check your DMs if you think that might be you! Other than that, these should hopefully start arriving before the end of the week. If you could post your packs to social media with the #cardgarden hashtag, I'd love to see them come in :) 

As always, feel free to reach out with any questions. I'll keep everyone updated on the status of April packs, as I won't be able to go upstairs to my office after my surgery. Your packs will be built by a trusted friend of mine in my absence. Stay safe and healthy! 

It's almost Pack Day!

Hey everyone, and welcome to all of the new subscribers who found me through Anomolee's sponsored post! My name is DJ, I'm the owner and operator of Cardgarden; Myself and my trusted worker AJ will be making your packs this month. This is a quick reminder that today is your last day to update your patreon levels, your Google sheet preference forms, and your shipping addresses before I lock in the packs for the month of March! These packs will be going out on Thursday and Friday, on the 3rd and 4th. 

Quick update on my injury, my surgery date is currently set for March 18th. That means this month's packs will be going out as normal because I can walk with a leg brace, and I'm hoping to have AJ pack up the April ones while I'm on bedrest and incapacitated. I'm hoping that there won't be any delays, but I'll update appropriately if it changes! 

As always, feel free to reach out with any questions/comments/concerns. My DMs here are always open, as well as on Twitter @Rose0fthorns if you're looking to buy, sell, or trade cards unrelated to Patreon. Thanks to everyone for the support; please share your packs to Twitter with the #cardgarden hashtag when you receive them!

Cheers,
DJ Johnson

Packs are a go!

Hey everyone,

The most recent batch of packs is being sent out! (ignore the cat hair on the white table, Yugi was trying his best to help) If you reached out earlier this week to make any notes to your Google form preferences, those have been taken into account for this batch of packs. 

As always, thanks to everyone for the well-wishes on the recovery process for my leg. I'm currently learning to walk again for my pre-op physical therapy before surgery, after which I'll be subjected to couch life again before returning to PT. I don't intend to keep this as a medical recovery blog, but people keep asking and sending their positive thoughts; I really appreciate everyone who's done so. 

As always, I'd greatly appreciate those with social media accounts posting their packs with the #cardgarden hashtag! Feel free to reach out here on Patreon if you have any questions, and good luck on your pulls! 

Update 2

Hey everyone,

I got a couple of messages asking for an update on my recovery and wishing me their best; I appreciate everyone who's reached out, and I'm happy to say that I was able to get the vast majority of packs shipped out a couple of days ago! There are still a few outliers that haven't gone out yet, but you've already been messaged if that's the case.

As for my leg, there's still no real update to be had until the 31st on my next doctor's appointment. It's then I'll hopefully learn if we're sticking to my Feb 18th surgery date, or moving it up/down, and then start a long road to physical therapy. But this Patreon isn't about me, it's about getting packs for you all to enjoy!

I'm literally checking Twitter while writing this post, and seeing a few of the packs from this week have already come in. Thanks very much for supporting this project! Remember to update your preferences if you have any changes on the Google form before the end of the 31st! - DJ 

Update

Hey everyone!

I appreciate the well-wishes and kind thoughts towards my leg recovery. I've been catching up on a lot of the MCU movies and prepping the shipping labels/envelopes from the couch when I can. I mentioned in the last post that I had a trusted friend coming to pull and create the packs for shipping; that friend ended up having to quarantine for a possible COVID contact, until a negative test result comes back this week. 

Some of you mentioned that you're comfortable with me delaying your packs until next month while I recover, but to be honest I've still got a long road to recovery so I want to get this month's batch out as soon as possible. All of the packs *should* be shipped out by the end of the week, assuming my friend's COVID test comes back negative.

My cast comes off on the 31st and I'm hoping to be able to walk again on that date, so I'll keep everyone updated with my mobility and capability of packing packs myself. 

Thanks again for the support in all of this! - DJ 

Hey Everyone

First of all, I want to say thanks to everyone for the support over the inaugural month as we all step into 2022 together. To cut to the chase, I've hit a bump in the road already. Some of you know me from Twitter, that I do rock climbing and parkour. This past Friday, I took a bad fall at the climbing gym and ended up tearing my ACL and MCL. I'm currently bedridden, and waiting on an MRI tomorrow with a follow-up to get some more information on the timeline for surgery.

Of course this is less than ideal timing, but I'm hoping it won't cause more than a slight delay in Patreon packs being sent out. The previously mentioned plan was to have them all out by the 7th, and I've got a trusted friend coming over this week to help construct the packs while I'm incapacitated. 

If you have any questions about your pack individually, feel free to reach out via DM on any platform (here, Twitter, email, etc) and I'll make sure you're taken care of. Unfortunately my laptop decided this weekend was the best time to bite the dust at the same time, but I'll have my mobile device nearby while I'm stuck without mobility. 

Thanks again to all the support and those of you who saw my tweets about the incident and gave their well wishes. I hope you all had a great holiday! -DJ

New year, new packs

Hey everyone! Welcome to all of the newcomers to the Cardgarden patreon, and another thanks to everyone who posted about their first pack on social media. This is just a reminder to make sure your shipping address is uploaded and up to date on Patreon, and that you're signed up for the appropriate level that you want your card on file to be charged for. The current plan is for this month's packs to be shipped out on January 7th at the absolute latest!  Here's a few of the packs from last month, much love and thanks again for supporting this project!

Packs being shipped out today!

Hey everyone,

I've said it once, but thanks again for signing up for this. I really enjoyed making packs for everyone, even if it is a bit anxiety inducing to worry if you'll enjoy opening them! The Petal tiers are going out PWE (Plain white envelope), and the $50-$100 domestic packs are shipped with tracking via USPS first class. Like I mentioned in the original post for this, you've got a couple of guarantees in this program:

A) The value of your pack is designed to make sure you're getting *at least* your patreon tier in cardboard. Petal packs will have $20+ in TCG value, etc.

B) If you don't like the contents of your pack, feel free to reach out to me and you can swap it out for a different one after providing feedback on what to change!

When you receive your pack, I'd love if you could share pictures or videos to Twitter tagging @Rose0fthorns or with the hashtag #cardgarden. Opening booster packs is meant to be fun, and I hope that I can provide you with an experience you'll enjoy. Cheers, and happy holidays! - DJ  

Welcome!

Thanks to everyone who's signed up for the Card Garden patreon so far; it's only been a couple of hours, and the support has been more than what I imagined. You're all early adopters (before Dec1), which means you'll be getting a bit of extra value in your packs as a holiday thank you!

*Please* remember to till out the accompanying Google Form that was sent with the welcome letter when you signed up! It's what I'll be using to tailor your pack to *you*, to make sure you're getting cards that you'll find a home for. If you lost the link or need another one sent out, please reach out on this platform so I can get you sorted out! The first round of packs will be sent out next week, assuming the custom treasure tokens arrive in the mail in time.

Project Booster Fun: Card Garden edition, is a go!